Tag: crochet

Back at Work

by eileentroemel, posted in Crochet and crafting, Life, Writing

I didn’t dread coming back to work.  For the most part, I enjoy my job.  Yesterday was WORK though.  I had a ton of emails and it seemed like the ones interspersed with the junk mail I got took a lot of time to work through and address.  I eventually got caught up but still a tiring day.

When I left work I was still in a fairly good mood but by the time I was driving my energy had fallen away.  By the time I got home, I was wiped out.  Sitting at my desk all day, my pain level was up.

I am back at work.  It means I’m back to picking and choosing what gets done in the evening.  I’ve been watching Midsomer Murders (no that isn’t misspelled).  Tonight I’m going to attempt to crochet while I watch.  My arm was bugging me again.  I worked on a scarf for my daughter out of the Paton Metallic yarn.  This yarn is very slippery so the tension when you crochet has to be fairly taut, I think this is what causes my arm to hurt when I use this yarn.  I have a small project I want to finish with this yarn and then it is going to be put away.

This week I’m going to settle back into routine and work.  My sleep has been sporadic at best so I’m taking some down time.  However, this weekend I’m hoping to publish several short stories and update two of my novels.  Once these writing tasks are done, I’ll be looking at the third Defenders novel again.  I’ve been reading what I have and hope to start writing on it again next week.  I may have to give up and decide it will be a four books but I am still hopeful I can finish it in three.

Wayfarer 10 is starting to nudge at me.  At the same time Wayfarer 8 is in need of editing.  All of these tasks mean I’ll be busy for a while on writing.  At some point, I need to work on crocheting.  The next big project is the skirt for my friend.  I’m going to pull it out and redo the waistband.  I have two separate ideas and I have to see what my friend would prefer.

After the skirt, I have an afghan for my niece, which she just told me the pattern she likes so I’m going to make it my next project.  Plus I have all my holiday gifts to get started.  It’s already July.  I better get busy.

Hermit Hole

by eileentroemel, posted in Crochet and crafting, Life, Writing

Essentially I’m a pretty private person.  Now if you know me personally I’ll share almost any aspect of my life but if you don’t know me, I’m pretty private.  It is hard for me to be on social media.  It puts me out there to a lot of people.

When I went on vacation, I took a week off of social media, book marketing, everything except spending time with my family.  Social media and book marketing are key to getting my books sold.  I’ve been back a little over a week and just am struggling with going public again.

I’ve met some interesting people online.  One of my friends I met online only.  I’ve never met her in person but I feel we are closer than most people.  She is caring, giving, and understanding.  I can tell her anything and get no judgement.

I’ve been in my own little world the last week.  Enjoying the me time, the quiet time that I think my soul needs.  I’m feeling rejuvenated and recharged.  I finished off the JD Robb series – just waiting on the next one which comes out in September.  I’ve been going through the Wayfarer series and looking at edits.  I’m through two and half books.  There are only a few edits I need to make and I’m weighing that against the time it take to make the edits.

Next is to work on the next novel – either Wayfarer or Defenders.  I also want to work on the next Murder and Dragon Lord’s books.  These two haven’t been started at all though I have some ideas.

I have a pile of crocheting I want to work on.  Ideas are just flooding me.  I need to work on the baby blanket, skirt, and bibs for co-workers.  After that I have a list – a very long list – of things I want to get done.

Right now I’m just happy in my little hermit hole but I know reality will be climbing in my quiet little hole with me and pushing me out into the world to get things done.

Bent Arm Crocheter

by eileentroemel, posted in Crochet and crafting

Up early this morning with the intention of going to Sorg’s to get meat and cheese.  Hardly any of it is for Ken and I, most of it is for the girls or the trip.

This weekend will be prep time for the trip.  We’ll gather the things we want to take to the girls, start packing, change the oil in the car (that’s really Ken and not a we thing), and I’m sure there are more things.  I’m trying to make a list and do as I think of them.  I need to find my car charger so I can get that in the car (new one that we got with the new phones).

