Wishful Thinking

I've been looking around my office/hooking studio and have decided that there are too many unfinished projects. I've come to the conclusion that I can't buy any more patterns, draw any more patterns, start anything new until I've finished the projects in progress. Here's what I have to do:

• Bind two rugs
• Finish this cute little frog rug, a pattern drawn by my sister, artist Marian Ross (shameless plug!). 

• Finish a large rug featuring multiple cats that I purchased a year ago from Christine Little. I began work on this rug last week and am hooking with mostly yarns. Slow going. It is set up on a cheticamp-type frame in my sewing room, so I don't work on it that often as that room is in the lower level of the house.  

Those are the hooking projects. (There are few others, but there is no need to mention those!)

Now on to the knitting projects.

• A prayer shawl for my sister--in-law. This is top priority right now as she is beginning cancer treatments soon.
• An afghan (in progress) for my Prayer Shawl Ministry group.
• A sampler afghan begun for my daughter at least four years ago. The knitting is finished, just needs to be sewn together. What am I waiting for????
• A sweater I began knitting for myself a few years back. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

I can't bring myself to mention anything else, so that's the list I'm working with. I don't want to even think about the fact that the holidays are coming! Perhaps that's why I titled this post "wishful thinking!"

Fall Decorating

I had fun decorating for fall this year. I'm late posting these pictures, and now, with snow on the ground(!), it feels even later.

Latest finished rug

I say that this is my latest "finished" rug, but the rug is really not complete as it has not been bound yet. The hooking is done, and I am pleased with the results.


This is a rug of the home I grew up in. I was inspired by Deanne Fitzpatrick to put a small face in one of the windows to depict my mom. I always picture her there in her chair watching out her window for one of us to show up and visit. My mother has been gone a number of years now, but I still see her there waiting.

The rug posed some challenges for me as I had never hooked that many trees before. I avoided hooking them at first, but little by little they were filled in, and I came to believe that they were not that hard after all!

Using yarn for the bushes all some posed some problems. Never having used much yarn before, I found out the most important thing about hooking with yarn is that it pulls out easily when caught on gripper strips. I learned this VERY QUICKLY!!! I finally put a small piece of muslin over the gripper strips where the yarn would sit and lifted my rug carefully when moving it. That helped immensely.

All in all, I liked the way the bushes turned out. The yarn was bulky and puffy and the variation in color gave a nice effect. I liked it so much that I'm planning a new rug using only yarn.

I've been looking at photos of rugs hooked with yarn and other fibers and found an interesting video on the Halcyon Yarn Web site. Here is the link:

Rug Hooking With Yarn, Susie Stephenson’s two part video, ready to view

She makes it look very easy!! Anyway, check it out if you are interested in hooking with other fibers.

More photos from Rhinebeck, NY

More photos from the Sheep and Wool Festival held in Rhinebeck, New York this past weekend.


A lovely rug that I believe was hooked with yarn.


Pretty little felted objects and ornaments nicely displayed in The Paisley Rug Studio booth.


From the same vendor...I love this heart-shaped rug!


Hooked rug on display. I'd love to own this one!

Not sure whose booth this is, but the holiday decorations are great!


Everything pictured above is crocheted!


And finally, had to show this picture of a vendor selling "Saratoga Chips." Saratoga Springs is the birthplace of the potato chip and is my hometown!!

Wool Giveaway

I never heard from Vintage Threads about my wool giveaway. So, I've drawn a new number. And the winner is (for the second time!) ... Pat Pardue!

Sheep and Wool Festival 2011

We visited the Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, New York on Saturday. A blustery day did not keep the faithful from this wonderful show. As we approached the fairgrounds where the festival is held, traffic slowed to a crawl, and we found ourselves moving a mile in 25 minutes! No matter, the show was well worth it!

Here are some photos I took as I moved through the crowd.


This rug and the following rug were both for sale. Very large rugs with beautiful coloring.


Lots and lots and lots of yarn to photograph, but I concentrated on the finished items. Here are some pretty knitted hats for sale.


Heavens to Betsy's booth is pictured next. It was so crowded, I really couldn't get a good look around.

Next is another rug hooker's booth. Very crowded also. She had some lovely patterns for sale and was attracting a lot of interest.


I saw many booths with needle felting projects. The following photo shows some of the projects you could make from kits that were being sold.


I came upon the next rug in the building that was hosting some of the food vendors. I wondered why it was in this building, and found out it was for sale through a silent auction. Given my fascination with postage stamps, I had to really resist bidding on it.


I have several more photos to share. I'll post those tomorrow.

Very Cool!

This is not a post about the weather!

I've been seeing a lot of buzz about the magazine, "Mollie Makes" on other blogs. I checked it out and found out that it has limited availability in the US as it is a British publication. Nonetheless, I went to their Web site and found out that they have a digital version. Yay!!

In a few minutes time, I had paid for an issue (6.99) through Paypal, set up the app on my Ipad, and voila: my first issue of Mollie Makes! I only bought one issue, as I want to get a feel for weather I'll like the magazine or not.

And that is very cool indeed!

And the winner is ....!!!

Using the "random number generator", the winner of my wool giveaway is Vintage Threads. I'll send you out a separate email to get your shipping info. Congratulations and hope you like the wool!!

Have a wonderful Columbus Day. We are supposed to have a high of 78° today! What a great Indian Summer day.

October Wool Giveaway

I'm overloaded with wool, so I've decided to do a "wool giveway." As the picture shows, the giveaway includes wool dyed in shades of green. If you are interested in participating in this giveaway, please join my site (see right side of blog for info) to be automatically entered. I'll be pulling a name on Monday, the 10th! Good luck!

Lots of things happening

We had a wonderful time on Plum Island and in the nearby town of Newburyport despite lots of rain.












The antiquing was wonderful! We took a ride up through "Antique Alley" in New Hampshire and got few nice things.


I'm an avid collector of Art Deco/fifties jugs and pitchers.

Found two along the way.













I did bring my "Time Travel" rug with me to bind. Never did get around to that.

Because of the rain, I managed to get some knitting done and
finally(!) finished a sweater for my Prayer Shawl Ministry that I've been working on for months. Considering that the sweater will fit a small child, that is pretty bad!






Now that we are home, I've started working on a prayer shawl for my sister-in-law Tracey. While we were away, she got the devastating news that she has stage three melanoma. Our family is crushed by this news, and I'm asking for anyone out there to pray for her. She has a thirteen-year-old daughter who needs her mother, so any prayers would help. She'll be going to Sloan-Kettering in New York for treatment, and at this point, we are thankful that there are new clinical trials available.

I'm sorry this is a sad post, but it helps to put the word out and get people praying even if the person you are praying for is not someone you know. Thanks in advance.