Toy Recommendation: Magna-Tiles Working Trucks

Magna-Tiles Working Trucks 27 pcs Set

It’s not very often that I find a toy that Christian loves so much as this one. He’s been playing with it ever since it came out of the box this morning. As you can see, his Leapster isn’t very far away. But, it hasn’t been touched in a good long while.

It took him a bit to discover that the magnetic parts are the same as his Thomas trains. Sometimes, you have to turn them around to get them to work. But, as soon as I reminded him that his trains were the same way, he got it.

Open Registration for Online Classes

Please be sure to note the classes you would like to take and check Crochetville once classes open as they are filled on a first-come, first-served basis. I look forward to seeing you there!

	Small Short Row Tunisian Felted Bag Tunisian crochet is the best medium I have found for felted projects. It really makes terrific projects and you won’t be disappointed! This bag incorporates 3 Tunisian crochet stitches and will allow you the opportunity to learn Tunisian crochet without purchasing a Tunisian crochet hook! That’s right! If you have a K or L crochet hook without a thumb rest (like Brittany, Clover, or other wooden hook), you can complete this adorable bag with a smaller hook because the greatest number of stitches on the hook at any given time is only 15 stitches! In addition to learning the Tunisian stitches included in this unique project, you will learn the Tunisian Short Row Technique and then, you’ll learn, step-by-step, how to felt your bag without a washing machine. Class begins October 30, 2009, 10-day class, $15, click here for more information
	Beginner Tunisian Felted Bag Here is your chance to learn (or practice) Tunisian crochet on a beautiful felted bag. This is an easy project and you can have a bag crocheted and felted in just two days! This class will be like two classes in one — first, you’ll learn and practice Tunisian crochet, then you’ll get a step-by-step process in felting by hand. You may be intimidated about felting in a washing machine, like me. So, I’ve been felting in my kitchen sink! Be careful, though! You probably won’t want to stop at just one! As you can see, I made three! Class begins November 6, 2009, 7-day class, $10, click here for more information
	Drop Stitch Ripple Shawl Using a broomstick lace variation, developed by Kim Guzman, students will learn this easy technique to make a beautiful ripple shawl. It’s quick, easy, and fun! You’ll love the results produced in this new technique. Students will be provided with the complete pattern to make the shawl with the alterations for a scarf. Class begins November 13, 2009, 7-day class, $10, click here for more information

Toddler Cuteness

This morning, I had to get up early to ensure that I caught the postman. Usually, when I get up, Christian is still sleeping.

This morning, though, he got up at the same time as me (with only about 6 hours of sleep) and, all sleepy-eyed, he said “I love you, Mommy”. Then, he said “We get up together” and he grabbed my hand to walk into the kitchen together.

The only thing is…when I came into the living room, expecting to see him sitting at his computer and playing, I saw him fast asleep in his chair.

Tunisian Crochet and Knitting

As many of you know, I didn’t try Tunisian crochet for many years. When I was in my 20s or early 30s, I remember flipping through Crochet Fantasy magazine. I was one of those people who went straight for the more advanced projects and the magazine had numbers for experience level. I specifically remember seeing some really neat projects but I would flip to the instructions and immediately become disappointed because it required an afghan hook.

Now that I know just exactly how easy Tunisian crochet really is, I am frustrated that I didn’t try it back then. But, then again, if I had tried it, there’s a chance that I may never have advanced in Tunisian crochet as far as I have. Would I have been stunted if I had tried patterns back then? I guess it’s possible. It’s harder to think outside the box when you’ve already been exposed to a technique.

But, what it took for me to really design in Tunisian crochet was to teach myself to knit. Now, when I decided to start teaching myself to knit about 10 years’ ago, I had no idea of the affect it was going to have on my crochet. I just taught myself. Then, I tried Tunisian crochet. Once I got thoroughly immersed, I realized that there were so many things in knitting that can be applied to Tunisian. And, I think that my book that will be available soon from Annie’s Attic is a culmination of what I have learned so far in applying knitting techniques to Tunisian crochet. I think you’ll be surprised by some of the things that can be done, without learning to knit!

This weekend, though, I’ve taken on a role reversal and I’m applying techniques I learned in Tunisian crochet to my knitting!

A few years’ ago, I was working on Tunisian cabling.

 

Now, I’m working on a knit design with cabling. I never thought I’d be doing cabling because it was too fiddly. I tend to drop the cable needle or drop the stitches. Just too frustrating. Leaning on the techniques I learned in doing cables in Tunisian, I find myself knitting cables without a cable needle. Wow! So much easier!

In Other News

Here is little Christian with the first tomato (from his HUGE harvest of 3 teensy weensy tomatoes).

Photos of Christian, August 2009

For the benefit of those who haven’t seen photos of Christian in awhile and for those who happen to be his grandmother, I give you three current photos.

