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.

Yarn Bombing

Yarn Bombing is the termed coined to describe yarn grafitti, or decorating public places with knitted and crocheted work. The foto I saw on the internet showed some tiny bit of yarn bombing in Seattle. There is also a picture book out about. When I saw the term without reading the explanation, I visualized crocheters and knitters throwing balls of yarn at each other!! What fun!

The Way

Every once in a great while I discover a book which is profound and has the ability to profoundly influence my life. Today, I went into Barnes & Noble in Old Orchard to pick up a copy of the latest Interweave Crochet magazine, and found one. On a sale table I saw a New York Times Bestseller called "How to Practice The Way to a Meaningful Life" by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, translated and Edited by Jeffrey Hopkins. I am in awe! I cannot put it down. If you really care about yourself and each other, and the world, please read this.

Wool and Company

There is a yarn store in Geneva, IL called Wool and Company which I visited today. I had been there about two years ago, and I went there again today - a spur of the moment decision to lift my spirits and get me enthused about crocheting again. Wow! What neat stuff they have. It was obvious they cater to knitters and that crocheters are their poor cousins who live across the tracks! However, I still enjoyed my visit and they have a corner, one whole corner for crocheters. I brought home a new bag, which of course I wasn't badly in need of. And little crochet hook silver charms which are really special. Then I went to Egg Harbor for lunch. It took almost twice as long to get there as it usually does because I kept ending up on streets names CONSTRUCTION and ROUGH GROOVED SURFACE and FLAGMAN AHEAD(even tho it was a woman), so coming home I took a less familiar route but with more familiar street signs like 25th Avenue, Belmont, Irving Park and Pulaski. Oh dear, now that I am home where do I put it all -- stash my stash......and a good yarn to you all.

Ripped

This is a sad and stressful evening for me. It has been a day of betrayal, and unlike bad crochet stitches I can't rip it out. I wonder if the Creator ever wants to rip out the Creator's stitiches! This beatiful crocheted piece I have been working on for a few years has been torn, not in one place but in two. Ripping and tearing are completely different actions put upon a crocheted work of art. I choose to rip to make my piece better - others choose to tear apart. I look at the bright colors, made even brighter by the contrasting dark ones, and no longer even feel like repairing them, so deep is the tear and so mighty is the anger. I don't think I can repair this piece. Just the thought of its destruction has left me short of breath and with chest pains through to my back. Any repairs would scar the piece forever. I could start crocheting another one - but only to have it torn by someone else? Is it worth it? Of course, I have options - maybe try to creatively create something entirely different, maybe unravel what yarn is there but the unraveled yarn will be in bits and pieces, maybe just toss it in the garbage, maybe just give up, and stop crocheting. Maybe take all the pieces and crochet a wall. Maybe crochet a suit of armour out of thin wire crocheted so tightly that it cannot be pierced by unfriendly hooks or tapestry needles who don't like its shape, or are jealous and threatened by its beauty.

Crochet Lunch Bunch

Today the Crochet Lunch Bunch got together, and guess what we did? Crocheted! Chatted! and relaxed. Crocheting is so smooth. Mary's cowboy hat is a bit big on the range. So I worked with her to decrease the crown before starting on the brim. Donna has finished the bottom row of the little jumper. Diane is working on the cuffs of her sweater. She intends to finish it by Labor Day! can't wait to see it. I crocheted earrings from mint dental floss. Imagine earrings that smell like toothpaste! I will be the envy of every dentist in town!!! :>]

