It's Sunny and 70 degrees in Houston!!

Sorry I haven't been posting as much as usual. I've been painting the exterior of the house (photos later - stay tuned). Also I've been busy getting submissions ready for several deadlines that are coming up. Everyone wants stuff for the holidays! There are only 11 months left, have you started your holiday projects yet?

Being Bobbi Bear - revisited

I finished the principle knitting on another Bobbi Bear. This one I worked up using Lion Brand Chunky Woolease in Claret. I love using size 17 dpn's! It's like knitting with kitchen gadgets...

Anywho, he obviously is missing his ears still, and a face, and trust me, once the neck gets tightened up (per the pattern, btw) the head ends up looking like it belongs to the body.

The first Bobbi Bear I made was while watching Dr. Zhivago. I have the two so intertwined in my bizarro mind that the entire time I made this Bobbi Bear scenes from the movie ran through my head, not to mention that SONG!

Aslan Sweater


Thanks to my buddy Dave from Boston, I have decided to cast on a project for me. Ironic isn't it? I have no time to make something for myself. So, I thought if I got the sweater going and worked on it a little at a time then it would be finished by winter (those two or three days in Houston that it actually gets cold).

The pattern says that it is easy and a good project for the beginner. So hey, what could be more fun? I'm just going to plug away at it when I get a second here and there and hope for the best.

The yarn I chose is Lorna's Laces Hand-Dyed Yarns - Shepherd Worsted Wool in the color Aslan (how could I resist the name?). The colors look like different shades of chocolate swirled together (again with the irresistability).

Sit Down!

I finally found a sofa for the family room. The room has been empty for almost two years now and apparently the stars aligned or something and here is the result. Now when I have another potluck I won't have to empty all the other rooms to have seating in the family room. Anyone want to party? It is finally comfortable to sit and crochet/knit at The Dude's!

ParTAY at The Dude's Place

Just before I started blogging I had a get together at my house with some crochetiers from around Houston. It was a potluck affair in the afternoon on a Saturday. It was a blast! Everyone brought something and I supplied the dessert and mimosas. Nothing like drinking pitchers of mimosas then trying to crochet!






This was taken just before the first hookers (and a couple of pokers) started to arrive. Every square inch of the bar area filled with yummy food that the others had brought with them.





This is the dessert that I made. It's puff pastries filled with cream and topped with poached apple slices. It's from the Valentine's issue of Martha Stewart Living. I did a test run of the dessert the week before (always wise, never make something for the first time for a party) and it was made as one big pastry that you cut up. I didn't like how messy it was to serve, so I decided to make them as individual pastries and I was happy with the presentation. The two tier tidbit platter was my mom's. I think she would have been proud of how everything turned out.





And here I am with the star of the party, Jerrah! Isn't she adorable?

Woo dawgie.... dot com

I just emailed the second drafts of the profiles for Men Who Knit and the Dogs Who Love Them. What a relief!!! I sure wish I had control over who gets included as I feel like I'm friends with all these dudes now. This experience has shown me what a diverse world we live in and yet all that diversity can have something very much in common. Maybe we should all just crochet and knit for world peace...

Chic on the Halfshell

I'm just amazed at the response to this new free pattern. I'm glad all y'all are enjoying it and I love seeing the pics on your blogs! Many people have made the purse in one evening! I'm also glad I finally figured out a way to offer my free patterns as PDF downloads, and judging by the number of times that CotH was downloaded over the weekend, it was worth the effort to make it available in that format!

Dude Gear for V-day

I spent some time over the weekend working on my Cafepress store. I've added a ton of new items with new graphics. Check it out. Oh, and they are having a promition for Valentine's Day:

The Crochet Dude dot Com

I was able to finally capture the .com extension for thecrochetdude. So, that means that I will be revamping my online stuff soon. I've been waiting because I didn't know if I would ever be able to get the dot com addy and toyed with the idea of changing my online address to www.drewemborsky.com or www.the-crochet-dude.com , etc.

The coolest thing now is that I can start to use email addies like info@thecrochetdude.com or tapestries@thecrochetdude.com or charity@thecrochetdude.com and it all gets caught and forwarded to my .biz email address.

