Part 2 of the Flamies tonight!

Tonight on Getting Loopy, Mary Beth is having the second part of the award show for the Flamies. It starts at 9pm EST, but you can always click on the same link above and download the show later.

I'll be on to officially accept my award and chat for a few minutes. I'll be sharing the show with other really great designers, so listen in. I'm humbled and honored to be in their company. :) So, listen to me make a fool out of myself on the air (there's a reason I was always in the control room).

Catching up

Wednesday night was our going away party for Amber. Other than Dani and I, Amber is close to being an original member of our little crochet group. So we got together at Margarita's house and had a little party for her. Here are a few pics:


Me and Amber


Amber, Jo, Danna, and Dani


Margarita, Carolina and Georg


John and I


So it was a bittersweet party. I'm so proud of Amber, she's taking a promotion that has her moving from here in Florida to New York. She will be greatly missed. I wish her the best of luck and hope to see her in August when we're up in Buffalo (she's going to try to sneak up there for the weekend).


On Thursday I got a present from John in the mail.


Hmmm, what could this be?


Woo hoo! It's a handcarved hook by Award winning hook maker Jimbo. It's beautiful! It's a J hook made in redheart wood. I can't wait to use it.

John said it's for winning my Flamie! :) I love it.

Thursday night I went down to visit the South Shore Knitters and Crocheters. They were a great group of ladies and I felt very welcome. I will likely start attending every week. I'm not going to quit going to my Tampa group, I just wanted to find a group a bit closer to home and meet some new people.

Today I worked on a new design idea (that woke me up the other night and I had to sketch in the bathroom so I wouldn't wake John up) and got the math right and am almost finished with my sample. I also got the yarn for the next yarn company project today and will start swatching for that over the weekend. Is it bad that I want to make it work with the J hook so I can use my new hook?

I also need to do my taxes this weekend. Blah, more math. Oh well. It needs to get done.

On the non-crochet front, John has received a contingent offer letter from the company he interviewed with (contingent on them getting the contract they're going for...something everyone is pretty secure in). So now we have to wait and see if the contract goes through. We won't know for a few more weeks.

Okay, off to make dinner. Have a good weekend everyone!

Oh, and listen Monday night to Getting Loopy, I'll finally be officially accepting my Flamie on the air! I'll post a link on Monday for the show!

Coming soon....

...another pattern by me in the CLF book!

Just got word today that my pattern I submitted for the CLF's 2nd book - Crochet in Chains: The CLF All Growed Up - has been accepted.

I'm not going to show you a picture or even tell you what it is (keeping in theme with the "adult" nature of the book, I'm just gonna tease), but I will say that it is a really neat project.

I will say that it might include beads and thread again. :) And that it will make a great gift for yourself or someone else.

The rest of it, you have to wait until the Fearless Leader says I can say more.

This book will be smaller than the last one, and therefore less pricey. Fearless Leader has learned a lot in the publishing of the first book, so fingers crossed this one goes quicker and easier on her! And of course I'll be posting updates as I get them and I'll let everyone know when the book is ready!


Now I need to get off my duff and type up my submission for the 3rd book (yes, we have many planned) and get that submitted.

How cool is that?

So I was watching the Martha Stewart show today (not something I regularly do, but she was doing the yarn show today) and they were talking about Lion Brand.

And they were doing a fashion show. And Liz Shaw was doing the fashion show and what was she wearing?





The Elegant Simplicity Shawl that I did for them! :) You can see the picture of her wearing it on Lion Brand's front page.

And if you want the pattern? Well then, you go here to the Lion Brand site or here to the Ravelry link.

I really enjoyed making it and it turned out really great. The yarn is the Nature's Choice Organic Cotton yarn and I love it. It's really great to work with.

Okay, back to work on another project. Have a great day everyone!

Still alive

Not much going on here (that can be talked about).

Working on the yarn company project. I'm on the assembly and hopefully will have it done by Monday or Tuesday so I can send it to them. The next project is already on its way. Yay for being busy!

I still have a submission out that I'm waiting on and I need to check into when the yarn is coming for the other two accepted designs (they're way out on the schedule, so it might be a while).

I need to get going on the next round of submissions and work on my idea for the CGOA Design Contest.

John's interview went well, he's waiting to hear on the counter offer. Yes, he got a verbal offer contingent upon the contract they're waiting on. However, it was a little lower than we were hoping for, so he countered. We're waiting to hear on that. In the meantime, he's got a recruiter looking for some short term projects and he's currently filing for unemployment. Not something we wanted, but it's what you gotta do to make ends meet. And it doesn't help that the State of Florida makes it difficult by asking weird questions.

Other than that, not a lot going on. It's been a lazy day here. Something we both needed after this week. John did get the lawn mowed, but other than that we haven't done a lot. We do need to go grocery shopping in a bit, so that'll be the extent of what I've accomplished today. :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

My award!

That would be my Flamie! Isn't it awesome? :)

That's all I've got today. Still working on a yarn company project. John has an interview today so good thoughts are welcome!

