Big Changes Ahead!

Things are definitely on the move with my life, and I'm glad to say, for the better :)
I'm in the process of finalising mum's affairs and getting her life belongings sorted out, the wedding has been and gone and was wonderful! Work is about to wind up for the year, and my 1st official pattern has finished the testing phase and I'm going to release it here today!

But the biggest, life changing event for me is - after 33 years, I have finally given up smoking! It has been 7 days since my last cigarette and the cravings haven't been anywhere near as bad as I thought they would be. I woke up last Thursday (19th Nov) and just decided that I was no longer going to smoke. So far, so good and I plan on doing whatever I can to remain smoke free! Time to get healthy!! :)

I still miss mum like crazy, I don't think that feeling will ever go away. It was such a bittersweet time at the wedding, knowing that she was there with us in spirit helped, but it would have been wonderful if she had of actually been able to share the day with us and experience it in all its glory.

The wedding was the most beautiful occassion I have had the pleasure to be a part of, and I'm not just saying that, because it was my son marrying the love of his life. It was a well organised, laid back event with people that mattered being there to enjoy the whole day.
The bridal party looked stunning and the groomsmen were nothing but perfect gentlemen!

The bridesmaids - 2nd from left, is my daughter, Ebony.

I love this photo! It captures such a sense of fun!

This would have to be my #1 favourite of all the photo's I have seen so far. These 2 are made for each other ♥

The garter was worn with pride on the day and was tossed at the end of the evening. The bride didn't want to let it go, but I promised her that I would make her a replacement for her keepsake box, and she was happy with that, so it got tossed :)

And now that the testing has been completed and I am happy with the way it has been written. Here's the link to the free pattern :)

UPDATE (24 February 2022) - The link to this pattern has been updated and it is now available as a free download on Ravelry.

Dainty Little Garter - PDF

If you have any issues with the Ravelry download, please let me know and I can supply an alternate link :) 

Enjoy!

My First Official Creation!

Since my last post about the passing of my mother, life has done a complete backflip on me and now we are in the process of planning a happy occassion.
On Saturday 15th November at 3:00pm, my first born and only son, is getting married!!!

It's an exciting time for all of us, but also a sad one, knowing that mum won't be able to be there and witness her grandson taking this huge step in his life.

I have been busy helping them out to put things together for the wedding. They decided they wanted to create their own invitations from scratch, so we went on the hunt for materials to make them.
They wanted a rustic theme, so we managed to find something that was suitable and this is what we came up with....

The front of the invitation - it's amazing what you can do with paper doilies, twine and hessian sheets.

The inside, with a pocket made from a paper doily for the RSVP card.

They also wanted to make their own place cards, so I designed some using Publisher that fit in with the invitations. Just some simple tent fold cards with a name tag placed on the front (sorry, no pic of those).

As well as that, the bride didn't have her "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue" arranged. 

So I set to putting something together for her: 

• The something old & borrowed is going to be an antique marcasite watch that my mother was given by my father on their wedding day in 1965, which she passed on to me on my 30th birthday and I wore on my own wedding day.
  
• The something new & blue is a pattern of my own design, a garter
  

I hunted in all the usual places - Ravelry, Pinterest, blogs, Google search, and could come up with nothing that looked "right" for the day, so I got out my hook and some crochet thread that I had in my stash and set to work designing one.

I had to play around with it until I got it looking how I wanted. It's just a simple little pattern, but I love how it turned out and have actually decided that I am going to publish it and offer it on Ravelry :) 

I'm calling it - Dainty Little Garter.

This is the actual garter that I made for the bride (and she loves!)...

I'm in the process of adding a store front to my Ravelry and once it's done, this will be my first official pattern release!

Once it's set up and finalised, I will be including the pattern link on this blog, so stay tuned! 

Wish us luck for a smooth day with wonderful weather :) 

I'm Still Alive....

