Celebrate!

I got my "Masters of Basic Crochet Stitches" certificate yesterday in the mail. I am so _thrilled_. My sons made fun of me because "what is it Mom, just crochet a couple little things?"...
But it's a lot more than that - it's swatches and essay type answers. I did learn a lot....

So to celebrate my academic achievement, I will be doing a drawing for 2 books - one each by the lovely crochet women that helped me along the way.
The first one is "Crochet on the Edge" by Belinda "Bendy" Carter. She was the person who went over my swatches and patiently explained what I needed to correct.
The second one is "101 Crocheted Squares" by Jean Leinhauser. She was also extremely helpful to me.
If you want to enter the drawing, leave a comment on this post by June 14, 2008. You can only win _1_ book so if you have a definite preference (maybe you already have 1 and not the other), please state which one you'd prefer. Otherwise it will be up to my discretion. I will announce the winner on June 15, 2008. Enter as often as you like.

FM 12/24/97

Each year I swear I won't be "this disorganized again". But the next year comes and I'm disorganized in a different way. This time, it's the baking. The chocolate cake, it looks like a mudslide. Even _with_ the icing on it, it still looks like a mudslide *sigh*. But it will get eaten, I'm sure.
On with the freebies


I didn't attempt to bake gingerbread people because they probably would have fallen apart like the cake. But I think I could manage to crochet a gingerbread person. If you got the time (or starting for next year), here's a pattern for you.
http://www.craftbits.com/viewProject.do?projectID=169#rateend

I didn't know this, but there's somebody out there that rates crafty blogs. Nope, I'm not in the ratings, but some other pretty cool blogs are - see if one of your faves made it on the list:
Shiny Media's Top 100 Fashion & Lifestyle Blogs: 51 - 100

Have you ever tried a "crochet along"? I haven't. But this particular site lists various crochet alongs for 2008. Here's a granny square one you may want to check out:
http://crochetalong.wordpress.com/2007/12/21/granny-squares/


This is just silliness, but it's funny. You can figure out "what kind of yarn are you?" with this quiz. (I am cotton dishcloth).
http://www.quizilla.com/users/bisybackson/quizzes/What%20kind%20of%20yarn%20are%20you%3F

This was interesting to me as I was complaining about this earlier this year.
http://generalmedicine.suite101.com/article.cfm/hand_pain_knit_and_crochet
This site has pointers on how to stop hand pain

Remember "Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house - not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse". On the "Knitting Daily" blog, they posted a knitters "Night Before Christmas". You can always think "crochet" where the word "knit" is printed;)
http://www.knittingdaily.com/posts/christmas_holiday/308-1.html

Another contest, this one for a skein of yarm every month for a year. Again, it says "knitters" but crocheters also have one skein projects and free yarn is free yarn.
http://www.oneskeinwonders.com/contest.php

That's it for me and I need to _go_. Tomorrow is another work day and it's also the night I get together with my siblings and their families to exchange Christmas gifts. So I will be dragging - oh, it's _today_....
I hope you have a happy Christmas and if you don't celebrate Christmas, have a nice Tuesday.

_enjoy_

freebie Monday 11/12/07

Most of you probably know about the "Annie's Attic" site, but I especially liked this one:
_Annie's Hooked on Crochet!: Free Pattern of the Week - Ribbon Candy Afghan_
(http://www.annieshookedoncrochet.com/freepatternoftheweek.html)


I like Stevie Nicks, from Fleetwood Mac to her solo career. Another crocheter likes her so much, a lot of her crocheting has to do with Stevie Nicks:
http://www.theedgeof17.com/crochet/


How about a crocheted earring tutorial? This is really cool.
kardemumma - http://krumbukta.blogspot.com/

For those of you who can't get enough granny squares, here's a picture of a "granny square rec room".
http://pattihaskins.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/mocca_4.jpg


And here's the pattern for the purse you'll need in the "granny square rec room". You might lose it there, but what the heck: http://www.berroco.com/exclusives/mika/mika.html

Wondering want to whip up quickly for a gift exchange? Try this fancy dish cloth:
http://crochet.about.com/od/kitchenpatterns/a/cstfancloth.htm


Priscilla Hewitt has some lovely free patterns for Christmas (and other times as well). Check out her terrific website: http://members.aol.com/lffunt/christmas.htm

Another "quickie" for a gift exchange - you could make them in Christmas colors or maybe to match something else:
http://www.craftzine.com/blog/archive/2007/11/crochet_coaster_flower_pattern.html?CMP=OTC-5JF307375954

And now for the winner of the Sylvia Cosh "The Crochet Sweater Book". It's CrochetLassie, I have emailed her for her snail mail address. Thanks to all who participated in the contest.

me, a winner?

I was quite pleasantly surprised when I read my mail tonight. I always read Dee's blog (sometimes several at once, trying to catchup)

CrochetingWithDee.com ~ Cheering for the Art of Crochet
Subject: And So She's Back ...

If you click this link, you will see that I was the guest blogger that won the hat from Dee. *wow* I'm so excited. It looks like a pretty sweet hat in the picture.

Payton update:
He is scheduled to have a fourth surgery on Wednesday. he is healing well. The doctors think the upcoming surgery may be the last. He'll have to have rehab to learn how to walk again. Payton's not happy with nurses now, but that's to be expected. But it also means myolder sibs will have to change out of their scrubs before they visit him....
if you'd like to send a card to Payton, here's the address:

Payton Potochney
c/o Johns Hopkins Hospital
600 North Wolfe Street
Baltimore, MD 21287

thanks!