CGOA Conference Prep Time & Celebrating Two Years of Healthy!!!

For many years July was both exciting and terrifying for me! It was exciting because it was time for the Crochet Guild of America's annual conference but terrifying because I lived with chronic illness and never knew what my body would be doing. Since there were times when I wasn't able to walk on my own, I remember trying to decorate my walker with crocheted motifs in case I had to bring it with me. I would contact my beautiful roommate, Kimberly, shown below multiple times telling her I didn't think I was going to make it because I was so afraid of the "what if's" but she would convince me to come and would reassure me that she would help to get me through it. Wow! What a friend to take on that burden.

Two years ago, everything changed. Kimberly was doing a nutritional cleansing program. She looked totally amazing and she was so full of energy and vitality! I immediately knew I wanted to try the program. The picture below was taken just 4 days before I began the program July 26, 2013. Lynyrd Skynyrd was staying at our hotel and we are pictured here with Rickey Medlocke but I was so sick. Just look at my eyes!

Even if it gave me just a little of my health back that would be better than nothing but it blew that totally out of the water and gave me health that I never would have even dreamed of! At 51 years young, I feel better than I did in my twenties and I am certainly way stronger! Another amazing thing I have enjoyed over the last 2 years is that I have been able to help others achieve the same results! There is nothing more rewarding then being able to offer solutions to peoples problems! My favorite days are when I get up to a message from one of my cleansers telling me their doctor has taken them off of some of their medications or an excited phone call telling me they have lost 20 pounds and now fit in a pair of jeans they've had for years. This is by far the most rewarding, exciting and meaningful adventure I have ever been a part of and I feel so incredibly blessed!

So this July for the second year in a row, I am not terrified of anything about traveling to the upcoming CGOA conference. I am very sad that Kimberly will not be attending but I will be totally fine on my own thanks to her caring enough to share this program with me. My biggest concerns are bringing my program supplies and making sure my sneakers fit in my suitcase so I can work out. Exercise is something I had never done before and it is now one of my very favorite activities.

I am completely unstoppable and there is nothing I can't do now! I cannot wait for all of you to feel this amazing too! Please, send me a message! My email is THilde5939@aol.com or message me on Facebook. I am so excited to see many of you in San Diego and can't wait to get lots of hugs!!! See you in 2 weeks!

Happy National Crochet Month 2015!

Wow! I can hardly believe it is this time of year again already! I hope everyone has a lot of fun events and activities planned to celebrate National Crochet Month! I would first like to thank Amy Shelton and Donna Hulka, owners of Crochetville for once again hosting this incredible blog tour! I love to read all of the wonderful entries and this year there will be more free patterns and prizes than ever before! Thank you to Red Heart Yarns for sponsoring the great giveaways! You can find the complete list of participants right here!

One great way to celebrate National Crochet Month is by joining the Crochet Guild of America! There are so many benefits to being a member of CGOA; you can find just a few of the top reasons here. The picture below is from our Summer conference last year in Manchester, New Hampshire! Pictured is Jenny King, Amy Shelton, myself and Marcy Smith. We have so much fun and I have learned so much with incredible volunteer opportunities. I am currently serving my second term as Vice President of this wonderful organization. Find out how you too can become involved.

Another great way to celebrate is to pay it forward and share your gift of crochet by bringing love and comfort to someone in need. We will once again be supporting Halos of Hope which is a 501c3 not-for-profit organization committed to providing volunteer-crafted hats to cancer centers across the country. Founder and executive director, Pam Haschke, is a cancer survivor and you can find all the details of their program on their site. I am offering a free hat pattern in celebration of National Crochet Month and I ask that you make a hat or two (or as many as you are able) and send to Halos of Hope! There are also many knit and crochet patterns offered on their site and they also accept donations to help cover the expenses of shipping the hats!

Whatever you do to celebrate, just be sure you ARE celebrating and sharing the love of crochet! Teach someone to crochet, gift your projects, send some yarn and patterns in a random act of kindness to someone in need, just celebrate!