It seems like it's been forever since I had a chance to actually sit and pay a visit here. With work, family and other things going on in the past few months, I feel like I haven't really even had time to stop and scratch myself.
Today I decided that enough was enough, and here I am!

In the past 4 months, I have officially become an 'empty nester'. My son and his  fiancée finally moved out on their own into mum's house at the end of April. They've settled in really well and are loving being out on their own and being independent. It's taken a lot of getting used to for me, I still have days where I go to talk to one of them, then remember they are not here.

On the upside, I can now put something down and not have to worry about not being able to find it again, my house is cleaner, I can watch what I want (much to hubby's dis-satisfaction) and I don't have to play taxi to anyone, seeing as they both now have their licence :)

My daughter is still out on her own, she had to move house, which was a big job, but we got it done and she has settled into her new home and is happy there, which is what counts.

Mum has had a few ups and downs, we had a pretty horrible few weeks where they thought that she wasn't going to make it. She had a bad episode in late April/early May where she aspirated into her lungs and they thought they were going to lose her, then again in late May, when she was battling a bad chest infection, but I'm glad to say that she is still with us and battling on like she always has. It's at the point now where she doesn't recognise anyone anymore, which is heart breaking and it's very rare that she even speaks to anyone, but just to have her here still, is enough.

With all the goings on, I decided to put my Mood Blanket project aside, so that has come to a standstill. I have a decent size batch of squares made, which I may re-purpose into another project, I'm not sure what yet, so they are stashed away until inspiration strikes.

I have managed to get a few other things off my hook though. With the cold weather we are experiencing now that it is Winter here, I have been busy making throws. The Red Heart Corner to Corner (C2C) has become my favourite and so far I have made 2, which I am really happy with.

These are photo's I took while I was working on them, I don't have photo's of them completed at this stage. It's too dark and dreary to capture the colours properly, so when the weather is nicer, I will probably take some :)

I have a thing for monochrome at the moment, so this one was born from that:

This gorgeous coloured yarn had been in my stash for a while and I needed to find something make from it, this is the result, which I love! I had 2 similar skeins in different types and they both worked  beautifully together is called Moda Vera Bouvardia in the colourway - Canyon Flight and the other is Moda Vera Noemi - Pink Mix.

As well as those, I've put together a couple of smaller projects, both of my own design.

One was a cover for my ottoman that sits near my crochet chair and has a lift up lid that of course hides some of my yarn stash :)

This is the view of the top:

 The side on view:

And this is what is hiding underneath lol:

Finally, I have finally managed to get my hands on some Red Heart Aran yarn. A chain store (Big W) here in Australia has finally started stocking some of it, not much, but enough to allow me to buy some to try.

I bought a couple of skeins of their purple and white and made myself a brick stitch throw (which you can see lurking on the back of my chair in the centre photo above)

It's just long enough to cover my feet and allow me to snuggle up under it if I want to, when it's really cold.....

 This is a close up of the stitch pattern and edging I used....

And the latest thing to come off my hook, which I just finished last night, is a cover for my Ipad. I had been wanting to make one for a while, for when I take it to work, etc with me, so I went to my stash and found some yarn that I thought would be perfect for the job.

I designed the cover myself, using a basic cover pattern where you make a chain as long as you need and then work up from that in the round until it is the length you want. I wanted a flap on mine, so I could close it, so I set about designing one that I would like and allow me to attach some buttons (which I also had in my stash). And then I went on the search for an applique, which I found in my stash from a Maggie Weldon pattern.

This is the end result of what I came up with and I have to say that I am really happy with the results :) 

My next project is finding a pattern for a rug out of t-shirt yarn for in front of my kitchen sink. If I can't find one that I like, I may just have to create one of my own.

I'm still working, teaching IT 2 days a week and am studying as well, so on top of everything else, there isn't much time left for anything that I really want to do.

Until next time....

Back In The Swing Of Things...

I know that I said that I was going to try and update this on a regular basis, but time has just gotten away from me lately. Today I finally have some time to sit and actually spend more than 2.3 nanoseconds here, so I thought I would pay a visit while I had the chance!

