Yarn – Mamas2Hands

Festival and Conference Season Begins

April 23, 2019Fiber, Latest News, Yarn, Yarnie FriendsLeave a Comment

A couple weeks ago I spent my Saturday at YarnFest in Loveland, Colorado. This is a great festival that is “local” for me. There are loads of classes and a fun marketplace celebrating yarn and other fibery fun.

I got to see a number of friends and had a little retail therapy time. My first stop and purchases were with the folks at Brown Sheep Company. I’m looking forward to making something summery with the pink yarn. Hopefully I can finish it before the CGOA conference in July.

I had lunch with my good friend Karen Whooley, she taught 4 classes at the festival. We had a great time catching up. Once she had to head back to teach her afternoon class I met up with my friend Susanna.

Turns out Susanna is nearly as dangerous an enabler to shop with as my dear friend Jan. I ended up purchasing a few more items than I had originally planned on. The gorgeous yarns below were too tempting.

This lovely fluffy dark yarn is a Cashmere/Wool blend. There is a little over 320 yards in the 2 balls, so I am hoping to create a lacy cowl or a shawlette. The fluffy halo of the yarn will make for a warm fabric even if it is created with very open stitch work.

Susanna had to bring me to see the yarns at the “Knit Stitch” booth. She had made a hat using some of their lovely hand-dyed yarn. I couldn’t resist this pink and lavendar yarn with it’s bit of sparkle, the color name is “Doodlebug”. I am planning to make myself a beautiful hat for next winter. I think it will look terrific with my silver hair.

A YarnFest tradition for me is to visit glass artist Jodie McDougall’s booth. She always has wonderful glass buttons and goodies. This year I had to adopt some adorable sheep earrings. I’ve been wearing them a lot since the festival. I especially love their little feet.

I was thrilled to see my friend Paula of KnitBaahPurl was at YarnFest again. I had to purchase one of her T-shirts for a new sleep Tee. I really loved this “now I lay me down to sheep” shirt, and it’s in a lovely lavender purple color.

Paula creates all sorts of fun sheep and yarn themed artwork that she sells on T-shirts, mugs, wine glasses, cards and other fun items. I especially love the ecumenical nature of most of her illustrations. No matter what your yarnie art…her artwork will fit the bill.

My final purchase of the day were some cute little stitch markers from the Longmont Yarn Shoppe booth. Who hasn’t played “yarn chicken” when finishing a project? The chicken may actually be inspiration for a crochet or needle felted sculptural piece in the future. I also found the little squirrel to be too cute to resist.

Looking back over all my goodies from YarnFest I’m realizing that I actually exercised some restraint. I stood strong against many of the temptations. Now I just need to crochet like the wind with all this yarn in my stash so I can get more yarn at the other Festivals and Conferences coming up.

In mid-June the Estes Park Wool Market will be here, that could be dangerous to my budget. I’m planning on joining some friends there to tour the vendor barn as well as check out the various critter barns.

The second week of July will be the CGOA conference, which includes a lovely boutique Marketplace. This year’s conference will mark the 25th anniversary of CGOA so there will be extra fun things happening there. If you haven’t had a chance to register for the show it isn’t too late. You can check it out at Crochet.org.

I hope to see some of you at a Festival or Conference this year. But even if you can’t join me at the ones I’m at, do a little research in your area to see if there is one going on near you. It’s a great place to meet fellow yarnies and take classes to expand your crafting skills.

TNNA Goodies

June 24, 2017September 16, 2017Celebrating, Creativity, Crochet, Latest News, Sheep, TNNA, YarnLeave a Comment

I’m back from my little break and I have so much news for you. It’s likely going to take a few blog posts.

This summer has been moving fast and it seems every weekend has been full of excitement. First June weekend was sheep adventures, second was TNNA, and the third was playing with my dear niece and her adorable family.

I’ve shared quite a bit about the sheep adventures, though there will be more to tell on that front. For the moment though let’s roll the clock back to the second weekend and talk about the TNNA Summer Trade Show in Columbus, Ohio. For those of you that are new to my blog, or have never heard of TNNA, it is The National Needlearts Association and is a trade organization for folks that sell all sorts of fiber, yarn, needle crafting tools and supplies. It also includes needlearts teachers, designers and bloggers. You can learn more about TNNA at their website.

