Crochet flowers - Myosotis sylvatica:LISUI's

Ok, I lied. I'm not in Ohio yet. I'm up early in an attempt not to be terribly jet-lagged tomorrow morning. I'd thought my flight today was super early, but I was wrong. So I just set my alarm for 6:30 (really, it would have been more effective if I'd set it for 5:30, but I'm not masochistic enough).

So here are some links I've been surfing while trying to be quiet so as not to wake up the very-appropriately sleeping man.

Aren't these crocheted flowers stunning?

And speaking of stunning, check out Helle's post about the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef plus her own Rubbish Vortex in New York. I wish I could go!

Check out Charm & Whimsy's cottage tea cozy. Such attention to detail!

The Purl Bee is at it again, this time with a crocheted baby blanket in lovely, muted colours. I love baby stuff that isn't pastel.

Danielle Kassner is at it again (she designed the amazing tapestry crochet socks in the current issue of Interweave Crochet), this time with one of the most stunning combinations crochet and knitting I've come across. Rock on, Danielle.

Finally, I adore this rag bag by Boutique Pink Designs. Not only do Iove rag projects, I also love thinking that spring might eventually get here, and the colours of this bag make me smile. (Actually, I believe spring will arrive in Vancouver today, just as my plane takes off.)

Make some yummy crochet this week, eh?

Preparing:kpwerker

Consider my Icelandic Turtleneck in a bowl after washing evidence of my impending trip to Ohio for Knitting Daily TV taping. My nails are done, my hair is coifed (which shouldn't be taken too literally—my hair: I do not coif it), and soon my bags will be packed. I'm psyched!

But now to the apology. I blogged recently about CrochetMe.com being in need of a new webhost. We've experienced a lot of downtime in the last few weeks (this afternoon, most recently), and our web host has experienced a massive technological glitch, and I thought the two were related. It turns out I wasn't asking the right questions when I was submitting my support requests—our server isn't actually affected by the web host's other problems. Our downtime has been caused by our own database problem, which is hopefully now fixed.

I apologize both to you, dear crocheters, for the inconsistency of the site of late, and to our dear web host, whom I inappropriately blamed.

Have a great weekend, and a great week. Pictures and updates later, gators!

Model Citizen Scarf WIP:kpwerker

Not much to say today. Just a pretty picture.

In the last couple of months, this site was down about a handful of times. Each time it was for an understandable technology-related reason, but taking a higher-level perspective makes the inconsistency in service frustrating and unacceptable, and I can only imagine how baffling it might be to you, our dear members and visitors, to come to CrochetMe.com to find a blank screen or a confusing error message.

I've put off looking for a new web host for three reasons. First, I've really enjoyed working with our current host. They're friendly and responsive, though not quite as good with their up-time guarantee as I would like. Second, our current host's fees are relatively low, and I've been concerned that a switch would result in a fee increase we simply couldn't afford. Third, switching web hosts is a royal pain in the patootey.

However, like with most issues, there comes a point where the costs of maintaining the status quo outweigh the (potential) costs of change. We've reached that point and we need your help.

First, if you have experience renting a dedicated server, we'd love to hear your recommendations for a great host. (We've far outgrown shared hosting, so please only weigh in if you're familiar with dedicated hosting services.)

Second, we could use some of that awesome community spirit that makes this site so special. Months and months ago I thought we'd be revitalizing our languishing CafePress store, but that fell through. If you're a talented graphic artist and would be willing to donate your skills and art in any small or large way so we can raise some funds to support CrochetMe.com, please be in touch (there will be goodies in it and undying gratitude from thousands of crocheters, and hopefully your crochet and CrochetMe.com-themed work walking the streets and adorning caffeine-delivery vessels the world over). I'm also very open to suggestions for engaging our active and caring community to push this site (and crochet) as we enter this transitional technology period—there are many improvements yet to be made to the site, and the more people get involved, the better the site will be!

I'm going to trample my inclination to feel great stress over this hosting situation and rather will channel my energy into making this into opportunity to build our community even more. Won't you come along for the adventure? It won't be the same without you.

Thoughts?

I don't really use Facebook all that much, but given it's the greatest thing since sliced Myspace, I thought it would be fun to create a Crochet Me page there, so all y'all can become a fan and then—I don't know what. What do people do on fan pages on Facebook? I'm looking forward to finding out...

MY BOOK!:skamama