Another Craft

I do NOT need another hobby. I crochet, I spin, I weave (not well, but I'm learning), I scrapbook, I read. I have a passing acquaintance with tablet weaving, tapestry weaving, quilting, cross stitch, embroidery and ply splitting. Plus keeping up with 4 kids, 3 cats and 1 dear husband. I manage to keep busy. And now I do locker hooking. And I love it.

Vickie and I discovered locker hooking at the 2005 Fabulous Fiber Fest in Santa Monica. But we didn't do anything with it until we went to the Conference of Northern California Handweavers in Modesto earlier this month. One of the vendors was locker hooking to pass the time and gave us a quick demo. We were hooked. (sorry!)

Locker hooking uses latch hook-type canvas, fabric or roving, yarn and a locker hook - a combined crochet hook and tapestry needle.

Holding the fabric or roving below the canvas, you pull loops up through the canvas onto the hook, and then pull a strand of yarn through the loops to hold them in place. Fast. Simple. Easy. And fun.

Vickie is using strips of fabric from her quilting days. I'm using wool and llama roving from my spinning stash. Both of us are doing rugs, an easy first project. The book I bought - Creative Locker Hooking - shows other projects including pillows, purses, bowls, baskets and wallhangings. Enough to keep us occupied for a little while.

In a couple of hours, I was able to do a three row border all around my rug and start on the first design element, a diagonal block. The finished project will be soft, warm and durable. Locker hooking is enough like crochet to be comfortable and yet different enough to be a challenge. Since this rug is a practice piece (probably destined to be a cat bed since AJ has already tried to claim it), I'm going to experiment with circles and several border designs to see what works for me and what doesn't.

And the best part? Locker hooking uses things that I already have on hand so I can justify it by calling it my 'stash reduction' craft.

Home Front

Well, the first phase of construction is done (mostly). We went from this at Halloween 2005

to this by April 2006. Not bad for four+ months work. And you'll notice that I said first phase? Phase two is beginning. Dick and the architect compared notes Tuesday; we should have the preliminary drawings sometime next week. Oh joy. More dust and dirt and noise. But the end result will be worth it. No, really - it will.

Dick is working on the landscaping for the front yard. We had originally planned to contract the job out, but the remodel went just a teensy (!) bit over budget, so Dick will be doing most of the work. Good thing he enjoys it. His latest project is laying the flagstone for the walkway. And yes, it really is purple. It looks good with the stone work on the house.

I love all the space the remodel has given us, the new rooms - den for Dick, bed & bath for both Gary & Marie - and my still-in-the-works, photos-next-week, gigantic craft room. But my favorite thing of all? (Promise you won't laugh.) I now have a guest bathroom.(Stop laughing. You promised.) It's not the greatest looking room, and is on the list for the Phase Three remodel, but it's clean. I can have guest towels.I can let friends and family use it without wincing or apologizing ("It's the kid's bathroom. I can't help it.")

I'm so happy.

p.s. I promised Marie that I wouldn't blog about her dance concert. She took a swing dance class at a local college and the final exam was participation in a concert with all the other dance classes. They have a lot of dance classes at the college. A lot. And they all danced. And Marie's group was third from last. It was a long night. But Marie & buddy, Jen, did a great job. So, see Marie? No photos. Unless you click here. Love ya!

Random Acts of Kindness

Today, I had lunch with an old friend at a favorite restaurant, Le Petit Cafe in Ventura Harbor. The food (crab cakes and fresh-from-the-oven croissants) was wonderful, as always. The chef/owner followed us as we were leaving and handed me this:

saying an artist friend was doing sketches and giving them to the patrons. What an unexpected pleasure. Merci beaucoup, Jean-Luc. Je le priserai. I will treasure it.

Sock It To Me

I have to admit that for a long time I was envious of knitters. Why did they get all the cool sock patterns? A search for crocheted sock patterns would find slippers or baby booties or cutesy animals. No real honest-to-pete in-your-shoes wear-them-in-public socks. Times have changed!

I just finished my third pair of socks and have another pair on the hook. I wore my orange socks to a spinning class in Modesto and got lots of nice comments. Reaction was more "where can I find the pattern" than "you crocheted them? Is that possible?"

Sock patterns are on the web, in the magazines and on the bookshelf. A couple of good patterns are here and here. I'm still looking for a 'favorite' pattern; one I can fall back on when I find a yarn I just have to work up RIGHT NOW. Anybody have a suggestion? What's your favorite pattern?

And sock yarn? It's everywhere and it's wonderful! I have red-white-blue yarn, purple yarn, self-striping yarn, wool/nylon yarn, cotton yarn - all ready for that perfect pattern. I can't walk into a fiber store without sock yarn begging to come home with me. I've bought it from major manufacturers, home dyers, and spun my own. Want wool, nylon, cotton or a mix? Easy to find. How long can this cornucopia last? Not long enough! I better go gather more stash for the coming drought.

Priceless

Flowers - Check (Thanks, Gary!)

Jewelry - Check (Thanks, Marie & Rachel!)

Clothing - Check (Thanks, Breanne!)

Candy & Cookies - Check Check (Thanks, Gary, Matt & Lisa!!)

New spinning/weaving/scrapping/blogging/just-general-sitting-in-it chair - PRICELESS!

