What I Got Today

I know this is backwards but I am saving time and using Photo Booth instead of my camera and apparently, it sees me like a mirror instead of like a camera.

This is the newest version of Creative Suite. I use Photoshop and InDesign for all my patterns and of course, Acrobat for my pdf files. I recently purchased a really cool interactive pattern from that genius, Carol Wulster.

To my chagrin, it wasn't fully functional in the version of Acrobat that has served me just fine for several years!

Time to upgrade. I was 'talked into' getting the upgrades for Dreamweaver and Flash, while I was at it. Now if only I could actually figure out how to use Dreamweaver!

The other (backwards ) picture is my dear copy of Pineapple Lace.

What a fabulous book! I love all the old doily crochet books, but some of them do not have charts and I can't abide the line by line directions written out. They make my eyes cross and I start feeling dyslexic.

Charts, on the other hand, make crocheting such a pleasure. And this book is pure pleasure (although if you are a written out kinda crocheter, it's in there, too)

Whenever I find a paperback book I know I am going to use to death, I chop off the covers, laminate them with my lamination machine (left over from when I was an art teacher) and have Kinko's spiral bind it. A $5 upgrade that makes sure it will last forever. Plus it opens flat, so it's much easier to work with.


Yes, but what am I knitting, you may ask! I can't show you yet. I've been working on NEW PATTERNS. Yeah! 4 or 5 new patterns. I will be debuting them here when they are done. My objective is to have them printed and ready to go to Stitches West in February.

I know that gives me lots of time, which in my case is dangerous as I am "La Procrastinator Extraordinaire" and will start 3,000 new projects if the deadline is not breathing down my neck. Now you know one of the secrets of my prolific-ness - procrastination on meeting deadlines.

Another Week, 3 More FO's

It has always bothered me that the neighbors could see silhouettes through our bedroom window at night. I saw this screen at Aaron Brothers and thought it would be perfect for my booth at Stitches West in February. My plan was to print out 8x10 photos of some of my patterns and put them into the frames. When I saw that the one I wanted (black) was on sale for 50% off, I whipped out the Mastercard.

Back home, set up in the bedroom, I realized that it would solve my window problem and fit in to my decorating scheme perfectly.

Using my Joann's coupon, I purchased some scrapbook paper in colors that worked with the colors of the room, came home, cut them to size and voila! The solution to the window problem, and I can still use it for Stitches West!

See, watching HGTV endlessly will eventually rub off!



But home decor is not all I've been up to. My friend, Angela Best, who I 'met' on Ravelry, has this terrific design in Stitch and Bitch Crochet, called Short 'n Sweet. I used Shine Sport from Knitpicks, which is a really nice, drapey yarn that I am currently quite fond of. And at $2.49 a ball, you can't beat it with a stick!

I made this little shrug in a day and a half. It will be a Hanukkah present for one of my nieces.





And no, I am not tired of making the Heartbeat sweater yet! This one is called Summer Melons because the yarn is so melony and delicious and cool. I had an uncontrollable craving for rainbow sherbet while working on this one.




And yes, I do sleep, in case you are wondering. But not very much.

Oscar, I Wanna B U

Probably I don't really want to be Oscar de la Renta. I just want to get $2,450 for one of my crocheted freeform pieces!

Ravelry Ads

Ravelry has opened to beta testing advertisers. I created a few.
Click on the ad to go to the page on my site.
Here they are:





It's a great opportunity to be able to advertise on Ravelry. I am so impressed with the way the site is developing. It''s creators deserve every success!

Shruggity Shrug

A trio of shrugs completed for the Crafts Show.
This first one is called Blue Lagoon and is a combination of knit and crochet. I love this style and am working on writing the pattern for my pattern line. You all know how much I love writing patterns and how easy it is for me!!!


Much as I don't like writing patterns, I DO LOVE to make things. So I made another, this one in a size small, and it is called Fire.


And this last one is by the brilliant Annie Modesitt and was in Interweave Crochet last spring. It is called Lacy Leaf Cacoon. I used Knitpicks Shine Sport. If I were to ever make this one again, I would change the armholes and widen the sleeves a bit. Great pattern but lots of errors which won't bother you if you know what you are doing but would probably be quite confusing to someone new to crochet.

I couldn't find a button in my collection that was just right for this pattern (didn't like the crochet button included in the pattern) so I started going through my jewelry and found a red rhinestone ring Eden gave me for Valentine's Day when he was about 6.
I just spread apart the sides of the ring and voila! You do have to put the shrug on over your head, but a small price to pay for the perfect closure!

Sunrise Handbag

Some Handbags and a Sweater

Just a few of the 27 handbags I completed for the show.

This one came out majorly too big. I am calling it a Mini Cooper Cozy. The pattern was one I found on Ravelry, called Inga's Haekelbeutel and the pattern is free here. I recommend not making your squares any larger than 4". A very clever pattern!

This one is felted and features buckles and an embellishment from my buddy, Lauren, at labeana. I am keeping this one, in fact I already transferred my stuff into it. I made up the pattern as I knit and have absolutely no idea what I did.



This last one was named Cinnamon and Spice and was my absolute favorite of the show. Of course it sold.
Interestingly enough, the first thing I sold was this:
Heartbeat Sweater, which has been, without a doubt, the #1 favorite of all on my Ravelry project page. Jill, your check is in the mail!

Contemporary Crafts Market is Over

And wow! it was intense. On Thursday Sharon and I set up our booth. It took practically the entire day and then when we thought we were finished, a friendly neighbor with a lot of experience came over and critiqued our set up, which caused us to rethink the whole thing so we started all over again and came up with something so much better. You can't really see my entire display from the angle of the first photo - wish I had noticed that before today when I could have had another photo taken!

I had entirely too much stuff. I had actually never seen everything I had collected all in one room before and I was rather amazed to see what I had accumulated. On Sunday, I removed about 1/3 of my inventory and it was much better - people could actually focus on individual pieces.

I think the show was a successful first attempt for both of us, and if I do the June show, I have a lot of ideas on how to make it even more successful.

But right now, I need to attend to all the things I put off over the last 2 weeks and then I need to sit down for a minute or a week and just .... knit!