Finding my Crochet Hook!

In my search to "Find Deborahrah" I am ridding myself of old habits, and embracing new ones... 

or better yet, remembering things I used to love to do...  like CROCHETING!
Grammy taught me when I was five years old, maybe to keep me quiet during her soap operas!
I would crochet for hours... chaining forever, then stitching it into circles for Barbie rugs.
I never ventured into more than afghans, but that was my gift of choice.
For some reason, after my second child was born, I stopped.
Didn't realize how much I missed it until this year.

I couldn't find my old hooks (of course) so I splurged on a whole new set of them.
So pretty and shiny... blue... rose... gold... purple... red... F, G, H, J, K...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/obajoo/3442936401/

 I had forgotten how obsessed I could become.  Totally obsessed.  

But if you have to have an addiction, this is a safe one, right?  

(Does anyone else hide their yarn purchases from their husbands?)

And thank goodness for Pinterest - when I find a project I want to try - I PIN it!

I no longer forget what I wanted to work on - it's all there on my 

Sew Sew and Crafty Stuff Pinterest Board!

I already feel much more organized, and some things are actually coming to fruition!

Today I finished some hot pads for a friend on my Facebook Page.  

We promised to send something "handmade" to five people.  

She has red in her kitchen, so I hope these will do!  

It is a pattern my grandmother used to make.  I never learned how before she died, 

and have been trying and trying to figure it out... then along came Pinterest and WOO HOO!  

I'm so excited to finish these - and can't wait to make a ton more for myself! 

I made them a little larger than a pot holder (9 x 9) 

big enough to put on the counter under a hot baking dish.
Would that be a Trivet?

You can make a little loop to hang them, but I chose not to...

Cotton Yarn is the best for this project... I used Sugar and Cream brand.
Thank you Kathleen - for the the best, most easily understood photos and instructions!

Miss Abigail's Hope Chest: Favorite Crocheted Hot Pads

 Then I found some instructions for making beanies and can't make enough of them!

They are fast and easy and everyone loves them.  Hard to keep up with the requests!

Still working on different sizes and lengths, but they are so much fun to whip up.

I am partial to the half double crochet stitch... I should probably branch out.

 Beanie Instructions Here 

I made some afghans for Xmas... Cardinal Red for my husband, deep purple for my stepmom...

but my favorite project this month is a blanket for the first granddaughter of a dear friend of mine.

When she said the room was "Linen with accents of Rhubarb" this seemed perfect!  

Lions Brand Homespun "Parfait" - and it went on sale a few weeks ago - good timing!

I love the way this yarn feels!  It is a little crazy to work with at first... 

and it sheds a little, which worries me a little with a baby... 

and I would never use it if I had to count my stitches, because your stitches are hard to see...  

But it is perfect for this pattern!  

It is so soft and lovely I can hardly wait to finish it for the shower!

 Corner to Corner Afghan

Love the way the variegated colors are creating their own colored rows...

This is my favorite "signature" stitch.  I learned it years ago in the lunchroom at ADP.

For some reason I hate crocheting row after row of the same stitch,

but this pattern I could make forever... and I have... and will continue to do so!

I'm in yarn Heaven - I'm such a geek...

Oh and by the way... I found my old crochet hook!

I Heart Ballet

Ballet.  You either hate it, or you love it, or it is in your blood and you have no choice.  I belong to the latter.  My mother was a ballet student... teacher... lover...   She had the chance to join the San Francisco Ballet Company or marry the love of her life, Bob Adkins, my father.  Surprisingly she chose love - must be a generational thing.  Don't know if she ever regretted her decision - that's another post altogether.  She kept dancing after getting married, after my birth, and the birth of my little brother and for years after that.  She would scope out the new teachers in town, just for fun.  I would tag along, often dropping into a heap on the ground, not able to continue after a grueling barre workout.  She was the Ballet Energizer Bunny!  Even in her late 60's, visiting me in Arizona, she came to my adult ballet class with me, blowing my peers out of the water.  Her grace... regal stance... her elegance at all times... 

Here she is in 1952.. at the age of 18... I also found this costume in her closet after she died!  It is a lovely sage green color... handmade by her of course... about an 18" waistline.  It hangs in her honor in my closet... along with her lovely worn pointe shoes.  Presenting the lovely Meta Joanne Stout - who became Joanne Adkins... and eventually Joanne Magill... my beautiful mother.

She followed my father around the country, while he chased his dreams of becoming famous.  Sometime we were wealthy, sometimes (most of the time) we were broke.  She taught for local park bureaus wherever we lived, wanting to help those children who couldn't afford to go to the fancier studios.  I was incredibly lucky to receive a scholarship from Portland's beloved Jacqueline Schumacher, Portland's strict Russian style Ballet teacher, whose studio was at the top floor of the Odd Fellows Building in Portland, Oregon.  My parents met "Jackie" when she was the choreographer at the Portland Civic Theater, where they were regular performers.  Mom didn't drive, so we took the bus downtown, then walked up the six flights of marble stairs to that glorious studio, with huge mirrors on one wall, and a large Grande Piano in the front corner.  The live pianist (always live) pounded out Chopin Etudes as we sweated to the crack of Jackie's cane on the floor... keeping time... tapping us gently when our chins would fall, or our rumps were not tucked under enough!