I had a little shorter visit at TNNA this time than I usually do, but it was still super productive. I flew out of Denver late Saturday morning. Had one of the most relaxing and enjoyable flights ever because of my seat mates. The woman at the window was traveling with her King Charles Cavalier Spaniel and he cuddled with me for most of the flight. Might not have been ideal for folks that don’t love dogs or critters, but it was perfect for me. The woman on the aisle was also a dog lover, so we had a great time.

Saturday evening was the Business & Creative Services dinner. Lots of interesting conversations with colleagues and show vendors. There was a great goodie bag. I made sure to go to each of the vendors during the rest of the show to thank them for their sponsorship.

Sunday morning I had an inspiring class with Zontee Hou called “Become a Video Whiz”. Just Wow! I feel like my brain was so full after that class that I needed to sit somewhere quietly for a couple of hours and think. Unfortunately that wasn’t an option that day, fortunately Zontee always provides detailed slides and hand-outs that let me re-live the class now I am home.

I needed to spend my Sunday after the class on the showroom floor to meet with a number of yarn companies and to talk tools with some of the other companies (like the lively folks at Clover).

It’s always exciting to see what products Clover has, both the old and new. I’ve got a few to experiment with over the next couple of months, so be sure to check back for those reviews.

It was also a blast to see my friend Eloise. She and I have known each other for ages, long before she began working with Clover. We had a good chuckle when she started working with them and I told her they were one of my very favorite crafting tool companies. We were laughing at this show because she lives in Denver, yet the last 2 times we have seen each other have been at shows that we had to fly to. Life just gets too busy and crazy at times.

I also found some other booths I needed to check out. Like the “Knitting Abacus”, “Glowving” from Kreinik and “Brittany Knitting Needles & Crochet Hooks”.

It’s not a real TNNA show without a stop by Daven’s “Love & Leche” booth for beautifully scented lotion bars for keeping my hands from drying out up here on the mountain.

One of the most wonderful things about being at TNNA is the yarn. A rainbow of colors and so many beautiful soft fibers. I can get very lost seeing all the yarn. That joke about being overwhelmed by yarn fumes? It could really happen at TNNA. There are so many new yarns to see.

The pile of yarn above is what I came home with, there will also be some more coming to my house soon. I’ve been sketching and making design notes on each of these in preparation for creating gorgeous new crochet designs. Some of these yarns are brand new to me, so I will also be posting reviews of those yarns as I get to work with them.

Sunday evening I got together with a bunch of my designer friends and we went out to dinner at Bare Burger. I loved this restaurant. Local sourced and organic food, cooks and wait staff that actually know what Gluten Free really means plus fun, quirky décor like the awesome decoupaged bear heads hanging all over the restaurant walls.

One stop that was at the top of my list for TNNA was the Unicorn Wash booth. I met Melanie, the owner, at my first TNNA show. You might recall I mentioned her when talking about my marvelous book about sheep? It was her drawing that I won it from. I wanted to make sure to check in with her and discuss her products because I have another big piece of news. I am now a part owner with my neighbor Margie of a sheep flock.

I bet most of you aren’t that surprised, after all the sheep adventures of the last couple of years. It’s been my dream for a long time and Margie gave me the push I needed to do it. Life is going to be even more interesting and busy now, but I figure it will off-set the gap that is opening in my life as my sons are becoming ever more independent. I know one thing after only one week of working with the sheep regularly, I’m going to be getting in great shape.

Hang onto your hooks and needles my dear readers, it’s going to be a wild time on the mountain.

Another Experiment with Plarn

April 26, 2017Creativity, Crochet, Yarn4 Comments

The last time I wrote about crocheting with plarn was nearly 7 years ago. I had made the basket pictured above using the green bags that our local newspaper was delivered in. That was my first experiment with working with Plarn. Then life got busy with designing crochet patterns for magazines, books and yarn companies and I didn’t re-visit the Plarn experiments I had hoped to do.

For those of you that may not have ever heard of Plarn, it is yarn that is created by using loops or strips from plastic shopping bags. But it can be created or upcycled from other plastic materials.

This past weekend was super busy at my house. My youngest son was celebrating his birthday by having a bunch of his friends come up for a Nerf Gun Battle on our property. For those of you that are visiting my blog for the first time, I live in the mountains of Colorado and our property is about 2.5 acres of vertical land with lots of Lodge-pole and Ponderosa pine trees. A great place for a bunch of 11 year olds to romp and play.

