Yoohoo, where is the camera? Well, I have some crochet to show you and I took pictures but do I have the camera? No.
My son took a picture of the Ecno Mesh bag I finished yesterday and then put it someplace mysterious.
This bag that Natalie designed is awesome! I took some 'groceries' into work for my snacks and it held up great. Bonus: I got a great compliment on it *wink* cause I'm making these for the girls in the office and it is good to know at least one of them loves it!

I will get the pictures up tomorrow for sure. We have an away football game to attend tonite. My sons team is on a losing streak and we don't want to miss any ass whiping that may take place. I still love watching my kid play. It is just too bad that his senior year is mared by such a bad run.

Well, farewell to September. You've been a great month. Now we are entering October tomorrow and it sure feels like autumn is on the way. A little chill in the air this morning and even this afternoon is a little on the cool side. Oh, this afternoon on my lunch break, the Fedx man came and delivered some Adagio tea I ordered plus the ingenuiTea pot. I used it to make a cup of Chestnut tea!! oh my God! delicious and oh so easy in that pot!!! I ordered the Holiday Sampler since autumn is here and that is when I love to drink hot tea. Plus some White Monkey green tea (I just love that name). Ooo, it smells so mild and sweet. I will have some of that one tomorrow.

Okay, it is back to work I go. Peace~ DAWN  ¶ 2:17 PM |

  Ode to Candy Corn
This is the final square for the Square Swap at crochetville. Hallelujah! Can I get an "amen". I decided that since it is almost Halloween (a most glorious time of year) that I would salute the season with a tribute to the candy corn. Besides, I had these colors and need to use them up. Who new a granny could look so chic. I plan on taking group photos of all the squares and posting them for posterity cause frankly I'm sick of squares. When I get my little bag of 35 they will be sitting somewhere for awhile. I just don't think I can join them right away. See, I've been working on a little something something for my secret pal and it involves SQUARES!!!!! get the picture.


Here is the lovely picture that my son drew for the county fair. He won second place and we are so proud. It is aptly named "Humming Birds". The photo is a little light, but you get the idea. I'd say for two weeks notice and not picking a subject for another 4 days he did rather well.

I have a new favorite song on the 'ol iPod right now. "Dare" by Gorillaz. Very catchy tune.

Well, have a good one. . . Peace~ DAWN  ¶ 12:53 PM |

  Secret Pal Stuff and a Movie I want to give a big shout out to my secret pal: Thanks!!! Love all the great stuff I got in the box from around the world. The soap and perfume smell sooooo good and the chocolate was delicious (notice it is not in the photo). Thank you, again.

On to the movie: The Corpse Bride (rated ****) I would have given it a 5 *, but really it is hard to top Nightmare. Anyway, it was so great to watch. I wish I could move like they do. So fluid and graceful. The musical score was really great. I love the song they sing in the ghost bar with the skeletons. That whole scene was fantastic. The story was cliche (as much as it can be when dealing with spirts falling in love with people) but you get so caught up in the animation of the whole thing that you don't really care. It was a nice change of pace from the "normal" movie fluff or adventure. If you liked Nightmare Before Christmas you will like this movie, too. If you didn't then you can always drop your dime on Flight Plan or Proof. Whatever.

Crochet News: I have given up on the Fabulous Poncho, please don't ask why, just know that you will not see it in my Finished Objects pile. I am however joining the Felted Tote along at Crochetville for the tote in the new Family Circle Easy Crochet. Damn, that is a lot of capital letters. I can't wait to get a move on on this one.

Knitting News: I have begun the Endless Loop Scarf at KnitPicks. I'm using the finger weight yarn my secret pal sent me and size 10 needles. It is full of errors and coming along nicely. I don't care how many mistakes it has in it. It will be my first knitted piece and I will wear it with pride. Besides, if you can pick out the mistakes, you are obviously standing way to close to me and you better back off. I was working on it this weekend at a picnic I went to and this young girl came over and asked if she could "watch me do that". She said she crochets but loves to watch people knit. Well, that started a conversation cause if she was fascinated by my crappy ability to hold to needles and some yarn, she need to understand my lack of ablility.

Have a fantastic week everyone!!! Peace~ DAWN  ¶ 1:29 PM |

  Keyhole Scarf pattern   ¶ 10:16 AM |

  Survived the Fair Well, we made it there and back. We went to all the exhibits and found that my oldest won second place in his catagory for a picture of humming birds he drew. Congratulations to him. I think he was surprised and proud of himself. He is a good artist but lack confidence in himself. I keep telling him how good he is but he sees others and what they do and thinks he isn't that good. Ha! a blue ribbon should help with that.

