Another shawl finished

Added the fringed finish to this last night.

Another shawl finished. I am not going to be cold this winter and no prizes for guessing what everyone is getting for Christmas this year!

This shawl is adapted from this pattern by Caron:

http://www.caron.com/projects/ss/ss7_spider_stitch_wrap.pdf



but I used a thicher thread and bigger hook size to create a denser feel throw.

As I like the pattern, I may give it another go in a different yarn, but for now I am moving on to my next crochet project.

week 17 - Animal Vegetable Mineral

Had a super day today, one of those days that I wish I could bottle and bring out and sniff on a not so good day.

Started out with a trip to my two lovely ladies that I care for on a Sunday morning, a bit of a chat then nip back to change my shoes for comfy boots for strolling around the car boot sale. The sun is shining and all is well with the world.

Found a parking spot and wandered up and down the stalls finding lots of bits and bobs, including fabric remnants for a couple of euros, another cast iron pan in a fantastic lime green colour, a pretty white top for a euro ready for my jolly holidays at the end of the week, and best of all these skeins of lambswool for .50€. So I bought a couple in every colour and a couple more crochet cotton skeins and then some more of what ever colour she had.

They are this weeks animal, vegetable and mineral - lambswool, cotton and dye.

What made me cry this morning?

There I was in amongst some of my favourite things, my balls of wool and my knitting needles, surrounded by patterns and my camera prepped for my week 7 52 images for 2011 theme 'numbers', when the door went.

I raced down the stairs to find the postie fighting off the chickens to leave me a little parcel. A parcel actually addressed to me and not to Thea (who's birthday is coming up so the only post for days has been for her).

I could say I displayed restraint and carefully opened the envelope - but that would be a lie, I tore into it as though my life depended on it. Then had to spend the next 5 minutes manfully blinking the tears from my eyes - I am such a marshmallow these days.

 

At the beginning of the year, a forum friend organised a little group on Facebook for swapping handmade gifts every month, and today I received my February gift.  An incredibly thoughtful and appropriate gift from someone I have never met, merely 'spoken' to on a forum and via FB.  So thank you.   It is brilliant.  Now I just have to hide the little bag from Thea before she spots and tries to claim it as a makeup bag.

How to treble crochet - January's Creative C continued

The main stitch I used to make this bag was a treble crochet - a new stitch for me but as the fabric was quite thick cotton (from some recycled jogging pants) I wanted a large stitch to go with my large crochet hook.

So here is my how to treble crochet

This is the finished treble crochet.

You can see it creates a large-ish gap then has a smalker gap at the top, bisected by a strand of yarn, when working the next row you work into the smaller gap not the larger.

Start by winding the yarn over the hook twice to give you three loops on the hook

push yarn through the next stitch - you will momentarily have four loops over the hook

pull yarn through the first two loops on the crochet hook - three loops left on the hook and the first part of the stitch completed below the hook

pull yarn through the next two loops on the hook, leaving one worked stitch on the hook and the previous stitch's loop on the hook (two stitches in total left on hook)

pull yarn through the two remaining loops on the hook to join the new stitch to the old stitch and viola - one treble crochet

Made a patternless bag - January's C

 

Sat last night in front of the TV, my fingers started itching to tackle the ball of recycled yarn I made the other day.  So I grabbed the ball and a size 10 crochet hook and started messing around with the yarn, and it grew organically into a bag.  Almost by itself - and I do stress the almost.

I will have to have a bit of a think before writing up the pattern and try to remember how it goes but it is based purely on how much yarn you have as the basis of this idea was to use recycled fabric.

Obviously the kittens loved it and as the bag took shape I was constantly fighting them off because they were both treating it as their personal sleeping bags.

Take three pairs of joggers and a pair of scissors

stage one - cut long strips of material from the legs.

stage two - sew the strips end to end in a random colour assortment

stage three - wind the strips ready into a big ball

stage four - find the appropriate pattern and start crocheting

With a little help from Ferguson

He obviously felt that I was struggling to get his size right, so got into the bag while I was still finishing it off to make sure it was the correct fit.

