July 8, 2011 by debi.

I have been madly working on creating new patterns. I made a new hat pattern and used this wonderful yarn made by Be Sweet. It is their yarn called Miracle Ball, because it has about 8 different yarns that are tied together, which makes the yarn self striping. I have been putting different balls of yarn together like that for years, but it was fun to be able to use one already done. I made this great hand crocheted hat and the colors are yellows, greens, pinks, and corals. It is really cute and I was able to make it out of one skein. I am going to submit it to Storey Publishing for their new book 101 One Skein Crochet Book. I am praying that they pick it as one of the patterns for the book.I have also been working on several new scarf patterns. The one that I am making right now is a beautiful metallic dark saphire blue lace. I am absolutely in love with this scarf. I think I want one also, but this one is going to be a gift. I am also going to make a matching hat.

The knit skirt and 2 camisoles with be up on the website by next Friday. So check out the website next Friday to see what is new at Dreams by Debi / www.dreamsbydebi.com.

3 Tips for Accessorizing with Knits in the Summer

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June 24, 2011 by debi.

It has been a crazy week, trying to get all of my projects done. I just made a new hat out of a really fun yarn called Magic Ball. It is so pretty and fun. I am not posting a picture yet, because I am sending it to Storey Publishing, along with the pattern for their new book 101 One Skein Crochet Patterns. I am hoping that they pick this new hat pattern for one of the patterns for the book. It would be really wonderful, if I could get this pattern published. I am also going to be working on some other patterns to send in. Wish me luck.

Remember to become a fan of these two Facebook pages to enter for a chance to win 2 free scarves ( one for each page ). The drawing is from June 15, 2011 through August 15, 2011.  Click like on each of the pages for your chance to win one of these beautiful scarves,

For Dreams by Debi Blog : http://www.facebook.com/pages/blogdreamsbydebicom/194812633884506

For Dreams by Debi website: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dreams-by-Debi/159465357438740

I love when I can just sit and create things. I seem to get bogged down, when I actually have to finish things. I am still trying to get to the skirt and 2 camisoles to finish and post online. I love the knitting part and I love seeing the finished items, I just wish I had a little elf who would come and sew them all together. I like to sew, I just love knitting and crocheting more.This week has also been busy trying to get boxes packed and sent to my son. He is in Afghanistan for his second tour in Marjah. There are always things that they think they have, and then they get there and realize that they need additional items, like shampoo, socks, food, you know necessities!!! This time should be a much safer tour, and it makes a mom feel much better.I think that it will be next week before I get the camisoles and skirt put together. This weekend is my 17^th wedding anniversary with my wonderful husband, so I will actually get to play with him for the weekend, always a fun thing. Tomorrow we are going to dinner at Mataam Fez in Denver for dinner. The memorial weekend that I came to visit and see the house before we got married, we went there, so it will be a wonderful trip down memory lane. It has been a restaurant that we have gone to many times in the past for special occasions. The food is always good, and the entertainment is fun.

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June 20, 2011 by debi.

This is the scarf that will be given away in the Free Facebook Giveaway Drawing on August 20th.  I just finished it this morning.  It took a while for me to make this hand crocheted scarf.  I crocheted it and tore it apart several times until I got the pattern that I wanted to show off this beautiful green wool.  It is extremely soft and lightweight, and the handpainted italian yarn is absolutely gorgeous.

To enter the drawing you will need click on the link below which will take you to the facebook page for this blog and click the like button.  It is that simple, and you will be entered to win this hand crocheted scarf.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/blogdreamsbydebicom/194812633884506

There is a second giveaway going on for an aqua lace hand knit scarf for following the link below, and clicking the like button on my Dreams by Debi page, which is for my website.  Again, it is very simple to enter, just click the like button on the page and you will be entered to win this beautiful hand knit scarf.

 http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dreams-by-Debi/159465357438740

I am also adding 2 new hats to the website today.  They are fun little, lacy beanies, one white and one in a beautiful periwinkle. Both of these hats are hand crocheted out of 100% cotton and are great for year round wear.  They wonderful gifts for birthdays, holidays, and chemo caps.  They are extremely soft to the touch and to not rub sensitive skin.  Take a look at the new things on the website today and go to facebook and enter to win one of the scarves pictures above.  Good luck in the drawing to everyone.  Below are pictures of the hats that have just been added to the website.

