Saturday In Florence, CO

I am fortunate to live near Florence, CO.  Its major claim to fame is that it houses the infamous Super Max.  Scary, I know.  However, what most people don't know is that it is also home to many, many antique stores. 

When I was a kid, the town was falling apart.  They had more bars along main street than they had stores. In effect, it was a dying town.  Once the prison was built just outside of town, it started to get a little better.  However, the main street still suffered. 

Several years ago, the business owners decided to change the face of their town and antique stores started blossoming all along the main thoroughfare.  Eventually, the townsfolk decided that they would turn Florence into the place to go in Colorado for antique shopping.  They haven't quite succeeded, yet, but they're working on it.  Meanwhile, it's a little gem that we locals get to hog all to ourselves.

Every few months, I like to head over and check out what's happening.  I have a couple stores that I visit every time I make the trip, but I also try to visit at least 1 new shop, as well.  Yesterday, my niece and I drove on over and spent the day browsing and taking pictures. 

My first stop is always at The Mezzanine.  It's huge; and there's always lots of interesting items. 

I've found a lot of my vintage crochet books at The Mezzanine, but yesterday I was out of luck.  Their craft books had been pretty well picked over.  At least I got a picture of the fabulous lamp display they had on the second floor.  Aren't they just gorgeous?

Every time I go to Florence, I find that I tend to focus on a particular type of item.  It's not that I go searching for it, but it will catch my eye in a store, and thenceforth I look for the same things in all the other stores that I visit.  Yesterday I fixated on cash registers and typewriters.  Here are a few pictures of what I found.

As a writer, I've always been fascinated by old typewriters.  But the cashier fixation was a bit of a surprise to me.  I think the top one looks so cool.  It's what we all imagine old registers looked like back in the day.  But I think the two Brandt registers are so much cooler.  When I saw the first one, I thought it might have been an old version of a calculator, but, though you can't really see it in the picture, it says automatic cashier, just like the second one.  So nifty.

My favorite store in town, though, is Legends and Lace Antiques.  The front room is chock full of Victorian clothing, hats, furniture and knick-knacks.  The back room is more western.  But the best part of this store is that Sarah, the owner, made every lampshade in the store.  You can see some of her country themed shades in her display window below.

The shades I love the most, though, are her Victorian themed shades.  They are so gorgeous, and they make me want to learn to make lampshades.

(My favorite is the crescent moon-shaped one with the fringe.) 

 

The last time I was in, Sarah was taking a hiatus from lampshade-making.  But yesterday, the clerk told me that not only was she making them again, but she will take consignment orders if you email her at Sarah@HatsandShadesBySarah.com.  I know, I know, I sound like a commercial.  No, Sarah has not paid me to advertise for her.  I just love her work and want to share it with as many people as possible.  If you ever get to Florence, you have to stop and check out her store.  (And, oh yeah, she makes and refurbishes Victorian hats, as well.)

Well, this post has been a bit rambling, but that's how my trip was yesterday.  It just seems fitting that I should let you experience my rambles as I did.  One final word, though.  When you come visit Florence, make sure you stop at The Pour House.  This was the "new" store I visited on this trip.  The coffee was pretty good, and it looked like the lunch menu was tasty, but what was most impressive was the atmosphere.  Lots of art on the walls, hardwood floors, comfy seating.  It was nothing like what I expected to find in Florence, even taking into account the changing face of the town, itself.

With love,
The Crocheting Cat Lady

Ta Da!

It's been a rough week.  Power outages, mean callers at work, sneezing, coughing, phlegm monsters residing in my throat.  I would elaborate (okay, bitch,) but I'm not really in the mood.  Besides, the ending of my week made up for all the rest. 

First of all, I spent a lot of time on Pinterest, again, and got some great decoupage ideas.  The difference between this weekend and my usual Pinterest browse is that today I actually went to the store to pick up what I need to work on some of those ideas.  Yay me!  Hopefully I'll have some pictures of new projects to post soon. 

The second thing that made my week brighter is that, after 2 weeks, I have finally finished my bicycle basket.  It shouldn't have take so long, but I'm not a very good seamstress.  This project not only forced me to use those nearly non-existent skills, but it also required me to come up with my own pattern for the liner.  It looks a little rough, but for my very first made-from-scratch basket liner, I think it came out all right. 

I think my favorite thing on this basket, though, is the flower.  The petals are from a pattern I got from Pinterest (I knew all those hours browsing, um...researching, would pay off,) but the yellow center is of my own design.  Like the liner, this is my first attempt at creating a crochet design.  It's got some bumps to work out, but by the time I'm ready to create my own petal design, I'm sure I'll have the yellow center perfected.

 All in all, I think my basket project was a success.  It looks so cute on my bicycle.  Don't cha think?

I can't wait for the weather to warm up enough to go for a ride.  The first place I'll go to is Hastings for some new books.  Ah, could life be any sweeter?  (Okay.  If it were a tandem bike with Gerard Butler on the back seat, it would be a lot sweeter.  But I'm a simple woman.  I can accept a single bike and new books...for now.) 


With Love,
The Crocheting Cat Lady

What I'm Working On

I don't know about other crafters, but I tend to be working on several projects at once.  I find that if I'm working on a long project, like an afghan, I have to break up the work with smaller projects.  This way I don't get bored with the long project. 

Right now I'm crocheting my first ripple pattern afghan for a family friend.  I work full time, so I don't actually have a lot of time to crochet.  (I'm also a very slow crocheter.) I usually crochet while I'm watching TV and movies, because I can't stand doing nothing.  Watching TV feels like doing nothing, so I crochet to be productive in my down time.  You know how it is. 

