Sunday, October 17, 2010

Round Crochet Coasters Pattern

OK, here it is! My very first published crochet pattern! It's nothing spectacular - just a simple, round coaster.





Materials:

Any worsted weight yarn
I hook (5.5 mm)
Large Eye Needle


Round 1: Ch 3 (counts as first DC), 11 DC in 3rd ch from hook. Join with sl st to top of ch 3. (12 DC)

Round 2: Ch 2 (counts as first DC), DC in same stitch, 2 DC in each stitch around. Join with sl st to top of Ch 2. (24 DC)

Round 3: Ch 2 (counts of first DC), DC in same stitch, DC in next stitch, *2 DC in next stitch, DC in next stitch* around. Join with sl st to top of Ch 2. Fasten off and weave in ends.


Easy Peasy! :) Experiment with different yarns! The possibilities are endless!


This is an untested pattern! If you notice any typos, or if something doesn't make sense, please leave a comment below and I will fix it! Thanks so much!!!

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Baby blanket no more

Today I completed the most tiring project of my crocheting "career." I started a ripple wave blanket last week with thoughts that it would be a pretty cool baby blanket. After working several rows, it became clear that it was going to be too big to be a baby blanket but might make a nice lap throw. After Hubby showed it to his mother, she HAD TO HAVE IT for her mother-in-law's birthday. The catch - she needed it finished in 3 days! EEK! So, after some seriously hard work and 18 hours of crochet, I finished this awesome throw with time to spare! I'm not in a hurry to make another one anytime soon, but I'm still interested in trying it out in baby size! lol


Tuesday, June 8, 2010

The Limits of Thin

I just finished the MOST inspirational article I have EVER read! It was in the April 2008 edition of Good Housekeeping, and I am going to share it here with you now:


The Limits of Thin

by Geneen Roth

My romance with IT things began when I was 6 and convinced that having a Patti Playpal - a life-size doll with a blue-and-white plaid jumper - was the answer to, well, everything. Soon after that, my fervor for clothes, shoes, and jewelry were unleashed. There was the white fake-rabbit-fur jacket I spotted when I was 14, the antique garnet choker I couldn't live without when I was 22, the black sweater with the huge embroidered flower that I coveted when I was 25. And let's not forget the major IT thing of my teens and 20s, the number one thing that I was sure would give me a glorious life: being thin.

During all the years I dieted and binged, I was utterly convinced that being thin would make me happy. I'd pose in front of the mirror, stick out one of my thighs so that only half of it would show, and imagine the life to which that thin thigh would belong. It was a glittering, shimmering, perpetually happy life. In my fantasy, there were no broken hearts, no illnesses, no deaths.

The reality: When I lost weight and kept it off, it was wonderful to be lighter, to wear pretty clothes and pants without elastic waistbands. But when I opened my eyes in the morning, I was still the same ole me. My body was thinner, but the rest of my life was the same.

Rats.

I recently got a note from someone who pinned a Weight Watchers ribbon onto her letter. The embossed writing on the ribbon said, "I lost 10 pounds," and underneath the embossing, she hand-wrote, "And I still feel like crap."

Yup. We think it's the weight that makes us miserable, and to the extent that it limits our movements and affects our blood pressure and our knees, extra weight really does make us uncomfortable. Not looking great in clothes can make us feel self-conscious and sad. But the belief that losing weight will give us a magical new life prevents us from making the most of the life we have now, whatever we weigh.

A woman named Mollie told a story at one of my workshops. She has spend her adult life overweight, miserable, and broke. She decided that having lap-band surgery was her only chance at being thin, happy, and healthy. So she talked her equally broke sister into lending her the money for the procedure. "When I told her how important being thin was to me and that I thought it would be the answer to all my prayers, she came up with the money for the operation," Mollie said. "Now, a year later, she is coming to see me for the first time since the surgery. The thing is, I've gained back almost every single pound I lost and she doesn't know it, and I am too ashamed to tell her over the phone. I am desperate. I am frantic - and I am fat again."

I was curious about what actually happened when she was thin. I asked Mollie if it was, indeed, the answer to her prayers.