Now, does anyone have a suggestion of what software to use to create a website? I feel so darned limited with the templates that they offer online and would like to have a bit more freedom in designing the new site. (or if you're a webmaster/mistress and would like to barter some crochet for a website design email me at thedudeneedsanewsite@thecrochetdude.com)

Chic on The Halfshell - a purse to crochet...

Thank you to everyone that voted over the last two days. The race was very tight but in the end the winner was (drumroll....) Chic on The Halfshell, suggested by the lovely Lori. Thanks Lori for the very clever and popular nomination!

The pattern is now available on my free patterns page:

The Crochet Dude Free Patterns

I hope y'all will make one or three and send me photos!

Name That Purse

I have taken all your suggestions for the purse that is featured in yesterday's post and created a poll. I'm going to leave the poll open for two days since I have the pattern written and am ready to post it. But hey, I can't post it without a name, right? The poll is in the sidebar, so vote now and (big announcer voice) Name. That. Purse!

Note: The poll is now closed. Thanks for voting!!

Dudetanica Follow-up

I received an email from the publishers of the crochet encyclopedia and although they haven't received the halter/vest they did see the pic that I had on my blog and were very happy with it. They also asked me to submit some more digital images of my original stuff! Woo hoo! (I'm being cautiously happy though because I've found that last minute cuts do happen. It's why you didn't see me on the Martha Show this past fall. I'm just saying.)

No Crochet For Drew!

Today I am going to hunker down in the piano room (quiet room, no t.v. to distract) with my laptop (and it gets good wi-fi reception in there too) and a pot of green tea and get all the Men Who Knit profiles finished! I have received twelve photos and need to get them processed as well. There are a lot of details and I need to focus at this critical stage and git-er-done!

Prototype

I worked on this purse prototype over the weekend. It's not quite what I had in mind but the experience of working it out has helped me see what I'm not doing quite right. I'm about 1/4 of the way through the final version (and it doesn't look anything like this prototype) and will keep you posted on its progress. I'm hoping to submit the final one to a periodical for publication.

I'm going to type up the pattern for this prototype and put it on my free patterns page very soon. Anyone have a catchy name for it?

Free Thanks

Thank you to everyone for the emails of ideas for free patterns. I am collecting them all into a database and will hopefully have one or two designed per month in 2006.

Dudetanica

I was recently invited to submit a design that may be included in a crochet encyclopedia that is being published in London. They were asking for an item that utilized one type of stitch primarily and I chose to use the Fpdc (and his twin the Bpdc). This is what I came up with yesterday:




For a while it was backless and had a good chance of becoming a cocktail dress but as it developed it needed the back and this is the final result. I have to ship it today so I didn't have a ton of time to develop it and I am pleased with how it turned out. I wonder if they will accept it?

Sandy Eggo

Whew! I just shipped off the final project for Super Cool Yarn Co. II! Woo hoo! All the yarn companies needed their items very quickly because I believe they plan to take them to the TNNA show next week in San Diego. I wish I could be there, but I'll have to settle for being there in fiber.

Super Cool Yarn Co. III

Yep, now there is a third SCYC. This one is having me create a sweater for the 2007 Crochet Pattern a Day Calendar. Yarn is in transit. I'd better get some chores finished around the house this afternoon. I may even bathe, no promises though.

Men Who Knit Update

All the sweaters for the Men Who Knit (And The Dogs Who Love Them) book have been shipped to the publishers. Amazing! I am on the second draft of the profiles and will be sending those to Annie this weekend for her to work her editorial magic. Oh, and if I collected a profile from you I will be contacting you soon for a photo. I'll email you the specifications, etc.

Free Pattern Ideas

For those of you who receive The Crochet Dude Newsletter you already know that I have asked for ideas for free patterns. (If you don't receive the newsletter, for heaven's sake why not?) Please email me ideas of free patterns you'd like to see in the future (because I obviously have a lot of time on my hands) and put "Free Pattern Idea" in the subject line. I've already received a few very creative, unusual (and one entertaining but totally inappropriate) ideas!

Art in Houston

This is a photo of my friend Imaginary Maggie. When she was here last time we went to see a house that had been "altered" by local artists before being torn down to build a new art center. They took all the wood siding off the house and ran it through the house like a tube!!

