Fun and Games

While the Olympic Games are on in London, members of Australiacrochet have been participating in our own Winter Games fun by having an exchange where you make something 'winter' related for your partner. We asked our partners to indicate what colour they would like and my partner said 'pink but not soft pink or baby pink - more like fuschia'.  Originally I was going to make a pair of fingerless gloves but somehow I didn't think bright pink gloves would look that great so decided on a slouchy hat instead.

The pattern is called Phannie and is available as a free download on Ravelry. I used 8ply yarn with a 4.50mm hook.  I added an extra increase round and another round before starting to decrease as I wanted the hat more 'slouchy' than what the pattern indicated.

I'm happy with the result and I hope my partner likes it too.  This will be winging its way to one of our US members later this week.

I've had a couple of nice surprises this week - in today's mail was this lovely square from Jane of Papillongold  ..

Jane calls this the Crocodahlia square and as you'll see, those pretty petals are made using the crocodile stitch.  I think its gorgeous. The centre is brown and the outside is crimson but the lighting couldn't have been right as the colours look the same in this pic.

Thank you very much Jane for this unexpected and lovely surprise.

My daughter has given up sweet treats (well actually she's on a diet but wouldn't like me saying that - hope she doesn't read this post) ... anyway, a few days ago she was given this rather cute box ..

and inside .. THE most delicious chocolate biscuits which she has given to me. I've restricted myself to just two a day which I enjoy with a nice cup of freshly brewed coffee in the afternoon.  And if that wasn't enough, the next day she was given this decadent cupcake which I had to devour as desert that very same night as I didn't want it to go stale :)

What do you reckon?  Maybe I should 'give up sweet treats' for awhile too now.

I have been frogging a bit today - I decided the yarn wasn't doing justice to Bev's My Chelle baby sweater so it got pulled out and I started again with a much nicer mint green 4ply wool. If you're looking for a really nice pattern, try this one.

You've met Madison before but haven't actually seen her in action. My daughter bought her a new plate the other day (its now been confiscated for reasons that will become obvious if you look at this short video).

This is how she lets us know she wants food !!

With tomorrow being August 1st, as an animal lover it would be remiss of me if I didn't wish all the horses a very happy birthday (southern hemisphere horses that is) ...

Thanks for visiting.
xoxox

Year of Projects Update

Goodness me, the start of another week !!  They seem to go by so quickly these days - so much to do and so little time.  I've only actually finished one project this week and it's not on my 'list' but I was inspired by Bev from One Yarn After Another blog to try this pattern that I've had on my WIM list since seeing it on YouTube a few months back.

This is such an easy pattern - here's the link.  The back looks like this ..

I'm still plodding along with that dreadful Noro yarn project - the only good thing I can say about this yarn is that the colours are nice. After starting and frogging about four or five different projects with this yarn I eventually decided on the Baktus scarf and to be honest, will be glad when its done!  I'm not liking this yarn at all.

Do you remember a post or two back, me telling you about my new square knitting needles?  Well, I have to say they are fabulous and I've ordered another three sizes from the seller in USA.  They are made by Kollage, are supposed to be easier on your hands and ideal for people with arthritis, carpal tunnel, or stiffness in their hands and fingers. I don't have any of the aforementioned but these needles are a delight to use and seem to make more uniform stitches.   Oh, that reminds me, I did finish another thing this week - a square baby's hat on my square needles ....

Colour correct in next picture.

If I am ever going to finish my Wool Eater blanket, I need to get on with it !! To motivate myself, I'm aiming to work on it every day (even if its only for a short time) and to post progress pictures here each week.  Please with me luck - this blanket has been a WIP for way too long.

Thanks for visiting

xoxox

Blog Birthday & Year of Projects update

Today is our 4th birthday .. let's have a party ....

Please help yourself to some goodies ...

It doesn't feel like 4 years ago that I decided to join the world of bloggers and I must say how happy I am that I did make that decision. I've made some wonderful blogger buddies, love visiting your blogs and always enjoy your comments.  Thank you all for your friendship.

Today is my first Year of Projects update and I actually have one finished item from my list.  This is my 'family member birthday gift' and I'm going to be very cheeky here and claim these for myself as it was my birthday last week and I really like these Mitts in Seed Stitch ...

As usual the colour isn't quite right - they're a darker blue - more greyish than this picture. I used Cleckheaton Country 8 Ply Heathers (col. 1924) and they only took one 50g ball. 4.00mm square needles (yes, square needles and I love them).  I'll be making more of these mitts as I still have another gift to make and these are quick and easy.

