Tuesday 27 January 2015

Three weeks away from high quality wifi puts a crimp in ones online lifestyle!
But the sun and scenery and general nothing to do was worth it.
In between lying around relaxing I did do a wee bit of crocheting.
Or should I say a bit of wee crocheting. These are more of the preemie hats. I can make 10 to 12 from one 120gm ball of Baby Luv yarn.









I also collected beach glass, and some oyster shells. Now what can I do with those.



Wednesday 7 January 2015

Much of the time a hobby serves to separate a person from the rest of the household. And admittedly that is sometimes part of the appeal! No one wants to hang around while the sewing machine drones or chugs away. Pottery needs an entire studio, and I don't have one. So off I go the "the guild" when I want to pot.
Even knitters click and clack quietly as they work. 
But crocheting is quite a peaceful, non assertive occupation. If you pick a simple project and count quietly, you can watch TV, or converse with friends. And the equipment is minimal too. no expensive sewing machine, or free arm quilter. No wheel or kiln.
Just a hook and some yarn and you are off!

Well maybe more than one hook. There are 18 here and I have a few others not in the carrier, including a size 15mm and a couple of old ones so small they have protective covers over the hook end. I have not yet used either of those sizes. The 15mm came in a multi-pack with  8mm, 9mm, and 10mm, and I have used those 3 sizes. This is the second hook carrier I have made. The first held 10 hooks and is now much too small. Still the cost for both was minimal: scrap fabric and a few minutes sewing.


The other essentials are small sharp scissors and a tapestry needle. I lost mine while on holiday in 2013 and found that not every store carries them! I ended up buying one from a kind knitter who ran a yarn store in Oamaru, NZ. She sold me her own needle out of her kit.  I am very careful not to lose it! It has a large eye and works well to weave in any ends I have left over.



A delivery of tiny hats is on its way to equally tiny heads at the RA NICU.

Monday 5 January 2015

Blocking crochet items, like making a gauge sample first, is one of those chores I try to avoid. This piece seemed to start all right.


 
But somewhere along the way it acquired waves. Sometimes  even I have to give in. The plaid afghan just would not lie flat as made.
So I bit the bullet so to speak and laid it out.

Then used the "steam with an iron but don't touch" method. That is an official method, right? It looks much better now.

And I'm still making a few mini hats for the preemies, in various sizes.  New pattern from Nan at Preemie Hat Project. And also a few with a pattern from the Get Well Gang that I have used before, I just mini sized it! The original was adult size and I already reduced it to child size for my hats to donate to the children's hospital.
Now I need to go finish off the two I started, see bottom right of above photo.



Friday 2 January 2015

Historical overview:
While un-decorating the tree I realized I have been making decorations for a long time.
These crochet snowflakes (and santa) are probably 30 years old
The shells are from around 15 years ago.

pottery ornaments are 5 to 10 years old. And the bells do ring!















Mice are 20 years ago.
 Two years ago I found this very easy crochet star pattern, and made more than a few...
Most of them ended up in Xmas cards.










This year I restrained myself and made a few from gold flecked burgundy.

Bread, for a few days!   before



And now back to our regular programming, time to bake bread.



and after