Archive for Just Stuff

We need sponsors!!!!

December 5, 2008 · Filed under Just Stuff · Tagged , ,

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m the new CAL Administrator in the Crochet on Ravelry group.  However, I’m also helping out with COR’s Crocheted Finished Object of the Year (CFOY) contest.

For the month of December, we’re opening it up to all members to post pictures of crocheted items they’ve made this year – anything, as long as it was FINISHED in 2008.  After some discussion, the mods have decided to even allow items that were started before 2008, as long as they were finished in this calendar year.  It can be anything, from anybody – even professionals are included, though they have their own category (no fair pitting professionals against newbies, is it?). As I said, it can be any item, but each item can only be entered once, in a single category.  (In other words, if you have something that would fit into two or more categories, you have to choose which one to enter it under, because it can only be entered once.)

The categories are:

The one thing we’re short on?  Sponsors.  We are in need of approximately 20 prizes for the winners, and only have 3 volunteers so far.  Some people have been contacted but not replied, but our biggest problem is simply a shortage of people to contact to ASK for sponsorship!

(And here’s where I finally get to the point; yes, I can be wordy.)

SO!  Are you an LYS owner?  A pattern designer?  An Etsy shop owner?  A spinner?  A stitch-marker-maker?  Would you like to donate a prize for one of our winners?

Anything that is in any way crochet-related is welcome.  Yarns, patterns, hooks, stitch markers, hook cases… you get the idea.  If you’re interested, please, contact me!  Either leave a response here, or, if you’re not comfortable doing that, you can email me.  yarnkrazykreationz [AT] who [DOT] net.

Thanks!!!! 😀

(Please note, all Ravelry links require you to already be a member in order to view the page.  Otherwise you’ll just get the Ravelry home page.)

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SO, Sis… you want a preview?*

November 29, 2008 · Filed under Just Stuff · Tagged

Your hat.  Eet ees done.

JUST finished it.  Like 5 minutes ago.  I needed something small to work on during the coffee morning at Your Namesake’s school, so I grabbed a ball of blue yarn and my hook and got half of it done while sitting there, drinking tea, and basically just shooting the breeze for 2 and a half hours.  😉

So… do you want a preview or do you want to be surprised?  :-p

*I’m posting this here, because I know you always see my posts ASAP.  Just as easy as emailing you, but a little quicker, since I already have the blog open every day.  😀

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It’s incredibly frustrating….

November 16, 2008 · Filed under Crochet, Just Stuff, Shrug/Sweater/Shawl, WIP · Tagged , , , , , , ,

… when you’re working on an ever-increasing pattern, and you’re down to the last stretch of one row… only to find a mistake you made at the BEGINNING of the previous row.

Seriously.  I’m at row 2 of the lace edging of the All Shawl, which at this point is friggin’ HUGE (and I’m making it fairly short, at least for a shawl) and I had to rip out almost ALL of the lace that I’d done so far.

Ugh!  😦

To give it some context, here’s the most recent uploaded photo:

All Shawl I

All Shawl I

I’ve done a lot more than it shows in this photo (and have taken more recent ones, just didn’t upload them yet).  There’s 15 rows of burgundy, 3 rows of the Beach Belle, 15 more rows of burgundy, 3 more rows of the Beach Belle, and 8 rows of burgundy to get to the lace edging.  It’s nearly finished, and might have been finished tonight if I hadn’t had to send it to the Frog Pond.

Oooon a happier note…

Birthday shout-outs go to my mother and my nephew Luke, who both had birthdays today (okay, technically yesterday but I’m still up, so to me it’s today).  It’s kind of freaky the way my husband’s side of the family have the EXACT SAME BIRTHDAYS as some of the people on MY side of the family.  One set of birthday-sharers even have the same FIRST NAME!

Freaky, I tell you.  F-R-E-A-K-Y.

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We interrupt this blog for a special announcement….

November 8, 2008 · Filed under Just Stuff · Tagged ,

Yesterday was my sister J’s 28th birthday!!!

J, I put this here ‘cuz I knew you’d see it.  I apologize for not sending you a message yesterday – the other Birthday Jackie had me all tied up pretty much all day (and night), so I hardly got 5 minutes to myself (you know, between that and normal everyday family/kids/house stuff).  But I didn’t forget about you!  I hope J and the kids spoiled you rotten.  Loves ya!!! 😀

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Charity shops FTW!

November 5, 2008 · Filed under Just Stuff · Tagged , ,

While out shopping yesterday, I stopped into a couple of charity shops.  I’ve been wanting to make some curtains to put up under my kitchen counters – not only will they make the kitchen look neater in general, but it’ll help keep that area clean (I found this out when I made curtains for cabinets that had no doors in the last house we lived in).  And rather than go out and buy brand new fabric to make curtains with, I figured I’d have a look in the charity shops for bedsheets that I could use instead.   So that was the whole point of going there in the first place.

Of course, I didn’t find what I was looking for, but I did find something that satisfied my fiber lust!

Patons Beach Belle, in a peachy color.

Paton's Beach Belle, in a peachy color.

…and…

Patons Classic Cotton, in what I think of as Cotton Candy Pink.

Paton's Classic Cotton, in what I think of as Cotton Candy Pink.

They were in a bin, unlabeled (the bin, that is), but when I asked?  THREE for a POUND!  All that yarn up there only cost me three pounds!

