Remembering Mar on Mother's Day

Marilyn, Minnie Mouse and Margaret
Disney World 1990(?)

On Mother's Day my thoughts are with my mother Margaret. I called her Mar. She passed away in February 2006. We had some fun times together. The picture above, a fading Polaroid, was taken during our dollhouse miniatures days when we did craft shows up and down the East Coast trading as Mari-Mar Miniatures. We went to Florida for two weekend shows, one in Ft. Lauderdale and one in Daytona Beach. We spent the intervening week in Disney World. What a fun time we had there. I believe the picture above was taken the day we were eating lunch in one of the park restaurants and it was announced that anyone wishing to march in the parade down Main Street "must line up now!" We shoveled the last bits of our salads in our mouths and bolted from the restaurant leaving our spouses behind with instructions where to meet us after the parade. We lined up and strutted our stuff down Main Street with kids and other adults as uninhibited as we were.

Happy Mother's Day!

Bona Fide Knitter

Stitch Markers--Just What I Needed

Yesterday my knitting guild, Liberty Bell, to which I returned last Monday after many months absence, just in time to sign up, held a beaded stitch marker workshop and luncheon at the Riverton Country Club in NJ. Aching face and newly painful foot did not keep me away. Neither did the torrential rains.

Our little group had a room to ourselves with two round tables set for lunch and a long table down the middle of the room with chairs on each side to accommodate us and containing a smorgasbord of beads in separate packs and on paper plates. There were place settings with packets of tools and supplies for each of us.

We began by claiming a packet of tools and supplies and perusing the bead smorgasbord to select four larger beads and eight smaller ones to compose our first four stitch markers. There were so many to chose from it was a hard decision which got changed many times as the morning progressed.

We learned to twist the wire, add beads and finish off. That is the short version. It was a little more involved, especially the first one. By the third one I was off and running. There were very few mistakes that could not be turned into design features. We stopped for a lovely lunch of chicken Caesar salad topped of with apple pie a la mode. Mmmmm, yummy! Then back to the beading.

Delphia was an excellent teacher. This is the first workshop or class of any kind that I have taken and been pleased with the take home results. I usually learn the process, hate what I've done in class, then go home and construct masterpieces. This time I have very nice stitch markers, one of which I'm using to mark the beginning of the row as I knit like crazy on my lacy skirt. Where's the lace? It's coming. What you see at the bottom is the casing for the elastic and closer to the needles the first purl row where stitched will be picked up for the first row of lace.

I didn't have my camera at the workshop and the pictures I took with my PDA of the guild members refuse to transfer over to Blogger. However, here are some pictures of the stitch markers I made in class. I am trying very hard not to become addicted to making stitch markers.

A bona fide beader? I don't think so!

Bona Fide Knitter