Mobius or not to Mobius

I keep having this debate about whether or not I like the whole Mobius scarf thing that's going on right now. I'm pretty certain that if I had one I wouldn't understand how to wear it.

Conceptually is a big piece of material that goes around and around and is attached so it has all this so called versatility.

Wear it as a cowl, wear it as a hat, wear it as a scarf, wear it as a wrap, wear it as a shrug. Doesn't that seem like an awful lot of expectations for a scarf? Plus it sounds like something the late great Bill Mays would sell.

"It keeps you warm, it's fashionable and it slices AND dices. For only 6 easy installments of 29.99 we'll even throw in a matching mitten set. What a DEAL"

The sick thing is even though I don't understand them, and I think they are kinda ugly, I still want to knit one. I blame the advertising.

[Image borrowed from ravelry's denicol, beautiful work!]

Hugs and Kisses - Rav Download Live

After nearly two months of trying to understand how get hooked up as a designer on Ravelry here it is, my debut as a digitally published designer. You can visit Ravelry to download now.

Here is my finished product, with many thanks to patterwhisper for taking the pictures.

It takes about a half a skein of NaturallyCaron.com Spa but as you can see from my pattern testers it is a great project for stash busting.

You need basic crochet skills (single & double).

Please feel free to share your feedback in the comments!

I love you Grandma

I just finished reading the Friday Night Knitting Club and found myself in tears for the second time today. [The first was a church when the choir sang amazing grace.] It’s a beautifully poetic story, with great bits that any knitter can identify with, while telling the humanizing tale of Georgia Walker, single-mother and business woman.

What got me started crying wasn’t the content of the story, although it did provoke it. It was thinking about the joy in reading and crafting that my Grandmother instilled in me from such a young age.

So many late nights I remember staying up with her, kitty-corner on the old brown couch reading and eating Oreo’s. I’m certain I was up much later than an 8 year-old should have been but it didn’t matter. I’d have whatever book she’d found for me at the library and she was usually reading a thick mass market paperback, although for the life of me I can’t seem to remember what genre she favored. Often when I put a book down late at night I think about how much I miss her.

It’s like fresh salt in a wound.

I always thought it’d get easier, as time passes but it hasn’t. It’s been over ten years and sometimes something will hit a cord that brings it all open again.

I know she loves me and is proud of me. I just wish I could close my book and see her smiling back at me, reminding me gently, that maybe, it’s time for bed.

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

This summer I had the opportunity to visit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis and I can truly say it was an eye opening experience.

While in college I understood the importance of donating to St. Jude, because it is my sorority’s national philanthropy, but I did not really understand what an amazing place it is until I saw it for myself.

Children from around the world are treated, without any expenses that would bankrupt their families. They have tutors to make sure they don't fall behind in school and specialists who make sure their emotional wellbeing is being taken care of as well as their body.

These kids are sick, but you can feel the hope as you walk through the halls. Kids like Sean, need our support to keep that hope alive.

I am volunteering to recruit teams for the Give Thanks Walk in Dallas, taking place on November 21. There is no entry fee to sign up, and no minimum number of team members. To learn more visit the Give Thanks Walk Web site and or leave me a comment if you have questions.

There are also a number of walks around the country, so if you aren’t in the DFW area check to see if there is a walk near you!

Yup... I'm a stalker

I read blogs. I like blogs. I might even love blogs.

I vaguely miss the newspaper, although I can get most of their news on twitter faster than reporters can produce it.

I do continue pick up magazines, if only to have something to read while on a plane somewhere. Otherwise they just take up space, get saved for an undue amount of time, and left on an end table until I move.

But I love blogs.

As I spent the last half hour reading past entries on the blog of someone I knew in high school it dawned on me how entirely creepy blogs really are.

I don't know these people. I sorta knew the person who's blog I was reading at that moment, but really I wouldn't recognize the bloggers I read if I met them on the street (except maybe Pioneer Woman because shes my blogging hero).

Yet, that is ok. It is completely welcome and actually invited that I peek, daily, into the lives of total strangers. The difference is when it's someone I know, or used to know. Thats when I feel like I'm creeping in someone's bushes taking pictures of them in the shower and that is surreal.

Why is it ok to be a daily part of someone's life whom you've never, and probably never will meet and invasive feeling if its someone you do know?

Its befuddling, and a little creepy, and I'm inviting strangers to hear about my befuddlement.

First Crochet Pattern! Hugs & Kisses

I finally finished my first crochet pattern and it is now in testing by some wonderful volunteers on Ravelry.

It is a neck warmer, originally designed as a gift for a my aunt who's birthday was in September. I swear I'm putting it in the mail this week.

The picture at left is courtesy of ddrevia since my camera is on the fritz.

Once I hear back from the last of my testers I will be putting the pattern up for free on Ravelry so stay turned for the completed project.

Goals

New goal.

Write one blog post a week.

It's football season and I've thus far watched 2 college games, attended a cowboys game, and am planning to go to a high school football game in a couple of weeks. While I'm not really a huge fan of the sport I think I'm starting to understand the Texas passion for it. I may need to buy a cowboys jersey to prove my sudden interest in the sport but I think the Bronco's fan in me would prevent making it all the way to the check out line.

I think it all spawns from the years of sales tax I've paid, and really you have to agree, Invesco field beats the Cowboys Spaceship any day of the week.