Mamas2Hands

Let There be Light

July 17, 2011July 22, 2011Health and Self Care, Humor, Product ReviewsLeave a Comment

One of the joys of “maturing” is that my eyes do not like to look at lots of crochet stitches without good light. They will punish me by creating whirling vortexes of pain in my head if I persist.

So every time I have seen a good sale on OttLites my little ears perk up. I do not work for the OttLite company in any way shape or form. I simply adore their lights, because they really do live up to their claims to reduce eye-strain.

Currently I own 5 different desk-style OttLites. I also purchased a portable OttLite that has a large rechargeable battery. It reminds me a bit of those first mobile phones. The ones called “The Brick”.

It weighs about 3 1/4 pounds with an adaptor that allows it to be plugged into an electrical outlet that weighs an additional 1/4 pound. I purchased it because I wanted a good OttLite to use at classes at conferences.

Lighting in convention center rooms is typically not great for working on needlearts, and I usually find myself dealing with the aforementioned whirling vortexes of pain. Electrical outlets in these same rooms are also a bit hard to come by, so something that doesn’t have to be plugged in is quite handy. I purchased my “portable” OttLite in preparation for the Buffalo Chain Link conference in August, 2009. Thus began a bit of an educational adventure.

First of all, I think that the solid brickish nature of it alarmed TSA. It was in my checked baggage and when I opened my bags at the hotel I discovered a nice note from TSA telling me my bag had been searched.

Being that the light is actually pretty hefty I decided to use my small rolling carry-on bag to schlep the light and my other class materials about with me. It was handy to have the light, but hauling it and the bigger bag around got old quickly. By the end of the conference I was leaving the light in my hotel room to use while stitching there in the evenings.

I still use it a lot at home, it’s especially great to grab when I want some extra lighting for shooting photos. But it hasn’t gone to anymore conferences. Too much additional weight in my luggage and to lug about at the conference.

So I was very excited this past Thursday when I was doing some retail therapy at Michaels and I saw a small LED Flip Light by OttLite. I was even more excited to see that it was regularly $20 and on sale for $10. I quickly grabbed one of the lights to purchase, the light had a white housing and was just a bit bigger than a pager.

Unfortunately, I had not checked the package very well. After taking the package out to open it at home, I discovered someone had already opened it. The compartment for the batteries was broken. It was a very sad moment. Fortunately, my family and I were planning a trip to Denver the next day. So I put the light and the receipt in my bag to take with me.

That morning we stopped at the same store on our way to Denver and I exchanged the broken light for a new one. The clerk at the shop was very nice and I looked over the packaging to be certain it hadn’t been opened. I set it aside and had a fun outing at the Aquarium with my family.

Once I was home again I quickly grabbed a couple of batteries and opened the package. I was talking on the phone at the time with my friend Stacy and she got to witness first hand my displeasure on discovering that the clip on the back of this light was broken. The packaging had disguised that fact earlier.

The following day I was headed to Denver for my monthly stitching group meet-up. Which was the reason for Stacy and I’s phone call…we were planning out our day and when to get together. Of course, discovering I would have to exchange the light again put a wee dent in our plans. I would need to stop at Michaels on my way to Denver once more.

Then Stacy came up with the brilliant idea of me taking the light to a Michaels near where we would be having dinner in Denver. That way she could purchase one of the little lights too and we would have more time to visit. I decided to bring batteries, a small screwdriver and my utility knife with me so I could open the package and check that the light worked at the store. I really did not fancy another trip up the mountain and back down to get a working light.

Saturday afternoon I headed down the mountain and picked up Stacy. We arrived at the Michaels store, which was one of the largest I’ve ever been in. We began wandering around the store looking for the OttLites, but couldn’t find them. Finally I accosted a Michael’s employee, who turned out to be the store manager. He quickly took us back to where the OttLites were displayed. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the little flip light.

I had told the kind manager the tragic story of the 2 broken lights and he said he would check with some other Michaels stores to see who had them. In the process he discovered that they were supposed to have the lights in stock at his store. So he had us make ourselves comfortable in the store class room and he went on a hunt for them.

