Humor – Page 4 – Mamas2Hands

Celebration!

October 13, 2012October 13, 2012Celebrating, Crochet, Humor, Prizes4 Comments

Well, today is my birthday. I’m not sure how it came around again so quickly, I would have sworn I had one of these just 6 months ago.

I’ve been very good to myself leading up to this birthday. Indulged in some yarn purchases, as well as some fun goodies for jewelry making that may or may not be used in my design work. Plus there was the whole “Trip to Reno” that was a kind of gift from my family.

Anyway, I think I have my birthday celebration covered, so I am giving a gift to one of my readers that commented on my Mountain Ruana post. And the lucky winner is: Julie! I’ll be in touch by email very soon to get your address to mail you the copy of “Warm & Cozy Crochet” that you won. Thanks for commenting on my blog.

Meanwhile, since I officially turn 49 today, I shall be contemplating the 50th year of my life. I think I need to take better care of myself. Which sort of encompasses all manner of sins: Like getting more and regular sleep, eating a healthy hearty breakfast every morning (which means this is the last morning I am having GF brownies for breakfast), and getting some form of cardio exercise everyday. I know from all my work as a health and wellness writer that it’s all a matter of “Move it or Lose it” if I don’t want the years to bring me to a grinding halt.

Of course, no matter what, I will always celebrate my birthday. As a very wise friend told me years ago upon his 50th birthday, “Getting older is far preferable over the alternative.”

A different Yarnie Craft

July 13, 2012Creativity, Humor, Kid Projects1 Comment

Yesterday was was an indoor rainy day and was all about my children. Especially Thing 1 (Dr. Seuss reference for those of you thinking I’m a wicked mom to call my children Things).

My children see me playing/working with yarn All The Time. Yarn pervades the entire household. So there really is no way to avoid it. They both have expressed desires to learn to crochet, but it is slow going at times. So what is a Mom to do to share the yarn crafting love with them?

Why, teach them to weave of course. Particularly Thing 1, as Thing 2 is sticking with the crochet hook for the nonce.

Actually it’s sort of funny me teaching my children to weave, since my knowledge base isn’t a whole lot larger than their own. I’m just blessed with a nimble mind and a small bit of experience from over 30 years ago.

The wonderful thing about weaving is it is so accessible, even for the utter novice. So I grabbed my trusty utility knife and an empty cardboard box from the recycling pile and declared it was going to provide the bits for a loom and accessories.

Without any real measuring I cut out a flat piece to use for the loom and made small slits along the top and bottom to hold the warp of the loom. Quickly warped it with some acrylic yarn. Then I dug out some oversized knitting needles to act as sheds.

Shuttle-pre-notching — Shuttles, with one needing notching

My son and I began to play with weaving a bit of yarn in, but it soon became apparent that we needed some more tools. Like sturdier shuttles for the weft yarn and a shed and sword. So more cutting on the box and I had made shuttles, shed and sword. I also grabbed a comb for him to use as the “beater”.

Then my son went to town weaving happily. He decided this is really a hobby he wants to learn more about. After he went to bed I did a little research about basic weaving on the internet and learned how to make a simple heddle to use to speed up the weaving process.

Today he and I are going to Boulder to visit “Shuttles, Spindles and Skeins”. This is a LYS that I have visited many times to purchase yarn for crocheting and animal fiber for felt work. As their name indicates, they also have wonderful supplies for weaving. So it will be a great opportunity to look at the various looms available and learn more about weaving from folks that know a lot about the craft.

Since Thing 2 is also expressing an interest in learning more about weaving I’m thinking we will be bringing a potholder loop loom home as well. They aren’t expensive and they are a super fun quick way to learn about weaving that both boys can enjoy.

Best part of this experience is it’s been a wonderful reminder of how much fun it is to do arts and crafts with my kids. Even if it is just paper-crafts, find some time to craft with your kids, they have a great time learning something new and you may surprise yourself with the new things you learn about them.

When Hairy met Lily

July 2, 2012July 3, 2012Chain Link, Humor2 Comments

First off, credit where credit is due, the lovely Shari White came up with that title.

If you have never met Lily Chin you haven’t really lived. She is an amazing teacher who knows crochet, knitting and design backwards as well as forwards.

Her classes are not for the faint of heart, she covers a lot of material and your brain will be firing with loads of ideas…whether you are a designer or just love to crochet. But if you want to learn the ins and outs of crochet (or knitting) take a class with her.

If she isn’t teaching a class in your area, find her books. Her “Couture Crochet Workshop” is one of my very favorites, both informative and inspiring. And her Crochet “Tips and Tricks” book is full of information that even experienced crocheters can benefit from.

