My Hooks and Needles

Morning Visitor

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:39:23 GMT

Happy Saturday Everyone,

This is not about knitting or crochet, but every once
in awhile, something unusual happens and I just
have to tell you about it.

I was rushing out for an early morning appointment.
I had just had an e-mail exchange with my friend Prudence
Mapstone http://knotjustknitting.com
(Who, by the way, is glob-trotting again) and was
running late. I was stopped in my tracks by
an unwelcome early morning visitor. A bear was
leisurely walking across my yard. My first instinct
was to run back into the house, then I grabbed my camera.

He was heading straight for my garbage pail, good
thing collection happened minutes before he arrived.

I was quite far away, but finally remembered to use
the zoom!

Wonder if anything good is left in there?

Well, I'll give it a try.

I made some noise by slamming my door and he
finally wandered off. I ran for my car and was out
of there in seconds "-)

Enough adventure for one day!

Have a great weekend,

Margaret

CROCHET BELTS FROM THE HIP

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:50:23 GMT

Good Morning Everyone,

I recently wrote that the new belt book,

CROCHET BELTS FROM THE HIP: RAW UNCENSORED DESIGNS

was only available to ravelry users. Now it is
available to all.

This book, available to download on line,
is the product of a group of 19 designers,
who got together at a conference and decided
to do a collaborative effort of designs. It was fun to do,
and its very different. Take the title literally. Each of us
was free to do our own thing, doing our
design and instructions in our own way. It was an
experiment and we are very proud of the way that
it turned out.

You can see the book or order at;

http://www.sftdonline.com/

My belt is pictured in the previous blog entry. For some
reason aol is not allowing me to download pictures
today :-).

Have a great day.

Margaret

podcasts / new venture

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 14:01:22 GMT

Happy Saturday Everyone,

Sometimes I am really overwhelmed by the power of the Internet. I know that I say it all the time, but how can one brain hold so much information.

Last night I received a lovely e-mail from a Ravelry friend, telling me how much she enjoyed my interview with Kelly from Knit Picks. I did not even know that the interview was on. I was told that it would appear sometime by end of May beginning of June, but I did not hear anything else.

I asked said friend how I could go about finding the pod cast. After following her directions I managed to listen to it (warning, it is kind of long :-) Any way if you are interested go to http://knitpicks.com
click on staff blog, then on pod cast. I am the first one on the list.

Another fun thing happened yesterday - our first group venture book was launched on Ravelry. If you are a Ravelry member
it can be ordered http://ravelry.com/patterns/sources/crocheted-belts-from-the-hip

below is a picture of my entry

http://ravelry.com/patterns/sources/crocheted-belts-from-the-hip

Have a great weekend

Margaret

Ravelry etc

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:33:34 GMT

Good Morning Everyone,

After all the rain this past week, the whole area is
greening up! Yesterday, blue skies, big white
puffy clouds against the tall, leafy green trees,
what a gorgeous day!

I don't know how many of you are on http://ravelry.com
but if you are, Dee http://crochetwithdee.com
has started a group for ME. I cannot believe that I
have my very own group on Ravelry, but if you would
like to join us, it is called MHDesigner-Hooks and Needles.
Ravelry is so amazing, each and every day I learn something
new. I have been having so much fun reading the posts.

One of my friends posted a link to my interview on
Crochet Insider and I have been getting some very
nice e-mails from people who had not seen it before.
http://www.crochetinsider.com/MargaretHubert.html
Thanks Dora for a great forum and thanks Barbara WH for
the interview.

I have been working feverishly trying to finish up my
fashion show garment for the July conference. Just one
month away, and the fun will begin. I hope that I will get
to see some of you there.

Have a great day!

Margaret

NH CONFERENCE AND HELPING HANDS FOUNDATION, ETC

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 12:14:04 GMT

Good Morning Everyone,

The time is flying by and soon knitters and crocheters from all over the country, and some from other countries, will be meeting for our National Conference. The conference is held in Manchester NH, from July 23 through the 27th. Many of us will be arriving on Tuesday the 22nd in preparation of attending Professional Development day on the 23rd.

