Crochet Queen: Royal Ramblings

Monday, October 22, 2012 Maybe it is because I live in a suburb of the huge metropolis of Chicago or maybe it is because I have more time to notice these days, but I am finding many exciting, educational and fun activities through our library system. Not only can I take advantage of my own library offerings, but I can also attend a program in any other village/city for little or no cost. Recently, we have attended several offerings that I want to share here. It is the 100th Anniversary of the Girl Scouts this year and I have signed on to their alumni site, but had not yet gotten too involved. Last week I attended a program presented by Juliette Low , the founder of Girl Scouts, portrayed by an excellent historic reenactor. She stood in front of a lovely, artistic panel which brought us to the woods with her little tri-pod campfire on the floor. "Juliette" talked to us like she was there on a camp-out with her "girls" as she called them. She was dressed in a GS un...

Tuesday, October 16, 2012 It is really amazing and gratifying to stop a moment and to contemplate how far we have come in the crochet world. To think that back in 1994, when the Crochet Guild was beginning to hatch, we were begging for good patterns, rarely saw a new book, didn't have a conference, didn't have guild chapters...We've come along way baby! During this last week, I've been gasping for breath, running around, busying my mind all due to crochet activity. There is so much to celebrate and October 12 was I Love Yarn Day sponsored by the Craft Yarn Council (CYC) . I had the idea of yarn-bombing as a way of showing my love of yarn. I threw out the idea and 3 other chapter members stepped up to join my effort. I had spied a "delicious" set of 3 bronze statues depicting children holding hands and skipping. "How perfect and easy," I thought, "to string chains of squares from hand to hand to lend color to this wonderful sculpture. Concett...

At his mother's wake, Tom was telling my friend Debbie that his mother was half-way through the ripple pattern afghan slated for the last grandchild to receive one of Grandma's coveted creations. Tom went on to say that he would love to find someone to finish said afghan as a wedding presentfor his niece, Beckee, because this granddaughter was engaged to be married in October. Serendipity took over and Deb told him she knows just the person, Crochetqueen , who might take on the job of finishing the afghan. The rest is "history." Beckee's Ripple Afghan: 120 rows, 40 hours I haven't done the ripple pattern in years and crocheting afghans is not my thing, but the sweetness of the tradition intrigued me. Sixteen grandchildren had already received blankets and the bride-to-be was anticipating her afghan. Only 240 rows left to be completed were preventing the circle of love from being closed. No one in the family apparently has crochet skills, ...