Back again

Hi. Crochetkookie has had a lot of kookies in her kooky jar lately. Have been recovering from lower back problems. Crochet has had to take second seat to this - but not for much longer. The lunch bunch at NEIU is growing and flourishing. I finally convinced them to meet without me when I can't make it. The regulars, Donna, Diane and Mary are almost always there. Mary finally got a computer and e-mail so now it is easier to keep her up to date. Diane is off and running like a forest fire in a drought sticken area -- she is into crocheting clothes now. She is working on a colorful sweater that promises to be both gorgeous and warm. Nan has decided to switch to an afghan instead of a cat. Afghan much easier for a beginner but I go with the flow. Her intermittant attendance, like static, makes it hard to tune into her needs. Mary is still plugging away on her pink cowboy hat, making progress, especially not that she is passing the clusters rows. Lookin' good, Mary. Donna is working on the cutest little whatchamacallit for a little girl - think its like a jumper. Me--I am still making paisleys. I finished my pretty blue sweater, but now want to decorate it - maybe with a paisley pocket or two -- meanwhile I have been crocheting earrings in doctors' waiting rooms.
I gave a friend,Anna, a pair of my prettiest earrings for her birthday. She wore them when we went to Boston Blackies for a treat. One of the was turned backwards, so she took it off and asked if I could fix it. As I turned the hanger around, it snapped off. Anna looked a little dismayed but I told her I could fix it. I reached into my little black and white purse, pulled out my mini-crochet project kit --never leave home without a hook and project -- took out a mini pliers, removed the rest of the fish hook--then, much to Anna's continued astonisment, I reached back into my bag and pulled out a new gold ear hook, and attached it. Ahh--Anna had her earring back, and turned the right way. She laughed and wondered what else I had in my purse. I just laughed back, and didn't tell her about the scissors, tapestry and big eye needles, the crochet thread in different colors, different colored/sized beads, and of course a couple of crochet hooks. Fun! Fun to watch her astonishment as I kept pulling "rabbits" out of my bag.
I didn't make it to Chain Link Conference nor to the yarn tour today. I am disappointed. My health, or lack of it, kept me at home. I'm hoping that someone will tell me about Chain Link and all that I missed. I am hoping Addie made it to the yarn tour, and will give me the low down on it.

Crocheted Cowboy Hat

I have received some requests for the pattern for the Cowboy Hat I crocheted and showed fotos of on this blog. To all who have requested the pattern, and those who don't know it yet, but will in the future, it is not my original pattern, so I cannot send it to you. However, I will direct you to the source which is Debbie Stoller's book "The Happy Hooker." The pattern turns out a hat that is a bit larger than expected. What I did was decrease right before the cluster rows. You can also decrease during or after the cluster rows, but that is a bit harder. It is not an easy pattern, but a fun challenge for crocheters. I wrote out in large type the instructions for the cluster. If you make the last row of the clusters a different color, it looks as if you have a hat band on it. If you make it would you e-mail a foto of it? I would like to add it to my blog. I have already received requests to crochet this for others. One woman offered me $100. to make a black one for her. It's a great challenging project -- just remember to try it on when you reach the cluster rows. You could also use a smaller crochet hook. My main e-mail is calumet133@yahoo.com. Would luv to hear from you.

PLARN

New word -- PLARN is PLastic yARN that is plastic bags cut into strips and crocheted with as if they were yarn.

Crochet Words

Another innovative crochet word: Guerrilla Yarnfare. Found on Kim Werker's website. This word is used to describe the crocheted artifacts on a NYC fence.

What's in a name?

I am reading a book called "Hooked for Life Adventures of a Crochet Zealot" by Mary Beth Temple. It's different. Here are some tidbits from it. Did you know that Irish Crochet is really French? It was started in France by a French lady. I've always wondered about a name I still can't pronounce and that sounds like - anti-macsacre, or Auntie Mascara. Those dollies that my Mom and grandmother used to crochet and pin to the back of our upholstered chairs are called antimacassars. Such a strange name for such a beautiful piece of lace. Well, it seems that back in those old days, men put an oily substance on their hair called macassar. And they would not only lean back on their comfortable favorite upholstered chair, but rub their hands thru their hair and get that macassar on those lovely chairs. You can guess the rest. The dictionary says that it is pronounce an-ti-muh-kass-er. Who would have ever known!!!!

Firey Crochet Girl

Hey Hey! Diane's on fire....or maybe I should say she's hooked. Here is a foto of the vest she created from granny squares. At first she just crocheted pretty blue granny squares to be doing some crocheting with the lunch bunch crocheters--then she got inspired as to what to do with all those little squares. Diane is "headless" in this foto by her choice. She does look better with a head... not many people can crochet headless...... :>}

I also suspect she's an emotional crocheter like I am, but enuf said about that.

I am hoping to get a new addition to the Lunch Bunch. Addie is thinking about joining us every other Wednesday.

Mary is progressing nicely with her red cowboy hat. She might even finish it before Country Thunder. She can do up to Row 16 before needing my help again. We might make her a Cowgirl yet!!!

P.S. Regarding STASH -- am still working on it. more to come.

