oh Nancy!

I tuned into Mary Beth Temple's "Getting Loopy Show" last night, as I do nearly every time, by calling in. By now Mary Beth knows the "203" area code is me. Last night she informed me I wouldn't be the only "203" on her switchboard -- last night's guest was also from Connecticut! That guest was Nancy O who owns a gift/yarn shop in Ridgefield.

I've long heard there was a new yarn shop in Ridgefield, but Route 7, having been under construction since the dawn of the dinosaurs (or at least since the invention of the automobile), usually is enough to deter me from venturing in that direction.

As we were listening to the show last night Nancy O talked about how she got turned on to crochet with Doris Chan's All Shawl pattern -- and that she had already crocheted five of them! It was then I decided I would venture south, deal with the notorious Route 7 construction mayhem, and visit her shop. After all, I am on a button hunt, and Nancy O said she had a nice selection.

This morning, with Dee Jr. as my assistant (and practicing his photography), we did it! We visited Nancy's shop. Upon entering we were warmly greeted by MaryAnn -- one of the warmest receptions I've ever received walking into a yarn shop! She marveled over my project, asked about crochet, and began assisting me in looking at buttons. There was not one of those "Oh, so do you knit?/Don't you want to learn how to knit?" questions -- if I could paint little red hearts around her name for this blog entry to show how much I appreciated NOT hearing that, I would! (That's MaryAnn and I looking at the buttons on the right.)

Soon Nancy O arrived. We got to talking about Doris' All Shawl, crochet, the Getting Loopy Show, and my project -- which she called "Chanel Worthy" ... ((OK, I'm totally flattered now, no one has ever said that about my crochet before)). I picked out one style of buttons and purchased 8. While I'm not sure if these buttons will be THE buttons for this project, I am sure I will be visiting Nancy O's shop in the near future -- possibly sooner once the construction on Route 7 is completed. While the yarn selection is not large, the warmth, and acceptance as a crocheter is huge!

PS: Nancy O also gave me a "signet" -- I picked out a dragonfly, and then she gave me a tape measurer too in honor of it being my first visit to her shop. You just can't beat that kind of hospitality. Don't know what a "signet" is? Then you need to listen to Mary Beth's Getting Loopy Show! :)
PSS: Mini~Dee was not available for this adventure as she is participating in a NASA program this week.

Button Junction, what's your function?

The CGOA Conference is just six -- SIX -- weeks away!! Wow!! There is so much to do to prepare! I know the time will fly! Perhaps you saw my 'tweet' yesterday about a project I'm working on -- a sweater for me to wear while at the Conference...

I worked on the last sleeve last night and in looking at it this morning I see I have some ripping to do -- it's larger than the first sleeve. What this means is that although my stitch count was correct, my gauge/tension went wonkie. What was I watching while crocheting? Ghost Busters. I was laughing so much that it totally threw my gauge off. It happens.

I also discovered yesterday that my button collection is not as vast as I'd like for it to be. I had filed in the back of my mind the perfect closures for the sweater ... only I had misfiled that information in my brain. It shouldn't have been filed in the "button" category, but rather the "jewelry." What this means is that I'll be hunting for the perfect closures for this garment.

Why is it important to have the perfect buttons/closures? Because they make a statement. This is why many people who understand this concept replace buttons on store-bought garments -- and have been doing so for eons.

Personally, I like to think of the garment as a sentence with the buttons/closures as the punctuation. If I want my "sentence" to be tame, I'll pick out plain buttons that will not call attention to themselves. If I want it to be a question, I'll pick out buttons that ask, "What WAS she thinking?" ... and if I want it to make a declaration ... then the buttons/closure must convey that. And that is the message I'm looking for this latest project on my hook; a closure that will compliment the crochet work while also accentuating it. And so the hunt is on!!

Murder Mystery Crochet Project

Do you like trying to solve a good mystery? How about solving a crochet murder mystery? Or even better, a crochet murder mystery Crochet Along Project!?!

Back in September members of the "Hooked on Murder, Dying to Crochet" Ravelry group got a chance to do just that! To take clues I've assembled from Betty Hechtman's first crochet murder book, "Hooked on Murder," to create a mystery project crochet along!