I'm still plodding away with the Mood Blanket Challenge, I'm about a week's worth of squares behind, but I'm catching up. The hotter weather has finally started to disappear, it's still quite warm here, but nowhere near the 40°c+ days that we were having.

I've had yet another change of mind with the Mood Blanket squares and have decided that it was just going to be too plain for my liking. So I hunted through my stash and found a book with a variety of really nice square patterns, so I have been slowly working my way through, pattern by pattern and am going to incorporate these in amongst the "plainer" blocks.

The book I am using is called "50 Fabulous Crochet Squares" by Leisure Arts. There are some gorgeous patterns in this book and I plan on making all 50 of them :)

Here's just a small sample of them, from the book cover...

This is where I'm at for now with my squares (sorry for the picture quality, it was taken in a rush), you can see the squares from the book that I have made so far...

I still have some catching up to do with the "charity afghan" square - 3 each of the pink, light green and dark green, then I plan on getting back into the book and making some more of those gorgeous motif squares.

I'm still working these squares with the Bendigo Woolen Mills 4 ply cotton and am only just starting to make a dent in the skeins. They are 200g in weight, so I think that I am going to have plenty to see me through this project, and if not, I'll just have to pay another visit there to get more! ;)

In my last post, I mentioned that I was running behind on making my sister's birthday presents. I ended up just making her an owl (sorry I forgot to take a photo)in 4 ply cotton and bought her a cute little word art plaque that was all about sisters. She loved them to bits and they only arrived a day late. I'm saving the scarf to make in the cooler weather and will send it to her as a "just because" gift when it's closer to the time that she will actually need it and can wear it :) 

As well as catching up on the squares and my sister's gift, I took part in an amigurumi swap with another lady from one of the Facebook groups I'm in. I ended up making her an owl from Moji Moji's Rainbow Nesting Owls pattern (surprise, surprise! LOL) and a little kitty from Little Muggles - Violet The Kitty and she was very pleased with them. I didn't take a photo before I sent them, because I wanted to get them in the post quickly, but she did share a photo when she received them...

The lady had requested pinks and purples as her preferred colours, and this is all that I had in my stash at the time. I was quite happy with how they turned out. Although I didn't have any pellets to weight the bottoms so they don't quite sit as well as I would have liked. But the main thing is, she liked them :) 

In return, this same lady sent me an ami, it was the first one she has made and I think for a "1st timer" she did an excellent job. Of course, she knows me well enough to make me an owl!

The picture above is of the owl she made me and she said that it was from the Soren the Barn Owl pattern. I love it!!! :) 

I can't believe that we are already nearly 2 months into the new year! Time seems to go past so quickly these days!!

Anyway, looks like my time here for today is up, so I better get back to doing what needs to be done around here and hopefully the updates will be a little more frequent from now on :) 

Oh...and before I forget....

Something Crafty This Way Comes...

Even though things have been pretty much up in the air over the past few months, I've still managed to make time here and there, for my favourite hobby.....Crochet!

And I've also taken another leapt into creating things with felt and embroidery thread.

Rather than go into the tedious details of everything I've been doing, I think I'll just show you :) 

These two cuties are from a pattern called "Mama & Baby Owl" by Esbelotta. I saw the pattern on Etsy and just had to have it. I think they are gorgeous and I love the way they turned out.

This strange little fellow is from a pattern kit I purchased at our local craft store, Spotlight. I played around a bit and changed the colour combinations and "rebel crafted" the eyes differently. I think it's pretty cute!

I decided that I was in need of a new holder for my mobile phone and came across this cute pattern in a new book called "Happy Stitch" and just had to make it. It's the perfect size for my phone and everyone that's seen it so far, has commented on it and wanted one of their own. I told them that I'll gladly take orders lol.

