Astrology and me

Do any of you like to read your horoscope and see how things go? I've always had a bit of the mystic to me and I check in with Susan every month faithfully at Astrologyzone and this month has been kind of spooky dead on. :)
When I last wrote I told you all about being super busy with putting the house on the market and that we had 3 showings the very first day! Well fast forward 2 weeks and I'm here to tell you that we received an offer, countered, got a counter-counter, accepted the offer, and got the OK from my work to work from home, all within 5 days. ;). It gave me an emotional whiplash!
One of the good things about selling so quickly though was that I was able to pull out my crochet and finish the bear I was working on. This was great because a couple of days later we had a party and some of my lovely friends saw my bears and bought 2 for their niece and nephew they were going to see later that day. She said they loved them and the look on the children's faces make me light up inside!



My hubby and I are so excited for our new beginning. We will be moving south to Greenville, South Carolina. People have been asking us how we picked Greenville and long story short, the Internet told us to. :D. Ha ha Really, we had lots of criteria and Greenville seemed to fit the bill.
With love,
Auntie Becky

Going Through A Drought

Last time I posted it was to say that I was going to be quiet for a bit while we get the house on the market. Wow have we been busy! We worked very, very hard and the house when up yesterday and we had 3 showings today and 1 tomorrow! I guess our hard work was worth it.
I miss my crochet and the quietness that overcomes me when I get into a rhythm. All my yarn is packed away in the basement out of sight. While going through this crochet drought I look through everyone else's blogs and peruse the web for craft room ideas. Love this idea I got from Pinterest (iheartorganizing.blogspot.com)

Excuses, Excuses!

Hi everybody!
Last week was so much fun! I read a lot of great posts and found some wonderful new blogs to read. I'm not sure how I'll keep up but I definitely will be checking back with everyone. But just in case you worry about me, I'll give you a heads up what's going on around here.


My hubby and I met with a realtor last Thurs. and agreed to put our house on the market no later than the middle of next week! We're both excited and freaked out! We are now in a huge rush to fix, touch-up, and do all those things you have to do before you have people come through your home. :)
Wish us luck!

With love,
Auntie Becky

Improving My Skillset - 3KCBWDAY6

3KCBWDAY6 - Improving my crochet skills is a big goal of mine. Last year I wanted to learn a couple of new stitches but this year I want to interact! Here are some of the things I would LOVE to do:

Craft Cruise  

There is a craft cruise at the end of May leaving out of Baltimore!  This sounds like a great way to meet people, learn some new techniques and relax all at the same time. I've never been on a cruise but have friends who have been and go back quite often.  Next month's cruise is to Bermuda with The Crochet Dude, Drew Emborsky.  Fun, right?  Unfortunately the timing of this cruise isn't good for me now since we are putting our house up for sale. If anyone else goes, let me know how it was, I would love to hear.

CGOA Conference 
The Crochet Guild of America has two conferences every year, Summer and Fall.
I'm a member of CGOA and just got the schedule in the mail on Saturday.  The summer conference is in Manchester, NH this year at the end of June, beginning of July.  There are a bunch of classes that interest me and the presenters/teachers are a list of who's who!  I planned out my whole schedule and looked up airfare but the summer's conference is going to be out of reach for me. At the end of July, my wonderful daughter and I will be driving across the country from Oregon to Syracuse University in New York. The Fall conference is in Reno, NV, the middle of September.  I'm shooting for  those dates for sure!! We should be moved by then and I will start setting aside time and money to make sure I am there.  Anyone going to either of the conferences?

Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival  
Yay!! The Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival is always the first Saturday and Sunday of May, this year it's the 5th & 6th. And it's just around the corner from my house! I've lived here for almost 10 years and didn't really know too much about the festival until about 5 years ago.  At that time my coworker went and had a great time but I didn't go with her.  The festival is held at the Howard County fairgrounds and is chalk-full of great vendors, good food and sheep!  I am definitely going again this year.  Matter of fact, I had inadvertently made a hair appointment for that Saturday and when I realized what I had done I immediately called the salon and rescheduled.  My plan this year is to go on Saturday by myself to take a bunch of photos and then come home and blog about what's happening.  Then on Sunday, I plan on going back and bringing home lots, and lots, and lots of good stuff.  I hope you all come out and hang out at the festival.  If you want any recommendations for a great place to eat around the area I'd be happy to give you a couple of places.

