Covenant Village Crocheters

A delightful group of ladies living at the Northbrook Covenet Village Retirement community are learning to crochet.    I appreciate the opportnity to spread the crocheting bug to these ladies.  The skill level is varied but I see muscle memory taking over their hands in a couple.  One beginner already has perfect tension even tho her edges are slanting inward as is common in beginners who still need to learn to count their stitches.    One lady obviously has had experience crocheting but her focus is narrow and she can learn the correct terminology and new stitches.  It is my delight to watch the progress of beginners, hear their comments and know that if they keep at it, they will eventually create something new under the sun.

Craft and Hobby Show at Rosemont Theater

Dorothy and the Ugliest Sweater Ever

Today was fun.  The Show was gigantic, colorful, interesting, delightful and entertaining.  Some of us from NIC taught crochet at the Craft Yarn Council of America's booth.  I was busy almost the whole four hours.  My voice started getting scratchy so I took a break and got something to drink to let it rest.  I taught young and old and in-between, inexperienced, some knew a little and even experienced crocheters who saw me crocheting cables, and wanted to see how I did it.  I thought it was funny, me teaching them cables when a week ago I couldn't crochet cables!!!  Another one wanted to learn the Afghan stitch but we hadn't brought an afghan hooks, so she went to another booth and "borrowed" one so I could teach her.  It was great watching her catch on and see where she had gotten confused by trying to do it from reading a book.  I saw an older lady watching us and I invited her to sit down even tho she knew how to crochet.  I told her to sit and rest a bit and we can talk about crochet.  she learned as a child, and knew a lot about the art.  Sharing her experiences was really a nice thing for both of us.  I know the greatest gift we can give to anyone is to listen to them -- and I did that today, too.   I also talked to the Crochet Dude, Drew Emborsky.  I follow his blog and have seen him on TV a few times.  He really is funny, and told us he learned how to crochet at the age of 5 when he and his many siblings were snowbound and the mother was looking forf something to keep the 5 year old busy during the snow storm.  It worked, and he never stopped crocheting either.  I got a photo of the two of us together.   I also met some friendly people and after my shift was over and I was checking out the booths, some of them stopped to talk with me with big smiles all the way around. 

The only Failure is to Quit!

Last week, at the Midwest Fabric and Fiber show in Grayslake, I took a chance.  I took Gwen's Crocheting Cables class.  Crocheting cables just seem too difficult for me to comprehend.  I am an experienced crocheter and a crochet teacher -- you'd think I could do cables!!!  Cable, schable, mayble, enable me please.
  The first time I tried to learn cables was with Addie at the NIC meeting, Gwen taught it then, too.  I just couldn't get my mind around those darned posts going backwards and forwards, and I felt inside out and outside in, and upside down and sideways....well you get the picture...I was a failure.  And what made it worse for my, my pride was wounded, my crocheter self-esteem was getting flushed you know where, because Addie caught on easily, and I didn't...  that was a blow, because usually I caught on first and then was able to help Addie catch on. I was a failure, or so I thought.
  Then two events took place in my life.  I joined Sparkpeople.com, where I made some online friends.  I joined a couple of teams on SparkPeople, one was titled something like Crochet Away the Pounds and another was Emotional Eaters.  One of my Spark People buddies told me that the only failure was to quit.   that's not a label I wanted to give myself -- quitter -- no way, jose.  After what I've been thru - don't dare call me a quitter
   The second event was when I saw Crocheting Cables being offered as a class.  Well, this time it cost me big bucks to take it, but and I "failed" Gwen's class last time, but I AM NOT A QUITTER.  Well, this was a small class, and Gwen an excellent and patient teacher.  I did the first swatch in class, and Gwen told me my post stitches were good.  Hah!!!  That was it, or so it seemed.  The second swatch got us down to business with crossed treble stitches going forward and backward.  I tried.  After a while and just two rows...WOE IS ME... here I go again.  I seemed to catch on, but I just couldn't visualize what when where, and, especially I couldn't keep my place in the darn pattern.  Gwen sat between me and Cindy and patiently showed me what I was doing wrong, and what I needed to do right.  Somewhere what she was saying registered, but I couldn't concentrate with the chatting going on, and became frustrated and started to think I was a frustrated failue AGAIN.  But then I rememebered the Spark Buddy saying "the only failure is to quit."   I fiddled with the piece until class was over, deciding I would go home, write out the complex pattern into lines with large print and separated by stitches not rows, and do the d...n thing. 
   that's what I did and this photo tells you that I am not a failure at all, but quite a success, especially now that I can chew gum, watch TV, not look at the printed pattern, and crochet these cables.  I even dreamed about crocheting cables.  So am I quitter???

