My Crochet Spots

Ok here is where I like to crochet out by the pond. It is so relaxing with the water and there are two lizards that chase each other around that have made this their home. So Foxy [thats her to the right of me] is always looking for them in the flowerbeds. Then I also crochet under the patio cover and listen to my chimes and teh birds along with the pond. And when I am inside here is where I spend all my time in my office on my computer. :)

My Pink Hat

This hat was so cute in the book "Hip Hats" that I had to make one for myself, but since I love pink and burgundy I had to make it in those colors. I used Red Heart Super Saver "Candy Print". I loved how it turned out.

Felted Bag Swap

Felted Bag Swap: My wonderful Felted Bag SP partner sent me this scrumpious sock yarn kit! Ohhh I cannot wait to make these Lobster Pot socks!!! What a wonderful surprise. Thank you soooo much!!!!!

SP10 Swap

SP10 I got a wonderful surprise today from my SP10 partner!!! I 3 crochet mugs!!!! One says Crochet in French, the other says "Fish Hooks" with a fish crocheting..cute,cute, cute and the other says "I crochet therefore I am"Ohhh they are soooo wonderful. I love them!!! here they are ladies eat your hearts out!! Thank you Thank you SP10 partner....

What I am Reading?

Still reading HP 2 and I am not slow just been busy swapping...So I am going to go back to reading it now.. Yeah!! I am sl finished my tote bag from my Tote bag CAL at my crochet group. It turned out looking like a 1970s bag.. I love it. I put purple cotton lining in it and on the strap to give it stability. I also made a bag for my swap partner with Bag Ladies flickr swap and the theme this month was yellow and flowers, I crocheted the flowers on a yellow canvas it really turned out pretty good. I like sewing bags!

Felted Bag Contest2 #1

Contest 2 #1 : How did you get interested in felting? Did you learn it from someone, see a bag you liked? Just want to try something new? If you have a picture of your first project, please include it! Answer: Well I started to see them in the yarn shop and I was really intriged by them and then my Secret Pal sent me one for Christmas last year and that was it. I had to learn, so I got a pattern for an easy one and made it. But I couldn't get it to felt too good so I asked some of the ladies in my crochet group and got the tips and got it right. Now I love them and want to make more so that is why I joined this swap to get more practice and make more felted bags.

SP10 #5 Contest

Contest:
When I crochet or knit I am usually out in the yard sitting on the patio by the pond. I love to hear the birds and listen to the pond water while I stitch away. The birds come and visit the feeders and churp their songs and if I am still enough they actually come in quite close. However, we have a lurking hawk that eventually will swoop down and fly under and through the patio with his 6' wing span that reaches and brushes by my ears looking for food.

This one day he did it and caught me completely off guard and scared the holy heck out of me and I actually jumped and screamed so high and loud that my project went flying. My hooks and yarn flew up into the roof of the patio and even scared the heck out of my little dog, Foxy, who was sleeping besides me. The hawk never knew I was there, so I probably scared the heck out of it, too. I wish I would have had a video of it as I am sure I looked pretty silly jumping like I did and then having my yarn fly up and get stuck to the wood underneath the patio cover. I mean it was hanging like a spider web... all unraveling....Silly me...

Anyways... I have learned to now make a little movement when I am out there to make sure that old hawk knows that I am sitting there... and i have my CD player on humming tunes of Enya or Conan with their soothing Celtic sounds and I grab my glass of ice tea, [as I live in So. CA and it is usually warm out] I have my flip flops on; I sit down in my lounge chair with my feet up on the foot stool; and I enjoy the water and birds again in a little peaceful setting on my patio where it is very private with the slight ocean breeze blowing the 50' high Oleander bushes and 100' high pepper tree. All I need is a good pattern and some great skeins of yarn and I am set for an afternoon of pure tranquility of just me and my stitching addiction!

