Crochet Class #3

Well my next class is this afternoon. I'm teaching the Mini Easter Egg Pillow and Easter Egg Placemats.

I am having a lot of fun teaching and am meeting some really great people. I think maybe next month I'll do something like a Crochet Social one week where you pay like $10 and bring whatever project you're working on and I can give help and such... I have seen that other people do this and it seems to work well for them, so maybe it'll work well for me too.

The only downside to teaching Crochet Classes is that I don't get home on Saturday's til after 7, sometimes it's almost 8. Working 6 days a week on top of that and Sunday's are my only day to get cleaning, laundry and a little relaxing done. I'll be so glad when I don't have to work 6 days a week anymore. We are hoping that after my DH gets his degree that even if I can't stop working totally that maybe I can go down to part time which would be wonderful! My vacation is coming up the end of this month and I am sooooo looking forward to it! It'll be my first paid vacation since my honeymoon back in 2001! Of course, I won't be doing anything spectacular. My DH's college graduation is the Saturday of that week so I'll be cleaning and getting everything ready for the party. I still haven't decided what kind of cake I'm gonna make so I still have to plan for that.

I also have a cake to make this week. Kinda funny how it came about. I was standing in line last week at the Wal-Mart deli and this lady was looking through the cake book there and came back over to her husband complaining that they didn't have the kind of cake she wanted. I told her that I overheard her and that I make cakes. I gave her one of my business cards and she called me the next day. She just wanted a simple Barbie Doll cake. Not too difficult and it's for a birthday party next weekend so I'll probably start on it on Wednesday. Kinda funny where you find clients!

What kind of soda are you?

When I ran across this quiz today I just had to put it here! This one is completely me! Thought you might like to take it too!

You Are Coke

A true original and classic, you represent the best of everything you can offer. Just the right amount of sweet, just the right amount of energy... you're the life of the party. Your best soda match: Mountain Dew Stay away from:Dr Pepper

What Kind of Soda Are You?

Deal Or No Deal?

Ok, is anybody else watching this show? My DH and I have been completely addicted to this show since it's first week of specials... I'm not a big Howie fan and not a big fan of watching 26 perfect women parading around opening up cases, but this stinking show has me hooked. Having said that, my DH and I are actually rooting against most of the contestants! Now hear me out! We honestly believe these are ALL actors and they aren't doing a very good job of it! I mean, come on! What people actually act like this? Not to mention, let's say me and my DH go on vacation and one of us gets picked to be on this show... How in the world at a moments notice do we actually get my mom, brother, long lost aunt, cousin, oh, and my entire church there to cheer us on IN PERSON? It just seems a little staged, that's all. Honestly, once we see someone actually win $1 million dollars we will probably stop watching. Oh, and we so desperately want Howie to say just one time "One Million Dollars" with his pinky up to his mouth just like Dr. Evil. JUST ONCE HOWIE, PLEASE!!!!!

What kind of car are you?

I'm a Ferrari 360 Modena!

You've got it all. Power, passion, precision, and style. You're sensuous, exotic, and temperamental. Sure, you're expensive and high-maintenance, but you're worth it.

"Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Thanks Lucy! I saw this on your blog and had to do it for myself!

Bubblegum Scarf (free pattern!)

Bubblegum Scarf

Materials:
Size K crochet hook
Approx 1 skein of Caron Simply Soft in White
Approx 1 slein of TLC Baby in Fizzy Print
Small amount of Bernat Disco in Fuschia (or other novelty yarn)

Special Stitch: CHDC – Cross Half Double Crochet
Skip next stitch, HDC in next stitch then HDC in skipped stitch.


Row 1: CH 17, SC in 2nd CH from hook and across. (16 SC’s)
Row 2: CH 2, turn. HDC in first 2 stitches. CHDC across to last 2 stitches. HDC in the last 2 stitches.
Row 3: CH 1, turn. SC in each stitch across.
Repeat Row #3 until scarf is length required. I did a total of 120 rows.

Fringe: With Disco Yarn, join to Row #1 with a SL ST and work 2 HDC’s in each Stitch across. CH 2, Turn. Work 1 HDC in each HDC across. Cont working 1 HDC in each HDC for 3 more rows. Fasten off. Repeat these instructions starting on the last regular row worked.

Fasten off all yarn and weave in ends.

This is my own original pattern. Please do not post this pattern to your site or blog, instead, please link back to this page. Thank You!

Some wonderful words

My step-sister, Dawn, e-mailed this to me this afternoon and I thought it was very appropriate right now. I hope these words make you smile as they did me!

