Greetings friends!  Oh, what a busy month it's been!  No matter how early I get up or how late into the wee hours I toil there never seem to be enough hours in the day to get it all done! Honestly I'm not sure how you do it.  I suppose the up side of all of this activity is that I have plenty of projects to share with you!

If you've been visiting for a while you know that recently I've been working with thread.  I absolutely love this medium.  The delicate detail, the feel of the fabric, the sense of accomplishment when I've finished a piece.  Today I want to share a story of crochet,  kindness and social networking with you.

Like so many new bloggers, when I started this adventure I thought all I had to do was publish my posts and readers would flock to my site making me an internet sensation and overnight success (well, not quite...). But the reality is if you want people to visit you have to network.  That means visiting others on a regular basis and sharing thoughtful comments.  Taking part in on-line activities like CALs, a Year of Projects, and Blogtoberfest. Participating in some of the many groups and forums you find on Ravelry.  Creating boards of your favorite things on Pinterest, and following people you find interesting.  Tweeting your activities and posts.  And of course the big one, the one that I avoided like the plague - joining the world of Facebook.

Most of these have proven easy and fun to do.  I've met some of the nicest, most talented people you could ever imagine.  And while I admit that I don't really understand the whole Twitter craze I can say that I have come to enjoy my time on Facebook.  In fact, that's how I met Bonnier Reiner.  Bonnie is a fiber artist from California where she creates this beautiful hand-painted thread.  We don't know each other well at all, but Bonnie sent me a message asking if I would be interested in giving her thread a try.  Naturally  I said yes and about 10 days later a small package arrived.  To my delight there were (2) 50 yard skeins of a bright blue, purple, teal, and green thread, plus one with pastel shades of pink, green and yellow.  She calls them Rainbow Threads and you can reach her at [email protected] if you'd like to know about availability and pricing.  What I can tell you about is appearance and quality.  I tried the #10 thread (but she has others).  The colors are rich and vibrant (please excuse my pictures, it was too sunny and the color washed out).  The thread is mercerized (I think) and has a nice sheen.  It is easy to handle and flows smoothly on the hook.  It doesn't snarl or get knotted while you're using it.  The only thing I had trouble with was winding the skein onto my bobbin.  I think that's more from my inexperience though because I always buy my thread in balls or cones.  Once I had it wound into a useable form I set to work making these coasters.  They are about 4 inches in diameter.  The one on the right is finished.  It's 2 pieces that are joined on the final round.  From the one 50 yard skein there is enough thread to make at least 3 and maybe 4 coasters this size.  It really does go a long way as long as you use a second color for the back piece. In case you're interested the pattern is Safari Coasters and is available online from Leisure Arts.   I found it in the October 2001 issue of Crochet with Heart magazine. I'm always on the lookout for old magazines and I bought a stack of these at the thrift shop a few years ago!

I don't have any experience hand painting fiber, no doubt it takes time and talent.  I'm pleased to have had the chance to give Bonnie's thread a try,  and thankful that she sought me out and offered to send a gift to a stranger across the country.  For a long time Facebook felt like a cross between a high school cafeteria and a seedy bar after last call.  I was really hesitant to create an account.  As it turns out, there's a bounty of great folks looking to share their talents, ideas and knowledge. Who knew?? 

This has been a terrific experience.  I wish that I had more details on Rainbow Threads to share with you.  It's good stuff and if I've peaked your interest at all, please get in touch with Bonnie. 

I can't write a post on a Wednesday without telling you the latest book chat now can I?? Of course not!  Last week I read the new book by Kaya McLaren called How I Came to Sparkle Again.  It's been a long time since a book hit me the way this one did, and I hope that you'll check out my review to find out why!

Earlier today I finished the Bone Bed by Patricia Cornwell.  This is the 20th Scarpetta novel.  I have been a huge fan of these books for years, but the last few just didn't do it for me.  It seemed like the magic was gone.  So I had mixed feelings when I started this one.  If you want to know what I thought, drop by Robin Reads & Writes later in the week for my review.