With love,
Auntie Becky

My Perfect Crochet Day - 3KCBWDAY5

Day 5 for the Knitting and Crochet Blogging Week is supposed to be a challenge day about doing something different. I had so many ideas: doing a video tour of my local yarn shop, a video of me teaching my husband to crochet (what he calls "making knots) and even doing an interview in the point of view of my crocheted teddy bear with my daughter's teddy she's taken everywhere. Yep, lots of ideas and not enough time or I got so bogged down in the details, that I talked myself out of things.
So instead, I'm taking the wild card day; describe my perfect crochet day.
My perfect day would have me staying at a very lovely high end resort or hotel overlooking the ocean or mountains somewhere.


After a lovely sleep, I partake of a wonderful breakfast delivered by room service, on the balcony in a fuzzy robe. Then it's a full day of crochet and reading about crochet.
I'm going to take an idea from Nicole and say that I would take a couple of hours to create lots of swatch squares of stitches I've wanted to learn.
I would spend some time really reading and studying the great book Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook I bought it awhile ago and really want to spend hours taking notes and absorbing as much as possible.
Then it probably would be nice to take a short walk and have lunch outside with crochet in hand. A little crochet outside in the fresh air is something I love to do.


I see myself crocheting and reading all day and possibly finding a new LYC to walk around in without being in a hurry. Maybe my perfect day will coincide with the Knit & Crochet conference in Reno this Fall? Ohhh! A plan!

With love,
Auntie Becky

A Crocheter For All Seasons? - 3KCBWDAY4

Wow, we've made it to day 4 of the Knitting and Crochet Blog Week (3KCBWDAY4).  I really hope you like what you've read so far.  Today's challenge is to look through our completed projects and explain how the seasons affect what we create and when.

I really didn't have to look through my projects, I know the seasonal weather makes me want to crochet full size afghans and lap blankets.  I love to watch football and be covered with a great blanket that I'm creating.

 

 

When the weather starts to warm up again I don't want to be working with lots of yarn and heavy blankets and it seems that the babies are usually on the way.  :)  So I move to smaller blankets, toys and purses.

My Craft Hero - 3KCBWDAY3

Today's post for the 3rd day of Knitting and Crochet Blog week is about our craft heros.  My craft hero is my grandma. I thought about other people who inspire me today with their color and techniques (Lucy-Attic24 or Kristin Omdahl) but then always came back to my loving grandma we came to call GG Bonnie.

GG Bonnie

I've talked before about how it was my grandma who first taught me to chain crochet. We loved it. We would make 'snakes' all the time with her. She knit, crocheted and quilted along with other various crafts. Each one of her grandchildren and great grandchildren were given either a crocheted blanket or quilt as babies. She always had crochet edged dish cloths in her house and lovely crochet doilies on each of her chairs and sofa arms.

GG Bonnie's Crochet

When she passed away at age 93, I remember her oldest great grandchild, Renee, speaking at her viewing about how sad she was because GG Bonnie would have been so proud of how far she had gotten with her crocheted scarf. Grandma had taught a third generation to crochet only several months before.
I love my grandma, she is always with me and is not only my inspiration for my crochet but the person I most inspire to live my life like.

With love,
Auntie Becky

Spring Love - 3KCBWDAY2

Today is the 2nd day of the Knitting and Crochet Blog Week (3KCBWDAY2) and today's challenge was to create or set up a story with photography of our craft (crochet for me, thank you).  So without further ado, I give you "The Start" by Becky
This bud of love by summer’s ripening breath, May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet. - Romeo & Juliet - Shakespeare

The Boy

The Girl

The Start of Something Wonderful

Don't forget to vote at Ekimimimakes for my pics. :)

With love,
Auntie Becky

Color Lovers - 3KCBWDAY1

Yay! Day one of the 3rd annual Knitting and Crochet Blog week! Do-ta-do! 3KCBWDAY1
Today's topic is color! I love this topic because I always considered myself a true lover of color and thought I was pretty good with color. For years anyone who came to my house knew that I was not afraid of using different colors all over.

But as I started to crochet more, I found that I was being very safe. I didn't use many colors in an item or I found myself coming back to more "Fall" neutral colors.

I don't understand it. I completely swoon and immediately am overcome with jealousy when I look around the blogosphere and see Lucy's items in her little Attic 24 or Sarah London's wool eater blankets.
But when I go into the yarn store, I see the beautiful colors and my mind just is overwhelmed. What goes with what? CanI really use that together? I blame my 12 years of Catholic school uniforms! I wasn't trained to put things together I tell you!

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
How about you? Do you go to your yarn store and stare at the beautiful colors and walk out safe like me or are you bold and fabulous and make me jealous?
With love,
Auntie Becky

Preview of a Romance

Birthday Mail

Yay! I got a package in the mail today with the things I picked out with a birthday gift certificate. Oh, I love gifts in the mail!