Another sewn project......it's a cute little bag that I put together made from felt and artificial leather. Everyone of those "feathers" on it's belly are hand sewn, as is the rest of the bag. It was a long tedious job with all that sewing, but I'm happy with the end result. It isn't the biggest in size, but it's perfect for holding all my USB drives and iPod and Kindle cables and it currently hangs on a hook above my desk :)

Yes! I know they are all Owls! lol

I promise that I have been working on other things that aren't owl related, but I can't show you at the moment because they are gifts that are still waiting to be delivered to their new homes. Can't have the intended recipients finding out what they are getting before they receive them!!

So I guess you'll just have to stay tuned for those! :)  

In The Mood For Crochet?

I'm lagging a little behind on my progress with the Mood Blanket Challenge, but only because we are experiencing a heatwave here in Victoria this week. The past 4 days have been 40°c+ and the A/C is struggling to keep the house cool enough to do anything. There has been so much going on around here this week, that I haven't really had time to pick up my hook.

Besides the extreme heat, we have had thunderstorms that had very little rain but a lot of lightning and thunder which has sparked some serious fires. The closest one was on Wednesday night, only 10kms from our house! It was a very restless and stressful night waiting to see if they were going to get it under control. Lucky for us that they did. The CFA (Country Fire Authority) do a marvellous job protecting us and they do it all as volunteers. They need to be better recognised for putting their lives on the lines to protect ours!

Anyway....back to my blanket progress....
I decided that I didn't want to use white squares in my blanket as I had originally intended, so I had to go and get a new colour to replace it, I decided on light teal. The white is now going to be used to edge my squares and make the border instead, which will hopefully make the colours pop. So far I have 12 of the 17 squares done.

I'm really liking the way that the colours are coming together. As you can see, my moods have been varied since beginning the project and I'm happy to say that there are more "good" days than "bad" days so far :) 

I haven't really made a firm decision on how I'm going to join the squares yet, at the moment I'm tossing up between 3 different ways - sewing them together with a whip stitch, single crocheting them together (through the back loops) or maybe doing a braid join. I guess it will all fall into place at some stage, but hopefully sooner rather than later because I don't want to have to sit and join 365 squares together at the end!! 

I'm seriously lagging behind on other projects too, it's my sister's birthday in 3 days and she has requested a scarf (why anyone would want a scarf in the midst of summer is beyond me lol)  and an owl, and I haven't even started on them! She lives 400km away and I will need to post them, so I think I need to get myself busy with those and get them in the post to her so she doesn't think that I have forgotten her. I know they won't make it there on time, EEEEEK! why did I leave it so long!!!

I guess I should start looking through my pattern stash to find something cute but quick.

'Til next time...

Crochet Mood Blanket Update

I've had a change of mind with the pattern that I had originally chose to do this challenge. I just didn't like the size that the squares were, they were too big for my liking. I may have to re-visit the pattern at a later date and use the squares that I have already made to make a smaller lapghan.

So, off I went on a hunt and found a pattern that I really liked and thought would fit the bill perfectly. I decided to use the Good Cause Afghan because I thought it suited the meaning behind the whole challenge.

I have to confess that I love working with cotton yarn, so much more than acrylics, so I delved into my stash and came up with 10 balls of Bendigo Woolen Mills cotton in 4 ply and set to work picking colours to suit moods and adding them to my journal.

I decided to also use a much smaller hook (2.25mm) and I am really loving the way that it is turning out so far.

These are the first 5 days squares that I have re-done so far, assigned with new colours for each mood of the day

I picked up a cheap little journal at a local store for a couple of dollars and set to work taking sample cuts from each of my colours, this is what I have come up with for my mood/colour chart. 

