Preparing for Changes

More etsy shops on the way - one for Louis's (my husband) afghans, one for my baby items, and one just for sweaters. Getting prepared for leaving my day job - getting ready for a new grand daughter and preparing myself for working part time as a Prevention Specialist for our local Child Abuse Prevention Council. I am so excited - such changes give me great inspiration. I am looking forward to being creative and using my talents without any more restraint than what I choose myself. Wow, what a concept - being my own boss. And then there is traveling some with my husband......

Jane's Curtains

My neighbor has a gorgeous 11,000 square foot home. She just had her kitchen remodeled with dark brown granite countertops w/chips of rainbow colored mica embedded in the granite. The backsplash between the countertops and the bottom of the naturally finished cherry wood cabinets is all cut natural stone with some diamond shaped bronze medallion accents. She asked me to make her some crocheted cafe curtains and valance for the one window above her sink. We went through several designs and settled on this one from a Magic crochet magazine, published about 30 years ago. I've modified it a bit and they are obviously still in the works. I'll block them when I'm done and post more pics. Check out my Facebook page with more pics of the design: Crochet Creations by Dottie Z. Scher at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=189039&id=233275180094&l=66ab71f544

Finished these in October - they turned out gorgeous! Here's the finished product!

Getting ready for Retirement

Just after Christmas I found out that I could retire in August 2011. Wow, what a relief and excitement. My daughter and grand-daughter, I think, are the most excited because I'll get to spend more time with them. Figuring out 401k amounts, retirement pensions, etc. has been interesting too. And now, I'm finally setting up "my studio" upstairs in this old house. Going through some old yarns is like finding old friends - hmmmm, I wonder what I had in mind when I bought this one eons ago. Coming up with new projects. I hope to be working on the Darkness to Light Initiative with the Interagency Child Abuse Prevention Council here i n Gaston County, working some kind of part-time job, and of course, crocheting. More grand children I'm sure will fill out my days. But what dreams we have when faced with life changing events and choices. The job I have now was a dream way back when. Now, I'm looking at what might still be ahead at 55. My body may feel old at times, but I don't and there's still a lot of steam left here. So, on to that studio, as I clean out cabinets and shelves and replace the old with the new (or reaquainted) and get everything organized. Maybe I'll even have space to show my precious grand-daughter how to do all these handcrafts too. That will be fun.