"Don't spend major time with minor people. If there are
people in your life that continually disappoint you,
break promises, stomp on your dreams, too judgmental,
have different values and don't have your back during
difficult times...that is not a friend.

To have a friend, be a friend. Sometimes in life as
you grow, your friends will either grow or go.

Surround yourself with people who reflect your
values, goals, interests and lifestyle. When I think of
any of my successes, I am thankful to GOD from whom
all blessings flow, and to my family and friends that
enrich my life. Over the years my phone book has
changed because I changed for the better. At first
you think you're going to be alone, but after a while
new people show up in your life that make your life
so much sweeter and easier to endure.

Remember what your elders used to say, "Birds of a
feather flock together." If you're an eagle, don't
hang around chickens: Chickens Can't Fly!"

It's official, it's CTS...

The tingling in my left hand/arm has gotten so bad that I ended up going back to the Dr. on Monday. He did the little nerve conduction test and yup, I have Carpel Tunnel Syndrome. Lovely... What's weird is that even though I'm left handed, I'm right hand dominant. I crochet right handed, use the mouse on my computer right handed, cut with scissors right handed. The only things I use my left hand for are for writing and eating. The Dr. wants me to get a splint to wear while sleeping and wants me to have surgery done ASAP. My right hand has signs of this but isn't nearly as bad. Both my brother and sister have had this surgery on both hands. My sister does Data Entry and her surgeries went well and she healed quickly. My brother does auto body work and was in quite a bit of pain and took a long time to recover. However, I believe it's due to the work he does. I go see the Nureosurgeon the last week of April and he'll give me the final answer. Oh well, at least this would be a quick surgery requiring me to be out of work for only a short time whereas to fix the nerve damage in my leg would be quite a bit longer. The brace for my leg is working well. This new brace is much more uncomfortable than my old one, but does the trick. Hopefully I won't need surgery for this and will be able to get off this brace soon.

I am soooo itching to crochet like I used to. With my hand I haven't been doing it as much. Dr. told me it's fine to continue to crochet as long as I am not in any pain but to cut down drastically how much I do it. Last night while watching TV I had to literally sit on my hands NOT to crochet! LOL Finally I pulled out some Crochet mags which kept me from picking up my hook.

We are getting our new Dishwasher on Friday! I am soooo excited! There is nothing I hate more than to wash dishes by hand! I'll clean any bathroom you want, I'll wash the windows, whatever, but please NO MORE DISHES!

I am busy trying to plan my DH's graduation party. I am going to make him one heck of a cake but still haven't decided how I want it to look. I'm definately going to go all out and since I haven't done any cakes in awhile I'm a little rusty.

At the Hobby Lobby last night I noticed a lady is going to be teaching "Tatting" which is something I have always wanted to learn to do, but I'm wondering if maybe she's going to hurt my business there. Even though she's not teaching "crochet" per say, it's Cro-tat actually, her classes are only $5 each! UGH! I don't know how it's worth her time? I may have to take one! LOL I do have people signed up for my class this weekend and they are ALL return customers from one of my first 2 classes so I know I must be doing something right! I hope that beautiful sock yarn on clearance is still there Saturday! I am dying to get my hands on it!

Well, that's the news for today.

New pics I wanted to share

The black tie dinner we attended for Doug's work last month was a lot of fun and I had fun dressing up. They took professional pictures of each couple that attended and gave us a 5X7 which I thought was nice. I was actually wearing make-up here but it doesn't look like it. I think next time I go to one of these I'll wear a little foundation. Oh well, I do like how my Rose Filet Shawl turned out in the end and it was nice to dress up and get out of the house. Hope everyone else enjoys the pic! I also included a pic a co-worker of his took during cocktail hour and the back of my shawl...

A big THANK YOU!

I just want to thank each and every one of you who have sent me e-mails and PMed me regarding my post yesterday. I am so glad that I am not the only one who feels this way. You have all helped me through a very rough time and I am thankful for each and every one of you.

Looky looky! Buttons added!

Up til now I have been a little behind the times with my blog and have finally learned how to add buttons!!!! Thanks to everyone over at the 'Ville for your help!

I went through the Ville blog thread but more than 1/2 of them are bad links... If you'd like me to add your blog button here, please e-mail me and let me know!

I was gifted an awesome program for making buttons and such and when I have time at home to mess with it a little more I will be making a button for my blog as well...

I rented a few movies last week and only had a chance to watch one of them so I made myself sit down and watch "Memoirs of a Gesha" last night. It was a little long but a very good movie. It's more visual in my opinion. The colors and scenery are breathtaking. The actual story itself was a little shaky but not a bad movie.