What child doesn’t want one of these?

Here is Christian wearing one of the hats Brianna has knitted.

And, here is Christian doing one of his favorite things.

Christian’s Got a Tomato!

We have a small balcony and I wanted to see what would happen if Christian had his own wee tomato plant. It hasn’t grown much and we, obviously, won’t have an abundance of tomatoes before the season is over. But, he DOES have a few tomatoes on there!

Kim Visits the Big State of Texas

Now that I am back home and sitting in my happy spot on my own couch, I am writing to tell you what I can about my trip.

Christian and I left on Monday morning to begin our journey to East Texas. Considering our last road trip, to New Hampshire, I was afraid of how Christian would react to another road trip. Surprisingly, he turned out to be a really good riding companion. Like most children his age, he slept quite a bit. While he was awake, he talked to me about all the things he was seeing. It was actually quite pleasant.

I can’t tell you exactly what I was doing in Texas since it’s one of those “things of which we cannot speak”. But, I WILL tell you that, other than the time I was 9 months’ pregnant with Christian at the age of 40 years, it was the most difficult thing I have ever had to do. Add to it that I got absolutely no sleep and it got even more difficult. I figured it out and I had 15 hours of sleep during a 5-day-period. And, I am sore all over. Friday morning, I could barely get out of bed. Fortunately, I remembered to bring lots of Tylenol and Ibuprofen!

Although the week was positively grueling, by the end of it, I was beaming! I know that everything I did and all the hard work that went into it was soooo very much worth the effort! Everyone who follows my work will love love LOVE what I have done. Blood sweat and tears (literally) went into this project. And, I can hardly wait to share it with you. I don’t believe I’ll have to wait very long. I think some “spilling of the beans” can happen about August, just in time for the CGOA conference in Buffalo!

During the time I was working, my mother was watching Christian. Since most of you know already that Christian is a REALLY energetic little boy, I was afraid that she would watch him then decline watching him when we went to Buffalo. I am very happy that, as she hugged me goodbye on Saturday morning, she whispered, “and I’m still coming to Buffalo.” Whew! My mother deserves a medal for taking care of Christian for a week and, to be honest, she was taking care of me as well. I believe that she may sleep for the next week.

Even though I can’t tell you what I did, I will tell you that my mother and Christian had a great time. Christian went to Chuck E Cheese for the first time (and, from the sounds of it, I believe that he would have been perfectly happy there for the remainder of his life since my mother had to force him out of there after about 3 hours). In fact, on the entire ride home, I had to repeatedly tell him that “yes, we’re looking for a Chuck E. Cheese right now,” rather than say that we were on our way home.

One especially pleasant part of our trip to Texas was the Outback Steakhouse across the street. My mother had never been and I wanted to give her a special treat. So, the night before leaving, I ordered lots and lots of stuff from Outback Steakhouse and we ate it in the room. (Trying to take Christian over there would have been too stressful for both of us.) I ordered a lot so that she could have a nice variety and a really nice memory. The food was incredible, but I had been told about the “Blue Cheese Pecan Chopped Salad.” It was truly my favorite part of the meal, which is really funny since we had a huge variety of shrimp, steak and chicken. It’s just funny because I guess that my favorite part was practically the least expensive thing on the menu! hahahahaha

Both my mother and I completely forgot to take photos. I am obviously a really bad blogger. Yikes!

And, one final thing. I had no idea that being in Texas again would have such an effect on my speech! I haven’t even been in Texas in 17 years. But, apparently, no matter how long I stay away, it takes about 24 hours for my southern accent to return, in full force. It’s hilarious! How could I go for 17 years without saying “y’all” and “fixin’ to” then, within a day, they are dripping out of my mouth like I never left? Too funny!

Memorial Week

During the week, starting with Memorial Day, I will not be available much. For now, we’ll say that it’s a vacation.

I just didn’t want anyone to worry.

Next Week, To-Do List

I’ve got quite a lot to get finished next week. So, I thought I would make a To-Do List here and we can all see whether I can get it done in a week. hahahahaha

• Finish up design and pattern for magazine publication. Mostly finished at this point. Just need some trim and finishing, then the pattern, of course.
• Finalize patterns for two new designs for website, including two separate layouts, one for print and one for download.
• Finalize class preparations for May online Crochetville classes.
• Make video of fptr-sc, the stitch used in the Sweetheart Ripple Afghan. (This is really something that is dependent on whether Brianna is available for handling the video.)

Okay, that looks like everything that I would really like to get finished this week. Writing it down makes it look a lot less than I had in my head. Since it looks loads easier than I originally thought, maybe I can convince my brain that it’s easy and I’ll actually get it all finished in a week.

Look What We Did Yesterday!

Do you think he was having fun?