Super Sox Box Swap Questionnaire

Super Sox Box Swap Questionnaire:
1.What are your favorite colors? What colors make you cringe? I love burgundy,pink,purple, and black and white mix. i am not fond of dark colors I am a bright colors lover.
2.Are you a new sock knitter? How long have you been knitting socks? yes and I love it. maybe 6 months
3.Do you prefer solid or multicolored yarn? oh multi colored and bright
4.What fibers do you prefer in sock yarn? wool is ok and love cotton, and Fleece Artist Merino BL
5.Where do you usually knit socks? in my backuard listening to the birds and the pond water
6.How do you usually carry/store small projects? in a duffle bag I crocheted
7.What are your favorite sock knitting patterns? I am crocheting a loopy loop sock right now that has been fun Any favorite designers? in plastic bags but I want to make one of those open weaved bags one of these days as for designers I think Nikki Epstein is wonderful
8.What are your favorite sock knitting techniques? how to avoid holes in teh heels http://www.thedietdiary.com/blog/lucia/558
9.What new techniques would you like to try? how to knit two socks at once and cables
10.Do you prefer circulars or dpns for sock knitting? I prefer circulars because the DPN get me a little tangled
11.What are some of your favorite yarns? Cascade and Meilenweit
12.What yarn do you adore and yearn for? Interlacements Toasty Toes 206 What yarn makes you happiest? Hand Maiden Silk Cashmere ML and Cascade Sassy Stripes 766 and Cascade Sassy Stripes 769
13.Any pattern you would love to make if money and time were no object? a long cape with matching socks!!
14.Favorite kind of needles (brand, materials, straights or circs, etc)? circular and wooden straight ones
15.If you were a specific kind of yarn, which brand and kind of yarn would you be? Meilenweit Cotton Fantasy 802
16.Do you have a favorite candy or mail-able snack? Sweet or salty? dark chocolate
17.Do you collect anything? too much stitch markers, key chains, bookmarks, yarn
18.What is your favorite scent? apple cinnamon and hazelnut
19.Will you be celebrating a birthday, anniversary, etc. between now and the close of the swap? no
20.What’s your favorite animal? my dog and cat
21.Do you have pets? yes
22.What are their species/names/ages? long haired chihuahua,Foxy and a calico cat Allie
23.Tell me the best quote you’ve ever heard or read. To be a Hooker doesn't mean your a "bad girl" it just means your a creative person with a hook and yarn!
24.What is your motto in life? be happy with yourself and others and always forgive and understand that making choices be it the right ones or wrong ones in life is what leads us down the paths of our future.
25.Do you have a wishlist? (ie: Amazon, B&N, a LYS, online store, etc.) yes Amazon
26.Please list link here. http://www.amazon.com/ dbvbookwurm@msn.com is the name for the site
27.Anything else you’d like to share with your Sox Box pal? I am easy going and like people and making new friends. I think that the more people you talk to and discuss life with the more whole you feel and its the best therapy for everyone and its free. I love to swap, I have 2 of my own swaps that are about swapping books and swapping crochet themes. I love people and animals and have learned to relax and not sweat the small stuff in order to be happy with myself and family and friends which are the most important elements in my life after God of course.
28.Any allergies to be aware of for this swap? no
29.Coffee, Tea? definitly Tea
30. Anything Else? I think this will be a fun swap and I am trying to learn to be better at making socks as it is fairly new adventure for me. I want to get more patterns and learn about more yarn qualities and techniques to help me shape the heels better and all the "Do's and Don'ts" of sock making, so I am hoping that this swap will give me another opportunity to learn a new pattern with some new fibers to try in knitting my next pair of socks.

My Pink Piggie Potholder

One of my new projects. A piggie pot holder. Isn't it the cutest..Eyelashes and all...

SP10 Yarn Stash Contest

Posting for the yarn stash contest! I have about 9 skeins of this heavy chunky rug type yarn I got in the mid 70s and was going to make a rug looking design to hang on the wall. I was a kind of a "hippy" then and so we hung all kinds of weird things on the wall. My hubby and I had a small shop for "Curios" and sold these wall hangings that I crocheted. But then we closed the shop and I never finished the wall hanging, so that is why I still have this yarn, I thought maybe some day I might decide to make the hanging. And now I just can't seem to part with it because it has so many memories attached to it! So it sits in my "Stash!"

SP10 Swap

Ok I am posting for my SP10.... I am making some stitch markers so I might make some for my secret pal.