Have a great Wednesday everyone!

You like me, you really like me!

So the awards ceremony was tonight and I WON!

Best New Designer 2008!!!!

Since there were some technical issues on the show (much love Mary Beth!) I didn't get to give my acceptance speech so here is my long version.....

First and foremost, a great big thank you goes out to John. Without his love and support (financial, emotional, etc) I would never have been able to do this. He is the one who gave me the ability to leave my job and give a shot to my dream. He agreed that it would be better to try and fail than to always wonder if I could have done it. I love you, darling! He also makes a darn fine webmaster! ;-)

Big thanks also go to my family who have given support through the last year or so that I've been making a go at this. You've listened to my rants and news and cheered at my successes and comforted me through my missteps (not failures).

I want to also thank my three go-to testers who have listened to me complain, tested my crazy ideas, and given me some of the best feedback a gal could get. Dani, Margarita, and Kerry...you ladies have helped more than you sometimes know.

To the Tampa Bay Crochet Group, you guys have listened to my many rants and such and I appreciate that. You've cheered me on and some of you have even bought my patterns and I totally appreciate that!

To my non-crocheting friends, you guys have been one of the best publicity teams a gal can get. You've passed out cards, shown off my wares, pointed people to my website, etc. It means a lot!

To the Crochet Liberation Front....Oh my...I was BLOWN away when y'all nominated me for the award. That alone was enough for me. To know that you all thought that much of me is amazing. :)

Now a few specifics.....

To Drew Emborsky...I don't know if you remember, but I wrote to you in the summer of 2007 asking how I could go about becoming a designer. You gave me great advice that I followed to a T and it worked. I've since passed it forward and given the same advice to other new designers. Thank you so much!

To my mentor, Bendy Carter...I know I haven't relied on you too much, but the help you have given has been awesome. And I always know that you're an email away. :)

To the crochet community at large for voting for me, thank you!!! As I said in chat tonight for the show, I didn't realize that I was even known. So this is so very cool. Thank you again!


If you're interested in hearing the show, it should be available now on Getting Loopy in the archive section. It's long! But it was so much fun.

Getting Loopy with the Flamies

So tonight is the night.

At 9pm EST on the Getting Loopy Blogtalk Radio show, the 2009 Crochet Awards will be given out. These are known as the Flamies in honor of the Flaming Hook of Justice that the Crochet Liberation Front (the sponsor of the awards) gives out.

If you can't listen live, go to that link tomorrow and download the archived show. Actually, even if you do listen live, you'll likely want to go there tomorrow because the show will likely go longer than 45 minutes (and anything over the "live" time gets recorded into the archive show).

And why am I excited? Because I'm up for Best New Designer 2008. I can't wait to find out if I won!!! Even if I didn't, it's an honor to be nominated. Seriously. I know people say that after award shows, but it was for me. I didn't think I was that well known AT ALL. So to wake up one morning and find out that I was nominated by my fellow CLFers to get this award was an awesome thing. The voting was open to the entire crochet community (and further, I'll admit, I told everyone to go vote) so if I win, that's pretty freaking cool.

So we'll see. Don't worry, if I did win, there will certainly be a post announcing that. :) Wish me luck!

A whole lotta little stuff

Just a quick update for today.

1. FLAMIES! They'll be announced tomorrow night on Getting Loopy. If you can't listen live, you can listen to the archived show (I'll post when that's available). It should be a great show. I can't wait to hear who won (including if I won!). So go listen tomorrow night at 9pm EST and join in on the chat room fun, too. :)

2. I finished one sleeve for the sweater. I haven't sewn it in yet, but it looks like perimeter wise, it will fit. I have discovered one thing that made me sad. While my final measurements matched my schematic, I no longer match the medium size. Boo. So this sweater, when finished, will be modeled by Sally, not by me. Oh well. I will start cleaning up the notes and turning them into a pattern and will possibly self-publish it after I have it tested.

3. I am working on a project for the yarn company that is awesome. I love the yarn and I love the colors. I'll try to figure out a way to get a neat sneak peek shot to show you. That will be my work all this next week.

4. Submission proposal went out the door on Friday. Now comes the waiting part, which I stink at. I also need to get to work on more submission projects, but that will need to wait until the following week. I need to bust out the yarn company project first.

5. I finally painted the storage nook above the closet in my studio. John's been after me for a year to get it done and now it is. Granted, the window in the studio is now open because the paint stinks. Ugh. It's better today than yesterday, so hopefully by tomorrow it'll be odor free. I guess it's good that we're in Florida and it's in the upper 80s today.

6. Somewhat non-crochet related...John has lost his job. No worries, he was already in process looking for another one and kinda thought this would be coming. Hopefully the irons he has currently in the fire will transform into an actual job. And soon. Otherwise (and here is where it is somewhat crochet related) I'll be going out to get a part time job to help pay bills. It'll cut into design time, especially since it's been almost 2 years since I've worked a regular job outside of the home. But, you gotta do what you gotta do in this economy. No worries, we'll be okay, we were planning for it already.

