Sunday, December 16, 2012

Crochet thread, bobby pins, and stocking stuffers

I've managed to acquire a lot (and I mean a lot) of crochet thread.
I also have around 200 bobby pins.
And Christmas is less than 2 weeks away.
I see me making lots of hair clips for the girls - stocking stuffers, or if they catch me doing it, "stuff for my Etsy store" ;)

Sunday, October 28, 2012

A brain storm!

Earlier today when I was sorting out boxes in the sunroom (which is easily as big as our loungeroom, just a different shape) I realised I have a crapload of off white yarn. I suddenly realised I can use the off white yarn and make another 96 hexagons - red, white, dark pink, white instead of red, pale pink, dark pink, pale pink - and then slipstitch them all together in green.
Tomorrow night, I start on the red circles.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

A screeching halt...

I've been too tired, eyes too sore, and the knuckle at the base of my thumb have been too sore to do much crochet in the last few days.
Having said that, I probably have enough hexagons right now to stitch some together to see in practice exactly how many of them I will need. The big question is, which way do I want them? Half hexagon gaps at the top and bottom of the blanket (along the shortest side), or half hexagon gaps along the (longer) sides?

Saturday, October 13, 2012

A 5 minute project

Since it's only 5 minutes at a time, I don't think it really a "project" as a "gap filler".

Miss M, Miss I and Miss K want pretty hair clips, so I've been making mini flowers (From Lucy of Attic24) and threading bobby pins through the back. The flower Miss M is wearing right now matches her poncho - it's made from a scrap of the same yarn.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

And now for some of my own art work...

First off all, I do need to show you the colours I'm using for the hexagon blanket.
It sounds a strange colour combo, but red, pale pink and medium pink do actually work well together.


See?

Next is the starter circles, all in red - I started with 48 of these and realised that I need many more, so I did another 48 last night.


I now have 96 hexagons in progress, and even if the blanket is then too big, it really is better it be too big than too small.

Second row is the baby pink - I think it looks better to have the pale colour between the two strong colours, don't you think?


Yes, I am aware they look kinda like boobs. That isn't intentional.

The third row is the dark pink - its a lovely contrast to the pale pink.


I have 48 of these little flowers made already. I now just need to do the other 48.

And the Fourth round is where it gets turned into an hexagon.


I'll be stitching them all together with a dark green - probably forest green - to make the blanket.

So, what do we all think?

Thursday, October 4, 2012

2 blankets - WIPs

In a continuation from my last post, I'm doing well with the hexagons. I had 48 starter circles before I started doing the pale pink, now I have 48 starter circles in red with pale pink second rows, and have started on the medium pink third rows (I'm up to 20 of them now). I suspect I will need to do another at least 20 more, but I'll work it out when I get to sewing/crocheting them together. Miss M (aged 4) has claimed this blanket, and it should eventually look like the blanket that Lucy from Attic24 made, but all in pinks, so much like a flower garden.
For those to lazy to look, this is what a close up of Lucy's work looks like



And the second blanket is going to be in blues and yellow. Miss K has requested a blanket in African Flowers. The centre will be a golden yellow with the second row in pale blue, the single line in the golden yellow again, the next row in medium blue and the final row (joining row) in green - again to look like flowers.
Just so you can imagine it, here's an image 


So that's where I'm at for now - Photos of the hexagons and the progress will be posted soon - likely this weekend.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Hexagons...

A while back, I started making hexagons. They're in red, pale pink and medium pink (and you'll have on trust me on this but the colours go well together).
I'm considering adding in light and dark green, too.

Anyways, I'd crocheted around 100 red centres, then completely forgotten about them. So, Saturday night, I started on the next round. Pale pink.
I got 12 done before I started falling asleep.

I haven't picked them up today since I started on a cowl for myself (yes! something for myself!) this afternoon. I've done 16 rows, and I'm thinking I need to do about 45 - I may in fact do a few more.
I'm still not sure how it will look on me - It likely will end up being a "Not For Me" project, but we'll wait and see.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

A poncho for Miss M

I've finished the poncho for Miss M.
Photos will be taken and uploaded when I have Miss K, Miss M, Miss I and Miss W all together and all in their ponchos - That should be next Wednesday, but we'll see how it goes.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

A poncho

Over the past few days, I've been busy hooking.
Miss K (aged 9) now has a poncho, Miss M (aged 4) will soon have a poncho. Miss I (aged 7) will have one as soon as I can get some yarn to make it.
And before we go in to Sydney for a concert at the Opera House (I'm really looking forward to it - Mnozil Brass are quite entertaining, and it's a rare child-free evening), I'm going to need to make a poncho for Miss W (aged 8(ish) ), a friends daughter, and also the daughters friend. So, more yarn needed for that, too.




