Japanese Crochet

Japanese crochet stitch dictionaries has been all the rage for a couple of years now. I have not found one that I really, really wanted. Until I saw this one.

I ordered it on Ebay, from a lovely seller that calls herself pomadour24 . Even though it actually came straight from Japan, I received it quite promptly.
Even the envelope it came is was pretty.

Keep watching here. One of the beautiful stitch patterns out of here will be unveiled tomorrow with my 12 Shawls in 2012- April Edition: Pineapples and Pearls!

Corner View- Self Portrait and Where I live

I just got a new floppy sun hat yesterday. I am a sucker for a nice, big floppy straw hat in the summer time. Especially as I...um...."season". As you can see behind me, the dogwood trees are blooming here in the Ozarks. It is very beautiful where I live. I went for a vigorous 3 mile hike on Sunday afternoon with Ben, Shelley and Wyatt into the Buffalo National Forest, where we hiked to the Indian Rock House. It was once used as a shelter by the indigenous tribes. It is now part of the National Forest system and we are fortunate enough to live very close by. I took a ton of pictures, especially of the springtime foliage...

...the Maypops were (March) popping....

There were fiddlehead ferns coming up around every corner. I love their curly little heads!

I have no idea what this flower is, but it was the only one I saw one our hike and I thought it was very unique and pretty.

Here are Ben, Shelley and Wyatt at the opening of the Rock House.

And here is a pic of Ben, Wyatt and I (with another floppy straw hat on!)
Happy Corner Viewing!
Corner View is hosted by Francesca. Visit her to read other CV's from around the world.

This week's Corner View- Hindsight

This week's CV theme is "Hindsight". I thought perhaps a definition might help. Freedictionary.com has this to say:
Hindsight
1. the ability to understand, after something has happened, what should have been done or what caused the event
The last couple of years have seen a lot of challenges and changes in my life. In hindsight, would I have changed anything? Some yes, some no. Even though pain is something we like to avoid, the eventual outcome of a painful situation might be something desirable.
If I hadn't married my first husband, I would not have had this young man as my son, of whom I am so very proud. Nor would I have my sweet daughter in law and my little buddy.

If I hadn't gone to college, I would not be in a place to support myself now, with my current marriage in a state of decay. If I hadn't chosen to move back to the area I call home, I would not be able to spend time with my Mom and Dad now, in their later years.
Life is made up of a series of choices; some that turn out to be good, some that turn out to be bad, and some that seem bad at the time which actually turn out later to have truly been blessings in disguise.

Food for thought.

Corner View is a weekly appointment on a preselected theme with bloggers all over the world, started by Jane, now curated by Francesca at Fuoriborgo. Visit there now to read posts from all around the world.

Corner View- Everyday

Today's Corner View theme is "Everyday". There are so many things I could put on here....things I tend to do every day....like crochet...( Wyatt took this picture...not bad for a 4 year old, huh?)

or knit....

....or cook.....

These are some of my every day's...when I am not at work! 

Corner View is a weekly appointment on a preselected theme, where bloggers all over this great big world come together to share their little corner of the world with anyone who is interested in hearing about it! For more Corner Views, visit Francesca at Fuoriborgo.

Ready for download- Trillium!!!

 Ready for your hooking pleasure....March's shawl in my 12 Shawls in 2012 series...Trillium.

Get yours here!                                            







        

...And....just in case you missed it, here is a link to February's offering, "Chocolate Covered Strawberries".

Corner View- "..."

This week's Corner View is "...", meaning blog whatever you want about your little corner of the world.

You have to look closely, but there are signs of spring here before March even gets here. Most are tiny little wild flowers that you might miss if you aren't paying attention.

This last is my hardy cyclamen, which was green all winter long. Perhaps it will bloom soon! 

Corner View is a weekly appointment with bloggers all over the world, started by Jane, now curated by Francesca at Fuoriborgo. Go there to see CV's from other corners of the world.

Soon to be released- Trillium!

Well, I am having a great time coming up with the designs for my challenge, "12 Shawls in 2012". I hope there are lots of folks following along. March's offering is named "Trillium".
Why?
Well, the yarn I was playing with just begged for a floral theme. Initially I was thinking that if I crocheted triangles, I should be able to join them together for a triangular shawl, right? Well, it seems my triangles were a bit rounded, and what I came up with was SO. MUCH. BETTER. than I had originally planned. Sometimes stuff works out that way; that's when I know the divine is taking a hand in my designing.

As you can see, the roundy triangles formed really cool tesselating shapes that created circles within circles. Also, the trillium is "an ephemeral spring flower", meaning it doesn't stick around long, and ironically, it starts as a white flower that turns pink as it ages, which I think is well represented by the multi-tonal quality of the Supersock Select Semi-solid I used. It evidently harms the plant to pick a trillium flower, and it is in fact illegal to do so in several states. But it won't hurt a thing to pick these trilliums. An appropriate choice all the way around for the month of March, don't you think? Watch here for the release on March 1st!