Halloween 2009

For Halloween the McDee's dressed up and went trick or treating. Mini~Dee was Cleopatra and Dee Jr. was a gladiator. They used the same crocheted pails I had won at an HHCC auction back in 2002. Many people commented how well the pails have held up through the years, and the many pounds of candy loads. This just goes to show that crochet is not only beautiful and creative, it's also very durable! ;)

Part of our Halloween tradition is to visit with my sister-in-law. When we arrived we found my niece, Crista, busy making beautiful beaded designs. She invited me to sit with her and make some items too. Naturally I jumped at the chance as in my former life I was a jeweler. Crista asked, "Aunt Dee, you're great at crochet, and at making jewelry. Is there anything you don't know how to do?" We all got a chuckle out of that.


Visit Crista's Etsy shop at: ambertortoise.etsy.com and pick something out to match your latest crochet wear! I told her she should consider designing us crocheters (and knitters) stitch holders. What do you think? If you agree, drop her a line and let her know! :)

Checking In...

I'm sorry I haven't been around much. We had another death in the family; my 27 year old cousin who was recently diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. He was diagnosed in early September, started treatment ... they said he had 3-5 years. It's been a difficult time for my family. He did give one last gift to the world, the gift of sight. His beautiful blue eyes, which were not effected by chemo were donated. All my future blue chemo caps will be donated in his name.

I had planned on resuming blogging last week, but the kids came down with the flu. Guess who has it now?

For those inquiring, yes, I am planning to teach a special crochet workshop in FL and having a crochet hook-up. Details soon, I promise!

For now, I'm headed back to bed. I'll be bringing Lily Chin's new book: Crochet Tips & Tricks: Shortcuts and Techniques Every Crocheter Should Know with me.

Local Crochet Knit & Purl Class Offering

At yesterday's Coffee, Crochet & Chat session, held at our local Borders bookstore, we got to talking about my adventure into knitting last week. I told them my knit history: how I had tried learning how to knit from my Grandmother, from friends, and from some of the best knitting teachers in the business -- and how, unfortunately those lessons did not take. It didn't click* until I figured it out from a crocheter's perspective! After all, my brain is wired for crochet! (*ETA: hahaha, I did a knit pun: click)

Once I purchased a speciality crochet hook called The Amazing Needle it all started to sink in! This hook gave me the opportunity to crochet TRUE knit stitches -- not the imitation ones like the Tunisian crochet technique offers -- we're talking T-R-U-E knit (and purl) stitches! Gotta love that, right?!

In discussing this yesterday several of the attendees said they wanted me to teach them the Amazing Needle technique. Lucky for them, I have needles in stock. If you're in the Danbury, Connecticut area and want to partake, go here to reserve you seat; the class will be on Wednesday, October 28th from 10AM - Noon. If you're interested in learning how on your own, go here to order your speciality hook; tell her Dee sent you. :)

Rhinebeck: Freezing Fun, Burning Retina's and All!

Rhinebeck was a two-day event. Saturday, as I understand it, was ca-rowded. As in Seriously Crowded. Sunday was not. Why the difference in attendance? Weather! Saturday turned out to be a beautiful New England autumn day (abet a bit cold), and Sunday was raw: wet, cold, and a bit breezy. I was there on Sunday, complete with thermal underwear and a bag for toting my goodies. Mini~Dee was with me too, wearing one of my crocheted hats (Mini~Dee is at the "hair" age, meaning to to have her wear a hat that messes up her hair -- and!! -- to wear said hat all day, *is*a big deal. LOL She looked great wearing it, and got lots of compliments. Should I mention she wore the hat to school today? Completely her decision? LOL; it must be a tween/teen thing!) Joining us in the fun was Nancy. She was geared up for the raw weather and shopping too!

We arrived around 11:30 and went directly to the Authors booth. We met up with Mary Beth Temple and her daughter Little Loopy. Little Loopy and Mini~Dee are friends, having met a few years ago at one of the CGOA Conferences. With Little Loopy joining us for shopping bliss, we left Mary Beth behind so she could autograph her books.

Our first stop was a visit to The Rams Horn. I purchased the yarn basket earrings I mentioned in my last blog post. As earrings, they feel a bit heavy for what I normally wear. That's OK; I have another plan for them. (More on that in a future blog post.) Then we checked out all the other vendor goodies. One thing I noticed, thanks to Little Loopy tuning me into it, is that the 1980's are coming back. For those of us old enough to remember the 1980's that spells out a 4-letter word worthy of blinding our retinas. Yes, the word is NEON. (do your eyes hurt reading that? Yeah, mine too.)