The other thing Lily can be is a complete riot. At Chain Link in Manchester this year she was toting around the most outrageous bag I had ever seen. So I said I had to get a photo of it. In response she gave me the pose in this photo. We were all laughing so hard that it is a miracle that I got a shot that wasn’t blurry.

Lily’s bag is named Hairy, it has a middle name too…but I’m too bashful to repeat it here for all my innocent readers. If you figure it out on your own you are clearly not as innocent as you’ve been leading me to believe.

Tomorrow I will share with you some pictures of my loot from the marketplace. I was pretty darn busy with the Design Competition stuff, so that slowed down my shopping. Of course I still managed to do some damage to my budget anyway.

Reality Check

May 27, 2012Health and Self Care, Humor2 Comments

Recently I had to have some photos taken of me in Yoga clothes. Looking thru those photos was definitely a reality check.

Fact is…I’ll be celebrating my 49th birthday this year. Most of the time I can conveniently forget that. Afterall, I don’t feel like I’m in my late forties, in many ways I feel like I’m still a 20-something with my life ahead of me. I can mentally select what I notice in the mirror, but photos seem to make everything visible, even the aspects of my physical self that I would like to ignore.

Of course photos aren’t the only way I’m getting a reality check. This past year more of my work involves sitting for hours in front of the computer or sitting crocheting. Either way I’m leading a much more sedentary life than I was 2 years ago, and I am noticing the difference. I have more aches and pains, I’m gaining weight and I’m losing muscle mass.

So that makes me wonder, is this just what happens as we age? Should I just accept that the rest of my life I’ll be living with these issues? Was my Mom right, and every thing after 50 is just “patch, patch, patch”? For those who know me well, you already know my answer.

I’m fighting back. I’ve already been making efforts to become more active in my life, interspersing physical activity through-out my day. I now have a tread-mill that I walk on for at least 20 minutes each morning. With our family adding a dog to the mix I get out and play ball with her and take her for walks as well.

I have plans for more physical activity as well, especially with summer finally arriving…hiking and swimming with my kids and yard work.

But exercise, though important, it isn’t the only change I’m making. My Chiropractor told me about a book called “The Paleo Diet” by Loren Cordain, Ph.D. that I am currently reading. It is very interesting, discussing how our physiology isn’t really in sync with the modern diet. The argument is we are basicially Stone-age beings living in the Space Age.

The Paleo diet consists of eating like our Stone-age ancestors; lean meats, fruits and non-starchy vegetables. I’m very impressed by the information Dr. Cordain presents in his book. I have already discovered that I do better health-wise by eliminating wheat and gluten from my diet.

I’m a little leary about the amount of lean meat the diet recommends, but I know I’ll be happy with eating all the veggies and fruit I want. The hardest part will be eliminating the sugars and salts I love. His recommendations for the diet do include an occassional “cheater” meal, but I don’t know how easily I can adapt.

So I have decided to conduct an experiment on myself. I will be incorporating the Paleo diet into my eating life-style. Hopefully even convincing my husband and children to join me. And I’ll be blogging about my progress as I go along.

Record Breaking Snowfall

February 4, 2012Humor, InspirationLeave a Comment

For those of you that don’t know, my family and I live at approximately 8500 feet above sea-level on a mountain in the Colorado Rockies. We can get some serious snow, especially in the spring-time. This is one of many reasons my crochet design inspirations tend to be toward items to keep one warm. Like cozy afghans, warm hats, scarfs and mittens. My all time favorites are fluffy shawls that can double as scarves or snuggly ponchos (cause they stay put when you are chasing small boys).

According to our neighbor, who is a meterologist at NOAA in Boulder, we have broken some records with this recent winter storm. This is the most snowfall we have had in February since 1991, and February is only started. The sun has come out now and it seems the flakes have stopped falling.

One of the beautiful things about Colorado is how we get sunshine even in the midst of winter. I always find fresh snow to be beautiful, but it is even more so with sunlight sparkling off it. It all inspires me to take some artistic photographs of our yard and views.

Design Evolution

January 26, 2012January 26, 2012Creativity, Crochet Design, Humor1 Comment

Have you ever wondered what the process is from conception to publication of crochet designs? I hadn’t really thought about it much until 3 years ago when I decided I’d like to try selling some of my designs to magazines.

Magazine Image as Shawl — Photo from DRG Publishing

My most recent published design, Plum’s the Word Shawlette, is available now on the Crochet! website as a web Extra to their Winter 2011 print edition. You can see more details on page 79 of the magazine, or if you are a digital subscriber go to Crochetmagazine.com/EXTRA.

