whats new off the hook?

Well did you watch the last episode of Oprah?  I was not a big follower of her program  but thought it interesting to hear her talk about the audience and what they meant to her over the years.  I was busy cleaning while it was on. So really just caught snippets.  One thing I kept hearing her mention was her gratitude journal, another was how people think things will make them happy and how they find out that those "things" don't make them happier when they own them. That particular thought made me laugh, considering how many give aways she did.   Oh well enough of that. 
Here are a couple pics of what just came off my hook this week. 

These booties still need buttons, and the color is a bit off but they are made from Caron Spa bamboo blend.  I love the feel of this yarn and its easy to work with.   I made a similar pair for a custom order.  While I was carrying them around to give to the client, I got so many comments, I decided to make a second pair in the same color. .

I then put together these hats last night.  This one is made with Tahki yarn.  Its the one with the melon, and blue colors, and short fringe top. The pattern was purchased from Sunset crochet. My camera has been most disagreeable with color and lighting these days. 

I took this at about 1 am, so I didn't mess with it all, just plopped it on here. 

They use a huge hook size N, I'm so used to using much smaller, b or c size usually but these were so quick to do.  If I had more yarn I would have probably done more.  I will get better pictures so I can put them on my etsy shop. Its really much better looking than the current photo shows.  Theres and interesting mix of colors in the 2nd hat.  I did  play with "pom pom" this morning twisting and knotting the ends.
The second hat was a made from a hand spun and dyed yarn I purchased on Etsy.  It had huge differences in the yarn from lace weight to chunky.  It was difficult at first to work with, but I think it came out alright. The most interesting thing was the Tahki yarn was 60 yards, which was just enough to make the hat but no trim.  The hand spun was 90 yards, and provided the extra for the braid, but I wish their had been less lace weight and a bit more chunky in the yarn. 

keep it or throw it out

Yep that's the question... Keep it or throw it out?  I'm in such a mood at the moment that my garage is in danger.  Our neighborhood has one of its 3 community yard sales this Friday and Saturday. I would have over half my garage out there if I wasnt' overbooked those 2 days.  I have to work Saturday, and I have to work Friday plus make two separate trips to the airport.  I've been slowly trying to go through things out there for the last year, but right now, I'm feeling like dragging it all to the dump and be finished with it.  I live in 3200 sq ft home.  I would like to move to a home that's about 1/2 the size we have now. 2 bedrooms would be sufficient, as long as it has a patio and a dining room  for entertaining.  I've been good I really don't run useful things to the dump, I take them to a charity station for donation.  But all the old papers and files, those drive me nuts.  I always feel like I need to go through them just in case something important is tucked in there.  Occasionally its been true something important is hiding in the wrong place. 
I have a stack of bags to go to goodwill, scrapbook paper and rubber stamps from when I use to sell these at home parties, Tupperware I no longer use. Oh and list of other items.

My beloved Brother Ult 2003

Oh my beloved Brother Ult 2003 sewing machine had a giant hiccup this morning while I was working on a prom dress for a friends daughter.  I thought I was going to die.  It's so darn expensive to take in for service, its like taking a car in for a tune up.  Fortunately I have two other machines in storage, but it meant I would have to take the brother into the service center and drive to the storage which is where we plan to move, not where we live now. 
When I took the machine in, explained the issues, the woman says, "Have you considered upgrading to a new machine that uses  usb sticks instead of disk?"  Oh sure, the 5000 my husband spent 7 years ago isn't enough for you?  I said no, I would love that option, but  my husband bought this after I bought a basic 400 dollar brother machine that did embroidery- he went to look for a disk for me with alphabet on it, and traded it in and got the bigger machine.  I don't think I would trade it in quite yet.  One of my other machines is a New home that he bought the year my daughter was born- 20 years ago.  Its a real work horse and I love it.  What it doesn't have is a automatic thread  cutter, or the needle position stop up or down.  But I have built dozens of tutu's, and costumes on it, taken it all over the place, and it keeps chugging.  There's something to be said for non computerized  machines.  I was always glad to up grade from my mom's black singer because I wanted something just a bit nicer.  My New home which was taken over by Janome was/is the best. For the more fancy stuff and embroidery I love my Brother. So off to storage I go........

What a day

Sorry to have not been on, but between my computer having an  issue with windows 7, which made it an unhappy computer. =(( 
Sunday something didn't agree with me, and I spent the night very sick, and most of Monday.  I thought today would be better.  It started out better but then got unreliable.  My daughter flew in this morning, so I had to go to the airport to get her.  Fortunately I had mostly straightened up the house.  Then we stopped for lunch on the way home, and while out got a phone call for someone to view the house.  So we ran home she was vacuuming and I went out to mow the front yard. Having been sick the last few days, didn't help much.  I got about half the front yard done, when I saw the real estate agent coming early.  So I had to quit and run in the house, change and let them look freely.
We jumped in the car, and headed down the highway headed west.  Looked at each other and said  what are we doing?  So we drove into town, and she managed to get a cute haircut last minute, we went over for tapas at the Greek restaurant Olive You, and one of her friends showed up for a bit.  It was lovely outside sunny and breezy by the lake, we sat on the patio for 2 hours enjoying one of our first days of sun.  I love having my daughter at home, and know she's only here for 3 days to look for a job before moving back at the end of the month.
I'm tuckered out already.
trev

ZUMBA

Have you jumped on the Zumba craze yet? It really is fun, I've been doing it on the wii. I like to put in the dances I like, and the amount of time I want to exercise. I've been wanting to go to a class in person, actually I would like to try different teachers. Last night I got a taste of a class put on by a wonderful English woman who has been teaching dance for 35 years. She's a hoot.


