Mother's Day Gift Idea

Today I was thinking of Mother's Day and what I might give my mom this year.  She lives across the country from us so it's usually flowers or some other kind of delivery.  This year I thought I would make something for her but she's not one to become cold so no sweater or scarf for her.  I did a quick internet search and took some ideas from others and thought about using crochet to frame a family picture and send it to her.  Interesting right?  As I continued my internet search I came across several ideas: 

 

I love the quirkiness of the top frame that Emilie of http://borisdestroismoulins.com/ created.  Wouldn't it be cool to create this frame as a border inside a standard frame?

Interweave Crochet Spring 2010

Then there is this second image from Interweave Crochet.  They are using filet crochet border to create a mat on top of a mat inside a picture frame.  I thought this would be a great idea and started to look in Ravelry for different patterns. 

 

After some time I just couldn't find anything that I was really looking for.  I went back to the larger internet again and started looking at other crochet sites like Annie's Attic and  Crochet Pattern Central.  Nothing was tickling my fancy.  



 

So I began thinking "You have a books, go look there, dummy!"  Sure enough in my crochet "libray" I found exactly what I wanted.  Et voila!

 

I forget how much I love this book!  I bought it apparently sometime around 1994 or 1995 when my daughter was little because I have a great little time capsule in the back pages:

 

This book is fabulous and I've looked at newer versions and they just do NOT compete.  Every single stitch or pattern is both written and in graph form!  I learned to read crochet graphs from this book and still think that motif work and complicated patterns are much easier to "see" than read.  But when they are both available, Wow!, I learn so much more quickly!    Some of the patterns even have a couple of examples with color changes (see the Petal Pattern I, II and III)! 

 

So I'm not going to share with you what I've decided to create for my mom because she just might read the blog post.  But I will share photos later on when I'm done.  After opening this book and browsing it for awhile I've got so many ideas I may even change my mind.  :)

 

Hope you all are doing well and would love to hear what you are creating.

 

Becky's Bears - Oh My

I don't remember if I told y'all about the gym that we're opening here in South Carolina. My dear husband has been working like a mad man getting all the financial and business side of things moving and now we've started the demo and construction of the site. Busy...busy...busy....

Knowing things were going to be crazy this year I decided to just crochet what I wanted, when I wanted. I decided to make the Crochet Sampler Blanket by Marrianne Forrestal with Lion Brand Wool Ease to play with some stitches I've never done. I was intrigued by cables, waves and color work. It was a great project and makes me want to work on other 'sample' type projects.


My neighbor had a little girl in February and I got the itch to make the Angel Wings Pinafore by Maxine Gonser for her new little daughter, Thuli. Cute as a bug isn't she?



I finished another bear too. And as I was finishing her today I thought again about how I would love to make a living, or at least make some retirement income from selling my bears. So I'm going to open my Etsy store again and focus on selling only the bears and see how it goes. No pressure this time, just cute bears. :)

Mojo - Where Art Thou?

For a while now my mojo has been off.  Not that I haven't been crocheting or completing projects; my heart just hasn't been totally in it lately.  And the blog has been neglected.  But I have been doing stuff so I'll show you what I've been up to.

Before and After of refinished dresser for my yarn.

This took some time but in the end really paid off. The branches and flowers are vinyl wall stickers I bought off Amazon and I covered the handles in crochet.  I love the look.

Doris Chan

Lily Chin

I went to the Reno Knit and Crochet Show where I got to take a class with Lily Chin and meet Doris Chan.  The Show was good but the classes were great.  My sister, who knits, met me in Reno and we got to hang out for a couple of days together and that was fabulous.

Autumn and Kiko - Greenville Zoo

Fall for Greenville 

My husband and I have been enjoying our new city of Greenville.  In early October every year they have a great festival on Main street call "Fall for Greenville".  Thirty-eight different restaurants have booths where you can get tasting portions of the menu items for a very low cost.  There was also 6 different stages for music and a beer and wine garden.  It was great and Mike and I enjoyed ourselves a lot!  The other thing that occupied my time a lot (maybe too much) was the web cam our zoo set up while awaiting the birth of the pregnant giraffe.  I watched it for weeks waiting to watch the birth!  ha ha... It was kinda like watching an aquarium, not much happening but very peaceful.  After the hours and hours of watching, I missed the birth because she went into hard labor and gave birth around midnight.  But we now have a baby giraffe called Kiko at our zoo!