He is just too cute for words and definitely my cat, choosing to sit on my lap, purr with me and give my hair a good cleaning whether I think it needs it or not. Not to be recommended mind you, it hurts when he digs his teeth in to pull the knots out and certainly not likely to be issued as a Laboratoire Garnier product as modeled by Eva Longoria any time soon.

Even with his help I did manage to get my bag finished, without having to unpick everything.  I worked from a basic idea having seen this style of recycled/upcycled bag on the internet, but must write it up on a bit of scrap paper and count it out before publishing it here.

So having finished a project on Saturday, Sunday was the day for starting new ones.

I packed the kitchen sampler back into the project box, I just don't fancy it, but rummaged around and found another one, a prettier cat counted cross stitch, in addition I got out some lovely thick oatmeal coloured wool ready to start knitting some more hats.

Feeling sooooooo satisfied

It is a wonderful feeling to finish a crafty project in a couple of hours.

Today I crocheted a rug from the recycled t-shirt strips I cut a while or so ago, and used my handmade wooden crochet hook to make it with.

And now it adornes the floor in the bathroom.

This was so easy to make, but I really fell in love with using recycled cotton t-shirts and my huge hook because it is just so so so so fast!

Start with a chain of 25, on the basis that my strips of fabric were a couple of centimetres wide on average and my hook is about 22 mm size, this gives a width of approx 60 cm.

The body is then crocheted in half double crochet, a new stitch for me but really easy, it gives a denser, knobblier finish to the rug.

I have no idea how many rows I crocheted because I just kept going until I had used up all my cotton strips.

At the end of each row, chain 2 to create the first stitch, turn the work, then hdc in each stitch to the end.

How to : HDC = half double crochet

yarn over the hook as you would for a double crochet

push the hook through the top two yarns of the hole

hook the yarn and pull through all three loops on the crochet hook - don't yarn over again

so, yarn over the hook, push through the top two yarns of the hole, don't yarn over again, pull through all three loops on your hook to create one half double crochet stitch

When it was time to join the strips, I just knotted them together and wove the tails back through the stitches.

May have to reward myself with a glass of wine and slice of cake now.

Itty bitty projects

With the sun out today and it getting really rather warm it was far too nice to stay cooped up indoors, so today lots of little things got done.

Flower pots were weeded, roses were transplanted, greenhouse was weeded, tomatoes were laid out in the sun to redden, some more beans were podded, my gardening shed got a tidy up and sorting out ready for spring, winter storage boxes were found, cleaned and laid in the sun to dry ready for carrots and beets to be stored in them, onions got a brushing and hung up in fishing nets to use over the winter and another sack of spuds was dug.

In addition, to go with my new crochet hook that I made the other day, I got started with creating the yarn I am going to use.

I am not fully decided yet whether I am making a bag or a rug, but I have a few more tshirts to go before I have enough cotton strips to get going.

All I did was cut off the bottom hem and start cutting in a spiral about an inch wide all the way up to the armpits to create a long strip of fabric ready to crochet with.

The down side of being organised

The day I cleared out the wardrobe and nattily arranged all my lovely wools and cottons, I also sorted out all the knitting and crochet needles.

Then, yesterday when I decided to crochet myself a lovely new foraging bag for all my pine cones, I could not find the crochet needles.

They were not where my inner nerd had decreed that they should be, so I was completely flummoxed. Where could they be? You know it took me nearly an hour to track them down. Somewhere in amongst all that frantic nerd activity I decided that the best place for them to be was in the embroidery box. Don't ask me the logic of that because I really don't know. They are now safely ensconced with the crochet cottons.

Anyway while trawling around the web looking for inspirational crochet patterns I was astounded at the number of recycled material patterns there are around now, for rag bags and rag rugs.  I am utterly jealous and utterly entranced - Inpsiration has struck!

Well almost - I don't have any crochet hooks big enough, my largest is the No8 currently in use making my new bag.

So - take a piece of oak.

Introduce it to a mini drill, some sanding paper and then a smear of floor varnish, and there you have a HUGE oak, handmade crochet hook ready for some rag rugging.

Will have to experiment with the hook to see if it needs to be bigger but that is a good start for now.