And be sure to stop by and visit me on my Facebook Hot Lava Crochet page, my Craftsy pattern store, my Ravelry page, and lastly, if you are looking to improve your health, lose weight, increase your energy or even create an additional stream of income, I invite you to visit my Facebook Healthy Begins With You nutritional cleansing page. I have lost 53 pounds and I feel absolutely amazing!!! 

And now on to the free pattern! A very special "thank you" to Bendy Carter with her help 

testing the pattern! 

Enjoy!!!

Celebration 2015 Hat

  

Designed by Tammy Hildebrand.

RED HEART® Super Saver: 100% Acrylic; 7 oz. (198g), 364 yd (333m) skein; 1 skein each: Shocking Pink #718 (A); Jade #3862 (B); Lavender #358 (C).

Crochet Hook: 5.5mm [US I-9]. Yarn needle.

GAUGE:

Finished Size:

Special Stitches Sc2tog (single crochet two stitches together)

Notes Ch 3 at beginning of rounds counts as first double crochet. To change color, yarn over with new color when working final slip st to join round. Drop unused color to back of work until needed again and loosely carry up.

Instructions With A, ch 4, join with sl st to form ring. Rnd 1 (RS): Ch 3, 11 dc in ring, join with sl st in top of beg-ch changing to B. 12 dc. Rnd 2: With B, ch 1, sc in first st, ch 3, skip next st, *sc in next st, ch 3, skip next st; rep from * around, join with sl st in beg sc changing to C. 6 sc, 6 ch-3 sps. Rnd 3: With C, working all sts in skipped sts of 2 rnds previous and behind ch sts of previous rnd, sl st in first skipped st, ch 3, 2 dc in same st, ch 1, *3 dc in next skipped st, ch 1; rep from * around, join with sl st in top of beg ch-3 changing to A. 18 dc, 6 ch-1 sps. Rnd 4: With A, ch 1, * sc in first st of 3-dc group, working in ch-3 sp of 2 rnds previous and next st at same time, sc in next st, sc in next st, sc in next ch-1 sp,; rep from * around, join with sl st in beg sc changing to B. 24 sc. Rnds 5 – 7: Rep Rnds 2 – 4. 48 sc. Rnd 8: Rep Rnd 2. 24 sc, 24 ch-3 sps. Rnd 9: With C, working all sts in skipped sts of 2 rnds previous and behind ch sts of previous rnd, sl st in first skipped st, ch 3, 2 dc in same st, *3 dc in next skipped st; rep from * around, join with sl st in top of beg ch-3 changing to A. 72 dc. Rnd 10: With A, ch 1, * sc in first st of 3-dc group, working in ch-3 sp of 2 rnds previous and next st at same time, sc in next st, sc in next st, rep from * around, join with sl st in beg sc changing to B. 72 sc. Rnd 11: With B, ch 1, sc in first st, sc2tog, *sc in next st, sc2tog; rep from * around, join with sl st in beg sc changing to C. 48 sc. Rnd 12: With C, sc in each st around, join with sl st in beg sc changing to A. Rnd 13: With A, sc in each st around, join with sl st in beg sc changing to B. Rnd 14: With B, sc in each st around, join with sl st in beg sc changing to C. Rnds 15 – 23: Rep Rnds 12 – 14 three times. Rnd 24: Rep Rnd 12. Rnd 25: Working in front loops only, rep rnd 13. Rnd 26 - 28: Rep Rnds 8 – 10 (do not change to B in last rnd). Fasten off after last rnd.

Finishing With yarn needle, weave in ends.

ABBREVIATIONS: ch = chain; dc = double crochet; sc = single crochet; sl st = slip st; sp(s) space(es); st(s) = stitch(es); * = repeat whatever follows the * as indicated.

Happy New Year Fiber Friends!

Happy New Year everyone! I know I am a little bit late but it has been as hectic as always around here, maybe even a bit more than usual. 2014 has started out with a bang and it is shaping up to be a fantastic year! I am so excited to see what's in store. Let me share just a few of the great things going on.

