Crafts & Hobbies #66: Knitting & Crocheting

1) I for one, am not a knitter. I have tried innumerable times to knit and/or crochet and it just doesn't work for me. I can cast on stitches and make a pretty descent row of chain stitches (I can even knit or crochet a long line of chain stitches on my fingers) but go beyond that and it just doesn't work. No two stitches of mine are the same. The first one may be just right then the next one is way too loose then the next one is way too tight...they never seem to match. It just becomes a mess.
My mother, on the other hand, could knit and crochet anything. You name it, she could do it. I have a huge collection of hand-kinit sweaters that I never get to wear now that I live in Texas. When I lived in West Virginia I could almost wear them year-round. (I have many vests that could be worn in the spring, early summer, late summer and fall...then it was into warm, cozy sweaters for the long, cold winters). I even had a few short sleeve, light weight ones to wear during the summer months. (We didn't have 100 degree days.)
My grandmother could not knit but she could crochet so I have many things she passed on to me from her trusty crochet hook. Lots of doilies...and other daintly little things...but no clothing unless you count toasty socks.
I remember them talking about knitting things for the soldiers during WWII...there were groups that sat around to knit or crochet warm, woolen caps for the men serving out on the front lines and warm lap blankets for the military hospitals to use. I was happy to see through the web sites that there are still folks out there who can use this skill (or crafting ability) to supply things for todays soldiers and veterans as well as for people in chemotherapy and hospice.
I have read all of the Debbie Macomber books that have a common knitting theme...so I can enjoy them even though I cannot knit.

2) The Children's Deartment here at the Freeman Branch has several knitters so they started up a learn to knit program this summer. There were three sessions and it was a huge success...so successful in fact that another 4 week beginners course is starting up in September.
And, for those who sucessfully completed the first summer courses, they are continuing the "fun" with a Knittng Club meeting once a month. This meeting will be for children who already know how to knit and just want to share some knitting fun, projects, designs, conversation or perhaps they are stuck and need some help on figuring something out.
There are 4 knitters in the Children's Department and we have some adult volunteers who help out as well. If this proves to be successful, they may open up the Knitting Club to adult knitters as well as children in the Spring. Right now they are going to concentrate on the children so this craft may continue to grow in our community.
Now, I can do Cross stitch embroidery so bring on the DMC floss and I'm good to go...

Crafts & Hobbies #65: Coin Collecting

1) I am a coin collector but not in the usual sense. I collect"elongated" coins. (Coins which have been run through a machine and having an image pressed upon it). The usual cost is 2 quarters and the one penny for "smashing". Lots of places will offer to give you change and there are even some places that offer you a free penny as well. (Like the San Jacinto Monument in Deer Park). These coins fascinate me and I have collected many in just recent years. I started collecting them one or two now and then when I would pass by a pressed coin machine at zoos, amusements parks, and other such attractions. Then, one day I noticed that I had collected quite a few.
I started looking on line for information and found a website that lists the locations of machine all across the US (incldung Alaska and Hawaii). My new Best Friend!! I have used it numerous times to keeep track of my collection (which are all in coin cocllector books which are sometimes available where coin machines are located). For example, there are two different ones from Rain Forest Cafe and several different ones have been available at DisneyWorld...I had all of the coins from all 4 theme parks at DisneyWorld until they changed the name of MGM Studios. I guess I'll just have to go back and get the news ones...and they add many more each year. Sometimes designs retire when new ones are added and other times they just move the machines around the park. There are a couple of web sites devoted just to the DisneyWorld and Disneyland coins that are updated quite often.
So, if you spread out the change in my purse, you are sure to find bright, new, shiny pennies and a few quarters just waing for a penny press (or quarter press) machine to cross my path. I carry them in an M & M's minis tube stacked 2 quarters,1 penny/ two quarters, 1 penny. A regular size tube holds enough for 20 pressed pennies. (At times it may feel bit heavy, but to me the weight is worth it!)

2) The coin dealers I would probably be most interested in would be found through eBay since I would be searching for an elusive or retired coin that has been "smashed".

3) I did go ahead and collect all of the U.S. Quaters that featured all of the 50 states. I also collect Teddy Bears so I have the complete set of 50 Comemorative State Bears for each state/quarter with their respective quarters in a pouch specifically designed to hold it.
I am also in the process of collecting all of the new Lincoln Pennies (they are great to use for pressing...all bright and shiny and the impressions turn out very clear on them).
I have collected a penny, a nickel, a dime and a quarter (or 5 quarters in recent years) for each year since my daughter's birth. Someday she may enjoy showing her great-grandchildren a few coins from before the turn of the century. I also have a set of pennies since my husbands birth year (and some even older than that!) and for my own years. Any time I get an older coin (wheat pennies or other coins prior to my birth) I put them away just because they are older than me.
I have a few coins from other countries as well. I recently went on a trip to Alaska (and collected 34 "smashed pennies" from around the state) and during a brief drive into Canada I receieve a couple of Canadian coins and a coin from Panama. It was the size of a quarter so the cashier probably hadn't noticed that it wasn't American or Canadian. I saved it.
And, as a side note, I did receive a counterfeit one dollar bill in change from Four Corners a few years back on a trip out West. It is fun to show people and it makes a great conversation piece. I have had several offers from folks to buy it (even from my own bank) but it's just a dollar and it's fun to have it around. I'll keep it just for fun.
I guess I'm an occasional collecter of older and foreign coins yet an avid collector of "squashed" ones.