Crocheted Cables aka I did it!

 I would like to hear your comments, and want to know if you have had a similar experience.  And say don't fail.
Keep on crocheting.  Don't miss a stitch.  Keep yourself in stitches.

Crochet Artist

Is Crocheting an art?   Yes.  Dictionary says "the expression of creative skill in a visual form such as painting or sculpture."   I have painted pictures by crocheting yarn.  I have created sculptures by crocheting.  Crocheting is expression of my creative skill in a visual form.  I crochet with different media, yarn of course, thread, mason line, wire, string, twine, pipe cleaners...if it is flexible and kinda stringy...it can be used to crochet.  Yes, all you fellow crocheters, you are artists in every sense of the word! 

Palette of Yarn for Crochet Artist

Cables conquered (almost)

Well, I finally made a swatch of treble cables.  I attended Gwen's class on Crocheting Cables at the Midwest Fiber and Folk Fair yesterday.  I worked and worked at it, and got the first swatch just fine.  At the beginning of the class I told Gwen how I just couldn't do cables the last time I attended a class on this.
  During yesterday's class I just couldn't get my head around the treble cables needed to create this beautiful swatch which Gwen showed us as a sample.  I was so frustrated and mad and disappointed that I almost could do it.  I just couldn't concentrate and I kept getting mixed up as to where I was in the pattern.
  Last night after I got home, I typed up the pattern in large type and lined it up so that it was easy to distinguish where I was in the row.  After a while and after doing a pete and re-repete and frogging, I finally began to see it. Today, I caught on, and began doing the trouble oops treble cable pattern without looking at the pattern.  My fingers just knew what to do.  My swatch is obviously a CABLE design, but it is still a bit messy and the tension needs improvement, but I DID it.  With practice it will become pretty like Gwen's.  I just hate it when I can't do something I think I should be able to do.  One of the SparkPeople (SparkPeople.com) told me that the only failure is to quit.      And it was fun in the class with other crocheters!   The marketplace at the Fair was good, too.  I came home with a pair of really funky earrings.  Thanks Gwen for your patience with me.  I will show you the swatch next time I see you.

Crochet Car Cover

Someone in Rome crocheted a very colorful cover for a Smart Car!  It is viewable in the link in the previous email.  You gotta see it to believe it.  Fun!  Wonder if it comes with an umbrella!!!  You know how heavy yarn is when it is wet....

One Crafty Car « ReadyMade Editors' Notes

One Crafty Car « ReadyMade Editors' Notes

Yarn, yarn a barn full of yarn - almost

Well, I am cleaning my yarn room again.  Once again it has become a kinda treasure hunt.  In addition to sorting out yarn, I am sorting socks. "Sniff,sniff" I guess I don't have to sort, just throw them in the laundry.  How did smelling socks get into the middle of my yarn stash?  Your guess is almost as good as mine!  I probably slipped them off when i was sitting in my recliner and they kinda fell into one of my project bags which eventually became a UFO tossed in my yarn room.
  This "kinda" reminds me a little second grader I taught many years ago.  His name was Phillip.  I stepped just outside of the classroom containing about 50 second graders.  I gave them an assignment (I had to pee really bad).  When I got back there was my tall treasure, Phillip.  he was standing at the blackboard with chalkdust all over his face.
  "Phillip, how did you get chalkdust all over your face?" I asked.  "I kinda fell on the eraser." he said.
   Next treasure were two books, one about GHOSTS by James Van Pragh, and another a biography of Abraham Lincoln.  Was I going to crochet the ghost of old Abe?  With me, you never know.
  A more pleasant surprise was the money, so far $2.25 enuf to buy another skein of yarn on sale.  Do I need another skein of Yarn?
  I just asked some crocheters to come and relieve me of a few large, container-store size, bags of yarn and embroidery floss.  Thank god for friends who like yarn.  I am still in the process of cleaning tho, and found more to-go's after they left.  I am going to bring the extra yarn to a retirement home in Northbrook.
  Well I'm off to do more treasure hunting-- what will I find next..
  OH P>S>  I found a few pink elephants, too.  2 B continued.

