Well, My World Blew Up Again...

which is why I haven't posted in awhile. I was diagnosed with Stage I Melanoma two weeks ago, and have been busy seeing doctors and having tests. Meanwhile, YES I have been crocheting, and it is saving my sanity as usual! Right now I'm designing a very happy project, a potholder and identical thread ornament done in the same pattern, just different size of thread/yarn. I think it will be fun, and I hope my exchange partner will enjoy it! I know my daughter will enjoy the one I'm making for her, as it is one of her favorite things.

I'm having surgery May 22 on my face. It's scary, but my wonderful plastic surgeon will be right there to do reconstruction and he promises me "back to normal." Without the offending birthmark which went bad and was removed, of course. So, that's that. Movin' on.

My little Ladybug Schnauzer, age 3, got very sick last week and we had to rush her to the vet with dehydration and tummy troubles... all from an ear and gum infection. She's getting her teeth done next week. The good news is, she's almost fully recovered minus a little weight loss - she's down to 9 pounds, about a couple pounds low for her. Mommy's working on getting her to regain that.

Ladybug Schnauzer

The other furkids, Scrappy and SueSue, are doing well. Scrap just had his dental done a couple weeks ago and is happy with his shiny teeth. Sue is going to go to the groomer for the first time next week. I've always groomed all my dogs but my husband is trying to convince me to take them in and save the work on myself. Hmm.

We celebrated my husband's birthday last weekend, here is a photo of all of us.

Left to right, my daughter's significant other Russell, my daughter Cari, Dad (back), me,
my son's fiance Janette, and my son John. 

I'm so happy that I was able to get out the other day on our first really nice day and do a little work on my gardens! There is so much to be done, but it's a start! I planted two little bushes, a Hydrangea and a Rhododendron, along with all of the tulip and hyacinth bulbs we enjoyed having bloom indoors this winter.

The Spring bulbs we started and bloomed indoors, now outdoors!

A work in progress... my front gardens and plants that I overwintered indoors. 

I've published a few new patterns, you can get the links to all of them here. There's a Stargazer Lily, done in Intarsia crochet; the Picket Fence Potholder done in Intarsia, a tutorial on Intarsia... check out the free patterns.

My recent articles with links to the above patterns in SoCrafty Magazine are here.

I hope all of you are having a wonderful Spring and crocheting something amazing!

-Sheila

My First Giveaway!

It's about time I started doing giveaways on my blog, I think! Everyone seems to enjoy them, they're lots of fun. Most of all, it's a great way to meet other crocheters, which is the really fun part of blogging! SO... here we go!  So far, I have given away about 99 percent of my patterns free. I do have a few special patterns that I sell at my Craftsy.com store.

For my first giveaway, I'm going to offer the winner's choice of any pattern offered for sale at my Craftsy store!

To enter, you only have to do one thing! Leave a comment telling which pattern you would like to win the most! To make it easy, I'll show them to you right here so you don't even have to click out (unless you just want to!)

You can choose from any of the patterns shown below. Can't wait to hear from you - good luck, everyone!

My Current Patterns For Sale At Craftsy.com

On My Hook Today!

Just had to share what I'm crocheting with you! I'm so excited about it, can you tell?? I have always wanted a reversible (front/back, not inside out) sleeveless crocheted sweater, and I have never gotten around to it in all these years.

I mentioned the other day how my Dickie pattern gave me inspiration for the sleeveless sweater, and I just wanted to show you how it's going so far. I'm liking it a lot! I'll probably leave the silver side all silver, not sure yet.

I will be incorporating some color blocking on the back side shortly as I add length to the sweater. It is going to include red, gold and brown - and more black, provided I can find it in my attic stash!

Also wanted to share a link with you to my Craftsy.com pattern store!



Just wanted to mention that I haven't forgotten about my pattern book, which I've been hoping to get done in time for Christmas... I'm afraid my 2-month fight with cellulitis delayed that. But it's right there on the back burner, believe me.

Hope you are all safe from the bad storms that are going on right now.

Happy Crocheting,
– Sheila

One Idea Evolves Into Another!

Last week, I designed a turtleneck Dickie for my weekly column in SoCrafty Magazine. I'm still in the process of finishing the two I started! I ran out of yarn on the turquoise one. My friend Heidi has already claimed it as her birthday present when it's finished.

