Tell Me A Yarn...

I was at the library last week with my son for our weekly "1 2 3 Baby On My Knee" group with, as you guessed it, other babies and their caregivers--songs and stories shared by our wonderfully talented children's librarian, Diane.  Anyways, after baby time I always head over to the adult department to see if there is anything new in the crochet books (I'm always looking for new inspiration), and on my way I stopped at the new book section.  Well, what did I see there but a book that jumped right out at me, "All Wound Up" by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.  And before you start thinking, "Well, that could be a book about anything..."; it had a sheep and a ball of yarn on the cover and in smaller print, a sub-title so-to-speak, "the yarn harlot writes for a spin".  I instantly got very excited and quickly snatched it up off the shelf.  It is described as a collection of essays on knitting that are very entertaining and reflective at the same time.  And while I don't knit (at least not very well as of yet), I thought I might, as a crocheter, still relate to what Stephanie was writing about.  By the time I had pushed my son's stroller up to the counter to sign out the book (which is only about 10-12 feet from the "new books" shelf), I had read the first two pages and she already had me laughing!  I knew this was going to be a good book.  I won't give you a complete book review right now, as I'm still in the middle of reading it--life has gotten in the way and has slowed me down; but suffice it to say I'm enjoying it so much, I went back to the library and signed out the other two books Stephanie had there (this book, I came to find out was the third book she had written) in order that I could dive into them as soon as I was finished with this one.  Stephanie's other two books are called "Yarn Harlot" and "Free-Range Knitter".  She also maintains a popular blog at www.yarnharlot.ca.


Stay tuned for future posts on her and her books.  I can't wait to share what I've read!


Order the book here:  All Wound Up

It's Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day Everyone!  How is everyone celebrating today?  Do any of you have any Earth Day traditions that you follow every year?  I wish that I could say that I have some that I follow, but sadly I don't.  I was hoping that we could go for a family walk today, but it was too windy for my little boy.  :(  I would  love to start some traditions so that my son will grow up understanding how important our Earth is to us and how we have to look after it if we want it to be around for a long time.  On the other hand, we shouldn't have to wait for Earth Day to look after this wonderful world.  Please feel free to leave a comment and share some ideas on how you celebrate Earth Day (or every day of the year).  :)

Where Would I Go?

If I could go on a vacation tomorrow, with all of my expenses paid, I think I would go back to Northern Ireland. Why? Some people might ask--would I go some place that I've already been. Well, that is where I went for my honeymoon two years ago and my husband and I had an absolutely awesome time! The only problem was, ten days just wasn't long enough. I would like to have more time to tour around the countryside. While Northern Ireland doesn't look that big on a map, it's larger than life when you get there and has the most amazing shades of green. I would also like to be able to tour around neighbouring countries while I am there (the fact that you can see Scotland from the coast of Ireland is very cool). I would also go to England.

There is one bed and breakfast that I would definitely want to stay at again while I was there. It was the Cairn Bay Lodge in Bangor and it was just beautiful. Our hosts were extremely friendly and very kind; and it didn't hurt that it was right on the water.

I would also like to return to the Botanical Gardens in Belfast. I am a sucker for flowers and they had some wonderful exotic plants and flowers there. My favourites were the hydrangeas. Everywhere you look people had them in their gardens. Ever since my honeymoon, I've been obsessed with acquiring them for my own gardens. But it is much harder to grow hydrangeas in a Canadian climate than in Ireland.

I would also add castles to my list of places to see. I got to see a couple while I was there, but there are many more that I would like to see.

The list of things I would do while in Northern Ireland goes on and on but due to the fact this is a blog and not a novel, I will end this here.

How I Became Hooked on Crochet

Yarn has been around me for most of my life. My mother knits, my grandmothers knit and I have a few aunts that knit. I'm sure some of them crochet too, but what I remember most is the knitting. For my tenth birthday, my parents gave me a set of knitting needles and some yarn and my mom proceeded to try to teach me to knit a scarf. Well....I still have the beginnings of that scarf, dropped stitches, holes and all. Let's just say that at that point in time, knitting was NOT for me.

It wasn't until about five years ago (16 years after my first knitting experience) that I decided I wanted to learn to crochet. This came about mainly because I was spending a lot of time with a dear friend whom was having a difficult pregnancy. Between spending time with her at her home and at the hospital, I wanted something to keep me busy while she was resting. So I headed to my nearest Walmart to pick up a ball of yarn, a crochet hook and a "how-to" book and the rest they say is crochet history.

I have basically taught myself how to crochet over the years--picking up new stitches and techniques as patterns require it. If I have any questions, I go to another close friend who's been crocheting since high school, my co-workers (some of whom are very into crafting) and now I also go to members of Etsy's Create Crochet Team whom are a great wealth of knowledge and have been a tremendous help.

I am always trying new patterns, but I seem to crochet more items for babies and children. If you visit my Etsy shop, that will be evident in what I have for sale there.

http://WestOnSalem.etsy.com

On another note, I am hoping to teach myself to knit this summer. I'm hoping that maybe I'll be better at it as an adult. ;)