Our property is bounded on 3 sides by the county road, but our wooded boundary is a little less defined. As a courtesy to our neighbors in that direction we put up a “Caution” tape barrier to remind the kiddos not to pass that. The birthday boy and I spent the morning putting up the tape. After the party I went out to take down the tape.

As I began walking along unwrapping it from trees and winding it into a big ball, I found myself looking at it and thinking, “This would be interesting to crochet with.” I also hated the idea of putting it in the trash to be more plastic in the landfill.

Part of the party set-up was that my husband purchased a bunch of the Nerf “Elite” darts for everyone to use. We now have a LOT of darts at our house. During the party I had tossed all of them into a 5 gallon bucket from a construction supply store. Frankly it’s a lot more container than is really needed. Lightbulb moment… I could crochet an awesome container for them from the used “Caution” tape. You saw that coming, didn’t you?

The tape is 3 inches wide and very thin, just like most of the plastic shopping bags out there. I have 2 pieces of it. One from the long stretch in the woods and a much shorter strip that was used for marking off a hazard area on the property that we wanted the kids to steer clear of.

I’m planning on working with the shorter strip first to see if I want to split the tape lengthwise. It will add a lot more work to the project, but may save my hands in the long run. In my first experiment with plarn I found the thicker strips to be more challenging to crochet, partly because of the larger hook size needed. I also discovered that I did better with a wooden hook, as the metal or plastic hooks I had tended to “grab” the plarn.

Looks like I’ll be doing some “swatching” with my plarn before I am neck deep in this experiment. I want to create a wide bottomed tote with large handles integrated into the top edge. The kids can then carry it easily, or even hang it up by one handle as a “target”. The best bit about that? They will be putting the darts away when they hit the target. Maybe that will make them want to clean-up more? Well, a mom can dream.

Experimental Swatch #1

I worked with the tape 3 inches wide, the size it comes off the roll, and crocheted with a 10mm size wooden hook (Uncle Cy’s Woodshop hook). I loved how cushy and thick this fabric came out, but I really felt like I was fighting with the plarn and the hook. I was only working 3 rounds for these swatches and by the time I had 3 finished for this one I was wiped out.

Experimental Swatch #2

I split the tape to 1.5 inches wide and used my size 6mm metal hook (Clover Amour). This hook worked great with the plarn and cutting the tape to half its original width definitely made it easier to crochet. The metal Clover Amour hook is so smooth it was like Teflon, it slid thru the plarn with ease. But…I felt like the fabric was too thin for what I want the tote to be. It was also really tedious to cut it in half.

I used scissors to cut the bit I used for the swatch.

I also experimented with the idea of cutting the tape while it was on the cardboard roll that it came on when I purchased it. There was some left-over on the roll. I used a utility knife to cut thru it. That worked okay, but re-winding all the tape in the big ball did not hold a lot of attraction for me. I might play around a bit more with the left-over tape to crochet a wearable pouch that the kiddos can use to carry extra darts in when they are running around.

Experimental Swatch #3

Went back to the wider tape again. This time I used a 10 mm plastic hook (Clover Amour). I was hoping the larger Clover Amour hooks in plastic might have a similar smoothness to the smaller metal ones. The hook was much less “grabby” than some of the acrylic hooks I had worked with in my first plarn experiment. Unfortunately it was still a bit of a fight. I really felt I was having the best result with the metal hooks or maybe it was the smaller sized hook?

The photo above is Swatch #3 and Swatch #2. You can see the difference in size for these 2 swatches. I really wanted to work with the tape at it’s original size. For one thing, it would mean fewer rows to crochet the size of tote I had in mind. The thicker fabric would also be more durable with the amount of use I’m figuring this tote will get.

I messed around with trying to crochet with my J/6mm metal hook and the wider tape. It was a lot of work and I had to keep reminding myself to pull all my loops out bigger than the hook shaft size. I tend to be more of a “rider” style crocheter so I keep my loops pretty close to the size of the hook shaft and it’s a hard habit to break. I really needed a metal hook in the larger sizes, like 9mm or 10mm. This is when it comes in handy to be an avid collector of crochet hooks.

Back in 2014 I took a trip to visit Jan and the 2 of us met up with a bunch of friends at the Lion Brand Yarn Studio in NYC. Both of us purchased sets of the Hiya Hiya crochet hooks there. The majority of the hooks in the set are metal including the larger sizes: 8mm, 9mm and 10mm. I dug this set out of my “hook drawer” and decided to give the 8mm and 9mm a try. Metal and smaller, but not so small it would be a fight.