I got more of the Beach Belle because I’m planning on using it as an accent color for the shawl I’m making for my best friend’s Christmas present.  (Using the All Shawl pattern by Doris Chan.  Have I ever mentioned how much I love that woman?  ‘Cuz I do.  She creates some of the most beautiful crochet patterns I’ve ever seen, and most of them are a lot easier than they look.)  But I was really tempted to just buy the whole bin.  As it is, I think I only left about 4 balls of yarn.  3 of the Beach Belle that had lost their labels and started to unravel, and 1 of the Classic Cotton.  I thought “why be greedy?” At least leave SOMETHING for other people.  😉

Speaking of patterns… I was checking out my blog stats today, and I came across this post, linking to Caitlin’s V-Stitch Scarf (the pattern page).  Okay, first?  I have to admit, I let out a little squee when I realized she was using MY pattern.  😀  But just look at that handspun yarn!  It’s absolutely GORGEOUS!  That is going to be one beautiful scarf when it’s finished!

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Ah, the “fun” of being a moderator!

November 4, 2008 · Filed under Just Stuff · Tagged

So… I got invited to be a mod on one of the Rav boards – Crochet on Ravelry.  I’m going to be one of the CAL (Crochet-a-Long) mods, which means I’ll be responsible for setting up a CAL – from planning to actual crocheting stage.  It doesn’t mean that I have to be participating in the CAL (I don’t have to actually make the item picked), I just have to be kind of “in charge” of the whole thing.  Only one per month, which the main mod estimated to be about 2 hours a week or something.

Well, considering I’m on Rav ALL THE TIME anyway, I jumped at the chance.  I highly doubt it’s going to even ADD to my time on there.  It’s just going to give some of my visits purpose, instead of just “hmm… I wonder if anybody’s posted in the last hour?”

And we’re due for another CAL thread.  Considering it’s getting close to *cough* Christmas *cough*, I thought a Christmas-themed project might be a good idea.  So I started searching the database for Christmas crochet.

And I came across this:

Christmas Tree Hat

Christmas Tree Hat

😆

Isn’t it ridiculous?  But I love it!  (Sis, couldn’t you just see a few choice members of our family actually WEARING something like that on Christmas Day?  HAHAHA!)

I don’t think I’m going to pick that one, mostly because it’s a pay-per-download pattern.  I wanted to find something free, so that everybody would have a chance at taking a crack at it.  I still don’t know what I’m going to come up with, but I’m going to keep looking.

But ah… the gems I’m going to uncover in my search!  😆

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Ravelry is down…

October 15, 2008 · Filed under Just Stuff

and while that’s a little frustrating, I have to say that I LOVE the graphic they put up.

Now how freakin' cute is THAT?

Now how freakin cute is THAT?

I can’t help BUT smile when I see Bob’s slobbery face.  It’s almost enough to dissipate my dissappointment.

Almost.

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Speaking of publishing patterns…

October 15, 2008 · Filed under Just Stuff

I finally figured out how to add my patterns to the Ravelry database.  I spent about a half hour yesterday adding the ones that I thought would be the most popular.

This is what it looks like.

This is what it looks like.

You can find it here.

I wonder… does this make me an “official” designer?  😉

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Change in plans… maybe.

October 14, 2008 · Filed under Just Stuff

I was all set to publish the Rosy Shells pattern here on the blog, but then I saw a thread on Ravelry.

Crochet Uncut is accepting pattern submissions for its first-ever issue.

So, since I already had the pattern all written up (I was waiting to get the pictures finished before posting the pattern), I decided what the hell?  Give it a shot, anyway.  What have I got to lose?

If it’s rejected, I can still publish the pattern here (I haven’t deleted the draft I have saved on my dashboard).  But if it’s accepted… well, how cool would that be???  😀

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September 12, 2008: International Crochet Day

September 6, 2008 · Filed under Just Stuff · Tagged

The title’s pretty much self-explanatory, isn’t it?  🙂  September 12 is International Crochet Day, a day when crocheters everywhere are urged to do something crochet-related in public.  You know, so we can hook (ha!  I kill me!) others into it.

Some suggestions that have come up are:

  • Crochet in public
  • Teach someone to crochet
  • promote International Crochet Day in your blog
  • Wear something crocheted – and make sure everybody knows it!

Also, a couple of people have decided to do giveaways in honor of ICD. 

Jimbo (not a crocheter, just an enabler) is giving away a hand-made wooden hook.  (I won one of his hooks in a contest a couple of years ago, and I can attest to his hook-making skills.  The man is a genius, and his hooks are a crocheter’s dream.)

The Cosmic Crocheter is also giving a hook away.

And Stitchlily is doing a crocheted-item giveaway.  According to her blog, she hasn’t decided WHAT yet, so I’ll update this post when I find out what it is.

Personally, I love that there is an International Crochet Day.  Too many times I’ve been seen crocheting, and I’ll be asked “what are you knitting?”  Not to knock knitting or knitters (because they can do some awesome work!), but I hate the fact that every time somebody sees me with yarn, it’s assumed that I’m knitting.  I can’t tell you how sick of that I am.

Crocheters of the world unite!  And if somebody asks you what you’re knitting on ICD, just poke ’em in the eye with your hook!

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