Allrighty folks,  time to say goodbye for another day.  I can't believe that Thanksgiving has come and gone and that we're on the countdown to Christmas!  I miss having the time to write and I'm looking forward to that quiet time that comes during our New England winters.  A cup of tea and my favorite projects equal lots of stories to share!  And speaking of sharing, today I'll be linking up with a few of my favorite.  Please stop by and add yours to the mix.  The more the merrier!

Thanks so much for stopping by and spending a bit of your day with me!
Until next time friends,
Be blessed and stitch & read with love!

Hello, Hello!
I hope that you find my tips useful.  I think the most important one is to not be intimidated or afraid of working with thread.  I was quite new to crochet when I first gave it a try.  My early attempts felt awkward and looked a wreck, but something about the delicate fabric captivated me and I was determined.  Once I relaxed and allowed the beginning rounds to look a mess my doily started to take shape and I was hooked.  One of my favorite parts of making doilies is the variety of stitches.  Every round offers different combinations of stitches creating amazing patterns right before your eyes!

This week I've been working hard making bookmarks.  I'm having a great time with all the different colors.  In fact it's almost hard to choose!  I've been trying different granny square patterns and combining then with the beautiful borders from Around the Corner to make some very lovely designs (if I do say so myself!)

If you've been hesitant to try it, or think that you could never manage it I really encourage you to give thread crochet a try.  I know it's not for everyone, but you'll never know if don't give it  shot!  And anyway, what's the worst that can happen??  Another project in the WIP pile?  No problem we all have plenty of those!

I'm not sure how it happens, but the holidays are here (again) and I find myself behind on projects (again!).  Instead of getting down on myself, I'm just going to focus my energies a bit more on crocheting and a bit less on blogging. I like to get three posts out per week.  However for the next 6 weeks or so I need to make sure that I'm not stretching myself too thin creating unnecessary pressure. So I'll me paring back to only one or two posts each week.  After all, I do this for fun and the last thing that I want is for it to become a chore!!  I want the posts that I share with you to be exciting and interesting - not just dribble for the sake of publishing something.  I know you understand, and just think of the great projects I'll have to share with you!!

Even though I'm a day late I'll still be linking up with these amazing blogs to share my thread tips.  I hope that you'll pop in for a visit and share what you've been working on!

Thanks so much for stopping by and spending a bit of your day with me!
Until next time friends,
Be blessed and stitch & read with love!

Greetings Friends!  Welcome to the weekend!  What do you have in store?  Here in the US we have  long weekend.  (Queue patriotic music now!) We're celebrating  Veterans Day on Monday "to honor America's veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good". Although I don't come from a military family I am thankful to all of these brave folks.

What do you think of this pile of thready goodness? I am so excited by all these colors and all the projects just waiting to be discovered!  Why so many you ask?  Well there's a reason of course!  I've had this idea to make book marks for the holidays in the back of my head for ages.  But I only had a few basic colors, and I wanted them to be fun and bright and happy.  Last month I decided to see what I could find.  I checked all my regular web sites and while the selections were large, each ball was between $2.39 and $4.59 for 300 yds.  Not much if you only want a few, but I wanted lots!! Finally I checked Amazon.com.  That's where I found this company selling 175 yd. balls for $1.69. I realize that per yard it's slightly more, but I like that the balls are smaller - since I'm going for variety here and really how much thread do you use to make a bookmark? 

Now that I have all of this fabulous thread I need to figure out what to do with it...

There are some lovely bookmark patterns out there, and I'm sure I'll be trying a few.  But I wanted to design something on my own.  My summer spent making granny squares seemed to be all the the inspiration that I needed.  Image the color combinations I could come up with!  After all I have 14 different colors to choose from!  This got me thinking... Just how many possibilities are there?  Now I'm good (enough) at math, but this was beyond my ability.  And then I remembered my blogging friend Angeliki (she's a physics major from Greece) who had helped me with this type of question once before.  I sent here a quick note on Facebook.