Experimental Swatch #4

Well the 9mm size hook was good, but the hook shape was still a bit of a fight. The bulb like point and tapered throat of the Hiya Hiya hooks is very similar to the Boye hooks, but not ideal for this project. I did like the size of my stitches and the metal was definitely easier with this plarn.

Experimental Swatch #5

Time for a bit more digging in my hook drawer. Ah ha! I found I had some of the larger metal hooks in the Bates Bamboo handled style. I even had a 9mm one. We have a winner! This hook worked the best with the plarn and gave me the size stitches I wanted without fighting.

It’s still a bit tiring to my hands to crochet with the plarn, even with the best hook for the job, so I’ll be working on this project a little bit each day to save my hands (and my sanity). Once I get it further along I’ll show you what I came up with. I’m just hoping I’ll have enough plarn to finish the job. I do have a back up plan if I run out though.

It’s “I Love Yarn Day”!

October 15, 2016October 15, 2016Crochet, YarnLeave a Comment

Can you believe October is at the half way mark already? I know I’m finding it a big shocking.

But there are good things about reaching October 15th, the best being that it is “I Love Yarn” day. Of course I love yarn. Some members of my family might say I love it a bit too much, especially when it starts to take over the entire living room of our house.

One of the ways folks are celebrating this day is by teaching other’s to play with yarn. Whether it is crocheting, knitting or weaving it is great fun to play with yarn. As you all know my favorite yarn craft is Crochet.

Later today I will have a video tutorial for my Fans & Lace Afghan Square up on my YouTube channel. I like to make my annual Afghan Square a skill building project. Learning new tips and tricks when crocheting is one of my very favorite things about playing with yarn. Passing those tips and tricks along to others is my next favorite.

In the Fans & Lace Afghan Square I played with making stitches in un-common ways like my “loose” slip stitch and my standing double crochet. I also worked stitches between stitches and into slip stitches. The video uses a combination of stop motion animation and live action film to demonstrate everything you need to help you master these new skills.

It’s been taking me a little longer to cut it all together than expected. Of course I am running up against that corollary of Murphy’s Law, “If you are in a hurry, your technology will go on strike.” I’ve been having a bit of trouble with my computer and my camera deciding to be super slow.

Fingers crossed I will have everything sorted before my Saturday has run out of time.

*Update Saturday, October 15, 2016 6:45p.m. Sadly the video is not going to happen today. My computer ate all the work I had done on it the past 2 days, so it will be either Tuesday or Wednesday of next week before it goes up. Thanks for your patience.*

Picking colors for Free Form Crochet

October 5, 2016Art Projects, Creativity, Crochet, How Tos, Yarn1 Comment

Pile of Yarn from Scotts Bluff Valley Fiber Arts Fair

Remember all that yarn I brought back with me from the Scotts Bluff Valley Fiber Arts Fair? I’m putting some of it together with other yarn from my stash to make a free form crochet scrumble.

When I made my first free form scrumble years ago I thought it would be an easy way to use up left-over odds and ends from my stash. That was when I discovered that one of the trickiest things about free form, is picking the colors of yarn to use together. I wasn’t all that happy with my first scrumbles, but I was intrigued enough to persist.

A great short cut for choosing colors is to pick out a multi-colored yarn that appeals to you, then match it with solid yarns in the colors that are in the variegated yarn. This is exactly what I did to begin this project. I used this hand-dyed yarn as my guide for picking the other colors.

If you are like me, a large percentage of your yarn stash is dominated by a couple of colors. In my case I have lots of Purples and blues. I purchased the hand-dyed hank of yarn knowing that I would have other yarns in my stash that would work with it. If you don’t already have a variegated yarn you want to use in your free-form project, look at your stash for color inspiration before purchasing one.

In the end you want a variety of shades as well as colors for your yarn choices. I looked at lighter and darker variations of the colors in my variegated yarn. Like the very deep blue in the furry yarn, that deep color and texture will add some interesting effects to the final fabric. The bright Lime will create contrasting pops.

Hopefully I’ll have some pretty Free Form scrumbles to show you in the next couple of weeks.

Farewell Summer

September 21, 2016September 23, 2016Latest News, Yarn, Yarnie FriendsLeave a Comment

Today is the official last day of summer on the calendar, though summer has been gone up here on my mountain for quite a while.