Mike and Penny

Lastly, we rescued a great little dog we renamed "Penny".  She's a greyhound/doberman mix and was at the animal shelter for over 3 months.  We have no idea why because she is the sweetest most loving dog.  She is a bit energetic but that works ok.  Mike is a runner and I've been starting to run.  So Penny runs with me for now while she works up the endurance to take on longer runs with Mike.  Isn't she cute!  I have a new model for my crochet items.  ha ha 

Hope all is well with everyone out in internetland.  Take care.

Crochet Fall Fashion

Marc Jacobs in the September issue of Harpers Bazar magazine. I can't decide if I like it or not. The silver tinsel wouldn't have been my choice but it totally works! I guess that's why I'm not a designer. :)

Crochet In The Car Part 2

On the way home from Syracuse to Maryland I finished another scarf. What am I going to do from Maryland to South Carolina (a 8 hour drive)? Ha ha. :)

Crochet In The Car

Heading up to NY to drop our daughter off at Syracuse Univ. We're doing the drive in stages so we can spend time with friends in Maryland. I decided to create a granny möbius scarf in Syracuse's colors as we go. :D

Photo Catch Up

How's everybody's summer going? I feel like in the past couple of posts I've told to you what I was doing and promised photos but really haven't given you any. So this posits all about pics.

My Olympics Crochet Spot

Hi everyone!
We've just about settled completely into the new house. There are still lots to do though. One of those things on my list is remaking a vintage 30's chest of drawers to become my yarn storage. I'm so excited about it and have thought and thought about what I want to do. I've decided to paint it with a blue coat and then cover that with a cream coat and then sand the cream a bit to show the blue and a bit of the wood for a shabby chic or "new country" look. Below is the before photo of the chest and You'll have to come back to check on my progress. :)




I'm also about 3/4 way through my Sari shawl that I'm making. I'm loving it! I've really gotten a lot done while watching the Olympics this week. My favorite sports to watch have been archery and fencing. Men's fencing is crazy fast so I really can't pay attention and crochet but soccer (football for all you non-US folks) volleyball and basketball all have been great crochet time. At this point you're probably thinking "how in the world do you see all those?". We have TiVo (the original DVR) and I've been tivoing the games. :). My hubby is in Oregon getting our daughter ready to come home for 3 weeks before she heads up to Syracuse Univ. at the end of Aug. and since he's been gone, I sit in my new spot turn on the TiVo and crochet away!!!!


Hey speaking of things to do... Are any of you going to the Knit and Crochet Show in Reno in September? I told myself I was going this year and I registered this week and booked my air and hotel. Yes! I hope to meet some of you and hang out and learn with other like minded people.
Take care!
With love,
Auntie Becky

Shawl Crochet-a-long

Yep we're still in the middle of moving but I just couldn't pass up starting a new project. :D
I was reading my July/August issue of Crochet Today!and stopped in my tracks when I saw the Sari shawl! How beautiful! The weight, stitch pattern and of course the color! I just knew I would have to make it.
I really wanted the same coral color and I went to one of my LYS All About Yarn. Once I got there, I asked for some help with choosing the correct yarn and was pointed to multiple types with fabulous choices for color! I started being me and looked at all the "safe" colors and then told myself to be brave! I did and picked up a 100% mercerized cotton in a hot,hot red and hurried to pay and leave before I changed my mind.




So I'm starting today. Check back and see how I progress. What are you working on this summer?
With love,
Auntie Becky

A-Hunting We Will Go, A-Hunting We Will Go

Hi ho the dairy-o, a-hunting we will go.
The hubby and I rolled into Greenville, SC in the wee hours of the morning, got some sleep, and are off on a whirlwind 2 days of house/apartment hunting. :).
If anyone knows the area, tell me your favorite neighborhood or those to steer clear from. We both will be working from home so we are wide open to suggestions. I'll be taking lots of photos of each place we go, so come back later for an update. :)




With love,
Auntie Becky

Garage Sales Are An Opportunity

Our luck seems to be continuing with the move (knock on wood)! This weekend was our annual neighborhood garage sale, what timing right? Our front driveway looked like a furniture store.




So while I was looking for my credit card reader in my craft fair box, I thought to myself "Why not sell some crochet?". At the very least it may draw more people in by being colorful and at most I may sell something! So I gathered some items up, moved a table around and set things up.




Sure enough, my luck continued on! I sold a baby hat and blanket! Yea me! The garage sale went well too! We got rid of many big pieces of furniture and are a little closer to our move.
Hope your weekend goes well too!