Hi Everyone,
I just discovered that both my new books are available for pre-order on amazon.
I have been working on these books for the past 10 months, just finished the second one a few weeks ago.
THE COMPLETE PHOTO GUIDE TO CROCHET, will be shipping January 1st, THE COMPLETE PHOTO GUIDE TO KNITTING, will be shipping in July.
I am very excited about these books because they are not just another a book of stitches. I have invited other designers, who have expertise in very special techniques, to share their expertise with us.
In the crochet book, there will be sections on Tapestry, by Julia Bryant, Hairpin Lace and Broomstick Lace, by Jennifer Hansen, Overlay Crochet, by Melody MacDuffee, Bruges Lace, by Tatyana Mirer, and Polish Star Stitch by Pauline Turner.
Nancy Nehring has written a fabulous history of crochet, and Jules Kliot has contributed the Lacis Story. Very fascinating articles. Included is a gallery of some amazing pieces by the contributors and also photos from Prudence Mapstone, Myra Wood, Pam Shore, who made a gorgeous jacket using Kite String!
There will also be special sections on Free Form crochet and One piece crocheting.
In the knitting book, in addition to the stitch patterns, the specials will be, Fair Isle Knitting by Sasha Kegan, Ouroborus Knitting by Debbie New, Beaded Knitting by Judy Pascal, Twined Knitting by Beth Brown Reinsel, and Crazy Lace, by Myra Wood. Very exciting stuff!
There will also be special sections on Free Form Knitting and One piece Knitting.
A history of knitting is also included.
Great way to start my day,
Margaret
Good Morning Everyone,
I am so behind on blog posts again, just not enough days to do it all.
The October meeting of the Happily Hooked on Crochet Chapter
of CGOA, met on October 11th. As usual the meeting was filled with
members having a great time, doing good works and really enjoying
each other.
We were making hats, scarves and gloves for the Salvation army,
and making chemo caps and preemie caps for Danbury Hospital.
I managed to make one preemie cap, one hat and was working on a scarf at the meeting. I finished the scarf and decided that I would start another. Well I ran out of yarn, and was running out of time, as the deadline for bringing the things to the Salvation Army was looming and the meeting was almost over. What to do when life hands you lemons??? make lemonade. Karen D, finished her scarf and had a bit of yarn left over, which kind of went with my project. I "fought" off another member to grab Karen's leftover yarn, realized it still would not be enough to make a scarf, so I turned my half done scarf into a great hat.
Our Member, Elaine B, won a prize for the best use of color for her hat and scarf, at the Big E, her prize was a $100 gift certificate for Webs. Way to go Elaine! My photo does not do justice to Elaine's entry, it was gorgeous!
Kathy made a great scarf for kids (sorry my picture is on its side, won't turn for me). Nancy made the adorable baby set and could not resist clowning around.
Members,once again, made tons of hats, they are the best.
We had visitors from the newly formed LI Chapter, they were shy about having
their picture taken, so they are hiding behind Patty E's blanket. Deb S, asked me
for some advice about the lovely shawl that she was making.
Nancy, the baby set it just wonderful. Nancy made the blanket using the
double sided crochet technique that I taught at the last meeting.
What a happy, productive group, we always have fun at our meetings.
Have a great day,
Margaret
Good Morning All,
Life has been kind of hectic lately but finally finished all
but the tech editing of the latest book. This book was the second of back to back books. The first one THE COMPLETE PHOTO GUIDE TO CROCHET is due out by years end, and is available on amazon for pre-order.
I have said many times, that teaching is the most fun of all the knit/crochet related things that I do. When enthusiastic students send me photos of their projects, I just love it. A few months ago, I did a free form knit and crochet combination Free Form Class, and one of my students really took off. She sent me photos of her items and gave me permission to share them with you.
The workshop was held at the Lion Brand Studio in New York City. If you
have not visited there yet, and are any where in the area, be sure to stop in and see them. Beautiful shop and helpful, friendly staff. I will be back there in the spring.
In the class, we concentrated on making a bag, but I included instructions for the vest in my handout booklet. Kathleen really took off and completed all of the above items. Thanks so
much for sharing with us Kathleen, looking forward to seeing what else you come up with.
Have a great day!
Margaret
Good Morning All,
For the past 10 years or so, every Monday morning, I have been teaching a crochet class at The Yarn Box in Pawling, NY. We are so lucky to have a shop like this in such a small town. Marie Stewart, the owner, has always tried to provide crochet classes and workshops along with the knitting ones.
Most of the student's who join the class, know a little crochet, or at least learned to make tons of chains as a child. Yesterday, I had a student who did not even know how to hold a hook, had never learned to crochet or knit as a child, and was really having a difficult time making her fingers work.