We have lots of fall color happening, this year we seem to be missing red. Many of our alpine plants that display red foliage in the fall are instead various shades of orange or brick. With all my love of science you would think that I would know why the colors of autumn are different from year to year. Not a chance.

Even without red I am enjoying the changing colors. Our fall color display is very meager compared to what happens in the northeast. Mostly the color change is subtle with the evergreens becoming a darker green and the old needles adding a tinge of rust color before dropping.

The aspen trees are gold again, though some of the trees on our property skipped the gold stage and went straight to brown. Others were speckled heavily with dark brown spots. Fortunately for my photography attempts there were a few making a pretty display against the blue sky the other afternoon.

In hopes of improving some of my photographs I bought this set of lens to use with the camera on my phone. The set has 3 different lens, a Fish-eye, wide-angle and macro. The macro lens is actually part of the wide-angle lens. In fact, that has been the only issue I have with the set so far, it’s a bit tricky getting the wide-angle lens attached to the macro lens.

They all fix very compactly inside the handy carrying pouch, and it is all small enough that I can put them in my pocket when I am taking photos.

I decided to try some of them out yesterday on my way home from “Casual Crochet Wednesday” at the Longmont Yarn Shoppe. I’ve been wanting to get a good photo of a particular section of the mountainside along the road up to my house. These scrubby bushes have been showing some beautiful orange leaves the past week and I knew they would be gone very soon. It was a little over-cast this afternoon, but I had a lot of fun clambering around and taking photos.

I used the fish-eye for this shot.

This is a similar shot using the wide-angle. You can see how the Fish-eye lens distorted the trees. I don’t have any macro shots for you right now. The macro lens is for really close-up shots, like less than 2cm from the object.

This is a shot of the same scene without any additional lens. In many ways I thought the regular lens captured the color of the foliage better.

Once I was back home I got to admire my new yarn purchases. I needed a couple more colors of Berroco “Vintage” for my project I’ve been working away on. I’ll be able to share more about that in a couple of weeks.

I also got this lovely ball of Ella Rae “Seasons”, this is a fun color changing yarn that you may recognize from my Corner-to-Corner Scarf projects last fall. I worked a couple of samples with it. This ball is destined for a little experiment that is related to the project I’m using the “Vintage” for. Are you curious now? Don’t worry all will be revealed.

Of course, just to give myself a bit of a carrot, I purchased this awesome tube of colorful fiber from Frabjous Fibers out of Vermont. I’ll be using it for needle-felting. Now I have to stay focused on the other projects before I can play with it.

That might not have been my best plan though. I really want to play with this gorgeous fiber. Each color has lovely tonal changes in it and is going to be perfect worked into some fun sculptural pieces. I’ll be combining this fiber with some of the fiber that I got on my trip to the Scotts Bluff Valley Fiber Arts Fair.

Before too long I’ll likely be posting photos of our first snowfall, though I’m really hoping it will wait until October. I hope those of you that have been tormented with extremely hot summers are experiencing some cooler temperatures now. Enjoy the autumn colors, I know I am.

Crocheting in Longmont

September 14, 2016September 14, 2016Celebrating, Crochet, Free Pattern Links, Yarn, Yarnie FriendsLeave a Comment

Today I was at my crochet group in Longmont at the Longmont Yarn Shoppe, “Causal Crochet”. We had been getting together on the third Wednesday of each month for 2 hours starting at 10:30 a.m. This was our first meeting on the 2nd Wednesday of the month, and we will be having 2 meetings a month from now on.

If you are in the area you can join us at “Causal Crochet” for at least the next 8 months on the 2nd and 3rd Wednesday of the month. We will see if the schedule still works for everyone once summer rolls around.

Our group today discussed what our fall “Crochet-A-Long” project is going to be. Looks like we will be working on a blanket square. I’ll be putting the pattern up here on my blog and my YouTube Channel during the first week of October. That’s just 3 weeks away!

I was teaching a private crochet lesson today after the group met. This weekend I am teaching a “Learn to Crochet for Knitters” class, but one of the knitters that wanted to take it wasn’t going to be able to make the class. Instead we made arrangements to have a one hour lesson together at the shop. I think it went very well and she is well on her way to being able to add crochet to her knitting projects.

It’s always so fun to see a crafter get the hang of a new skill. This was my little practice piece for demonstrating the stitches to my student. I was working with Berroco “Vintage” yarn. I have 3 hanks of the green color in my stash, left-over from another project and I decided I needed to add some new colors for a project percolating in my brain.

