Lovely Surprise

Maria from The Next Stage blog recently had a give away and guess who won ??  Woo Hoo ... yay .... I was the lucky recipient of this cute bag that Maria got from the California Design exhibition at the Queensland Art Gallery. If you'd like to read all about this very interesting exhibition, Maria blogged about it here.

I could feel something squishy inside the bag and discovered this gorgeous ball of wool hiding away just waiting to give me a very unexpected but very pleasant surprise. As you can see it is 10ply 100% wool and is just on 100g - I'd like to make something nice for myself with it and would welcome any suggestions.

Thank you so much for having this very generous give-away Maria - receiving your lovely surprise today really made my week.

My daughter and I are going to the annual Royal Canberra Show tomorrow. We're planning to get there when the gates open so we can get a showbag that one of our local radio stations are selling. The bags contain lots of great things to the value of $1,000 for just $20 with all proceeds going to the Cancer Support Group. They only have a thousand bags to sell so you do have to be early. Hopefully I might also be able to take some pictures of the crochet and knitting exhibits to show you.

Dorothy
xox

Free to Crochet

Long time no post .. must fix !!  I'm treasurer for an organisation and have just had to do the books and financial reports for two months (Dec and Jan) for our meeting this coming Friday. All done, all balanced and I'm now all free to enjoy the rest of the week.  Whoopee !!!!

I haven't been totally slack since my last post. Not overly productive mind you but I did manage a few little things. I made this little doily for a swap I signed up for - I don't think my partner reads this so showing you won't spoil her surprise.  This is the Hipster doily and its a quick, easy project. Oh, there is a unique design feature in my doily - can you find it? I can't but its there somewhere.

I received my package from this exchange today and I can tell you, mine really was a surprise. My partner sent me a beautifully knitted baby's dress, jacket and bonnet set. With no babies in my life at the moment, it was quite a surprise !! I'm sure my partner won't mind if I pass it on to one of the charities I support.

Also made a premmie hat ... I did the larger size which was supposed to be newborn but mine is definitely premmie size. Its a nice Aussie pattern though and uses 4ply. I used Koala Joey 4ply yarn which is an acrylic bought from Spotlight.

A long time ago, one of my lovely bloggy friends wanted a pattern for a little birdie ... here's one I found on the net the other night. Its super easy and super cute. You can find the pattern here.

See ya next time.
xox

Easiest hat, hooks and another new book

Hi everyone

I've been a bit slack with everything lately and now that we're in the middle of a heatwave, I feel even less like doing anything. Today we had 40 celsius (104 F) and its going to be like that for the next 3 days.

The only crochet I've finished is this hat ..

This would have to be the easiest pattern - with yarn doubled throughout and a hook to suit, you just make a chain the length from the top of your head to where you want the hat to finish (allow for a brim if you want one) and just half double crochet (US) in the back loops till it fits comfortably around your head, sew the back seam, make another chain to thread through the top to gather.  I can't remember where I saw this but I have a feeling it was on the BobWilson123 YouTube channel. 

While looking for something else, I found my lovely 'special' crochet hooks which I don't think I've shown you before. The gorgeous blue one at the bottom is a Graydog hook which I've had for about 12 years. Isn't it pretty ?  The two above it are sterling silver Celtic Swan hooks custom made by John Swan-Sheeran. They are entirely hand forged from solid sterling silver. Second from the top is a lovely wooden hook but I can't remember its origin. The colour is a lovely jade but it doesn't show up in the photo.  Finally, the top hook is one of the new square hooks being made by Kollage Yarns. I was a bit disappointed when this arrived from the US as I was expecting something like their square knitting needles which are lovely to use. The only thing square about their square crochet hooks is the handle which is hard plastic. 

Have a closer look at my 'special' hooks

Another book from UK arrived this week - a little sample of what's inside. 

I like this pretty table mat and aren't these kitties cute ?

How about this brooch

That's about it from me for now. Thanks for dropping by. My stats tell me I have readers from all over the place - mainly in the USA, UK, Australia and Europe. I'd love to hear from some of you lovely people.  xoxox

Happy New Year

Its almost midnight here in Australia on 1st January so I'm a little late but then I suppose its never too late to wish everyone lots of happiness, health, wealth (if that's your thing LOL) and of course heaps of time to do whatever makes you happy. I know that with many of my friends that will include crochet and/or knitting.

I've started the year off well - sleeping !!!  My back neighbours had the party of all parties last night. It started at about 7pm and finished at 5pm today. All this time, we (the rest of the neighbourhood) enjoyed put up with the loud thump thump of music, loud voices, pretty bright lights and even fireworks (yes, they are illegal for private use). Then the cat woke me up this morning at 5.40am so I figured the best thing to do was to feed her and the dog then go back to bed - which I did, and woke again at 3pm.  Needless to say, I'm not the least bit tired at the moment and will probably read till all hours !!