Crafts & Hobbies #62: Decoupage

I had very limited experience with decoupage before this exercise came up. I have only done one project in the past (way long ago past) and it turned out better than I expected it to. I decoupaged (is that the right term?) a notebook for school. It was a regular 3-ring-binder that was oh so plain...so, first I put stickers on it, then added a few other do-dads and before you know it, it was covered in stuff . . . that kept falling and/or peeling off. So, I remembered reading about decoupage and thought hmmm . . . that would keep the stuff from peelling off and you can still see the stuff. How cool is that?? So, I did the decoupage thingie and it worked quite nicely.

I did a simple google search (under images) and the things people have decoupaged range from simple tables and chairs to flower pots and Ostrich eggs! I don't think I will ever do it to an ostrich egg but I do have plans to make a plain, orinary, wooden serving tray fancy enough for Sunday company in the near future.

Crafts & Hobbies #61: Craftspiration!

1) I had fun checking out the craft sites listed in this exercise. The one I liked the most was the One Hour Craft. Sometimes that's all the time I have to come up with something creative and I can use this site and I'll probably find something cute and unique. I really liked reading the "50 Reasons to Keep Making Stuff". That's me...always trying to find a reason to make stuff. I hate to throw some things away because somewhere in it is a caft just waiting to be created. But, one of these days I will have to weed out my collected stuff because Iwill never live long enough to do all the "stuff" I want to do with it. And, like my husband likes to ask "What will you do with it when it's done?" I don't know other than enjoy the sense of finally finishing something. I like to say to him: "I make stuff because I can."



2) I definitely enjoy watching a video for craft instruction. I used to use books and when I got stuck on something, I had to seek out advise or improvise. But now, with the internet, you can always find someone who has made a "good, quality" video on "how-to" do almost anything. I looked at the Crafts Channel and learned how to make decorative borders in 4 minutes, how to make pop-out folded butterflies and I also looked into some shaded cross stitich projects. Way too much "stuff" to make and do in a lifetime but hey, I can try...



3)I have always liked to create things...my other major in undergraduate school was Home Economics (Changed to Human Ecology in more recent years) and it was filled with classes of creating and making "stuff" all the time. It was great! There were classes on sewing, cooking, interior design , fashion and decorting. Classes were filled with all kinds of fun "stuff" and my life is still filled with lots of "stuff" (Not JUNK as my husband would definiely call it.) Now that I am aware of some new sites to check out, I will certainly be ready to craft again and again...if I ever get the time to do it.

Posting #54: "Social Networking Through Books" Exercise #1

1) I have never been a member of a Book Club. I think I would prefer to be a member of an on-line book club so I could remain anonymous. Reading Children's books is one thing...what I read for fun on my own time is just for me. I do believe the reasoning behind an in-person book club would be the face to face interaction which really social people would enjoy...but that is not for me.
2) The staff here at Freeman have started their own book club. It meets once a month and any staff member is welcome to attend. Staff members meet and discuss something they have recently read and anything goes from a book, to an article in a journal, to an interesting website they discovered. Each participant can talk for just a minute or up to about 5 minutes about what they brought with them (they are asked to bring the item or information for finding it with them). After the club ends, one staff member writes up a summary of the items discussed so others can see what they missed for whatever reason. Some staff attend every month, some attend occasionally and others do not attend at all. It is totally optional...no pressure what-so-ever. I like that.
Using ReadingGroupGuides I looked for a book that I have read and think others might enjoy...if I shared it with them. The book was called Remember Me by Sophie Kinsella. I liked this site because it had great thought provoking (or discussion starters) about the book. Some were questions I asked myself and tried to figure out as I read along such as "What were your theories about what happened to Lexi? I tried several scenarios in my mind as I read along. I kept changing them as the story progressed and then, in the end, enough information had been shared to let me "see" just what had happened. I was able to laugh at the situation, and I enjoyed the book. Others may enjoy it as well and find their first idea about what happened are way off from what actually did happen. This book would most likely be fun for a Romance Lovers Book Club.

3) I searched for Twenty Wishes on Shelfari. After I signed on a new account for this site, I found that 642 people had read the book and it had a four out of five star rating. Not bad for a romance novel by a tried and true romance author, Debbie Macomber. Next I looked it up on LibraryThing (LT) and found that it also had a four star rating out of five. I guess most people liked the book while a mere few were not quite as impressed. I will reserve judgement on it until I have read it for myself.

Posting #53: Books, Readers and Beyond: Finding Books Online" Exercise #2 and #3

2) I searched for Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber. This is what I found: Half Price Books does not have a searchable web-site so I didn't check for it at their site. I went to Borders.com (My personal favorite "go-to" bookstore) and found it for $24.99. It is also available as an Audio CD or Audio Cassette. You could also pre-order the paperback edition for $7.99. From Barnes and Noble the list price was @24.95 but the on-line price was only $16.21. It was also available on Audio CD it was available. I check the HCPL site and found it was available as a regular book, an Electronic Audiobook, a Large Type book and an Audio CD.

