Friday, August 13, 2010

Crochet Fun



Good Morning Everyone,

About 2 weeks ago, I walked into my local yarn shop, The Yarn Box in Pawling, NY, and Marie introduced me to two women who had driven over to the shop from Newburgh, NY. They had heard about the shop through an article in Interweave Crochet. Gwen Blakely Kinsler, founder of The Crochet Guild of America, had interviewed me for the article, and I happened to mention my local shop. We had such a lovely visit, and in the course of the afternoon the women invited me to visit their crochet group. They meet on a Wednesday night in a Barnes and Noble in Newburgh, and on this past Wednesday I did take them up on their invitation.

We had such a delightful time, lots of show and tell, lots of laughs, and lots of book signings. Talk about loyal fans, just look at all my books that they own, they really made me feel welcome. My daughter and grand daughter were with me and my grand daughter commented to her mom, that she didn't know that I was so "famous" :-)

Have a great day

Margaret

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

HANDS









Good Morning Everyone,

In spite of all my promises to post more often, somehow weeks go by before I can find the time to post here.

I get lovely letters from readers, I get pictures of projects, which I promise to blog about, and they sit in a folder for weeks.

This week, I have been thinking about hands, and I thought this is definitely food for a blog post.

In my very first book, on the inside cover page, I wrote "God gave me my hands, they are my life". When you think about all the things our hands can do, it is truly remarkable.

Doing that first book was awesome for me, and I could not believe that my Mother and I, made all the projects in the book with our own two hands. My mother taught me to knit, yet she was always telling me that I went far beyond what she taught me. She was the first person who told me that I had "golden hands" and that it was a gift. I have always appreciated the gift and never take it for granted. I never tire of seeing one of my designs in a magazine, or a new book released. It is always exciting for me.

I have been teaching a lot of crochet in the past few weeks, at the conference and in my classes. As I watch people's hands, how some find it so easy to master the stitches, how some struggle but finally make their fingers work. Every one holds the hook in a slightly different way, but the end result is the same. I love teaching others to knit and crochet, its my favorite thing to do. I love the look on their faces when they "get it".

My book THE COMPLETE PHOTO GUIDE TO CROCHET, has been very well received, so thank you all.




THE COMPLETE PHOTO GUIDE TO KNITTING is out now also, being released at the beginning of July.

The first 2 photos are photos of a sweater that Donna sent. Donna made the sweater for her daughters pre school graduation, designing the sweater herself using the Complete Photo Guide.
Third is bag that Lynn sent. Lynn made the bag from one free form motif, repeated over and over, great job Lynn. More photos from the auction, my Adam and Eve hat, donated for auction at the conference, with the winner (any one know her name?). Other photo is Auction Winner, my friend and fellow author, Phyllis Sandford, last years Grand Prize Winner, Renee Barnes, wearing her fantastic dress, and me.

Have a great day, take care of your hands!

Margaret