Stash

Recently, I hired a personal organizer, partly because I just came from an 8 day stay in the hospital, and didn't feel physically up to doing it myself. Ann-Marie did a fabulous job on my dining room/office area, and she was great company right after I came home from the hospital. she worked, while I rested, and occasionally helped her and told her what to toss. But I didn't have enuf $$ to hire her to do my yarn room, which is entered from the dining room. Today I decided to give my disaster, earthquaked, volcanic eruption, tornado struck yarn room a try at cleaning up. I am doing so very gently (protecting my back and leg), and slowly -- one skein, one UFO, one crochet hook at a time. Since I have to sit done and rest inbetween clean-up tasks, I decided to use the sit-down time to describe my "adventure" at doing this staggering job.

Those of you who are neat-freaks will probably be blown away by my adventure, but those of you, like me, who are cluttered crocheters, or perhapts crochety crocheters in yarn room, will enjoy and identify with my experiences. And I prefer to think there are more cluttered crocheters than neat-freaks. so enjoy the following entries, made during my sit-down time showing the "progress" (I hope) I make.

I don't know whether to call this Christmas or Discovering but I am finding some unusual "gifts" in my stash. I was cleaning out a basket full of HomeSpun yarn, when I saw this shiny glittering object on the basket bottom. It was a fork! Don't ask! I know I wasn't using it to eat yarn! Yuck. Hmm-mm I doubt if I was using it to untangle yarn either. I just plain can't imagine how it got there. I don't eat and crochet at the same time because I don't want to stain my work. And I am a messy eater. Well back to the disaster area for more discoveries....

Next discovery from my dig -- my inhaler, buried under the stuff on my craft table. Ahh-hh now I will breathe easier -- tho it is outdated. Guess I will toss it. I got breathing treatments in the hospital, and now have a brand new inhaler.

Oh-Oh. Guess what I found this time.....are you guessing???? Keep going.....I found a child's cook book of PEANUT BUTTER recipes in the bottom of a bin of pink yarn and unfinished pink elephants. Was I going to crochet a pink Peanut Butter Jar? Or do my pink elephants like peanut butter? So go ahead and laugh --- At least it wasn't a peanut butter sandwich in there. WHAT DO YOU HAVE HIDDEN IN YOUR STASH?

Dig deeper...I've never been on an archological dig in a desert...but I am probably getting practice for so doing. One bag of Red Heart yarn had a bit of a smell to it - and it wasn't perfume which I sometimes use to have my crocheted flowers smell. It was more like.....well...

ah-hem....like stinky feet. Yeah you guessed it one dirty sock! OK where is the other one... I have two feet after all. This might explain the sock gremblin who swallows one sock from a pair during the laundry process... don't know if I have a lonely sock in my sock drawer, but first this one goes into the laundry. At least I can figure this "find" out -- I sit in my recliner and crochet, and sometimes slip off my shoes and then my socks -- I use my feet to achieve this task because my lap is full and crochet, and my back hurts when I bend. One of the socks probably slipped into the bag of yarn...... You know, I still miss my deceased mother, but I am sorta glad she isn't around to discover the sock -- Oh Vay! She would have a lot to say about my disaster area, not to to mention the dirty sock. If you're listening Mom, I would prefer that you not watch me do this. My priorities have changed as I grew up -- crocheting over cleaning -- hey, don't talk back to me -- you taught me how to crochet and now I am a crochet kookie. Got eat lunch or whatever else you do in heaven. Also - if you have any influence up there could you get HIM or HER to heal my back and leg? It would make me get the room done faster.......

To Be continued...have to rest now.

Crocheting Wall Hangings

These photos were taken some time ago at the Fine Line in St. Charles, IL. The picture to the left is a close up of the tree in the larger picture. This a crocheted wall hanging, and the size, if memory serves me right is about 5 feet tall! It is a masterpiece of crochet art. It was crocheted by a group of women. It is worth the trip to St. Charles to see it. Fine Line is hard to find once you get to St. Charles so be sure to call for directions, or Google a map before you start out.

The leaves on the branches are done with the loop stitch.

UnFinished Objects

Why can't I find a UFO when I want one? Because my stash is a mess. In digging thru my stash I found a pair of yellow socks with just the toe on one waiting to be finished. They looked huge, but then I'm not exactly petite...and why didn't I just finish the toe... Maybe I have crochet ADD -- and jump from one project to the other -- actually ADD means ADD another project. I want to do everything - and when a new shiny bauble (pattern) catches my eye - I bounce over to it, and the curent one which I couldn't wait to get finished gets buried under the other one--and so on and so on and so on. Hmm-the word etc. etc etc was probably coined by a crocheter digging thru her stash. Excuse me now, while I go get a shovel, a crocheted one of course....

