Mamas2Hands

New Foundations

September 26, 2010September 28, 2012Creativity, Crochet, Crochet Design, Tips and Tricks1 Comment

As many of you that have worked my designs know, I love simple foundations. Any pattern that asks me to chain more than 50 to start out tends to make me cranky. A cranky Andee is not that fun to be around, just ask my family.

My favorite designs begin with what I like to call “small starts”. Nothing makes me happier than to have the beginning directions in a crochet pattern say, “Chain 2, single crochet in 2nd chain from hook.” Or a variant of that. Which is one of the many reasons I love the foundation single crochet (FSC) for my designs.

But, I know not everyone has my fondness for the FSC. In fact, it took me a very long time to become friends with the FSC. I purchased Doris Chan’s books “Amazing Crocheted Lace” and “Everyday Crochet” years before I felt able to tackle the FSC.

I would drool over her patterns and attempt over and over to do the FSC. Finally one day it all came together and I have mastered the FSC (or at least have a good handle on it).

Recently, I wanted to do a shawl design that would require a long foundation to work off of. The idea of starting a pattern with nearly 200 chain stitches made me break out in a cold sweat.

I also knew there were quite a few folks that would not be too happy with me if I started it off with that number of FSC (I wasn’t even sure that I wanted to make a foundation with that many FSC). What to do?

I wanted a foundation that wasn’t a complete pain to work, that would look attractive on its own. Something that wouldn’t need an additional edging to seem complete.

I started looking at single crochet stitches. What would happen if I worked a bunch of single crochets one on top of the other, then worked into the side of them for the rest of the garment?

Now, I’m pretty sure some other designer has done this at some time or another, though I can’t recall having seen it. Happily the resulting foundation is stretchy and attractive. Basically everything I was looking for.

One thing I did observe is that with my style of crochet the foundation made this way seems a bit too loose. I adjusted for this by working the foundation with a smaller hook than that used for the body of the shawl. Knitters have been casting on for ages with different size needles than the rest of their project is worked with. So I was borrowing from that tradition.

It could also work to just be very aware and crochet the foundation stitches a bit tightly with the larger hook, then work with a more relaxed gauge for the remainder of the garment.

Either way, this may become one of my favorite new techniques for foundations.

Super Secret Projects

September 17, 2010Crochet, Crochet Design, Uncategorized2 Comments

I know I’ve been a bit slow posting lately. My recent blog posts could convince you that I never crochet anymore. It isn’t true.

I’m actually working on 7 different crochet projects, but as is often the case for designers, I can’t tell anything about them. I am really looking forward to being able to share the stories of each of them and celebrate with my stitching friends once the designs are published.

Also I still have lots of work to do for getting my Design Office and Art Studio spaces in order. Hopefully then I’ll be working smarter instead of harder. Of course, everything was a bit side-lined with the wildfire excitement, but I’m back on task again.

Thanks for popping in once and awhile.

CLF Crochet Retreat

September 12, 2010September 12, 2010Celebrating, CrochetLeave a Comment

Oh boy, I can hardly wait! In just a little over a month I take off for the Crochet Liberation Front Retreat at Camano Island. This is going to be a fun time of stitching with pals, taking classes and enjoying the beautiful North West.

CamanoIslandJune2008 — Photo from CLF Website of the Ocean at Cama Beach

I have a passion for the ocean. Maybe it is because I was born and raised in land-locked Kansas, and currently live in land-locked Colorado. The rhythm of ocean waves is one of my favorite sounds.

Combining the joy of being near the ocean with the joy of crocheting and comaradery of fellow CLF friends. Heaven! If you haven’t registered for the retreat yet go check out the CLF website.

If being there everyday isn’t an option for you, there are day passes available. You can join in the retreat activities of the day and take a class or two. There is a great line-up of classes and teachers, and I’ll be giving a talk Monday evening on Crochet Ergonomics. Hope to see lots of folks there.

Counting our Blessings

September 11, 2010February 19, 2024Uncategorized3 Comments

It feels like it has been weeks since I last blogged. But in reality it has only been 7 days. For those who don’t follow me on Twitter or Facebook, I and my family have been having a rather intense week. We live about 3-4 miles from the Four Mile Canyon Fire outside of Boulder, Colorado.

FourMileCanyonFire-Smoke — Smoke Plume from our House

Our Labor Day started off as a Very Windy Day. Generally we are quite sheltered here on our mountainside, but that morning our tree tops were whipping about like the trees themselves were ready to take flight. By noon our power had gone out, not a big deal since it was a sunny day. I sat in a comfy spot by the window and continued crocheting on my latest design.