The beginning of this design was born during my family’s Spring Break road-trip in March 2011. As always for a road trip I made sure to pack one of my suitcases full of yarn, hooks and stitch dictionaries. One of the yarns I had packed was Premier’s Alpaca Dance.

As I have freely confessed many times, I have a bit of a thing for unusual yarns (sometimes called “novelty” yarns). If it is fluffy or sparkly it is very likely to catch my eye. I am particularly fond of soft fluffy yarns. Though they can be a bit of a trial when having to frog back stitches (I have a few helpful hints in this post on working with these types of yarns).

When I design with yarns like that I want to use stitch patterns that are less likely to cause grinding of teeth. So I knew I wanted something that allowed the majority of the stitches to be worked into chain spaces instead of actual stitches. Using a big hook is also helpful.

I worked my swatches with my Laurel Hill M and L size hooks, deciding in the end that I was happiest with the swatch I had made with the L hook.

I had been looking at the popularity of ruffled wraps, and started playing with Hyperbolic Planes as I swatched.

Because the fluffy yarn has a lovely halo effect, I knew that a lacy open stitch pattern would look very delicate and still make a warm fabric. Ideal characteristics for a feminine scarf or shoulder wrap.

Since this was a fairly small project idea, I decided to work a larger swatch to check my increase calculations and made an actual shawlette.

This photo was one I included to show the shawlette in my proposal for a “Fluffy Ruffles” Shawlette/Scarf to Crochet! Magazine. I also used Universal Yarns’ Swiss Mohair to create a swatch of the stitch pattern as another suggested yarn for this pattern.

When the editors reviewed my proposal they thought the lighter weight yarn would be a better match and they wanted to use the design in the “Winter 2011” issue of the magazine. I finished the final sample in the chosen yarn and wrote up the pattern, then sent them off to the magazine staff at the end May 2011.

After that my focus was swatching and working on other design ideas. I was excited when my CGOA copy of the Winter Issue came in the mail as I remembered I had a design in it. But when I looked at the design names I didn’t see “Fluffy Ruffles”. Then I spotted the information and photo on page 79. My design now had a new name, and was one of the Web Bonuses available to Crochet! readers.

And that my dear readers is my part of the story of design evolution.

Bang! 2012 is Rocking Already

January 7, 2012January 7, 2012Celebrating, Creativity, Crochet Design, Humor1 Comment

Here we are one week into 2012 and I’m looking at my resolutions and goals once again. Didn’t we just do this?

I know I’m marking myself as gaining in years with this comment, but it does really seem like every year is passing by more quickly than it’s predecessor. Of course it could be explained mathematically. Yeah, like you didn’t see that one coming.

It’s all about proportionate relative POV (point of view). For a child 5 years old, 1 year is equal to only 1/5 of his life experience. So that year seems to pass slowly as he anxiously awaits each of the markers of the passing year: Halloween, Christmas, his 6th Birthday. Where for me at 48 years, 1 year is equal to 1/48 of my life experience and those same markers seem to come along at warp speed.

This New Year started off with a bang, work and family life were both keeping me on my toes, so getting to the blog has been a bit delayed. Finally found a moment to think about what my resolutions are for this year.

#1 – Make time every week to play with my children. This has actually been going pretty well as the boys got lots of Legos and some board games for Christmas. I figure I need to make the effort to play with them while they want me to, as they are growing up so fast.

#2 – Do more volunteer work with organizations that matter to me. I love going to the CGOA conferences each year to learn new techniques, spend time with crocheting and designing buddies and shopping the unique offerings at the marketplace. I’ll be doing more with the CGOA (Crochet Guild of America) this year than ever before. Because I’ve agreed to work with Doris Chan and Shari White as part of the CGOA Design Competition committee.

#3 – Purge my household and creative “stuff” to create more space in my home and office. Yes, I seem to have this resolution every year (or some version of it) but it is a never-ending process as more “stuff” seems to come in on a daily basis.

Modeled-with-Rock — M2H Designs: Tumbling Leaves Scarf

#4 – Publish at least 8 crochet designs in my M2H Designs line. Just this week I published the first one of the year, Tumbling Leaves Scarf. If I can manage to do that at least every month I’ll fulfill this goal easily.

#5 – Finish 2 fine art pieces of a good size. Say at least 1 foot by 2 feet. With all the design and writing work I’ve been doing recently, my art studio and art supplies have been getting lonely. I’ve also been wanting to make time to explore using more textile pieces and techniques in my “fine art” work.

#6 – Get back into a regular Yoga practice again, working up to doing an hour of yoga 3 times a week by the end of the year. I have found my life more sedentary with the work I do now (design and writing), so making myself stick to regular exercise is becoming more important to my overall well-being.