I will be teaching 4 classes, Crochet Intermeshing, Free Form Knit and Crochet Combination, Crochet Embellishment, and Knit and Crochet Beyond Scarves. I have been very busy getting my handouts ready for my classes and finishing my fashion show and contest entries. Still lots to do on my fashion show garment.

Attendees will be arriving at different times, getting ready to attend classes, visit the market, and participate in the festivities. In addition to the fashion show and dinner on Saturday evening, many groups plan individual meetings and dinners. Impromptu gatherings in the lobby are such fun. I am so looking forward to seeing lots of old friends and meeting lots more new ones.

For quite a few years, Knitters and Crocheters have been putting their hands and hearts into projects designed to help others. Groups, such as Warm up America, collect items to help victims the nation over. Our chapter, The Happily Hooked on Crochet group in CT, have donated hundreds of Chemo Caps, preemie hats, scarves, hats, and gloves to Danbury Hospital and the Salvation Army.

My local yarn shop, The Yarn and Craft Box in Pawling, NY http://yarnandcraftbox.com, is collecting scarves for the homeless, to be distributed by our own Resource Center in Pawling and to shelters in New York City. Marie Stewart, shop owner, just put out the call a short time ago, and has already received more than 150 scarves.

It is a wonderful thing to be using our skills to help others less fortunate.

The Helpful Hands Foundation is devoted to passing on these skills to the younger generation. Conference attendees have been asked to donate gloves and mittens to be auctioned off at the conference. The monies raised will go to help further this effort.

The Happily Hooked on Crochet Chapter is cooking up a surprise entry. Its still under wraps, but Dee http://crochetwithdee.com
Has asked us all to crochet lots of faces.

At the meeting last Sunday, I was able to
complete two faces. I love my curly top!

The imagination of our members is mind
boggling!

Starry eyes and smiles.

Don't you love the masked beauty?

Be sure to look for our entry at the auction.
I'm sure it will be a standout.

Wild weather, storms and power outages
seem to be over for now. As bad as its
been, we have been lucky compared to other
parts of the country.

Have a great day!

Margaret

Ravelry

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 15:52:06 GMT

Happy Saturday Everyone,

I was getting ready to run out the door for an appointment and decided to check my mail once more. I checked ravelry too, and clicked on "forums" There I see a new group with my name on it. What a thrill!
I thank Dee http://crochetwithdee.com
for starting it up. I have a bunch of new friends and a lot of fans that have been around for a while (I didn't want to say older ones).
Thank you all its an honor.

Margaret

New Hampshire Conference etc

Sat, 31 May 2008 13:18:14 GMT

Happy Saturday Everyone.,

The time is flying by and the Knit/Crochet Conference in NH is getting closer and closer. I am happy to say that two of my classes are totally sold out, but there is still room in two others.

The Crochet Intermeshing Class was the first to be sold out. I learned this method from James Walters while we were both attending a Fiber Forum in
Australia. James has given me permission to teach his methods in the U.S.,
so I am excited about that.

The other sold out class is the Free Form Knitting and Crochet Combination class.

There is still room in the Knit/Crochet Embellishment class. This class can
be all knit or all crochet or a combination of both. Students learn to make a bag in this class, but also learn how to apply the method to other items.
Embellishing is another way to free form, but a little more structured.

Here are two examples of small evening bags made
with embellishing.

The other class is called BEYOND SCARVES

In this class the knitter or crocheter, who has been
stuck in the groove of just making scarf after scarf,
can learn how to take their art to the next step. In
class, again, we learn how to make a small bag, but
much more than that is covered. Its fun to see how
far your scarf making skills can take you. There
really is no limit to the items that can be made with
just chaining or casting on a few stitches and
getting creative. It really is lots of fun and once
your creativity is jump started the ideas will begin
to flow. Time permitting, we will also learn about
lining our bags, and adding zippers or other closures.
This information will be in the handout, even if we
do not get to cover it in class.

