SABLE or HOARDER?

Earlier today, I read an article about hoarding yarn, fabric, etc.. One of the commenters said the following: 

“I told my husband there is a special place in heaven for men married to women who crochet (and collect yarn). He just rolled his eyes.”

I still have tears rolling down my face from laughing so hard I had to run for the bathroom!
That is so my husband! 

He grew up with a knitter/crocheter so he knows about SABLE ! Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy

I inherited his mom’s small collection of knitting and crocheting paraphernalia when she passed away in 2001. Thankfully, he along with my daughter and my best friend are enablers. 

One person called the various collections that we choose to ignore Elephants...

As for Elephants, oh yes, we have quite a few between the 2 of us.

Collections that he will never part with...

1. Assorted painted miniatures of fictional characters along with the supplies for painting such.
2. Enough books to start our own lending library (about 1/4 are mine) LOL
3. Computer parts, old monitors and ancient towers
4. Magic the Gathering decks from when he competed
5. Poker paraphernalia
6. Board games! lots of board games we never play anymore! : ( stored in MY bedroom/office/craft room. My bedroom is NOT THAT BIG!
7. Graphic Novel (Comic book) collection

Collections I will never part with...

1. stamp collection
2. yarn and yarn accessories: breakdown of yarn: 10 large rubbermaid bins, 4 large boxes, 3 under the bed type storage bags, 8 reusable shopping bags, 2 large fabric bags and a nylon laundry bag. Most of which is stored in my bedroom that also serves as the office. OH, and my daughter is bringing another bin’s worth of yarn. See above about enablers LOL My daughter found one of these vintage hinged velvet-lined carrying cases 2nd hand that has multiple storage boxes within. It’s packed with knitting/crochet paraphernalia.
3. 61 gigabytes of patterns, magazines, books, photos about knitting and crochet on a separate drive (computer has 2 hard drives and 2 external drives)
4. the 1/4 portion of books of which about 1/4 are about knitting and crochet
5. a plastic reusable shopping bag filled with fabric for lining hats, dresses, bags & purses
6. tiny wind up toys which my BFF enables me! :)
7. beading supplies stored in a 3-drawer bin on casters (could use one more)

We live in a small apartment and storage is at a premium. No storage locker so it all has to live with us. For most days, I can easily ignore the collections, but other days I would give anything to have an extra room that I could store everything in and not have to look at it all the time! Don't take me wrong, I love my yarn to bits! I just would like to not have it stare at me in the face wherever I turn LOL

There seems to be an afinity for nerds/geeks and fiber lovers to attract each other.
May be because we are hoarders at heart?
Don’t speak a normal language? and we understand each other on a cellular level?
Whatever it is, I love it!

Do you have one of those you share your life and living space with?

Another year gone by....

When I write about my sister's passing, it's because of 2 things.

I cannot forgive myself for not going to her earlier, to be at least able to tell her just how much I love her and to say goodbye. This year brought this back to me after watching the Japanese people fight their way through the most horrible earthquake and tsunami to hit in many years, even worse in magnitude than the Haiti earthquake, worst than hurricane Katrina's devastation of New Orleans. But what struck me as very different was the way the Japanese stoically took it all in, did their best to continue with life as best they could. Something amazing in the face of devastation on a grander scale. The quiet acceptance, the pride, the courage to carry on, helping each other out. All those traits I saw in my sister's battle with cancer. And the videos of the devastation in Japan brought it all back to me as if it was just days ago that my sister passed away, quietly, with dignity.

And the second reason... I miss you Rox, so very very much. I know you are watching over me. I thank you for the gifts you send me along the way. The way people come across my path, people I can help even in a small way. I thank you for those and I hope you keep sending me more. Maybe, just maybe, this way I can redeem myself for not being there for you when you really needed me.

Relai pour la vie

Relay for Life - My sister

Her wings - Now she has real ones

1969 - 2009

Rest in peace dearest sister. I am doing my best to walk in your footsteps each and every day.

International Women's Day March 8, 2011

Are we equals?

A short 2 minute film narrated by Dame Judy Dench with Daniel Craig as James Bond 007 starting off as the usual well-dressed spy who then goes and dresses the part of a woman. The figures read out by Judy Dench bring the horrible reality of how badly women of this earth are treated. Even here, Canada, USA, Europe, countries who claim to be civilized, yet there are women every day who are killed, maimed, raped, abused and die at the hands of their husbands, boy friends, and ex's. 

One hundred years ago, suffragettes fought for women to have the vote. At the time, women were considered little more than chattel. Have we changed? You be the judge....

If you want to learn more, you can join the great Equality Debate and do your part to stamp out the inequalities of our world.

Another one bites the yarn!

Another conversion achieved! Thanks to the ladies of Ravelry...

Oopsie!

My apologies to all. Time got away from me somehow.

I have been working on a post but it's taking longer than I expected. Soon though I will be back, same bat time, same bat station :)

Merry Christmas to all & to all a good night

Christmas has come and gone. 

At least we have heat, a roof over our heads, food in the fridge and our medication.  My darling son came and spent Friday with us which was a treat. He's maturing so much now. Every time I see him, his mental capacities have improved. His birthday is on Monday, 26 years old then.

I'm down with a cold I'm trying really hard to not let get any worse. I have COPD and a cold for me is not a good thing. Colds have a tendency of turning into something a lot worse through no fault of my own.  Let's hope I can stay our of the ER this year!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night

Christmas Crochet

Talk about last minute presents!!!

A 3 year old little girl who loves pink and snowflakes!

What to make?

Of course, a hat, scarf and mittens!

And which pattern to choose from?

Smoothfox's of course!

I used the easiest hat pattern ever.

Just follow this link and you too can enjoy making this super warm super easy hat.

Just check out the name LOL Brain Dead Easy Short Row Hat

Scroll down the right side of her blog and you will find the pattern listed under free patterns. The hat was amazingly easy to crochet. I added a white snowflake taken from the Sugar scarf motif so it looks like a snowflake landed on her cute little head. I also added an earflap piece that wraps around to the other ear giving extra warmth for her neck. The flap can be turned inside when it's not needed and still gives extra warmth over the ears.

I then decided to use another one of her patterns for the scarf.

The Sugar Scarf. Same deal as above, scroll down to the list of free patterns on the right side of her blog and you will find it listed under free patterns. I added a snowflake on both sides of the last snowflake on one end of the scarf. It makes it easier to pull through the open spaces between each snowflake. Makes the scarf adjustable and there's no chance of it falling off since it's joined. The scarf is long enough to be wrapped around her head twice and still be able to thread the last snowflake through an opening at the other end. She should be nice and cozy all winter :)

For the mittens, I designed my own pattern. I wasn't happy with the mitten patterns I'd found searching through the internet. They turned out quite cute, especially after I sewed on a downsized version of the Sugar scarf snowflake into the palm of each hand. That way she's always caught a snowflake.

Unfortunately, the only photos I have are of the hat and scarf modelled by my big baby doll. Still all looks very cute. 

And to finish off, I designed a crocheted kitty toy for her to have and take along wherever she goes. She loves kitties and this one will definitely be a favorite.! I used eyelash yarn together with the yarn I'd used for the kitty to crochet the tail. It turned out very cute and curly twirly. A little girl's dream come true.

My apologies for wonky photos and layout. Blogger decided it wasn't going to resize the photos or place them where I put them.