A little while later he returned with this package. I was excited because the light was PINK! And not just pink but “in-your-face” Fuchsia Pink, one of my favorite shades. Note: this photo was taken today after I had already customized my light with my 2hands logo.

Fortunately they also had the light in white or black so Stacy wasn’t stuck with a wild pink light. She does not share my enthusiasm for pink. Though it’s a good thing there wasn’t a purple one as we might have had a battle over it.

Lil-Light-hand — A Wonderful Palm Sized Light

We opened the packages and put in the batteries I had brought to test that our lights worked. Then we did a bit of shopping in the store, made our purchases and headed off to have some dinner. After dinner we went to PJ Jam where we both showed off our nifty new lights.

I am thrilled with my little light. It is very light weight in my project bag and the light output is marvelous. The clip on the back will allow me to attach it to my clothing or on my notebook to use it easily at conferences. It is also going to be very handy when I am doing color matching for fabrics and yarns when I go shopping.

If You can See It

July 13, 2011Art Projects, Creativity, Crochet7 Comments

One of my creative passions is sculpture. I love to make 3 dimensional shapes. Doesn’t matter if it is yarn, clay, wood, wire, paper mache’, polymer clay, or some random combination of all/some of those. Visual inspiration for my sculptures can come from anywhere.

Like this lovely little blue glass bird that I inherited from my maternal grandmother’s estate. I had always adored it as a little girl.

My grandmother was a formidable woman, tiny, but intense. She owned an antique shop that was housed in 3 buildings on her farm. The buildings were large and primarily filled with furniture.

Staying at her house was always interesting. The interior of her house was filled with lovely glass, crystal, artwork and antique furniture. It was a bit like being in a museum. A museum where you are not allowed to touch anything.

But for some reason I was allowed to carry this little bird around. There was something about the weight and fit of it in my hand that gave me, and still gives me great happiness.

For my recent bird house art project I decided I would use it as inspiration for a bird to live in my bird house. I didn’t have a pattern for making the bird and knew I needed to work quickly because the deadline for the bird house to be delivered was coming up quickly.

It was time to brush up on my sculpting skills. Back in my first highschool ceramic sculpture class my teacher said, “If you can see the object you want to sculpt, you can sculpt it.” At the time I thought she was a bit nuts, but I soon understood what she meant.

You have to see the shapes that make up the overall shape of the object you want to replicate.

For this bird the overall shape is that of a sphere with a smaller half sphere on top and a flattened cone for the tail, there are also small bumps on either side of the bird that hint at wings.

Circles, balls and tubes are some of my favorite shapes to play with in crochet. Crochet also lends itself to modifications on the fly, so I could change shapes easily as needed.

I knew that making my little bird would start with a simple circle using increases and decreases to create the main body and head. I also knew I would be embroidering eyes and beak as separate elements and crocheting the wings to be sewn on after the body was finished.

I crocheted my bird from fingering weight wool yarn to keep him small and have more shaping options. I started at the top of his head. After I had worked a few rounds to shape the head, I embroidered the eyes and beak. The beak was a combination of crochet and embroidery using #3 crochet thread. Once the details for the face were embroidered I continued with the body of the bird.

I stuffed the bird as I worked to check the shaping, and would pull out enough stuffing to continue working. After completing the last round for the body I closed the seam on the bottom with a whipstitch.

I decided to create the tail shaping by crocheting into the finished body using a couple of cluster stitches.

The finished bird is quite a bit different from my original inspiration, but the feel and shaping is close enough that I was quite happy.

So your turn dear readers, find something in your environs to inspire you and create. Remember, if you can see it….

My Corner

July 10, 2011Uncategorized3 Comments

Just a picture of my corner of the living room where most of my work takes place. From here I can keep an eye on my boys as they play, or watch the TV.

My happiest new addition to my work corner is my new chair. It’s comfy and ergonomic. The perfect combo. This corner is currently a WIP, will see how it all develops this summer.

