Friday, August 12, 2005

Guilt and Loop Holes; it's a Hairpin Experience!

I wanted to do an audio entry today but AOL's audio feature still isn't working.  So, I'll press on and give you all a nice juicy text entry that includes an admission of guilt.  Isn't gossip fun? 

I wanted to do an audio entry so you could all hear the sincerity in my voice when I admit that I broke my fiber diet.  I am weak!  So, so weak!  Supplementing my diet with embroidery floss could only last so long -- it was like living on a bottle of vitamins.  I had to have something of substance or surely I'd have gone off the deep end (or at least gotten lost in my stash again to reminisce about past purchases!).

Maybe that's why I did three journal entries yesterday; I just couldn't handle the strain, Jim!  ((giggles & grins))  Regardless, I'm feeling the guilt and I'm now coming clean.  I bought yarn yesterday.  No, well, wait a minute here, I'm smelling a loop hole!  (Oh I so should have become a lawyer!)  

 I did NOT buy "yarn" yesterday, or thread!   Oh, this is sounding good folks!  It's looking like the guilt is lifting, the loop hole has been found!!  (And I urge all of you on the same "I won't buy any more yarn diet until I use up my stash" to use this reasoning I'm about to bestow upon you!)

              I bought RIBBON!!!!

Oh, Snoopy dance with me, will ya?  The guilt is gone!!  Yes!!

Wha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!   (yes, this is the sound you would have heard in the audio entry; me, laughing with an evil twinge!)  Wha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

I treated myself to two balls of Classic Elite's "Bangles" that I'm crocheting into a scarf to wear next Thursday.  If you recall, on Thursday is the day to CREATE COMFORT A STITCH AT A TIME,  so I wanted to crochet a scarf that said "winter is coming" but without all the warmth because these dog-days of August are awful hot! 

I decided that I really want the ribbon to show off it's 'very fun colors' and bits of texture and what better way than with HAIRPIN Lace?  It's the same technique I used to crochet my daughter's Communion Cape this past May.  (You can click onto the images to see them closer)  The scarf is about half done.

That's not all I came home with!  I also purchased the new book, "Knit One, Kill Two," by Maggie Sefton.  It's a "knitting mystery" that's a first in a new series.  It was just published this past June.  All the reviews I've read said it was good, so I'll be reading it this weekend, finishing my hairpin lace-ribbon scarf, and crocheing squares for the Charity Event on Thursday.  I hope you can join me (or if you live too far away, that you consider doing something special for someone, or for a charity!).

Before I end off here, I want to pass on this tip about Ribbon and Hairpin Lace:  Crochet has a natural tendency to twist the fiber as you work with it.  Take the extra time to unwind the twisting and keep the ribbon flat (such as I'm doing in the photo above).  In my humble experience, in keeping the ribbon flat while you're working with it, the end results shows off the beauty of the fiber much better than if it were tightly twisted.  It takes a bit longer to finish the project, but it's time well worth investing!  Especially when, in my case, the ribbon cost $14 a ball!

Aren't loop holes grand?!  :)

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