Working, Working, Working

I really thought that, with the completion of my book, I would have more time on my hands, at least for awhile. I thought things would get less hectic. But, I started writing down the things that I had to stop in order to write the book and it turned out to be quite a long list. So, immediately afterward, I got started and haven’t been able to stop since.

Granted, I did finally get some time to do a bit of overdue cleaning like clearing out Christian’s extraneous toys and hanging that rug on the wall. Oh, and the Lady Godiva herself asked what I used to hang it up there. I use Hercules Hooks to hang up everything.

I took on the challenge of designing some spring/summer garments in a top-down style. I haven’t done this before and I’m always looking for something different. The attraction with top-down designs is that they usually don’t have any seaming and you get to try them on as you go for a better fit. I can certainly see the attraction in that!

I started one of the designs on a Friday night and had it finished by Saturday night. I was so excited about it. It was in Brianna size which means that it didn’t take long to finish. But, one day to finish means that it was literally an entire day of crocheting. But, that’s how excited I was about it! Without missing a beat, I immediately grabbed more yarn and stitched up the 2X size. It’s quite an easy task to design clothing in Brianna size. But, I wanted to be absolutely certain that this style would size up properlly. It took some creative use of math, but, by Sunday night (Monday morning rather), I had the 2X size complete.

Still not missing a beat, I designed another top in Brianna size which I had finished by Wednesday. Yes, I took my time on that one! hahahaha

I had to stop this design fest to start another because there was a really large submission due by Friday. And, there were class proposals due by this Monday.

You see? The work just didn’t stop. It started getting even more fierce! Yikes!

The two tops will go up on my website in about a week or possibly two weeks. But, I’ll have photos for you as soon as I can get a breather and the weather is nice for photography. Soon! Very soon!

A New Wall

About two years’ ago, I purchased a large 8-foot rug for Brianna’s room. Covering the walls does a lot to make a room look nice. Ever since I put the rug up, I’ve been looking for a rug to put in the living room. I finally found one in January. But, as you know, I was swamped with projects and a book to write. The poor rug sat there next to the wall all this time. Christian became quite fond of it, in fact.

Tonight, Brianna and I put it up together. It took both of us. I have absolutely no idea how I got the first rug on Brianna’s wall by myself, though. It must have been sheer mother’s will to surprise her daughter before she got home from school.

Here, you have a rare glimpse inside my home. hahahaha

Toy Reduction and Back to Work

Now that the book is finished, there are many things I needed to do.  I have a lot of designs on the drawing board. And, I was truly itching to get started on them. This need was so great that, on Friday evening, I started a new design immediately. And, by Saturday evening, the Brianna size was complete. Without even losing a beat, I started working on the 2X size.

Now, I don’t normally stitch up the other sizes. I will extrapolate from the first size to determine the remainder. But, this design was so exciting for me that I immediately picked up some other yarn in comparable size to get to work. The 2X size (although I still need to add neckline and armhole trim) was finished, I kid you not, by Sunday night. Actually, that was really early Monday morning. Two entire garments done in three days.

The design is so uniquely constructed that I really wanted to make sure that it would size up well to the larger sizes. I found some gorgeous sportweight yarn from Yarntopia Treasures in a bamboo cotton blend. The colorway I have for this is called Thailand, a navy, bright yellow and green combination. Absolutely gorgeous. I have used just over 900 yards for the 2X! The design is absolutely wonderful and I’m thrilled that it works so well and can be completed so quickly.

Unfortunately, I needed to be up early on Monday. So, quite strangely, I stayed up the entire night without sleeping at all. And, that’s when I began the second design. I had an appointment at 11:00am on Monday and without sleeping at all that day, I went out. Once I came back, although very tired, I continued working on the second design, finally dropping off to sleep at 9:30pm. That is the very first time I’ve ever done that. But, I guess the excitement got to me. That second design model was finished yesterday evening. A whirlwind designing frenzy that lasted about 4-1/2 days. Whew!

I’ll show you photos as soon as I can. I’m hopeful I’ll be able to get everything finished by next week sometime.

Other than my to-do list for work, I also had a lot of things I wanted to do around the home and this has now begun as well.

This morning, after making some delicious oatmeal with apples and washing a sinkful of dishes, I declared it The Great Toy Reduction of 2009. Brianna and I brought all of Christian’s toys into the kitchen. Every one of them. Then, the sorting and organizing began. Three huge garbage bags of toys later, we have a bit of organization to the chaos that is a small child’s toys.

It really needed to be done. And, it always has to be done quickly and with a lot of distraction for Christian. It’s shocking how many toys a child can accumulate in a year. And, so many of them were broken. There’s nothing worse than Christian bringing me a toy to “fix” when it’s beyond fixing.