As the class went on, I worried that she might just give up. I was encouraging, urged her to keep trying, that it would happen. By the end of the class she was
making a single crochet, not perfect, but doing it. It is an amazing thing to watch, that moment the light comes on, and the smile appears. Before she left, she
bought some yarn, was checking out all the books, thinking of her first project.
Her story is just beginning but I think she is "hooked"!
I love teaching.
Have a great day,
Margaret
Good Morning Everyone,
I had a really busy, fun weekend, taught my regular Monday Crochet class, and had a play day yesterday, so here it is Wednesday, before I am blogging.
On Saturday, I went into New York City to attend The Big Apple Knitters Luncheon. What a great day. There were over 100 members attending, held in a lovely restaurant, lots of prizes for everyone.
Two lucky winners received copies of my books,
KNIT OR CROCHET-HAVE IT YOUR WAY and
KNITS FOR MEN
The highlight of the day was the guest speaker, Linda Cortright, editor/publisher of Wild Fibers Magazine wildfibersmagazine.com
Linda, a world traveler and expert in the field of fibers, was a wonderful speaker.
In addition to her vast knowledge of natural fibers, her adventures in gaining this knowledge, and her journey to starting the magazine, made for an entertaining talk.
On Sunday, still a little tired from my day in NYC, I hosted the September meeting of the Happily Hooked on Crochet chapter of CGOA. We had so much fun, lots of laughs, food, learning and prizes. I had a mini workshop on teaching them a crochet technique that was new to a lot them, and even with all the talking and laughing, everyone "got" it! One of our members, Hilda, had a very special birthday, so we celebrated with a cake for her. Happy Birthday Hilda.
My friend Dee crochetwithdee.com,
(my computer guru) stayed after everyone left to help me with some computer stuff. Unfortunately, by then I was so brain dead, could not find my list of
"things for Dee" and forgot the most important thing that I wanted her to help me with - learning to put captions on my blog photos. So, once again, my photos are not captioned, but I think that they are self explanatory. The first group of pictures are of the meeting at my house, second group from the BAKG luncheon. Sorry that some of the
photos are very fuzzy. I did not realize that my setting had somehow moved from auto, and many of the photos that I took were not at all usuable.
Have a great day!
Margaret
Hi Everyone,
I'm really excited today, I finally finished my second book of the back to back books that I have been working on. The first one, THE COMPLETE PHOTO GUIDE TO CROCHET, is all tech edited etc, and will be out by years end. It is already available for pre-sale on amazon. You can see a larger photo and read about it here
The second one, which started out just fine gave me a little trouble at the end. Gremlins at work caused a little grief, but at 5:00 pm this evening, I finished the last of the instructions. The final package reached the publisher today, so I can relax for a little bit and enjoy my weekend.
On Saturday, I am going into NYC to attend the Big Apple Knitters Luncheon. This will be the first time that I have been able to attend this, so I am really looking forward to it.
On Sunday, I am hosting the Happily Hooked on Crochet guild meeting at my house, so a busy, fun weekend ahead.
In between all this going on, I also finished another sweater for publication, that got shipped off this morning.
I'll have lots to blog about next week, and hopefully the time to do it :-)
Enjoy your evening,
Margaret
Good Morning Everyone,
Finally finished the last project for the second new book.
Doing back to back books is really a challenge. I still have
some of the text to finish, but for the most part its done!
A few weeks ago, we had the August meeting of the Happily
Hooked on Crochet chapter of CGOA, and it was such a fun
meeting. I took lots of pictures, but have not had a chance to
blog until now.
Linda and Tom Diak were our featured guests, and in addition to
Tom's wonderful hooks and needles and their beautiful fleeces, Linda
gave us a tutorial on how to make a needle felted handle for steel
crochet hooks. I was reluctant to try, because I did not want to
hurt my hands, had too much work to finish, but under Linda's
direction, I did learn, and not one stab :-) to my fingers.
We had so many beautiful show and tell projects, I hope that I
get them all identified properly.
First photo is Linda and Tom beginning their presentation, second is Linda showing us how to begin the process of making our hook cover. More chemo caps made by Diane G (champion chemo cap maker) Rosalie H and Anna M. Diane
made items from my books and I was thrilled to see how lovely they turned out.
Diane Gil made this beautiful blanket and Anna M, working on my jacket, which
was featured on the cover of CROCHET! Looking great Anna. Celeste is so proud of her first Hairpin Lace project and rightly so, great job Celeste, its beautiful. Last, but by no means least, Irene completed a magnificent afghan for a gift. The picture does not do it justice as it is a work of art.
One of these days, I may have the time to learn to manage this new blog format. Ever since I had to change from my old blog, I feel lost in this new one. Need help, every one too busy.
Have a great day all
Margaret
