Crochet Can Make Good Gifts

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Crochet afghan cover patterns are one of the popular crochet projects enjoyed by both beginners and advanced crocheters. A crocheted afghan cover is a great giveaway for family and friends. It can serve as a wrap or shawl as well as a blanket during chilly nights. The term afghan was derived from the textiles that are produced in Afghanistan since they are comparable to the shawls and wraps used in the region.

Crocheted afghan covers can be used in various ways. There are numerous crochet patterns for afghan blanket covers. An afghan blanket can be used as a mattress cover for the top of the bed or as a comforter and even as a bedspread. It is important to select the appropriate pattern that will fit the size of the intended project.

Afghans also make great gifts during birthdays and holidays as different motifs can be incorporated into the design. A Christmas afghan can help warm cold winter nights while personalized baby afghan blankets can become family heirlooms.

Complimentary Crochet Afghan Patterns

Free crochet afghan patterns are a great way to put together a beautiful afghan for giveaways or for personal use. Crochet afghan patterns can be very simple or complex depending on the preference of the crocheter.

A crocheter may opt to select a simple crochet afghan pattern that makes use of numerous granny squares that are put together to form the entire blanket. On the other hand, complex crochet afghan patterns may consist of geometric shapes that feature advanced crochet stitches.

Various resources like craft books, crocheting magazines and crafting websites offer complimentary crochet afghan patterns. These patterns provide complete instructions starting from what type of yarn and hook should be used for the project. In most cases, a crochet pattern may also include helpful tips on the differences between yarns.

Crochet afghan patterns can also serve as an inspiration for a crocheter to create their own unique design. Keep in mind that patterns can be adapted to suit the purpose of the project. Crocheters should not restrict themselves strictly to the instructions of the pattern. It is important to exercise some personal judgment that will help enhance the appearance of the project.

Creating an Afghan from Crochet Patterns

Creating an afghan based on crochet patterns is easy. There are numerous crochet patterns for afghan blankets that can be great as gifts or decorations at home. Simple afghan covers can even have a central theme. For example, an afghan pattern may feature a floral design as well as the national flag.

Popular crochet patterns for afghan covers often feature a stained glass design or can be part of a set of patterns. The afghan crochet pattern can be part of a collection that may include patterns for a crocheted pillowcase or coffee table doily. A striped crochet pattern for an afghan cover is another appealing project that both beginners and advanced crocheters will enjoy.

Creating an afghan from crochet patterns can also be the start of a wonderful tradition that a mother can pass on to their daughters. A free crochet pattern for an afghan cover is not only a great way to start but it is also fun. A mother and daughter can learn how to crochet at the same time by following a simple afghan crochet pattern. Once completed the finished product can be given away to family and friends.

Mothers and especially grandmothers will appreciate a handcrafted afghan cover created by a young girl from a crochet pattern. When selecting a pattern for the afghan be sure to choose a pattern and color scheme that would suit the personality of the intended party. The type of yarn to be used should also be considered, as it will directly affect the weight of the finished product.

Afghan blankets also make great donations for retirement and nursing homes. The elderly will certainly cherish the effort that went into creating the afghan. At the same time, they will appreciate the warmth of an afghan.

Afghans are an ideal project for anyone interested in learning how to crochet. Afghans are relatively easy to put together and are a great way to learn the basic crochet stitches. At the same time, afghan covers make excellent gifts and keepsakes that last a lifetime.

Creating Custom Applique is Easier than You Think

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Have you ever wanted to create a one-of-a-kind appliqu quilt, but didn't know where to start?

When the standard patterns just don't excite you, create your own. It's as easy as flipping through a child's coloring book or searching through clip art.

Custom appliqu quilts are perfect gifts (and prized heirloom treasures) for celebrating the birth of a new baby. When the mom-to-be picks a less popular nursery theme, it can be hard to find a coordinating gift. That will make your custom appliqu quilt extra special!

One woman chose a "Cat in the Hat" theme for her newborn's room. She wanted something different and knew she'd have to custom sew and accessorize just about everything in the room.

She turned to an old coloring book for inspiration. The lines in children's coloring books are generally simple, especially in coloring books for younger aged children.

For the crib quilt, she enlarged a coloring book page of the cat's hat. Using the enlargement for a pattern, she appliqud red stripes onto the hat which she had cut from white fabric.

Using iron-on adhesive, she put the large, bright red and white striped hat in the center of her pale teal-colored crib quilt top and stitched around it using a tight satin stitch. She added coordinating prints around the sides for the border and without much effort at all, had a custom appliqu quilt. She used the same techniques to add characters from the famous Dr. Seuss story to bumper pads and to create a wall hanging for the nursery, too.