I’m so happy to have that knocked off my home to-do list. All of his toys are neatly organized in the kitchen now. I’ve tried several different places for his toys. And, last night, when I asked Brianna what she thought about us putting the toys in the kitchen, she said “well, it will look less like a day care in the living room.” hahahahaha Why don’t you tell me how you really feel, Brianna.

Oh, I’m Sorry. Did I Wake You?

If I woke you up at about 2:30 am this morning with whoops and hollers, I’m terribly sorry. But, well, I finished writing my book at that time and I was so amazingly thrilled that I didn’t take into consideration the fact that you were probably sleeping.

Fiber Gathering: The Blog Book Tour

Fiber Gathering: Knit, Crochet, Spin, and Dye More than 20 Projects Inspired by America’s Festivals

This is really the very first time I have ever participated in a blog book tour. It’s a fun concept. Several blog writers get together and write about different aspects of a book. And, you can browse the list of links to see what others have to say. Definitely fun! And, here I am, ready to write about this extraordinary book, the brainchild of Joanne Seiff.

“Perfect for the armchair traveler and fiber enthusiast alike, Fiber Gathering lets you bring America’s most celebrated festivals into your heart and home–and inspires you to create clothing, art, and meaning from these time-honored crafts.”

When Joanne first wrote to me about contributing to her book, I was positively thrilled! It was our first communication. She had visited my website and wanted to know if I would be willing to contribute a men’s design to the book. When I found out some of the details of the book, I couldn’t possibly say no.

Fiber Gathering. The name itself says a lot. You already know that you’re going to be assaulted with what we all know and love. Fiber. Of all sorts. The kind of fiber that gets spun into yarn. And, you know how much we love yarn! This book brings together and reviews different festivals across our country. I’ve never been to one of these festivals and I really wish that I could. But, the book brings the festivals to me, right in my living room. Unfortunately, it makes me want to go to one even more. But, that will have to wait at least until Christian gets a little bit older.

When I finally got the book in my hands, I realized that it was exactly what I thought it would be. My friends, it’s a coffee table book. And, not just any coffee table book. It’s a YARN coffee table book.

Let me just tell you what you’ll find in this book, even before we get to the patterns. Did I mention yarn? Oh, my! Everywhere, as far as the eye can see. Page after page of yummy goodness. The photo that first caught my eye was from the New Hampshire Sheep and Wool Festival. There are what appears to be at least 10 huge, huge bags of hand-dyed unspun fiber. HUGE! Absolutely beautiful.

I love the photo of all the people at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. Signs on buildings that remind me of going to carnivals when I was much younger. Signs that read “Cotton Candy”, “Hot & Cold Drinks”, “Popcorn”. Oh, the fun! The signs that read “Lamb Sausage”, “Lamb Gyros” and “Lemonade.” Even though I have never been to a festival like this, I can already feel the spirit because, like I said, it brings me back to those happy memories filled with excitement as a child. I can feel the spirit of a festival based on these childhood memories. Childhood memories to carnivals with all the lights and the fast-moving rides. Now, I can bring all the excitement and fun into my adult world of fiber!

Aside from the many lovely patterns in the book, there are some tutorials that are especially interesting.

• How to Wash Fleece: A General Guide
• Spinning for Speed
• Learning to Hand Dye Multicolored Yarn
• Inexpensive Tools for Spinning: A Drop Spindle
• Preparing for and Helping at a Sheep Shearing

Isn’t that fantastic? If it’s Fiber, it’s in the book. This is just the most fascinating book I own. I am awed and inspired by the amount of information Joanne has pulled together.

But, now, we’ll get to the patterns. And, thanks to the beauty that is Ravelry, you can jump right over to the book page and peruse the different designs at your leisure.

My design is a Men’s Mock Cable Sweater. But, as you will quickly see, this sweater is not just for men! Except for the ribbing in the hem, wrist and neck, this design is completely in crochet. I used a lovely alpaca/wool blend called Alpaca Elegance from Green Mountain Spinnery. There are six sizes provided, to fit chest measurements of 36-56″. More information about this design can be found earlier in my blog here.

And, now, here’s the list for your 10-day trek through Fiber Gathering. Please be sure to return to Joanne’s site for your chance at winning some lovely yarn!

31 March, Joanne Seiff, author, Yarn Spinner

1 April, Kim Guzman, designer, WIPs ‘N Chains

2 April, Rosemary Hill, designer, Rosemary-go-round

3 April, Donna Druchunas, tech editor extraordinaire!, Donna Druchunas’ Blog

4 April, Cathy Adair-Clark, designer, Catena Expressions

5 April, Terri Shea, designer, Spinning Wheel

6 April, Chrissy Gardiner, designer, Knittin’ Mom

7 April, Jeff marcus, photographer, Yarn Spinner (guest)

8 April, JoLene treace, designer, JoLene Treace Unraveled

9 April, Cindy Moore, designer, Fitter Knitter

Enjoy!