Fall is definitely in the air up here on the mountain, even though it is late summer most days down in town. I’ve been seeing lots of sunflowers blooming everywhere. They are one of my favorite flowers, maybe that’s because I grew up in Kansas (The Sunflower State).

I picked the 2 yellows and the brown to go with the green I already have. They really put me in mind of sunflowers. Will have to see what they grow up to be. Berroco’s “Vintage” is a great machine washable work-horse yarn that is a blend of 52% Acrylic, 40% Wool, and 8% nylon. The nylon makes it very durable, which is really nice for afghans, blankets and hard working hats or scarves for the family.

If you are feeling too impatient to wait for my new afghan square, you can check out some of them I’ve already published here on the blog.

Whirlwind Afghan Square: the pattern is here on my blog, and I have 2 videos to help you work it here on my YouTube Channel: Whirlwind How-To Part 1 and Whirlwind How-To Part 2.

Annetta Square: the pattern is here on my blog.

Hot Spot (Annetta Square #2) : the pattern is here on my blog.

The Humble Granny Square: the pattern is here on my blog.

I hope all my US readers are enjoying some cooler temperatures and enjoying the last bits of summer. Soon we will have snow up here on the mountain. I’ll be digging out my warmer clothing in the next couple of weeks. The good news is, I will have lots of opportunities to wear some of my favorite scarves, shawls and hats again.

Back from Teaching in the Wilds of Nebraska

September 11, 2016Celebrating, Latest News, YarnLeave a Comment

This weekend I was at the Scotts Bluff Valley Fiber Arts Fair. Yes, that is a mouthful.

Friday morning I was a busy bee getting the car loaded up and double checking that I had everything I for the 2 classes I was teaching on Saturday. I left a little bit later than I had wanted to, and I got to experience lovely stop-and-go commuter traffic on the I-25 highway. I just kept singing along with my radio and driving carefully. Once I passed Ft. Collins it was much better. Note to self, when driving up to Nebraska, be sure to be past Ft. Collins before 4 p.m.

Good news was I made it to Scotts Bluff before sunset, though barely. The best part was I did most of the drive in good daylight and the got to enjoy the scenery. My photos can’t really do it justice and some of the most stunning views there wasn’t a good spot to pull over and take a photo. The twilight sun really made the bluffs extra dramatic looking.

The next day was all about teaching, though I did get a little shopping time in with my friends at the Brown Sheep Wool Company booth. I brought home another 4 pounds of loose fiber and some beautiful hanks of their Hand Paints in various weights. The yarn was “seconds” and they were selling it by the weight, so I got a little carried away.

Most of this yarn I’ll be using for gifts I’m making for other folks. Though once again I’m realizing that I left planning gifts for Christmas a bit late. I know you are thinking Christmas is months away, but I know it will get here way too quickly when it comes to making and finishing gifts in time. That is 104 days for those of you that like exact numbers. I’m not counting today or Christmas day. For some of my gifts I need to ship them, so really I have more like 94 days. Eep!

After all the teaching and shopping I was ready for a quiet evening in my hotel room. I made myself some dinner and watched a movie while I crocheted. The next day was going to be a much more relaxed pace and I was looking forward to it. As much as I love my family, sometimes it is nice to have some all alone time.

I sleep in until 8 a.m. then ate some breakfast, took a leisurely shower and packed up my last bits and bobs. I did have something interesting happen that could have been a bit frightening. While I was in the shower I thought I heard a knock on my door, then a thump. But I decided I must have been mistaken and even if I wasn’t I didn’t see any need to hop out of the shower wet and soapy to answer my door.

When I finally emerged from the bathroom I realized that someone had tried to come thru the door. Fortunately I had used the safety latch and they were not able to enter. I’m sure it was a mistake by house-keeping, since they were the only folks with a key that could unlock my room. I did call the front desk to let them know what happened. It was a little unnerving, so sort of interrupted my relaxation momentum of the morning. Lesson to anyone traveling alone, always use the safety latch when you are in your room.

I shook it off and gathered up all my luggage, I took 2 trips to my car because I wanted to get extra steps in. I knew most of my day was going to involve sitting in a car driving and there would not be a lot of opportunities to walk. When I went to check out the front desk manager added 1000 points to my rewards account and apologized again for the snafu with house keeping.