As it is now summer time -- and what better time to read when not crocheting? -- I thought it would be an excellent time to bring the Mystery Project Clues out of Ravelry and share them with everyone. ... however there are some rules I ask people to follow:

1. Print out as many copies as you need for you and/or your group to use. (If you are a librarian and would like to offer the Mystery CAL to your patrons, you have my blessing.)
2. Drop me an email or leave a comment here that you will be giving the Mystery Project a try.
3. If you have a blog, a website, or online group, Do NOT link back directly to the pattern. Rather I ask you link back to this blog entry, using this link:
http://crochetwithdee.blogspot.com/2009/06/murder-mystery-crochet-project.html
4. If you'd like, email me pictures of your finished Mystery Project; I'd love to show them off here on my blog.
5. NO -- and I mean NO -- answers or hints will be provided by me -- so please do not contact me (or Betty) and ask/bribe ... well, maybe bribe, if it's really yummy yarn ...

OK that's it. CLICK HERE for your free PDF Murder Mystery Crochet Project Clues -- you will need adobe to view it:


NOTE: Betty has two other crochet murder mystery books available for your summertime reading pleasure:

Dead Men Don't Crochet: A Crochet Mystery

By Hook or by Crook

I'm an (Influenced) Material Girl ...

One of the fondest memories I have of the 2003 CGOA Conference was in having Willena Nanton as my roommate. Not only is Willena an extraordinary crocheter, but she is also an avid Barbie collector. ((Recently Willena was a Guest Speaker at a HHCC Meeting.)) I thought I was a big-time fan, but certainly Willena proved she was way more into Barbie than I was as she beautifully turns top Barbie designer fashions, such as Bryon Lars', into stunning crochet outfits she wears on the runway at Barbie Conventions.

I know I am not alone in being influenced by this "Material Girl" ... Myra, founder of the International Freeform Group, was too. (What about you? Have you ever crocheted or knitted something for Barbie? Do you have a link to a picture? If so, please post it in the comments section below.)

Naturally this has me curious -- just how many crocheters are/were influenced to crochet items for the world's most famous "Material Girl?"

... and because of her influence on so many, I'm wondering, shouldn't Barbie be made an Honorary Member of the CGOA? That would be so cool, IMHO.

You know that we are living in a material world
And I am a material girl
~Madonna; crocheter

"Where is your crochet?!"

Yesterday was the last day of school for my children. It was a day to sit in the audience and watch our children accept their hard-earned awards and think thoughts not of rain, but of fun in the sun.

At the end, parents gathered and started discussing with each other what they will be doing with their families over the summer break. That's when it happened. Several parents stopped talking and looked at my hands. Wha? I wasn't drinking an illegal 2nd cup of coffee (although I wanted to!) ... then the comments started flying! "Dee, are you alright?" "Feeling OK?" "Where is your crochet?!"

You know, it is not often that I leave my crochet at home, but yesterday I did. There were some other parents that usually sit in the same row with me, and together we would crochet or knit quietly while listening. But not yesterday. It seems we all left our projects at home. That was weird. I wonder, was the moon full?

Flirting...

With Cotton Candy now off the hook and awaiting final touches, such as weaving in the ends, securing the handle(s), blocking, and adding a lining -- why, yes, it is a bag! -- I have a little bit of time to do some flirting ... in fact, I've already started...

Before I go much further than the swatching I've already started, using luscious extra fine merino wool (dk weight), I must stop and ponder. Do I really want a pair of sandals made of wool?

While this wool (called Sublime by Sirdar) is heavenly to pet both as a ball and worked up, I must question my sanity of wearing wool sandals in the summer; Isn't that an oxymoron or something like that? And would I survive should they decide to felt while I'm wearing them? Oh sure, Connecticutican's are well known for wearing socks with sandals, but really -- wool sandals? Cotton might do, but cotton lacks memory. If cotton lacks memory, and I'm questioning my sanity, then who is driving the hook? Get where I'm going with this? I could turn to acrylic, but then I discovered during the sock workshop my Chapter had in April that I'm not crazy about the feel of acrylic on my feet.

Maybe I should go back to drinking more coffee. Things made much more sense to me back then.

Website Outage

For those of you who have been trying to visit my website at http://www.crochetwithdee.com and couldn't -- or for those of you who have been trying and it has been giving you difficulty -- my apologies.

Last night my website provider added a new node to their database to improve the system stability and speed and unfortunately ended with data corruption.

They are estimating the system will be fixed by 6:00 AM Eastern Time.