Celebrating – Page 5

Jan and Andees’ Adventures in Charleston

August 5, 2016August 4, 2016Celebrating, Chain Link, Latest News, Yarnie FriendsLeave a Comment

My last post was all about the CGOA conference in Charleston, South Carolina. This post is all about Jan and I being tourists in Charleston. If you get the chance it is a city well worth visiting, though I would recommend visiting in the spring or autumn when the weather is not blistering hot.

When Jan and I were planning our trip to Charleston for the CGOA conference she recommended that we tack on a couple extra days for exploring the city. She had been there before when another close friend of hers had lived in the area.

Spanish Moss along the sidewalk outside our hotel. — Spanish Moss in the trees along the sidewalk outside our hotel.

The conference ended Saturday evening so we were leaving on Tuesday afternoon. That gave us 2 full days to explore and enjoy Charleston. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t going to cooperate with us on Sunday. The day didn’t see much sunshine as it was over cast and heavy rain all day long.

Instead we spent the day hanging out with other CGOA friends in the hotel atrium as they slowly began their leave-taking for flights and drives home. Both of us had crochet projects to work on. I even helped Jan with untangling a ball of yarn that had decided to misbehave on her earlier in the week.

One of the few photos I took with a friend at the conference was this one of Tracee Fromm that Sunday before she left to catch her flight home.

It was fun to see our friends old and new. Some were actually leaving on Monday, so we were all enjoying a decompression day. That evening Jan and I walked over to Bonefish Grill one more time. After dinner we worked on getting a good start on packing up our suitcases. Neither of us stayed up very late that night, as we both wanted to get an early start on touring the city the next day.

After getting breakfast in the hotel we walked over to where we could catch an express bus to the visitor center in down-town Charleston. Our timing was great as a bus came about 3 minutes after we got there. Once we arrived at the visitor center we got some maps and picked up tickets for a carriage tour of the city.

I had been told by a Colorado friend that has family in South Carolina, to be sure to go by the Market to see the ladies weaving sweet grass baskets. In the Visitors Center was a display about these baskets as well as a lady weaving and selling her baskets right there.

Charleston has great transport for their city. Little Trolleys with routes that take you around to a number of the high points. Jan and I caught the one that would take us to the City Market where we could walk over to catch our carriage tour.

The folks at Old South Carriage had permitted the CGOA to yarn bomb one of their carriages during the week of the conference. Unfortunately Jan and I were too late to see that carriage, but we were able to get our discount on the tour package. When we got to the stable our names were added to the list and they told us our tour would be leaving in about 45 minutes.

Jan and I decided to go explore the City Market sometimes referred to as the Slave Market. We had overheard one of the Old South Carriage guides telling some other folks about the name “Slave Market”. It wasn’t where slaves were sold, it was where the slaves did the shopping for the households they worked in. In fact, the family that deeded the land to the city for the market to be built on, had stipulated that no human beings were to be bought or sold in the market or the land would revert back to the original family.

The market is still a busy place of commerce with lots of shops and stalls selling everything you could think of. It is a roofed building that stretches along 4 blocks of the city and has streets on the north and south of it. Appropriately those streets are called North Market and South Market. The photo above is the west end of the market. I managed to take this photo during our carriage ride, you can see it was a bit wet as a light rain storm had rolled in.

Jan and I explored the market for a little while, then headed back to the stable to begin our carriage tour. This is our carriage, I hadn’t realized how far off the ground the carriage put us until we finished the tour and I took this photo. We actually boarded the carriage inside the stables where we walked up some steps and entered the carriage from a platform.

Our guide and the driver of the carriage was Elliot. He was very entertaining and informative about the history of Charleston and the buildings we were seeing.

This was our horse that pulled our carriage. His name is Bill 2, but he was called Bill by Elliot. He liked to splash the water from his trough, so I had to be quick to get this photo. Part of the information Elliot shared with us was Bill’s history and capability. Basically being a carriage horse in Charleston is a pretty good gig for these horses. Our carriage fully loaded was actually one quarter of the weight that Bill could pull, and had pulled at the beginning of his life when working as a draft animal on a farm.