Clean Crochet Hooks

I was changing purses and dumped the contents out, and saw one of my favorite crochet hooks - a golden one, drop out and it had a big glob of hardened cholcolate stuck on it.  Yuk!   I washed it with the dishes, and as I did so I began wondering about germs and stuff on crochet hooks.   I crochet everywhere - standing, waiting, eating lunch at work, in doc's waiting rooms -- hey that's where all the sick people come.  I touch the doorknobs, chairs in the doc's office.  Then I crochet.  sometimes, well, more than sometimes, I rub my eyes, and once in a while I do that other gross thing when no one can see me -- so all these germs and stuff could be transferred to me via the crochet hooks.   Sometimes on the bus or in the cafeteria I even drop my hook.. triple Yuk! 
  I learned a lot about transferring germs and washing hands during the couple of decades I worked in hospitals, so I know how very important this is.  I am wondering if anybody washes their crochet hooks too??? 

[Dipdive] Black Eyed Peas Video+Audio » Oprah Feeling / I Gotta Feeling Live at Oprah's 24th Season Kickoff Party

[Dipdive] Black Eyed Peas Video+Audio » Oprah Feeling / I Gotta Feeling Live at Oprah's 24th Season Kickoff Party

Lily Chin's Workshop

I am excited about Lily Chin's Workshop in August because I started doing the homework for it, and had fun.  It's sorta like crooked crochet, really though it is crochet on the bias and is fun.  I am on my third swatch.

Mark Your Territory with innovative stitch markers

How do you hold it -- your place or your stitches in your crochet work?  I've been thinking about this (I know that could be dangerous for me).  I have experimented with many different kind of st markers recently because I am crocheting a reverse shell lace pattern which requires a minimum of two st markers (not to mention a lot of patience, fortitude, and determination). 
  What do you use?  Here are some possibilities:
 1. Those plastic round things that you slide onto your st.  They work, most of the time, but they sometimes become slippery little eels and slide off as easily as the slide on, and "poof"  just like that you lose stitches and become unraveled.  I just hate becoming unraveled, don't you?  It is an occupational hazard especially with complicated crochet patterns.

  2.  A short piece of leftover yarn.  This works, too, and rather well most of the time.  You can even tie it in a little bow.  Of course, sometimes the bow magically unties itself and "Poof"  the scrap yarn is colorfully clinging to your work, but not in a stitch, and it is not doing its job.  I fired these scrap yarns, severed them without any notice or backpay.  If I have nothing else at hand and am desperately in need of a stitch marker I may just hire one as a Temp, but otherwise NO WAY.