Anyways, the pattern I used is Miss Sucrettes poncho pattern.

It's a graphic pattern on there, so I'm going to be helpful and write it out.


Foundation Chain: ch multiple of 8, to fit over the head of the person. slst to beginning of chain

1st row: ch3 (counts as first treb), treb into each stitch below. slst to top of ch3 to join.

2nd row: ch3, trb into 2nd stitch, treb into 3rd stitch, ch1, **treb once into next 3 st, ch1**. Rpt ** to ** end. slst to top of ch3 to join.



3rd row: ch3, trb into 2nd gap, treb into gap, ch1, **treb once into next gap, ch1**. Rpt ** to ** until half way around. at half way, add an extra treb, treb, treb, ch to make a corner (similar to a granny square corner). Continue ** to ** until you reach the beginning, and add an extra treb, treb, treb, ch.

Repeat 3rd row until desired length.
 Trim however you wish.






As you can see, I still need to weave in the ends, but Miss K and I are both happy with it.



Friday, September 7, 2012

My pale blue and chocolate blanket - a WIP

My latest WIP is a blanket in pale blue and chocolate.





Obviously, they won't be just like this.


Also just as obvious is the fact there will be many more. They'll be joined with a pale brown (is "latte" too stereotyped a colour? :P ), and then a border will be made with all three colours - how that comes to look, I'm not quite sure right now.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

21 squares!

I need 225 squares (did I tell you I worked that out?), and I'm 21 in. My maths says that I'm just under 1/10th the way in. Heh. And it's starting to warm up.
It's a lovely 19C (66F) here today, the first tulip from the garden is out (excuse the crater right next to it. It seems Kelpie pups like to dig) and Lady has started barking at the neighbours whenever they leave their house.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Progress on the solid squares

I have 7 pale blue solid squares made, and I've run out of the pale blue yarn. They're 6 inch squares, and my bed is queen sized (The mattress is 60in by 80in), so I have a helluva way to go.
Someone want to do the maths for me on how many more squares I need to do?

Saturday, September 1, 2012

More squares!

I've done another solid granny square like the one I did on Friday night, and am working on another.
I'll get enough for a blanket... eventually...

Friday, August 31, 2012

A solid square

Todays square is a 15cm (6in) pale blue solid square, based on the pattern from the lovely Gingerbread Lady.
I likely will be making a lot of these in different colours. Or just the one.
I haven't yet decided exactly how this blanket will be constructed, but I have a feeling it will be alternating squares of plain and pattern, creating diagonals.







(And yes, that is the shadow of my hands and the camera)

And now, since it is gone 1am, it is bed time.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Coasters!

We went to the local church fete the other day, and while there scored a perfectly good coffee table for $5. I figured this meant I needed some coasters.

Unfortunately, I'm not a fan of doing intricate lace work - it annoys me - so I figured I'd look for something I do like the look of, and I can use some cotton thread I have. But, to get the right gauge, I used a larger hook than I usually would for the cotton thread, and used a plain of white and a pastel variegated thread together.

So, some photos.










These (okay, not these exactly, but this sort of thing) will also be available in my Etsy store and my MadeIt store.

Monday, August 27, 2012

My next WIP

While I'm finishing off the scoodie for Miss R, I thought I'd get ahead on my next WIP.

I'm making coasters to go on the coffee table. I made 5 last night, and have to make another 3 tonight.

Sunday, August 26, 2012

An update of the scarf-hoodie

The scarf is completed, and the hood is half assembled.
Now I just need to finish assembling the hood, attach them to each other (I'm very tempted to sew buttons on the hood so it's removable...) and then Miss R can (finally) have her scarf-hoodie!

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Miss R's scarf hoodie - a wip

Just so we all know what I'm attempting to finish this week, here is a photo of the work in progress (wip).






These are the hood and the scarf for a scoodie (scarf hoodie) I'm making for Miss K's friend - they're in those colours so she can wear them to school, while in uniform, and not get into trouble.
I'm attempting to crochet another 53 rows before the Bathurst Eisteddfod, which I hope Miss R is performing at.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

First post

Just to try an make myself actually get some crochet done, I've created this new blog. The idea is that I either finish off a project each week (Scarf-hoodies, berets, slippers all require completing), or I do a square a day for a new blanket.
Stay tuned for updates.