On top of that I’m still struggling with a sore arm and a long crochet list.  I’ve rested my arm for two days and it has helped slightly – at least until I start moving my arm and trying to function.  The thing is – it doesn’t hurt when I crochet.  Solution – at least for me at this time – finish the two projects that are time sensitive – i.e. Virginia’s afghan and the bibs for Vicki’s co-worker.  I’ll keep taking Tylenol, massaging the arm, and use the heating pad.  I’ll stretch more as I work but I need to finish these so I’m going to work on them this weekend.

I’ll have a week of traveling so hopefully my muscles in my arm will mellow out and relax during that time.  If not, when I get back, I’ll go to the doc to see what should be done.

Meanwhile, I’ll be a bent arm person who can’t reach to the right.  I’m okay with that.

Crochet Arm

by eileentroemel, posted in Crochet and crafting

In an effort to have an afghan done before we go visit our daughters, I’ve been putting in a lot of hours crocheting.  Probably more than I normally do.  Yesterday, I noticed that when I tried to straighten my right arm, it hurt. 

I have aches and pains all the time, so I didn’t think much of it.  But this is a muscle twinge rather than the ache of arthritis.  Every time I reached to the right with my right arm, I’d get this twinge in my arm. 

It finally dawned on me, I have crochet arm.  I’ve been spending my time crocheting.  This means my arms are folded in to my body and not stretched out.  Apparently I’ve been doing this so much, I’m now getting issues when I do straighten my arm.  My muscles are saying what are you doing?  We don’t move that way anymore.

When I told my daughter this, her response was “but it doesn’t hurt when you crochet so you’ll be able to finish my blanket right?”  I laughed.  I will finish the blanket and listen to another JD Robb book but really where was the concern? 

With luck, I’ll have the afghan done this weekend.  I’m on the third repeat of rows and think it will only take five repeats to be long enough.  Then I will turn my attention to the border – which has 13 rows in it.  Now I’m going to check yarn because I have gone through enough I’m concerned about having enough to finish the project.  I think I have six skeins left but need to check my basket to see if  have more.  I am hoping I have more because I think six is enough to finish the afghan but not do much work on the border.  I’ve already spent about $200 on this afghan so I don’t want to purchase more if I can avoid it.

Meanwhile, I’ve been massaging my arm, stretching it as I work, and trying to avoid moving it in such a manner that makes it hurt.  I know in the end, the afghan will be gorgeous.  I’ve already had several offers for others to take it.  I don’t think my daughter will allow it to be borrowed or taken by anyone else though.   

New Crochet Patterns Published

by eileentroemel, posted in Crochet and crafting, Writing

I’ve been busy crocheting and reading.  Vicki asked me for new dishtowels.  This is a great opportunity for me to try out different stitch sequences.  In doing this, I created two new dishtowel patterns.  Doubled Up Dishtowel and Drop Stitch Dishtowel both offer a different style.  I like them both and think Vicki liked the towels she got out of them.

The plaid scarf was part of gift for one of my student workers.  She is graduating.  She is crazy about plaid so I made her a plaid scarf.  I love how it turned out.  It is vibrant and fun.

These are available on Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/541590
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/541610
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/541616

Or they are available on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XF8K41Y
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XF72MEW
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XF99OGO

I’ve still got other patterns I need to get typed up.  I need a secretary!  But for now, I’m off to explore a newly discovered yarn store.  Ken will grumble but I think I’ll enjoy it.

Weekend Tasks

by eileentroemel, posted in Crochet and crafting, Life, Writing

Last weekend was insanely busy in the best of ways.  This weekend is just around the corner and I’m hoping to catch up on a few tasks. 

I still need to pay bills and do some of the book work for my writing.  In addition to that, I’d like to publish some more crochet patterns.  I have a few which are ready to go.  Plus I want to look to see how close I am with a couple of other ones. 

Last night it was 80 in my house.  Now my husband doesn’t like to turn on the air conditioning.  He thinks it is comfortable at 80.  I hate it.  I sweat, get a headache and generally my grumpy level elevates.  On top of which I can’t do anything.  It bugged me to just sit and read.  I gave in and turned the a/c on about 10:30 last night and the inside temp was still at 79. 

I have an afghan to work on.  The a/c needs to be on for that reason alone.  I do better at a constant temperature.  I have fewer health issues if the temp is a steady 73.  I know it is probably not as energy efficient as say 68 but it is the temp where I’m not uncomfortable or sore all the time.

