Something finished

Finally, FINALLY, I have finished this massive repair job.  I finished the sewing yesterday  The sewing of this consisted of breaking the chain posts, stitching all around the edge of the triangles and using crochet thread, chain stitching the chain posts again.  Not the whole blanket (which is a double sized one), but in some areas I had to do big patches.   Happily, for the first time in weeks, the rain stopped and we have a week of fine days ahead.

That meant that I was able to wash this last night and put it out on the lawn to dry.  

After some research, I read that the best ways to clean something like this were: borax, oxyclean, vinegar and sunshine.  

This was DIRTY.  It smelled dirty; old dirty.  So I first soaked it in hot water and borax.  It looked like I was making tea.  Rather than let it soak for a long time in that brown water, I changed it after about 30 minutes and did another borax soak.  Still kind of looked like tea.  Then I rinsed it.  Still brown water coming off.  So then I soaked it in hot water and oxyclean for about another 30 mins or so.  That really made it start to look lighter.  Then I rinsed it twice in plain water (still colour coming out), soaked it for another 30 mins or so in water and vinegar and then rinsed it twice more.  Then this morning, I lay it out on the lawn in dappled sunlight where it lay all day.  The results:

 So much better.  It looks and feels clean.  Washing it also means that the colour is now almost exactly the same as the thread I used to make repairs.  Still not perfect, but this is an OLD piece.  I know that sun can be too damaging, but I think it was necessary this once to get rid of those strange little stains that weren't  quite gone, and it's too delicate to hang on the line to dry.

I spoke to the woman who owns it last night, and I'll take it around next week.  I wanted to make sure that it had time to dry completely, and I need to do some checks after washing it to make sure that there wasn't any damage done while washing it.  Those little chain posts between the triangles are so fragile. This is so pretty.  I started trying to work out the pattern this morning while I had a free moment.  I'm not used to such small crochet hooks and threads, and I can't remember how to make bobbles and I loaned my best crochet stitch book to a friend.  I know I could look it up on the internet...

In other exciting (not) news, the break in the weather meant that I was able to spend most of today cleaning our car inside.  Looks lovely now.  I also did haircuts for Matt and the boys, paying particular attention to Oscar who has prom tomorrow night.  (photos to follow).  

Easter craft egg cosy

 I love eggs.  We use them quite a lot, and with 4 hungry, active teenagers in the house, they are a healthy and cost effective way of filling the gaps.  When we went to the tournament on the weekend, the ONLY food for sale was sugar laden baked treats (don't get me started).  Fortunately I'd had the foresight to pack some boiled eggs as well as making sandwiches for the kids.  I often boil eggs for them to take to school.  Ella, in particular loves having boiled eggs.  She still asks me to draw little faces on the eggs like I used to do with all of them when they were little.  This morning, as she packed her egg into her lunch bag, she said that she wished she had a way to stop the shell from cracking as it rattled around in her bag.  

Thus the egg cosy was born.  Now, in the interests of full disclosure, I haven't tested these out yet, so I'm not going to make any guarantees that eggs will be totally protected in these, but if nothing else, it's a fun little project that is a good way to bust my tiny little wool scraps stash, and surely no more frivolous than all those apple cosies that are out there.  UPDATE:  Ella took an egg to school in one of these yesterday and she said it made ALL the difference - not a crack in sight.

And, for those looking for a little sugar free gift for easter, wouldn't this be be cute?  You could even decorate a boiled egg and put it inside.

And since Easter is fast approaching, I made up a quick little tutorial for these this morning.  Should give those inclined enough time to make a few of these. 

Warning, I'm not so good with crochet terminology and language - please feel free to ask me what I mean, if I haven't explained it clearly.

Egg Cosy

To make these, I used wool scraps that were fairly light DK /worsted weight yarn.  I played around with both a size 4.25mm/G/6 and 5mm/H/8 crochet hook as that's what I had on hand.  While both work, I prefer the look of the smaller hook.