She never bragged about her past... I never knew that she portrayed Odette, in the first ever production of Swan Lake in the United States!  She said the "white Russians" sent her a single red rose before each performance (Ballet West Blog)... it gives me chills to realize who I studied under!  I'm honored by her talent and her humility... her beauty and grace... and the fact that she is still going strong at the age of 90.  This was taken in 2008, when she was just a youngster of 86 - look at her!  

I love Maria Grandy's quote about the two teachers my mother studied under:  "From Mr. Vasilieff came movement, flow, Russian panache.  Mrs. Schumacher provided careful technical training - the fine details and nuance."  (Maria Grandy Article)  Russian panache - what a great phrase... and Jackie certainly did teach the fine details.  We never got away with anything.  I am unable to find photos of her teaching in her studio... another testimony to her humility.  She taught for the love of dance, and not for glory and fame.

I started dancing in my playpen, in the corner of mom's classes.  She said eventually I just climbed out and joined in.  Searching my archives, I only found one photo of me in a dancing pose at the age of 9.  How different our pictorial lives are now!  Even though Morton's Neuroma and other issues prevent me from taking class, ballet will forever be in my heart and soul... Thanks Mom!

Even though I can't dance anymore... my heart soars when I PIN!
   The Ballet

Please don't send me flowers...

Valentine's Day is coming.   I have always hated that day.  

Love me EVERY day... ANY day... all year long. 

Why wait until my Birthday, Mother's Day, 
or this Hallmark Day in February to show me you care?

 It is contrived and trite.

Flowers die.  I have no place to display them.  They are a total waste of money.

 And yet... 

When the doorbell rings, and I see the delivery man standing there…

 I cry.

But maybe... just for grins... send them on February 13th... 

Vera Wang Bouquet

PS - the doorbell rang today... 2/14/12... it was for my daughter.
I got a hug - it's all good...

Missing daddy...

I miss daddy every day.  I miss his daily emails with a long story, or a short "boogaloo!"  

This month, we think of him a little more.  

He died on February 2nd (2005) and was born on February 22 (1932).  

This photo was the last time we saw him, Thanksgiving 2004.  

It seems as if he knew something was wrong. 

 He was having pains that were attributed to "pulling a muscle at the chiropractor."  

The pains got worse.  When he got home to Oregon, on December 2nd the doctor announced, 

"Oops - I guess it isn't a pulled muscle after all.
You have Melanoma and it has spread to your bones.  Get your affairs in order." 

He was gone exactly two months later. 

My youngest daughter shares her birthday with him... 

we try not to focus on his death, but on his crazy, wonderful life, and the laughter he brought to us all!  

He was Addie Bobkins to everyone else, but my kids only knew him as "Grampa Bob."

We often wonder why things happen in our lives.  

Sometimes we get our answer sooner... sometimes later... sometimes never.  

This is one example of sooner!

Dad was desperate to come meet his first great-granddaughter, 

and that was the reason for the Thanksgiving visit!

I wondered why... and then I knew.

If she had not been born at that time, we may not have seen my father before he died.  

I will forever be grateful for the "grand plan" that brought Jocelyn into our lives...
at that perfect moment in time...

Halloween Memory 1965

Jon Provost and Teddy

Jon Provost "Timmy" Then and Now

HALLOWEEN 1965

Jocey is always begging me to "tell a story" about something or other -

but I can never, ever remember anything when she puts me on the spot - why is that?

 This memory came to me in the middle of the night, as they always do.  

It was our first Halloween after our fateful move to big time Los Angeles.  
Dad's show was transferred to the sister station of KPTV in Portland..

We lived on Vose Street, in Van Nuys - across the street and a few doors down from the owners of Lassie(s)!  Lorne Greene also lived close by, but I didn't care about him.  All I could think about was if   Little Jon Provost, with his cute floppy blond hair was at Lassie's house or not.  


Well, Halloween eve there he was!  My dreamboat was passing out quarters 
and autographed photos of himself and Lassie for the Trick-or-Treaters!

I changed several times so I could return again and again -

not so much for the money, but to gaze lovingly into my little Timmy's eyes...

OK - so maybe Jocey won't be so enamored by my story as I was by the memory.  
Little Timmy is all grown up now - and apparently his life wasn't all rosie after the show.

But he is now happily married to Laurie Jacobson (I never had a chance, did I)

and still plays 2nd fiddle (but happily) to their dog.

He doesn't happen to own a collie, 

but I love this photo of him and probably one of Lassie's great-grandkids!

Just have to add the fact that we also lived next door to Lassie's trainer, Mr. Weatherwax!

He told us that Feather (our collie - dad's sidekick on his TV show)

was more a "pure bread" collie than Lassie!

It was due to his mostly red coloring (Lassie had a lot of black in his coat) 

and his pidgeon toes - a sign of a good farm dog!

Dad only bragged to close friends and family - but I'll never forget it - he was so proud.

So Happy Halloween Jocey - there is a little story for you...


Wow - check this out - I found some photos from my 11th birthday (1965).
These are in that Van Nuys house on 15719 Vose Street!
 I am doing a trick with Feather, as my friends sat mesmerized... or bored... can quite tell.
Look!  There's my little redhead friend, Denise!  We remained best buddies

until she died recently.  Rest in Peace sweet friend.

 I still can't believe Little Timmy gave up "The Girl in Turquoise" - how could he have resisted me?  
I guess I should have invited him to my party!  I'll beT he could have done a mean "Freddie!"