I have to post for my yarn stash contest!

Some Fun Sites

I found these links terrific from one of my blogging friends at http://allaboutcrochet.blogspot.com/index.html

This is a great site to get any free tutorial on crochet or knit or anything you may want or need. What better way to learn?http://eastmanpublishing.com/directory/crochet_knitting/index.html Here is also a fun free site as I was browsing through Nicole's site I found this one to really be addictive and fun! Its a jigsaw puzzle site. Really cool!!! You will get to chose how many pieces you want to make the puzzle. http://www.jigzone.com

And another great site for Vintage crochet if you love Victorian or the Vintagfe look this is definitly the site for you? There are tons of patterns that will keep you crocheting for hours!http://www.freevintagecrochet.com/index.html

Try this one for your pet's food! A good one gals!!! http://petfoodrecipes.blogspot.com/

Go to:http://allaboutcrochet.blogspot.com/index.html to find out about more great links. You will love her blog. I loved all the links and I hope you will too!! Thank you Nicole!!

How to Make Beaded Stitch Markers

Here are my 1st attempts in making Beaded Stitch Markers. I found it to be pretty simple. Once I got it down. It takes about 2 minutes. It is also pretty cheap to make because it takes very little to make them. I made a few for my Stitch Marker Swap on Swap Bot and now I am making some for me and then for my Swap . So I decided to write down some directions here on how to make them and share some of my hints and problems and also some things I learned.
one thing I learned was that there is actually a difference between crochet and knit stitch markers. The crochet ones usually are on hooks or some type of opened ring so you can attach it to the actual stitch. Where as knit stitch markers are rings that will slide onto your needles.
Plus you can improvize and use a lot of different things for the rings and the hooks depending on your preference. I found that I like the clasps and hooks used on necklaces for the crochet stitch markers and the jump rings and plastic rings for the knitting stitch markers. I also learned that the lesser the beads the better, because otherwise it gets too heavy. And always start with a small seed type bead for the bottom and then go bigger, and using the 2" head pins were much easier than using the memory wire. But you can make some larger rings with the memory wire if you want to make some simple rings with smaller beads for a universal stitch marker.
Ok on with the directions:
Materials:
1.pliers with wire cutter [needlenose]
2.memory wire[ ring type]

3. 2"head pins
4. beads smaller and larger ones

5. rings of 7mm, 10mm, 12mm or hooks
6. charms [optional]

Directions:
1.first thread a small bead onto the head pin

1. 2.then thread on the larger one and a charm if desired
2. 3.with pliers bend the head pin 1/8" above bead in a 90' angle

4. Cut wire 1/2" from pin

3. 5. wrap wire around pin above bead. 6.crimp wire and push end into top of top bead this prevents snagging of your yarn on the rough ends.

Voila that's it!

You just finished your 1st Beaded Stitch Marker!

SP10 Questionnaire

My Questions for my Secret Pal 10 : [SP10]

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? Cascade
2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? a case a swap partner made me
3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? 30+ years learned and was inspired by my Mom Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? Intermediate as I think I am a better crocheter
4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? yes on Amazon under "dbvbookwurm" and on my "Wish List" on my book swap blog: http://dabookswap.blogspot.com/
5. What's your favorite scent? hazelnut and cinnamon apple
6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy? yes...chocolate [dark]
7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin? sewing, making bookmarks and beading
8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) celtic,country,classic easy listening rock, and yes
9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand? pink,burgundy,purple,bright and sparkly, I don't care for olive green
10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? married, yes 1 dag 1 cat
11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? I wear scarves, hats, ponchos, no mittens here in So.CA...
12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? purses
13. What are you knitting right now? purse for felting
14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? YES YES YES
15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? straight and bamboo or plastic
16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? no
17. How old is your oldest UFO? sorry to say 1 year
18. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas and Halloween
19. Is there anything that you collect? key chains, bookmarks, antique victorian pins, music boxes, yarn, stationery, Marilyn Monroe memorabilia
20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? I would love to get Knitting on the Edge by Nikki Epstein, and more kitchen accessories, always love new purse patterns, I want to get Crochet Quick n Easy magazine, I already get Knit Creative Knitting and Crochet Today
21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? Tunisen, and cable stitching
22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? I am just learning, I wear a sz 7, 9" long and 9" around at the front end.
23. When is your birthday? April 4th

PBD Contest How to Win?