3.  Bread and package holders.  These are those little square plastic holders with a hole or a heart in them and a slit to slip over the cellophane package.  They are cute, and since we all buy bread anyway, they are free.  Not bad for a stitch marker, and very economical for the frugal and those who want to save money for more yarn.
4.  Coil-less pins.  Now we are getting there.  These absolutely do not break and they do not slide out of the stitch.  Because they are coil-less, there is one less end for the yarn to get caught in, but that still leaves a closure end of the pin.  When the yarn gets stuck in that end - well it splits.  "Poof" there goes a perfect stitch.  I just hate split ends, don't you?  They look and are so messy in the finished product, and not easily repaired.
5.  Twist Tie wraps.  These are those little, usually green thing-ies, that are tied around bags to keep them closed.  They are used for garbage bags, bread bags, pastry bags, fruit bags, under eye bags-oops not under eye bags, but a lot of new and old bags.  These work, too.  Of course, if you used them as st markers, you also know that underneath that little green paper is a kind of metal or aluminum strip which can cut thru your yarn eventually...and sometimes your fingers as you twist them closed. So "Poof" there goes your nice yarn as well as your nice fingers, and now your masterpiece has blood on it, too.
6.  Paper clip - it works, too.  And it hangs in there and doesn't easily slip out of the stitch.  It doesn't split the yarn, unless you are not careful about the clipping on part.  It does take a bit of intelligence to work thru the S shaped maze.  Yes, this one is good, and if you keep a supply of them handy, you can even use them to clip to your place in your pattern.  I like dual-purpose objects, especially those that don't go POOF.
7.  Claw hooks.  I bought the one in the photo, and I used them, too.  My hands are too big to fumble with the tiny hammer you have have to hold in order to slip the yarn in the opening.  They might work with thread, but they are a bit tiny for yarn.  And with my giant sized hands, they go "Poof" and disappear into my recliner before I can put them to work.

7.  And my newest, most innovative and #1 choice of stitch marker is a BOBBY PIN - the kind with little waves on one side of it.  They don't magically slide out of the stitch.  You do need 2 hands to slide them on/off, but they are small so they don't leave big holes behind them, they are smooth so they don't cut anything, and you can easily flip them to the side if you need to work over or around them and they stay on, no matter how long you leave them on.  And if you have long hair, in an emergency you could use a spare one to pin your hair back out of your eyes.  I don't have that problem, tho I do have eyes, my hair is too short to need bobby pins.  My non-crocheting friends-yes, I have to admit that I have allowed a few of these into my life-even the die-hards who say "I can't learn to crochet,"  can't figure out why the ?##%@ I am buying Bobby Pins.  A little mystery in one's life is always fun and a good thing to keep relationships interesting, don't you think?

  Now I ask you, has anyone found a better stitch marker than a bobby pin?

Crocheting to lose weight

As most of you know, I am working towards a healthier lifestyle.  To help me, I joined http://www.sparkpeople.com/ where there are two crochet groups using crochet to lose weight.  I enjoy both of them.  Today I read, and smiled, that a number of overweight crocheters now crochet while sitting on a stability ball.  They say it can be done, and one even bounces a bit on the ball while crocheting!  I'm hoping someone will add a photo of this amazing feat.   These sparkpeople teams are helpful, invigorating, sometimes hilarious (can you picture me crocheting on a bouncing stability ball), and  motivational.  Some of them have lost over one hundred pounds.   Well -- I have another ball to crochet today.  Bye.

Yarn Balls

About 2 weeks ago I saw a cute necklace made up of tiny yarn balls.  I liked it a lot, but when I found out it cost $35.00, I decided to make my own.  However, I attached the creation of my balls to another project -- a healthy lifestyle (aka eating better and exercising more).  When I have achieved a  goal I make another ball.  Also, when I am thinking about doing something not in sync with my goals, then I distract myself by making another ball.  When I have a few more I will string them to a necklace.   Boy, oh, boy, have I got balls!
In the picture each ball has a needle thru the center to hold the place open where the string will go thru.  They are really simple to make, and a way to use up those itsy bitsy pieces of yarn.   And I look at this way, the more balls I got, the healthier I am......

Thrumbs

Thrumbs.  I just found out about crocheting thrumbs at yesterday's NIC meeting where Robyn taught us how to do this.  It is a bit tedious so probably won't become too popular a technique.  Personally, I saw a really good use for this, which I am not going to mention here.  Thrumbs crochets into very warm, cozy and cuddly items such as mittens and slippers.
  And I just can't help myself here -- do you remember the music for an old TV program that went Dum-de-Dum-Dum?  Well I can't help but sing Thrum-de-Thrumb-Thrumb.  

Awesome!  The Show & Tell at yesterday's Northern IL Chapter of the CGOA was fun.  Here is a photo of one of the Show & Tell items.  Annie crocheted a ripple baby blanket.  I liked the bright contrasting colors so I took a picture of it.