One of the reasons I had stayed an extra night was I really wanted to explore the Scotts Bluff National Monument a little. That was where I was headed after I stopped for some petro for the car. My little Google GPS gal (also known as Gina) said that it was only a 15 minute drive from my hotel, and I could see it from the hotel parking lot.

GPS Gina was a bit insistent on this trip. Coming up on Friday she really wanted me to drive up thru Wyoming instead of sticking to the interstate highways. On Friday I over-rode her wishes. Though she did try to get sneaky when I stopped for my traditional Wendy’s French Fries in Cheyenne, my next exit on I-25 is the one to take, she told me to continue north on I-25 for 16 miles. Gina was determined that I was going to take that other route.

Sunday when I used my Google Maps for directions to go home Gina once again told me to take the other route. It was the middle of the day and clear sunny weather so I told her okay, this time we would go the way she wanted. First we went to visit the Scotts Bluff National Monument.

I picked the best photos I took, but as before they really don’t capture how beautiful it is there. I’m actually just grateful that the pictures came out relatively clear. It was extremely windy and I was challenged to keep my body steady when taking photos. I attempted to get a good photo of the angle of the bluff as seen from my hotel parking lot, but couldn’t get close enough without it being obscured by trees and houses. Next time.

I hope you all had a really good weekend. I’m still a bit tired, but I really enjoyed my visit to Nebraska. I hope some of you get a chance to see the Scotts Bluff Valley for yourselves in the near future. It’s a beautiful area with lots of history, and of course, the Brown Sheep Wool Company.

A Sanity Break

September 2, 2016Health and Self Care, Latest News, Yarn, Yarnie FriendsLeave a Comment

The past couple of months have been rushing here and there in preparation for and then dealing with back-to-school for my boys. I’m getting back into the school routine but it hasn’t been easy. I’ve also been busy with lots of crochet work that I can’t quite share yet.

Fortunately I got to take a little break this week.

My friend Sharon lives in California and she is having an adventure with her friend Carol. The two of them are driving across the country and back on a 3 month road trip. They are stopping to visit friends and family along the way and having a great time.

They had just spent a couple of days up in the mountains of Colorado around Grand Lake. They got to drive one of my favorite adventure roads, Fall River Road on their way to their friend’s cabin in Grand Lake. On their way back down to the plains we arranged to meet in Estes Park. There is a wonderful shop in Estes Park called “The Stitchin’ Den” that has lots of lovely yarns and embroidery supplies, and I suggested we meet there.

I live about 40 minutes drive away from Estes Park, Colorado. My drive over was a little longer as I encountered road construction delays. Seems like this has been the summer for serious road construction repairing damage from the 2013 floods in a lot of Colorado. I really enjoyed my drive though, the scenery along the way is breath-taking everywhere you look, and it was a beautiful day.

The timing worked out quite well. I parked in the big lot at the library in Estes and had just texted Sharon I was there. I asked her to text me when they got to town. A few moments later she texted me they were in the parking lot. I went looking for them and when I found them I got my first big hug of the day. Sharon gives great hugs.

There was Sharon, Carol and the friends they had been staying with, Linda and Larry. It was around noon and they were all very hungry and we decided to find somewhere to have lunch. “Claire’s” was open and I had always heard good things about it, we walked across the town square park to take a look at the menu.

The menu met with everyone’s approval and we were seated in just a few minutes. Everyone enjoyed their lunch and we had a lovely visit. Sharon had funny stories about driving Fall River Road, she wanted a “I survived the Fall River Road” sticker. After lunch they decided not to join me at the yarn shop since Sharon is on a yarn diet. She and Carol have a limited amount of space in their car for cargo on the trip.

We had to get a photo of Sharon and I together. Carol was our photographer, since neither Sharon or I are very good at the “selfie” thing. After a final hug the 4 of them headed off and I walked over to the yarn shop.

It is a really fun shop with various levels and nooks and crannies full of lovely fiber and yarn. I decided I really needed to adopt some purple yarn. This is more of the wonderful Ella Rae Lace Merino, but in a lighter weight than I had made my Mountain Top Beanie from. I was also interested in working with it because it was a tonal colorway instead of the busy variegated style.

I am thinking these 2 hanks will become something open and lacy to be worn close to my skin. The texture of this yarn is so soft and comfy. There is over 900 yards all together, so I should be able to make something very nice.