Our carriage tour took us around the area of the College of Charleston and then back along the Market. I was sort of inconsistent in my photo taking. Partly because being on the move made it trickier and sometimes there wasn’t a clear shot. I loved all the tree-lined streets.

I especially enjoyed the moss-covered branches weaving overhead. The vegetation in the area is so different from what I am used to here on the mountain and even down in the plains of Colorado. There is a lushness that goes along with all that humidity you just don’t see here in the West.

Elliot told us that Charleston is considered the 2nd most well preserved city in the world. First place goes to Rome, Italy. He said since Rome has over 2000 years on them, 2nd place isn’t too shabby. Everywhere we looked during the tour, and afterward when Jan and I were exploring on our own, there were interesting things to see. I particularly loved all the gorgeous ironwork gates.

The palmetto trees were everywhere along with flowering trees that I can’t recall the name of. I do remember that the ones called “white” had pink and purple blossoms, which was very confusing and amusing. Elliot told as about how Ft. Sumter was originally built from Palmetto trunks. The thinking being that the sponginess of the trunks wouldn’t break under the impacts of canon balls. When the revolutionary war happened the theory was tested and proved true. The soldiers in the fort came out and gathered up the British canon balls and, “Very kindly returned them to the British ships.”

After our tour was over Jan and I headed back to do some real shopping at the City Market. I wanted to get some sweet grass baskets and find gifts for my boys. The day was heating up a bit and we made a stop at a stall that was selling fresh hand-made lemonade. It was delicious and entrancing to watch the lemonade being made. Jan had watermelon lemonade.

Different sections of the market were air-conditioned and in the first of these Jan and I spotted a little shop that had wonderful Vera Bradley bags and accessories. I fell in lust with this purple pattern as soon as I saw it. Turns out it was a brand new fabric release that week called “Lilac Tapestry”. The lady running the shop was very nice and was also a yarn wrangler.

Jan and I were discussing that the large bag would be great as a project bag, and the shop lady showed me the organizer that I could get when I spent $100 or more. I was hooked especially when she pointed out how well the organizer would work for holding stitch markers and all the other accoutrement that we yarn folk need.

There were lots of stalls selling tourist items in the market. I spotted a stall that had lots of different T-shirts and decided to get one for each of my boys, plus one for myself. I also wanted to find a piece of jewelry that had pineapples on it. Pineapples are the symbol of hospitality in South Carolina and they were the theme for our conference there.

I finally found the pineapples I wanted at the Historic Charleston Foundation store. I really liked that the profit from these purchases would also help fund their organization. The pineapple ornament will look great on my Christmas tree this year and will remind me of the lovely city. The pendant and earrings were surprisingly light-weight and I loved the glimmering pau-shell that was used to make them. Last of all I purchased the small print of one of the beautiful ironwork gates in the city.

Then Jan and I decided we needed to finish up with the shopping part of our day and grab a late lunch. I still needed to purchase some sweet grass baskets so we headed back to my favorite shop we had found earlier. On the way there I was captivated by a stall that was selling hats. This bonnet style one made me think of 1920s style cloche hats, at $10 I couldn’t resist.

Finally we made it to the baskets again. I picked out a couple of small ones, some would be gifts for friends back home in Colorado. I loved a lot of the larger ones, but the price and the logistics of getting them back on the airplane kept me from adopting any. My favorite thing about them was the scent of the sweet grass and while I am writing this one sits on my desk holding paperclips and smelling sweet.

At this point Jan and I were definitely hungry so we went hunting for a local restaurant that would fit the bill. One of the very pleasant surprises on this trip was the number of restaurants that had lots of gluten-free options on their menus. We decided to go to the Low Country Bistro. Some other friends at the conference had eaten there and recommended it, and our Elliot from the carriage ride had too.

The air-conditioning when we walked in was quite welcome and our server kept us well supplied with cold drinks as we ate a delicious meal. My favorite part of my meal was the home-made potato chips. I did share with Jan, but it was a near thing.