Visit Dreams by Debi at www.dreamsbydebi.comto see these new hat and look at the details of the Free Facebook Giveaway Scarves.

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June 13, 2011 by debi.

It has been a while since I have written.  I have been taking some marketing classes, trying to get some new inventory made, and traveling.  I think I am going to be home for a while, which will be nice.  My last trip was to see my 22 year old son off to Afghanistan.  I spent last week in Jacksonville, North Carolina with my son and his girlfriend.  It was wonderful to spend time with the two of them.  Keep him in your prayers, he will be gone until sometime in January or February.  This tour should be a little safer, then his last one.

I finished my last class about a week and a half ago.  They were pretty time consuming and very informative.  Now that they are done, I can focus on working and making for scarves, hats, shawls, and purses for this fall.  I am also going to finish a skirt and camisole during the next week, and get them on the website.  Here are pictures of these two items, they just need to be sewn together.

I am very excited to finish these two beautiful pieces for summer.  They will be a great addition to any wardrobe.  They are both sized as larges.  I can make the camisole in other sizes, and I can also make it in white, if someone would like it as a special order.  When it is done it will have rhinestone buttons, and it will be priced at approximately $199.00.  The skirt be priced at $349.00, and when I add it to the website catalog I will include the measurements.

Also, keep an eye out for a facebook promotion that I will be doing.  You can enter for the drawing by liking the two facebook pages between June 15 through August 15, for a giveaway for a scarf.  The drawing will be held on August 20, and the prizes are hand knit scarves.  So check out the facebook page for Dreams by Debi, and the facebook page blog.dreamsbydebi.com to enter for your chance to win a free scarf, and for all future giveaways.  Tell your friends also, the more the better.

I have also put 3 new hand crocheted hats on www.dreamsbydebi.com please take a look at the new hats, and watch for the free scarf giveaway.

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April 19, 2011 by debi.

I have had a lot of fun this last week making lots of new crocheted hats for my website.  As I was looking at my inventory, I found that I was sadly lacking in summer cotton crocheted hats.  I decided that I would start crocheting hats last week, and it was so much fun.  Sometimes I get so focused on working on the website that I forget that I have to actually make new items, or it starts to look boring and stale.  So this week I will be adding 5 new crochet hats.  I have made two cloiches, and 3 lace beanies.  One of the cloiches is a little wild with a variegated pink and white yarn, but the other is fairly traditional, done in white with a denim blue yarn for accent.  

The pattern for the cloiche hats come from the book Vogue Knitting on the Go - Crochet Hats.  This is a fun little book with all kinds of patterns.  I think that you croheters out there, will find it fun, and the patterns are pretty easy.  If you are new to crocheting the patterns have easy to follow instructions.

I am including a link to a pattern for the Addison hat that I made.  I did not follow the instructons completely, but I will give the changes that I made.  I figure everyone can use a new crochet hat pattern.  I made this one in a denim cotton.  It works up in a couple of hours.  Rather then crocheting all of the rows, so that the hat folded up, I did just enough rows, so that the hat was a lace beanie.  The link below is to the hat pattern.

http://www.jpfun.com/patterns/free/wearables/f124001_addisonhat.shtml

These are the other two crocheted hats, that I made last week.  If anyone is interested in the patterns, and I will be happy to send them away if you register in my blog or website www.dreamsbydebi.com .  