I rode the Himalaya and the spookie ride and the farris wheel. That was enough for me. We had kettle corn, ice cream, cotton candy and funnel cakes. Won a blow up hammer, a little Stewie and a big 'ol turtle. We also went to the petting zoo and looked at all the birds and rabbits and cows. Pee yew. Oh, and we washed our hands an untold amount of time.

I have a full schedule of clients at work today and I have to study for my CTA's so I don't know how much crochet I will get to squeeze in. I have the scarf over half done and I bought another skein of Symphony for my poncho. I went to the bookstore yesterday and flipped through quite a few knitting books but couldn't commit to one. I want a good book on knitting full of tips and easy does it projects. I am still struggling with tension and I feel so awkward while I knit. I feel as though I look like I'm struggling with the needles and yarn. I probably am.

Oh, well. Have a great day! Peace~ DAWN  ¶ 6:16 AM |

  I'm working on a new keyhole scarf out of TLC Essentials so I will know about how much yarn is required of the scarf. The first one was done with cakes of yarn so the yardage was unknown.


It is slow going with the Fabulous Poncho. The is the neck/shoulder part and is maybe halfway around. I love the yarn color and texture. It is wonderful to work with. It is LB symphony mohair and a super thin burgandy chenelle held together. I can't wait to have it done and wear it (if the weather turns cooler--it is suppose to get up to 90 degrees today).

I'm hitting craft stores tomorrow--day off--and then we are going to go the the county fair. Yep, corndogs and cotton candy. I will ride some of the rides, but not any spinny, loopty-doopty rides *pardon my green around the gills expression*. Having children has done something to my equalibrium. I can't take spinning like I use to.

Random song from the iPod: Super Duper Love by Joss Stone
Drink: hand-dipped shake from Hardees (chocolate)
In the mail: the new Crochet magazine (chuck full of SHITY projects--yeah, I said it)

Peace~ DAWN  ¶ 1:15 PM |

  Scarf Swap 2005
Here are the completed scarves for my scarf swap partner. I will get them in the mail this weekend.
The fuzzy one is made with Bernat frenzy. This yarn was several things before it became a Ruffle scarf. The pattern is a combo of the one at Caron.com and the one from the new Interweave Crochet magazine. It is roughly 66 inches in length and soft and warm. The other one I am calling the Keyhole scarf and it too is roughly 66 inches in lenth without the fringe. This one is a combo of two yarns I got on eBay. One is a golden beige chenelle and the other a varigated cotton blend. I have the pattern almost done and will have to take another photo for display purposes. It will be up soon.

Have an awesome day, everyone!! Peace~ DAWN  ¶ 11:21 AM |

  Scarves and ponchos and squares, oh my! Oh, what a busy weekend of crochet I had. I didn't take any photos, yet. I hate to post without pictures, but. . . here we are.

I finished both scarves for the scarf swap. I hope to have them in the mail by Friday. I will have my husband take some pictures on my lunch break for me.

Next up was a poncho for me. I am making the Fabulous Poncho modification by Kathleen. I am doing mine in mohair and thin chenelle blended together. PURPLE! mmmm. I am about halfway done with the neck/shoulder part.

Finally, squares!! I am done with the squares for the square swap. Plus some other squares that I can't talk about yet. I am squared out!!

My secret pal has sent me a post card from Italy! I wish she could take me with her on her adventures. I guess I will just have to be an armchair traveler and enjoy the fruits of her exploits.

Have a great day, everyone!! Check back later this evening for scarf pictures.
Peace~ DAWN  ¶ 7:30 AM |

  AC/DC, baby!
You are Angus Young's groupie.

What rockstar's groupie are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

I love AC/DC, so how fitting is this.

Our AC should be finished today (I hope so, cause a lot of hot guys--and I'm not talking "good looking", are hell to live with. I've never heard so much whinning in my life).

My son got his Ipod back yesterday and I will re-boot it for him while he is at school today. He is quite happy. See, that didn't really take long at all. About a week and a half.

Who else if pumped about the new Survivor tonite? Come on, fess up; there is nothing to be ashamed of here. I'm excited!! Next week will be even better cause Medium and CSI and Lost are new, too. Yippie!!

Have a great day. Peace~ DAWN  ¶ 7:30 AM |

  Oui, Oui Mon Amie Well, I heard from my secret pal again and this time it was from France. Not only that, but the post card is in French. (luckily, my two older boys have had two years of French and helped me decipher the note). Now, either she is muli-lingual or she is so cleaver as to have someone who is help her. She is tricky, my secret pal. Tricky tricky. It has been a lot of fun, so far.