But my dear friend was not satisfied just giving me a simple answer.  No, instead she wrote a program that finally shows us the secret to

That's right!  All you have to do is download a file, plug in the number of colors you're using and it will tell you how many different combinations there are!  But it doesn't just give you the number, it generates a list of the possibilities so if you are so inclined to make them all you can print the list and cross them off one by one!  She's included the links and instructions on her blog.  I hope that you'll give it a try, and please be sure to leave a comment to let her know how it goes.

Now that I have the colors covered I need to try some different patterns.  To start with I used a classic granny with the granny stripe border. Next I'm going to pick some of my favorites from this summer and try putting them together with the classic.  I brought home a copy of Around the Corner: Crochet Borders by Edie Eckman that has 150 designs to choose from.  With all of these choices I'm confident that I'll have some stunning bookmarks to show you!  I guess you know what I'll be doing this (long) weekend!!

I have often told you how warmed I am by the support and kindness that I have experienced through my blog.  This is yet another example of the overwhelming goodness and willingness to help that makes me feel blessed to be part of such an amazing community.  Thanks Angeliki, and all of you who make blogging so much fun!

In addition to my fiber offerings, I like to participate in Five Minute Friday over at Lisa-Jo Baker's place. It's writing in the raw and if you've never done it, why don't you give it a try? It's really easy - you just:
1. Write for 5 minutes flat on this week's prompt with no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking - then post it just as it is!
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community.

Here's what happened when I spent five minutes writing on the prompt "Quiet"

You would think this would be an easy one for me, working at the library shouldn't quiet be part of my every day?  Nope.  Not at our library.  You won't find any shushing going on here.  Oh we don't let it get out of hand, but talking is not forbidden.  After all we are a community center.  We are a gathering place for all ages.  We encourage communication and building relationships.  Answering questions and sharing information.  And none of that came be done without a little noise.

But there is a difference between silence and quiet isn't there?  Quiet can bring calm and peacefulness, whereas the sounds of silence can scream harshly at you.  I can't imagine not having noise about me.  Not loud or hard noises, but the activity of life kind of noises.

And when I want quiet I look inside.  Because that is where it is most important to me.  That I can find a peaceful place to settle into and be undisturbed by the noises that surround me.

Today I'll be sharing my post on these terrific blogs.  Drop by and add your project to the party and see what everyone else has been up to this week.

Greetings friends!  Snow is in the forecast on the east coast. Six to twelve inches here in central Mass.  There's something magical about the first snow of the season. Memories of hot chocolate and gathering around the radio waiting for the local station to tell us that school was cancelled.  I suppose that should motivate me to get to work on the second fingerless mitt, but if I'm honest I'll tell you that for the moment I'm out of mitten mojo.  It's not that I don't like it.  In fact, I'm pretty darn happy with the way this one came out. It's just that for the amount of work that went into it I should have finished 3 pairs!  Allow me to explain...