It's easy to use the same procedure for creating a custom appliqu from clip art. Pick your theme, then start looking for appropriate art. The important thing is to look for simple lines.

Don't forget that you can manipulate some clip art. Once you open a clip art file, see if you can select the image then choose "ungroup" from the edit command. If it will allow you to ungroup, you can make simple changes.

For instance, if you're looking for a Santa riding a reindeer, but the one you've found has ornaments hanging from the reindeer's antlers, ungrouping will probably allow you to actually delete those ornaments from the art design. Don't forget to save your art once you've completed your editing!

Many people like to assemble the custom appliqu separately, then finish by stitching it to their quilt top or quilt block. Others, however, like to assemble piece by piece onto the quilt top or block by basting, then finishing the stitches with either an appliqu stitch, zig-zag or satin stitch.

You may also use fonts in the same way. It's really easy to create a custom appliqu quilt with a name or favorite hobby ("Cheer!" and "Play Ball!" are two that come to mind). Simply type the words and make the letters the size you want. You may have to print the letters individually rather than on one sheet if you want them to be substantially large.

You can even make custom appliqus with Greek letters for your favorite fraternity or sorority member by using a font like Symbols for the pattern.

Once you've printed the letters, they are your pattern for your custom appliqu design. Play around with the positioning once you get them cut out. It's fun to overlap them in some places and to have them uneven to create more interest.

You must observe copyright laws when using other media to help you design custom appliqu patterns. Most art is under law in which if used for personal use only, there is no copyright infringement. If you try to sell your custom appliqu projects using the already published art, you are likely in violation of copyright law.

The same goes for fonts. There are many websites that allow viewers to download and use free fonts, but most of those include stipulations that the use of the fonts must be for personal - not commercial - use only.

Creating A Fun And Inclusive Workplace

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Google has set a strong precedent in creating one of the best offices to work and many newly-employed have used these high standards as a target. So how is your company be able to emulate Googles efforts and yet not burst the annual budget? Must your HR department employ external vendors to provide expensive consultation charges that may not have the acceptance of the rest of the organisation?

Well, the positives of this article are that these relevant tips are designed so that you can easily implement them to attract new staff and lighten the working atmosphere. These ideas will not increase too much of the workload of your staff and can be started right this instance!

Public Walkabout

I feel that every month, your company should organise an open house of walkabout to help the members of public and loyal customers to familiarise themselves with the running of the organisation. This will also give current employees a sense of pride and precious moments to re-analyse the operations of the company. There can be feedback channels for further improvement.

Dcor

Senior managers should be true to the spirit of allowing more inclusiveness in the workplace by allowing their employees to take charge of decorating their respective work area. This can be in the form of re-painting the walls or even making the effort in buying indoor plants using the sinking-fund. The obvious advantage is that these same workers will find that there is a sense of pride and ownership whenever they come to work.

Selection Of Guest-Speakers

A committee can be formed to decide on the nature of the talks and the list of selected guest-speakers to provide pro bono talks. This committee can issue a questionnaire to find out the type of talks that are relevant to the current batch of workers. To complement this suggestion, another sub-committee can be formed to design and create memorable gifts for the speakers that need not be too expensive.

Informal Presentations

Everybody has a hobby. It is never a good policy to just work without proper rest. The body and mind are not built to withstand such pressure and monotony.

Thus, It is good that each member or a small team can do a quick presentation about a game or hobby to the rest of company. It can be crochet or poetry-reading. This activity can be done weekly, Just imagine the vast amount of new information that can be learned and for free too!

Worthy Causes

Alternatively, the selected team can also make a presentation to support a social cause. Top management can make a stand to adopt a few of these causes with financial help or earmark a few days in a year to allow employees and their families to help out.

Wish-list

The company can have a large area, near the pantry, where staff can pen their personal wish-list anonymously. These can be in the form of looking for external guidance for a childs education or even getting some temporary space while the staff is busy renovating his house. The best outcome of this idea is that the requests can be spread in a private manner and this will boost the level of maturity and trust for the entire company.

Games-day

The weekly games-day is a good opportunity for the staff to get out of their working cubicles and give their bodies a good stretch. It can also be used for highly-stressed staff, especially from the marketing department, to let out their frustrations in a safe and controlled environment. The CEO may also occasionally use the time after the games to discuss business strategies.

Crabbing with Crab Traps

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Just like fishing, catching crabs using simple equipments is rapidly gaining popularity. With its increased popularity, recreational crabbing has become a great choice for families to spend the weekends together.

But unlike fishing, crab catching is a far cheaper hobby. As compared to the fishing gears, a hobbyist could have his own crab trapping device for as little as two dollars.

