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?”