3) I downloaded the book Can You Keep A Secret by Sophie Kinsella. I liked reading the book because it kept my interest but I did not like reading it on my computer screen. Sometimes the glare was impossible and the stiff neck I encountered was uncomfortable. You just can't curl up with a computer screen and enjoy a book. There's something about holding it in your hand, being comfortable, and the book being portable from room-to-room or location-to-location. For some this may be a good thing but not or me when I am reading for fun/pleasure/myself. I have since found the book available at several HCPL Libraries so I will enjoy reading it (book format) in the near future.
Overdrive is a favorite of mine as I can download books on my MP3 player then play them in the car on long (or short stuck-in-traffic) trips. I guess titles on overdrive might help if you need a book or manual of some sort in a hurry and the library is closed or far away at the time it is needed. I got discouraged a while back because I looked up a craft book and found lots of instructions but no pictures...I knew that would happen but what was the point of putting a craft book up on a page where no pictures of the craft (either in progress or completed) can be seen? Anyway, as I stated before, I much prefer a physical book in hand as my first choice and audio books as a close second.

Posting #53: "Books, Readers and Beyond: Finding Books Online" Exercise # 1

1) In order to quickly find bookstores near the library, I typed the library address in on Mapquest then typed in "bookstores" and immediately the nearby ones came on the screen with a nifty little map detailing their locations. As I suspected, Half-Price Books was the closest destination followed by Barnes and Noble and Borders (which happen to be across from one another...just a major blvd. separating them).
Each of the bookstores has a website but each are a bit different. On the Half-Price Books site, you cannot search for books as their books are generally used and the stock constantly rotates. There is a search box which will take you to Amazon.com. The Half-Price site is fun to click around on and the main pages informer readers that the is a 10% discount card for educators ... and LIBRARIANS!! The Barnes and Noble site as well as the Borders site are similar with searching capabilites. They are: http://www.bn.com/ and http://www.borders.com/) Both are easy to navaigate and full of information on the latest books, DVD's and more.

Posting # 52: "What To Read"

1. I have several "favorite" authors at the moment as I like reading contemporary romances or what is commonly known as "chick-lit". I like to call them "charming romantic comedies". For me, it is an easy escape into "Happily Ever After" and sometimes I need that. I used NoveList Plus to look up Debbie Macomber. I just brought up the NoveList website, clicked on Adult Read-Alikes and found her alphabetically by her last name... and, she was the first author on thier list. Richard Paul Evans and Susan Wiggs were listed as possible read-alike authors that I do read. A new author came up as well, Cathie Linz, so I already have a reference to her and will be looking for her books in the HCPL collections.
Next I tried using "What Should I Read Next" and was a bit disappointed. It was easy to use, just typed in Debbie Macomber, but all of the suggestions were simply reader recommendations. Just people signing in and telling you what they liked to read by similar authors. I noticed there were the usual authors I am already familiar with such as Jennifer Cruise, Barbara Delinsky, and LaVyrle Spencer. Much prefer NoveList Plus so far.
Giving "Library Booklists and Bibliographies" a try, I found it more difficult to navaigate at first. But as I got more into it, I liked to subdivsioins and the much longer list of suggestions. The suggestions were for individual books by authors an the subdivisions were nice (I used Romantic Comedy then Funny Romances) and lengthy. I found many of my favorite authors (and their books) and a few new ones to look for in the future. I also liked the links to Amazon since that 's a good place to see what the book looks like and get a review or two all in one place.

2. Using NoveList Plus, a fourth grade girl interested in animals could possible like the classic Black Beauty by Anna Sewell or something newer book like Down Boy and Sit by Lucy Nolan. (I guess it depends on weather or not she likes horse stories and/or dog stories.) NoveList was easy to use...just looked up her age then her subject and the suggestions were right there.
By checking in the NoveList Plus Teens section, her thirteen-year-old brother who likes ghost stories may enjoy The Night Tourist by Katherine March or Demons and Shadows by Robert Westall. The second books is a collection of ten "ghostly tales" so he may find one or two that he is particularly intersted in rather than reading an entire book.

3. The Dean Koontz fan could benefit by taking the suggestions listed in the NoveLists Plus Read-Alike section. Just look up Koontz, Dean and a listing appears suggestion authors such as Greg Bear, Charles Grant or John Saul. By using "What Should I Read Next" he could get suggestions such as W.E.B. Griffin, Iris Johansen or Linda Medley.

4. The customer who has finished reading Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce has started reading the Young Adult series: Song of the Lioness. By looking this up in Mid-Continent Public Library I found that she needs to read In the Hand of the Goddess next followed by The Woman Who Rides Like a Man and then end the seires with Lioness Rampant. It was very easy to research this by simply typing in the authors name and then scrollong through her series books until I found the one that had Alanna listed as the first one .