Now to decide what to make next - or perhaps I should finish a UFO.   Hmmm !!

Have a great week.
xoxox

Little Birdie

This is for Pammy Sue and anyone else who might want it ....  my interpretation !

Little Bird

Make a magic ring and work 16 dc into it. Join and close the ring.

Next round - 2ch, HDC into next stitch, DC in next stitch, 2DC in next stitch, 2HDC in next stitch, 2 SC in each of next 3 stitches, 2 HDC in next stitch, 2DC in next stitch, 2 TR in each of next 3 stitches, 2 DTR in next stitch, 1 DTR in next stitch and finish off.

Heart

Chain 4 and work all stitches in the first of these. 3 TR, 3 DC, ch 1, 1 TR, 1 ch, 3 DC, 3 TR, 2 ch then slip stitch.  Sew heart on to body.

Embroider eye with black yarn.

Beak - join yarn 2 stitches below eye and slip stitch back into same place.

NB .. I have added 2 extra DTRs to the written pattern as I thought the tail would look better a bit higher than how it is in the pictures.

I got the heart pattern is from somewhere on the net but for the life of me I can't find where it came from.

Cold, Wet and Miserable

On a day like this, when I should have been grocery shopping, I've decided the best thing to do is to stay indoors and play with my hooks and yarn. My new Clover Amure hook arrived in today's post and I have to tell you, its a beauty.

The handle is very comfortable and similar to the Etimo hooks. Price-wise I think they're about the same - for this one I paid $11.99 USD with free postage from Hong Kong. The hook glides effortlessly through the yarn, is very smooth and kind on the hands. I don't know of a distributor here in Australia so if any of my Aussie friends want one, eBay is your best option.

I celebrated one of those '0' birthdays on Saturday and had the most fantastic day. Of course the highlight was having dinner with my family at the Bella Vista restaurant on the boardwalk at Lake Ginninderra.

My eldest daughter had arrived early and decorated the table with balloons, a gorgeous shiny decoration for the centre of the table and little 'happy birthday' thingys that she scattered all over the beautiful white tablecloth. I was so busy taking everything in (and being a little embarrassed) that I didn't think to take a photo but I've pinched the above picture from their website so you can see what its like.  I was given some wonderful gifts including an iPad, a beautiful pair of gold earrings and from my very good friend L, this gorgeous jug and daffodils ...

L and I had lunch together yesterday and as she is a very good photographer, I took my camera along so she could try to enlighten me on some of the features and settings. I'm a bit of a dummy when it comes to the different settings and usually just set it on automatic.  We had fun taking photos and experimenting with different settings. I wonder what the staff might have thought we were doing ?

 

It was a long lunch - everyone else had long gone :)

This was in the carpark - don't know the name of this plant but I have one in my front courtyard  and love it.

I haven't been doing much crochet lately. I'm onto the last piece of the child's Tunisian cardigan and hope to get that finished soon.  Also been working on a Baktus scarf in Noro Kureyon which I'd like to get finished this week.  I did make two squares for my partner in the Australiacrochet square exchange 

Here are the two squares Pauline sent to me ..

Pammy Sue from Scotty's Place has issued a challenge for someone to work out the pattern of a really cute bird that she saw on someone's blog.  I'm going to have a try at it so that'll keep me busy for the rest of the day.

Thanks for visiting.

Second Year of Projects

The Come-Blog-Along group on Ravelry today start our second Year of Projects and I wanted to show you the above picture as a reminder of one of my sadly neglected UFOs which is going to be on my list for this coming year. (By the way I'm going to frog this and start over as I've seen a nicer way of doing it.) Many of the bloggers last year changed their lists quite dramatically, including myself as I think we were all a little ambitious at the beginning.  Some of us have decided to be less specific this year and so, here is my 'list' .....

Work on Wool Eater Blanket (maybe even finish it)

Make Birthday gift for a family member 

Make Mother's Day gift 

Start on Queen Anne Lace cloth

Knitted baby blanket (corner to corner)

Start on a ripple throw as a stashbuster project

And for charity -

Milo Vest

Slippers

Baby's cardigan

Baby's jacket (a first size jacket - near bottom of page) 

Poncho sweater

July 14 is the date for our first progress post but of course I'll be 'seeing you' again before then.  

Thanks for visiting.