COME TO THE STANWOOD CAMANO FAIR!

Stanwood Camano Fair begins Aug 3-5! It’s a great old time fashioned fair, with livestock, produce, arts and crafts, great vendors, fun activities for the whole family…man the entertainment this year even includes a sword swallower, I have to see him do that…cringe!

What I like best about the whole fair is the sense of community, and that it’s more FAIR than rides. The rides they have are fun, and meet the needs of all ages. Just as many kiddy rides as thrillers!

Hope to see you there!

Directions:

From I-5 take the Stanwood Exit 212, turn left at the light, and drive straight, go straight past the light at Burger King/Stanwood High School, and turn left at the light on Old Pioneer HWY towards Silvana. Go straight, you’ll see the fair traffic.

Some days are weirder than others…Fair Week Begins

Yeah, I know it’s a full moon. Yup, I can really tell it’s a full moon. My day started off exceptionally bizarre…first of all I woke up all chipper, I never wake up chipper, I’m a morning grouch, I have ALWAYS been a morning grouch, really! Ask my mother…So waking up bright eyed and bushey tailed is a strange event. Then at 9:30 am I got a call from our Department Superintendant telling me that she had just got back from an all night hospital visit and it looks like her gall bladder. So, I get to be “depended” on all week…No probs, been helping out for years, and have bugged her to show me how to do things “just in case.”

At first I think she thought I wanted her department, it took me telling her that I’d rather see her die at the wheel (spinning wheel that is) than have her give it up. I merely pointed out the “Hit by the Truck” theory, that if only one person knows what to do if there is an emergency then we’ve got problems…So, I’m not nervous, I’m just wondering what has and hasn’t been done. She was given very nice pain medication, so I’m not real clear yet…LOL…

Now I am so happy I don’t have my normal sixty entries, because that means there will be less yarn to have judged! Very good, because our judge can’t make it till late afternoon, and I want to get home Thursday night BEFORE midnight, because Friday comes tooooooo early.

My kids got a long today too, hardly any bickering…that was wierd, in fact I repremanded three times for no reason just out of habit, which they thought was really funny. “Hey stop that” I said as they were laughing, and I realised they were having a good time and not sparring in the back seat. I hope this behavior extends PAST the fair.

AND one of the kittens not only crawled out of the little nesting box, it crawled back in. He’s only three days old, that one spells T R O U B L E. I tell ya, that one gets farmed out first.

A friend needed to drop by for some odd advice session, which was odd in and of itself.

And I had to go to my cousins to find out how much and where to get the food to feed their three pigs when they go on vacation next week. I’m not real into feeding swine, but hey Spam, Ham, and Bacon get angry when you’re late with dinner, so I guess I’d better be on time. Angry pigs are not a good thing, nice sharp teeth.

Did I mention I’m looking forward to spinning? Oh yes, yes I am…

Yarn, Kittens, Crochet, and the Fair…and my son BOY OF THE YEAR

How’s the yarn coming?

Great! Haven’t had time to spin, but other than that great! I get a whole week of spinning in this week with the fair coming up though, so not to worry!

Kittens?

ALL doing well. They are quite healthy, still at that wonderfully immobile stage, so I will still have time to reorganise the room they are in to keep the mischief to reasonable levels.

What are you working on?

Well, glad you asked, I’m working on a new handbag design. I think it’s fun so far. I had complements on the color and yarn textures yesturday at a picnic from several non-handworker types. Always a good sign.

The fair…yes, the fair…yup it’s the fair…Yup starting tomorrow LETS GET CRAZY! Actually today is the day to finalize getting all the entries done, organized, and in the right boxes. Because tomorrow entries begin, and I have to help out with that.

What is this? Boy of the Year?!!!

Yup, my 11 year old son was chosen as the boy of the year out of his whole martial arts school. You should have seen his face when he was chosen, he’s very excited. It’s hard being a little brother, so having your own thing that you are good at helps the self esteem a bit. Even his big sister complimented and  congratulated him. (Wonders never cease). Yousif takes Tae Kwon Do and almost has his green belt. He doesn’t compete yet, and really prefers form to sparring, which is alright with Mom!

FFCC Stitch of the Month…

Well, the newlestter has indeed gone out! What are you missing? My revolutionary way of examining the Stitch of the Month. You’ve never seen it like this before…

Why not sign up and see for your self?

Free Form Crochet Club

This month we looked at how to use the good old sc in a project (that’s single crochet) as related to free form crochet. I showed off what can be done when extremely bored and you are thirteen, my daughter’s scarf, and other things

Come join us, we’re a hoot really!

Deadline Killer

Jezabelle with kittens

Originally uploaded by CMHS yarn & designs (laurie wheeler).

Normally I would never under any circumstances miss a deadline. But I did, on my newsletter…and here is why.

My cat Jezzabelle had kittens this evening…and well…that put all work on hold.

Six pretty kittens…all healthy, all eating well, and mama is a bit tired but doing great.

So far the largest white one is named Panzer (it bulldozes over the other ones for food…so being named after a tank/panther seemed appropriate), the black and white one most prominants name is Esperanza (for my love of hope)…and the other white one is Tiberius.
We’re waiting for the other ones to tell us their names

So I will be finishing this newsletter tonight

Going Once Going Twice…

If you haven’t already purchased your Free Form Crochet Club membership, I just want to remind you that tomorrow is the very FIRST issue coming out EVER of the Club House News!

Already some great club members have joined and hopefully will be or have recieved their packs of scrumblinis and project guides! Have fun with those folks!

