Mother's Day (all sap!)

I know alot of folks dislike Mother's Day for personal reasons, and I'm not here to change anyone's mind. I'm just here to say I love Mother's Day. And Father's Day... and birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, Wednesdays, or any other excuse I have to give someone I love a heartfelt gift!

Mother's Day means alot to me because I am lucky enough to have one of the best mother's in the world: Bernice Bachman. She is everything I strive to be in a Mom: patient, loving (I never had or will ever have a single doubt that I am loved, unconditionally), forgiving, playful, sympathetic, smart, she gives good advice and listens better than anyone I know. She's a great grandmother to my two boys (who ADORE her!). Although my parents live ten hours away from me, I feel their presence strongly every day because Mom and I talk alot on the phone. We keep each other going sometimes. She really is fantastic and I hope she knows how much she means to me.

Sadly, all of my grandparents are now gone, but I had two completely different yet amazing grandmothers who were both strong, opinionated, powerful women who raised large families practically single-handedly. They were both tiny, and so sweet, but they didn't take no guff from anyone, least of all their towering sons. It was always funny to see one of my big, strong uncles cowering in front of one of these little ladies. They helped shape me into the woman I am: independent and convinced of my own worth. I miss them, and I'm glad I was able to know them as well as I did.

Married life has given me the chance to adopt some surrogate women in my life: two grandmothers, a mother, and a sister. My husband's family is wonderful, and I know how often in-laws are a dreaded part of married life. Not so for me. I'm happy to spend time with my family: we go shopping, hang out, have holiday celebrations, you name it. They are truly a part of my family, not just my husband's family. My mother-in-law, Laura, is always there for me. She's funny, smart, and one of the kindest people I've known. She is truly a gentile Southern woman. Grandmother, my husband's paternal grandmother, is the strong, accomplished woman you think of as running a plantation or her own company. She gets what she wants, yet she is always more than generous to everyone. My husband's maternal grandmother, Nanny, lives about eight hours away from us, so I've only had the opportunity to meet her a few times. Each time was so good: she's sweet, soft-spoken and gentle. I hope to come to know her more. Amy is my husband's sister, and the closest I'll ever have to a sister of my own (I'm an only child). She and I are like peas in a pod: sometimes we get on each other's nerves, but we're always glad to know the other is there. She's a Mom, and though her style of parenting is very different from mine, she's really good at it and her son is a testament to the great job she is doing. Amy is so creative, fun, inspiring, and adventurous that she makes me feel daring; she sets me up to take risks and explore life knowing she's got my back.

Finally, there are two other people I cherish on Mother's day and they aren't mothers. In fact, they aren't even women! They are two little boys, and they bless me every single day with their presence and the most wonderful title in the world: Mom. Xavier and Corwin are the best things that have ever happened to me. They make me a better person, they make me want to be better, all day, every day. They show me joy, laughter, love, and grace in every moment. Don't get me wrong, they are still rambuncious boys and sometimes things are rocky (or at least loud!) around here, but I wouldn't trade my hardest day with the for the best day without them. They are the loves of my life.

Ok, all the mushy stuff being said, I'm working on Mother's Day gifts. I adore making gifts for people. However, I don't adore the nervous feeling I get before I give it to them. I already sent my Mom's gifts off and I hope they get there in time for Mother's Day (I hate that she and I don't get to be together). I know my Mom will love anything I make her because she loves me and by extension anything that comes from me. I get more worried when it comes to my husband's family. What if they hate it? What if it seems hokey or silly? What if they don't get it or appreciate the hard work I put into it? What if they are polite to my face, and then it never sees the light of day again? ::sigh:: I go through this every gift-giving occassion. BUT! I keep trying, keep making, keep giving, and so far, so good. :) Now, I gotta get to work on these gifts!

Happy Mother's Day, to everyone, everywhere! Take the time to care for someone today and everyday, especially yourself. You don't have to be someone's Mom to be their hero, their security blanket, their friend. :)


BB!
~Jeannie

Overwhelmed!

Check this out: http://crochetliberationfront.blogspot.com/2008/05/crochet-kuchi-earrings-another-award.html

(They are also on Ravelry, so come and join us!: http://www.ravelry.com/groups/crochet-liberation-front-headquarters)

Yep, that's me! The folks at the Crochet Liberation Front have given me an award for my Crocheted Kuchi Earrings! I am overwhelmed, so much so that when I got the message, it brought tears to my eyes. :) Yay for sending your "babies" out into the world and folks liking them. Yay for happy tears. Yay for picot and awards!

