I have been beading like a mad woman.  Here are two cuffs I recently completed:

More to come....

Freeform!

The online show of the International Freeform Crochet 2012 Challenge is now up. I am very proud to be a member of this group.  Please visit this show and see the works of all the amazing freeform artists.

http://www.freeformcrochet.com/2012/index.html

My entry was based on George Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue' 

I have also just released a new scarf pattern which is available for purchase through Ravelry or Etsy.  It is called 'If On A Summer's Night...' and the original was made using 450 yards of Malabrigo Lace yarn.  Give me a pat on the back for actually measuring the leftover yarn this time ;)  Give me another pat for making charts for it :)

I made another with Tencel just because.

 More to come soon as I have been busy beading - both freeform and bead embroidery.

Jude

it's been a long time, now I'm coming back home

As usual I have been trying to do too many different things at the same time. Lately (since October)) my focus has been on my mother who took ill just before the sale of her home was finalized. Not to go into this in detail, all is well and taken care of now.

I was also in a flurry of activity designing and making jewelery for my sister as she was helping with Dallas Fashion Week. Some pictures below. More to follow....

Now things are relatively calm here and I am really looking forward to getting some Irish crochet work done again.

increases - a little digression

You know what I don't like? I don't like increases that are too obvious. For instance, when you increase a stitch in crochet and the stitch has an obviously larger hole because there are two stitches in it. What I have come up with to correct this is to make one of the stitches in the back loop and the other through both loops as usual. If the increase is at the edge, make sure the stitch that goes through both loops is also at the edge. If you have a troublesome horizontal loop, then make your single loop increase stitch through the front loop on right side facing rows and through the back loop when the wrong side is facing you. I haven't seen this anywhere before, someone else could easily have suggested it, but I do want to pass the word along.

Increases in knitting are interesting because there are different ways to do them. Yarn overs leave a hole, which is great for lacy things. Knitting in the front and back loop of the same stitch leaves a little horizontal bar which you may or may not like. Picking up a loop through the horizontal bar between two stitches is the increase I usually use because it is hard to detect and it is easy to do. Picking up a stitch in the loop that lies in the row below the stitch where you want the increase is also interesting to try.

So go forth and multiply those stitches!

Jude

appolonian vs. dionsysian

The urge to create versus the urge to destroy; how interesting is that! These days all I really feel like doing is making and designing things (knit, crochet, beading) and yet there are things I must do that go so completely against this. Helping my mother by cleaning up her companion's home has taught me a lot about destruction. He was a pack rat worthy of being on the 'Hoarders' show. My husband and I spent his vacation clearing out the attic and basement of the house he left to my mother. Now, remember, that this is a one bedroom home. We filled dumpster and dumpster with remnants of lawn chairs, broken furniture, pieces of wood, old mismatched tile, and more bags of clothing all dirty and torn than you can imagine. The final total for this cleanup was 26,000 pounds. 13 tons. Just imagine that for a minute if you can. Next on the list is the main floor and the yard with all its overfull sheds. I am in serious avoidance mode over that right now. And, if I wait long enough there will be too much snow to even worry about the yard for awhile.
But for the moment, I will go with Apollo and do a little designing and needlework. I am pushing myself a little as I am working on a design that will result in 3 patterns: one crochet, one knit, and one tunisian crochet. Just a little challenge to keep my brain cells firing. Though goodness knows, I'm not using them for much else these days....
Go with Apollo!

just do it

I have so many projects on the go right now that I think I must be quite mad. I realize that I am process oriented instead of project oriented but I think I have taken it to the heights of ridiculousness. So my early resolution is to reach down, pick up one of my UFOs and just finish the darn thing.
Who knows, I might even get some gifts done...

November 29, 2009 First day of the blogging

My first day of blogging and I really hope that I can keep this up. The first thing I would like to say is that I have had enough of rude people. If you are rude, go away now! I mean it!

Now for all you gentle loving souls who remained, I would like to tell you of an idea I have that I have been seriously thinking of doing for a year or so. First I would print off sheets of those adhesive address labels with 'I AM RUDE' printed on them as big and bright as possible. Then, whenever I go out I would take these stickers along and all those who are rude, who push, shove or jump lines, will end up with a sticker on their behinds announcing to the world their true self. Oh, I think a car or two might end up with them as well.

What do you think? Can I do this without being caught? Will I start a trend? Only time will tell....