Dana, one of the founding members of the Crochet Guild started about 15 years ago, passed away this month.  Most  of us had no idea that Dana was seiously ill.  While sick, Dana asked Pam to bring a beautiful crochet necklace to the April meeting for Show & Tell.  A very busy Pam forgot to bring it last month.  However, bringing it this month was quite fortuitous because it served as an inspirational reminder of Dana's exquisite work.

  I personally was not that close to Dana but I will miss her at the meetings.  I found her work breathtaking.  I took a photo of Dana's last Show & Tell, and post it here in her memory, knowing that she will live on in her work.

Recently in a SparkPeople blog (Crochet Away the Pounds)  a question was asked "Does God Crochet?"  Well, I don't know the answer to that question, but I do know about someone else in Heaven who is probably trying to teach the angels how to crochet.....

Crochet Portraits

Check out http://www.johamiltonart.com/.   Winter, 2009 issue of Interweave Crochet, page 96, shows some of jo hamilton's crocheted faces.  The rest are on her website.  She also crocheted the city of Portland, not once but twice.  This is crochet art!  
  I am over my head with crochet projects, as well as with life, right now.  I am using the reverse shell afghan stitch to crochet an afghan for myself this time.  Finally something for me is in the works!  Self-only crocheters are rare.    This says so much about themselves, don't you think?  

Do you need a yurt?

Kate Pokorny is crocheting a yurt.  A yurt is dome shaped shelter, looking like a wooly igloo.  She is trying to raise $5,500 for the materials.  In one photo Kate is seen standing on 200 pounds of Dorset wool in her parents' backyard in New Hampsire.  The diameter of the "yarn" used looked larger than a strong man's arm.    For more info google  Yurt Alert.  To do this she has to study various aspects of math related to constructing a curved surface that will retain its shape. If you donate to her project she will send you a mini crocheted yurt. Good luck Kate.

Books

The Chicago Public Lbrary has 89 books about crochet listed, and hundreds for knitting. I am wondering if this is reflective of interest.

DIP

DIP=do it in public. Crochet where others can see you to promote crocheting. I do this frequently. I DIP at the bus stop, in the waiting room, in the cafeteria at work, in my backyard, on the bus, on the "EL,' in restaurants, at the movies using lighted hooks, in the park, by the river, at friends' homes. It might be called addiction. I don't know. But what I do know is that sometimes my hands get darned cold crocheting outside waiting for the bus at the bus stop, especially on the corner of Foster and Kimball where there is no bus shelter going east or west on Foster. Well-- hopefully this winter I won't be as cold because I crocheted a complete set of DIP accessories, including mitten/gloves where I can pull off the mitten part which covers my fingers including my thumb and crochet with only my fingers showing.

I started out using a pattern. But doggone it, I got lost in the pattern, so I frogged and started over without a pattern, just with a picture of what I wanted in my head. I did pretty good,too.

The right thumb cover folds back instead of outward. that was the only mistake. I chose not to frog that thumb but to live with it. I now have a very large matching runny nose scarf, part of which you can see to the right of the foto. I also have a cute but a bit frilly hat with pull down ear flaps. About the only thing not matching are leggings.....just kidding...but do you remember leggings? They sure kept us kids warm.

If you pass by the corner of Foster and Kimball and see this huge pink fluffy smurf-like person crocheting in the cold Chicago winter -- that's me. I am enjoying myself being creative and DOING IT IN PUBLIC. And yes, people do stop and ask me what I am "knitting" so I respond that I am CROCHETING a....

Martha Stewart's Halloween Show

Crochet Sighting.
Martha's Halloween episode included a creature from the Wild Things called Carol. Carol is a kind of cute monster who had crocheted hair, and a crocheted tail, along with a knitted long-sleeved shirt and sweat pants.

Pineapple Yarn

Yes, there is such a yarn. It is made from a commerically produced relative of the pineapple. it is hard to find but there is a store named Knit Purl which carries it, and calls it figue.