Thank you CLF! You've made me so happy and proud!

Are you addicted to lip balm? I am!

And, I'm addicted to making these cute little crocheted lip balm holders! Seriously, ever since I saw these beauties on Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/KAshmore/chapstick---lip-balm-holders I was determined to come up with my own design. And, since then, I've made six of the plain, and I just finished the flower. I'm so happy with how they've turned out and how fun they are to make, I thought I'd share the pattern with you! So, I proudly present:

Crocheted Lip Balm Holder

If you love lip balm like I do (my current obsession is Burt's Bees with Peppermint Oil... Yay!), you keep it everywhere: in your purse, on your desk, in both bathrooms, next to your bed, a few more in your purse. You never want to be without some instant moisture for your lips. The only place I can't keep it is in the car as I live in the South and already it's so hot that lip balm will melt in my pocket on the way to the car, let alone in the console! So, something I could attach to my keychain is just what the dermatologist ordered! Also great for attaching to a back pack, gym bag, water bottle holder, just about anywhere you need a little lip-aid. You could even lengthen the tube and use it for those purse-sized hand sanitizers: http://www.germattack.net/. As always, I encourage you to experiment: use beads or other embellishments, use a crazy yarn, make it bigger or smaller to fit what you need, make it in camo colors for your little boy, make ten and have glove-less fingers instead of fingerless gloves! :D I'm thinking of using this for finger puppets, too.

Materials:

See the following link for the yarn I used. I love their yarns! http://www.peaches-creme.com/

4-ply Worsted Weight cotton yarn in your choice of colors. The plain holder looks great in ombres. For the examples pictured, I used 95 Red for the plain holder, and 51 Apple Green (color A) and 165 Daisy Ombre (color B) for the flower design.

Boye crochet hook USG 6/4.00MM

Scissors

A keyring, lanyard clip, or other findings for attaching your holder to your keys.

Abbreviations:
ch-chain
sl st-slip stitch
dc-double crochet
sc-single crochet

Base row: Ch 4, join with sl st in the first ch to form a ring. for the flowered version, this is done in color A.

2nd row: Sc nine times into the ring, join last st to the first with sl st. I usually pull the tail of thread through the center at this point and trim so it lays on the inside.

3rd row: Sc in the back loop of each st. At this point, you will not join the last to the first st, but just keep spiraling around. Be sure to crochet into the back loop if you want it to look like mine; this places the ridges on the inside and provides grip. Otherwise, have fun with it! Crochet until the length of the tube is about 2 and 3/4 inches long, or it fits the tube you are trying to carry.

Now you can decide which version you want: plain or the flowered.

Plain: all that's left is to finish. When the tube has reached the desired length, ch 5, sc into the next st in the body, then sl st in the next st and fasten off. Weave in the ends and attach the key ring or clip you choose to the five ch sts. Good job! You did it! Add your favorite lip balm and off you go!

Flowered: When the tube has reached the desired length, ch 5, sc into the next st on the body, then join color B and sc in each st around once. Now you are going to form the petals: ch 6, dc in the 3rd st from the hook, then dc in the next 2 sts, sc in the last st. At this point you are back to the base of the chain, so use a sl st in the next st on the body to stablize the petal. Repeat 8 more times, for 9 petals. Fasten off, weave in ends, and attach the keyring to the five ch sts in color A. Viola! You now have a cute, silly, fun holder for your lip balm! I hope you love it!

Please feel free to use this pattern for your own personal use and link others to this pattern. I also give permission to use this pattern to make items to sell at school craft fairs (wouldn't they look great in YOUR school's colors?), church bizarres, or other non-profit charitable fundraisers. Please do not sell this pattern or reproduce it for distribution without my express permission.

I'm an Avon Representative, and I love giving their seasonal lip balms with gifts, and I'm looking forward to making some of these to go with them. I may even stitch the recipient's name on them, and use these as the gift tag! This would also be a fun party favor, shower giveaway, teacher's gift, or Secret Santa gift.

Have fun and enjoy it!

One little disclaimer before I go: I probably won't be writing here every day. Lately, I've been excited about learning new thigns and creating my own patterns. I'm sure it will taper off, so please don't be disappointed with me if I miss a few days here and there! :)

BB!
~Jeannie

Very excited!

