Hooking with Debbie Stoller

It has been an overwhelming month. Aside from work hell, good weather and a lack of desire to commune with computers outside of the 37.5 hours I'm at my job has kept me from posting. I also have no pictures to share at this time. However, the hands have been working, and I've been hooking away. In fact, I've not been knitting at all since becoming crochet-obsessed a few months ago. Ideally, I'll be working on a knit and a crochet project simultaneously, but right now, crochet is my new toy, and I only want to play with it. I have made several items from "The Happy Hooker," including the Cold Shoulders Capelet (pictured below), the Ruffled Corset Belt, and a variation on the Sweet Pea Shawl. I did this last project using silk yarn I picked up at Good Will for $1 a skein (marked down from $20). It was a joy to make and I'm really pleased with the results. I hope to have pictures posted sometime before a pulse bomb renders all computers inoperable for a hundred mile radius.

Currently, I'm working on a project from Interweave Crochet's Spring 2006 issue. It's the cover project, called Titania's Capelet, and is a perfect project for summer. I must admit that I chose this particular project because I'm attempting to "knit from my stash" and save some moola, and I just happened to have a linen yarn in the correct gauge (actually, it's a linen/cotten blend called Cotton Connection from New Zealand that I picked up at last year's rotary auction). It's turning out to be a wonderfully fun project. Thankfully, it's also taking me a long time to complete. I've been burning through projects lately, which is not so good for the stash or the wallet. It's been nice to have a more lengthy project to concentrate on.

Finally, I just wanted to mention that my copy of "The Happy Hooker," along with my other Stich n' Bitch books are now signed by Debbie Stoller, who I saw read right here on the Island at the beginning of the month. She was just as witty as I thought she would be, though I sense she had to tone things down a bit for the Bainbridge crowd. It might have been nice to see her in Seattle, but I am absolutely thrilled that she ventured out to the Island. We need more of that sort of thing here! I wore the Cold Shoulders Capelet to the event, even though I felt a bit self-conscious doing so. I figured that if I wrote a knit/crochet book and people came to the book-signing wearing the designs from my book, I'd be thrilled. And indeed, she seemed happy that I and one other woman came wearing Happy Hooker creations. She had me show it off and pass it around for everyone to see. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet her.

Till next time...