I've been working on this afghan for about 3 months.  (To be fair, I was much further along a month ago, but I found a HUGE mistake, so I had to rip it out to the first variegated row.  What a pain.)  I've never done a ripple pattern before because it seemed like such a blah pattern.  Ever since I finished my first afghan, done in a straight double crochet stitch, I've wanted to challenge myself.  I've wanted to learn new stitches.  (Below is one of my favorite afghans, made for my best friend, who still doesn't have it in his possession because we live so far away from each other.)

Anyway, I was teaching a friend how to crochet, and she wanted to learn the ripple pattern, so I decided to just crochet a ripple afghan.  I like how it's turning out.

But I digress.  I was talking about the small projects I work on while crocheting afghans.  This Christmas, my most fabulous family bought me a bicycle that I love, love, love.

It's just perfect for tooling around the small town I live in.  However, it wasn't quite kooky enough for me.  It needed a basket on the front.  I started looking around town and online for the perfect basket.  Needless to say, I never found it.  I did, however, find a wire mesh bicycle basket at Walmart.  It was ugly, but inexpensive, so I decided to buy it and pretty it up.  I got some black and white yarn and started working a faux weave pattern through the mesh. 

My beautiful 9-month-old kitty, Castiel, put his stamp of approval on the basket when I took a break last Sunday.  (If I could only train him to stay in it while riding on the bicycle, I think it would add that extra kookiness that would make my rides around town unforgettable to bystanders.  Don'tcha think?)

I've finished the weave, and I've found and sewed the perfect crocheted flower to it, but I haven't yet finished the liner, so I don't have a "completed" photo to post.  Once I've figured out how to sew the liner, I'll post a picture of how it came out.  In the mean time, anyone have any ideas how to sew the liner?

With Love,

The Crocheting Cat Lady

Why Pinterest is the Devil or How I Spent My Saturday

Very recently, I decided to check out Pinterest.  All of my friends were doing it, so I said, "What the heck.  I'll jump off that cliff."  This site is the best and worst thing that could happen to a crafter. 

For those of you who haven't heard of this online social phenomenon, let me explain how it works.  You browse through pictures on other members' "boards."  When you see something you like or agree with, or just gets your motor humming, you "pin" it to one of your own boards.  Other people may then browse your board and "repin" from you.  It's a cycle.  I'm still new to the site, so I haven't figured out the nuances, yet.  (For example, I haven't found any messaging techniques, or other ways of communication besides the afor mentioned "pinning," that would make this a "social" site, but that doesn't mean they don't exist.  It just means that I've been too busy pinning to notice.) 

Saturday I spent the day watching the first season of "Buffy, The Vampire Slayer" on DVD and browsing Pinterest.  (Just so you know, I love all things Joss Whedon.  Yes, even "Dollhouse.")  I've never had a day pass so quickly.  If you have ever seen anything DIY that you've said, "How the heck did they do that.  I want to learn how to do that," you can find the instructions on this site.  It's a virtual paradise for us crafty types.  I've pinned so many crochet and craft projects to my boards that I'm sure my busy little hands will be occupied until the next projected Apocalypse.  (When is the next one supposed to happen?  Anyone know?) 

I had spent approximately 12 hours on this site, stopping only for food and bathroom breaks, when it dawned on me.  I was spending so much time browsing through fascinating tutorials, that I hadn't actually started any of the projects that captured my imagination.  Aha!  So there it is.  This site was created not to provide knowledge and assistance, but to keep you so occupied looking for said knowledge, you never actually implement it.  It's diabolical, I tell you.

With this information in hand, I was finally able to put my two English degrees to good use.  I used the analytical skills taught to me by my beloved professors to deduce that this site must have been created by Satan, himself.  Who else could have invented something as insidious and capable of turning normally industrious people into mindless drones, pointing and clicking themselves into obesity and lethargy.  Ingenious! 

I can tell you, I was a bit shocked at this revelation and had to stop what I was doing to take it all in.  What was I doing?  How could I let evil, no Evil, manipulate me so easily?  Then I saw a pattern for the most adorable sock monkey I've ever seen.  I pinned that bad boy and moved on to the next page.

So, this is why Pinterest is the Devil.  Now, if you will excuse me, season two of Buffy is on, and I have to go back to that board with the sock monkey.  I think I saw a pattern for curtains that would look fabulous in my brother's kitchen.

With Love,
The Crocheting Cat Lady

Introduction

Well, here I am.  I've tried writing blogs before, but it always seemed like I didn't really have anything to say.  Well, I've finally found something to say.  Whether anyone wants to hear it remains to be seen.  I'm going to start off by answering a few questions you may, or may not, have.

1.  What is this blog about? 

Well, as the name implies, it will be about crocheting...and any other thing I decide I want to write about at the time.  Be prepared for tangents, rants, and full blown rambling along with all the yarn talk.  (Don't say I didn't warn you.) 

2.  Why am I writing this blog? 

Because I'm a writer, and I haven't been writing for a long time.  I miss it.  I decided that it was time to get back to it, and this seemed like the best way to start. 

3.  Why did I choose to write about crocheting? 

I love to crochet.  I love to craft.  I just love creating things out of nothing.  Since I work at home, I also don't get to talk about it much.  (Accept to my family, and they're getting pretty tired of hearing about it.)  I also started a group on Yahoo called Crochet in Colorado to feed this need to talk to like-minded creators, but it hasn't had much traffic yet.  With that in mind, please feel free to comment, ask questions, tell me I've lost my mind...what ever.  It all feeds that chat addiction.

I guess this is a good start.  My future posts may be just as self-centered as this one, but I hope they'll be more enjoyable to read. 

With love in the new year,
The Crocheting Cat Lady