Such a Pretty Hook

July 4, 2011July 4, 2011Celebrating, Crochet, Wood Crafting1 Comment

Here in the US, today is a national celebratory holiday: The 4th of July. So I thought I would have my own small celebration with some fun pictures to show off my finished hook.

I started this hook at the CLF Crochet at Cama Retreat (October, 2010) in Jimbo Price’s “Hook Whittling” class. But it wasn’t completely finished at the end of my class or my trip to Washington. I finally finished carving and sanding about it a month later, since then it has been waiting for the finishing oil.

There is something so soothing and peaceful to me about shaping wood. I love the silky feel of the surface of the wood as I sand away all the bumps and rough bits.

Since I have a habit of sticking my hooks in my mouth when I am crocheting I wanted to use a finishing product that wasn’t toxic. I was very pleased when I found this Howard Butcher Block Conditioner that is food grade mineral oil and natural waxes.

I warmed the oil a little by placing it in a container of hot water. Then rubbed it into the wood with the white cloth (just a rough cotton cloth sold in the painting department of my local DIY store) followed by polishing it with the yellow microfiber cloth.

I’m really happy with how the oil brought up the grain of the cherry wood. It is also a good finish because I can re-apply the oil as needed to keep the hook looking like new.

It fits my grip perfectly and is a size L (8mm) hook, which is my favorite size for working with slightly bulky yarns like Dazzleaire from Caron.

And for those of you that want to see some fireworks today, this is a picture I took at the Rockies Game Friday night. With the fire ban in effect for our county we enjoyed our fireworks a bit early down in Denver.

A Journey of a Thousand Miles

June 29, 2011June 29, 2011Celebrating, Creativity, Crochet1 Comment

There is an old proverb I’ve been thinking about lately – “A Journey of a Thousand Miles begins with One Step.” I’m probably mis-quoting it, but that is how I remember it at the moment.

I’ve been organizing old photos recently and just amazed at the distance I have traveled in my life the past 25 years.

I’ve been to the UK and France, something I had dreamed of since I was a little girl in Kansas.

I’m married to my very dearest friend and, even after being together for nearly 15 years, he still manages to surprise me and make me laugh at life.

I am mother to 2 beautiful little boys, though I do question my sanity at times about entering the parenting adventure a bit late in the game.

I live in the mountains in a simple and comfortable home, surrounded by pine trees and wildlife.

I’ve said good-bye to friends that have left this lifetime and said hello to the arrival of infants to other friends.

I’ve watched some of those children grow up and even graduate from high school and college.

I’ve worked in numerous careers and am now making a living thru work that draws from that lifetime of diversity.

Best of all, I’ve come to a place in my life where I appreciate the joys and grieve the sorrows when necessary. I know that this journey is not over and life will continue to unfold in ways that I have yet to imagine.

Maybe this calm moment is the product of being tired from working many hours, both as a mother and designer. Maybe it is my habit of overlaying the rhythm of my crocheting over my daily life. Either way, my hope is for all of you to have a similar moment.

Who’s a Dummy?

June 27, 2011Creativity, Crochet Design, Humor7 Comments

One of the challenges of crocheting or sewing garments for myself is getting a good feel for how the garments will hang on my body. A handy aid for this is a dress-makers dummy (also called a dress-form).

A few years back a neighbor was getting rid of her dress-maker’s dummy. I was happy to adopt it, but found that the dummy wasn’t a good match for my body measurements. Still I’ve become fond of her over the years and named her “Betsy”.

Betsy has been very handy for photographing finished designs or helping me to visualize how design elements can be combined for sketches of potential designs. Unfortunately, Betsy is far more generously endowed in the chest area than I am. Genetics being the luck of the draw I seem to have taken after my Mom’s side of the family instead of my Dad’s when it came to chest dimensions.

So I’ve been haunting the JoAnn’s website and drooling over the variety of dress forms they have available. Then one happy Sunday evening I discovered the one I really loved was on sale!

A week later this box arrived. Inside was my wonderfully adjustable new dress dummy (she doesn’t have a name yet). I happy took her out and started measuring and adjusting the various dials to create my twin.