The first fiber art pattern I ever came up with is being featured on the Monthly Bookmarks KAL! (Here's a link if you'd like to get in on this action: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MonthlyBookmarksKAL/). Once all the rows have been given out, I will post the pattern here and on Ravelry in it's entirety. I'm hoping to get a few of the KALers to post a few pics so I can use them here. :) It's so exciting to think that other people, all across the country, are out there right now using my pattern to create something! Wow!

Speaking of Ravelry, my ID there is pretywtch (http://www.ravelry.com/people/pretywtch), so if you'd like to add a new friend, please add me! Also, yesterday's pattern for the Crocheted Kuchi Earrings is on Ravelry, too. Either do a search for that title or check through my profile.

I'm also on tribe.net: http://people.tribe.net/theinfinitelydelightfuljeannie

and myspace: http://www.myspace.com/jeannieleeb

and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=567848618

When you are a bellydancer, networking is vital, so social networking sites are a girl's best friend. It an be such a great way to meet like-minded people, keep in touch with old friends and new, and be active in your extended family. Yeah, it can be weird and a pain in the butt sometimes, but I've always felt the good outweighed the bad, so all in all, I'm happy. :)

On the bellydance front, my troupe, Alchemy (www.alchemydance.com) has two gigs tonight at the local VA hospitals to celebrate Nurse's Week! Donna, one of our members, is a nurse at the VA, as is Mari's (co-director with me) father, so we get to honor them and all their fellow nurses tonight with a little demonstration and a quick lesson. We are going all out Tribal in the costuming and have decided to do group improvisation during our performances.

I'm really proud of our improv: Our cueing system is getting more intuitive every time we dance, as we gain time together as a group, our dancing get tighter and tighter, making it look more like choreography than something we are making up as we go along and the music moves us. Many people can't even tell we are improving anymore, which is a HUGE compliment. We've started adding zills to our repertoire and will soon be ready to add them to our dancing. As always, our choreographies, music choices and unique costuming gets a lot of positive attention, and I'm really looking forward to what is coming up soon. We're working hard and I think folks are starting to notice. :)

Exciting stuff, lots of creating happening. This is the fun stuff, kids. :)

My first blog... and my first crochet pattern. Whew! It's a big day! ;)

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I started a blog to keep a listing of my original fiber art patterns. Then I realized that I'd probably use it for a lot more than that, so really, expect anything here. If it's important to me, I'm going to write about it at some point. I hope you will find it fun and sometimes enlightening.



To start off, here is a little pattern I worked up today while trying to design some crocheted earrings for bellydance. Please feel free to make these for yourself, link interested folks back to here or share this pattern. However, I will be making these to sell in my local bellydance community, so please don't sell this pattern, reproduce it without permission, or make these earrings to sell without my express permission. If you make these and love them, please tell me! Share a photo, especially if you use a crazy thread or add embellishments like beads. If you find an error, for the love of all the is holy, PLEASE let me know! I'd hate for folks to be confused or unhappy with the results because of a silly mistake I made. Also, please bear with me as I just learned to crochet last month.



Ok, here we go!

Crocheted Kuchi Earrings

I designed these earrings to look like the beautiful, heavy earrings of the Kuchis people in Afghanistan. Those earrings are made of pot metal with bits of glass embedded in them like mosaic. I wanted something substantial, but light, that I could make in any color or metallic finish. After searching for motifs on the Internet that might work, I decided to try my hand at designing something myself. This is the result.



Materials:

Aunt Lydia's Fashion Crochet Thread, number 5, Natural/Pearl

Boye crochet hook: B/1-2.25MM

Scissors

Two French hooks or other earring findings of your choice



Abbreviations:

ch-chain

sl st-slip stitch

dc-double crochet

sc-single crochet



Picot: ch3, sl st through 3rd stitch from the needle.



Base row: Ch 5 and join with sl st to form a ring.



2nd row: Ch 3 (counts as first dc), *dc into the ring and ch 1, repeat from * 6 times, dc (8 in all). Turn



3rd row: Ch 3, dc 2 times into every space across (15 in all).



4th row: *Ch3 to form a picot, sc in next stitch. Repeat from * across (13 picots in all). Fasten off and weave in ends.



Repeat for second earring. Attach to hook by slipping the center loop into the open ring of the hook. Viola and congrats! I hope you love them!



BB!

~Jeannie