Saturday 30 March 2013

Week 12 Flower Pattern a adaptation this week..

 
Wk 12 flower pattern to come..
 
Been on a roller coaster of a ride this week and I'm behind with 
Week 12 Flower pattern.
 
So i'm just going to sharing a quicky with you, its a similar 6 petal flower but with and additional round of tiny loops on the petal edges as I did on the
Wk 9 flower and a domed padded centre.
The pattern isn't up yet but will be by tomorrow morning, just a picture or two tonight.
 
Happy Hooking x
 

Friday 29 March 2013

LOCAL BOOK SHOP STOCKING MY NEW BOOK...

Yesterday I was contacted by Rachel who owns an Independent Book shop in Bishops Castle...she loves the book, will be stocking it and runs a vintage craft market too.
 
 
 
Rachel ( Art and Artisans Books) asked if I would be interested in a workshop/book signing date?
Quite exciting isn't it?
 
I've not done a workshop/lecture etc. for a few year now, should be fun.
 
Their next Market is on the 6th April, so I will pop over to take a peek and meet Rachel and her gallery owning friend Jacs who run the craft fairs.
 
 
Jacs Collins & Rachel Hawes
Crafty Vintage is the brainchild and joint enterprise of Shropshire business women Jacs Collins, owner of the GALLERY and Rachel Hawes, owner of Art & Artisan Books, who share a passion for all things crafty, vintage and handmade.
 
 
 I have been sent 6 more copies of my book 2 have gone already and one will be winging it's way to Sandra as soon as she sends me her address.
 
 
Remember A GOOD FEW MONTHS AGO....I asked for help with book questions?
Well Sandra was plucked from the hat and won the prize.
 
Congratulations Sandra hope you enjoy it.
Hope you had a good time in the UK with your family?
 
Happy Hooking everyone
Friends over today so the hook is put away for a few hours, I need to move the dust around and make the place look tidier...you guessed it wool ALL OVER THE PLACE working on a few design/patterns for sale...ooops
hugs x
 

Tuesday 26 March 2013

CROCHET: Week 12 granny as a blanket....

I ran up a blanket on Picasa in an hour...speedy hey? lol

A Square in a Square in a Square
Joined without the last round of dc

Happy Hooking x

agonising over do I don't I take on an Etsy account....

 
 
Really don't know what to do, but family and really close friends keep telling I am mad to give away all the patterns that I do!.........I should be selling them.
 
But as I promised a pattern or two through 2013 and I won't go back on that.
 
But every now and then a pattern I think worth keeping back, appears and I start to think about selling a few.....but do I want the hassel?
James came yesterday and thought the wool storage (still in the lounge) looked like a work of art hehehe
 
Poor Love his car although not that old failed it's MOT....and he was broke. The Bank of Mum came to the rescue, with an early cash Birthday present.
AND
He loved the new rug and the re-arranged furniture in the Kitchen, a sunny spot when it come sout that is, to sit and play.
 
It has certainly brightened the snow filled days of late.
Happy Hooking x
 
 

Saturday 23 March 2013

Where has Spring gone too?

It's snowed all day. never seen so many return visits of the snow in such a short space of time!
 
Had one of my furniture moving days,
 
and I indulged in some colour to cheer us up, lol....a new rug and a couple of CD racks to store my wool although I probably need several more to hold it all, for now just 2.
The new rug has made another cheerful spot to crochet in, between chopping this and cooking that,
at the one end of the kitchen, and a great distraction from all the white stuff.
 
Hope you aren't snowed in like some, really bad in places, at least here it isn't cold enough to be causing too many problems here.
 
Happy Hooking

Thursday 21 March 2013

MOSS STITCH LOG CABIN CROCHET AND A BLOCK ST. RETURN

WIP......HOW MANY HAVE YOU GOT ON THE GO?

TOO MANY!!!
So I decided all this week I would spend adding to all my WIP projects and then one day a week until a selection are finished

BASE SQUARE
First square was 8 sts x 7 rows in Moss Stitch.
Pick up the number of stitches along one side of the first square to repeat the next square
then.... 
Each 'log' is 7 rows by number of sts needed to make the next log.

Log Cabin progress today.




at the moment the piece is 16.5" square or 42cm....not sure if I should make four about2.5' to  3' square and joint them together or one big one.


New blanket on the go...a log cabin in Moss Stitch, grows quite quickly adding a log or two between other jobs


Moss stitch comprises of 1sc, ch1.

First square is  9sc x base ch row and 9 rows in Moss Stitch.

LOG CABIN MOSS STITCH PATTERN
ch9
Row 1: ch1, sc in first st, ch1, miss a st, sc in next ch1, miss a st, sc in next st, repeat to end, finish with sc in lat st.

Row 2:ch2, counts as first sc and ch1 sp, turn, sc in the next ch1 sp, ch1, sc in next ch1 sp, repeat to end, pull yan through, cut off and weave in end (5moss sts)

Row 3-9: repeat row2. 

Log 2:Continue in the next colour and Repeat log 1.

