FIVE MONTHS??? How did five months go by so quickly???
I’ll tell you how. A cruise to Mexico with my husband, followed by Thanksgiving and Christmas. Then a cruise to the Caribbean with my best friend. Then my birthday and Valentine’s day. Throw a couple of chemo appointments in there and winter just flat got away from me!
It’s been a busy few months as you can see. In addition, I’ve taken on the internet marketing and some proof-reading for my husband’s book publishing business. We had so much fun on the cruise to Mexico, we decided we need to increase our income so that we can take more cruises!
But on to the creative bits! I’ve been busily crocheting. A new grand-daughter is due in July, so she got a blankie for Christmas. I’m working on a couple of shorts for Greg. And he’s finally getting an afghan of his own for TV night cuddles. Of course, a couple of chemo caps are in the works, too. And today I tie-dyed some fabric to make me a shirt. I also dyed a slew of yarn samples. I may start a business hand-dying and selling non-animal yarns. It’s very hard to find pretty yarns that contain no animal fibers, and I KNOW I’m not the only person with allergies, so that may happen some time in the next few months.
Whew. No wonder I didn’t get around to writing the blog. And I didn’t even take pictures of the crafting! I hope you’ll all forgive me.
On to this month’s book review:
“Knitting Block by Block” by Nicky Epstein
(150 Blocks for sweaters, scarves, bags, toys, afghans, and more)
This lovely hardcover book was sent to me by Blogging for Books. It is a very versatile book. All of the patterns are for squares and it contains cables, color work, embroidery, entrelac, beading – almost any kind of knitting you can think of! It also includes patterns for items that can be made from the squares – toys, bags, etc. I like the idea. You can make a square to see if you enjoy the pattern before committing to a huge project. Squares can be put together into a blanket or turned into pillows. Every page has a color picture with written instructions and graphs, so if you’re just learning to read graphs, this could be a great teaching tool. The only real complaint I have is that the book doesn’t lay flat. I prefer stitch books to be spiral-bound or binder-bound so that I can lay the book open and it will stay that way. But if you’re looking for some new ideas for old stitches or some altogether new stitch patterns, here’s a book chock-full of them. Check it out!
ISBN: 978-0-307-58652-0
I’ll try to do better moving forward… Got to get back to my once-a-month posting at least. I hope you all had a joyous winter and are starting to see Spring peeping around the corner of your world.
Let’s go create something!
Chronic Creator 