To start, I made a magic loop.  ( If you are unfamiliar with how to make a magic loop, there are good online tutorials which can be found here and here.  It's well worth learning as it is such a useful thing to know in crochet- I tend to use it all the time now.)

Start by chaining 2 and then continue to crochet 9 half double crochet (hdc)/half treble UK (htc) around the circle.

 Join at the end of the round, and chain 2 stitches.  In the next round, increase by making two hdc/htc stitches into each of the loops from the previous round.  (You should only make one stitch into the last hole, as when you join it to your chains, it counts as two). Join at the end of the round.  You should now have 20 stitches making a nice flat circle.

 Place a marker at this point and continue to crochet around for about 6 rows.  You don't need to join at the end of that first round, just keep going in a spiral.  This is what starts to give the piece its shape.

At this point it is helpful to get a boiled egg to measure your work.  When it reaches just past the fattest part of the egg  (roughly 6 rows), you will need to bring the shape in a little.  To do this, in the next row you will decrease.  Skip 1 stitch, crochet 4, repeat 3 more times until you are at the end of the round.

Continue to crochet with the last 16 stitches for 1 or 2 rounds.  When you get to the end of the round, chain 7 stitches and join to the following stitch in the round.  Weave in your end.

The little loop may be unnecessary, but I liked the look of it.  If you made it long enough (maybe by making 10 chains), you could use it with a button and make a closure.  I felt that these were snug enough that they didn't need it and I like that this has something you can get your finger through when stuffing that egg in.  And they'd look cute hung in a tree or a bush for Easter...you could even put a chocolate egg in them.

Now, can you guess what I'm having for lunch?  

Just because

 Remember how I was looking for something to do while watching movies yesterday?  Well, here it is.  I always love the look of the union flag as a decorating motif.  It has such a graphic quality, which, for me, has nothing to do with imperialism or nationalism or any such thing.  I just think it's pretty.  So I was wondering if I would be able to work out a way to make a flag with crochet.  I had no idea if I would be able to do it.  Lots of problem solving and yes, some trimmed edges to make it all fit.

 But I love this.  It's really bulky (3 layers of crochet) and really snuggy.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it when finished, but Matt loves it, and seeing as I was short a birthday present for him, it's already found an owner ( he was born in the "mother county" after all).

odds and ends

I hate to waste things.  I have boxes of fabric scraps, and I keep all manner of tiny bits of wool.  For the most part, if they are long enough, I use them to crochet granny squares (or hexagons).  This little beauty is not actually a cat blanket (sorry Lilly).

It's a little stool cover for the free piano stool I got at the dump in VT.  I may have to felt it a little to get it to be a nice snug fit, but that will have to wait until we next go up.

Last weekend, though, our neighbours gave us a cd cabinet.  They were just going to throw it out.  Initially I was going to put it in my studio for storage, but I realised that it was substantially bigger than our current cd tower and that I could fit all our cds in it (rather than scattered around in boxes).

But that left this old IKEA cabinet which is 12 years old...what was I to do with it?  It struck me that it would make fantastic storage for my wool stash.

I like to keep my wool in the lounge room by the TV as that's where I do most of my work.  I've tried many different storage options.  I like to store my wool by colour (kind of like paints), and for the last few years I've kept them in ziplock bags.  But Lilly likes to chew the plastic, and I find I have to make such a mess to find anything....so we will see how this goes.   It works better for skeins than it does for balls.

But then I was left with all my "scraps'; little tiny balls and even smaller odds and ends in more plastic bags.  So I decided to make some little crocheted bowls/baskets to a) use up those tiny scraps and b) have a place to put my little wool balls.

These are so easy to make.  I literally "lick spliced" all my scraps longer than about a 12 inches (but too short to make even the smallest crocheted square).  [lick splicing is as disgusting as it sounds:  you lick your wool ends, then roll them together between your hands; basically felting the two ends together].  Then I used 5 strands of wool and a big crochet hook and went to town.  If anyone is really interested in these, I can write up a proper tutorial - let me know.   I love the rainbow look.  I may throw these in the wash to felt them down a bit, but at the moment they're fine.  (the green one at the back I made another time and that has been felted).