On the way to Estes Park I had seen my favorite historic landmark and told myself if it wasn’t raining on the way home I would stop to take a photograph. This is “The Chapel on the Rock” at the St. Malo Retreat Center. I had a nice little walk taking photos and still managed to make it home before my boys were back from school.

I hope all my U.S. readers have a lovely Labor Day weekend. It’s the weekend that marks the end of summer for many of us. I hope you all get a little time for a “sanity break” of your own.

“Uncle!”

August 24, 2016Creativity, Crochet, Free Pattern Links, Humor, Inspiration, Latest News, Paid Pattern Links, Pattern, YarnLeave a Comment

Sometimes getting back into the routine of school days is a rough transition. That would definitely be the case this week. This is the first full week my boys are back in school and to add to the fun (not): my husband is out of town for work and there are major construction delays on the 2 shortest routes down the mountain to school.

I am really glad that we are getting our roads back to better-than-before. If you all remember back in September 2013 there was a nasty flood here and we had extreme damage to numerous roadways in Colorado, especially in the mountains. The construction has been on-going for the past 3 years, with the big job starting last year about this time.

What all this means for me though, is less time in my office at home. Being on the go isn’t too bad when I’m crocheting away on a pattern, but it gets a bit tricky when I need to do photography and video work.

I had planned to have an awesome Tuesday post for all my dear readers. Unfortunately, I finally had to accept reality since it is now Wednesday evening and I still don’t have the awesome post completed. I’m crying “Uncle” this time. Awesome post is being moved to my Saturday post instead.

But I won’t leave you with a completely empty plate. No starving children in Mama Andee’s house!

One of the good things about being trapped down in town this week, I had the opportunity to get lots of shopping errands out of the way. Seems like there are always little errands that get pushed off the day’s list when I come down during summer break.

This past Tuesday I took care of all my grocery errands, but I also made some time for errands that were a bit more fun. Like stopping by JoAnn’s and Michaels.

I needed some foam cushions for a project and knew that JoAnn’s would have the ones I wanted. I spent a few minutes having a wistful browse of all the lovely Ott-Lites they have in stock. I did resist that temptation, but a skein of yarn said it needed to come home with me.

I really like crocheting with Red Heart’s “With Love” yarn (very aptly named as well). It is nice and soft with a lofty springy twist to it. Great for making home décor or even wearables. I picked the Water Lily color because I thought it would play well with some purple that I had in my stash. Don’t they look nice together? Will be coming back to them later this winter.

There has been a lot of posting in social media about Caron Yarn’s newest product “Caron Cakes”. They are only in Michaels stores from what I understand. They did have them online at the Michaels website, but as of this writing they are out-of-stock. You can take a look at the various colors online though and see if there is a store near you that carries them.

I wanted to see if I could find them in my local Michaels. The store I go to is located in Superior, Colorado in the same shopping area as my nearest Costco. I decided I had time for a stop in Michaels before heading to Costco for groceries. I was pleased to see the yarn there, though they had already sold quite a bit of it.

I had to adopt a few balls for myself. I decided on 2 balls of the purple toned “Bumbleberry” and 1 ball of the “Blueberry Cheesecake”. The yardage in each ball is very generous at 383 yards. It is a yarn that requires a bit more care, the instructions on the label say “Hand Wash. Lay flat to dry.” A little surprising as the fiber content is 80% Acrylic/20% Wool. The yarn is very soft in the ball and doesn’t have that slight scratchiness you sometimes get with wool blends.

I’m looking forward to working with this yarn and seeing what new designs it inspires for me. Meanwhile my good friend and fellow yarnie blogger Jessie has put together a Round-up of pattern suggestions for folks that are wondering what they can crochet with this yarn.

You can find Jessie’s suggestions and the links to the patterns on her blog: Jessie At Home. I was flattered that she included my C2C Basics Scarf in there. Some of my other patterns that could work up nicely in this yarn are:

Granny Fans Redux, this is one of my paid patterns that has detailed charts and the instructions for 3 different styles of neck wear. The long runs of color in the Caron Cakes would likely give you fans in each color.

Playing with Triangles Shawl, this pattern is available here on my blog and I have a “how-to” video on my YouTube Channel.

You can see in the above photo how fun the color changes were using Red Heart’s Treasure. With the Caron Cakes the color stripes would be even more dramatic. The squishy loft of the Cakes yarn would make a very snuggly shawl, perfect for a gift for a dear friend or family member this coming holiday season.

Enjoy the rest of your week, and be sure to stop by on Saturday for another fun pattern and video.