"It was great to be thin," she said. "It was definitely easier to move around and my joints didn't hut so much. But I hadn't realized that being thin wouldn't fill all the empty holes in my life. I thought that somehow when I lost weight everything that was wrong would be right. It wasn't. I still didn't have a relationship, my mother was still sick with lung cancer, and I was still broke.:

"And what happened when you realized all this?" I asked.

"I was so disappointed. I started eating again to make myself feel better. And since after the surgery I couldn't eat in quantities that I ate before, I had to eat smaller portions - constantly - until I gained back every ounce."

All of us want to believe that someday we will have worked hard enough and be thin enough to reach the land of no problems, the universe of no pain. If emotional eating is a challenge for us, if we suffer because of the size of our bodies and our relationship to food, then somehow we end of believing that getting rid of the fat will take away the suffering. When it doesn't, we feel so betrayed that we eat to comfort ourselves.

Give yourself a reality check. Think for a moment about the IT things you've wanted and gotten - the sweaters, the boots, the earrings. Pick one. Think about what went through your mind when you first saw it and what you believed your life would be when you got it.

Now, remember what your life was like when you did get it, the initial excitement, the thrill of having something you wanted so badly. Then remember the days after that. If it made you happy, how long did the happiness last? And how quickly was it replaced by the next IT thing?

OK, now think about all the times in your life you've lost weight. Think about the times you reached your goal weight (even if it was for 10 minutes). And answer this question honestly: Did losing weight make you happy forevermore? If it did, why did you gain the weight back? And if it didn't, then why do you believe it will make you happy now?

Often, we forget the eventual disappointment that results from getting what we want and go right back to wanting something else we don't have. We lose weight dozens and dozens of times, understand for a second that being thin isn't the magic we thought it would be, and then gain the pounds back, which lets us look forward again and say, "Then, oh then, I will be happy. Then I will not be in pain."

Hanging on to an IT thing that will make the bad stuff go away perpetuates the fantasy that a life without pain is possible. It also keeps us from plumbing our lives for the things that really will make us happy.

In my own case, I'd spent so many years believing that when I lost weight, I would turn into a different person - an easygoing, thick-haired, long-legged, Angelina Jolie type - that it took me awhile to get used to the thinner version of the same old me. But then I realized that I had a life that no one else could have. I stopped writing poetry (which I was terrible at) and started writing what only I could write - my books about emotional eating from a personal perspective. When I gave up wanting to a life that wasn't my own, I was able to grow into the life that was already mine, waiting for me to see, inhabit, and live it.

Try this experiment: Instead of wanting to be thin to be happy, try being happy right now. Live as if you were already thin, as if you liked yourself, as if you chose to have the life you have right now.

My bet is that you will discover the real IT thing: the riches of your own life that were yours all along.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

A Shrug for Harley

I never know what to expect with West Texas weather! One day it is sunny, 80 degrees, and we are all running around in shorts. And the next day it SNOWS! NO joke! This happens a lot here! In fact, it was a gorgeous 80+ degree sunny day today and tomorrow we are supposed to get rain showers and a high in the 50s!


With that in mind, I have a hard time planning for Easter wardrobes! I always want to let little Harley wear a pretty Easter dress or a cute spring outift, but we usually have one final cold snap right around Easter. So, this year I am prepared! We've got the pretty new dress and just in case it is slightly cold, I have crocheted a shrug to go with it! I'm hoping that by making the shrug, the weather will be wonderfully gorgeous and my time will have been wasted! :) Here's hoping!!! I got the pattern for this shrug here.


Wednesday, March 3, 2010

How To Be Successful At Etsy

So, day two of spring card making and guess what?!?! I only got one lousy card made! Yep! That's it! I was working on this springy card when it dawned on me, that I promised my son that I would go to the grocery store today and buy him some more Pibb...and Ritz crackers. So, I went off to ready myself for a trip into town and the dreaded grocery store...