I wanted to show the dickie done in two very different yarns, to show what could be done with the pattern. So I started one in Vanna's "Glamour" yarn.  Well,  when I got the front and shoulders done, I realized that what I was looking at was the perfect beginning to a sleeveless sweater, crocheted top-down! I've worked it up through the shoulders and the beginning of the dickie back today. Now I know that somewhere in my stash lurks more "Glamour" yarn in gold, brown, red and white metallics. So this may end up being one very colorful sweater! It's one of those projects that you get excited about and can't put down.

On my "to do" list now are a men's neck warmer (by request), a cowl, and a v-neck sleeveless sweater. Watch for those in the next few weeks.

It's been my kind of weather this week - it started out with some misty, foggy cool mornings which are my very favorite.  We had one day with 50 mph wind gusts and that managed to blow a good deal of the leaves off of the trees! After one very cold day, I went out and took pictures of the flowers that were still blooming after the freezing temps. Then I picked some and made my "last bouquet" which is something I try to do every year. Here are some pictures of the flowers.

There was something about yesterday – it was one of those days that just stands out as a really good day! While shopping for a replacement for our microwave, I received an amazing surprise late birthday gift from my husband. He bought me an iPad, a really cool case for it and some new headphones that actually stay on! I was somewhere beyond thrilled.  We picked up sandwiches from Subway which were outrageously good (the new Tuscan chicken melt). The schnauzers were all on pretty good behavior. I spent the rest of the day crocheting and setting up my new toy! It was a good day.

Today was not quite so good - I woke up with one of the all-over pain flares I get from time to time. So while the husband golfed, I spent the day crocheting and hanging out with the dogs. Didn't get much else done, and oh well!

Well, I'm off to work on my sleeveless sweater, which I cannot wait to wear! Happy crocheting, everyone!

-Sheila


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SO Excited About The New Crochet Coffee Shoppe!

Let's get one thing straight off the get-go – online crochet groups are THE single best resource for crocheters to talk to each other! I have one myself, in fact, called Crochet With Sheila. But there's always one "taboo" subject on such groups – you don't promote your own work or designs unless you are offering them for free. If you're an "indie" designer like I am, that presents a bit of a challenge!

Free is a great thing! It's a fabulous way to promote your work to a lot of crocheters and it feels amazing to share. I will always offer patterns – and lots of them – free! But let's say I have a new pattern which took me weeks (or months) to design, and I really want to sell that one. Where do I go to promote it? If there's a place, I've never found it. So I decided to create that place myself!

It's called the "Crochet Coffee Shoppe," and it's one place where you can say "Hey, here I am, and I have this great pattern for sale!" Or, "I just crocheted this amazing afghan for a gift and decided to give them something else, so I want to sell it." Or you can post a question to the "Ask Sheila" section. Or you can watch a YouTube tutorial to learn to crochet or pick up a new stitch for you repertoire!

You can also say things there like "Here's this great free pattern link I just found." Or, "Look at this amazing crochet blog." You can offer to crochet for cash, make custom items for people... whatever!

At the Crochet Coffee Shoppe you will find links to thousands of free patterns from known sites, and you can ADD your favorite link! You'll get news on the latest sales at your favorite yarn retailers. And perhaps best of all, a link to my other new page, the "Crochet Shoppe Classifieds," where you can post FREE crochet related classified ads!

I'm very excited about this new site, can you tell? Please come by for a visit here. Bookmark it to come back again, because the site will be constantly updating! And please leave any suggestions for anything you'd like to see there in the "Suggestions" section. I want to give you what YOU want!

Lion 73876 Crochet Hook-Size 35 19mm Red (Google Affiliate Ad)Boye 70385 Plastic Crochet 

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Working Hard At The Crochet Book!

For years there has been an ever-growing stack of handwritten patterns sitting on the shelf in my desk! Pattern books have always been a great source of enjoyment to me. The idea of books full of patterns gathering dust forever just seems wrong. They should be out there for the world to see and make.

"So what's the holdup?" you may ask. Well, I've had problems with my eyesight due to having Myasthenia Gravis for over 20 years, and they in fact cost me the ability to crochet from patterns! "MG" also gave me permanent double vision at certain distances. While I do receive treatment for MG to help symptoms, the condition itself is incurable. (To learn more about Myasthenia, visit the National MG Foundation's website). Myasthenia is also one of the many diseases supported by the Muscular Dystrophy Association!

But rather than quit crocheting, I decided to "do my own thing" and design my own patterns as I went.  That wasn't something that happened overnight; it was more of a gradual progress as I experimented with things and as my eyes became retrained to work in a different way. The picture below shows how I've always designed in the past.

Here's how I always worked before –
writing a pattern in a notebook as I went. This
project was my Easter Bunny Egg, free pattern available here.

