CROCHET LESSONS ETC

Good Morning Everyone,

Looking out my window at the beautiful, snow covered
trees and lake, I am so happy to be inside and warm.
The temperature is just a fraction below zero this morning.
Yesterday, when I spoke to my editor, she said it was minus 20
in MN, so I guess I should not complain. The frigid weather is
a topic of conversation for most of the country, but my friends
attending The National Needlework Association event in
southern CA tell me its in the 80's there. I guess I picked the
wrong year to stay home.

Starting a new book is taking up most of my time right now,
but I am still teaching each week and lining up my Spring,
Summer and Fall workshops. I teach a crochet class at my
local yarn shop every Monday morning. I have been doing
this for at least 10 years or more and I am so happy to have
the opportunity to teach so many people. Students
are so enthusiastic, and I love seeing them progress from
beginners to really proficient crocheters.

I am a member of The Happily Hooked on Crochet
chapter of CGOA. We meet at Danbury Hospital each
month, and for several years have done chemo caps,
preemie hats and blankets for the hospital. It has recently
come to our attention that there was a need for chemo
caps for men. We did not know this and have always made
our caps for women. Danbury Hospital has been very
generous in allowing us to meet in one of their large
community rooms each month, so this month we have been
very busy trying to fill this need.

Marie Stewart, owner of THE YARN BOX, in Pawling, NY,
has always been a supporter of crochet, and in addition to
the weekly classes, I do special workshops during the year.

Have a great weekend,

Margaret

KNIT OR CROCHET - HAVE IT YOUR WAY ETC

Good Morning Everyone,

More snow coming our way today, and while I am sick of it already, it sure
does look pretty out my window.

I received my advance copy of my new book KNIT OR CROCHET - HAVE IT YOUR WAY. I love the way it looks. They have changed the cover again, but that happens occasionally. It will start shipping in just a few short weeks. It seems as if I have been talking about this book forever, but it is less than a year since I started it.

I really wanted to do a book that would be for knitters and crocheters and for those of us that are bi-stitchual (bi-stitchual, is a word coined by Jen, who I met at TNNA last year). It is Jen's ravelry name and I believe she has a web site by that name.

In the book, I have tried to show the differences and the similarities between the two crafts. There is a wide range of projects, 15 designs that have instructions for both knit and crochet, so 30 in all.

On another note, its official! I will be teaching this June at the Squam Art Workshops in New Hampshire. They are adding the fiber arts to their workshops this year and I have been invited to teach. Their website is up and running and it looks as if this will be a really terrific event. Beautiful settings, wide range of workshop offerings, and a list of teachers most of you will recognize. I am looking forward to teaching at this venue.
Check it out at
www.squamartworkshops.com

The threat of more snow does not bother me too much, even though it does keep me house bound. I have started another new book and I have been getting a tremendous amount of work done! Too soon to talk about the contents of this one,
but it is quite a departure for me, and a huge challenge.

Have a great weekend,

Margaret

NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS ETC

GOOD MORNING EVERYONE,

I hope that your holidays were great and that 2009
is the best year ever. I have been really bad about posting recently
but my one and only resolution is to try to do better at that.








As I was taking down my Christmas decorations yesterday , I
realized, that when you are in the business of knitting and
crocheting, people tend to give you related gifts. I have several
ornaments that relate to this. I think among the cutest that I
have ever received, are the two little sweater ornaments from
Anthropology that my daughter-in-law put in my stocking. They
are little works of art.

My "thing" for the holidays is to make each new family member
a giant Christmas Stocking. This started with the birth of my first
son, and has continued through the addition of new in-laws, grand
children and now a great grandson.

I thought I'd share some photos with you.

HAPPY NEW YEAR