My daughter and I have been talking about taking the instructors course. I just registered us for a instructors session in August. We were hoping to do it sooner but logistics just weren't coming together. I'm psyched. I wanted her to have a chance to take a skill with her that you have to be licensed for so she perhaps more easily find work once in London. She'll have enough time to get started teaching before she leaves in mid September.

I'm hoping to eventually get licensed in the Zumba gold , and the Toning component. I think I could use the Zumba toning with my ballet students I work with for something different. High school students are always hard to keep entertained. So check me out in August, and find out where we are teaching !

How was your mother's day?

I spent mothers's day with a girlfriend. Her spouse and children are spread out over the world right now.  My hubs Mr G is on business trip, and Miss P is down in San Francisco a few more weeks.  We went to a movie, and out to early dinner after that. It was pleasant but not quite the same as being with your family.

Mr G called yesterday to say he was going to be gone at least another week, could I send him some things.  Ok, sure.  Miss P is coming in for 2 days to do some job lookig/interviews. Then back to San Fran to pack up her place and do a performance.  I will go down and pick her and her stuff up at the end of the month.

I'm still working on the sweater and will post a new pic of it soon as I'm going along.  I decided that something was wrong, and had ripped it out to the first 4 rows and remade it..  I'm much happier with the results.

Just a quick check in

I wanted to check in with you quickly.  I love my blog, but it is mostly a creative & family driven blog.  I enjoy showing what I'm making or posting a recipe, or sharing some of my family happenings.
But I've wanted for a while to create a blog about health,  so I have created a 2nd blog called 8000 steps.  Its my journey to a healthier life.  Its riddled with why I'm taking the journey, a need to improve my over all health, losing 50lbs, struggling with meeting the quotas given to me for exercise, and diet, and dealing with the challenges of health care.  Recently its come up as they look for diagnosis to explain some health issues that Lupus may be the cause.  I'm sure they won't determine this diagnosis soon, as I've been on the edge of a diagnosis for almost 2 years now.  Who knows, they might surprise me.  It won't particularly change things for if that is what they end up with  at this time. The time has been spent ruling out, or testing and treating the immediate problem.  I will still be here, as much as ever, as I have many things to share, but I wanted to separate out so if your only interested in creativity, Myheartsdelight is the place for you.
thanks
Trev

National Women's Health Week | May 8-14, 2011

nal Women's Health Week May 8-14, 2011

Go to this link to find more information about National
womens health week.  I know in the Seattle area, free mamagrams were being offered to women without insurance. It's our responsibility to take care of ourselves, and often women put themselves on the back burner because of lack of time, or funds.  Take care of yourself so you can offer the best you to your family and friends.
Hope you had a lovely Mother's day weekend with your family or friends.
treva

sweater is moving along



Fsc on left edge of photo

so here are some pics of  the yoke on the sweater I'm working on for my daughter.  I was having such a time doing the starting stitch foundation single crochet ( where you make the foundation row of chains and the first row of single chains together )and still really have to pay attention to the pattern.  you can start to see the lacy pineapples in the top of it. 

The pattern for the sweater is called September Morn jacket/vest

by Doris Chan.  I purchased this as a e pattern download.  I wish it had better pics for picking out detail.  Even on my computer, I can't get a clear enlargement, but hopefully when its all done and been blocked it will be perfect.  I've never followed a Doris Chan pattern before so it takes a bit to get used to the way a person describes the pattern.  It's going a little slower than I planned but its always better to have something that challenges rather than have everything be too easy. 





crochet- there's always a new thing to learn.

Funny, I thought I had been crochet long enough to know what I was doing.  Then again, I 've been using old patterns that have been around for years.  Somebody figures out how to do something new and there you have it, the patterns call for the modification.  So I'm trying to figure out how to foundation single crochet stitch.  It's supposed to be a combination of making the chain and the first row single crochet at one time.  I get it, but I can't seem to be consistent.  I've worked with three different yarns to get a feel for the stitch.  But the yarn that I'm planning on using for a the project that calls for the stitch is giving me pains.  I have this beautiful Rowan yarn called "panama" in the color daisy. Daisy looks like white and shade of beige intertwined.  Its a combined yarn of viscose, Cotton and linen.  Perfect for a light summer sweater that I plan to make my daughter. If I could get the consistency of the stitch together for the gage, I could move on.  The rest of the sweater is made up of more routine stitches such as cluster, shells, and v-stitches.  The challenge is on.  Once I actually get something to show, I will take a photo.