The 20 minute T-shirt makeover

Just as it says in the title.

The left over crochet flowers from the batch I made the other day.

One plain green T-shirt.

20 minutes and a sharp needle later.

One re-vamped T-shirt.

Productive Day in the studio - new bag design on vintage fabrics.

The lovely weather is continuing - not - lovely for ducks perhaps. With the grey skies looming overhead with the threat of yet more heavy rain I decided to shut myself away with my stereo and my sewing machine in my studio.

I designed another easy bag on my very useful plastic coated publicity material, lit the fire and started cutting away.

I finished sewing up the bag I started the other day, finished it with some wooden beads,

 then used the same vintage 70s cotton to make up another bag in my new design with some hand crocheted flowers to add a bit of detailing, then had a go at another nautical themed bag in the same design.

 Very pleased with the way these have turned out, and also how my new design works, only two pieces, a round bottom, then a single cut of material to form the tube body of the bag, then this pattern piece is folded in half and creates the template for the handle.

Very productive day.

Tuesday morning - what to do with an old red jumper

This is the material I picked up on Sunday - no idea why I said it had peacocks in it - must have been one of those visual delusions. They are just stylised flowers.

Anyway - before work this morning, with it raining again, I had an hour to spare so obviously I spent it in my studio this time with an old red jumper.

First things first - on Sunday I bought a kitten bed for the new kittens in a lovely garish blue and yellow check - which Thea hated, now that I have removed the body of the sweater and recovered the kitten bed she loves it and has claimed it for her room, on the basis that it matches her black red and white decorating theme. I just hope her kitten appreciates it.

We are off to visit them again on Thursday - can't wait till we get to bring them home. Mr Pink has been additionally loving over the last few days as if to remind us that he is the current king of the hill. And Purple has vanished - I think she has gone to find her final resting place. She has been unwell for so long now, we thought she was dead the last time she vanished and the neighbour found her and bought her home, but since then her lump has grown significantly and she has stopped eating as well. I fear that this may be it, however she is the cat of 15 lives, one for each year of her lifespan so far, so maybe not, she may yet venture home.

Back to today's project.

Having removed the body of the jumper I was left with some arms, and a roll neck.

Just to set the record straight - I am not obsessed with fingerless gloves, honest I am not. I just find them so practical - when gardening or knitting or typing on the computer in my cold office, when driving, and when wearing yet more boring black and with the weather continuing in its current inclement way they are more practical than you might think for May.

I wear a lot of black, in fact should you watch one of those moving abroad type programmes you are bound to see those old ladies sitting outside their traditional stone houses in tiny villages dressed all in black shelling peas on roasting hot days - think of me when you do. In an attempt to spice up my dull dull dull winter wardrobe that consists of black jumpers and black tops and black black black, I have taken to wearing fingerless gloves that stretch up to my elbow in various colours (depending on which jumper I butchered recently), this has given my wardrobe an infusion of colour that has not cost me anything.

Therefore with some scarlet sleeves left over my poor tiny little brain could not see past the making of more gloves.

 I really admire the style of NCIS's Pauley Perrette, (although I have taken to staring at the screen trying to spot her wrinkles) she manages to carry off a modern goth look without resembling a cast off Marilyn Manson marionette.  I don't think that I could successfully manage the full look, but perhaps this way I can add a bit of gothic revival to my wardrobe.  I did used to be a happy goth (a misnomer I know) and I do miss a lot of the clothing. 

I have therefore decided to finish these gloves with contrast black stitching, black detailing around the thumb holes and some felted black flowers.  Now I just need some more time - this project will therefore have to roll over for another day.

But before heading out the door, I just had enough time to take the roll neck and finish it off into another headband ready to received the same black detailing treatment.  Back to my sketchbook I think.

The headband is really easy to make, just cut off the roll neck, fold it back in on itself to hide the large seam and sew together.

Because you are working with a stretch fabric I have found the easiest way to do this is to stitch by hand.  Pin into place around the perimeter, then stretch the fabric between your thumb and hand and sew just picking up a couple of threads either side of the join.


Right - off to watch another episode of NCIS for more style tips.