Fall traveling - no crochet content

My husband and I just returned from our final trip in the camper for the year. We traveled to Western PA to visit relatives from my Mom's & my Dad's side of the family. My sister flew in from Texas, and an aunt from Kansas, to my parents in NC. Then, along with my brother, they drove up to Western PA. Mom organized a family get together and we visited with family we haven't seen in a while. Great times.
We stayed at a campground in Shelocta.


From there we drove to Blackwater Falls State Park in Davis, West Virginia. We spent a night in the Blackwater Falls Lodge, and the next day hiking through the park and looking at the falls.


Then we drove to Cass Scenic Railroad in Cass, West Virginia. We had a trip on a restored logging railroad, up to the top of the mountain where we had lunch. We had a tour of the machine shop (Hubby's favorite) and a tour of the company town (my choice) and saw a diorama of the town, railroad & mill, and watched a video about the history of the town and railroad.



When we got home we had to winterize the camper. Winter will be here soon in PA.

"Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio?".....

I know that I've been neglecting the blog again. I got sidetracked with projects and paperwork. Our CGOA Chapter is working on the "60 Scarves in 60 Days Challenge" on "Ravelry". We are planning to donate the scarves to a local YWCA and the PA Breast Cancer Coalition. Then came this year's announcement about the Special Olympic Scarves. We've participated in the SO project for the past two years, so we're making scarves and donating them this year.

In just a week or so we start on the "Caps for Good" project. A joint effort with Warm Up America and Save the Children, these caps will be collected and sent to poor women in other countries. This is a very important project and we're eager to participate for our second year.
The scarves are already being given to me, so I want to set up a system in the back of my car for organizing the various projects until each group is given to a "chair" person who will box and ship them, or deliver them locally.

Tunisian Lace with bobbles and shells

Many people think that Tunisian is simply the "afghan stitch", and don't like it because it's "thick & stiff". I've posted before about tips to make your Tunisian work soft and drapey. This is a lovely stitch pattern in Tunisian lace, that will change your mind about Tunisian - it's lacy and has bobbles and shells (or fans). This would make a lovely shawl!

I think I'll watch it over again, with hook and yarn in hand.

Knitters' Day Out

Last weekend I had fun with my fiber friends at Knitters' Day Out. This is a big event in the Harrisburg area. Friday night is a Market, and classes, Saturday is Market, more classes, and a buffet lunch.

Friday night I met up with a friend and we toured the Market, drooling over the lovely yarns, checking out the crochet books & hooks, and thinking about what we might buy and how many yards we'd need. We met up with a lot of crocheting and knitting friends during the evening.

This year I attended as a volunteer teacher! I had proposed a class on Tunisian for Knitters, and my proposal was accepted. I reworked my Introduction to Tunisian with the focus on it's similarities and differences to knitting, not crochet. I had a suitcase full of swatches, and samples including some of my original scarf designs. I am a right-handed crocheter, who also knits; I asked my best student to come along and assist me, she's a left-handed knitter who also crochets. We figured we'd be able to help everyone. I had a sold out class, with 15 eager knitters who knew nothing about crochet or Tunisian. They all left with great swatches of Tunisian knit and Tunisian purl, and some even got to learn a honeycomb pattern that's one of my favorite stitch patterns. My assistant brought along the baby afghan that she's recently finished, a honeycomb stitch worked in a variegated baby yarn. It was lovely! I hope all the students had as much fun as the teachers.

After class, we hit the market, again. I found out that my students did get to the vendor and they bought Tunisian hooks. I think that they will be even more surprised than I was when I opened the hooks. They are double-ended or cro-hooks. I love that because I can use them for Tunisian, and double hook patterns. But they don't look like most of the hooks that I showed them in class.

I filled out the evaluation & said I'd love to teach next year. But first we had to double check the dates for Knitters' Day Out and the dates of the Chain Link Conference in Greensboro. Sept 9 & 10 two weeks before the conference, I should be able to do both!!

Amazing art in crochet

What do you crochet? Afghans, dishcloths, doilies, sweaters, shawls...There are plenty of possibilities. The hot thing right now is amigurumi, a Japanese word for small crochet of real items. Animals and movie characters were some of the first projects, but there is such variety. There is a book of amigurumi sci-fi and horror creatures such as zombies, there are cute sushi, and tiny desserts. I've just found a website of very unusual ones, but the design & work are amazing. This site has an Easter Island Head, Tongue Idol, bird totems, spirits.
"Easter Island Head"
Caution: There are human body parts, if you're easily offended, don't look.
Peek at the little birds, instead:
"begging baby bird"
"contented birds"

This site is definitely part of my "Art in crochet", amazing artwork.