Cobble stone street — Old cobblestone street

After lunch we decided to do some exploring before we needed to head back to our hotel. Jan wanted me to see Charleston’s version of “painted ladies” which they call “Rainbow Row”. The folks at the Historic Charleston shop got us headed in the right direction. I wasn’t really able to get a good photo of them, but I took lots of other photos as we walked around enjoying the city.

So many of the nooks and crannies in the city were intriguing like this gate to a little garden behind a building.

The historic touches were fun too, like the working gas lamps that framed this impressive doorway.

I really loved this beautiful fountain with flowers in front of the Charleston Place Hotel. We had seen it while on our carriage tour and managed to stumble upon it again while walking around the city. I couldn’t tell you what street it was on though.

We ended our day in Charleston at the Waterfront Park. A beautiful area with lots of shade and fountains.

Jan and I walked out to the end of the pier to see Ft. Sumter better. That pink circle is around the island where I think it is located. It was difficult to really see and I hadn’t brought along binoculars.

We began walking along the Waterfront park path where we could see some fountains.

Even in the shade we were very warm, but it was preferable to the bright sunshine. I did like the look of the contrast in this photo though.

There were lots of beautiful gardens alongside buildings on the street beside the park pathway.

Of course I had to have a photo of the big Pineapple Fountain.

The whole Waterfront Park area seems to be designed with families in mind. This fountain in particular was popular with children running in and out of it. If I had been dressed appropriately for it I might have joined them as I was very hot at this point in our wanderings.

My last photo before we caught our trolley ride back to the Vistor Center was this lovely gate with a Crane on it. I hope you enjoyed seeing some of the highlights of Jan and I’s adventures in Charleston.

I’ve been a busy gal since my return to Colorado. The boys are headed back to school in less than 2 weeks and suddenly our summer break seems to be speeding by. I’m also getting ready for teaching at the Scotts Bluff Valley Fiber Arts Fair in early September.

As part of that I’ve been working on a Free Form Crochet art piece for the Fiber Arts Show that is on display in Mitchell, Nebraska for the month before the fair.

With all this stuff keeping me busy I’ve been having a difficult time getting back into my twice a week posting here on the blog. Hoping to correct that in the next week. Thanks for stopping by.

July is here Again!

July 2, 2016CelebratingLeave a Comment

It’s July again. We are half way thru the year and I’m a bit in shock that it has gone by so fast.

This weekend is the 4th of July celebrations here in the USA. I’m not sure what my family is going to be doing on the 4th. Our typical celebration includes taking in a game at Coors Field in Denver to watch the Rockies play Baseball and staying for the fireworks show afterward.

This year we didn’t get tickets to the Rockies game, thinking that we would be out of town. My husband’s maternal grandmother passed away this past winter and the 4th of July was also her birthday. Originally there had been some discussion about having a memorial service for her back in Dayton, Ohio on the 4th. Those plans didn’t come together though and it was too late to purchase tickets.

Usually when we go to a game I like to have a crochet project with me to keep my hands busy during the slow times. Last year though I took a knitting project.

This was the scarf I was making for my oldest son for Christmas.

Funny thing is here we are at the beginning of July and I am knitting again. I’ve been working on knitted squares for a class coming up this Fall. I’ll be telling you more about that soon.

I’ve got 3 crochet garments that I’m also working on, but I’m not ready to show those to you quite yet. This is just a sneak peek close-up of the fabric. As you can probably tell, I’m having a lot of fun playing with V-sts still.

I hope all my American readers have a fun and safe 4th of July weekend and my readers around the globe have a great relaxing weekend that includes some relaxing play-time with yarn and family.

Playing at the Wool Market

June 14, 2016Celebrating, Crochet, Yarn1 Comment

Was a busy weekend for me. I’ve been working away on the crochet design I showed you last post, but also drove over to Estes Park for the Wool Market on Saturday. I was a little late getting out the door because my boys didn’t want me to leave. They are so funny about me taking off for the day. They basically ignore me when I am home all day, but when I leave it’s lots of hugs and worry about when I am coming home. Figures I would have goofball kids.