I will be emailing out the newsletter in part and have password protected the rest of it on my website. Looking forward to having new members join the club! And am REALLY looking forward to having current members send me pics of their projects so we can get a neat “Club House Wall Of Fame” Going!

For you wonderful Club members I should have everything up and going by 10pm PDT. Yeah I know it’s late in the day, but I have kids to take to Tae Kwo Do, Dinner to cook, and world domination on my mind…ok well I’m not quite ready to dominate the world, I guess that’s next week

A little crochet ranting…

Ok…that’s abosolutely about enough! That’s right I’m not going to sit there and take it any more dang it! Here I am minding my own beeswax crocheting quietly in a doctor’s office waiting for my friend (who was having cataract surgery) and one of the nurses says to the other “Wow look at her go, she says that will be a purse in a few hours”

Other Nurse says, (sniff) “Well that because she’s crocheting”. (Please feel free to insert a nasty tone of voice.)

You know, I don’t care if people like what I do, or enjoy knitting, but what I really hate is the attitude of some knitters  (and before the comments flood in, OBVIOUSLY you are not all like that)…but come on hookeroonies stand with me here, how many times have you had that happen?

How many times has some knitter looked at your work, sniffed, and waved it away as if it were some inferior dog doo from planet X.

OK world hear me ROAR!!!!!!!
CROCHET IS IT’S OWN MEDIUM, IT HAS NOTHING IN COMMON WITH KNITTING OTHER THAN THE USE OF YARN.

You needle bearing bullies back off! Cause I have some really COOL knitting friends who don’t think like you… and you offend them too! Believe me!

I mean, I feel bad if you are a knitter and you are thinking “oh but I do not do or say such things.” It’s like my husband who doesn’t get that other men are sexist, and that maybe after enough sexist jokes a woman’s skin can get a little thin?!

Same thing. I will not be an apologist for crochet. We are phenominal, our designs are reaching new heights, why is that do you think? Because a lot of us have not only thought outside of the box, we kicked the box into the alleyway and mashed it into the recycle bin!

Crocheters please, Liberate the Hook. Be loud and proud! Crochet a sweater, even if it’s for your cat.

Wow! Somedays I simply am amazed at what you can do!

Well, I finally got the whole how to password protect part of my site figured out! Talk about a journey. It was a lot easier than I thought.

What part of my site? Well the Free Form Crochet Club Newsletter of course! All of the other publications are as well! I’m pretty tickled about all of that! I had looked a lots of other options, but with my self imposed deadline looming, and the wonderful fact that customers keep signing up! Thank you customers! I needed to get my ducks in a row TODAY…so I did.

Again, I think you will enjoy the free form crochet club! Yarn, Project Guide and Newsletter all for the low price of $60! That’s five bucks a month, and a pretty good savings, especially for the yarn because it’s FREE SHIPPING!

So check out the club! http://www.thesecretsofyarn.com/freeformcrochetclub.html

First Free Form Crochet Club Newsletter Coming Out Soon!

July 28th will mark the launch of The Free Form Crochet Club’s first ever newsletter!

In light that (as you loyal fans well know!) I live with dial up for the foreseeable future (until I get that long anticipated laptop, which will be sometime in august, I HOPE!), I have decided to send the newsletter via Yahoo Groups and host the photos of the Stitch of the Month in files there. My computer just can’t send photos via email at the moment.

However, one of the fun events of this club will be having a gallery showing photos of what Club Members have made with their Scrumblinis(tm)!

If you haven’t joined the club do so today! Remember you get your Secrets of Yarn(c) Project Guide I/II, a quarterly shipment of Scrumblini’s  (USA and Canada only for the moment, while I figure some details out!) plus a monthly newsletter dedicated to FREE FORM CROCHET!

All for only $5 bucks a month! That’s awesome isn’t it?

Check it out!

Yarn Review… Sirdar “Snuggly Bubbly”

This yarn too, will prove that I am not a complete and utter fiber snob! I love this yarn! It’s soft, it’s got bounce, it’s about as hypo allergenic as you can get, it’s durable, washable, fun, and has a great amount of potential for both crochet and knit!

 ”Snuggly Bubbly” is aptly named! It’s sooo soft, easy to handle, and is perfect for making baby hats, blankies, cardigans, and booties. I first came across this yarn last year when I was commissioned to crochet slippers for a bride’s wedding. Her dress was VERY white, and none of the natural fibers were “white enough”…so in desperation I went yarn shopping with a fabric swatch, and this was the ONLY yarn I could find in a hurry to match.

The yarn was easy to use, and fun to work with, I Iike to work with “bouncy” yarns when I crochet, because it’s easier on my hands/wrists. (It may work differently for you.)

So here’s the the important information you need to know about this yarn:

Brand: Sirdar Snuggly Bubbly

Weight: DK  (though for crochet I highly suggest treating it as a sport weight)

140 yds for a 50gr ball. Comes in a variety of colors (and yes that white is a fabulous bright white!)

Fiber Content: 100% Nylon.

Knitting Fever is the USA’s distributer click here for yarn color information!

This is where nylon can be fun, there’s enough texture to the yarn that it is not as slippery as it could be. It’s also slubbed (thus the bubbles), but unlike handspun slubs, these nubs/bumps are evenly spaced.

F hooks are suggested on the label, I’d go up as high as an H depending on what you want to do with the yarn. It’s got a lot of stretch worked up,  but if you have really tight tension then I’d use a larger hook, if you don’t then an F will work just snazzy for you!