Since I was going to be making the trip, I made sure to print a 50% off coupon for Michael's and take it with me. And since I was going to be in town, I thought I might as well stop by Hobby Lobby too. So, off to town I go...stop at Hobby Lobby to buy some yarn for some adorable baby booties that I am designing (I will have pics of those later in the week)...then off to Michael's for some bags to put my cards in for craft show this weekend...run into the grocery store...and then to the salon to get a quick trim (believe me I needed it!)...home again to help my daughter with her homework and then outside to enjoy the beautiful evening. So, now here I sit, catching up on the internet and with only one card done for the day [sigh] I don't think I will be getting those 5 spring cards completed before the craft show this weekend...But on a brighter note, here is my Friends Card:



Oh yeah! Get to the Success Tips! I completely forgot ;) OK, I am not an expert by any means! But I have been around the etsy scene for a couple of years and this is what I have learned...although I should be following my advice more closely ;) Use what you can and ignore the rest...

ETSY SUCCESS TIPS

PROMOTE PROMOTE PROMOTE
Send at least two business cards with every order. Leave business cards every where you can think of! Get a magnet for your car. Facebook, myspace, twitter, blog, cafemom (of course). Put your link in the signature of ALL of your emails (even those funny forwards because they will get forwarded on with your info). Offer discounts to 'special' customers like facebook fans. Contests for free stuff. Carry something you make with you everywhere you go. (I keep a coffee sleeve in my pocket and use it when we go out to eat on my coke glass). Get friends/relatives far away to show off your stuff. Keep a photo brag book with some of your pics (I printed a bunch of my pics when Walgreens had a sale). Use your children as advertising (T-shirts - my mommy makes X). Offer to teach a class on your craft at a local craft store.

Then there are your pics - make them good (remove background distractions, have the right lighting, make sure they are in focus). Include something in the pic that will help customers gage the size (a coin, a coffee mug, markers) but make sure they don't distract from the pic. Customers don't always read the item description.

Make your item description concise but detailed. Give sizes, colors, any special characteristics, etc. But you don't need to tell the item's life story."

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Spring cards

Today, I pulled out the paper crafts! My goal was to make 5 spring cards today. I gathered my supplies - stamps, punches, paper, trimmer, ink, markers, adhesive...printed out my inspiration...planned my projects...and got started. Unfortunately, I was only able to complete one card before it was time to go meet the school bus. Which prompted me to think that maybe digital cardmaking is the way to go! LOL

Anyway, here is today's spring card. And since I didn't put my supplies away, maybe I will have the time to make the rest of them tomorrow. Enjoy!


Monday, March 1, 2010

Mom Attack Monday



I am so proud to say that I am a member of the BEST street team on Etsy! The Cafemom Street Team is an awesome group of mommies grouped together to give advice, help, and even a shoulder to cry on when needed. Each week we choose a group member to attack with sells and promotion. This week's Mom Attackee is Patty's Pretty Things.




Patty loves making all sorts of things, as you will see in her shop! Plus, everything is One of A Kind! So, go check her out and support a Mommy Artist!


Saturday, February 27, 2010

6 Months Is TOO LONG!

Yep! It has been 6 months since my last blog post! That is WAY TOO LONG! There have been lots of exciting things going on in the world of Caprice Creations! Let's catch up!


First of all, my sister got married in October. I was her Matron of Honor, Harley was the flower girl, and Chris was an usher for the Mother of the Bride. I was very proud of both kiddos. And my sister looked absolutely beautiful!

Me, Chris, & My Sister (Trisha) . . . . Harley & Trisha


In November, we found out that my sister and her new husband are expecting a baby in late July. Didn't take them long! {wink, wink}



Then came the holidays of Thanksgiving which we spent with my BFF's family. And Christmas which was a nice, peaceful event! The new year came and went. And we continue to trudge through life as we know it.


Sometime in January I taught myself to crochet. It was the one thing that my grandmother had tried to teach me that I just could not get. And I decided that it was time to "bite the bullet" and learn! It has turned out to be my favorite craft! (At least for now! lol)



My sister found out that she is having a BOY on my birthday! I was just a teensy bit disappointed that it's not a girl, but I plan to spoil the little girl rotten anyway! I'm getting so excited!!!



And that pretty much brings us up to the present. I've decided that the blog will be updated much more frequently now. And I hope to bring you lots of tutorials, pics, shop news, family news, and funny stuff! So tell your friends! :)