The drive over to Estes Park from my house is gorgeous, I was tempted to stop a couple of times to take photos. I didn’t though since I was meeting my friend Brenda there and was already late. It rained on me for part of the 40 minute drive, fortunately the rain was gone by the time I reached the fairgrounds where the Wool Market is held.

Brenda was already in the Vendor Barn, which is actually much fancier than one would normally consider a “barn” to be. I walked thru looking for her and caught up with her at the Stitchin’ Den booth. Brenda is allergic to animal fibers so she was checking out the massive display of Intrelacements Rayon yarn that the Stitchin’ Den had at their booth. The choices of colors were almost overwhelming.

I fell in love with this gorgeous blue colorway called “Sturgeon Bay”. Unfortunately they didn’t have it in the large hanks, but they did have 2 of the 500 yard hanks. I’m not entirely sure what it will be when I crochet it up, but it will be a gorgeous color whatever it becomes.

Brenda was having too hard a time deciding on which color to purchase, so we decided to walk around and look at some of the other vendors and displays before she would pick out her yarn. We found this cool display around the corner from the Longmont Yarn Shoppe booth.

Seems like there were a lot of vendors with hats on display. I tried on this hat and Brenda took my photo so I could see what it looked like. I didn’t purchase it though since my hat collection at home is getting a bit out of hand, and I wasn’t that “in love” with it.

My friends at Bijou Basin had a booth and I stocked up on some more of their wonderful “Allure” fiber wash. Love this stuff and have just about finished the large bottle I purchased last year at the Wool Market. I also couldn’t resist this fun T-shirt, since it made me laugh when I saw it. I love fiber themed T-shirts and I purchased a large enough one that I can wear it over my yoga pants that are basically my uniform at home.

I had passed the Shuttles, Spindles and Skeins booth on my search for Brenda earlier and this bag had caught my eye. I’m a big fan of Laurel Burch’s artwork. So when Brenda and I were exploring we went by there again and I had to have a closer look at the bag. It’s a handy size and I finally succumbed to temptation and made it mine.

The bag has all kinds of fun little details, like the zipper pull for the bag is a Laurel Burch cat. The outside also has 2 pockets on the ends that are the perfect size for my phone.

I really like that the interior of the bag is mostly white and there is a generous sized zippered pocket. This bag will work well as a project bag and can do double duty as my handbag for the conference show this summer.

This fun little ceramic piece is a felting tool. It acts as a mini-washboard for wet felting. I’m thinking it is going to be perfect for some of my felting projects that I will be playing with this summer. I also liked that it looked a bit like an insect.

So I didn’t get thru the Wool Market visit without spending some money, but I stayed fairly close to my budget. At least I only bought 2 hanks of yarn. Funny thing after my ode to wool last post, I didn’t purchase any wool fiber at the market this year.

Now it’s back to crocheting on my latest project and tackling some “spring” cleaning since the warm weather finally decided to show up. I spent part of today working in the backyard. There is a Juniper bush that needs to come out and I was prepping it for himself to take the chain saw to it. I suspect I will be feeling some muscles I haven’t used in awhile tomorrow.

Pretty Pretty Flowers

May 14, 2016Celebrating, Creativity, Latest NewsLeave a Comment

Having way too much fun on my trip still, so the blog is getting a bit neglected. Tuesday and Wednesday of this week Jan and I drove down to the Philadelphia area to stay a couple nights with her sister and brother-in-law. The plan was to visit Winterthur and Longwood Gardens the 2 days we were down there.

Beautiful White Azalea bloom patterned with bright pink. — Beautiful White Azalea bloom patterned with bright pink from the Winterthur Gardens.

According to the weather dudes those were supposed to be our best days for outdoor outings. Unfortunately the weather dudes screwed up. Tuesday morning driving down it was spitting rain at us most of the way. Jan’s sister suggested when we got there that we do Winterthur that day, since lots of it was indoors touring the house.

Winterthur was quite lovely. A beautiful big house full of collections surrounded by a wonderful park-like estate. When we arrived at the visitor’s center we rode in the “Garden Tram” to the house and had a informative short tour of the garden with a very nice guide.