There was NEON colored roving, hand spun hanks, and funky skeins of yarn EVERYWHERE! And on this dark, raw, rainy day, the NEON really showed up! ((and you all thought my yellow nail polish I wore a few weeks back was bright! Ha!)) I did not buy any of the NEON yarn goodies, but Little Loopy did. It will be interesting to see what she does with it. :)

One new vendor I found nearly freezing to death (they're from North Carolina and not used to our chippy weather here in the Northeast) was The Art of Conni Togel. This vendor had paintings & prints of wooly humor ... and I bought one small print. In fact, it was this one I had purchased, to hang in my future Yarn Studio; it made me laugh so hard! (No, they won't be at Stitches East next weekend, nor will many of the vendors there. It seems there is some sort of huge event going on in North Carolina next weekend, reportedly bigger than Stitches East. Unfortunately I don't recall the name of the event, but perhaps one of my readers from NC knows & will post the name of it here?)

We took a carriage/horse ride, ate yummy food & fudge, and hooked up with other crocheters: Leslie, Andrea, Diane, Barbara, Jennifer, and Lily Chin too! We were given some free mini~hanks of yarn from St. Denis; and they gave us a bunch of pins to hand out to our CGOA Chapter members. We also attended the Ravelry Lunchtime Meet-up. This was my first time meeting Mary-Heather, Casey & Jessica, but not the first time seeing them in person. The other times there were just too many people around, so saying a proper hello was just out of the question. Which reminds me, I need to get info to Casey & Jessica about the Big E ((wouldn't it be cool if they had a booth there next year on Massachusetts Day???)).

Soon, too soon if you ask me, the announcements came on officially ending this year's festival. Just before we left I managed to buy a hank -- the only yarn I purchased -- from Brooks Farm Yarn. It's a sweet mixture of wool, silk, and viscose; "blue jean," golden, and green in color. I'm not sure what it will be when it wants to grow up, but judging on how much Mr. Dee is admiring it, I'm guessing it might end up to be something for him. And yes, this is another vendor who will be attending the North Carolina thing-y next weekend.

We had a lot of fun, and even though it's a year away, we're looking forward to the next one already! :)

Weekend Plans

A busy weekend is ahead, for sure! One of the events I'll be attending is the annual New York Sheep & Wool Festival held in Rhinebeck, NY. It is one of the largest Sheep & Wool Festivals/Fairs in the 13 Colonies (Maryland's is the largest).

Mary Beth Temple, of the Getting Loopy Show, author of Hooked for Life: Adventures of a Crochet Zealot and Design It Yourself Afghans will be doing a book signing. Doris, Nancy and Leslie will be there too, roaming, shopping, having a great time ...

One of the vendors I always look forward to seeing is The Rams Horn. Why? Because they make beautiful pewter jewelry -- crochet jewelry!! They're the one's I buy my crochet hook pendants from (as can be seen on my key chain in the photo on the right). I love their crochet pin too. This year, I'm looking to add their yarn basket earrings to my collection. :)

I plan on going on Sunday, with Nancy. I'm not sure what the weather will be like (hey, yesterday it SNOWED!), but I do know a good time will be had by all! I can't wait! :)

Warming Thoughts

Caught, once again, with yarn snuggly tucked in the crook of my steering wheel, while awaiting for my children to end their school day. Only this time, my crochet hook was in motion. And it felt good. Real good. I was caught crocheting a baby afghan that will be donated...

During those moments of waiting & crocheting I let my thoughts drift back to October of 1989 (or was that in '88? *Edited to confirm it was on October 4, 1988 when Connecticut experienced a fluke blizzard, weighing down trees with canopies of autumn colored leaves) when I had traveled to Florida to spend time with my southern family members. Actually, in the time of B.C. (Before Children) I used to travel a lot. But on this particular trip, upon my return home I had discovered I had missed one of Connecticut's worst early snow storms in it's history.

Earlier this evening, as Mr. Dee and I were going over future plans to take our children to Florida to visit with the southern relatives for the first time, I looked out the window and discovered it is snowing. Some say this is an omen, that our luck is turning; let's hope so. Others are asking if I plan on meeting up with other crocheters, and/or teaching a workshop or two... For now, it is too early to tell. But wouldn't that be cool if I did?

I'm headed back to my crocheting, to my hot chocolate, and discussions of Florida. Warm thoughts for sure as it is too early for snow...

Spooky!

What is wrong with this picture? Could it be that my knit stitches are nice and even? Could it be that I am knitting -- again? or could it be that there is a crochet hook, just hanging there, sitting idle?

Maybe zombies made me do it. Maybe it's a witch's curse? Or maybe it is revenge of the black sheep ...

nah. It's stress. I have many projects on the hook right now that I don't want to touch until I've worked out some stress. So I turned to practicing my knitting where gauge is still important, but it's not like I'm going to run off and design something with it -- or will I?

Spooky thoughts for sure! ;)