Since I knit and crochet a lot, I either watch movies or listen to audio books.  I don’t watch much regular tv, so I am always looking for new dvd’s or recording movies on my dvr from cable.  My kids and husband are always laughing at me, because I am fairly predictable about what I watch.  I tend to watch movies with a moral, apocolyptic movies, or chick flicks.  Some of my favorite movies that I have watched recently are Hidden Secrets, Walking on Water, The Secret of Jonathon Sperry, Day After Tomorrow, and of course my all time favorite Sweet Home Alabama.  Some of the books that I have listened to recently are Night Road by Kristin Hannah, The Brotherhood by Jerry B Jenkins, God’s Guest List by Debbie Macomber, and Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley.  I have been reading several books also The Edge of Apocolypse by Tim Lahaye, The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges, and I just got Vanished by Kathryn Markel. 

It has been an enjoyable week, but now back to the grindstone.  I actually need to work on the website, and finish my Small Business Marketing on a Shoestring class this week. I really enjoy writing for you, and would love to have you register on my blog or website, and I will be happy to send you a free pattern for a hat.

www.dreamsbydebi.com

www.blog.dreamsbydebi.com

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March 31, 2011 by debi.

I just finished the first 3 fabric covered journals in my new Inspirational line of accessories and gift items.  I love these journals and they were fun to make.  They are not an original idea, I found the idea in a magazine called LIFE: BEAUTIFUL. I found it at the airport in Mexico, when I took my mom to the airport in February, and the flowers on the front were so beautiful, that I bought the magazine.  These journals were one of the craft projects in the magazine.  I made one last month to give to my Bible study teacher, and it was just okay.  Definitely a work in progress, but these came out beautifully. 

I made them by using the 5 x 8 1/4 inch moleskin journals, and covering them with fabric.  Then I used cardstock on the inside of the front and back to cover the fabric, and I added an envelope with a card inside with a verse from the bible on the front page of the cardstock.  I am enjoying trying to find verses for in the Bible for the journals.  These first three journals have HOPE, FAITH, AND GRACE stamped on the front of them.  I have also used lace or colored cording to tie them closed.

This is the Grace Journal in the Inspriational line.  I just love the colors.

I have also added the FORGIVEN scarf to the website.  It was really fun to make.   It was knit with white cashmerino and the letters were knit with a red faux fur. Check the new scarf out on my website http://www.dreamsbydebi.com/httpwwwdreamsbydebicomhandknitscarfforgiivenp104html-p-104.html.

Here is the link to the journals, also. http://www.dreamsbydebi.com/inspirational-journals-c-30.html

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March 16, 2011 by debi.

Children inspire me all of the time.  I am so amazed at how uninhibited and happy they can be.  I took the pictures of the two little girls above in the town of El Anclote, Nayarit, Mexico a few years ago.  They were both so cute in their own ways.  In the first picture the little was totally hamming it up.  She was very excited to have her picture taken.  She was actually so excited, that when she was jumping around, she hit her mouth on my friend Wanda’s camera.  She was very proudly showing her new teeth coming in, and her brand new toothbrush.  The second picture is of a toddler walking with her mom.  She was very cute, and very curious.  It was kind of her mom to let me take her picture.  She was so sweet and innocent looking.  I think that they are all fairly guileless at that age.  Everything is new, ready to be touched, and looked at, and played with.  Little girls like this inspire me to use pastels when I am designing.  They remind of the girlishness of being a girl.

The blond girl above was playing tag with her sister outside of a restaurant in Cairo.  I caught her running in the picture, which is why the picture it is a little blurry.  She was absolutely beautiful, because she had that blond hair it made her skin look really tan.  She was dresses the way Egyptian woman dress, except because she was young her head was not covered.  As you can see from from her smile, she was having a really good time.  It was fun to watch.

The lives two little girls pictured above could not be more different.  These pictures were taken in Rhodes, Greece.  The first picture of the baby is innocent, and pampered.  Her pacifier is still in her mouth, her parents are with her, she has a stroller, and is well taken care of.  When I look at her baby sundress with its pastel colors and simplicity, I see innocence.  The little girl in the second is beautiful in her own right, but she has a very different life.  She was not in school, she was a little gypsy girl playing the accordion for money from tourists.  I did not see much hope in her eyes, I mostly saw a world weariness that a 6 or 7 year old child should not have.  I gave her money for letting me take her picture, but I wondered where her mom was, and how she could send this beautiful child out to beg for money by herself.  The colors in the picture of this little gypsy child are bright, and beautiful, but these bright colors hide a sadness.