Jan loves Azaleas and our timing for this visit was perfect as they were at their peak. It did continue to rain, mostly it was only spitting and a bit gray. We still enjoyed walking around the gardens near the house and touring the collections in the house.

Steps down from the house into the garden.

Walking down the path into the reflecting pool garden.

The Reflecting Pool Seahorse decoration.

Back of the house from the reflecting pool.

Most of the good photographs I got that day were close-ups because the lighting really didn’t lend itself to distant outdoor shots.

White Snoballs and Purple Azaleas. These special azaleas are named "Winterthur". — White Snoballs and Purple Azaleas. These special azaleas are named “Winterthur”.

One tool I was using a lot in my photography this trip was the “guidelines” on my smart phone’s camera view. Most smart phones have this option on them and I’ve found it really handy for helping me line up and compose my shots. My phone is the Samsung Note 2. I found the “guidelines” under the “settings” in the camera view.

Icelandic poppies and Violas around a fountain at Longwood Garden.

The next day dawned a bit gray still, but we headed out to Longwood Gardens. These gardens are incredible and even with the overcast weather that never quite left us, it was an amazing day. I managed to take over 200 photos there, of course some of that was because I take multiple shots with slight differences hoping to get a shot I like.

Banks of flowers along the path in Longwood Garden.

Despite most of my visit this week being marked by wet weather I’ve really enjoyed it. It is such a change to be somewhere so lush and green, compared to my mountain top. The tall deciduous trees and rampant green undergrowth is quite different from the evergreen forest that surrounds my home on the mountain.

I’ll share more of my Longwood Garden photos next week. I also hope to have a fun new animation video finished for you by then.

Jan & Andee’s NY Adventures

May 11, 2016May 11, 2016Celebrating, Latest NewsLeave a Comment

The last time I came out to visit Jan we had planned to take the train into New York City to go to the Lion Brand Yarn Studio and Kinokuniya Book store. Unfortunately, Jan injured her foot and was in no condition to deal with the amount of walking that would be involved. Instead, the lovely Mary Beth Temple drove us into the city and even got us to our various destinations.

This trip Jan and I wanted to try out our original plan of taking the train from New Jersey to NYC Penn Station. Jan had done a lot of research and after a brief reccie the day before, we were ready to catch our train to the city Monday morning after most of the commuters had already taken their trains.

Our day’s itinerary was focused on going to MoMA to see the Degas exhibit. We would walk from Penn Station to the museum taking a route that passed by a number of iconic NYC sights like the Empire State Building and Rockefeller Center. So today’s post is all about photos.

I had headed Jan and I in the wrong direction from Penn Station but Jan got me straightened out. Clearly I’m good at geometry not geography. But I did get a decent shot of one of the entrances to Madison Square Garden.

My first bucket list item was getting a photo of the Empire State Building. I got lots, but this is the one I’ll share with you today.

Next we were headed north for MoMA, with plans to stop for lunch at a little restaurant that Jan had researched. Next photo stop was the NYC Public Library. I love the Lions on either side of the front steps.

Then Jan spotted the Chrysler Building so I got a quick photo, that was a “bonus” sight and completely serendipitous.

After we purchased our lunch it was off to MoMA. No photo of the entrance cause I was too excited. Here is a photo of one of the Degas paintings. If you are in the area get yourself to MoMA to see this wonderful and inspiring exhibit.

I got presents for the boys at the gift shop.

And goodies for me (of course).

Next we headed back to the train station. Stopping by Rockefeller Center on the way.

Had to get a photo of the NBC Peacock door pull.

Loved this gigantic button and needle in the Garment District.

More later.

A Finished Shawl

April 20, 2016April 21, 2016Celebrating, Crochet2 Comments

It took a bit longer than I had hoped, but I have finally finished my first “Playing with Triangles Shawl”. In the end I decided to make it 54 rows before putting on the border. My finished shawl is 76 inches along the top span and 36 inches long at the point.

One of the things I learnt working this first shawl is that I can keep track that my rows are even by keeping an eye on the scallops (highlighted with purple lines) on the “even” side of the top center.