We go visit the girls in Atlanta at the end of the month.  I need to finish Virginia’s afghan so I can take it to her at that time.  I don’t want to ship it to her as I don’t trust the post office or UPS.  This means I’ll be working on it this weekend. 

I’ve also fit in an hour or so of writing here and there.  I’ve got a story that is tugging at me that I want to work on.  I’m battling with time management.  I want to read, crochet, and write.  I can read and crochet at the same time but I can’t write with the other two.  It is definitely a challenge for me.

I don’t know what the weather is supposed to be like but I’m also hoping for a little deck time.  It would be good to sit on the deck and write in my journal or have a meal out there.  It just depends on the weather. 

The weekend is coming and hopefully it will be calmer, quieter, and less eventful – though I’m sure this will me less fun without my girls around. 

Yes, I do more than just crochet… sometimes….

by eileentroemel, posted in Crochet and crafting, Life

Yesterday sucked for pain but today is better fortunately.  I can at least close my hands today.  I’ve created a new pattern for a dish towel I like.  I have also found a basket pattern I really like.  Now all I have to do is have my hands able to crochet. 

Friday I go see John Edward.  He is a psychic who I’ve followed for at least ten years.  I’ve enjoyed his television shows and his newsletters.  I splurged and spent a lot of money on a ticket to go see him while he is in Milwaukee.  It will be interesting to see him speak in person and see if I get a reading of any sort.

Aside from that, this weekend will be about prepping for the girls to come home for my niece’s reception.  I am hoping to progress further on Virginia’s afghan.  Her yarn is such that I have to keep tight tension on it while I work.  This is tough on my hands which is why I’ve not been working on it.  I’m hoping to make progress this weekend. 

Work is finally settling back in to the normal chaos with registration issues calming.  It’s nice to go in and be able to get other things done instead of just troubleshooting registration issues for nine hours a day. 

Now I can turn my attention to Virginia’s afghan and two novels I’m working on.  I was hoping to have her afghan done by next week but unless I get very lucky, I don’t see that happening.  My backup plan is to have it done by the time we go visit them.  That way, I can take it to her and not worry about shipping it.  I’m in love with the material and the pattern.  It will be gorgeous when it’s done.  This weekend I’m going to listen to an audio book and focus on getting it done even if it means I have to soak my hands in hot water to loosen them up. 

I’m also hoping the weather is nice enough I can wander onto my deck and enjoy our backyard a bit.  I’d love to take some crocheting or even my journal out there to just sit and enjoy the quiet.  Hopefully it’s quiet, our neighbors just put in a trampeline so I guess it depends on whether they are out there as well. 

This spring has been cool in Wisconsin.  We’ve had a couple of days that are nicer but this week we’re having mid 50s and the nights are in the 30s.  While not uncommon for April, it is playing havoc on my arthritis especially when we have precipitation go through. 

Busy Saturday

by eileentroemel, posted in Crochet and crafting, Life

Friday night, Ken and I went to Michael’s.  They had a sale on sugar n cream crochet cotton.  It was wonderful in that I got a lot of yarn at little cost.  I had a 20% all items coupon which made the great deal even better.  With tax, I paid about 82 cents per skein which is a huge saving because this yarn is normally 2 – 2.5 a skein.
I have already made one thing from it.  I found a pattern for a basket I like.  It turned out really well except that I learned we picked up scented yarn.  I’ve always avoided this yarn because scents tend to set off my asthma.  I was right in that this one did as well.  It turned out really nicely though and after taking an allergy med I didn’t feel quite so awful.

From the scraps of the basket, I started a trivet for Vicki.  She wants several so I just kept working with the variegated (not the scented) and started the trivet.  It is made completely from scraps.  It was a quick and easy project.

In addition to these two smaller projects, I finished the graduation gift for my student worker.  No pictures for now as she hasn’t gotten it yet.  I like how it turned out and hope she will as well.

I started a skirt for a friend but as I’m looking at what I’ve done, I’m not thrilled with it.  I have an idea in my head and will probably be tearing it out to try to make the project match what’s in my head.

