Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Embellished Vest

Hi Everyone,

The picture is the same vest, embellished with a few simple motif's added.  Below are the instructions for some flowers and leaves that can be used for the embellishment. 

You can also use the butterfly that was previously posted.

Small Flower Motif:  Ch 4, join with a sl st to form a ring.  Ch 1, make 10 sc in the ring, join with a sl st in the beg ch 1.  * Ch 2, make 3 dc in the next st, ch 2, sl st in the next st, rep from * 4 times more (5 petals made), join with a sl st, end off.

Leaf Motif:  Ch 16, sc in second ch from hook, sc in each of the next 13 ch, 3 sc in the last ch.  WORKING ON OTHER SIDE OF CH,  sc in each sc.  Do Not Turn, but continue working all around leaf and working in the back loop, work as follows:  [sc in the next st *ch 3, sc in the base of the ch 3 (picot made), sl st in the next st, sc in the next st, rep from * 6 times more] sc in the next st, picot, sl st in the next st (point of leaf made), repeat between the [ ] once, sl st, ch 12 (stem) make 1 sc in second ch from hook, 1 sc in each rem ch, sl st at base of leaf, end off.

I have not been able to get written text from my computer to the blog, so I had to type out the above instructions.  You will have to go to www.margarethubertoriginals.com  for the vest instructions.  Click on patterns, then click on free patterns.

Have fun.

Margaret

 

 

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Simple Crochet Vest

Good Afternoon Everyone,

I thought that I might have a few extra minutes this week, since my deadlines were met, and everything was in the mail.  Not happening.

I had a happy week though.  My grandson's high school graduation being the highlight, it is always a thrill for me to see another one off to college.  My granddaughter's dance recital, was the day after the graduation party, so all in all a very busy few days.  The rain threatened, but did not dampen the high spirits of everyone.  

My Monday morning class students are making real progress, especially my beginner.  I am so proud of her, as learning to crochet was a real challenge for her.  My student, who was not a raw beginner, but knew some stitches,  felt it was time for her to begin a "real" project, so another plateau reached. 

The project that I am starting them on is a simple filet mesh vest.  I designed this vest a long time ago, and it is a free pattern on my web site, but I thought that I would offer it here also.  The basic vest can be embellished with free form .  It can be made fairly quickly, and is easy, so makes great gifts. 

I cannot seem to get the text here, so if you cannot wait till I figure it out, you can go to www.margarethubertoriginals.com and get it there.  I will try again tomorrow.  I will also post a picture of the vest embellished with some free form motifs.

Have a great day

Margaret

 

 

Thursday, June 22, 2006

King of Prussia Event

Good Morning Everyone,

I am doing a happy dance this morning because I have finally finished and sent off the final two  projects for my latest book.  Instructions are all done too, so that is a big job done.  Just a few finishing up things and thats it. 

I am turning my attention this morning to getting ready for the CGOA and TKGA event in King of Prussia.  First order of business is to finish my contribution for the Bra-vo auction.  I started it weeks ago, but then put it aside, thinking that I still had plenty of time.  I am sure you all know how that is. 

The free form group will have a booth where we will be exhibiting the "60 odd " pieces, that were crocheted by 60 plus members of the group.  Quite an accomplishement, if you are not attending the conference you can visit the exhibit on line.   www.60-odd.com/pages/mainpage.html 

I am looking forward to seeing everyone there, please stop by the booth and say hello.

Margaret

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Teaching Crochet

Good Morning Everyone,

We are in the middle of a hot, humid week in NY, and I thought that no one would show up for my regular Monday morning crochet class.  Well I was wrong.  I had a couple of regulars, one fairly newbie, but the biggest surprise was that I had two brand new crocheters show up. 

One student had learned to chain and hold the hook years ago, but never did anything with it, the other  had never even tried before.  The latter is a real challenge for a teacher, especially in a  class of different levels of expertise.  The student who had learned to chain and hold the hook, picked up the technique and stitches very quickly, the one who had never even held a hook had more difficulty.   Fortunately I have been blessed with a lot of patience, and when that "light bulb" moment came, the whole class cheered. 

What fun to see someone (who we shall say was not a teenager), learn something new, something that was a real challenge for her, something that she  thought was beyond her.   I guess that's what makes teaching fun, its what makes teachers continue to teach, I know that is why I do it. 

This class started me thinking about the learning process.  I learned to knit and crochet at a very young age, and have consistently done it, always wanting to improve my skills.  Many of us learned to knit /crochet as children, but for one reason or another,  went for years without picking up hook or needle.  In the past four or five years, with the renewed interest in the needlearts, I have noticed that the ones who learned as children have very little trouble picking up where they left off and sharpening their skills.  Those who never learned as children have it harder, the whole process is so foreign, their fingers do not want to work.  Young people are such marvelous creatures, like sponges soaking up all that is taught, and storing it for future use.  As we get older, learning new things become  so much more of a challenge, but the good news is that it CAN be done. 