My very first book, "Crochet Wraps Every Which Way" is now available! If you took advantage of the pre-order, you probably already have the book in your hands! Please stop by my Facebook page Hot Lava Crochet and let me know what you think! I always love seeing pictures when you make one of my designs so be sure to post on my page! If you want a sneak peak of all the designs, you can check them out here. There is also a blog tour going on for the entire month of July! Check my Facebook page every day to follow the stops. There are a lot of great people that I am so thankful to that will be reviewing my book and some of them are having giveaways.

On December 20, just 5 days before Christmas (who does that??!!), we purchased a beautiful, old Southern home. She needs some work so we've been spending a lot of time over there bringing back her original beauty and charm. We have name her "Isabella Manor" and we just love her!!! 

And my new office that I am so excited to work in! 

As many of you know, I began a nutritional cleansing program at the end of July last year. It has been the most incredible journey and my life has undergone a complete transformation! So far, I have lost 44 pounds but it feels like even more because this program helps to build lean muscle mass. I have so much energy that I feel like I'm in my twenties again! In case you missed my latest picture on Facebook, I will post it below. Please contact me if you are interested in giving it a try! I would LOVE for everyone to feel as great as I do and nothing would bring me greater joy than to help you achieve it!

I wish you all a very Happy New Year filled with much happiness and health and dreams that come true! 

A New Beginning!!!

As many of you know, over the past 3 months I have been going through an incredible transformation! So many people have asked what I am doing that I thought it would be easiest to share here. Let me back up a little bit first. In January 2006, my family and I decided to take charge of our health so we embarked on a weight loss program and joined a gym. It was such a wonderful time, feeling that we were finally on the right path, eating in a way we then believed to be healthy, exercising and losing weight as a family. For 6 months we were just enjoying life and then we got sick. Very sick. I was the first to be rushed to the hospital where I was told I'd had a stroke. I was 42 years old. Things just got worse from there. I went through years of "mystery illness", seeing one doctor after another with each one giving me a new diagnosis from MS to Lupus, Fibromyalgia, Parkinsons, Chronic Lyme Disease and just handing me a bunch of pills with the explanation that "these things just happen". As I continued to get sicker, my neurologist referred me to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota in the dead of winter! I could barely walk anymore and it was a very scary, sad time as I gradually lost hope of ever being healthy again. As the years passed I tried many different treatments including mainstream medicine, herbs and supplements and I would sometimes find something that would help a few symptoms. I was thrilled to have some sort of life back but I never experienced true healing nor did I feel I ever would.

July of this year I attended a crochet conference where my roommate and wonderful friend Kimberly was doing a nutritional cleanse. I didn't even ask her a thing about the program, I just wanted what she had! She was full of energy, she felt amazing and she looked incredible. She was healthy and I wanted that too!

I began nutritional cleansing on July 26, 2013. By the end of the third day my symptoms were gone. Every last one of them....gone! I knew from my years of research that this program just made sense! Put the good in, take the bad out! When I had lost the weight in 2006 I didn't know that toxins were stored in fat cells. As I lost weight, I went into toxic overload! This picture reminds me of the insurance commercial that is on television all the time - "It's not complicated".

So tomorrow will be 3 months since I reclaimed my life. I can't even begin to put into words what that feels like! I wake up each morning excited to start the day and I leap out of bed. For years I kept my walker at my bedside in case I couldn't get up without some help. Those days are gone! I even did a cartwheel about a week or so after I started. It has been absolutely incredible and I know I have the key to remain healthy. I am so grateful and I feel so incredibly blessed! Obviously, I have been telling everyone I know about this! Why wouldn't I? It brings me so much joy to pass this on and watch my friends experience the same healing as me! My husband began the program about 2 1/2 months ago. He has been through so much medically and it is absolutely fantastic to watch him heal and be able to do things he couldn't previously do! Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like to know more! Nothing makes me happier than to share this with everyone I can! You can message me on Facebook or send me an email THilde5939@aol.com. I would LOVE for you to feel this great too!!!