That same eye problem I mentioned earlier makes it difficult for me to transcribe my notes to the computer. I have problems with focusing quickly back and forth.My very good friend Heidi came to the rescue this year when she offered to transcribe all my handwritten patterns into text files for me! Now I can manipulate the text to my heart's content... and achieve my dream of the crochet book!

I just wrote an article about my "Big Dream" at Squidoo.com – that big dream is publishing a book of all my crochet designs together! (You can read that article here). It will be called Crochet With Sheila – A Lifetime Of Crochet.  I'm almost unbearably excited over it!

Here is just one of the patterns that has never been published before – and
will be included in the new book –
my Stained Glass Afghan, made with every color of DMC's Senso size 3 thread. 

So we're working furiously at it now! We had a major setback when Heidi's computer was stolen before we had transferred the files over. (And we're now doing backups as we go - lesson learned!)

Rather than be discouraged, she jumped right back in and started back at point zero, bless her heart! We've almost replaced all the lost files.

Fortunately, I've discovered a better method of working when I'm designing - I pattern directly onto the computer as I crochet sitting in front of the computer! Weird, yes... but it seems to work! So future patterns will be far easier to compile into collections.

I hope to be making the big announcement that the book is ready in the next couple of months! It will include all of my previously-unpublished patterns. It will not include the crochet patterns I've made available free in my articles at Squidoo.com. I'll probably come up with a compilation of those someday, but my priority right now is the patterns that have not been shared before.

Many thanks to those of you who have supported my work, sent notes of encouragement, and provided feedback on designs you'd like to see!  Keep talking – I'm listening!

Playin' In The Flowers!

My crochet work has been a lot of fun so far this Spring and now Summer. I've been in a "flower" phase. First it was lilies, then daisies, marigolds, and now roses. But not just any roses! Although that "same old rose" (you thread crocheters know what I'm talking about) is wonderful, I wanted something new. So I started playing around and studying them, eventually turning to my garden photos. Luckily for many years I've photographed virtually every major flower that has bloomed in my yard. It's just a matter of finding what I wanted. I finally did, and with that, inspiration. I found a pic of a beautiful  lavender rose I'd grown years ago and that was the one I wanted to emulate.  (Oh and if you look closely, the rose has a tiny buzzing visitor!)

It took me about a week of testing ideas (and ripping them out) but it finally hit me how I wanted to do it. The design came together quickly after that and it is now published as a free pattern for a limited time. Eventually it will be "promoted" to my for-sale patterns. It's called the "Backward Rose" and you'll see why when you check out the pattern!

I'm finishing my newest rose design, an individual rosebud, right now. You can find that pattern here. After that I plan to do a Hemerocallis (Daylily) modeled after a beautiful daylily called "Pandora's Box." I can't wait to work on it!

In furkid news, I'm babysitting Macie and Winnie, my doggie granddaughters, while their mama is away on a trip to North Carolina for a week. Macie is an incredibly sweet 6 month old pure white German Shepherd Dog puppy, and Winnie is a 4-year-old Miniature Schnauzer. Then add rescue kids Bailey and Monty, and my used-to-be rescues Sue-Sue and Ladybug, and we have a little Schnauzer rodeo! It's been terribly hot here for well over a week and another week to come, so their outside time is limited. We are fortunate to have a big covered patio in back where they can laze on cool concrete or rugs in the shade. But even still, it's too danged hot.  Tomorrow I'm planning "Doggie Spa Day," will give as many baths and haircuts as I can until I get worn out!

Macie and Winnie on lookout. Macie seems to think she's
the same size as Winnie!

It's been a struggle keeping all the flowers and plants going in this heat with a sprinkle of rain just every few days. One of my favorite things is to photograph gardens right after (or as!) I'm watering them. Here is the garden adjacent to my front stairs. I'm really proud of that Gerbera Daisy (near top center). I overwintered that plant and it nearly croaked but is now all happy and this was its first bloom this year. The big leafy thing at left top is my baby Chocolate Mimosa Tree, which will soon be moved elsewhere. The Stargazers are very pretty this year. The red flowers are just little petunias.

In "me" news, some of you know that I struggle with being a very brittle diabetic and hypoglycemic. In all honesty I haven't been eating correctly for quite awhile. After a couple of very scary hypoglycemic episodes last weekend, I'm trying something completely different. Not the veggie stew I did relentlessly for two years  to lose and keep off 70 pounds. I can't stand the idea of soup right now for some reason. What I'm trying to do is learn about the Glycemic Index and try to eat in a different manner to see if it stabilizes my blood sugar.