Posted on

December 8, a yarn wreath

Yarn Wreath

I started this wreath when I was off work with my foot. It was something “easy” to do though I’ll say it now, if I ever make one of these again, I’m using thicker wool! I used some Patons Bluebell 5ply that I found in my stash (originally from the Salvos store at Bundamba). I’ve been looking at the wreath the last few days deciding what it needs. Wanting to keep with a pretty clean and muted palette, I added a doily which is a few shades darker than the cream wool and an old Christmas decoration thing that I picked up in a mixed lot from the Juicy Junk Shop in Pomona at the start of the year. (Look at that I’ve just mentioned two of my favourite second hand stores in the one paragraph). Wrapped some gold thread round the rest of the wreath to carry on the gold from the decoration thing and there she is. It makes me smile.

Up Close
Yarn Wreath

On my bedroom door
You can just see my Christmas apron peeking out from behind the back door, a early Christmas present from Mum – to wear when doing Christmas baking.
Yarn Wreath

Posted on

Sunday comes about but once a week

“Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week.”
Joseph Addison

Sundays are nice days, out of Saturday and Sunday I think I like Sunday the most. Sundays are not so frantically filled as Saturdays. Sundays are about delighting in the littler things. Wiping the kitchen benches down and taking a moment to pause and smile at those clean surfaces. Ripping out 70% of the crochet you had done that day because you discovered a mistake which you know you could never ignore. Whipping up a very fast treat baked treat for Brown Owls. Sitting on your bed and just listening to James Morrison. Finding the basket for my bike that fits my criteria the most, now to get it painted white. This was my Sunday

This is my current wip, that I started this morning at Brown Owls. A granny square with larger than life dimensions, no idea yet as to how large it will get but thought is that it needs to be snuggable, so I’m thinking it will need at least 7 skeins. I am using Noro Taiyo in colour 11, which I just adore, it feels so lovely.

This arvo after I had done another row or two, I was looking at it closely and realised that on one side I had managed to get two extra clusters, gah. I thought about ways to reduce it but ended up ripping it apart till I had only three rounds completed…. I’ve done about seven rounds now and it looks much better than it did before.

On the way to becoming a very big granny square On the way to becoming a very big granny square

Yesterday I made my book case curtains and today I borrowed the drill and put it up. It looks so pretty! I love the fabric. I had a fun time using the hemmer foot.
Curtains!

This is what I took for morno’s at Brown Owls, a pear and hazelnut torta which is a recipe by Belinda Jeffery in the May 2009 issue of Delicious. It took me about 10 minutes this morning to put it together and then it was in the oven for about 30 mins and ready to go. I am going to make it again in the near future but playing with different nuts and fruit.
pear and hazelnut torta pear and hazelnut torta

Posted on

Becoming a Granny at Brown Owls

Today I went to my first Brown Owls meeting and we crocheted granny squares 😀 I used the instructions out of the Meet me at Mike’s book. I did about 8/10 of the first square at the Brown Owls meeting today, and then did the rest whilst sitting beside Grandad’s hospital bed this evening until I ran out of yarn. I picked up the same yarn in three different colours and will need to go back and get some more. I plan on making a decent size rug out squares in the four colours.

The meeting was such a fantastic experience. Getting to meet a whole bunch of other crafty ladies, some whom I know a little bit through reading their blogs and others for whom I knew nothing and left knowing a little more. In addition to the crafting there was some fantastic baked treats that were on offer for snacks.

some photos 😀
most of the collective squares
Brown Owls Crochet

taking photos, Alischa from Bespoke Press, Steph from Bondville and Katie from Miss Kitty Boo Boo
Brown Owls Crochet

A little snippet of Melanie with some of the other girls in the background
Brown Owls Crochet

And here are my squares
Brown Owls Crochet

and a closer view
Brown Owls Crochet

Grandad is doing well, they did six skin grafts on his lower legs after removing the skin cancers and they removed another two which were just stitched up. He was moved to a different ward yesterday which is much nicer than his last one. It is soo handy living as close as I do to the Wesley, I can tuck out of home and less than five minutes later I am sitting beside Grandad in his room.

Posted on

shirts and a scarf

Threadless is having a $10 tee sale for the next couple of days until May 8, so if there were any shirts that you like I would pick them up now! I ordered 7 earlier 🙂 With the shipping to Australia included they work out to be a bit less than AU$16 each which is quite a bargain considering to buy a similar shirt here in Aus I would probably be looking at AU$25-35 at least.

So yeah go pick up a $10 shirt at threadless, they make you happy 🙂 In case you are wondering about sizes, I wear the girly XL, which is a little tight round the breast area but as long as I don’t wear a bra that enhances them it is all good. The next size up from the girly XL is the mens medium. Also if you use the coupon code SUPER TEES it will take a further $3 off your total and if you total is over $50 use the coupon code PARSONS-NYC and save $5 off your purchase 🙂
Palm Tree Scarf
This is a scarf that I crocheted on the bus to and from uni a little while ago and on the weekend I finally got round to weaving in all the loose ends and packaging it up to be sent round the world to a friend who lives in a very cold place and I think could use some cheering up with the warm colours of the scarf when it is dark and cold in winter. Although I guess since it is coming into summer in the northern hemisphere she won’t get much use out of it for a while 🙂

It is all crocheted in half-double or half-treble depending on which country you come from and which crochet language you use.

I was searching round the garden as the best place to photograph the scarf and when I spotted the palm trees in the driveway I just knew it would just look cool tied round the trunk 🙂

Posted on

plastic string bag

This is one of the crochet items I have been working on in the last day or so, just a super simple bag to make, perfect to do whilst watching TV 🙂 The pattern comes from the book Simple Crochet by Ericka Knight, it uses two balls of plastic string which cost me AU$2.49 each which also means it is super cheap to make 🙂 The variations I did was to add another row of single crochet to the top and slip stitch round the top to give it a nicer finish and to chain 60 for the handles instead of 52. When I make the next one I think I will add a few more rounds to the middle to make it a wee bit longer and also to chain 70 or so for the handles.

String bag

Posted on

Crocheted Bag

Erins' bag

Well to the right, you can see the completed bag, my first real functional piece of Crochet, done on a 3mm hook using Anchor Magicline Cotton, the pattern comes from Judith Swartz’s book Hip to Crochet. Mum is currently also making this bag again from Magicline but a different colourway and a 3.5mm hook.

This bag is going to the daughter of a family friend, well the main present are the dolls you see below (click on either picture to see them larger), which we purchased at the Salamanaca Markets and the bag is just serving as a tote for them. :):)

Now I just have to decide what my next project will be…..
dolls