We watched "Capote" last weekend and I don't quite understand why Phillip Seymor Hoffman won for his role. It was an "ok" movie but at times I had the hardest time continuing watching. His voice was so creepy. Oh well...

One of the best movies we've rented in awhile was "Just Like Heaven" which I think I posted about several weeks ago. A nice, clean, romantic comedy. No *F* words every 2 seconds and no gratuitous sex. A recommend for the whole family.

This week I am teaching the Mini Easter Egg Pillow and/or the Easter Placemats at my crochet class. I have gotten such a reaction to 2 of my ponchos whenever I wear them that I am going to be teaching that in my Advanced Beginner classes later this month. It's the Quick and Quirky Poncho made with a size Q hook. Each one took only a couple of hours to put together and turned out nicely. I made a pink one and a brownish one. The pink one I have been wearing with light bloe and white outfits and the other one I have been wearing with a dark brown outfit I have. Everytime I wear these to work customers always comment about how nice they are. The other day when I wore the darker one a guy in line behind me at the Quicky Mart actually started to "pet" my poncho. He kept telling me how "neat" it was! Since everyone who has taken one of my crochet classes wants to learn how to make clothing and sweaters are a little too advanced for them yet I thought this would be a great thing to show. So far I have had great feedback on my classes and everyone seems to enjoy them so I'm very content right now.

Well, back to work... Even though I have no customers right now, all my paperwork is done and the office is as clean as a whistle I try to look busy at least a few times a day!

One last comment

After my post this morning, several people felt the need to attack me personally so I had to remove all comments from my blog. I am sorry for those of you who used to leave me comments but hopefully after awhile I'll be able to enable that feature again.

I keep forgetting that I am no longer living in the world that I grew up in. I was taught to believe the best in people and that everyone deep down is loving and kind. Unfortunately the world has gone crazy and people feel the need to say mean and hateful things to others.

Throughout all the recent drama I have never called others names and said anything that wasn't true. Today I have learned some very awful truths. Many people who I thought were friends have been speaking badly about me on their blogs and such. Not only that, but others have been saying hateful things about me and my husband. It's really clever to call me fat and to tell me I can't get pregnant because me and my husband are too fat. Original. What, are we back in high school? If you don't like the way I look in a picture I post in my blog then DON'T LOOK AT IT! I love myself with all of my flaws. It's what's on the inside that matters. I like me, if you don't that is your problem!

It is so sad that some people are only happy when they are trashing others.

Anyone who knows me knows I love to complain. I do it so much that I started a seperate blog with rants and complaints only. They are NICE and never call a specific person out yet I am being flamed because of this. I am a Christian and am being flamed for my comments regarding gays and such. The only person I have ever singled out on this blog is someone who disrespected me on hers! I was never rude to her, nor did I post things that were mean and hateful like she has. She called me "cheap" on my own blog! Just because I don't spend $50 on one skein of her precious hand spun yarn that doesn't make me cheap. I have a limited amount of money to spend on my craft so if I have to use coupons at Jo-Anns, then I do. Maybe that's why she's all alone and doesn't have anyone special to share her life with. I know who I am and I know that I am a decent, honest person. Above all I try to love everyone, no matter how horrible they are to me. I am very upset right now but I have no choice but to forgive and forget. Remember, being a Christian doesn't make me perfect. Jesus died on the cross to save each one of us, not just me, not just those who are nice, but every single person. Whether you accept Him or not, like me and my views or not, that is the truth. Mark my words: One day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. I am sorry that I haven't been the best model of a Christian lately but I am constantly learning and with God's grace I hope to be the person He wishes me to be.

In the meantime, thank you for your support and for all your kind words (you know who you are.)

Crochetville

I am beyond upset at some things that have happened recently so I am posting about them here in my blog.

Ok, first of all, Crochetville is probably the best online community ever. It has really made me feel special and I have grown so fond of many of the people there. As with all communities (on line or in person) there are always going to be people with differing views.