I decided that I needed a pair of fingerless mitts to go along with my Slouchy Tassel Cap.  In this month's issue of Crochet World magazine I found the pattern for their Texting Mittens.  Perfect!  I typically have to go down a hook size or two.  So I started out with my H hook and whipped up the cuff.  It was too small.  I don't want to start over so I just add a few rows. No problem. Now I'm working on the palm/body. It's snug, but I soldier on.  It was time for the thumb.  I followed the pattern adding a few stitches to accommodate the changes to the cuff.  After a few more rounds I tried it on.  Great.  I can't move my thumb.  After a fair amount of grumbling I acknowledged that the only was it was going to fit would be for me to rip it all out and start again with a bigger hook. The hook size the pattern indicates.  The one I would have known to use if I had made a gauge swatch.  This time (of course) the cuff fits. And so does the body.  Imagine that. It seems however that I must have gargantuan thumbs, because I need to add several stitches in order to make it fit. Naturally this means several attempts and ripped stitches.  Moving on.  I was confused by the instructions for making the finger hood (you know that piece that keeps your fingers warm when you're not sending urgent messages or getting the keys out of your purse).  After looking at a pair that my mother-in-law gave me I figured out what to do.  Again this meant several tries before I got it right (rip, stitch, rip, stitch).  I stuck to the pattern and made the hood as indicated.  It looked funny, like I had pointy witch hands.  I'd come so far that giving up was not an option.  Maybe I made a mistake? I ripped back and tried again. Nope, still pointy.  OK.  I can do this. I know what I want it to look like, and I know that I can figure it out. What I didn't know was it would take 12 tries to get it right!  So you can see, while I'm pleased with the way my texting mitt finally looks, I think that I need a bit of a respite before I begin it's mate.  I did try to write down the changes that I made, but when I looked at my notes this morning it appears that I was utilizing a form of hieroglyphics in an attempt to make things more clear. Hmmm...

How about a little book chat?  If you've been to visit before you know how much I love books, and if you haven't had a chance I hope you'll take a look at yesterday's post.  I'm so excited to have a new venue to share my book reviews.  Of course I'll still be talking about them here, I have too they're so much a part of me.  But by creating Robin Reads & Writes I can really delve into my reviews without worrying that I'm turning away those of you who come for the crafting.  If you enjoy my reviews, I hope that you'll subscribe to the new blog, or at least click on the link in the header or on the sidebar once in a while to see what's new.

I have reviews for two books in the works right now, and I'll tell you both of these had a big impact on me. I'll let you know when they're ready.  Now I'm reading Defending Jacob by William Landay which has been on the NY Times best seller list since it came out in January. While that's not my reason for choosing it, I do like to keep current with what the masses are reading.  It's been a while since I've read a crime/court drama so I decided I'd give this one a go.  Stay tuned and I'll let you know how it rates!

Today I'll be sharing the saga of the single mitt with these ladies and their link parties.  There are always so many fun and interesting projects to see, that I hope you'll spend a few minutes visiting them.  I always find inspiration, and it's a great way to meet new people.

That does it for me.  I'm off to work and then to hunker down with my hook and yarn and wait for the snow.  My prayers are with anyone who was effected or knows anyone who was effected by Sandy.  Let's hope that Athena (yep, the latest storm has a name already) follows gently in her wake.

Thanks so much for stopping by and spending a bit of your day with me.
Until next time friends,
Be blessed and stitch & read with love!

Long before I learned how to crochet, I learned how to read, and I haven't stopped either since!  To me books have so much to offer.  They entertain, they teach, they keep me company, they make me think, they allow me to escape, and help me find my way. They are how I earn a living and how I spend my free time.  Books surround me (literally and figuratively).  I can't imagine going through the day without spending at least a part of it reading.

Not long after I started Crochet Nirvana I discovered Ginny's Yarn Along.  A place to where I could share my latest book and my latest project with others.  It had always been my intention to incorporate books into my blog.  So in addition to telling you what I was reading I started writing reviews to tell you what I thought about the book when I was done.  I was skeptical at first.  I didn't know if anyone was really interested.  Most of the craft blogs that I read don't wonder onto other subjects. I reminded myself that this is my space and I can do what I want here - even if no one else is doing it.  So I ventured on.

Occasionally in the comments, a few of you would mention that you'd like to try a book I reviewed.  Or you'd tell me about book that you thought I should try.  And then one of my coworkers suggested that we should publish my reviews on the library's web page.  She said that she enjoyed reading them, and thought our patrons would too.  It was a great boost to my confidence. Our web-mistress approached our director and we got the green light. 