Crocheted Bag

Knitted Bag

On a totally different note, my new book
KNITS FOR MEN is now available.
You can buy it at http://amazon.com

Lion Brand Yarns has featured it in their news letter
They also offer a free pattern from the book.

Cover of the book.

Free Pattern from Lion Brand
Click on Free Patterns, click pattern finder
write in Alpine Knit. Enjoy!

http://lionbrand.com

Have a great weekend!

Margaret

International Free Form Exhibit

Wed, 28 May 2008 22:49:56 GMT

Hi Everyone,

Several months ago The International Free Form group members were asked to participate in a challenge.

Our challenge was to create a piece showing the world "THROUGH OUR EYES". We were also asked to write a little about what inspired us.

One of our members, Myra Wood, collected all the pieces and put together an on line exhibit and a book. 100 % of all proceeds from the book will benefit WOMEN FOR WOMEN
INTERNATIONAL, a non profit organization helping women world wide.

I am so thrilled with the exhibit and the book and so excited to be a part of it all.

http://www.intff.org/

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/244119

Enjoy

Margaret

Indiana Jones and Karen Allen

Sat, 24 May 2008 12:28:44 GMT

Happy Holiday Weekend Everyone,

I started off my weekend with dinner
and a movie last night. One great thing
about having grandchildren,
(8 big boys, 1 little girl) is, they invite
me to join them for an occasional night out.
Two weeks ago I got to see Iron Man, and
was surprised that I liked it, and really thought
Robert Downey Jr. was great in it.

Last night the movie of choice was
the new Indiana Jones movie.
Not having been a big fan 20 years ago,
I really did not know much about the
the previous films, except that they were
action packed, and had Harrison Ford in
them. Another surprise, I enjoyed the movie
a lot.

Why am I telling you about my movie
adventures? Just before I left last night,
I got a phone call from a friend, who told
me that Karen Allen, Indiana's leading lady,
was an avid knitter and owned a shop in
Great Barrington, MA. That's just an hours
drive for me, and I have spent many a summer
weekend strolling through GB, and browsing the shops.

I have also spent many wonderful hours, (and dollars)
browsing a shop called Wonderful Things. A yarn
shop in GB, jam packed with all sorts of great yarn,
plus other unusual handcrafted items.

http://www.wonderful-things.com/

I was not familiar with the
shop that my friend was talking about so I
googled Karen Allen, and I discovered

http://www.karenallen-fiberarts.com/show.php

Have fun browsing her site.

Enjoy the rest of the Holiday weekend.

Margaret

I HAVE A BUTTERFLY

Thu, 22 May 2008 13:45:43 GMT

"Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a Butterfly" proverb

I woke up to a surprise this morning. About 10 days ago I bought a butterfly kit, with 2 plants and a Chrysalis, hopefully to see a butterfly emerge. It was very cold here last night, so I brought my plants inside and put them on my kitchen counter.

There it was, on the side of the box, hanging
on for dear life. How exciting, I had hoped to
see it emerge, but it did not wait for me.

It looked like it was ready to fly, so I brought
it back outside.

I watched and waited, and waited some
more, absolutely no movement. I went
back inside to have some breakfast, and it
was gone in a flash.

This may be "old hat" to some of you but I had
never seen this before. As much as I love butterflies,
this was all new to me. Great fun!

Have a wonderful day!

Margaret

PS: A reader, Lucy, wrote to me this morning saying that she was
enjoying me blogging more often. I explained that the reason
is, I am "between jobs" as they say. I just finished one book
and I am awaiting word on some proposals that I sent in.
Meanwhile, I am getting all my hand-outs ready for my classes
in NH. I am thrilled to learn that two of my classes are sold
out already.