Granny Mandala

Oh did I have fun making this ! The old fashioned granny stitch has always been one of my favourites and as I said in my last post, I've been wanting to make one of these mandalas for ages. While I was making it I was wondering about the meaning of mandala and thanks to google, found out that in describing both material and non-material realities, the mandala appears in all aspects of life: the celestial circles we call earth, sun, and moon, as well as conceptual circles of friends, family, and community. So, when I look at my mandala it will be a reminder of all the wonderful cyber friends I have made over the years.





Actually, I'm not too sure about the edging and might end up taking it out and doing something else. Can you see how it tends to curl a little ? My blocking board is too small so I tried steaming it with the iron but it still won't sit completely flat. Any suggestions will be very welcome.

Time flies - 19 days to Confab

Yes, its now only 19 days to the Knit4Charities Confab (conference) at Woolgoolga on the beautiful north coast of New South Wales. I can remember when we first started talking about this - doesn't seem like 18 months ago !! I've been busy preparing the handouts and making samples for the crochet class I'll be teaching, so haven't had much time to make any of my charity projects ---- with the exception of this little baby's hat ..



For this hat I used Patons Dreamtime 8ply and it took just under a 50g ball. Love working with wool !!!

I've notice lots of people I visit are having 'blogiversaries' so I'd like to congratulate them and say how much I enjoy visiting their blogs. I get such inspiration from seeing what everyone is making and really have a strong urge to make a granny mandala like Alice's on CrochetwithRaymond. Hmmm maybe I might just go and fiddle around in my stash to see if I have some suitable colours and start one today.

Those flowers I got for Mothers Day last Sunday are still looking good -



Now, let's see ...... purple, mauve, pink, bright pink, red even, blue, peacock, green, lime (yes lime), orange maybe .... omg mandala madness !!!!

Garter Stitch and Gifts

I have two lovely new pattern books to show you today - one is a sort of stitch guide with each stitch (or pattern) made with just garter stitch (not one purl stitch). I think this will open up lots of possibilities and I'm looking forward to trying out some of these interesting stitches.



The other book is from Leisure Arts and is "Dressing Up Baby". It includes five crochet sets, each outfit includes a blanket, jacket, hat and booties. The yarn used is a medium weight with a 5.00mm hook so our Australian 8ply should work ok for these patterns.



Yesterday I told you about the beautiful shawl I received from Anne F in the Australiacrochet group's Mothers Day exchange, and said I'd take a pic to show you today. Anne's work is lovely and I will treasure this generous gift.



My family also gave me some wonderful gifts - this Lazypatch suit from my youngest DD and her husband, is like wearing a duvet (doona) but they say it softens after a little while and then feels like you're just wearing a t-shirt. I feel the cold badly so my daughter figured this would be the ideal gift for me.



And these beautiful flowers (plus a box of Darrel Lea Hard Centre chocolates) were from my other daughter and her partner who also took me out for lunch yesterday.



So, there we are ....... sorry today's post has been a bit picture heavy and I hope I haven't bored you all to tears. Thanks for visiting.

Happy Mothers Day

Hope all the mums have had a lovely Mother's Day. I've had a wonderful time with my family and am now going to grab the needles and yarn and spend a relaxing evening doing a bit of knitting.

This week has been a bit exhausting but fun. I went to Sydney on Monday to see Simon Gallagher and Julie Anthyony in a concert at the Sydney Town Hall which was fantastic. They certainly compliment each others style.



Spent the rest of my time in Sydney shopping and recovering in the hotel room which was right in the middle of the city and so convenient to everything. I had a lovely big corner room and this was the view from one of my windows ..


That's Park Street with part of Hyde Park in the background.

I participated in a Mother's Day exchange on Australiacrochet and received an awesome gift from my partner. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow after I've had a chance to take a photo.

Defeat !!

OK .. I'm over it !!!!!! Yes, here I am publicly admitting defeat and I hereby vow and declare that those horrid dpns can go and stick their little ends anywhere they please as long as they're nowhere near me. I did try - even managed two rounds before a stupid stitch fell off the end of a needle. It happened to be a K2tog which made it worse as I even have a battle trying to pick up a single dropped stitch on two needles ................ so, I will now have to wait till my friend gets back from Bali and speak ever so sweetly to her (pretty please) and hope she might finish the top of that slouch hat for me. I personally think we should stamp out those hats that have that rounded shape at the top .. so old hat (if you'll pardon the pun). The ones that you just gather at the top are much more chic don't you think ? Just for the record, here's a pic of what I was trying to make. I nicked it from Aussie Maria's blog - hope you don't mind Maria.



Give me a crochet hook anyday.

Thou Shalt not Procrastinate !

Well, I have to confess I've been putting off trying to use those dpn's with every excuse (to myself) that you can imagine. I will have to do something about it in the next few days though as the interchangeable circs I have the hat on at the moment have to be returned for exchange when I go to Sydney on Monday as the join is a bit rough. Sooooo .... hopefully I'll be able to show you a finished slouch hat soon. Actually I read somewhere today that knitters and crocheters seem to get more fun out of starting projects than finishing them. I'm not real sure I agree with this but given the number of UFOs I have littered around the house, maybe there is something to it.

This week has been productive in a funny kind of way. I've been working out the format for a crochet class I'll be teaching in a few weeks time. One of the participants wants to learn how to make this ....



.... and others want to learn all the different stitches, how to keep edges straight, front and back post stitches and tunisian. Do you think we're going to be able to fit all this into a two hour lesson ?

Your wish is my command (and a hat) !!

One of my lovely blog friends has asked for a pic of the mile-a-minute (sometimes known as mile-a-millenium) strips I've been making for Knit4Charities. Here you go Pat ...



I think my stripping days are over for awhile as I have lots of other WIMs tempting me. I saw this tutorial for a scoodie (scarf/hoodie) on YouTube and think I'll give it a try as DD and her husband are going to the mountains for a few days over Easter and I think this might come in handy to help keep her warm.

Last night I whipped up another little hat to go in my charity donations box. Here's Charlotte modelling it for you.



Don't you love that cute little pom-pom on the top ? Its actually a crocheted pom-pom as I don't like the ordinary ones on baby's or young children's hats for safety reasons. If they happen to start coming apart I think those little bits of wool would be quite dangerous if ingested. Anyway, if you want to make a crochet pom-pom, just ch4 and join into a circle, then do about 24 x 3ch loops into the circle with a dc (sc if you use US terminology) between each one, then do 5 trebles (dc for US) in each loop right the way around. I found this pattern somewhere on the internet but can't remember where, otherwise I'd give credit to the designer for this nifty little pom-pom that would be more than happy to double as a flower embellishment if you want one.

Update on that knitted hat which is almost ready for the crown shaping ..... no further progress and no, its not because I'm afraid of those dpn's, its just 'cause the wool is dark and the light wasn't bright enough !! That's my story and I'm sticking to it.