And sick as I am (oh yes, this is a NASTY cold and it has totally taken hold- lots of movie watching with a sick Ella yesterday), I managed to make 3 of these yesterday; totally busting my odds and ends stash and providing some cool storage for my little wool balls and my crochet odds and ends.  And still feeling totally rotten today (on my birthday), looks like Ella and I are in for another day of movie watching.  Now, I just have to find something to do with my hands....

I did make two new cushion covers earlier in the week:

In my etsy store of course.

A new blanket

 The fruits of my labours from last week.

 Actually, I started making these tiny granny squares over a year ago.  I hate to throw out even the tiniest scrap of wool and these were all remnants from other projects.  Putting all those squares together takes a long time and it grows very slowly.  I also find those squares can make for quite a chunky blanket.

So I crochet around them and it changes the feel; makes a lovely drape.  I and love the look.  Something a little less traditional.  This one is for sale in my etsy shop

Greetings from the cold

Don't get me wrong, I still love the winter weather, but we were without heat for 2 days this week, and that got kind of old. So this week became the perfect week to FINALLY finish my crochet hexagon blanket that I started eons ago.

I had wanted it bigger, but I figured if I didn't finish it now, it was never going to be done.
I'm very happy with it and it is super warm and cosy. Now we won't have to fight over the ripple blanket when we're sitting on the couch.

And I was also cheered by this little loveliness, sent by wonderful sister in law (although I think she should be my sister in craft), Chelsea It's a calendar she made (can't get this to stop linking).

I got a lovely little surprise package from her with two calendars and a little premade book for me to fill in a tin. AND today she also sent me this wonderful owl stamp that I said I loved. I'm lucky to have such a great friend.

And just as well I have these little bits of loveliness coming into my home because we are almost on lock down this weekend. I had to pick Kit up from school on Thursday with conjunctivitis (or junkyeyetivitis, as the kids call it) and Oscar had to come home from school yesterday missing two exams (he's had exams all week) with it. It's one of those things that as soon as you hear about it you start to think you have it. Matt stayed home yesterday because he wasn't sure if he was getting it or not and didn't want to contaminate work. I had Ella stay home too because her eyes looked a little pink. I've been thinking I've been getting it since Thursday, but I think it's psychosomatic. So today I'm washing sheets and towels and clothes and just about anything that Kit has touched! And trying to find an excuse to use my owl stamp!

Have a great weekend.

hanging in

It's been a cold old week. Kit was home 2 days this week (actually I had to drag him around with me), and we've really been feeling the cold. When the top temps for the day is -7C and the downstairs bathroom is unusable because all the pipes have frozen, you know it's serious winter.
Yesterday it snowed and we all thought it would be a snow day from school, or at least a delayed start, but no; the wisdom of the powers that be was to send the kids to school. Oscar said his bus was fishtailing around the corners while Kit and Ella and I waited 1/2 hour in -12C for their bus (Matt had the car).

So you can imagine that there's been a fair amount of knitting and crocheting going on around here.
First the cat I made last week:Then Oscar's crocheted hat. I made one for myself too, but it has disappeared (as things tend to do around here).

Then these, with a pattern here. These I knit with 2 strands of alpaca and they are so WARM. If my hands are cold I put them on and within a minute they are warm again. Brilliant. I especially wanted them for reading in bed as my hands get really cold. Of course now all the kids (and Matt) want a pair too, so I may be knitting these for a while.

And before I nip off to my pottery class, I want to leave you with this:

http://www.justanyone.com/allanguish.html#_Toc505953305

"Ladle Rat Rotten Hut" (Little Red Riding Hood) was a favourite of ours growing up, and here's the complete book.

You have to read the words outloud and then you can hear the story. I find it hysterically funny (although sometimes hard to work out)...give it a go!

The view from my chair

Do you remember these hexagons? Started in a frenzy last year?

