Knitting & Crochet Blog Week - Day One: The House Cup

Hi all!

I'm so excited to be a part of this year's Knitting and Crochet Blog Week initiated by Mimi over at Eskimimi Makes.  For day 1 we are to choose our "House", like my favorite wizarding school!  How could I not love that idea?  Mimi came up with 4 great houses but I have to say that as soon as I saw them I knew EXACTLY which one I would sort myself into; even before reading what the mascot symbolized.  After reading all the attributes of the house I still think the one I first saw is perfect for me.  This is my crochet house:

4KCBWDAY1

Don'tcha love it! A manatee!!  ha ha ha ...  This is the house for me! 

In July of 2010 me, my hubby and daughter rented a condo in Titusville, Florida that was right on the Indian River Lagoon (Intracoastal Waterway).  We planned to stay a week and catch one of the last Space Shuttle launches.  Sadly, it was postponed and we didn't get to see the launch! Although while we were there we rented 3 kayak's and were able to launch them from the private dock.  We were told there were manatee in the waterway and not to be afraid of them but they are very curious creatures and may actually bump the side of your boat if they are near.

Intracoastal Waterway Sign Florida

Daughter and Husband - Manatee Area

We laughed and said OK we'd watch for them.  The first day we went out we could see the large manatee's a few hundred yards away and we kept our distance.  How totally cool!!!  We watched them float around and see their noses dive up and down.  The second day my hubby and I decided we wanted to get a little closer.  Our daughter was tired and went back to the house but let me keep her camera.  Mike and I were in separate kayaks and floated away from each other, getting closer to the manatees swimming around.  I was so excited I got out the camera and tried to get photos of their noses out of the water.  I noticed 1 manatee saw me and started swimming closer.  Well the closer it got the more I realized how huge these animals really are and my heart started beating a bit faster.  I tried to get Mike's attention to ask what I should do.  Do I sit there and try not to scare it?  Do I start to paddle away?  Mike had drifted some 50 - 60 yards away.  Well, I decided to sit there and try not to scare the animal. Closer, closer, closer.... Wait there is another one coming towards me now too.... And another nose!  Now I count 3 noses in the air swimming closer and a faster.  My heart is now banging away in my chest. I told myself "they won't hurt you, they are just curious, they may just bump the boat".  BUMP! oh my gosh, oh my gosh, OHMYGOSH!  The kayak is wobbling back and forth and back and forth.  And there are 3 huge animals swimming around me.  BUMP!!! again. "I'm ok, I'm ok" I'm telling myself just as BUMP PUSH! one animal bumps my kayak so hard that SPLASH!  I scream and up in the air and over, I go.  At this point I know I'm not in too deep of water (about 4.5 feet) and that I should be able to find the bottom and stand up but.... there are 3 HUGE animals freaking out too and I'm terrified that I'm going to squished between them.  I found the bottom of the river, found my feet and stood up quickly scrambling to get back in the kayak.  My heart is thumping out of my chest, the adrenaline shooting through me has me shaking all over!  I look over and see my husband paddling faster than anything towards me.  He tells me that all he heard and saw was me screaming and a great big area of swirling white water that reminded him of a scene from Jaws.  I couldn't believe what had just happened.  I had inadvertently gone swimming with the manatees!
Now you know why I just had to be in the manatee house!  I feel that manatees and me have a kinship.  We both were curious of each other and the scared the bejeezus out of each other.  ha ha ha

Happy 4KCBWDAY1 everyone and enjoy the knitting and crochet blog love this week!

Sherlock Con - 221B con Atlanta

This weekend I'm spending time with my fabulous daughter. She's a huge Sherlock Holmes fan. As a proud mom, I like to point out that she is a fan of the books (the cannon as they say) first and all the new TV and film versions really are a huge plus!
Well this weekend she flew from Syracuse, NY to Atlanta, GA to go to 221b Con. It's a smaller convention of people she follows on the Internet that love all things Sherlock (and some Dr. Who). I was so excited that she didn't mind me tagging along. I have a fabulous kid!

But why am I posting about the con on my crochet blog you ask? Well no matter where I go I can find a yarn store or someone who crochets. :)

Knit and Crochet Blog Week 2013

April 22 - 28, 2013

Yay!!!  Mimi of Eskimimi Makes has announced the 4th annual Knit and Crochet Blog Week!  I'm so excited!  I got to know a lot of you through last year's blog week.  It was my first time and it really pushed my blogging skills.  I was not able to keep up the pace for very long but I appreciate the push. ha ha

This has a great twist.  We are "sorting" ourselves into different "houses".  Ha ha ha, I love it!  I won't tell you which one I've put myself into because that is part of the topics.  I hope you all come back and enjoy the blog posts and follow along with others as I do.  Here are the topics you can look forward to:

Day One (Monday April 22nd): The House Cup.
A bit like Harry Potter, but not quite, this year’s Knitting & Crochet Blog Week is split into 4 houses. Don your favourite knitted or crocheted hat and let it guide you to which house you will be in.

The House of Bee: Bees are busy and industrious, but can flit from one interesting project to the next as bright and shiny things capture their interest.

The House of Manatee: Manatees are gentle, calm and cuddly. Relaxed and unflashy they represent the comfort and soft side of knitting and crochet.