On to Knitting news. Thank you for all of you who left encouraging words and offered help. . . I appreciate it and may take you up on it, as well. Those of you not interested in knitting, well, I haven't abandoned Crochet, not by a long shot. There is room in my craft vault for more than one type of yarn craft. It will be a long long time before I get the hang of knitting, but I will not give up. It is a challenge and I want to be able to conquer it. Right now, I am struggling with tension. My tension seems very loose. I am using a size 10 needles with worsted weight yarn. I'm sure with more practice, my tension will come out more even. I think I have the knit stitch down and hope to move on to purling this weekend. That looks a lot more complicated. I am using the Continental method cause I'm use to holding my yarn that way with crochet.

Hang in there for the scarf photo and pattern. Maybe by Thursday I'll have a picture up and by Sunday the pattern. I'm slow, but work takes up Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and when I have down time I want to sit on my butt and vegg.

Oh, great news (she said sarcastically!) our compressor on our AC here at home went out. Now wait, that isn't all (cause around here when it rains it freakin' storms) we also have to replace all ALL of the duct work under the house. We now have a new bill coming into our lives for approximately . . .$3,000. Yep. My husband was offically seperated from the Air Force after 17 years on Monday (seperated, not retired so there are no benefits) so he is currently looking for work. I have a job that pays well but not for 5 people. Christmas is around the corner, our oldest is graduating from high school this year and now we have AC problems. Does that sound like a good excuse for a drink?

Deep breath; move on. I'll leave you with this. My dad (who lives with us) stepped on a garter snake on the back porch this afternoon. The snake was in the process of devouring a bird. He slithered off into the underbrush by the back door probably pissed cause his meal got interrupted. Glad my dad had his shoes on. Yuck!
Peace all~ DAWN  ¶ 12:44 PM |

  Secret Pal Strike My secret pal stiked on Saturday! I got a triple hit. . . 2 post cards, one from Ireland and one from England and a package from Canada. My head is spinning. I don't know where she is, what she is doing, or when she will strike again. I am thrilled with the postcards and the snippets of what she is up too and the package; well, just look at what was inside. 2 skeins of (pecan color) Alpaca--soooo soft and 2 skeins of Amlie in a grape/purple shade and feathery soft as well. I feel a hat and some wristlets coming on. Plus I now have some bunny pellets (ummm) and some Rose scented bath salts (can't wait to try them). Happy happy me!! Thank you secret pal!!

I have been up to some "secret crochet" as well, but can not show it for fear of being outed. It is coming along nicely, though. Plus, I finished my scarves for the scarf swap. My swappie is getting two (she knows, I told her). I plan on writing up one of the scarves as a pattern. I may submit it to the next Pattern a day calendar. Not sure yet. Pictures to come on that one.

I decided I was just gonna do it. I picked up a pair of needles and surfed the web and after many many rants and some cussing and a little heavy sighing. . .

Tahdah. . . my very first attempt at knitting. My stitches look like crap, but I don't care. I did it and I'm proud. I have know idea how to bind off yet and I am sure that I even did this stitch wrong, but at least I am giving it a try after several years of thinking about it. It will be a long winter, I will have plenty of time to practice. Anyway, there she is in all her wonkie glory. My goal is to be good enough at knitting to make hats. I LOVE the look of knitted hats. There are some really cute patterns out there and I want to be able to make a few.

Peace all~
DAWN  ¶ 2:22 PM |

  I'm Published!
Well, let me start out with a photo of a portion of my haul today. I got some great yarn for a scarf for a co-worker and the purple is for a poncho which will be mine. Design to come. The magazines speak for themselves and then we have the Crochet Pattern-A-Day calendar for 2006 ($13.99 @ Books A Million).

Well, I designed a pattern and submitted it and they accepted it!!

Yippie! That is me full of pride. (posing like Vanna White) I am Fur Stole March 1, 2006 (Ash Wednesday). **discaimer: Of course, as my luck will have it, I chose a yarn that within weeks of being accepted to this calendar was recalled. Bernat Fur Out . Yes, I make the only flamable stole in history. PLEASE NOTE: you may substitute {successfully} any fuzzy, furry, knubby, bulk type yarn you want and still get a great stole out of this design, promise.** Having said that: happy dance for the addition of my design to the other great designs in this calendar {dance, dance, dance}.