I really had a lot of tails to weave in when I reached the finish. Took about an hour to weave them all in because I plan to use this shawl a lot and didn’t want them popping loose on me. I ended up with 25 tails total.

It was another cold snowy day up here on my mountain, so the new shawl got an immediate wearing. It’s wonderfully cozy and comfy.

You can find the free pattern for this shawl on my blog post: “Playing with Triangles” . I also have a video on my YouTube channel that walks you thru the steps of working the first 4 rows and the border: Click here to see the video.

YarnFest 2016

April 6, 2016Celebrating, Crochet, YarnLeave a Comment

I’m a bit late with my week-day post because I’ve been having too much fun the last couple of days. This weekend was the Interweave Yarn Fest and my friend, Mary Beth Temple, was teaching there then came to my house for a visit. I just said good-bye to Mary Beth this morning so I’m getting caught up on my blog now.

Saturday I drove up to Loveland to check out the Yarn Fest Marketplace. Mary Beth Temple and I were getting together for dinner after the Yarn Fest was closed for the day. But before that it was time to have fun in the Marketplace. I took this duty very seriously and got straight to work when I walked in the door.

My first stop was at the Brown Sheep Wool Company booth. I had been in touch with them earlier in the week and had asked them to bring down 4 pounds of their mill end fiber for me. I am practicing my needle-felting sculptural skills and that 4 pounds should keep me busy for a while. I also purchased a couple hanks of their super bulky Burly Spun to play with, both for needle-felting and crochet.

I took all those purchases out to my car and then returned to the show floor to continue my shopping adventure. My dear friend and fellow designer, Brenda Bourg, was there as well. We met-up and walked around the marketplace together. Interweave Crochet magazine was having a preview of the pieces going into the June issue, so we went to watch that.

Between looking at the various items being shown I notice Brenda’s gorgeous hot pink shoes. I was teasing her that I might be sneaking off with them. Just needed to find an event where she had to take off her shoes.

Meeting Lisa Souza — Lisa Souza and her lovely yarns

I was also excited to meet the talented Lisa Souza at this show. Lisa and I have been friends on the internet for some time, but had never met in person. Her booth was a glorious display of color and texture that was truly drool worthy. Despite my yarn diet I ended up adopting some hanks that were too lovely to abandon.

The 2 larger blue toned hanks will grow up to be a crocheted wrap some day, they are a yummy blend of wool and silk. I’m not sure what the little purple hank is destined to become. It is an incredibly soft silk/cashmere blend that was really just pure indulgence on my part.

While Brenda and I were exploring we came upon a booth that wasn’t really a yarn craft, but intrigued me greatly. I love making and wearing jewelry. I want pieces that have some durability, after all I do live on a mountain and have a very active lifestyle. This booth was all about making jewelry pendants and charms.

They had jewelry quality glass pieces of various shapes and sizes with trays to turn them into pendants or charms. As a demonstration you could do a make-and-take pendant. One of the ladies there, Karen, helped me turn my logo from my business card into a pendant for a necklace in less than 2 minutes.

I’ve always wanted to have a necklace with my logo on it, and now I do.

I was so excited about the products they had I purchased a number of them to make some gifts and experiment with in my art studio. I will have to share more about my results of working with these materials in another blog post. But if you want to try them out for yourself before then you can visit their website over at: CraftFantastic.com.

Brenda and I took a break about three to sit down for crochet time and chat in some comfy chairs in the lobby. Then she needed to leave to head back home, while I went back to the marketplace. Mary Beth joined me in the marketplace after her class finished up for a few more rounds of shopping.

We stopped by “The Recycled Lamb” booth and talked to the owners. While we were standing there a glowing basket of yarn kept calling my name. I finally succumbed and ended up purchasing one skein of this teal-toned silk, I think it may become a lovely necklace/cowl with beads when I work with it.

The thing I tend to be looking for at events like this are buttons, and my last purchases of the day were 2 beautiful glass buttons from the very talented Jodie McDougall. This carp button is my favorite and I don’t know if I want to use it or just keep it on my desk where I can see it every day. Doesn’t he look like he is really swimming in there?