Have a great day

Margaret

Saturday, June 17, 2006

Butterfly picture (hopefully)

Hi all,

I decided that I was wasting so much time trying to transfer a picture from my computer, that I just made another butterfly, photographed it, and finally succeeded in getting a picture posted.  The instructions are in the previous entry.

Have fun. 

Margaret

BUTTERFLIES ARE FREE

  Happy Saturday everyone,  

 I decided to put my problems with aol behind me, and focus on happy thoughts.  Butterflies make me very happy, and I have a free pattern for a crocheted butterfly on my web site www.margarethubertoriginals.com.   I thought that I would share it with you here.  I managed to get the text here, but the picture would not "take".  In addition, I cannot get the underlining to stop.  Every time that I try, the whole message disappears, so the underlining stays!  I will try again to get the butterfly picture up.    There are days that I definitely feel that the Internet is not for sissies :-)!

 

 

Happy weekend everyone

 

          CROCHETED  BUTTERFLY:              

 

The size of your butterfly will depend on the yarn that you use and the size of  the hook that is used:

 

Chain 15, join with a slip st to the first ch (forming a large loop) Chain 15, join with a slip st in the same st as you joined the first loop, you now have 2 loops , chain 10, join with a slip st in the same st as other loops are joined, chain 10, join in the samest again.  You now have 2 chain 15 loops and 2 chain 10 loops.

 

 Work as follows:  working over the chain of the first chain 15 loop *work 5 sc, chain 4, 1 sc, ch 6, 1 sc, ch 8, 1 sc, ch 10, 1 sc, ch 8, 1 sc, ch 6, 1 sc, ch 4, 5 sc.  Working in 2nd  ch 15 loop, repeat from * once.  Now working over the ch of  the next ch 10 loop  *Work 2 sc, ch 4, 1 sc, ch 6, 1 sc ch 8, 1 sc, ch6, 1 sc ch 4, 2 sc, repeat from * in the 2nd chain 10 loop.  Join slip to beg ch, end off, leaving a 6” length of yarn, wrap this around center to form body of butterfly, tie a knot underneath body.

 

 

 

 

 

Margaret Hubert Originals  copyright 2002

 

 

Friday, June 16, 2006

Frustration with aol

Hi all,

I am so very frustrated with aol.  I finally got my service restored, checked on my blog to see if all was well, and they did it to me again.  My hard earned numbers are back to zero.  Dee, www.crochetwithDee   did give me instructions for restoring them, but I have not mastered it yet.  Oh well, at least I am back on line.

 

Margaret

Correction etc

Good Morning Everyone,

In yesterday's post, I referred to the needle arts exhibit in the Indianapolis Artsgarden, as Twist and Turn.  This was an error and the correct title of the exhibit is "Twist and Shout: The New Needlearts.  The exhibition will be there till June 19th, and is by the Florida Craftsmen, Inc., sorry about that. 

I was not able to access the Internet at all yesterday from about 3 pm on.  I spent several frustrating hours on the phone with aol Tech Support, and basically did not have the problem fixed.  When calling aol, it is nearly  impossible to get a person to talk to, and when you finally do, they take you through a series of tasks, which in the end do not work.  At about midnight, I finally gave up. 

For some unexplainable reason, when I tried this morning it worked!  I'll not question why, I just hope it stays this way.  I cannot believe that just 5 years ago, I did not even want a computer in my home, and now just a few hours without Internet access becomes a major disaster. 

Have a great day.

Margaret

 

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

TNNA in INDIANAPOLIS

Good Morning Everyone,

I arrived home,  from my trip to Indianapolis and The National Needlework Association conference, last night.   I was so tired but really walking on air.  The event was so exciting to me.  It was the largest that I have ever attended.  So many vendors, of every description, more than one could possibly visit in one day.  I never got to the far end of the convention hall till the third day. 

I arrived Friday night, after an endless day of delays, 10 minutes late for the fashion show.  I am so glad that I did not miss the show because it was spectacular.  The new fashions shown by all the yarn companies were really beautiful and so inspiring. 

