Crochet Queen: Royal Ramblings

Tuesday, November 27, 2012 Do you spend time in online crochet communities? Is spending too much time lurking or surfing the Net your weakness? I disagree with those who insinuate that spending time on Facebook means one has “no life.” Sometimes a stand-out person comes along in an online version of a cocktail party and the sharing of our interests/passions and knowledge creates a sort of click that resonates with the heart. Kathryn Vercillo is that "click" for me. I can’t remember where or how we “met", but I do remember that in December 2011 she honored me with her “Awesome Crochet Blog Award” for Free-form Crochet on her blog, Crochet Concupiscence . What’s not to like about Kathryn for doing that for me? Seriously though, I feel as though by virtue of our interests and our spirit of needing to shout crochet from the rooftops, we are friends even though we have never met face to face. When I did the following interview with Kathryn by phone, she was working on he...

Monday, November 26, 2012 Even though it was a terrifically busy weekend, that has never stopped me from fitting in crochet. This time, however, I'm at a Crochet Crossroads ! The massive Christmas surprise for Chloe is done and well ahead of schedule. Jack's Notre Dame colors cap is done. Now, I either start the next project on my to-do list or I buckle down and get to the basement and start painting on the crochet art project that has been in my head for quite some time. There is also a bead-inspired art project swirling around in my head. It is time to do art! Our Thanksgiving weekend was action packed. From sitting around watching the "Rumba" chase the kids to the Carrie Underwood concert at Bankers Life Arena in Indianapolis, with lots of turkey, our granddaughter's third birthday and our 45th Anniversary thrown in, it was truly a fantastic whirlwind. Here are some highlights: Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes with apricots, brussel sprou...

Monday, November 19, 2012 I had so much to say last week that I left out the part about our visit to the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Unitarian Meeting House in Madison, WI . I love Frank Lloyd Wright: his architecture, Prairie-style decor, his designs, his story. Living in Chicago, I have a sort of nostalgia about him and have designed some FLW-inspired jewelry pieces. Brooch and Earring Set Brooch with Vintage Bar Inspired Brooch 2 Last week while in Madison,I thoroughly enjoyed walking through this design of his and have some interesting photos to share. Back Side of Unitarian Meeting House This is how the first picture looks on the inside. A bell designed by FLW for the meeting house but taken down because it swung so wildly it almost caused structural damage! An interesting wooden cabinet; origin unknown.

Monday, November 12, 2012 Veterans' Day Thoughts of you Dad. You are a hero from World War who landed on Normandy Beach on D-Day and risk your life to make the world a better place!! You are very humble and don't like to talk about it much, but I know that I have every reason to be very proud of you and at age 92 you amaze me! I wrote about patriotism and crochet in politics in my current Talking Crochet eNewsletter which is live now. You can read it here: http://www.crochet-world.com/newsletters.php?mode=issue&issue_id=548&department_id=5 AND just so you know, even though an image of a Barack Obama finger puppet is showing on the article, read on. I am not promoting one party or another. Just having fun trying to tie crochet to every aspect of life! It has been a couple of busy weeks with many events relating to crochet that I was fortunate to be able to attend. Vogue Knitting Live: Chicago. I came up with the idea of the "Crochet Clinic...