{Please excuse the owl coaster that is photo bombing, the page wouldn't stay open so I could get a good picture!}lol 

I've segmented the book into sections, the first half has the mood chart and on the following pages, I am listing each day and the mood I was experiencing. I've allowed enough pages for the whole 365 days. The rest of the book will be used to document why I was feeling the mood on that particular day. It will be interesting to look back on it at the end of this journey and see what my year was like :) 

While I was doing all this re-organising of how I was going to do this challenge, I wondered where on earth I was going to store all these squares as I was making them, then I remembered that I had bought a cute little case on clearance and had it stored in the craft room. So, out it came and has officially been delegated the task of storing the squares and journal.

It doesn't look all that big, but in real life, it is actually quite deep and I don't think it will have any problems at all holding the 365 squares that I have now decided to make :) 

Here's an inside view... 

so much room for activities! 

I have to say that I am quite excited about this whole project now, even more than I was before and I'm looking forward to seeing how this whole thing turns out at the end of the year :) 

Crochet Mood Blanket 2014

I stumbled upon the Crochet Mood Blanket 2014 challenge on New Years Day and knew straight away that this was a project that I wanted to do.
The rules are simple.....
You can crochet or knit one square or row a day or week in a colour to match your mood.
Depending on the size blanket or even how many you want to make at the end of the challenge, will help to decide on how often you do the squares or rows.
I was going to tackle the 365 squares, but the square I chose, is quite large, so I don't know if it will end up being 365 - I may have to change my train of thought and only do 52.
I chose to use the squares from Bear's Rainbow Blanket by Purl Soho - which is a free pattern.
I am making it in 8 ply acrylic - because that is what I have the most of in my stash - and I'm using a 4mm hook.
I've made 2 squares so far - a blue and a green. I will be edging them all in an Oatmeal colour and I may use some of the colours for the border or I may just keep it simple, I'm not sure yet, but there is plenty of time to figure that out :)
I've decided to join as I go, because I know that nobody likes joining at the best of times and the daunting thought of possibly having to join 365 squares together at the end, is something that even I am not keen enough to do! lol.
Here's my first square....

I've decided that rather than match my mood on the day, I will be working with the first colour that jumps out at me from my stash. I'm also keeping a journal of the colours and days and making notes of how I was feeling on the day that I made the square, which I will keep with the blanket(s) when I'm finished :) 

For those that are interested in doing this great challenge, there is a Facebook group that you can join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/crochetmoodblanket2014/

There is also information available on Instagram: http://instagram.com/mummy_stacey which is where it all began. 

It only took one woman to have an idea and voice it, and it has gone viral. This lady thought that she would only get a small following, but it has grown so quickly and she now has 1,588 members in the Facebook group and a large following on Instagram as well!

It just goes to show how one small idea can bring so many people together!

I'll keep you updated as often as I can with this project. I hope you think about giving it a shot yourself :) 

Off The Hook :)

I mentioned in my last post that I was making a shawl for my mother in the nursing home. I finally managed to finish it off last night and I'm really happy with how it turned out. The Bendigo Woollen Mills 4ply cotton was a dream to work with, it doesn't split or catch at all :)
I used the shades called Pink Rose and Blush, I had planned on throwing some cream cotton into it to break it up, but I ended up not thinking that it would need it.

I decided to fancy it up a bit and give it a nice edging as I thought it was looking a little plain, so I hunted through my patterns and came across Doris Chan's "All Shawl" pattern and loved the wide edging in the pattern. So I chose that to finish it off and I LOVE it!

Here's the finished piece:

I plan on hunting through my felt stash and making a little tag to sew on with mum's name on it and a little "handcrafted with love" message on it. I just have to decide where the best place will be to attach it.

The "happypotamus" has had to take a back seat, because I wanted to get this finished as soon as possible. I have to re-stock my stuffing supply as well, so that will have to wait until the new year and it will be a belated Christmas or "just because" present instead. Lucky for me, I thought about buying a gift in case I hadn't completed it, or I would have been in a bit of trouble LOL.

Is This The Real Life? Is This Just Fantasy.....

When I thought of writing this post, the first thing that popped into my head were the first line of lyrics from Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody! lol

I suppose you are already wondering why I would choose those words for a post....well wonder no more...