Have you made any New Years resolutions?  I made a list a few days ago but can't find it - so much for my resolutions eh? Broken before I can even make them. I did find something which I feel is very 'quotable' and that was one of Mike Sellick's resolutions and he said .. "I will continue to make charity giving a priority with my finished projects. It can make a difference in a stranger's life and give my heart something to feel good about. (Michael Sellick from The Crochet Crowd)". I think that's going to be one of my aims this year as well.

Currently I'm working on a scarf called Forever 21Knock-Off  and I just love the way its turning out. Easy textured patterns are my favourites and this is a beauty. The wool is Classic by Bendigo Woollen Mills and I'm using a 4.50mm hook.

I'm also going to get back to my Wool Eater blanket as part of a 2014 January CAL on the Australiacrochet yahoo group.

Wish me luck on this as its been a UFO since July 2012 - in fact I don't think I've even touched it since then !

Thanks for visiting.
xox

     

Crochet Books & Crochet Hooks

So now its 9.25 pm here in my part of the world and the big day is almost over for another year. I do hope you've all had a lovely day with your loved ones and have enjoyed all the edibles and drinkables (is that a word) that we're allowed on this special occasion. Back to the 'good eating' tomorrow girls and boys !!

I bought myself a few presents this year so let's have show and tell time shall we?

These were the first to arrive and I must say they were quite a surprise. The whole set cost me $4.99 with free postage so I wondered what the quality would be like. Well they are almost as good as my very favourite Etimo hooks, and that's saying something !! The sizes in the set range from 2.5mm to 6.00mm and the handles are a bit like the Knit-Pro hooks - not hard, not real soft but quite comfortable to use. I read somewhere that if your hook doesn't glide easily through the yarn, put some hand cream on it, give it a little rub then wipe it off so that's what I did with these hooks and as I said, they're surprisingly good.

Next came two books from the Book Depository - more free postage and one of my fave online bookstores.

"Connect the Shapes" by Edie Eckman - I love this book !! It has 101 new motifs with innovative, easy-to-follow techniques for joining them together. The designs are modern, patterns easy to follow and the colours amazing. The patterns include a place mat, shawl, pincushions, baby blanket, flower garland, vest, lacy skirt, lamp shade, and more. The book has 271 pages and I reckon its well worth the $21.16 AUD.

The second book is "30~Minute Crochet" by Carol Meldrum and it contains 60 quick and easy projects.

I'm thinking this will be useful for embellishments or small gifts that can be whipped up quickly. Too many projects to list but the book has 128 pages and cost $15.18 AUD.

So there we are .... show and tell over. I'm happy and am sure everything will be quite useful.

Before I finish this post, here's a small glimpse of Christmas as it was at our place -

Thanks for visiting.
xox

Santa Paws is Coming to Town

Warning - If you're not a dog lover you might want to skip this post.

Saturday before last I had to take Quincy to visit Santa (DD2 was away) and what a fun time we had !!  Quincy is very friendly with people but other dogs are another matter. A big Golden Retriever was ahead of him in the Santa line so that revved the little fellow up a bit. Nevertheless, he was still able to offer Santa a big sloppy kiss - the photographer caught the end of it.

In an effort to get Quincy a little more dog friendly, he has been visiting the local dog park and I do believe it is doing him the world of good. Its hard to take photos as the dogs are rarely still (except for one little old Westie that could have passed for a statue) ..

The park is right on the shores of Lake Ginninderra and as you can see, seats are provided for the doggy parents - very pleasant for all. Its quite a big dog park, very well secured with double gates and different sections for large and small dogs. Here you can see our little fellow doing a lap of the area. Actually you might need your binoculars to see him :)

Meanwhile, back at home, every morning we get to open a little flap on the advent calendar and guess what's inside ?   Yep, you got it .. doggy treats.

Of course Madison couldn't care less and just needs another few hours in bed ..

I have been doing little bits of crochet and knitting here and there, as well as playing around with my stash. Today I spent an hour or so winding my odd balls of yarn into lovely 'cakes' so they're going to take up much less space in my plastic tubs. I'm making beanies in the colours preferred by our Indiginous people (red, yellow and black) for one of our December charities in the Knit4Charities group. I'll take some pics for next time.

I promised myself to write a post today ... BUT

Anyway, since I'm here, I must share this with you ......

Once a woman invited some friends and family to dinner.

At the table, she turned to her six-year-old granddaughter and said, ”Would you like to say grace?”

“I wouldn’t know what to say,” the girl replied.

“Just say what you usually hear me say,” the grandma answered.

The daughter bowed her head and said,

“Dear Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?”