Crochet Lunch Bunch.

This is the way we crochet today, crochet today -- all on a Wednesday lunch.

From left to right - Nan, Mary Donna, Dorothy in the cafeteria, crocheting up a storm at lunch.

Sue was asking if we had a name -- Happy Hookers is funny but didn't go over well -- how about CROCHET LUNCH BUNCH?

Crocheted Cowboy Hat

Yahoo! Here it is! I finished crocheting the cowboy hat. The pattern

was not easy. Since it is hard crochet it is done with two strands of yarn. I wore it once and already was asked to make one for someone else who is willing to pay for it. It was really a challenge but once I got past the crown I enjoyed it. it is definitely fun wearing it. However, where does one wear a Pink Cowboy Hat? I don't go to to rodeos; I don't live in the West; I don't ride horses. It is definitely an eye catcher though. I guess whenever I want a little extra attention, I'll wear it. I splurged and bought a pink bolo to match. I already had the shiny pink shirt. the actual stitching is not as perfect as I would like it to be -- but when I started it, it was only to learn the pattern well enuf to be able to help Mary who really wants to make one for Country Thunder. There is an imperfection near the brim of the hat, so I found a cowgirl angel pin and put it right over that spot. Anyway I'll wear it whenever I feel pink-ish. Fun!

Crochet Surfing

In surfing the net for crochet-related information I made some fascinating discoveries. Here are a few of them: SHIRRETT, CROCHET BLOGOSPHERE, FRACTAL CROCHET, HANDITOOL. These are words with which I am not familiar. How about you?

In brief here are the meanings I gleaned from the websites referring to them. Shirrett is a technique which combines crochet and fabric. If you have crocheted onto a sweatshirt, does that mean that you SHIRRETTED? Sounds like a bad word to me....

CROCHET BLOGOSPHERE seems to refer to all the blogs about crochet. I like this terminology a lot. We all know what a blog is by now -- and a sphere is usually a circular object, also can be used in reference to a discipline, area of specialization or expertise. We crocheters often go in circles -- those who go in the biggest crochet circles are called BIG WHEELS.

FRACTAL CROCHET is using mathematical concepts to design crocheted fabric. There are actually books written about crochet and math! I think Fractal means a piece or a part of -- like a fraction. So we take a lot of triangles and crochet them together. The examples on the net of fractal crochet were awesome and breathtaking, and definitely a challenge. And yes, some crocheters FRACTAL a lot. Some crocheters just go to pieces (fractaled?) when they have to frog. I wonder if my yarn stash might be considered FRACTAL, too.

HANDITOOL looks like a psychotic crochet hook too me. However, Susan Bates makes it. In the website it is described as a crochet hook and knitting needle on the other end. If any of you want a psychotic, crazy, mixed-up crochet hook, go to www.yarn-store.com and look for HANDITOOL.

Here are some crochet related sites you might want to research when you run out of crochet ideas or need to be motivated. They all begin with: http://www. so in the interest of space and time you will just have to remember to type that in before you type in the site:
crochet-mania.blogspot.com -- youcanmakethis.com -- crochetuncut.com -- crochetgypsy.blogspot.com -- crochetmemories.com/blog/ -- crochetsal.com -- crochetnmore.com -- christinascrochethaven.com -- and of course, my very own blog, crochetkookie.blogspot.com.

If you learn of any rather unusual terms which might be applied to crochet, will you please let me know?

Crochet Hooker Murdered

I just read about a woman who was killed, shot in the back, by police officers who thought she was going to attack them with an ice pick. The ice pick turned out to be a crochet hook. what a tragedy! This happened in Monterey, which I guess is in California.
If you subscribe to Google Reader, and type in CROCHET for your searches, you get all things crochet to read, even unfortunate news such as this. I'm all for police officers defending themselves, but I have a hard time believing that the police officers who shot the woman in the BACK more than once, could see what she was holding with her back turned to them.