I had finally managed to spend some time sorting through my stash of yarn and seeing what I actually had and came across a nice little stash of some bright coloured yarn which I wanted to do something with.

For a while now, I have been wanting to make a throw that was bright and not just the same old, same old stitch. So off to Ravelry I went and stumbled across the pattern for the Fantasy Blanket and knew right away that it was the one!

I picked out my colours and found my favourite hook and set to work.

I really liked the mix of different stitches and the way the colours were working together, it didn't take long at all to get it to the length I wanted.

I didn't want to do the border that was included in the pattern, so I decided to do it my own way. Which ended up being a mix of some of the colours of the blanket being used around the edge in a simple single crochet stitch, finished off with a white reverse single crochet (crab stitch). I'm not 100% happy with the edging and am actually thinking of changing it to something more to my liking, but for now, it can wait until inspiration strikes.

Here's a photo I took of the blanket just before I added the edging, I love the way the colours just "pop"!

Once I decide on the type of edging I want to change it to, I'll share another photo. 

Surprisingly  it didn't use as much yarn as I  thought  it would, so I actually have enough left over to start another multi-colour project. Now I just have to find the right pattern.....

Doily Rug...

I had been wanting to try one of these for quite some time now. I had seen so many gorgeous examples on the internet and just had to try it out for myself.

The main problem I had was sourcing the t-shirt yarn for it. I finally managed to hunt some down on Ebay. I bought 4 skeins of Moda Vera Gypsy for a lot less than it would have cost me in the store.

I chose to go with a brown colour for the yarn as our house has a lot of neutral colours and woodwork.

The next problem I had was deciding on exactly what doily pattern I wanted to use for a rug.
I finally found one on Ravelry called "Birthday Doily" which was a free pattern. It can be found here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/birthday-doily

I then had to go out and buy myself some really large crochet hooks, so I chose to get a 15mm and a 19mm. Of course, I didn't need an excuse to buy some yarn while I was at the store, but that's another story!

Anyway, once I got used to tension of the t-shirt yarn and the really large hook (I chose to work with the 15mm), it was smooth sailing.

I managed to complete it over 3 evenings and it now has pride of place on my bedroom floor in front of my mother's rosewood tallboy that I inherited when she moved to the nursing home.

This is my finished rug:

It's not the best photo in the world, the camera just didn't like picking up the proper colour, but I think you can get the idea.

It took just over 1 skein of the Gypsy and they are huge skeins (500gms). Now I just have to decide what to do with the remaining yarn......

Another doily rug, an owl basket, or something else.....I guess I'll decide on something soon enough....

Another One Bites The Dust

Last night, I managed to get another project off my hook. I finished my throw that I mentioned in my last post. It's another Random Stripe throw, but in black, 3 different shades of grey and a warm yellow. I really like how it turned out. I think it looks masculine, which works well, considering it has found a home on the back of my husband's favourite sofa in the lounge room....

This is not how it is going to stay, the photo was actually taken with it just being draped here so that I could pick up all the colours to show you :) 

After finishing the throw, I was at a loss as to what to make next. I have been toying with a few ideas, but hadn't decided on one in particular. I finally thought it was time for another filet piece, but I won't mention the details about it yet as it is going to be a gift for a good friend and I don't want to expose it before it is delivered to it's intended recipient.

As well as crocheting the throw, I have been trying to teach my future daughter-in-law to crochet.  She had learnt the basics from her grandmother, but only knew how to do a granny square and that was all. She has been watching me making things for the past few months, since she moved in with us and has been begging me to teach her, and she seems to be getting the hang of it very quickly. She's made 2 things so far and can already see the improvement in the 2nd piece. 

I started her with this pattern, from Lion Brand...

This is the photo from the Lion Brand site....

And this is Amanda's attempt at it (this was the 2nd try at it)...