I knew that it would be a lot of work.  I needed a name and a logo, and then I needed a format for making the reviews easily accessible.  After a lot of trial and error I ended up with the a new page (Book Reviews) and a new blog (Robin Reads & Writes).  The page is where at a glance you can see the covers of all the books. Click on the cover to go to the review. The new blog is where I'm publishing the reviews.  They both live here at Crochet Nirvana.  So while I'll still be sharing my latest book each week here and at Ginny's, I'll be publishing the reviews on Robin Reads & Writes.  Already I can feel them expanding and evolving.  I'm including things like audio snippets, what other reviewers think, and author interviews.   I have plans for a guest reviewer and I'm toying with the idea of starting a virtual book club.  There are so many possibilities! I can't wait to see how things grow from here.

The other new feature (page) is Booked for Lunch. I created this page as a supplement for the folks who are in the library's monthly book group.  With a link from the library's website, I provide information about what we're reading each month.  I'm also looking into doing a on-line forum as a companion to the regular meeting.  We'll see if the group has any interest in continuing the discussion past the one hour we're given each month. 

I hope that those of you who like hearing about my latest read will pop-over to RR&W.  I'll be sure to include links here and let you know when there's something new.  With my new connection to the library it's the perfect time to launch these new features.  I'm excited to be able to stretch my reviewing wings while staying true to my original vision of sharing my crochet adventures with you.

Thanks so much for stopping by and spending a bit of your day with me.
Until next time friends,
Be blessed and stitch & read with love

Greetings and Salutations Friends!  This week has been all about my awesome Slouching Towards Tassels Cap by Denise at Voie de Vie.  It seems that it was with me no matter what I was doing:  making stitch markers with John; participating in the JAL for Accessories: Autumne 2012 (Denise's new ebook where you'll find this pattern); hunkered down to wait out hurricane Sandy (with a good book, homemade spicy Hermits and a cup of chamomile); or looking for journaling inspiration.  We were inseparable, and even though I only worked on it a little bit each evening it took less than a week to finish.

I wish that the lighting had been better for my ta-dah pictures so you could see just how great it looks.  Red is difficult to photograph, and these shots don't show you how rich the color is.  2 big "cakes" of this mystery wool were given to me last year, and I've been waiting to find a project for them.  I think this one is perfect.  I'm drawn to the tassels which I think give the cap a playful look that is fun in a grown up sort of way.  Don't get me wrong, I love pom-poms, but sometimes you need something that you can wear with your "good" coat on those cold winter days! 

I always like to make coordinating pieces when I can, and since I have plenty of yarn left I set to work on a pair of mitts.  The fingerless kind that have the little hood attached so you can keep warm while you're walking, but still grab your keys or use your phone when you need to.  I've tried to explain them to my husband, but he remains convinced that topless mittens are just plain silly!  It must just be a guy thing, because all my girlfriends love them!

In addition to my fiber offerings, I like to participate in Five Minute Friday over at Lisa-Jo Baker's place. It's writing in the raw and if you've never done it, why don't you give it a try? It's really easy - you just:
1. Write for 5 minutes flat on this week's prompt with no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking - then post it just as it is!
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community.

Here's what happened when I spent five minutes writing on the prompt "Roots"

I once had a very wise teacher.  She would talk and tell me things that at the time didn't seem to have much to do with the subject at hand.  But later, when I was alone doing the dishes, or talking with my husband I would remember what she had said.  And I would think about it.  And then I would ponder some more.  And without even realizing it an idea had formed, a problem was solved, a decision was made. 

And when I share my revelation with her she tells me that she is a gardener.  With the land and with the mind she plants seeds.  Small and seeming insignificant.  And then it is up to me to grow them.  I nurture them and they grown.  They strengthen and develop roots.  And they will reach deeply into the core.  To provide me with sustenance.  For the body and for the spirit.  My wise teacher never pushed anything on me.  She offered me seeds, and left the rest up to me.

Today I'll be sharing my post with this lovely group of ladies.  Each has a terrific link party that will surely introduce you to all kinds of creative goodness!  Please stop by, and feel free to add your latest project.

Thanks so much for stopping by and spending a bit of your day with me!
Until next time friends,
Be blessed and stitch & read with love!