Corner View- Out with the old, in with the new!

January- "New Beginnings" Shawl - Shawl number one of 12 Shawls in 2012

Welcome back, Corner View! We took a little holiday break. Our theme today is "Out with the Old, In with the New". I pondered several different subjects I could have talked about, like how I changed my eating habits last year and how I plan on losing more weight this year. I might have pondered family issues, but they are just too complex right now, and frankly, you probably just don't EVEN want to know...
So, in keeping with the name of this blog, "Crochet Renee'", I thought I would blog about what's going to be new this year in my crochet life. I blogged here about this some already, but thought I would tempt you with a sneak peak of next month's shawl of "12 Shawls in 2012", which I am designing and writing throughout the year. They are all going to be crocheted. Perhaps sometime in the future, I will design some knitted shawls, but for now, I am gonna stick with the hook, because I want to show just how gorgeous crochet can be!

I am calling it "Chocolate Covered Strawberries" in honor of one of my favorite Valentine's Day treat!
Watch for a different shawl each month. If you have any ideas of themes for names of shawls in the coming months, leave me a comment!

Corner View is a weekly appointment with bloggers all over the world, hosted by Francesca over at Fuoriborgo. Visit her to see links to CV's all over the world!

12 Shawls in 2012: January- New Beginnings Shawl

Happy New Year!!! I am looking forward to this year being a good one. 2011 was not the best year we ever had in our house. Let's just leave it at that, 'kay? I was toying around with an idea to do 12 shawls in 2012, but was reluctant to venture out, since I had a client who kept me very busy with design work. Unfortunately, that same client got bought out by another company, who does all their design in-house....so suddenly, I was out of that job. Consequently, I now have a little more design time on my hands so I decided to go for it! What's the first in the series? I am so glad you asked!

 

I am calling this lacy little number the January- New Beginnings Shawl.

In case you wanna buy it now, here's the button that will get you there:

 

Pretty, huh? This yarn is one of my new favorites, Ivy Brambles Romantica Merino Lace. It is hand dyed by a lovely couple in New Hampshire. The colors and the fibers are SO. YUMMY.  They also hand dye a pure silk lace weight yarn. Don't worry, I have some, and yes, you will eventually be seeing it here! Be sure and give them a visit, buy some yarn and give it a "spin" and let them know Crochet Renee' sent you!

Youer than You...

 "Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You", a quote from Dr Seuss' Happy Birthday to You.

This is the theme of today's Corner View. I had to do a little thinking about this. Just a little, though.
I am obsessed with making things in general, but Iespecially like making things with fiber. I love to spin, dye, knit, crochet and have even been known to weave a bit.

I am often found with yarn or fibers of some type in my hands. I have told people it is my own form of Prozac! If you were to ask most people who know me well, they would probably mention how my hands are rarely still. My hands are almost always busy in some way, shape or form. When they aren't, I am probably sleeping!
Corner View is a weekly appointment with bloggers all over the world, hosted by Francesca. Visit her Corner for links from other bloggers all over the world.

226 yards of bliss

I attended the Arkansas Fiber Arts Extravaganza this past weekend. While there, I taught a class entitled, "Drapable Crochet". I didn't spend a lot while I was there, as it was a working gig. However, I always like to have a little something to remind me of an event. I picked up a lovely batt, composed of Finn wool, silk and Firestar. It's hard to fully appreciate from this photo, but it has both a halo and a shine. It also has some sparkle. It spun up into 226 yards of fluffy, silky, sparkly two-ply yumminess. I purchased it from Woodenspinner- Fibers by Brenda. You can email her at brenda@woodenspinner.com. She had many lovely batts in assorted colors, but I am a sucker for tonal ivories and whites. This colorway is called "Ice Princess". Get yours now!

Today's Corner View- Joy!

 Today's Corner View topic is "Joy". There are a lot of things in life that give me joy, but nothing gives me joy like seeing this face and spending time doing things with him. Grand babies are the best!

 Corner View is a weekly appointment with bloggers all over the world, started by Jane, currently curated by Francesca at Fuoriborgo. Click on over to see Corner Views all over the world.

Corner View- Where has the time gone?

Today's Corner View theme is "Where has the time gone?" Good question. I could have talked about a lot of things. But I decided that I would show you a picture of my baby boy.

In this picture, he is about a month old. You can see how yellow his hospital birth card is.

Here he is now. He's the tall guy on the left. The little boy is my energetic grandson. I am so grateful that he was always a good kid, and now I am proud to say he is a good young man. I can't believe how quickly this transformation occurred. Where has the time gone, indeed?

Corner View is a weekly appointment, curated by Francesca at Fuoriborgo. Visit there for links to other Corner Views all over the world.

What have I been stitching, you ask?

I haven't blogged in a couple of weeks, in spite of trying to participate in Corner View (which I will this week; check back tomorrow!). I also haven't done much crochet or yarn related posting. So I am here to rectify that. I am only able to crochet A LITTLE right now and have been working on swatches for an upcoming  class I am teaching on "Drapable Crochet" at the Arkansas Fiber Arts Extravaganza. But I can knit. It is easier right now, since I don't have to move my left arm much to knit, but have to move it quite a bit to crochet. I just finished knitting the Harris shrug by Kate Elsa. It is wonderful! And the yarn I used, Madeline Tosh Vintage, was equally wonderful. I will be using this yarn again. I also have some Tosh Light, but have not decided what it's going to be. I am thinking a crocheted vest. Maybe. Who knows? Anyway, I was almost finished with the shrug, when it became apparent that I didn't have quite enough yarn. So a trip over to Ravelry found that raveler jmkorn had a partial skein in his stash. He graciously mailed it to me at his own cost, and his only request? That I send what bits and bobs of wool or wool-blend yarn in a worsted weight so he could make hexi-puffs for the Beekeeper's knitted quilt. No problem! There was enough with a bit to spare, which I mailed back to him with some other yarn. Here is a picture of the shrug blocking. Enjoy!