Relaxation and thoughts

So this weekend we took a little time away and visited some hot springs. It was lots of fun. we camped in the desert, and cooked with the fire.. all with frequent breaks to soak in the hot springs :) the relaxation was awesome, but the allergies are NOT! we are all sick and miserable :( but this too shall pass.. it is making us all irritable and grumpy.. the kids have it also, Little girl is the worst (we have taken her to the DR and should have antibiotics for her soon wanted some blood work first, double ear infection. poor girl)

Ellen's Work in Progress...

Lisa and I have been working on some shawls and they are looking GOOD! we are having fun with some yarn we found for a good price. We wanted crochet ones as they are faster for us to pick up and put down (Kids, need I say more....) we went over several ideas before we settled on the patterns we did.. I have been wanting to do a fan shawl and the Really cool pattern I found was not one that can be worked in rows, each fan was worked then the yarn cut and re-attached. We don't like patterns like that as the every time the yarn is cut the finished product is weaker. We like our items to be as strong as possible so that they hold up better.  We don't want people to need to buy another item from us because it came out or our workmanship was lacking. We like people to buy from us again as our items hold up, wear well and they like the items. So many items we can buy these days are designed to be used and bought again. This idea is seen as the "norm" buy cheap and when it gives out go get another one.. I don't like this at all. I like to buy quality and then a get upset when it gives out after 10-15 years of regular use. I can thank my dad for this thought.. he taught me to spend $$ on shoes, but to only have a couple pair. To buy the good quality fabric, but get mix and match pieces so a few items can look like a large wardrobe.. It was this thought that has driven me to work until I can say that my design is as sturdy and will hold up as well as possible. Now that my dad is not with us it seems to be that I am working even harder on the little details of the way I do things, to make them function better, last longer and look better doing it.
As with all patterns we use we made some changes so that is lays better and will hold up better.. I have not decided what kind of border to put on it yet, other then it will have all 3 colors in it. Lisa is the same on the edging..

Lisa's Work in Progress

The funny thing is that the blue is the same yarn and yet it looks so different with the other colors. Lisa is getting close to the edging (about 2 more repeats) I have farther to go. About 15 more repeats, but my repeats are smaller, the shawls are about the same # done and you can see that Lisa's is larger. We hope that the bright colors will help the younger generation to see the fun and versatility in some of the items that are not seen as much now.
I started out going to go a totally different direction with this post but that is the way writing goes some times. you start out thinking about Z and end up with Q..