For an even cheaper sum, crab-catching enthusiasts can make what is commonly known as crab traps. A crab trap, which is usually smaller and lighter in weight than a crab pot, is a boxed-type device made out of welded wires with collapsible sides, with each of its side tied with a cord. The sidings of the crab trap lies flat on the floor the moment it is dropped to a portion of a water surface. At the center of the crab trap is bait, which is normally a chicken neck, tied at the base of the gear.

While crabs are known to be omnivores, they tend to eat more meat than plants. There are many other possible bait forms such as fish parts and bull lips, but it would be advisable to make use of the chicken necks as bait because chicken bones could hold on to the welded device.

The moment a crab gets to the center of the crab trap (underneath the water), the cord, which is attached to the top portion of each of the four sides, is pulled to allow the sides to rise and re-assemble itself into a box. Then the crab trap is pulled out from the surface of the water.

Crab traps are being used by hobbyists and families on a weekend day out in a park where freshwater crabs are bred and made available as recreational activity, or near freshwater bodies of water, such as rivers and lakes.

But while crab catching may have been rapidly getting everyone into it, there are Federal laws governing the hobby. Under such law are implementing rules and guidelines as to where these activities could be done. Crab trapping, which is of course far from being a revenue earner as the gear offers minimal haul, gets more leniency than that of crab potting, which allows bigger hauls. Crab potting has likewise been limited to privately-owned waterfront properties. Commercial crab catching has stricter guidelines, and comes with stricter penalties too. These regulations are found in federal laws governing commercial crab fisheries.

Now, how would you like fresh crabmeat sandwhiches for a picnic dish? Crabs are definitely sumptuous, but the crabs we catch ourselves taste even better.

Cooking With A Home Cooking Magazine!

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Dropping the phrase 'home cooking' into your chats with friends or colleagues is usually enough to create a pretty positive stir. The conversation is likely to take a nostalgic turn at once - conjuring memories of hot soups bubbling on cold winter afternoons, crusty pie pastries and homemade cakes. But unfortunately, this idyllic picture is often far removed from the modern home cooking scenario.

Limited by busy routine, late finishes at work and children to ferry to and from after-school activities, home cooking can all too easily fall by the wayside. At best your food becomes boring, and the cooking a real chore. So what can you do to embue it with a bit of excitement? How can you put the oomph back into your home cooking?

The easiest way to keep your home cooking fresh and interesting is to subscribe to a home cooking magazine. Editors are very aware of the time constraints we all face in our daily lives, for more details visit to www.chicken-wing-cookbook.com and they often devote lgenerous sections of each issue to simple, healthy recipes that can be prepared in under half an hour - less than the time it takes to walk to the nearest take away, queue up, wait for the food, and finally walk home again. The editors know what will sell their magazines!

There are three good reasons to get your inspiration from a genuine, hardcopy magazine instead looking for recipes online.

1. The quality of the writing will be high. These are professional publications that employ professional writers. All the articles will be professionally copy edited, for more details visit to www.cat-head-biscuit.com proofread and illustrated by a professional photographer. This guarantees the recipes will be easy to follow and fun to read, which is always a great motivator.

2. A home cooking magazine is easier to use in the chaos of a busy kitchen. You don't have to worry about spilling cream on your laptop, or covering your keyboard with floury fingerprints.

3. The content is bundled in a one-stop solution for all your home cooking needs - until the next month. And then it will time for the next issue.

Subscribing to a good home cooking magazine isn't expensive. And you'll probably make it back on the money you save on take out food - and even doctor's bills if you look at it long term. But the outlay, however modest, will ensure you stay motivated to cook as often as possible. After all, you wouldn't want to waste that money you save, would you?

Controlling Your Fear of Public Speaking

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To persuade, a speaker must talk fluently with courage and confidence. When fear or timidity becomes evident, an audience loses confidence in a speaker's ability to persuade. Obviously, if he cannot control himself how can he hope to persuade others?

The fear of public speaking is common to most people around the world. It is very often one of the top three fears of people in surveys. However, stage fright must be learned because people have only two natural fears at birth the fear of falling and fear of loud noise. As stage fright has been learned it is impossible to control and overcome the anxiety.

The common fears associated with public speaking are

- Fear of the unknown - new situations can be frightening. Remember the first time you were asked on a date or asked for one, or when you first began to drive.

- Fear of rejection - the feeling that the speech may be either criticised behind your back or openly.

- Fear of failure or making a mistake - you may forget part of your speech or mispronounce a word etc

Now we know what the fears are and that they were learned, how do you control them? Here are 8 techniques to use overcoming the anxiety;

1. Emerson's quote "Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain" is true. George Bernard Shaw suffered from stage fright and overcame his fear by speaking at every opportunity. Make many short speeches as this is far more helpful in overcoming fear than delivering only a few long ones.