The Yarn Fest marketplace had a lot more vendors this year than last year and I bet it will be even bigger next year. So you might want to keep an eye on the Interweave website to make plans to come to Yarn Fest 2017. It’s a lot of fun, especially the shopping.

I’ll show you what I’ve been up to with some of that lovely wool fiber this weekend.

Celebrating Circles

March 12, 2016March 12, 2016Celebrating, Creativity, Crochet, Crochet Design, Geekery, Indie publication2 Comments

This coming Monday is March 14th, and you know what that means? Pi Day!

Okay, for those of you that somehow have managed to be reading this blog and have missed it…

I’m a Geek!

I love math and science, plus all the other wonderfully related things. There have been rumors that I am a nerd, but I’m not paying them any notice. My favorite math, and one that I use frequently in my design work, is Geometry. That takes us back to Pi.

Pi = 3.14 and that makes March 14, a date that can be written 3.14, Pi Day. See, you knew I’d get to the point eventually.

Pi in lay terms is the number that allows us to compute the circumference of a circle. Actually it is much more than that, but that gets you in the general vicinity. It is a handy concept to understand, especially if you are making hats.

I’ve talked a lot about using Pi in sizing hats, in fact my “Perfect Fit Crocheted Hat” pattern/lesson has a lot of information about using Pi to determine the size of hat you can make. The sizing in that pattern is very flexible because once you master the method, you can use any size yarn with the appropriately matching hook to create a hat that fits perfectly.

Of course, since I’m in a mood for celebrating Pi, it seems only appropriate to introduce you all to my latest hat pattern: “Spiraling Crosses Hat”. I designed it in Tahki Stacy Charles “Mesa” yarn, a lovely squishy thick/thin aran-weight superwash wool that is dyed in long gradual color changes. This hat design is perfect for spring-time transitional weather. The stitch pattern has a bit of laciness to it and lots of stretch. The warmth of the wool is there to chase off a chill and the laciness allows your scalp to breathe.

As part of my celebration of Pi-Day this hat pattern is available to you dear readers at a 10% discount until almost Midnight (11:59 p.m. Mountain Time) Monday, March 14, 2016. Just use the coupon code PiDayHat16 when purchasing it in my Ravelry Shop.

Speaking of Ravelry, have you joined the fun at the month long party for crochet? Check out the forum for celebrating NatCroMo. You can even join in the Hat CAL with any hat pattern you so desire. Like maybe a Perfect Fit or Spiraling Crosses Hat?

Time to Celebrate Crochet Again

March 1, 2016March 1, 2016Celebrating, CGOA, Chain Link, Crochet, NatCroMoLeave a Comment

Can you believe it’s National Crochet Month again? Seems like the last year went by in a blur. We are going to start off our Month of Crochet celebration this March with the Crochet Guild of America.

As many of my readers know, I have been a member of the CGOA since 2008. My membership with CGOA has been a big part of my journey as a crochet designer and teacher. It also has been the way that I have met so many of my wonderful crocheting friends.

This year’s CGOA conference will be in Charleston, South Carolina July 13- 16, 2016. I’ll be going and hope to see lots of you there.

One of the fun events at the conference will be the unveiling of the entries for the 2016 CGOA Design Competition. The competition is judged at the conference and winners are announced there. It’s lots of fun to see what folks have come up with each year. There will be cash prizes for the different categories as well as for some of the special awards.

The 7 judging categories (plus a bonus category) are:

1. Fashion: garments (not accessories), including sweaters, tops, jackets, vests, skirts and dresses.

2. Accessories: including wraps, scarves, cowls, socks, mittens, hats, bags, belts and jewelry.

3. Home Décor and Afghans: items primarily for the home, including afghans and throws, baby blankets.

4. Thread Crochet: anything made in crochet thread or fine/lace weight yarn (CYC category #0/Lace); this category may overlap other categories, and includes doilies, garments, baby clothes, accessories.

5. Artistic Expression: items more artistic in nature, including free-form and mixed media pieces, wall hangings, wearable art.