DOUBT aka Crochety Crocheter

Mary, one of my crochet students, attends Country Thunder every year. This involves camping out and a lot of country western themed activities. When I came across a pattern for a cowboy hat, I just knew it was meant for Mary. I saw that the pattern was not for a beginner like Mary, but just knew how much she would like to wear a cowboy hat which she crocheted for herself to Country Thunder. The pattern was complex. However, I, wearing my own imaginary Wizard in Teaching Crochet" hat figured I (that's a capital "I") could teach her. While I know my crocheting skills are good, I also know that they pale in comparison to the skills of Gwenn and Marge and BJ at the crochet guild. However, when it comes to TEACHING -- well I say from on top of my WIZARDry Stool, ( where I am ignorantly precariously perched,)" I can teach anybody to crochet anything." Hah!

When Mary started crocheting the hat, under my "expert" tutelage (Hah again), it didn't go so well. After the first so-called lesson, I took the pattern home and tried to crochet at least the first few rounds so that I could show Mary how to do it.
"There's something wrong with this pattern. I'm sure this pattern wasn't tested before it was published. This is too complex. I could do a better job of writing this pattern. There are mistakes in the way it is written." and so on, and so on, I told Mary, who listens to her crochet guru!!!
Mary keeps plodding away and doing some frogging under my expert tutelage using a "BAD PATTERN." I, too, crochet, frog, crochet, frog so many times, saying bad words until I begin to DOUBT not the pattern this time but me. With the help of Mary and Donna who each hold a ball of pink yarn, (this is a two strands together pattern) and roll the yarn back into the ball while I rip out the stitches, this time to the very first slip knot. The expert crochet teacher has alas and alack become the crochety crocheter!
In the quiet of my recliner, with the TV turned off, I try once more from the very beginning - and low and behold, the pattern works! Complex, yes! Wrong, no!
I type out the pattern for Mary, eliminating the abbreviations which she finds confusing, and add a few words of explanation in RED type, and we start over again.
I guess the moral of this story -- is to SHUT-UP about the pattern, and stay off high perches of Wizardry. Granted some patterns are poorly written, but more are even poorly interpreted. And I am -- your not so wizardry Dorothy who is clicking her heels and returning to KANSAS.
Don't give up Mary! I may not be wizardry nor the expert crocheter of my dreams, but I don't give up. You will crochet your cowboy hat, and I will crochet mine, and Iwill take pictures of you wearing yours and publish it on this very own blog (I hope). : >}

NIC March Meeting, 2009 photos.

We had a fashion show from the Double Stitch Twins at the March, 2009 meeting of the Northern IL Chapter of the crochet guild of america. Their crocheted shawls are versatile and imaginative in their use. It was fun and delightful to see their overwhelming enthusiasm for the art of crochet translated into their kind of fashion items.

Crocheting When I didn't know how

I crocheted this rug for my dog, Blackie, a black Cocker Spaniel who came into my family around 1954. For some reason my Mom saved it. I couldn't read a pattern, didn't know the names of any stitches, I just knew what my Mom taught me about using a hook and yarn. This is heavy rug yarn. I remember trying to figure out how to make the checkered pattern I wanted. In the close up you can see that I carried the different color yarn across, which gave the rug extra thickness. Blackie loved it. This is the only crocheted item I have from my childhood. I treasure it, even with its now frayed edges, stretched out surface and a holes here and there. In 1957 I put down my hook and didn't pick it up again until about 1997. But, as I tell my students, my fingers remembered what to do even tho I didn't. It's called muscle memory. I can always tell when a new student who hasn't crocheted since childhood comes to me to learn -- their fingers automatically know their way around a hook and yarn.

Women's Art Exhibit at Northern IL University

My crocheted sculpture WATER, Florina's crocheted scarves, Penny's crocheted huge granny square, and Diane's sewn apron are included in this wonderful exhibit in the Ronald Williams Library at NEIU in Chicago. The exhibit includes all sorts of wondrous art work - a breathtaking quilt, some scultures, photos, paintings, and more are on display.

Florina, Penny and Diane are/were part of a crochet group which meets at noon in the cafeteria at NEIU to crochet. Florina and Penny don't attend any more, but they are quite obviously still crocheting. Donna, Mary, Diane, Cindy are part of the group. I expect Martii to join us this coming week if her schedule permits. Donna crocheted a cup of coffee which was shown on the TV show, Knit and Crochet today. She downloaded (or is it uploaded -- or maybe side loaded..who knows) the pattern from their website. I am impressed that she undertook this and completed it by following the pattern -- i.e. without her teacher's help. She's on her way now. I wish she had displayed the cup in the woman's art exhibit, too. It is display worthy. I am so proud of her accomplishing this.