7. I want to start a new project but I don't know what. I need something that has some instant gratification right now. I should check out my queue on Ravelry because right now all I do is stand in the studio and stare at my yarn.

So that's what's going on right now. Hopefully I will have more interesting things to post later. Check out the blog on Tuesday when I post my thoughts on the Flamies. :)

Flamies!

Winners for the 2009 Flamies Awards (given out by the Crochet Liberation Front) will be announced LIVE on Monday, March 16th at 9pm EST on Getting Loopy. It promises to be a great show!

If you can't listen live, you can listen to the archived shows once they're posted (at the same link).

And if you aren't listening to this show already, you should. It's a great show and Mary Beth has a lot of great guests. The chat room is usually pretty lively, too, during the show.

But anyway, you should listen on Monday night if you want to hear who won (and remember, I was nominated for Best New Designer). I know I'll be listening! Can't wait to hear who won what!! :)



In other news, work on the sweater progresses. I *think* I have the math figured out. I had to do it in my own way, but we'll see if it works. Crocheting the medium sleeve now and if they work, I'll send it off to a tester for the largest size and then I'll get it cleaned up and likely self-published. :)

Okay, okay, it is important

I have spent the past three days struggling with basic math concepts. Why? Because I didn't pay attention in math class in school. In any of them really. I passed all my math classes, I just did what I needed to in order to pass.

Anyway, once I learn an equation I'm okay. But this is learning all new equations and things. Today I finally gave up on making the math make sense in my head and actually wrote out line by line the increases for the sleeve. At that point I was able to see that the math was right, and now I understand it.

So now I'm crocheting a sleeve, and hoping it will all turn out okay. I think I understand how to do the sleeve cap and will work on that when I get there.


In other news, John is off at another project. This time in Falls Church, VA. The good news is thanks to "commuter" flights, he'll be able to leave Monday mornings and return home relatively early on Friday nights. It will likely be for a couple of months. Midnight is very confused today as his Daddy left while he was still sleeping this morning.

Oh well, back to my crocheting.

Engagement photos (photo heavy, obviously)

I know, totally not crochet related. But, here are the best photos that were taken of John and I on family picture day. These were taken at Disney's Wilderness Lodge.


That rock was COLD and I kinda jumped on John's lap. This is the only picture where we're both not cracking up too much. :)


"Recreating" the proposal. Except we were in our PJs and in our living room and John was on both knees the first time, but this is still a great shot. Will likely be our official "engagement" photo we send with announcements. If you look closely you can see my teal colored wool socks poking out from under my jeans. Those are crocheted, thank you very much. :)


Going in for the kiss.


The kiss. Now, if you look closely, you'll see we're both cracking up. That's because this is the second kiss. The first one went too quick and our photographer made us do it again. John was nervous because my dad was standing right behind him and he said he felt funny doing that in front of him. :)


Near the end of the day. You can kinda tell I wasn't feeling as well by here since I'm actually using the hand on the railing to keep myself steady.


I like this shot. I just love the background. Being on the water, with us both (now) being kayakers, this is a perfect shot for us.

Happy National Crochet Month (belated)!

Sorry this is delayed. National Crochet Month began March 1st. I had all these great ideas in my head of things I was going to do this year for NatCroMo.

And then?

Then medical issues got in the way. A quick overview (because I try not to discuss things other than crochet here) is that I got a kidney stone, was given a painkiller to deal with it, had a horrible reaction to the painkiller, and then due to the lack of sleep and the reaction to the medicine, sent myself into a minor flare with the fibromyalgia. I haven't crocheted for a week.

I'm almost better now. The stones seem to have passed and now I'm back on the climb to get better. I'm not having the flare issues right now, just dealing with getting energy levels back to where cleaning the kitchen doesn't wipe me out for three hours.


Anyway, on to other things....

Voting has ended for the 2009 Crochet Awards. Now begins the wait. Winners will be announced live on MaryBeth Temple's Getting Loopy radio show (which can be found here) on Monday, March 16th at 9pm. It's a great show to listen to anyway, but that night should be great. From what I hear, they're trying to get all the winners to call in to accept their awards. There's also a chat room for the show and that always gets lively. If you can't listen live, you can download the show later from the website or from iTunes.

I have two large swatches that I need to finish to get out the door along with proposals. That will have to wait a bit longer, unfortunately, because along with an energy drop the fibromyalgia causes a bit of mind "fogginess" that makes it difficult to concentrate on writing. Really, this blog post is taking me a lot longer than normal. So I'm hoping I can get it done in time to get it out the door. If not, I may put them in the queue to self publish.

I'm not sure what's on the slate for today. I've been instructed not to push and not to work on really anything. John is tentatively scheduled to head out to California next week so I need to be able to take care of myself while he's gone. We had a good start today as I took the dog out for the first time in a few days. So, I'm getting there.