Cold Little Fingers

November 7, 2011November 7, 2011Creativity, How Tos, Humor, Sewing1 Comment

Another week, another snow storm. If your household is anything like mine many of the hats, mittens and gloves from the previous cold season have either been outgrown or have fallen into that black-hole that all laundry rooms seem to have.

I had a mad search for warm hand gear for my boys after our most recent snow storm. I found some good ski-gloves that still fit my oldest, but all I could find for my youngest was a pair of polar fleece mittens. He loves to play in the snow, but is not terribly fond of how cold his little fingers get when his mittens get wet.

I decided that he needed some wool mittens, which stay warmer when wet than polar fleece. I knew I wanted the fabric to be felted to allow for a bit better water-proofing, but I didn’t want to crochet the mittens and then felt them.

I grabbed my box of left-over felt pieces from when I was playing around with felting thrift-shop sweaters. I remembered I had a couple of felted sleeves that I thought would be ideal. What I really loved about these sleeves was the rolled detail at the end of the sleeves.

Of course for this sewing task I needed a pattern. I drew around my little guy’s hand, then sketched some shaping. I wanted to utilize the fold in the side of the sleeve to minimize the length of the final seam, so I did some manipulating to create a straight edge along the side opposite the thumb.

Then I turned the sleeves inside out and traced my pattern piece on the felt with a marker. Once that was done I cut out each mitten.

I used some sharp-pointed scissors to trim out a 1/4 inch of the cording in the cuff trim so the edges could be finished cleanly.

I dug out some matching thread and using a tight whip-stitch sewed an 1/8″ seam around the cut edges starting at the folded side of the mitten. To be sure no gaps would develop along the seam, I overlapped my stitching whenever I had to re-thread my needle.

I used a simple mattress stitch to enclose the raw edges of the corded trim on the cuff to create a smooth join.

Voila’ a wonderful pair of mittens to keep some cold little fingers warm.

It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Super Bean!

October 29, 2011Creativity, Humor2 Comments

What do you do when it there are only 10 minutes before you have to leave to take your children to a birthday/costume party and the super-hero cloak has gone missing? If you are me, you get creative.

I knew there was not time to get the sewing machine fired up, and crocheting something was out of the question as well (I mean, I have a very fast hook but even I can’t crochet a cape in 10 minutes).

Super Bean insisted that the cloak had to be blue. Fortunately I had a couple different blue micro-fleece pieces of yardage on hand. Micro-fleece would be ideal as it doesn’t fray and all I would need to do is cut out the appropriate shape. He picked out the blue he liked and I was off.

Quick mental calculations ensued. How could I shape this so that it would have some good flowing cape properties? And so it would not strangle my beloved “Super Bean”. There wasn’t time to sketch or measure…this was going to be true seat-of-the-pants engineering.

Because time was limited I didn’t take pictures of the process. But the negative space in the photo above gives you an idea of how the cape was cut out. 5 minutes later, a bit of face painting and Super Bean was off to his party ready to leap tall buildings and demolish birthday goodies.

When he returned from the party I was allowed to spread out the cape and take a photo. It clearly stood up well to all the rigors of the party. It is now a beloved new addition to the costume box.

And Mommy is the real super hero of the day.

Snow Day!

October 27, 2011October 27, 2011Creativity, Humor1 Comment

One of the joys of living on a mountain in Colorado is that one never knows when winter weather will arrive. Oh sure, on the calendar it says that the first day of winter is officially December 21st or 22nd.

I’m here to bear witness that on my mountain it is definitely a few months earlier. As proof I offer the these photographs taken yesterday afternoon on my deck and in my front yard.

To give you an idea of how deep the snow was on my deck railing I included an orphan 14″ knitting needle in this shot. That knitting needle hasn’t been knit with as it is destined to be turned into a Tunisian crochet hook someday in the near future.

This is a favorite tree of mine in our front yard, so I had to go out and attempt a rescue before the snow load bent it to the ground.

It blooms with lovely sweet-scented white flowers in the spring that later turn into orange-colored berries. I always know when we have had our first significant freeze because the berries turn bright red. It is also one of the few trees on our property that puts on a proper color show in the Fall.

My rescue efforts did help, though there were a lot of leaves on the snow once I was finished. I also got a face full of snow during the rescue operation, next time I use a longer broom.

Berry-Popsicle — A little artistic appreciation, even with frozen fingers.

Now, don’t you feel like curling up under a comfy crocheted afghan to stitch away on some snuggly slippers or mittens?

I think I need to hunt down that lovely alpaca/wool blend yarn I was planning on using for some mittens for me. 20F temperatures while I was digging a path and rescuing trees made me really wish I had made them already.