I think she did a pretty good job of it and even though the legs and arms are bigger than they are supposed to be, I still think he's pretty cute! At the moment she's working on a Narwhal pattern, learning how to create circles :) 

Besides the throw that I've just finished, I also decided it was time to make a new bag holder for my plastic shopping bags. 

I used a pattern from e-Patterns Central that can be found here: Butterfly Bag Holder 

I made mine slightly longer than the pattern called for, and I found some other butterfly appliques that I preferred, but I think it's still a little plain and am on the lookout for an applique pattern for a dragonfly to add to it.

This is the finished bag......

with a close up of one of the butterflies....

I really like the way they stand out, almost a 3D effect!

Before I go, I'd like to share a piece that my mother made a couple of years ago when she was a member of a local craft group and still living in her own home. I found this while I have been going through the process of cleaning up her house...I think it is gorgeous....

This now has pride of place on my bed among some other embroidered cushions :) 

Mum couldn't have it at the nursing home with her, and when I asked if I could have it, she said yes! It is something that I will cherish for a long time, because it was handmade by her. 

I'm debating about making a little lace applique of something to add to the centre, but I haven't found the perfect one yet......

'til next time....keep warm, or cool, depending on where you are on this great planet of ours :) 

Throw Some Warmth Around....

The days and nights are definitely getting cooler here. So of course, I have done the obvious and decided to make some throws to keep me warm while I do what I enjoy.

In my last post, I mentioned that I was working on a throw using the Random Stripe Generator, I finally finished it, just in time to give to my mother for Mothers Day :)

I love the way that it turned out and she thought it was beautiful. It is so thick and warm, perfect for someone that feels the cold. 

After gifting this one to mum, I had to make another for myself. Mine is being done in white, black, light grey, medium grey, dark grey and yellow, but not in that order, again I used the Random Stripe Generator and found a combination that I really liked and went with it. I'm about 3/4 done and will post a photo when it's finished.

Occasionally I also knit and decided that when I want to do something a little different, I could alternate between crochet and knit projects. So out came the knitting needles and some yarn that I purchased on sale last year and I decided to start a cable scarf. It's a reverse cable and very easy, there are only 6 rows to the pattern.

This is a photo taken a little while ago, progress is actually further along than what you see below, it's about twice as long...

If you're interested, the pattern can be found here

I don't knit very often, but I do enjoy it and it's the one craft that my mother was able to teach me, at the tender age of 8 and it's stuck with me and I am very grateful that she had the patience to get me knitting :) 

Cooler Weather = More Time For Crochet :)

I don't seem to get as much time as I would like to get back here and update what's been happening, today I decided that I was going to do just that :) 

Last time I managed to sit and write, I mentioned that I had found a new love - Filet Crochet!

I've now completed 3 projects and love them all.

You can find the original blog post about my discovery here: 

Heart Filet Doily 

I mentioned that I was on to my 2nd project using this technique and was making a "Welcome" sign for my wall, I finally managed to get it finished and I must say that I love it.

I had to hunt high and low to find a frame that would fit it, some were too big and others too small, I decided to settle for a bigger one and here is the finished result, made with DMC cotton size 20 and a 1.25mm hook.

Please excuse my bird cage, it decided to photo bomb the photo! :)

As you can see, I chose not to block it - in hindsight maybe I should have, but I don't have any immediate plans to remove it from the frame and do that. Besides, the quirkiness seems to fit in well with our house lol.

After the filet, I decided that I needed to do one more project to satisfy the urge to know that I had got it right, and as I've mentioned previously, I have a "thing" for owls. So what better project to do, than an Owl Filet project!

This is the one that I chose to make: 

This one was made with the thicker 4ply crochet cotton and a 1.25mm hook, and I love the way it turned out. It is quite large and at the moment it is sitting on one of our coffee tables.

I have a few more filet projects that I'd love to do, but for now, I'm not in the mood for counting continuously and marking off rows as they are completed, so I chose to return to my real love, amigurumi!