Log 3:repeat on the side of the logs 1 and 2 making the first long log.
continue to repeat for each log changing colour for each log. 

LOG CABIN PROGRESS...

I woke up to a view of my Stylecraft special DK log cabin progress.......and my new poncho.
I tidied the book case at the foot of the bed up yesterday, but already the crochet is decorating the space..

 Tried making a shrug from the two blocks but it was just a couple of inches longer than needed compared to the width, so it wasn't working..back to a blanket then!
And it was so cold last night I even wore my new poncho to pop to the supermarket.
Autumn around the corner.


GARDEN SEAT COVER

I have started to do a few rows of the block stitch seat cover too.

Block stitch 

PATTERN


Base chain multiples of 3chain
Round 1: 1dc [1tr] in each stitch
Round 2: sc [dc], in the top of first dc [tr], chain 2, sc [dc],  in the 3rd dc [tr], st, repeat to end making a row of chain loops
Round 3: 3dc [3tr],in each chain loop.


A simple but really effective stitch.
repeat rows 2 and 3 changing colour every row


A rainbow of colours to play with cheer me up in this dreary Spring we are suffering. 
Happy Hooking x

Monday 18 March 2013

UNEXPECTED VISITORS....

Sorry I didn't get back yesterday, Phil's Twin and her husband turned up unexpectedly.
 
Two versions of the motif I designed in August last year and never wrote the pattern
now in a hexagon as well as a square to play with.
It was free wool on a magazine so I only had enough yarn to make a cushion front...nice yarn though thicker than a lot of DK.
 
All up to date with the free patterns, and some paper work to do today so no more hooky for me until it's finished...been putting it off a bit....lol
 
Hope to catch up with all the lovely messages and do a bit of blog following tomorrow.
 
Hugs to all x
 
 

Sunday 17 March 2013

ALMOST CAUGHT UP WITH FREE PATTERNS...

Afternoon everyone....almost finished all 6 patterns, but Brupbrup holding up play right now so I'll be back with the 6th pattern in a couple of hours time.
 
 
An 8 petal flower.
A 6 petal Flower
An Octagon with a filler
 
WEEK 11 TO FOLLOW SHORTLY...no link yet
A motif with a filler
 
 
 
Happy Hooking xx
 

Friday 15 March 2013

GOOD MORNING BLOGGERS...

Been a hectic week all round, trying to do the catch up patterns for the GRANNY SQUARES  and the FLOWERS wk 9, 10 and 11 so that I am not behind......
 
Almost there
SO OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS I SHOUD HAVE ALL 6 PATTERNS POSTED........
 
With Phil not being well and at home, there have been lots of get well phone calls and lots of visitors and lots of insurance forms to fill in too, holding up the pattern creation, he is well on the mend now, although still very tired, we are going for short walks to build up his lung strength.
 
He says thanks for all the get well messages xx.
 
Holiday crochet....I managed a short sleeve and started to work down the front, not great progress, but we had so much to do on board.
A 2 round, 2 Colinette Ribbon motif joined in a hexagon shape......not sure who's bum that is in the picture, lol
The 3 motifs on the left are the beginning of the front opening and on the right you can see the short sleeve.
Added a few more motifs to the red piece too....
While on holiday I also managed to read two more of CHRISTINA JONES' wonderful books, almost caught up with all her books, just a couple left to read.
 
The cruise was great until Phil was taken ill, and that bit I wont dwell on, not a great experience.
 
THE MAJESTY...
The food was fabulous on board, the crew were wonderful, terrific shows, a great ship and the weather was suny although a bit breezy at sea.
 
We did 3 trips, which we and a lot of people thought were a bit rushed.
 
SHOES...yeees!
We found a fantastic shoe shop on La Palma....beautiful shoes in every colour and in Morocco I loved and bought a couple of pairs of the Embroidered slippers.
I will do a post with pctures about the holiday asap.
 
I AM KNITTING TOO....very slowly hehe!
Not a keen knitter at all.....but I have promised to make my son James a
cardy in navy blue for his Birthday in April....crossing everything that I will finish it in time, definitely a daytime project though.
Watched a you tube video and thought this isn't right!!!! Wanted to give up at this stage, but watched a second much better video and thought it an easy, all be it slow stitch for me.
 
A visit to COLOURMART
Thanks Sue and Richard for all the help, I am still trying to get the samples done (oh! boy am I a slow knitter!) so James hasn't been able to choose between the Cashmere or the Cashmerino yet....the cashmere is beautifully soft but the cashmerino is a little easier for me as an inexperienced knitter.
He had every Navy blue they had out to look at and compare lol.
 
Catching up slowly
Hugs to all x
 
 
 

Friday 8 March 2013

A holiday to remember!!!!!!


Hi everyone......a lot of catching up to do, a week late in getting home. Phil was hospitalised two days before the end of our cruise with pneumonia, I was found an apartment close to the hospital we only got the certificate to fly on Wednesday and a flight home last night was eventually found for us.....certainly a holiday to remember!
CATCH UP AS SOON AS I CAN....hugs to all x