Well I have been working this week to stitch them together and realised that I needed more. So I have been working away at my little coloured hexagons again.
I start with all my colours of wool like paint colours, all messily out in front of me and just mix until I get the desired effect.

And what better place to do it than on the veranda in the gorgeous late afternoon October sun. The view from my chair not so shabby...

Well actually I had to stand up for some of those, but I had to capture the loveliness of it all.

The kids have had a 4 day weekend. We went Halloween decoration shopping and decorated on Thursday (haven't carved the pumpkins yet as they'll rot as it's been so warm). Friday I left the boys at home to be vegitons and took Ella to my pottery class with me. She made two pots and declared that she'd rather go to school on Saturday if she could come along every week. Yesterday Matt took her and Kit too a Korean birthday party for a one year old (daughter of a guy Matt used to work with). It was at a Korean restaurant in Flushing Queens and they had a ball. Ella game home with 3 gifts of her own! Her she is making watches with her set she got.

Today we are off to Bear Mountain on the Hudson in NY. We love going there. They do a big Oktober fest this time every year. We didn't make it there last year, so we are keen to get out today. And it's another gorgeous day.

And tomorrow Matt had the day off for Columbus day, but not the kids, so we are going to have a "date day" together.

Closure

C'est Fini!!! Finally!!!!

Kit's quilt. This quilt has been a struggle from the start. I bought the dragon and flame fabric because I knew he'd love it, but then I thought I couldn't bear a whole quilt of it. So I came up with the idea of dragon's eggs. And threw in some different colours. Then I pieced together lots of different blue fabric for the quilt front (and this is actually my favourite part of the quilt-something I'd like to do again). Of course when it came to the actual quilting of it I was flumoxed. I had originally envisioned circular lines coming out from the eggs like ripples in a pond, but after a number of attempts with the machine realised it was not something I could easily do. So I hand stitched the whole thing. Ripple like circles on the eggs and 1 inch apart lines on all the different patches of blue. I actually like the effect, but I still don't like my hand stitching.

The back and the binding are the blue flame.

I doubt my fingers will ever recover from this and even though I have been planning my next quilt (one for me this time) for ages, I need a break from it all.

Kit is, at least, very happy to finally have a quilt to go on his bed too.

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And to catch up on all the intended blogs for the last few days (while I have been busy with the thing above)...

I have finally started sewing my "starfish" together. This is my activity that comes with me to gym, ballet and swimming. I manage to sew a few here and there and slowly it grows. I suspect, though, that it will never be big enough until I crochet some more...that may be a job for when the cooler weather comes around again.

And speaking of weather...though it has been up and down like a roller coaster lately, we did have a fantastic day for the school fair. Not too sunny, and not too hot, but thankfully not bucketing down like it had the previous few days. I did my duties; face painting, doughnut decorating and selling ride tickets (I must have taken over $2000 in the 2 hours I worked the tickets and there were 6 of us!). It is such great community day, all the kids look forward to it all year. Matt came up for about an hour, but for the most part the kids just ran around for the 6 hours that we were there.

This is Ella's face at the end of the day, after we'd washed the butterfly face paint off. Yes, that's sunburn. I was under cover most of the day and as it was overcast all day, didn't even think of putting sunscreen on the kids...Kit didn't even have any lunch as they would only check in with me now and then.

And how could I spot them in the crowd when they were all dressed in Camo??? (yes, Kit copped it in the face too...strangely though not Oscar and Remi.

And I'll leave you with some lovely swan photos. We were able to eat outside again tonight, and I even got stuck into my veggie garden on the weekend (on Mother's day actually). I get so excited when the weather is like it is tonight, hopefully we can ease off the cold and wet days that we've had heaps of lately too.

And here's one of the flags that were put in yesterday so that you know that even though we are so lucky to be in this house and have swans swimming outside the back door, we also have to put up with so much crap! from the landlord and his proposal. I have men wandering around outside the house every day and none of them knock on the door to ask permission or even to tell me what they are doing....(feel a rant coming on, so I will leave it there).

And because you should always end on a happy note, here's a happy dog.