I bought this pattern a while back and it has been sitting in my folder on the PC waiting for me to create it and I have to say I'm very pleased with the way it turned out and think it is one of the cuter projects I have done :) 

It's called "Guardian Bear" by the very talented "Esbelotta"

and can be found here:

Guardian Bear - Esbelotta

I love her patterns and they are so simple to work with. I have made another of her patterns in the past and blogged about it, here's the one I made previously:

Mama & Baby Owl - the first picture in the post :) 

I'm now working on an multicolour afgan, as the weather is getting cooler at nights and I decided it was time to make a bigger project. The fact that as it grows, it also keeps my legs warm, is another benefit :) 

It's a simple pattern made up of alternating sc and dc stitches and the stripes were created using the Random Stripe Generator

and this free pattern and I have to say that I am loving it.

I'm using similar colours to the pattern picture, but I would love to make another when this one is finished in a different colour combination. I think my next one may be made using: orange, grey, black and white :) 

Apart from all the crocheting, things are moving along nicely here, I'm back teaching I.T again this year, mum is doing well, the kids are all happy and life is good!

Keep smiling! :) 

Some Things Are Easier Than They Look :)

Over the past few months, I have had little time to do much of anything. My son's fiance moved in with us, mum is in the nursing home, my daughter has had a few troubles of her own and I have been unwell.
I was recently diagnosed with Diverticulitis and am in the process of waiting to hear from the hospital for an appointment with a specialist in regards to my legs. It is hereditary in our family that all the women will end up with varicose veins at one time or another in their lives, and as luck would have it (NOT!), it didn't skip me! So at some stage in the near future, I am off to have some form of surgery to rectify my legs. I'm not looking forward to it, I thought my days of surgery were well and truly over, but apparently not. But, a girl's gotta do, what a girl's gotta do to keep herself healthy and pain free :)

Anyway, I didn't set this blog up as a way to moan about my life and complain about all the things that could be better, I set this blog up as a place for me to share my love of crochet with others, so that's what I'm going to do right now :)

For a while now, I've been wanting to learn something new, I wasn't sure what it would be, until I found it. I discovered that what I wanted to learn the most was....Filet Crochet!

I've always admired the patterns I have seen, but never thought that I would be able to do something like that myself. A while back, I received a pattern for a filet crochet heart tablemat, which I loved. Of course, I stashed it away for future reference.

I had grown tired of making amigurumi's for now and didn't want to take on another afghan just yet, so I decided the time was right for me to finally sit with that pattern and see if I could in fact, master the art.

It took me a little bit to get the hang of reading the graph, but once I got it figured out, it seemed to be so easy! Why did I wait so long!!

Anyway, I finally finished the tablemat and I'm quite proud of the way it turned out :)
I used a thicker 4ply cotton and a 1.25mm hook and I love the end result.
What do you think?

I toyed with the idea of blocking it, but thought that I would leave this one "au naturale" because of the thicker cotton. It actually smooths out quite nicely when I take the time to lay it down properly, this was just done in a rush so I could get the photo taken lol.

Since finishing the mat, I decided that I needed to hunt my finer crochet cotton out of my stash and tackle another pattern. For a while now, I've had a book in my possession called "Learn To Filet Crochet In A Day", so I hunted it out and found a pattern that I liked and made a start on it.

This one is going to be blocked and framed when it's completed and I am going to hang it on the lounge room wall :) 

Here's how far I have progressed with this one...

And this is what it will look like (I hope!) when completed :) 

(it's the "Welcome" at the bottom of the picture below)

As you can see, I'm only about 1/2 way along so far, but I don't think it will take me long to complete it. The hardest part is going to be finding a frame to fit it as it is quite large.

I bought an A3 size frame in town the other day, thinking that it would fit, but it is about 2 inches too narrow. So I will have to go on the hunt again, for a bigger frame.

Anyway, that's the extent of my work at the moment, life has slowed things down a bit in the relaxation side of things, but hopefully I'll get more time to spend doing what I love soon.

Til next time :)