Once the sample was done I headed over to the design office to type up the pattern notes on my laptop (which fortunately was fully charged). Later that afternoon, about the time the laptop battery was getting low, the power came back on. I went back over to the house to check on my family and see what my beloved wanted to do for dinner that night.

Before I could say anything though, he told me there was a bad wildfire in Four Mile Canyon. So my question was, “Do we need to pack up and head out?”

That was the standing question for the following 4 days as weather and the preceding dry conditions gave our brave fire crews terrible conditions to battle a wildfire. At one point residents in the northwest neighborhoods of Boulder were preparing to evacuate. The latest news reports say the fire is 56% contained and that fire crews are confident that they will have full containment by Monday morning.

Many of the families that had to evacuate nearer the fire are being allowed back in to their homes. Best of all no lives have been lost as residents were evacuated in a timely manner and the fire crews have been able to rotate shifts.

We are safe and have not had to leave our homes and a lifetime of belongings behind. The winds have worked in our favor and we are even smoke free the past couple of days. Numerous friends and family have contacted us this week to inquire into our safety and to offer us haven at their homes if we needed to evacuate. I and my family are heartened to know that we have such a wonderful support system in place.

During all this waiting I’ve been thinking about the two sides of living in so remote an area. We are surrounded everyday by beautiful landscapes, pristine air to breathe and not a lot of traffic noise, especially at night. The flip side is we also get to deal with record-breaking snowfalls, our electric power goes out at least 2 times a year (occasionally for days on end), and wildfire is a constant worry when the dry seasons are on us.

Despite the occasional inconveniences and the rare life-threatening incident we still wouldn’t change where we live. The everyday joy is a fair trade-off.

This excitement has put me a bit behind on some of my design work, but I’m back to work now. I’ll definitely be scanning more of my work into my computer though, nothing like realizing it could have all been lost to motivate me to carry on with all my organizing and inventory projects.

Searching for the Perfect Bag

September 4, 2010Celebrating, Creativity, Yarn4 Comments

I love bags, purses, satchels, totes. You name it, likely I have at least one in my collection of “containers for carrying stuff in”. I am particularly fond these days of this bag.

Kanji-Bag3 — Kanji Project Cozy by CozySpirit

My dear friend Cozy has a lovely Etsy shop: CozySpirit where she sells bags of all sizes, moth-away sachets to match, and gorgeous yummy hand-dyed yarns. This bag was a synthesis of both our creativity. She did all the hard work though.

I wanted a bag that was a good size to carry a small yarn project in. I was particularly looking at it from the standpoint of classes at conferences. I sent her the measurements I was contemplating and she did some figuring for me.

I purchased 5 bags from her and I used all the bags at this summer’s Chain Link. They were ideal for the classes, easily holding numerous small balls of yarn, my hooks, class notes and a pen.

The pockets of this bag are a gorgeous Asian style print she had leftovers of. I had fallen in love with another bag she had in her shop, but missed out on purchasing it. She only had a bit left and came up with this design to utilize it. It is perfect in so many ways.

The straps are long enough that I can slip the bag over my shoulder and keep stitching away on my project while walking around. The outside pockets are very handy for a place to stow my keys, a small pad for design notes, or even a spare hook or needle when I need my hands free to do something else.

And the interior details are just as nice as the exterior. The seams are fully finished, so there are no fuzzy edges to add lint to my yarn or otherwise gumm up the interior. There is a handy pocket on the interior too for keeping my hooks and such from diving to the bottom of the bag. A nifty little loop on the interior also provides a good spot for stitch markers to rest when not in use.

Cozy has numerous versions of this style of bag at her shop now. She calls them “Project Cozys” and they are very reasonably priced. I use all of mine on a regular basis.

Cozy has also come up with a larger project bag that I will be adding to my collection very soon. Sometimes I need more room in a bag for a project that outgrows the Project Cozy, so I’m looking forward to getting my new bag. This one will be large enough to carry a big shawl project in.

And even if you are not a stitching kind of person Cozy’s bags are a wonderful well-made addition to your own collection. The Project Cozy size is ideal for using as an everyday handbag with lots of good spots to stow your wallet, phone, car keys and all those other necessities when running about.

How much Yarn?

August 31, 2010Celebrating, Humor, YarnLeave a Comment

That was the question in my mind recently when I decided to finally attack the task of making an inventory of my yarn stash. I hired a friend to help as each time I’ve attempted to get a handle on things I get too overwhelmed or distracted by the beautiful yarn.

First thing we did was corral every bit of yarn from my household and work areas into one corner of my office. I was happily amazed that it took up far less room than I had anticipated.

Then began the counting.

I had already gotten a good portion of it sorted out by yarn company.

