Crochet Queen: Royal Ramblings

Monday May 23, 2011 Last week was an exceptionally busy and exciting week of crochet inspiration, activity and exploration! The Chicagoland area is becomming a Crochet mecca! Not only do we have the Premiere Chapter of the Crochet Guild of America , the Northern IL Chapter , but we also have its Founder too-Moi! Then there's the Double Stitch twins, Erika and Monika, who are taking the crochet world by storm with their fashion-forward and funky designs and they have also been recently named as spokespersons for Coats & Clark/Red Heart yarns. I wrote about them in Interweave Crochet magazine, "Double the Fun." (Fall 2006) There are inumerable yarn shops in the area and Loopy Yarns in printers Row is one that I have never visited, although I wrote about them once for an article about Chicagoland yarn stores,"Miles of Loops in the Chicago Loop" in Interweave Crochet magazine (Winter 2009). Monika and Erika were "Celebrating Crochet" last week ...

Monday, May 23, 2010 "I have the afghan around me right now, and it has given me several "hugs" along my journey. You are an amazing group, your talents are endless, I'm awestruck and so honored. Thank you all, so much, for your generous talent and kindness. All my non-crochet friends are blown away by all of you." -Pam Pam's words dissolved any and all stress I might have felt back in October 2010 when I committed to designing a cable crochet block to support one of my fellow crochet designers who was going through chemotherapy. Adding one more "have-to" crochet project to my already long list of "to-dos" with deadlines was a bit overwhelming at the time. I knew in my heart, though, that I wanted to do it and so I just got on with the task. Now that our booklet is released and selling for a good cause, I am proud and elated that I chose to be a part of this honorable crochet task! Cable crochet is intriguing and challenging to...

Tuesday, May 10, 2011 A visit from a 17 1/2 month-old is all it takes to bring back memories of a by-gone era: child-rearing! Our special guest was our first and only grandchild, Chloe Marie. This was our first time to take care of her for any length of time; I had practiced putting her to bed many a time, though. Our second grandchild is on the way and we are excited to be waiting on Chloe's baby brother to arrive in July. It was high-time for that winter get-away that didn't happen in winter for Chloe's parents. Time was running out for the baby moon, as well. I'd say overall it was a great success. She is such a good natured little girl and we kept her plenty busy too. The weather cooperated so we were able to stroll to the park for her favorite activity, swinging. We also let her walk on her own two busy little feet plenty in the neighborhood. She got to spend time with her Aunt Bethie in the city and that was very exciting. The sights and sounds of the city...