It was such fun greeting old friends and meeting new ones.  Everyone is so friendly.  One of my nicest experiences was meeting Pam Butler from Angel Hair Yarn Co. www.ANGELHAIRYARN.COM   Pam was admiring my jacket, and telling me that she had just made a free form bag that appeared in Creative Knitting Magazine www.CreativeKnittingMagazine.com  .  She proudly showed me her creation and I smiled.  The look of surprise on her face when she realized that I had written the article and that the bag was my design was priceless.  I happened to be standing next to Bobbie Matela, editor of the magazine, so Bobbie took Pam's picture with the bag.  Pam then told me that she owned both my videos.  That's Pam and me in the first picture, and of course, that's the bag.  The shawl that I am wearing is one of my patterns from FUN WITH FREE FORM by Annie's Attic www.AnniesAttic.com

Rita Weiss was there autographing her book 24-HOUR CROCHET PROJECTS,  and I was lucky enough to get one.  People were standing on line to get copies from authors. 

Another fun thing for me was spending some time with Deborah Doyle.  Deborah makes the most wonderful wood tools for knitting and crochet www.ascianofiberartstools.com .   Deborah and I had met in CA at Chain Link last year,  but did not have much time to talk, so my time with her was special.

The second picture is the DRG booth.  I had to take this picture because my baby Neon Cardigan design is prominently displayed right at the top of the booth.  The third one is me again, with Carol Alexander, editor of Crochet Magazine www.Crochetmagazine.com     Crochet is the official magazine of Crochet Guild of America www.crochet.org  Carol and her staff have worked so hard to make the magazine what it is today. 

The fourth picture is a picture of the Great Wall of Yarn.  This is a great feature at the TNNA events.  Many yarn companies place their yarn, especially new additions to their lines, up on the wall, and attendees are encouraged to take a little snip of their favorites and place it in a booklet provided by TNNA, which has a page for each company , so that when you get home you can review everything at leisure.   

The fifth picture is the many tables of new products introduced at the show.

The Sixth is a view of the exhibit of Twist and Turn.  I was able to get there early one morning when there were no visitors as yet.  There were some very interesting fiber projects on exhibit. 

Seven and Ten are views from the revolving roof restaurant at the top of the Hyatt.  We liked it so much, we went back a second time.

Eight was just a very interesting building right next door to my hotel.

Nine is a picture of the convention hall, which was so huge, everyone had sore tired feet at the end of every day.

I really have to unpack, get myself moving, I probably will think of more on this later.

have a great day.

Margaret

 

Monday, June 5, 2006

Crocheting in Italy etc.

Hi Everyone,

Its almost midnight and I am about to give it up for the night.  I have been teaching for the past few days, plus trying to get my final projects done for my latest book.  I actually think that I will finish all in time.   

On Friday I leave for TNNA (The National Needlework Association) gathering in Indianapolis, IN.  I have attended a few TNNA events, and they are always great, so I am looking forward to going again.  Of course I will tell all about it on my return.

While on a trip to Italy this past summer, naturally I took my crocheting with me.  I was working on the jacket that is appearing in the new July Issue of Crochet Magazine  www.CrochetMagazine.com and I knew that I had to get as much done as possible while traveling and having fun too.  I was busy crocheting in the airport and on the plane.  I crocheted while we traveled from place to place, I crocheted while waiting on lines, I crocheted every spare minute.  

When the Magazine arrived last week, seeing the finished jacket, so beautifully photographed,  reminded me that my son had taken some pictures of me crocheting at various places.   I asked him to send them to me and I thought that I would share them with you.  In pictures 1 and 2, I was at the beginning of the project, in pictures 3 and 4 you can really see the progress that I had made.  On the plane ride home, I was finishing up the sleeves.  The jacket requires very minimum of finishing, so upon arriving home, I was able to sew it together and send it off.  Any one facing deadlines can easily relate to this odyssey of a crochet project.

Good night all

Margaret

Sunday, June 4, 2006

New July Issue of Crochet Magazine

Happy Sunday Everyone,

I am off early this morning, teaching another workshop at the Yarn and Craft Box in Pawling.  We had fun yesterday in the Spectacular Square and Finishing Your UFO's Workshops.  The shop was hopping due to the great sales they are having.

In my last post, I put Crochet Magazine in the heading, and then forgot to tell you about it.  The new issue is really great.  Lots of fun fashions for all.  If you love barely there summer fashions, hot summer tanks, tops and halters, this is the issue for you.  For those of us who like to cover up a bit more, there are  really great jackets, tunics and ponchos, including one of my own jackets,  in Lion Brand Incredible ribbon.   Afghans, jewelry, bags and more are in this goody  packed issue.  One article that I found so fascinating is called Reality Crochet by Chris Givler.  The article features crochet works by Joy Kampia, and Joy's  creations are a "must see".  So very unique, they are unbelievable.  Carol Alexander, and her staff, have worked very hard to keep up with all that is new in the crochet world, and they have done a great job. 

Well I had better get moving.   Have a great day.

Margaret