Hey wouldn't you like to win this great looking purse? Its easy and fun! Ladies send in one of your stitching stories, funny,inspirational, drama, any type you have experienced to the StoryTime Contest and you could be the next winner of an original PBD Allie-Cat purse!

PS: There is a 2nd and 3rd prize too, and your story will be posted on the site for everyone to read!! Don't wait send in those stories!!!!

Springtime Felted Bag Exchange Questionnaire

Questionnaire from my Springtime Felted Bag Exchange for April 2007:
1. How long have you been knitting or crochetting? How did you learn? 30+ years
2. What are your favorite yarns to knit\crochet felted bags with? Patons SWS wool, Lion Brand Landscapes
3. What are your favorite needles to knit\crochet with? #10 and sz H
4. What are the last 3 bags you knitted\crochetted (include URL for Yahoo! or flickr album or your blog if you have them!)? You can also link to patterns if you don't have pictures of your finished objects! http://www.flickr.com/photos/55681224@N00/
5. Do you carry the bags that you make, give them as gifts, or both? Both
6. What is your favorite felted bag that you have made for yourself? I am new at felting
7. What are your favorite colors? pink and burgundy and purple Do you like bags in these colors or choose other colors? yes and bright colors
8. Chocolate: White, Milk, Dark, or not so much? Dark
9. Coffee, Tea, or Milk? Tea
10. Do you prefer sweet or salty treats? sweet What kinds? hot fudge sundaes and dark chocolate
11. If you went into Bath and Body Works and could only come out with one item, what would it be and what would it smell like? cream lotion and it would smell like mandrian oranges
12. Do you enjoy any other crafts or hobbies? reading, pen pals, Red Hats Do you collect anything? tea pots, key rings, bookmarks, silk scarfs, old victorian pins, buttons
13. Are there any bag patterns you have not yet knit, but hope to someday? I mainly crochet but I want to learn cables
14. What is currently OTN (on the needles) for you? tote bag and dish cloth
15. What is your most recent finished object before that? scrunchy hat
16. What's cutest: Puppies, Piggies or Pixies? piggies and puppies
17. Do you enjoy reading? Books, Magazines, or both? YES YES YES my book swap, http://dabookswap.blogspot.com/
18. Do you have any children? (kid-kind or pet-kind apply!) grown kids, and 2 pets dog and cat
19. What are some of your favorite yarns for other projects? cotton, wool, landscapes, caron simply soft, soy, ribbon, eyelash not real fussy...
20. And for the final question, one I see debated all over: Novelty Yarn: Love it! Hate it! or It depends! I love all yarns and novelty is great love it!!!
21. Is your home smoke free? YES
22. Is your home pet free? no I have a cat and dog
23. Are you allergic to pet hair, smoke, or both? no on pet hair but do not like smaoke

Harry Potter Reading

Hello again. I am a Harry Potter fan true and blue. And I love to read and watch the movies. I cannot wait till the new book is out, and yes I have it on order. I am on book #2 because I have so many other projects going my reading is suffering. :( But I just found the coolest site to knit with HP fans...YEAH!!!! I also heard that they are opening up a HP park in Florida! WOW!! That will be a blast. And I hear the HP bus is in San Diego??? I hear that Amazon also guarantees delivery of #7 ...

Sticker Pen Pal Swap

This is the wonderful package I got in my Pen Pal swap from Crissy. I just love the cow bookmark. So cute!! you can join too at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PBDpenpalplace/ great group of ladies and lots of fun stuff!

My Yard and Pond

Here's the fish in the pond in my yard. They are growing and made it a whole year now. It is so soothing to sit out ther and crochet by the pond with the running water...

My Yard Bridge

My new addition to my yard. I needed to put something over those huge roots and voila!!! Here it is a wonderful bridge. Hubby put it together for me now I want to add some plants around it...