Stop by Aspen Rug Hooking Company's Facebook page this weekend, January 26-28th, and bid on finished rugs, wool, patterns, and other items.

One great way to end a long work day is to share tea and a conversation with a friend. If you haven't had the time to catch up with a good friend for awhile, why not call her or him and set a date to get together.

Hello 2019! My wishes are for you are love and peace. To welcome the new and say good-bye to the old, Auld lang syne, I am offering a pair of trivets in my shoppe. A pair of 8x8 inch hen and rooster trivets will work up fast for your friends or for yourself.

​Download both patterns to your computer and start hooking or punching right away. And at only $2.99 for both of them, it doesn't dent your wallet. Make as many as you want after you download the patterns and if you are so inclined, sell them too. Just leave a comment where you got the pattern from. Feel free to reduce or enlarge if the 8x8 size isn't quite what you want. That's all there is to it!

Leave them out or hang them up facing each other. They add a bit of prim charm and whimsy, don't you think?

I am an ambivert. That is, I am not an introvert nor an extrovert. 

For me, however, there is such good pleasure derived from hooking rugs at home.

There are unfinished projects waiting for me to hook. It's not that I don't want to do them. It's more of a case where I have yet to find that ideal spot to hook. I know I am being overly picky. It should be simple: I just find a chair or a spot on the sofa to sit and start hooking. And yet, I manage to turn into something colossal. In some ways, I am like the proverbial Goldilocks who can't find a comfortable place to lay down. Sometimes, I wish I had a second person to share their ideas about creating that room of comfort where I want to be. Bouncing ideas back and forth is where giant ideas form and continue to grow. For now, I do believe I have some hooking to do, and I better get to it; even if it isn't the perfect place. 

This is a pitiful time of year for ranting. I mean, here we are in the midst of the holiday season; a time of year when festive moods light up around us, and we are supposed to be merry. Yet, here I am grumbling away about trolls: haters who I don't even know.

Typically, I keep my composure whenever I am on social media; well, for the most part. Any ranting I have in my brain pretty much stays in there while I rant silently to myself about hookers who troll. You bring any group of people together in a forum, you are going get the haters. Rug-hookers are no different. The majority of hookers are very kind and caring people. They are helpful and generous, but then there are the minority that know how to irritate and command attention from everyone else.

Yes, the rug-hooking community has its fair-share of trolls. There are rug-hookers who are committed to policing everyone else, argue for the fun of it, banter until they have worn out their opponent and feel a sense of VICTORY, and others just because they are mean angry people. So to you haters, if you are reading this, take your anger to a kickboxing class where you can take out your hostilities there.

This week, I posted my Cheticamp frame for sale. It was a hard thing to do, and quite honestly, I was on the fence about doing it for plenty of good reasons. One reason is that I like the large hooking area, another is that I can rest my arm and my hooking tools right on the rug's surface, and lastly because I spent a lot of money on it. Aside from wool and foundation cloth purchases, this frame from Nova Scotia, Canada was the largest rug-hooking investment I ever made.

So then you are probably thinking, why sell it? I have reasons for that too! I really need the money after being unemployed for nearly 8 months because it is hard catching up financially especially with a teenage girl living under my roof. Another reason is that I think I want to buy a Needle Works frame... eventually.

Well, I went ahead and posted it to Facebook and Instagram. Little did I know what was about to happen! I did not expect the ugly trolls to worm their way into my posts and scandalize it. Surprise! Now, I am not one for confrontation. I just don't like it. I have had enough experiences in my lifetime and then some where confrontations were a daily way of life; and my personality, which is caring and kind, really takes a beating when it is under attack. Some people won't understand this, and that is ok. You don't need to get it, and you don't share my personality, so it's difficult to empathize.

Anyway, the trolls were calling me a scammer, a liar, and pointing out how greedy I was being. WOW! I never saw this coming, truly. These mean people don't even know me, know my purchasing history, they don't know the first thing about my experience when I bought this frame. And here I am gazing into my computer screen like I was hit by a Mack truck. I can't decide how to respond to them.

​My first thought was to be angry. Of course, that happens to be the first stupid thing that enters my frustrated mind. Damn, that's not a good approach. My next approach is to be nice and inform them of my purchase. God what a waste of time! Really? I have to defend myself to the void of Facebook and Instagram?! Now I grow more impatient. Damn, that's not good either. Okay, what's left? Maybe I should ignore them? Well, maybe? But then I look guilty of some sort of crime as though I was trying to bilke fellow rug-hookers out of money. Not even a lot of money mind you. We are talking about a difference of what, $100? But, that was not what I was doing. I obviously paid too much for the frame. Damn! Okay, so another option might be to delete the posts and just forget about the entire thing and keep my stupid obscenely expensive frame. Yeah, maybe that's what I will do...

Keep checking back to find the latest downloadable patterns. I will bring you new and vintage patterns, and the prices start at only $2.99 for simple designs and go up to $9.99 for complex designs.

Now here's a great idea: download the Gypsy Heart pattern, and begin hooking your project right away. Find this popular pattern in my shop and save money too. At only $4.99, it costs less than a large fancy Frappuccino from your local cafe.

Oh St. Nick, I've been good all year. Can I make a wish? Will you grant me a wish, St. Nick dear?