Sunday, February 10, 2008

Is It Spring Yet?

There have been no new adventures really to speak about other than work, work, work. Until last Friday night that is. There I was just having changed into my 'it's Friday night and I don't have to do squat' clothes when the phone rang. It was my mom and she was not feeling well at all. So badly in fact, that she wanted to go to the emergency room. 8 hours later, they admitted her and I crawled back through my door at 3am. She's ok, but they want to monitor her for a few days as they found something on her EKG. She's 91 years old, it could be just about anything ~ parts wearing out, bad mix of medications, you name it. Anyway, not a fun adventure. Needless to say, by Saturday I was a worn out, wrung out, wet dishrag and still haven't completely come back to life even though it is now Sunday. Sitting for 8 hours in a hard waiting room chair can wipe you out beyond all reason. I did manage to crochet several squares toward my 'Moroccan' afghan which went a long way toward maintaining sanity in an emergency room on a Friday night :o\ There's a lot to be said for having a small project bag ready to go as you run out the door.

So while I wait to hear what they're going to do ~ keep her or release her ~ I be surfing and I be buying patterns.

Because I LOVE LOVE LOVE Patricia Kristoffersen, I had to pick up her latest doily book
Exquisite Doilies. I just love all of the texture she puts into her designs!



Then off to
Annie's Attic for more doilies of the old fashioned sort.



And more doilies ~ this time called
placemats and hotpads as size 3 cotton is used for quick results. And we're always looking for quick aren't we?



I will likely never make this afghan due to the extreme number of color changes, but isn't the
Cathedral Rose Window Afghan gorgeous?



Then it was off to
e-Pattern Central cuz I hadn't been there in forever to see what they had. I picked up a pattern for bullion stitch hearts. Not sure why, I just thought they were cute. Or maybe it was because the pattern is only 99 cents.



As I was evidently not done, I then went to Amazon and picked up this afghan book ~
50 Sensational Crochet Afghans and Throws. I was inspired by the color choices of a member at Ravelry. It had been on my wish list for some time, but the color choices put me over the edge and convinced me to hit the Buy with 1-Click button.



Since I now could delete this book from my wish list, my list was looking rather empty. So I added these!





I was then apparently done with crochet pattern shopping. But strangely not done with typing in that atm card number, so after reading a
MooNie update, I hit his website then MooNie and Broon's website and picked up their DVD. These guys are a riot ~ although I have to admit that if MooNie hadn't joined forces with Broon, I probably would pass on Broon, but together they are quite funny. I first saw MooNie at the Southern California Renaissance Faire several years ago and haven't missed his show there since.



Was I done yet? HECK NO!!! Cuz I obviously realized that I don't have enough Teresa Wentzler cross stitch charts! I learned that she is now able to make her Best of Fantasy charts available for download at
Patterns Online. So since I was still in surfing and buying mode, I went there and picked up these charts:



I didn't have the
Sun Dragon chart so I picked that one up. Nor did I have the Needle Guardian chart. Since I love dragons and all, not downloading these was not an option.



The neat thing about Patterns Online is that your purchased charts are stored online, so should you ever lose the files, you can always get them back. The downside ~ if you want to consider it one ~ is that you need to install their pattern viewing software in order to print your charts. It's a read/print only version of PC Stitch. I don't see this as a problem, but if you don't want to install more software on your machine, you need to know this before you purchase!

Just so you know that I do occasionally make something from the myriad of patterns that I buy/download, I did manage to finish this doily, but have not gotten around to taking a picture of it yet :oP


I hope you're having a great weekend!