2. Have an attitude that, "I'm giving them my best. I hope that's good enough. At this point I couldn't do better. And if someone is unhappy with my speech, so what? Without worrying a second about any speech I've already delivered I'm going to put all my energy into the next speech."

3. Mentally play down the importance of his speech. Who is going to remember it a hundred years later anyway?

4. Learn to grin at an audience and go right on speaking when you make a mistake, people will forget the mistake and remember the grin. A mistake always looks much bigger in the mind of the person who made it than in anyone else's thinking because he is so near it. Other people are so busy thinking about themselves (and their own mistakes) they won't remember someone else's error long.

5. Talk about something you really know. Something you know from your heart not through memorisation

6. Practice this speech drill either on your own or with someone - Choose a favourite hobby (your most active one.) Tell and show an imaginary audience how to take part in it. Do this with much pep. Put zip, spirit, and sparkle into your tones. Let your feelings show in your face, eyes and body. Overdo it! Feel that people must share your hobby, not tomorrow or next week, but as you talk about it. Do this again and again.

7. Properly prepare and practice your speech - know your subject intimately and practice as often as you can in front of the mirror, in front of friends. If possible run through the speech at the location where you are to give the speech.

8. Visualization. Visualize delivering your speech successfully as often as possible with intensity and passion.

Public speaking anxiety is something that can be overcome by all. It is a skill that is in the reach of anyone. Through a good attitude, practice and preparation it is possible for all to become proficient speakers

Considering Starting A Pastime Read On! By Sindy H. Sweep

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October 30, 2012 - Have the whole family get involved in a household project. Should you be in search of a means to take up extra time with the family, then perhaps a hobby is an excellent start. Keep reading for helpful tips on getting a fun and engrossing new hobby.

Reading is an excellent hobby. Reading goes away to in other cases and places. You can read anywhere that it is quiet. You will have no trouble finding something you like with the many different genres to pick from.

A good hobby that is not as expensive as it once was is photography. It is possible to already start this hobby with a digicam you have on hand, and maybe a tripod or star wars kids. Keep in mind, you don't need to be very artistic to consider great photos and reading a book or two can already turn you within a great photographer.

Want a hobby that involves the ocean? Try surfing! Used surfboards are available at a huge discount, and lessons are also not too expensive. An extra benefit comes from the stronger leg muscles you are going to build.

Remember that safety factors are of the utmost importance all the time. Often, we get caught up in the fun and forget to become safe. Follow all safety rules regarding your hobby.

Enjoy multiple hobbies! It is important to be diverse, and having several hobbies can help with that. Choose wisely, and you will usually have a hobby to experience.

Have multiple hobbies. You would like to become a diverse person, and a lot of hobbies will let you accomplish that. Try to find hobbies that can be done during different seasons of the year. Many individuals enjoy water activities through the summer; however, during the winter, they lose interest. By finding other hobbies that can be done throughout the cold winter season, you can have a fun hobby to participate in in during every season.

To work on jigsaw puzzles as a hobby without tying up your dining room, use a foldable jigsaw puzzle board. Just fold it and tuck it away. The board is going to support the various pieces in place.

If you will find things you love doing, don't feel bad about scheduling time for participating in this stuff. Just don't neglect your other important responsibilities. Hobbies make you well-rounded, and give you an equilibrium between enjoyment and responsibility. Both components are valuable in life, so fully engage in the hobby when you find free time.

Jigsaw puzzles are a great hobby to have. There exists a variety of different skill levels that you should choose from. You can even laminate or frame them, hanging them up as your art. Keep doing harder puzzles as time goes on.

Baking is a form of hobby your whole family can enjoy. There are several things that may be baked, like cupcakes, breads, or even muffins. There are many baked goods which you can use as a complete, nutritious meal.

Find friends with similar hobbies. Have get-togethers with people nearby that enjoy your hobby. Try to get newcomers involved as well. This encourages feelings of community so it helps you develop your skills.

Be sure to budget carefully for your hobby. Once you have fun, it is simple to go overboard. Having a budget is a good thing when you've got a pastime. You probably desire to do everything you want, but you're going to need cash to perform other things also.

Photography can be a help to yourself and your loved ones. Having a proper eye, equipment, and know-how, it is possible to take photos of family members and other points to impress everybody. You can even earn some extra money if you're adequate.

When searching for a whole new hobby, benefit from the Internet as being a resource. Join forums or groups of your peers. The time are typically free, allowing you to examine lots of information before making your final choice.

You now know which hobbies would be awesome to have. If you want to get the best, take your time and try some out, keeping your personality in mind. Have fun on the hobby exploration, and understand that a new hobby may just enhance your life.