Sticks Hooks and Shuttles Calendar

Elmore-Pisgah, the company that makes Peaches&Creme has produced a calendar of knit, crochet, and tatting patterns. The proceeds go to charities, check it out.

Crocheted Peace Sign

I found this tutorial while I was searching for patterns for Christmas ornaments. We're crocheting ornaments at our August CGOA Chapter meeting. We normally do ornaments or snowflakes in July, Christmas is July! But this year Margie and I talked about the Chain Link Conference in Manchester.

This tutorial has a special feature that I don't think that I've seen anywhere else. When you roll your mouse across a picture, it flips to the left-hand version. Pretty cool way to have a tutorial for left- and right-handers without doing the entire tutorial twice.

I think that I'll use some of my glow-in-the dark yarn to make a few peace signs for the tree. That's if I get any input on decorating this year. When Hubby & I got married we started a tradition of hand crafted ornaments for our tree. I was always sewing, crocheting, doing beadwork and experimenting with all types of crafts for small tree ornaments. When the children came along, I started making a different ornament each year, one for our tree, and one for each of the girls. When they were ready to go out on their own, they had a large box of ornaments. Family supplemented what I made, like a cousin who did a cross-stitch of baby's first Christmas, and a sister-in-law who made a wooden cradle for the first Christmas, and Grandma & Grandaddy who purchased ornaments at craft shows across the country while traveling in their motor-home. But our tree was all handmade ornaments for many years. As the girls got older, they started buying ornaments and receiving some from friends as gifts. For the last 3 years or more, they have enjoyed selecting a theme and decorating the tree with their ornaments.

Peace to all, even if I don't get my peace sign ornaments on the tree this year.

Dazzleaire yarn review

I've been very busy with crochet-related things, some is paperwork, others are things that I can't mention, yet. But I hate to post that I know things that you don't know, it's so nah, nah, nah, middle-school-like. But Tuesday at our Hooks n Needles group, I was told that I need to update this blog. I explained that I've been catching little fun things, putting the link into a post, and then saving it as a draft. NOPE, they said, that doesn't cut it. New Post, please. So I promise that I won't pop this into a draft & save it for who knows how long.

Marty Miller has written a great review of the New Dazzleaire yarn. I think that most of us of "that certain age" remember Dazzleaire quite fondly. And we spend a lot of time questioning why they don't bring it back. So we were quite happy to hear that Caron was bringing it back. Yeah! Then I went to the website and found that it was a #5 Bulky. Boo! The original wasn't bulky. But I've had several co-crocheters try the new Dazzleaire and declare it as nice as the original. Marty's review is quite favorable. So now, what shall we do with some new Dazzle? The Blue Skies Jacket from Tammy Hildebrand, that I made last year with some Jiffy (is that right?)That pattern would look fabulous in Dazzleaire. It's added to my ever-lengthening queue.

'70s crochet, Ballerina Quilt, Nesting Cat & can you spot some crochet?

A fellow crocheter posted the link for this blog to the group. I loved the picture of the 1970's...everything seemed so familiar. The "bowl haircut", which was called a pixie when my little sister and I had to sport them in the 1950's and 1960's. The white boots called "go go boots" when my soon-to-be-sister-in-law and I sported them in the late '60's. On to other pictures - like the embroidered linens with crochet edges, every well-dressed bedroom had to have flat surfaces properly covered.
I love all the photos, such lovely quilts, flower arrangements, cups & saucers, and you never know where you'll notice little bits of crochet - lace, granny squares, skirts,...

More Lace Pottery

I've posted before about the Lace Pottery of Maggie Weldon. She uses lace - crocheted, knitted or tatted - and presses it into clay, then glazes and fires the work to create lovely pottery.
This gentleman in New Mexico also makes lace pottery - he uses the doilies that his mother crocheted. His glazes are the bright colors of the southwest. I'd love to see his work in real life. And maybe buy a small piece to complement the two pieces of Maggie Weldon Lace Pottery that I own.