 All too often in my travels, I see children on the streets by themselves begging for money, or in the gypsy girl’s case playing the accordion for tourists for money.  I worry about these little people who are seeing a side of life that most of our children will hopefully never know.  I try to give them a little money, a smile, and a prayer that they will find some happiness in their lives, also.  I would love to see them find the innocence that I was able to catch in the other children’s faces.  All of these children influence the colors I use in designing, and and the patterns that I make and use for clothing and accessories.

Visit my website Dreams by Debi at www.dreamsbydebi.com to see what I have been designing.  The newest scarf will be online in the next few days.  Check back to see the new FORGIVEN Scarf.

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March 10, 2011 by debi.

Color and texture are such an important part of designing.  When I walk into a yarn store or fabric store the first thing that I notice are all of the colors. These stores virtually assualt your sense of vision.  There are colors everywhere, and there is every color under the sun.  I, unfortunately, am attracted to all colors.  Yes, like everyone I have my favorite colors, but to me color is like eye candy.  The picture below is of a tile at the top of a the stairway that someone built into the side of the cliff next to my home in Mexico.  It is a perfect example of color and texture.  The tiles are beautiful and I love the colors, but you also have the texture of the broken tile, the concrete,  the sand and dirt on the tile, even the cracking of the glaze on the tile add texture to the picture.

 When I designing hand knits or hand crocheted items or looking for a fabric for a dress, I also touch for texture.  Even though the picture of the tile has texture, it is not a kind of texture you would want to touch.  One of the things I do when I walk into a yarn store or fabric store is to start touching the yarns and fabrics. I love the soft feel of cashmere yarn or the feel of a beautiful silk or rayon fabric.  We live in a world where our senses are constantly being assualted.  So when I feel something really soft like a wonderfully soft cotton, I know that it will make a wonderful lace hat for summer, a soft pair of socks, or that cardigan that you never want to take off.  When I touch a beautiful rayon at the fabric store with a pastel floral pattern, I know that it will make a fantastic sundress for those really hot days, or a skirt that is so soft and floaty you will feel like you have nothing on.  This shawl below is one of those accessories that you never want to give up.  The color is perfect, and the soft chenille is comfy and cozy.  It is light enough to use in the summer on a cooler evening, but warm enough to use in the winter also.  It’s texture and color are what make it the ideal accessory.  This shawl is available only at  http://www.dreamsbydebi.com/mauve-lace-hand-crocheted-shawl-p-92.html

The scarf below is a perfect example of color and texture.  This scarf is hand crocheted with 100% mercerized cotton, and the color is so, so pretty.  The cotton is really soft, so it has a very smooth feel to it.  What give this scarf texture are the actual crocheted stitches.  This scarf is crocheted in sections, and each sections has different stitches, which gives its unique look.  So it is not only soft to the touch, but the stitches give it lots of interest.  This scarf is available at http://www.dreamsbydebi.com/deep-lavender-hand-crocheted-scarf-p-89.html

So the next time you walk into a yarn or fabric store, let your senses take over and enjoy what you see and feel.

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March 4, 2011 by debi.

 It is fun working on my website.  I have just added a bunch of new scarves to the website, including the scarf above.  It is so pretty and lacey.  I love lace.  It is really fun to knit and crochet also.  It is so exciting when you start knitting lace, and it all starts to come together.  After 5 or 6 inches you start to see how the pattern is going to look with the yarn that you are using.  You know that it is going to look good when you start, but you can’t tell about the feel and look until you have knit several inches. Visit Dreams by Debi at www.dreamsbydebi.com to see what is new.