And I had purchased some bright green dots to put on each skein as it was counted, as well on the containers that were filled with inventoried yarn.

My friend Laura really is a marvel. She has helped me with numerous organizing projects over the years. Best of all for this project, she has no interest in yarn and fiber, so is the ideal candidate for keeping me on task.

Whenever I would get all a flutter about the re-discovery of a beautiful skein in my stash, she would be asking what to put into the spreadsheet about it. She did grace me occasionally with a kind comment about a color that caught her eye. And we had many a good chuckle about some of the color names.

I am now down to the last 15% of the inventory job. This is the part where I identify all the yarn that has lost its ball bands and map out storage locations so I can find the yarn I want when it is time to crochet this all up into lovely swatches and designs.

Progress

August 28, 2010Creativity, Crochet Design, HumorLeave a Comment

Well, things are going a bit slower than I like, but progress is happening with the Design office.

The shelves are all in place. The Bulletin Boards are installed. Now it is becoming more of an issue of sorting thru the accumulations of “stuff” that seems to be coming out of the woodwork.

One of the largest projects is taking an inventory of all my yarn.

Yep, that is a scary one. Fortunately help is arriving in a few minutes in the form of my friend Laura. She’ll keep me on track, she’s not a yarnie like me.

Of course the good news is I may be sending some yarn to new homes once I have a better handle on how much I really have.

Then there is all the fabric, the thread, the beads, drawing and sketching materials. Okay, I’m tired again.

Note to self: Sort thru and pitch (or donate) stuff regularly to avoid this monumental task in the future.

A Very Big Year

August 17, 2010Humor4 Comments

I’ve been telling myself that 2011 is going to be a big year for me as a designer, artist and writer. First off because I plan to have my design office and art studio spaces in fully functioning well-organized shape by the start of the year.

To that end I decided that I needed a big wall calendar to help me track the various deadlines personal and professional that are part of my life. I am a very visual person so I like having that info up on the walls.

I already had a wonderful 2010 At-A-Glance full year calendar. The kind you can write on with a dry-erase marker (or in my case cover with brightly colored sticky notes).

Since 2010 is more than half over, I wanted to have 2011 up there beside it as well. My local office supply stores didn’t have 2011 calendars currently. They were all still carrying the academic ones that start July 2010 and end June 2011.

I went online. There it was, the exact calendar I wanted. Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy! I didn’t think to actually measure the other one. After all how many large wall calendar sizes could there be? The new calendar was delivered today.

So 2011 is definitely a very big year. Hopefully the size of the calendar will be a reflection of success in the coming year. Though I think I may have to size down when I get my 2012 calendar, there really isn’t room on the wall for 2 calendars of those dimensions (maybe I could use the back of the door?).

Dangerous Pursuits

August 15, 2010August 15, 2010Creativity, Humor3 Comments

Now, it’s not what you think. I’ve not taken up sky-diving or motor-cycle racing. It’s just my goofy thoughts on the hazards of me going into a craft/hobby store.

I had to stop by JoAnns the other day for some poster board. I had opened my big mouth last spring and found myself in charge of the first PTO fundraiser of the year. As part of all this I needed to make some posters.

The poster board is located about 1/2 way down the first aisle when I walk into my local JoAnns and the registers are not terribly far from there as well. Yet, I somehow managed to make a full loop of the store. Becoming more inspired by the moment.

There was fabric that I knew I could make some lovely things with. Cotton yarns were on sale. Cotton yarn in large balls and gorgeous colors. Ooooo, there are more yarns on sale over there. Ideas for things I could make began hopping about in my brain like some sort of crazed popcorn kernels.

“Whoa there, hold on a minute missy!” my wiser self said to the creative crazed self. “Exactly when, amongst all the deadlines personal and professional you are currently juggling, do you think you will have time to start, let alone do, any of these new projects?”

I’m proud to say, I purchased only 2 pieces of foamcore and 1 very bright piece of poster board. Though there were some seriously heart tugging longing looks being cast at that cotton yarn by my creative self.

It gets Worse, Before it gets Better

July 31, 2010Creativity, Humor2 Comments

This ongoing project of turning what was my Massage office into my Design office is getting a bit cumbersome. At the moment this is the state it is in.

My dream idea of a well-organized and peaceful work environment does seem a bit out of reach. Especially as I go thru my stash of fabric, yarn, threads, buttons etc…the more I discover I have. I am in that stage of organizing, where the work you do seems to create a major mess.

It’s all good though. Sorting thru the accumulations of 20 some years of creative supplies seems to inspire new ideas. So I’m taking sketch breaks to note things down.

Then when I have a “dry” day, I’ll have loads of notes to get the well running again. Admittedly I have rarely had “dry” days, but just in case.