I Won a Book!

  Can you believe it? Crochet and Other Stuff had a giveaway on her blog and I actually won! It's a great book and has a lot of good info in it. So far I've only skimmed through it and tried a couple new stitches that I haven't seen before. I plan to sit down with it more this week.

Giveaway Alert!

   Do you have any photos you'd like to see blown up on canvas? Lamb at LambAround.blogspot.com is having a giveaway on her blog for a 16"x20" rolled photo canvas from Uprinting.com! Join in the giveaway and while you're there check out the rest of her blog!

Hooked

  What is it about crochet that's got us so hooked? Maybe it's the satisfaction of transforming a single strand of yarn into something beautiful, wearable, or useful. When I first learned how to crochet as a child from my mother, I couldn't see the potential that the yarn had. I thought my only option was to turn it into a boring doily. I didn't want to put in all that work for an unappreciated doily to be thrown to the side somewhere. If I only knew what I had given up so long ago, I could be an amazing crocheter with decades of practice under my belt. Well, you can't dwell on the "what ifs" because it will only drive you crazy, right?

   Even though I don't have years and years of experience I think I'm doing well in my crochetability. (I think I just made up a word, it has a nice ring to it.) I didn't get hooked when I first learned, but boy am I hooked now! I started when my youngest was born. I had to stay home with him for a while. I saw some videos on youtube and said hey, I can do that! So I did. I researched the internet and found craft blogs. I thought, I can do that too! And I did. I kept doing it and here I am. I even have a few patterns of my own. I hope to get better, design some more and get better at this blogging thing too.

   When did you get hooked?

image from http://www.crochetspot.com

Laila's Gift Update

Laila's Gift

  My husband's family is visiting this week and his niece's birthday is today! Happy Birthday Laila! My sister-in-law showed me a small notebook where Laila had drawn out some design sketches for clothes. They are pretty fabulous for a 7 year old! I decided to get her a real sketch book for more of her fashion designs. I found a basic sketch book at Michael's and planned to make it more girly and unique to match the birthday girl herself. I forgot to take a before picture, but it was just a basic plain black book. I got some pretty scrapbook paper and cut some fancy vinyl letters with my Cricut. I think fabric would've been better for the background, but this came out great too. The paper has great texture and is very colorful. I used ModPodge to glue it to the book. So here's what I came up with.

Front Cover

Back Cover

 

Inside cover

  

Another Show and Tell

I love when I get emails from people who've made beautiful things from my patterns! It makes me feel like my work is not in vain. Thanks so much! Here is another floppy sun hat made by Drea. She used 2 strands of Vanna's Glamour yarn. Doesn't she look fabulous? I love the way this yarn looks. Thanks for the pic Drea!

Camera Update

A couple posts ago I mentioned that I was getting myself a new camera. Well, I ended up getting the Sony A390 Digital SLR Camera from Amazon.

   I still have much to learn in my photography skills, so a review from me would not be much help to someone who knows what they're doing. I will say that I'm liking it so far. The only downside is that I want to get a new lens so I can zoom in from a farther distance. The camera came with a 18-55mm lens which is not much of a zoom. Lenses for these type of cameras are expensive! I think it will be worth it, once I can afford it..

   Here are a few pics from our 4th of July celebration in our neighborhood. Some of them came out blurry because I was either moving too much or I couldn't get the settings right for the night pictures.

Good action shot!

It's hard to get a good pic of five kids at once!