Blue Curacao

Doris Chan is one of my favorite crochet designers. I have a couple of her pattern books and a few individual patterns, and she definitely knows what she's doing. This is one of my favorite shawls, Blue Curacao. I loved it from the moment I laid eyes on it, but always thought that it was way beyond my crochet capabilities...

...until this year. What changed my thoughts about what I could do, I don't know. But I have one of these shawls in progress. I finished the one I posted about last time, and I have another one of those in progress, too. Another thing I'm working on is shawl pins. Made from polymer clay and dowel pins, I'm at the baby-phase of this craft. I've made and thrown away more than I can count these days. Uuuufff. One day I'll get it right, people, one day. Hopefully sooner than later.

Current crochet project

So my current project is this:

  So far, it's a very fun piece, easy to crochet and the directions are pretty clear. 

It's called "Tahitian Shawl" and it's beautiful. Mine, however is lying on the floor in a heap at the moment, so I don't have a pretty photo of it. I suck at posting my own photos, as you all know anyway. It is, in fact, easier than the changes and upgrades that Blogger is making to my blog. I'm having not so much fun navigating through all the additional crap that they've added. I just want to write my thoughts, you know? Without a whole bunch of extra stuff to wade through, decisions to make before I even get to my blog, and then arrive and not recognise my own stuff. Yeeeesh.

Nope, I haven't disappeared...

Fooled ya, huh! I'm still here. Just had a great weekend with my sister, WoolyWorks, at the one and only craft show we do per year, "Christmas in Windsor." We did well, selling just about all our new knitted and crocheted goodies, and making a tidy little bundle of cash to boot. Our booth looked untidy and tossed together, and...well...it was. I had some felted hats...

...and some crocheted ones...

...and a scarf or two...

...but I sold them all, so I have no more things to show you... ...except the dogs on a snowy night in the backyard:

Fall has Arrived! Yay!

Thank goodness it has cooled off around here. We have had a couple of cold days and frosty nights, which have improved my state of mind considerably. After a few days of coolness, the sun has come out, but with much less vehemence than a few weeks ago. I'm thrilled!!! The only thing about cold days is that the flies are literally begging to come in the house. They are plastered on the outside screen doors and take advantage of every opportunity to get in. Happily, I am very adept with the flyswatter. Porter has become a great fly hunter, too, so between the two of us, I'm sure the flies have the impression that they have entered the House of Death. The breeze is blowing a bit now, and I'm watching a shower of yellow leaves fall to the grass. I love fall!

Funky Burfday Socks

I promised a good friend some handknit socks...oooohhh....well....about a year before I left Peru. They were to be for her birthday. I jumped right on them and started knitting away. Got one done, got half the second one done; found a mistake WAAAYYY back by the cuff and had to rip it out and do it again. Discovered the second sock was smaller than the first, so I ripped it all out and started again. Started and stopped, started and stopped, then moved and packed them up and lost them, then discovered them again, but the needles had come out of the stitches and some were dropped and pulled out. Soooooo...I ripped back and started again. Finally I got them done and here they are:

Not the most beautiful I've ever made, but she is tickled to FINALLY get them, and now I can start on socks for myself. Or not. Maybe to sell. Who knows.