Some of you long time readers may remember when I first blogged about this stole. If not or you are new, please click on November 9, 2004. You won't regret it. I love my children. I really do. That is my oldest son almost a year ago. Here he is now.

I had to give him some respect after that archives shot. He is such a good sport, not to mention a ham as are all of my boys.

Okay, get back to your day. Have a great one!! Peace all~ DAWN

  ¶ 1:32 PM |

  Hemp & Beads on Labor Day I planned since Friday to make myself and ankle bracelet for work. I mean I have the beads and all the findings so why not? So today, Labor Day, I got out my beads and my hemp and my crochet hook and went at it. Here are the results of my LABOR:

This is the beginning of the project. I had to start it twice to get it around my ankle and to get the bead crochet down. As you can see, the green/blue beads are not your typical "round" beads. They are more flat and oval. Great stone, though!


And here is the final project all neat and tidy on my shiny ankle (I lotioned it up for the photo -- with massage lotion, cause that was the first thing I grabbed). Notice the red masquito bite; it's there. My youngest pointed it out. Thanks, babe.

Little side note: I made the anklet to long, go figure, and instead of starting over, I decided to close it with snaps! so I put on two snaps on the ends and it fits perfectly. Love it and will wear it often. It gives my clients something to look at while they are getting worked on.

Peace all~ DAWN  ¶ 12:06 PM |

  Chic Scarves Without further teasing, here are the chic scarves modeled by my youngest son:

And here is a close up of the stitches (not to shabby):

See, I think it was worth the wait. The white yarn is some Red Heart I bought for filler in some squares and the browns are the ones I got from Knit Picks. So it is a little wool and a little acrylic (mostly wool, though). I think these are gonna be for co-workers. I have some other colors to do a variation on this scarf for another girl at work. This one is the Coffee and Cream look and the other will be Tequila Sunrise! Weeeee

Peace All~ DAWN

  ¶ 1:30 PM |

  Meditation   ¶ 3:52 PM |

  Humming Bird Manslaughter Well, I don't think I've committed hummingbird manslaughter, yet. I think this one will be fine. You see, we have two feeders out back and one is by the kitchen window and the other by out sliding glass doors. Yesterday, a humming bird slammed into the door (while trying to chase away another humming bird) and knocked himself silly. It took about 20 minutes, but he finally flew away. Then again this afternoon another one did the same thing (I hope it wasn't the same one!). He is finally sitting up, but he is really dazed. We moved the feeder.

I made the coolest scarf this morning. I am making another one (this time wider) and should have it done by tomorrow for posting. They work up so fast and look so chic. This may be the scarf of choice for gifts this year. A little yarn yields quite a lot. I know, I'm teasing you--just a cliff hanger so you will tune in again.

My son's iPod mini is on the fritz. We contaced the company and they are sending the necessay box and paperwork to replace it. Unfortunately, this is the second time we've had to do this in 2 1/2 months. It got really hot while he was listening to it and then it started to malfunction. Fingers crossed that this one is "THE ONE".

If you are looking to create some articles for charity but don't know what charity, give Ro's webpage One Small Thing a look see. She can hook you up with a charity for the project you may have in mind. I love this idea!

Okay, have a great Labor Day Weekend and check back tomorrow for the scarves (*grin*) Peace~ DAWN

p.s. the bird lives!!!!   ¶ 12:31 PM |

  One of the Flock Well, if there is a gas shortage in our neck of the woods, we helped contribute to it. Last nite at 9:00 p.m my husband calls and says, "get the boys and bring the cars (yes, that was plural) and the gas cans from the barn (no, we don't live on a farm) and meet me a the gas station. They still have it at $2.79 and I want to fill everyone up before morning when it will probably be $3.00 a gallon." So, there we were, lined up with all the other gas whores in town waiting our turn to get the last cheap gas known to man. Well, I don't know about you, but this sucks all around.

Just when you get to feeling sorry for yourself, you see pictures of all those people in the wake of Katrina who basically woke up one morning and all they had was each other. Nothing else. No clothes, no possessions, no pets, just what they took with them or carried off and held onto. If it wasn't enough to be embraced by this tradgedy, you have the fringe: i.e the assholes who think, in moments of chaos, "hey, that store over there has a bunch of vcr's and tv and blah, blah, blah, lets go take as much as we can." Really?

Send what you can in these tough times and if you can't send anything or give any money, then pray. Just keep the energy positive, whatever else you do, just keep the energy positive and we will all get through.

Peace~ DAWN  ¶ 10:13 AM |