At last

Its been awhile but at last I have something to show you for my Year of Projects update. Mind you, its not finished but I'm happy with the progress so far.

Of course you can tell its going to be a baby's blanket can't you? I'm using the join as you go method so after 8 blue squares and 1 more mauve one, all I have left to do is the final white rounds to join plus the border. Reckon I'll have it finished by next week?

You can tell its spring around here ... the magpies are very active and are swooping like crazy. We used to have a family of maggies visit us each year but for some reason they stopped coming. This guy has been enjoying my yard quite a bit lately - I wonder if he's one of their offspring coming back for another visit.

Oh, before I finish this post, for those who asked (and especially Kathy), I've tried that Addi Swing Hook I told you about last week and like I said, it will take a little while to get used to the funny shape but its probably a good hook for anyone who gets sore hands when crocheting. I hold my hooks the 'pen' way and it seemed to be quite comfortable. Not sure how it would be for people who hold the 'knife' way though. I've only played around with it for ten minutes or so but when I've actually made something with it, I'll give you another update.

Time for bed now but I'll look forward to reading everyone else's updates tomorrow.

Sunday update late

Seems I'm getting a bit slack with my Sunday posts but then we are ahead of the rest of the world time-wise here in Australia, so that will have to be my excuse. If frogging stuff is considered productive then I've been VERY productive this week. Started making a baby's blanket with 5 pastel colours - just 5 round granny's with another round of white for the join-as-you-go method. I used stash and thought I'd have enough, but oh no, not so !! Couldn't find the right colours at the LYS and to cut a long story short, ended up having to discard 9 squares, remove 3 from the already joined blanket, completely frog a baby's hat I had in my charity box so I could use the yarn to make one extra square that I was short of in that particular colour. Aghhhhh frustration !!!

During the week I received my Addi Swing Hook from America. Haven't had time to give it a test-drive yet but its very different to any other hook I've ever used and I think it will take a little getting used to.

I'm off now to do a bit of blog surfing to see what others have been up to. Have a good week everyone.

Nice Surprise

A quickie today to share a lovely surprise. I've just received an email from Marie of Underground Crafter blog letting me know I've won a copy of Mitsuki Hoshi's brand new book Ami Ami Dogs 2 which was released on 27 September. Marie has written a review here. I've been crocheting for many years but this will be my first adventure into amigurumi. Thank you for this generous give-away prize Marie - I'm looking forward to receiving the book.

Getting my money's worth

Some of you may recall the ball of Noro Kureyon that I bought (a few months ago) last January. I can't even remember why I bought it or what I was planning to make, but it has been started and frogged about half a dozen times, the most recent being about two minutes ago. I was urged on by responses to my question in my last post when several people made the comment that you should love what you're doing. Since I wasn't actually loving the scarf this ball of Noro was producing, out it came and I'm now deciding on what to try next. Its quite strong yarn as you would have thought I'd have worn it out by now but its still holding its own in spite of all my frogging. I won't tell you what I'm making with it ..... I'll just surprise you (and myself) when its done.

Before I end this post, I'll leave you with this most interesting conversion chart .....

Half a large intestine = 1 semicolon
1,000 aches = 1 megahurtz
Basic unit of laryngitis = 1 hoarsepower
2,000 pounds of Chinese soup = Won Ton
1 millionth of a fish = 1 microfiche
453.6 crackers = 1 pound cake

There ... you really needed that didn't you?

Just in Time

Still a few hours of Sunday left for my weekly Year of Projects post. I don't have a FO to show you this week as I decided to abandon that shopping bag I started last week and start another which is about halfway done and is a much nicer pattern. The first one was curling horribly and not very pretty. Anyway, with a bit of luck I'll be able to show you the finished bag next week.

While I was surfing around blogs a few days ago I came across a really beautiful hat pattern that you can get as a free download. Its designed by Alla Koval and will be perfect for summer which is just around the corner for us here in the southern hemisphere. Of course its on my to-do list. Can any of my Aussie readers recommend a good firm cotton that might suit this pattern?

Another thing of interest I stumbled upon is just what we all need ..... another crochet hook !! This one is a special one for working that first round when doing edges on fabrics. As its name suggests, it has a sharp point which makes piercing the fabric much easier than an ordinary hook.

If you'd like to read a review, and a chance to win one of these hooks, visit here and here.

Confession time !! I have drifted so far away from my original list that I'm starting to feel a bit embarrassed. What do you think is more important in this project - sticking to the list or blogging?

Have a great week everyone.

Its gotta be Sunday somewhere

Here's my Sunday update for the Year of Projects - again a little late but I'm hoping its still Sunday somewhere in the world !! I only have one thing to show now as I posted a couple of days ago about other things I've finished this week.

A problem I encounter time and time again is having to 'tweak' patterns written for American yarns so that they work ok with our Australian yarn. This little hat is no exception. The pattern is extremely well written and easy to follow though so its just going to be a matter of fiddling around with hooks and dropping a size or two before the flower band section.

I'm currently working on a self-pouching string shopping bag, using Milford 4ply cotton. The pattern can be found here. Where I live, the local government is putting a ban on plastic supermarket shopping bags from November 1, so this little bag should come in quite handy. I think they would be a nice addition to a Christmas gift as well. Hope to have it finished to show you next week.

I'm late, I'm late for a very important date

Well, better late than never I always say !! This is a late Year of Projects post that should have happened last Sunday but due to other exciting events (like family visiting for grandson's 9th birthday) .. it didn't happen.

I have a couple of finished items to show you today. I'm happy to say the last of my orders is finished.

The colours are beautiful in this one but I wasn't happy to find a knot 3 meters from the end of the ball. The nature of this yarn requires a knot at the end so I opted to finish the scarf off before the knot as I felt that two knots close to each other close to one end of the scarf might be noticed.

My placemat is also finished and is being used every morning - love the colours in this too.

And finally for today, I was surfing around the crochet blogs and sites a few nights ago and came across this cute little baby's pattern. Of course I grabbed some yarn and a hook and in no time had this cute little hat -

Enjoy the rest of the week.