Benefits of Crocheting

Check out www.stitchlinks.com. This is a website doing research on the beneficial effects of knitting and stitching. (sorry I had to use the "K" word, and that the word "stitching" is the one applicable to crochet, but that is how it is). The web site is trying to prove what most of us crocheters already know - especially those of us who are SENIOR. Here is a synopsis of the benefits: ...enable your body to find a healthy balance in the midst of stress, gives pleasure and peace of mind, increases self-esteem, people who feel good about themselves recover faster from illness and injury, helps manage chronic pain and depression, is a preventative approach to health, instead of constant criticism get praise, being able to give something back when you crochet for charity, getting a feeling of belonging when you crochet with and for others, an effective way to break addictive habits (as in crochet instead of eat, smoke or???), distraction reasearch has shown if a most effective analgesic, eye movement therapy or EMDR is already used to treat Post Traumatic Stress and anxiety and think about your eye movement when you crochet, effects of color, touch and the creative process, and of course the end product of which we are very proud--to say the least.
You can join Stitchlinks, and you can also promote their research by telling your "Story" as to how crocheting has helped you. Go to the stitchlinks website and click on My Story. Your story will be kept anonymous, and you will be promoting crochet and that other K word!
It is worthwhile to check out this site even if you don't have a story to tell.

To inspire Mary

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!

Ahhh...

Foto 1 is the back of Diane's sweater. 2 is the dress Donna crocheted for her granddaughter and 3 is the front of Diane's gorgeous sweater. The joy of seeing the finished product is an "Ahhh." The satisfaction of teaching that person to create the finished product is heavenly. I was pleased as could be when Donna said that it was a little too big so she went back, frogged a couple of rows, and then decreased as she re-did those rows, so that it fits...and she just did it without my help. that is the mark of both a good teacher and a good student.

Cruisette on Fox River on 9.20.09

See my previous blog about this. Here are some more photos taken by the staff of the Wool and Company yarn store in Geneva, IL.

Cruisette on Fox River

Yesterday I joined a lot of knitters on a paddle boat ride on the Fox River. The trip and the photos about it are sponsored by Wool and Company in Geneva, IL. Even tho I appeared to be the only crocheter I was welcomed aboard. A friend, Connie, did humorously remark that she wasn't sure they should have let me on board. There was a needlepointer on the boat, too. The boat was docked in Pottawamie Park in St. Charles, IL. It was fun. there were little contests, and clever prizes, and each of us got a goodie bag, a really nice one, too, before we left the boat. I would do this again in a nanosecond, and am already looking forward to next year's.
I wish the Northern IL Chapter of the CGOA would arrange for this. We could all meet at the Colonial Cafe afterwards for a meal or ice cream. It's not all that expensive, and a hellva lot of fun. The trip started at 5:30 p.m., so by the end of the ride it got dark on the boat--but some experienced knitter-cruisers at my table brough camplights and flashlights to knit by. this was a somewhat less-than gregarious group at my table, but they did open up when I told them that the beatiful beaded neclace I was wearing was crocheted and by me. they were knitting mittens, baby blankets and a gorgeous lace table runner.

Yarn Pettings

"Bob Wire Has a Point (It's Under His Cowboy Hat)
Crochet Your Way to Mental Health
I'm coming out of the closet...the closet filled with yarn!
By Bob Wire, 9-13-09 "
A yarn store in Montana called Loopy has Yarn Pettings. These are get-togethers for yarn lovers to come to the store and feel the yarn!!! I found this bit of information in the article listed above.

I just read the following in the magazine BODY & SOUL.."...the woman in the cave weaving the world into existence. Each time she gets up to stir the stew she's got cooking on the fire, her dog pounces on the weaving, unraveling it. When the woman returns to her loom, she stands meditatively above the chaotic mess and despairs, 'says Meade, author of The World Behind the World. 'Then she picks up an end and starts weaving again, this time to create an even more beautiful design."
How true in crochet and in life! If it isn't true in your life, "Make It So."

Horses' Clothes

There is a whole slew of patterns for horses' ear bonnets and hats and gear on the internet. go to Crochet do-dads to find it.