But first, yet another roll stitch bookmark. Are you tired of seeing these yet? ;-)

Pattern: Lavender Bookmark. Source: How to Thread Crochet on a Roll from Annie’s Attic. Materials: DMC Cebelia cotton crochet thread (size 10, color #818 Baby Pink) and pink seed beads.

Cebelia is absolutely a joy to work with. This is first time I’ve tried a premium crochet thread. In comparison to much lesser threads such as SouthMaid, I’d say it’s like Godiva Chocolate vs. Hershey’s Kisses. Next time you’re out, treat yourself and splurge on a ball. Check out the informative thread reviews at the excellent web site, Snowflakes and Thread Crochet.

And now, on to the yarn!

Cheryl is such a sweetheart! Her main crochet interest is afghans, and she crochets and donates many lap blankets. Acrylic yarn is the best for donated blankets, and so she sent me a huge box of wool, cotton, ribbon, and other fun yarns from her stash that she doesn’t have a need for. And four pattern booklets, too. Thank you, Cheryl! All of these things are happy and loved in their new home!

Over the weekend… a little creativity while pressure-washing the driveway :-) and new storage from Pier 1 Imports for my corks.

Looks innocent enough, doesn’t it?

Well, this square gave me no end of troubles. It didn’t want to be the right size. It didn’t want to lie flat. It didn’t want to be photographed.

I started out with an H hook. Too small. Then tried an I. Too small still. And then a J. Too big. When I decided to try a J, I couldn’t find my magic J hook. It’s part of my special set of hooks for which I have no idea of the origin or brand. I’ve had them since grade school. They’re aluminum in shades of red (they don’t all match) and on the back of the grip it simply reads Hecho en Mexico. They are without a doubt my most prized crochet possession. If one of this season’s lovely hurricanes requires me to evacuate, these puppies are coming with me. But I digress.

Once I found the Mexican J hook, the square behaved quite nicely. Was it the hook? Or was it the fact that I threatened the square with frogging and making it into a towel topper? I can’t be sure, but then when it refused to be photographed properly, I whispered, “Toilet tissue cover,” and the next picture was much better.

Even when it was at its best, the corners of this square wanted to curl, but the first round of edging tamed it considerably. That round is worked a bit differently (crochet-a-longers take note and mind the instructions!) than for the other squares thus far.

In my last post, I promised a photo of the Beware of the Crochet Lady sticker on my truck. Thank you again, Julie!

Last, but not least, my Adagio Teas package arrived yesterday. Thanks again, Tess! The simpliciTEA pot is absolutely adorable! At 21 ounces, it’s just the right size for me. Not only is it practical, but it’s also just too darn cute.

I had my first cup today because FedEx always arrives at our house late in the evening, say around eight or nine, and I certainly didn’t want any caffeine at that hour. I ordered the black tea sampler and was quite pleased to find that they’d also included a free sample of one of their Halloween Teas, Pumpkin Spice. I tried the Ceylon Waltz first because you can’t go wrong with Ceylon. Here it is in the teapot, waiting for the water to boil.

The Ceylon was was lovely, but it’s been so long since I’ve drank tea I’ll have to do more experimenting to tell you just how good (or not) it is. I’ll be sure to let you know!

It’s been far too long since I had a good cup of hot tea. I’d almost forgotten how much I enjoyed it. Which is why I was doubly glad to receive an Adagio Teas gift certificate from Tess. I used it towards a simpliciTEA tea pot and a black tea sampler. Yum! Thank you, Tess! I just may need to crochet a tea cozy. Right, Tiff? *wink*

You might remember the other day I metioned I still have thanks to give to Julie…

She crocheted me this beautiful thread bookmark. The beads are wonderfully weighty, so they make a satisfying clink when you lay it on the table.

And she was very sweet to send me her only copy of BHG Simply Creative Crochet from 2003. I was enormously happy because it’s so hard to find a copy of it now. I think my favorite patterns in it are the Diamond Tunic and Elegant Wrap Cardigan.

When Julie sent the mag, she slipped a Beware of the Crochet Lady sticker in the package. Love it! I’ll have to take a pic of it on my truck. What a hoot! ;-) Thank you for everything, Julie!

Just a few days ago, I scarcely knew what Bloglines, RSS, and Atom were. I’d heard of them but hadn’t bothered to pay much attention until Tiff and Julie prodded me. Now I don’t know what I’d do without Bloglines. I’m so in love I’ve made these little buttons, which you may feel free to use on your own blog.

(Colors based on the AtomEnabled logo.)

(Color and style of these two are based on one of the buttons available from Bloglines, but smaller.)

The reason I’m so in love with Bloglines is because it allows me to keep up with more blogs in less time. Much less time. I signed up only just this weekend, and already I’m reading and commenting in blogs I haven’t had time to visit in quite a while.

Bloglines makes reading blogs relaxing and fun, which is what it should be. No more clicking through my whole blogroll to see if there are any new posts. I’m utterly awed by how easy and perfect it is.

The only catch is that in order to add a blog to your Bloglines, it has to have a site feed, such as RSS or Atom. I found that some of my favorite blogs don’t have a feed. Wah! I’ll still have to check those manually. (My own blog didn’t have a feed until this weekend. What can I say? I was clueless.)

Most blog services, such as Blogger, TypePad, Blogdrive, etc. will publish an RSS or Atom feed for you, but you may need to make sure you have that feature turned on. Here’s the link for Blogger users. Whatever blog service you use, there should be info in their help files about site feed.

It’s official. Crochet me is a magazine. Check it out!

Now… you don’t really want to be the last person to know what’s going on at Crochet me, do you? I didn’t think so. Well, if you didn’t heed my suggestion last week, get yourself on over there and subscribe to the newsletter. Then you’ll be in the know.

Jane did it. Rebecca did it. Beth did it. And so did Jenn, Angel, Tiffany, Leisel, Mandy, Alyssa, and Patti. I know because they told me so. And they also asked me pretty please would I send them some of my back issues. And I did.

Did you know there have been, not one, but two free newsletter-exclusive patterns? And I have them all. Yep. I’ve been subscribed since day one. You want those patterns now, dontcha? *wink* Well. Subscribe. Tell me. I’ll send them.