 I have also started a new line of faith based inspirational accessories and journals.  I just put the first scarf on the website yesterday.  It is a green with pink letters and a pink border.  I have knit the word “FAITH” in the scarf.  I am working on another scarf it is white with red letters and has “FORGIVEN” on it. 

I have also been working on journals, which will have an inspirational word on them, with a quote from the Bible inside.  I made my first one last week, and stamped Faith on the front, and wrote Hebrews 11:1 about faith on a card inside the journal.  I gave it as a gift to my Bible teacher.  They are still rough, but they are coming along. 

I look for inspiration for ideas in everyday things around me.  Like the picture above of the umbrella on the beach in front of my house in Mexico, or the picture that I took below of these peppers taken at a vegetable market on the island of Capri in Italy.  The colors are spectacular, and great to choose from when I am putting fabrics and yarn together.  It is fun being able to be creative, whether it is designing clothing, knitting or crocheting accessories and clothing, painting, or taking pictures.  I love color and texture.  It is fun having a job that you love,

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February 28, 2011 by debi.

Puerto Vallarta was absolutely beautiful over the last few weeks.  I was going to try to blog from there, but the internet connection at my house was not strong enough to upload pictures.  It was very chilly for the first 5 days that I was there.  My mom and I had to sleep with the windows closed, under lots of covers, and wore sweaters most of the day.  Mid afternoon was warm enough to go without a sweater, and that was about it.  It warmed up the day my mom left. 

We had a really relaxing time; we read, watched movies, ate out, had picnics on the bed watching movies, and walked on the beach. I am posting some pictures of the water, because I encountered something that I have only read about and seen in movies, a red tide.  It is an algal bloom, a type of algae, which is often phytoplankton.  It apparently can come in many colors, but this looked purple when you looked out at the water.  It was not really affecting my end of the beach, but down by the Four Seasons, the water in the waves looked almost black.  There were dead fish and sea snakes all down the beach as we took our walk the first day.  It was really interesting to see.  So here is the first picture of the red tide at Playa Careyeros.

You can see it as an area that is a reddish purple color.  My neighbor told me that it had been there for a couple of days, and that it was moving south, so it was heading around the end of our little bay on the Pacific towards Punta de Mita. You can also see it in this second picture.

Our house is next to a cliff, and this is where I took the pictures of the red tide from.  It is interesting, because as you can see below, there are hand tiled stairs going up the side of this cliff.  I have no idea who put these stairs on the hill, but whoever it was was an artist in his or her own right.  They are beautiful, almost like a mosaic.  All different tiles, different colors, different shapes and  sizes, broken pieces and whole pieces it is such a beautiful piece of art in the middle of nowhere.  It is amazing to see, and I think most people take it for granted when they walk on it.  I do not think that they think about the time, energy, and creativity that was put into these stairs.

These are just a few of the tiles up there.  I have more that I will post later.  It is an amazing thing to see.

The two days after my mom left, and before everyone else arrived,  were nice.  I went to the fabric store in Mezcales, and bought oil cloth and fabric to make sundresses with.  I spent a whole day making a dress and a bag for the pool with the fabric that I bought.  I bought extra fabric to make oil cloth bags and sundresses for the website.

I also spent time reading, and read a new magazine called Life: Beautiful, which is absolutely beautiful.  It is a spiritual, bible based magazine.  I read an article about making journals.  It was a really wonderful idea.  I made the first one last week and gave it away as a gift.  I am also going to make more and put them for sale on the website.  The first one that I did I stamped Faith on it, and put a card inside with Heb. 11:1 on it.  It was really fun to make, and was a great gift to give.  I will post pictures of the next ones this week. 

I have also been working on some new hand knit scarves.  I am finishing the edging on the first one, it is a new “Faith” scarf, and I am working on a really special one in white with red fun fur letters.  It is “Forgiven”, white for purity, and red for the blood of Jesus.  It is really special to me, and I am happy that God gave me the ability and creativity to make them, and this blog. 

So today I am thankful to God for all of the things that he is showing me and doing with my life.  Today, I am thankful.

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