I also started a dishtowel which I hope to finish this morning.  This is also made from scraps.  I just keep tying on a new little ball when I run out of yarn.  My middle daughter has asked for several new dishtowels, this will be the first to use up some of my scraps.  I also have actual full skeins she bought so I’ll be using those as well over time.

I finished reading both Cast in Peril by Michele Sagara and Remember When by Nora Roberts and JD Robb.  I’ve gotten the audio books for the next in each series on my fire.  I’ve been flipping back and forth between audio and text.  When I’m crocheting, I listen.  When I’m too tired to crochet, I’ll pick up the book and skim through the books.  It goes faster and I can skip the parts that annoy me.  Cast in Peril this was key in.  Love Sagara’s writing and her Cast in series but Peril was just tedious and not really a complete story.  I hear that the next one – Cast in Sorrow is the same way.  I’ll see what my tolerance level is for it.  I might end up skimming through parts of it as well.

I also downloaded Divided in Death.  Having just finished the short story, I’m trying to decide if I listened to the other two short stories before this.  I’m going to have to go look.  I don’t think I did.  That means I may have to just go through and do a quick read on both of them.  I’m trying to read her series in order including the short stories.  I’ll go back and catch these two up before I start the next one.

This should keep me busy for a bit and out of trouble – maybe.  I have a bridal shower to go to today so you never know what sort of mischief I’ll get up to.

Crochet Projects

by eileentroemel, posted in Crochet and crafting

Last weekend when I was down by Vicki, I worked on crocheting things for her.  She has these pieces but I thought I’d show some of the pics I took of them.  She got a couple of dish towels.  One is pink, peach, yellow, and white.  The other is green, purple and white.  I love this pattern and it makes up in about an hour.  She wants a million more of these.  I told her I doubted I could make that many.

One of the stores we went to we picked up buttons as I wasn’t going to haul my little drawers of buttons down to add them to the towels.  The yellow one popped better than the others on the pink/peach one.  The purple stood out best on the other. I think they turned out nicely.

I had some bamboo thread in a lovely blue / turquoise color.  We bought a new book and there was a lovely pattern in there.  It was a trim book and I have enjoyed all the patterns I have done so far from it.  We saw an ad for the book in a magazine and the shawl they showed was beautiful but of course the pattern wasn’t in the magazine so we had to go buy the book.

Vicki wanted some trivets.  The blue/tan one is the pattern she had me make while I was down there.  It was a complicated and annoying pattern.  I told her if she wanted more of that specific pattern she was out of luck.  However, if she was willing to let me make my own pattern, I would be willing to make her more.  She was and I did which is the purple, blue, yellow and green picture.  I’ve got the pattern for sale on my web site.  I think it turned out nicely.  I want to play with different designs on the part that stands up.

Once I was back, a friend of mine said she was looking for light weight scarves for spring.  I had one of these done and the second I made up for her quickly.

The pink one is a long chain of ribbon which is textured.  She tried it as a scarf in a variety of styles and then tried it as a belt.  I think it will be versatile for her.

This weekend I’ve managed to get a lot of my book work done at my computer in my office.  I paid for the time at the desk yesterday with being in pain last night.  I updated a website for a friend this morning and did more book work today.  My legs don’t hurt as much today so perhaps I won’t have as hard of a time tonight.

It feels good to get a lot of things off my to do list.  I feel like I was productive and accomplished things I needed to.  I feel like I’ve finally caught up.  It is a weight off my mind and now I can work on other things – like Virginia’s afghan.

Easy Trivet Crochet Pattern

by eileentroemel, posted in Crochet and crafting, Life, Writing

Last night I spent a bit of time working on a revamp of a pattern Vicki liked and I hated.  She likes the way it looks and I hated the pattern.  The end result – a new pattern written.  Ironically, I was all I don’t want a new phone.  I don’t need a smart phone and yet the smart phone helped me get to the point where I could publish this pattern.  I used the note app to write the pattern as I worked.  I used the camera to take pictures of the project.  It turned out nicely and will be available for sale on Amazon and Smashwords today.

This trivet is three dimensional so it cushions your hot pan from your table.  Quick and easy, bright and cheerful, this pattern offers an alternative to a hot pad and a way to use up scrap yarn.  Made with crochet cotton, it is durable, practical and pretty.

Go to my web site to check it out

http://eileentroemel.weebly.com/