Since joining last year I noticed one person in particular who was constantly causing problems and being a kill joy. I would normally not call someone out but since she decided to call me out on her blog I feel a call out is necessary. Elizabeth (aka ThreeOlive) has basically had a bug up her butt since I've had the misfortune of running across her. She is probably one of the most bitter people I've ever seen and even though she's not a moderator of this forum, she seems to think it's her job to be bossy and tell everyone what they are doing wrong. We butted heads many a time and I wasn't the only one she made feel like the bottom of a shoe. Many many times she has logged on only to say mean and hurtful things. I'm told she's just being honest but there is a fine line between saying something nicely and being outright mean. I truly believe she thinks that she is better than everyone else. She loves to tell everyone what they are doing wrong. Now I don't know everything there is to know about this next part but when our Crochetville "friend" Valerie supposedly was killed Elizabeth took it upon herself to find out the truth. She made phone calls and inquiries and found out that she had not been killed. She posted as much and from what she says in her blog she was attacked because of this. I have read the particular thread in question several times and all I've seen is thanks to her for finding out the truth. After this fiasco she decided to leave Crochetville and she's quite bitter about it. Personally I think she's pissed because she was never promoted to "moderator" status. All I can say about that is THANK GOODNESS! If she had ever become a moderator I would have left lickkety split! Now, saying all of this and getting it off my chest I just want to add that I feel sorry for her. I understand she has gone through a lot and has/had cancer and such, however, that does not give her liscense to treat people the way she has done. My mother died of cancer and died with dignity and grace. One of my best friends in the world died of breast cancer before she turned 35. She had more grace than anyone could possibly have. Throughout her ordeal she was such a witness to God's amazing love and power and she was able to lead many people to Him because of it. When I think of her I think of how she handled herself throughout this ordeal and I smile. It's a shame that if Elizabeth died tomorrow, I would remember her with pity that she was so full of hate and malice that she never had a nice thing to say to anyone. All I can do is pray for her and hope that the Lord helps her with her anger.

As a last thought I want to say that Crochetville is a great place. The moderators have rules set up and if you want to be a part of this community then you need to follow the rules. Nobody makes you post on the boards so if you choose to post, follow the rules and don't complain just to complain. In the meantime, I won't be complaining if a newbie posts something that's already been asked 100 times as I was a newbie once myself. I also won't be upset if someone posts pictures of all 8,000 shawls they made as I love seeing other peoples work. I also won't be upset if someone posts something I don't care to read. If I don't care to read it, nobody is forcing me to. Oh and by the way, I will NEVER purchase anything from Three Olives store. She does beautiful work with her yarns but I can't possibly contribute to someone who is so mean and spiteful that they do these kinds of things. I'd much rather spend my money with people who are nice, polite and try to help people. Not only that, but IT'S NOT MY JOB TO TELL PEOPLE WHAT THEY ARE DOING WRONG! It's a moderators job.

This is my view on the subject and (as Forrest Gump says) That's all I have to say about that!

P.S. I didn't leave a comment on her blog as I noticed she edited out every single person who crossed her and didn't agree with her. I will never edit someone who comments on my blog unless they curse and are mean.

I wanted to add that I never claimed to know the whole story of what happened. I can only comment on what I know. Heck, I was one of the people that thanked Three Olive for finding out the truth. The only reason I posted anything on my blog about this is because she attacked me first. The only thing I ever did to her was ask the board for advice on a variety of topics that were not to her liking. I wish everyone would stop condeming me for mentioning this. She mentioned me first and called me out first when I did nothing to her. Leave your comments and opinions but don't act like she's a Saint. There will always been a differing of opinions with any community but all I asked for was for those who wish to post there to follow the rules. When Liz made people feel bad for posting questions (I know as many people contacted me about it) I think she crossed the line. And please don't curse on my blog as I will edit that out. If you want to cuse on your blog that's your perrogative but please don't say those things on mine. It's a sad time in the world when people would rather be mean and hateful than nice to each other. I have a blog so I can give my opinions, if you don't like mine then DON'T READ MY BLOG! In the end, I wasn't the one who wouldn't play nice. I support all the Crochetvillers no matter what they are going through. It's sad that others would rather bash them in the ground when they ask for help. My only hope is that Crochetville returns to what it was when I first joined. "A friendly place to discuss crochet and meet other people." We don't need any more drama and I for one am glad it's over with!

Not so "tragic" news after all

Well, in my last post I posted about how a dear friend from Crochetville had been killed in a car accident. Come to find out, this woman didn't die in a car accident but is alive and well. I cannot imagine why someone would make up such a story but it's sickening. Many of us were deeply grieved over this and come to find out it was a sick joke.

It's a shame as I really thought she was such a sweetheart. I will not let this ruin my other on-line friendships though! You can't love unless you open your heart. It's her loss that she had to stoop to such a low level to feel loved and appreciated.

I've been kind of mulling over this news for a few days so I haven't posted til now. Tomorrow I hope to get back to updating everyone on my crochet progress.