Wavy

I finished the wavy poncho over the weekend. Most anything knit on size 17's would go quickly, don't you think? I'm very pleased with how it turned out and am happy to say, that's one more Christmas 2006 gift to mark off my list!

Info:

Pattern: from Better Homes & Gardens "Knit It!" magazine from April 2005 (on the cover) "In A Jiffy Poncho"
Needles: Addi Turbo circs size 17 [12mm]
Yarn: Katia "Nepal" 400yds (4 skeins)
Time: About 6 hours

New Comfortghan

This is the comfortghan that I assembled and delivered recently. This one was a little extra special because it was for a friend of mine. It's hard to watch your friends go through difficult times but when they get one of these ghans they get a sense that they are not alone. There are people out there that care and want them to get better soon. It's very powerful. A big thanks to my peeps at Heartmade Blessings for sending me the squares!

Layout Changes

I switched my browser from IE to Firefox today. Then I promptly realized what a few of you had been telling me: my blog was all wonky in the Mozilla browser window. Sorry about that y'all, I would go into Blogger to fix it but in IE it looked fine so... I had no idea what you were talking about. Now that I am IE Free... Free! Woo hoo!! (and surfing faster, but that could just be an illusion...) I could see what you were saying and made the appropriate changes. Can you see me now.....?

Gluttony


Okay, so I have a bazillion and one things on my plate, Super Cool Yarn Co. II emailed me and said "that item that you are designing for next week's deadline? Could you get that to us, oh say, now??" etc, etc, but I really have been hankering to make something with that cool yarn I found in Barcelona last fall. So I cast on without fear and started this wavy poncho. I have to be honest, the pattern is super easy with only a four row repeat, but that's what I wanted so that the yarn could be the star. And hey, knitting on size 17 needles leads to instant gratification, to which I am apparently addicted.

I've Been Reduced

Actually I was supersized over the holidays, what with all the food and all, but that's a completely different subject... Anywho, The Crochet Dude 2006 Calendar is now on sale for 40% off. Check it out, grab yourself one, and hang me in your cubicle or home. Please. I don't get out much.

Being Bobbi Bear

Just before Christmas I decided I needed just one more thing to do. Sooo, I challenged my knitting skills and made this Bobbi Bear with Patons Up Country (some of you can figure out where I got the yarn from, it's only available in one home in the US now). Now, you have to give me a break because although I appear to know how to knit, I've only knit for less than a year now and I'm self-taught. So, that explains why my SSK and my K2tog, etc don't quite slant the right way, if I could manage to get them to slant at all.

Lurky Lurkerloos

Thank you to all the people who came out of lurkdom to wish me happy holidays. What a wonderful surprise to come home and see over fifty comments! I hope you are all having a wonderful new year!!! My goal by the end of this week is to come stalk your blogs so watch out!

New Projects

Apparently Super Cool Yarn Co. II was happy with all the felted projects that I sent them in December, because when I got home from my Christmas trip I was greeted with a box of yarn and five more assignments! Woo hoo HOO! Thanks SCYC II, I'm happy to be of service!!

Do Your Manly Vest

Over the holiday I was able to nearly complete the first pattern for my upcoming booklet "Do Your Manly Vest" a companion to my other booklet "Do Your Vest". I made it in Landscapes from Lion Brand Yarns, a great wool blend that is very colorful and soft. The second pattern is going to be in a cashmere blend. I can't wait to get started!!

Habitat Donations

Thank you to everyone who supported my efforts to raise money for hurricane relief via Habitat for Humanity. The total raised was $175.50 !!! Y'all rock, seriously.

Happy Dude Year!

I toasted the New Year in four times zones last night, including my own! I hope all y'all had a great and safe time ringing your 2006! I spent some time thinking of resolutions. The list got so long that I shredded it and decided to start over. What I really wanted to do was come up with a concept that would encompass all those resolutions. You know, some sort of guideline that would help to stay on track and achieve some goals.

The Crochet Dude's Resolution for 2006 (drum roll and trumpets please):

• Be proactive

I think that if I just adopt that mind-set that I will be as productive as I'd like to be, reach some good goals and look back on 2006 with a sense of accomplishment.

Have you made any resolutions?