Dick surprised me, yet again. Some of you may remember my chair at work? The purple one? The one that was custom fitted to me and that I loved and that I had to leave behind when I retired? He found its cousin at Staples - it's black leather, super comfy, with about a zillion different adjustment controls. I love it!! I have been having problems sitting for any length of time to spin or weave. Not any more! Yesterday, I did this:

That is 64s Merino from Village Spinning and Weaving in Solvang. Four hours of spinning (with short stretch breaks) and no back twinges when I got up. Priceless!

In Honor Of Mother's Day

My very favorite grand-nephew - ok, he's my only grand-nephew; but I'm sure he'd still be one of my favorites anyway - is almost 18 months old. And very intelligent. (Did I mention that he's my favorite . . . . oh, yeah I did. Sorry.) I'll let his mother tell the rest of the story.

William has a new nickname. Little devil. Thelma refuses to call him anything else. As you know, the phone is William's favorite toy. After playing with it for a few minutes, Thelma took it away from him. Then, shortly thereafter, the phone rang.

"Hello?" said Thelma.

"Hi. This is the police."

"Who? What's wrong?"

At this point, Thelma's having a heart attack, thinking something bad happened to one of her kids.

"The police. Someone just dialed 911 and we wanted to make sure everything was okay."

So Mr. William placed his first 911 call. Thelma did not find the matter anywhere near as funny as I did!

Spindle Heaven & Over Achievers

My meager collection of spindles is growing! Yesterday I received a spindle I had ordered from Crowhill House Fiberworks. Jen does the most amazing work. The spindle at left is for daughter #2, Marie, who loves fairies and all things magical. It is absolutely gorgeous. The whorl is 3" across and the shaft is 14", longer than previous Crowhill spindles. I also have a Crowhill House spindle featuring kitty A.J. and a selection of custom painted knitting needles. Jen and her spindles are featured in the current edition of Spindlicity.

And if that wasn't enough, also in the mail this week was a new spindle from Halla. I saw her work through the Spindlers Yahoo group and fell in love with her pansy spindles. Believe me, this photo doesn't do justice to the real thing. But can it spin, you ask? Like a dream!

My first spindle was a Kundert and it is still one of my favorites. Also a favorite is my Emily spindle from the Wool Room - it spins forever! On my wish list? A Lady Ann, a Greensleeves, and a Bosworth or three.

On the home front, Dick decided to replace the mailbox stand that was broken in our recent remodeling adventure. Can the man buy a 2x4, stick it in the ground & screw a new mailbox on top? No, of course not! It took him a few days - and a few "French" words - but the results are fantastic. We definitely have the dressiest mailbox in the neighborhood. (The black grout in the photo washed off the brick surface.)

Project Status

As usual, I have lots of projects that I want to do and not many that I actually get accomplished. In the 'Hooray, I'm Done!' category are Marie's rainbow afghan, made with Lion Brand's Homespun, and a purse made with Noro's Daria yarn. The afghan was a no-brainer project, good for working on anywhere - at least until it got too big to fit into my project bag. The purse is based on a pattern from one of my favorite yarn shops and took about 6 hours to finish. Daria is a cotton/polyester cord-like yarn; I found it slow and difficult to work. But it makes an excellent purse - holds the shape well and nothing falls through the stitches. You can't see it well in the photo, but the button closure is a vintage mother-of-pearl carved flower. Very pretty.

The rest of my projects are divided into: *

WIPs - works in progress - things I've started and at least occasionally work on.
PIGs - projects in grocery sacks (don't you love the name??) - this means the yarn is purchased, the pattern chosen and they are theoretically sitting together in a bag patiently awaiting their turn on a hook.
WIMs - works in mind - that list in my brain that I will get to "some day". Also known as stash.

WIPs include 2 Martha Stewart Coming Home Ponchos - one for my buddy Diane and the other for . . . . . who knows?; a present for Lisa's upcoming birthday; and 2 pairs of crocheted socks. I love the Coming Home pattern; I've made at least 6 of them as gifts, mostly in Homespun. The one I kept for myself is crocheted in recycled sari silk from Mango Moon. It weighs a ton and, as I discovered after it was finished, silk has no memory. It stretches. A lot. The original finished length was to my knees. Now it's to my ankles. sigh. It's still beautiful.

PIGs & WIMs include more socks - my current passion - and lots of baby stuff. And this is only for crochet. The spinning stash is larger . . . . a lot larger.

*With thanks to Ginny for the great definitions.

This Is All Lisa's Fault

She said, "Why search for crochet and spinning blogs? Just write your own!" If I could write like the Harlot or Franklin, I'd feel a lot more comfortable having my own blog. But then I thought - I could put up pictures of my various projects . . . . and brag about my future grandchild (check back around November 12). What better excuse to have a blog?

We spent Wednesday at the San Diego Wild Animal Park with Rachel & John. They drove out from Colorado to participate in the Photo Safari that we gave them for Christmas. It was free admission day at the park but it wasn't as crowded as we thought it would be. And the temperature was comfortable, with a light breeze. The most exciting happening was the rare opportunity of viewing Train Engineers in their Natural Habitat.

Our train broke down on the first bridge . . . . right over the lion and tiger enclosures. The tiger had no interest in the goings-on; he was content to sleep in the shade. The lions, on the other hand, decided that the possibilities for food had significantly improved. They had been sleeping well away from the tracks - but ended up prowling right below us for most of our hour-plus sojourn.

Rachel promised to send copies of the photos she took while up close and personal with various members of the animal kingdom on the safari. Yeah. Right. Rachel is not, um, prompt about sending photos. Maybe it's genetic - my mother would keep rolls of film for years before having them developed. At least Rachel gets them developed. Most of the time.