The House of Monkey: Intelligent and with a fun loving side, Monkeys like to be challenged with every project presenting them with something new and interesting.

The House of Peacock: Peacocks take something good and make it brilliant. Buttons, embellishments and a bit of sparkle prove that perfection lies in the details – like a Peacock's Tail.

So choose your house. You may be a combination of more than one of these noble beasts, but think about which house best embodies your qualities and declare your place. You can use one of the graphics above to display your house crest, if you like (though this is totally optional).

Post about your crafting outlook/style and why you chose this house. The descriptions have been purposefully written to seem quite vague, but that's really because they are only the merest starting point to prompt bloggers to write about in which ways they identify themselves within their craft(s).

Don't forget to drop by Eskimimi Makes later in the week and vote for which house you chose so we can see which houses crocheters and knitters most identified with.

You could of course decide that you are so unlike any of these creatures in your style of crafting that you set up a rival faction and adopt your own house, though whether you get invited to the end of term disco remains to be seen, you rebel.


Day Two (Tuesday April 23rd): A Mascot Project.
Your task today is to either think of or research a project that embodies that house/animal. It could be a knitting or crochet pattern – either of the animal itself or something that makes you think of the qualities of that house. Alternatively it could be a type or colour of yarn, or a single button. Whatever you choose, decide upon a project and blog about how and why it relates to your house/creature. You do not have to make this project! It is simply an exercise in blogging about how you come to decide upon what projects to make. Try and blog about the journey which inspiration and investigating patterns, yarns, stitches, (etc) can often guide you through. You may wish to make a collage or 'mood board' to present several ideas, or even sketch out your own design.


Day Three (Wednesday April 24th): Infographic
There are many ways of conveying information on a blog; text and images being the two most widely used. Many infographics combine both these elements to provide a visual way of presenting text information.

Make your own infogaphic (no fancy imaging software needed, you can draw it on paper and photograph it if you want) to convey any element of your craft(s). It can be just for fun or a thoroughly researched presentation of an idea/finding. Here is a very quick example that I made just for fun, which took me under three minutes.

There will be nobody checking on how accurate your infographics are. They may be just for fun (like the one above - I don't have that huge a yarn stash and it certainly didn't you any actual statistics - though if I had taken the time, I could have worked out the rate at which I knit yarn by looking at how many metres of yarn I had knit over the last year, calculated the total amount of yarn in my stash in metres and used a calculation of the average life expectancy of a woman in the UK minus my current age to find an actual calculation... but as I said, this took three minutes.

The whole point of this topic is to experiment with infographics as a way of sharing facts, information and ideas, and to explore another tool in a blogger's arsenal of communication options.

For more information and inspiration on infographics, look here. If you are looking for a quick and easy way to produce and infographic search the web for 'Infographic Maker' to find many free tools for making your own, or embrace the old school with some paper and a pencil.


Day Four (Thursday April 25th): Colour Review
What are your favourite colours for knitted or crocheted projects. Have a think about what colours you seem to favour when yarn shopping and crafting.

Only after writing this part of your post should you then actually look to see what colours you have used in your projects. Make a quick tally of what colours you have used in your projects over the past year and compare it to the colours you have written about. Compare this, in turn, to the colours that are most dominant in your yarn stash – do they correlate?

Now think back to your house animal - do the colours you have chosen relate to your animal in anyway - if you are in the house of peacock, for example, are your projects often multicoloured and bright?


Day Five (Friday April 26th): Something A Bit Different
It’s the annual challenge to blog in a way different to how you normally blog. You may choose to create a podcast, or vlog, create a wordless post or write in verse. You've already stretched your wings with an infographic, now it's time to freestyle. You can post on any topic you like, but be sure to post in a style different from your usual blog presentation. There's not too much guidance for this one simply because the more varied the posts are on this day, the wider the sources of information for other bloggers will be. Bonus points if you manage to work your house animal in somehow.

Day Six (Saturday April 27th): A Tool To Covet
Write about your favourite knitting or crochet (or spinning, etc) tool. It can either be a tool directly involved in your craft (knitting needles or crochet hook) or something that makes your craft more pleasurable – be it a special lamp, or stitch markers.

Is it an item that you would recommend to others, and if so for which applications/tasks do you think it is most suited. Conversely, do you have a tool/accessory that you regret buying? Why does it not work for you?

Day Seven (Sunday April 28th): Looking Forward
One year from now, when the 5th Knitting & Crochet Blog Week rolls around, where do you hope your crafting will have taken you to? What new skills, projects and experiences do you hope you might have conquered or tried?

This could be anything from mastering a technique (broomstick lace, entrelac, etc), trying a new yarn or skill, or a long term wish to crochet only from your stash, or knit every stitch in one of the Harmony Guides. Maybe you have no desire or plans for your craft at all, no new element of knitting or crochet that you dream of mastering, in which case write about why that might be. In a year's time participants will be asked to look back to see if they achieved any goals, no matter how general, and see which house conquered the art of looking forward.

Extra Credit (no due date)
For an extra credit, look back to the project you researched on day 5 and cast it on. Extra Kudos points for every step of the process from decision of project, to yarn, through the project in progress to finishing touches and completion that is blogged about. There is no due date, and this topic is absolutely only for those who choose to take part, but if you do it will serve as part of one of the topics next year, along with what was written about on Day Seven.

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