6. Young Designer: anything designed with yarn and/or crochet thread by members 25 years old and younger. Designer may turn 26 in the year of the competition. As long as sometime during the year 2015 he or she was 25.

7. First Time Entrant/Non-Professional: anything designed with yarn and/or crochet thread by someone who has never entered the design competition before and is not a crochet professional. Non-professionals have not had any of their crochet designs published in print or PDF format.

Bonus Category – Pineapples: This year’s conference theme is pineapples! If your entry contains pineapples there will be a box you can check on the entry form to indicate this so your entry can also be judged in this category as well.

Remember, to be eligible to enter the Design Competition you need to be a current member of CGOA. Deadline for entries to be submitted is June 15, 2016.

You can learn more about the rules and about CGOA by visiting the website at Crochet.org or click on the Design Competition image above to go directly to the announcement page (you can see this page even if you aren’t currently a CGOA member).

You Gotta have Heart

February 5, 2016Celebrating, Crochet, How Tos1 Comment

It’s that time of year again, full of snow and cold, February has come blustering in here on the mountain. But my heart is warm because that means Valentine’s Day. For me it’s a holiday that really works as a reason for Chocolate (that’s capitalized on purpose).

I managed to make an early stop to the aisle at my grocery store where all the seasonal stuff is. I indulged in a number of bags of my favorite Dove Dark Chocolate heart candies, they tend to sell out fast here. There is just something about the little heart shapes that makes these individually wrapped candies extra special.

Over the years in my design career I have created a number of crochet patterns that involve hearts. Some are ones that I have offered here on the blog as free patterns. Others have been created for magazines or yarn companies.

I created the “Valentine Heart Coaster” for Red Heart a few years back. It’s a quick project to work up and you can use it as a coaster, or sew it onto a bag or blanket as an embellishment.

I also created the “Here’s My Heart” gift bag. This project takes a bit more of a time commitment, but makes a lovely gift bag for someone special in your life. This is a bit more complex pattern as well, so a fun challenge for those with more crochet experience. The lace edged heart on the front is actually a pocket, so a great spot to put a special note.

Both of these patterns are available for free at Redheart.com, just click on the link in the pattern names above.

I’ve also put up a number of free heart patterns here on the blog over the years. My top 3 favorites are:

Crocheted Love

Spiral in a Heart

and Simple Sweetheart.

I like to play with these designs and use the hearts as embellishments or elements for projects. My favorite way to use the “Crocheted Love” and “Simple Sweetheart” is to make 2 hearts and sew them together leaving an opening at the top to insert a note or chocolate (often a little Dove heart, since that fits perfectly). You can read more about how I made the little pocket above on my 2014 Valentines Day post.

Last year I used my “Crocheted Love” heart pattern to make this fun little pocket to hold some chocolate and a note for my dear husband.

This year I decided I needed some jewelry to wear for Valentine’s Day. So I crocheted up some of my “Simple Sweetheart” and “Spiral in a Heart” using Kreinik #12 Metallic Braid in hot-pink and pink colors. For the necklace pictured above I used a 1.75mm steel hook to create a nice firm fabric that didn’t need additional stiffening.

I also modified my “Spiral in a Heart” pattern to create a more symmetrical appearance to the heart shape. The modification is simple if you want to try it. When you get to the end of Round 3, ch 1, then sl st into side of last hdc, sc next sc, loose sl sts in next 3 sts, fasten off and weave in ends.

My “Crocheted Love” heart has also been rather popular with other crochet bloggers. They have come up with fun ideas on ways to incorporate it into their projects.

You’ve seen Cintia’s little baskets. The photo above is my experiment with that idea, came out very cushy and they made great containers for chocolates.

Photo by Laura Murray used with permission

Check out this fun project from Laura Murray over at Paper and Pin. She used my “Crocheted Love” hearts and turned them into sweet little conversation heart pillows. I think it’s a toss-up on my favorite one she made, though the “hug” heart is very sweet.

I’ll have a few more ideas for Valentine’s Day for all my dear readers next week, but hopefully these will spark something for those of you looking for ideas for gifts for your loved ones.