Of course the ego-deflating aspect, of having a dress dummy you can adjust to your exact measurements, is you get a very realistic view of what you body shape really is.

Oh well, at least I’ll get a good fit for my garments and it will encourage me to get more exercise.

Taking Flight

June 24, 2011Art Projects, Creativity, Crochet2 Comments

My bird house art project is finished. I worked this piece as a dimensional collage using scrap paper, colored tissue paper, acrylic paint, crocheted elements and wrapped wire sculptural pieces.

First I created pattern pieces from thin notepaper to use for cutting out the fitted pieces of scrap booking paper that would be the base for the collage on the front, back and sides of the birdhouse.

After lightly sanding the birdhouse I painted all the surfaces with gesso to provide for better adhesion of the other elements.

Then I used decoupage gel medium to collage the roof of the birdhouse with various colors of tissue paper.

In the meantime I also crocheted the embellishments that I would be using in the last stage of the collage.

Next was the painting of the details on the roof line and front of the birdhouse also sponging paint on the roof to tone down the colors of the tissue collage.

Then I adhered the pieces of scrap paper I had cut out earlier with decoupage gel medium and painted more details.

Next I used hot-glue to adhere the crochet elements and wrapped wire branches to the house.

I liked the look of the branches so much I decided to make more. Was a late night finishing it up, but it is now waiting with the other birdhouses for the auction tonight.

Fun and Sparkly Throw

June 24, 2011Celebrating, Creativity, Crochet Design2 Comments

I’m so excited to share that my first throw design is available from Caron Yarns. The Teen Throw uses Caron’s Simply Soft and Party yarns to create an exciting and fun throw to add some bling to any teenager’s room.

The Spiral Hearts that decorate the corners were an embellishment that I came up with in 2008 as part of a challenge on Jenny Dowde’s Freeformations group on Ravelry. Jenny is always setting fun challenges to inspire stretching our creativity.

I’ve had many requests for a pattern for that project, so I’m very pleased that this pattern is available to the public via Caron’s website.

My Mission

June 20, 2011June 19, 2011Celebrating, Health and Self CareLeave a Comment

One day, about 15 years ago, I met a lady who admired the crocheted scarf I was wearing. She recognized it as crochet and commented sadly that she used to crochet too, but had to stop because it hurt her hands. This would not be the only time I would hear this from former crocheters.

While I was in massage school there were numerous times I met people who had to give up stitching hobbies due to hand injury or pain. I also learned that many massage therapists ended up leaving the field of massage work due to injuries to their hands and arms. This motivated me to learn as much as I could about ways to prevent injury to my own hands and to share that information with others.

In this modern age of technological devices our hands, fingers and arms are subjected to myriad opportunities to develop repetitive stress injuries. Add all our hobbies and driving in automobiles to this means having a strategy to prevent injury is important for everyone.

Which is why I am so pleased to be teaching at the 2011 Crochet at Cama CLF Retreat this October.

One of the classes I am teaching is “Getting a Grip on your Crochet” where I will be sharing numerous stretches, strengthening exercises, as well as methods of modifying hooks and different hook and yarn holds to prevent injury.

The other class is “Contemplative Crochet” where the focus of the class will be about using our crochet time as a way to balance out everyday stresses and connect to the expressive creativity that is inherent in all of us.

Saturdays = Yarn

June 19, 2011June 19, 2011Yarn3 Comments

Well, at least my Saturdays seem to be about yarn. Last Saturday I went to the Estes Park Wool Market and had a lovely afternoon of petting yarn, talking about yarn and purchasing some yarn.

lanbshoppe — Mary Carol in front of the LambShoppe

This Saturday I went to PJ Jam at the LambShoppe in Denver. This is a great way to spend a Saturday evening, stitching and laughing with my crochet and knitting buds. The owners, Mary Carol and Anita, open their shop the 3rd Saturday of each month from 5 pm – Midnight for an evening of stitching fun. Some folks even wear their PJs.