Conducting my own survey today. Do you listen to music or the TV when crocheting? Or does it depend on your mood?? For me, I’ll be the first to admit, it depends on my mood. Also where I am at in my project. When I need to concentrate more on a difficult piece, music helps. When I am doing a self-repeating pattern, once started I listen/watch TV while working. So what are some of your favorite things to watch and listen too? Here’s what I am  playing;

MP3 list: Backstreet Boys, Glenn Miller, the Carpenters, Queen, and Absolute Modern Worship

TV: any 80’s movie, Murder She Wrote, Perry Mason movies, Downton Abby, Despicable Me, Finding Nemo {those colors still inspire me}, and my all time favorite, Home Improvement! Let me know some of yours in the comments, please!

[slideshow]

This is a baby blanket that was my first Bavarian Crochet piece. I made it for my cousin’s baby girl. 🙂 Time is short today, so I have to stop writing. Stay hooked on happiness! Jama

Do you ever feel as if there should be more hours in the day? Agh… I have not had alot of time to get much done on my projects, for about a week now. Life, it is full of wonderful surprises, heart breaking moments and in-between ups and downs. The past few weeks have been filled with such moments. We have had cookouts, seen family we haven’t seen in years, welcomed new members to our family and had to say good-buy to one. There has also been garden work, and you have not eaten until you have had fresh summer veggies!! 🙂 There are no complaints since I love that kind of stuff! Yes I even make jelly. Hard to say that about most people my age. Anyway I have been thinking allot about one side of the family that I know nothing about. I got to talking to my great aunt and even she could not tell me names of her grandparents. That makes me sad and left me searching that much harder. What makes the fabric of Jama? When you come from a southern family you never expect to not know who you come from. It left me shaking my head  wondering how things like simple family history can slip through the cracks of time and somehow get forgotten. But it the fault lies on no one particular person. It just happens! I hope to find out that somewhere along the way they were a crafty people. 🙂 I know that there are several branches in my family that the creativity gene was passed down.

I almost have completed this baby blanket… have been working on it (off and on) about 3 1/2 weeks. [slideshow]

Thanks for reading! Until next time stay hooked on happiness! Jama

14 views for the first blog on Wednesday. WOW!!! Of course I never expected it would be that many so far. To say the least I am one happy girl! Thanks to all who read! 🙂

Yesterday I met a lady who loves to craft about as much as I do. It was a real treat to talk with her about various things she has done. She also uses her talent to give back to the communtiy by making hats to give to cancer patients around the state. Wonderful work you do, God bless you my friend!

I always have, what I call a no-brainer project to take along pretty much where-ever I go. Something to keep my hands busy, yet I do not have to keep close count of stitches. That sounds great right? But I love to spice it up when I have nothing around to distract me. The picture below is a blanket I made for a friend. If you need to know one thing about me, it would be that I LOVE nautical things!!!! I bought the July/August 2008 issue of Crochet Today knowing that it was full to the brim of great “beachy” theme ideas. Needless to say i have worn that book out and have to buy another one!!!! That is if I can still order one for Crochet Today! It took somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 1/2 – 3 months( I was slow moving back then). lol Well that is all I have time for now. Don’t worry, be crafty!! Jama

There is always room for improvement. That is true for everything and applies to pretty much everyone. It is also the way to look at your craftiness! Right now I am working on going through a book called 280 Crochet Shell Patterns by Darla Sims. Just starting from the first pattern and working through to the end. Who knew that making 6 inch swatches would trigger of more ideas of designs and patterns. It has been a wonderful tool for improving the way I make shells with various stitches.

A few months ago, I ordered a book from Annie’s Attic. Knit one, purl 2 in crochet by Bendy Carter. I have been studying over it and can’t wait to try the techniques out. Strangely I got an email from Leisure Arts and they are introducing a product/technique coined the “Knook”. Very similar to each other, yet the knook uses a cord to hold stitches in place. I am planning on trying both, so I will keep you informed! 🙂

[slideshow]

Watch for more pictures of my finished and in-process projects in the next few days. Until then remember “Happiness is crocheting with no strings attached”~ Jama Stallings Currin 

To kind of catch everyone up on the rest of my story,this past  January I started taking a crochet/knitting class. (No I don’t knit, yet, anyway!) What a wonderful group of ladies that get together at the local community college and work on learning new stitches, patterns, learning how to design, among finding a common thread, if you will, of enjoyment. When I went into this class, I had no idea what to really expect or what would happen. I have gained so much knowledge and confidence in the ability that God has given me, that I fall more in love with crocheting everyday. I am taking the summer off from class, but I truly can not wait to start again in September. Not that I want time to get away too quickly, mind you. It is funny, now that I have been a group setting with other crocheters, I find my projects that used to take months, only take a few weeks at the most. 🙂 I am the youngest in the class, and I am reminded of that often by them. LOL I think they all like the fact that there is hope that textile art will not die out. I believe that crochet really is like a catalyst in conversation when in public. I have been the DRs office and had people not only watch whatever project I was on, but ask questions on how to, and tell me about how their Grandma used to do that. To those who know me, I am not an outgoing, never-met-a-stranger kinda person, so I love it when conversations spark because of a “simple” thing like crocheting.

I must admit that books are an other passion of mine. {So what if I have collected over 600 cookbooks!} 😉 I have been adding crochet books  to my bookshelves lately. My personal favorite right now is Donna Kooler’s Encyclopedia of Crochet Stitches. Talk about sparking ideas!! What are some of your favorite and most helpful crochet resources???? ?Just leave a comment.

[slideshow]

Keep crafting until next time! Jama

How does one start down the road from hobby to passion of life? Well, with me it all began with a Christmas gift from my Grandma. I was about 10 or 11 and when I opened those three aluminum sticks, made for crochet. Of course I had NO clue how to use them. There were obstacles that stood in my way.. 1) being so young I did not have the patience, 2) after asking around in my family there was no one who could/would show me how. Being home-schooled, I had been taught from an early age if I found something that interested me, to study up on  it. Hey, Benjamin Franklin was a home-schooled genius! So lead me to the craft books from the 1970’s, that my parents had acquired from the discard pile at the local library. I would try to read about it, but they all were written for this right handed world. So off on my journey, I continued to make chains, pull them out, get frustrated, put it all away for 6 months, repeat. After about 3 years of this pattern of just trying to figure how to crochet and my mother’s saying : I’m not sure that is right! I finally got it. Then my mother says “Thank you Jesus” when I showed her  how my once uneven squares turned into more equally spaced stitches.  So that is the beginning of my creativity learning. More to come from this story, pictures, and updates on my designs and projects. Until then, Happy crafting!!