Craft Show

Crafters are flocking to Exhibition Park in Canberra this weekend for the annual Craft and Quilt Fair. It was pretty much the same as always but its nice to go along. My big purchase of the day was this book



There's lots of information in this book and I think it will be a very useful addition to my crochet library. I did pay $20 more than I would have if I'd bought it from the Book Depository but then I may not have purchased it if I hadn't been able to flip through it before buying.

I had a chat with Prudence M while I was at the show. I've been wondering if the Stitches & Craft show is going to be on at Rosehill this year and she said the talk is that the show has been cancelled this year. From another source, the good news is that the Craft Expo which has been held at Olympic Park in the past will be at Rosehill Racecourse from 10-13 March 2011.

No crochet or knitting pics to show you. I've been working on some gifts to go with those potholders I made a few weeks ago and as some of the recipients read this blog, I can't let the cat out of the bag !

A friend sent me a funny email today with some quotes I thought I'd share with you ....
Practice safe eating - always use condiments.
Those who jump off a bridge in Paris are in Seine.
With her marriage, she got a new name and a dress.
Condoms should be used on every conceivable occasion.
Local Area Network in Australia - the LAN down under.

Big day for horses

Did you remember to wish Ned a happy birthday yesterday ? Of course this special day is only for horses in the southern hemisphere - their northern hemisphere cousins have to wait till January 1. Anyway, did you hear this one .....

A man has a racehorse, never won a race. Man in disgust says," Horse, you win today or you pull a milk wagon tomorrow morning." The starting gate opens, the horses take-off, they move the gate away and there lays his horse asleep on the track. He kicks the horse and asks, "WHY ARE YOU SLEEPING. The horse, half asleep says, "I have to get up at three in the morning."

My weekend was quite productive. Finished the 15 x 8" squares for charity and tomorrow they'll be winging their way to Queensland where they'll be made into blankets for Project Love and Care, one of the organisations Knit4Charities is supporting this month.



I don't think I want to see another square for a little while. To finish off my weekend of crochet, I made this little purse



Don't know what I'll be doing with the purse but it was a change from making squares.

PS to yesterday

I scanned this little cardi when I first got the Weekend Crochet for Baby book from the library and forgot to include it in yesterday's post. I think this is so cute.

Not much else for today. Made another two squares for charity and did some more of the toddlers cardigan I'm knitting. Just got home from having dinner out and think I might go to bed early so I can read for a few hours. The library emailed me this afternoon letting me know the 200 Blocks book I'd requested was ready to pick up so I'll have a bit of fun with that on the weekend.

Books to tempt you

I need to return some library books tomorrow but thought you might be interested in having a peek inside these two English books. The first one is "Crochet in No Time" by Melody Griffiths.



The contents page will give you an idea of what's inside but I'll show you a few more pics of patterns that caught my eye.


This beret requires a chunky yarn and has 492 medium glass beads worked into it - can you imagine the weight ?


This red cardigan is probably my favourite pattern in the book.


And for the little lady in your life ...


Not forgetting the little boy ...


A toy for the boy (and girl) ..


Finally, for Mum ...


The other book is called "Weekend Crochet for Babies" by Sue Whiting. Some beautiful patterns in this book but again, here's a little look at just a few.


How about a hoodie ..


Or a bunny ...


And a great one for charity crochet ...


Think that should be enough to whet your pattern appetite.

I must be getting tired

Can't be bothered doing any more crochet ... can't be bothered playing Bejeweled Blitz ... talk-back radio is getting a bit boring ... desperately need a cup of coffee !!!! Perhaps I should have an early night.

Today's been busy but not overly productive. Did some knitting this morning, read emails this afternoon while waiting for today's CAL square pattern to be posted. It arrived at 4pm and so far I've made three. Its a nice easy circle in a square pattern -



The yellow one in the front is machine washable Bendigo Woolen Mills Classic, the dark brown one at the back is an American yarn, Bernat Pounder (worsted weight), and the other is Marvel. I have to show you this ....



The green yarn beside the brown one is a 200g ball of Bendigo Woolen Mills Classic. Had to put something there to give you an idea of the size of this Bernat which I found lurking in the back of one of my shelves. I think I'm going to have to wind it into smaller balls as its just too big to work from. The wool I'm knitting with (Magnum Soft) fell to bits last night and I had a terrible job getting it untangled. If this huge ball did that I'm afraid my patience or lack of, would get the better of me and the whole lot would probably be thrown out. Better to spend the time winding it into smaller balls.

Ah, now for that cup of coffee.

Oops, nearly forgot

Was just about to shut down and go to bed with that book I was telling you about yesterday, and remembered I hadn't told you about today's FO. Its always a great moment for me to finish something knitted as I'm not very good at knitting. This hat has been sitting on the dining room table just screaming to be finished so today was the day.



This is from the Head Huggers site and is called the Inside Out Hat. I used Patons Jet which I absolutely loved. Its 30% alpaca 70% wool and is SO soft. Had two balls in my stash but unfortunately I had to use some of the second ball so I won't have enough for another hat. Perhaps I might have enough for a neck warmer.

Tomorrow the second pattern in the Knit4Charities CAL will be posted so it'll be back to squares tomorrow.

Squared off

Needed some brain dead type stuff to do today as I read till 3.15am and didn't feel up to concentrating too much on anything. Made more of those granny squares for Knit4Charities CAL (crochet-a-long) but I think I'll give them a rest till the next pattern is posted on Tuesday. Don't know what it will be but I'm tipping it might be the 'other' type of granny where you do all trebles along the sides and a shell in the corner. We'll see .... Here's a pic of what I've done so far.



We were asked to use autumn colours so I hope these will be ok. It was interesting how the different yarns worked up. All were 8ply but some felt thick, some thin, one really soft, another quite stiff, one needed an extra round of half trebles to make it the right size and another needed an extra round of trebles. The lesson I think I learnt here was that if you're making a garment it really is important to do a gauge swatch - something I must admit I haven't worried about much in the past.

I'll be starting another book tonight so perhaps I should get an early start. The book is by Michael Marshall and is called "The Straw Men". One reviewer said ....
"The book centers around two different protagonists, each tracking down what appears to be a serial killer, but in the end, turns out to be much, much more. The main, first-person protagonist attempts to unravel and come to grips with a very intriguing set of clues that shed light on an extremely bizarre past that he'd never imagined. At the same time, a pair of detectives are drawn into a similarly bizarre serial killer case that turns out to be much bigger than what appears on the surface, and as we come to learn, anything the world has ever seen. As more is learned and the story progresses, the two sets of protagonists find themselves on the same case, with a satisfying conclusion that still begs a sequel. Not to be trite, but this truly is one of those rare page-turners that melts the hours away as you read it."

Hmmm ... just as well there's nothing in my diary for tomorrow !