2am crochet

this crochet caper is definitely very addictive. 

i found myself awake at 2am the other morning, staring at this jug cover (which i use to cover my glass of water beside my bed - we have kamikaze moths). 

see, i have been inspired often by the fabulous M* and her amazing jug covers. so 2am saw me staring and staring bleerie eyed and trying to work out how this one was done and thinking about whether or not i could copy the pattern and make it into a square.


 
so, this afternoon i thought i would give it a try... 

 

my first attempt was fairly unsuccessful. but unfazed, i tried again - and here you have it, one jug cover inspired granny square. 

it turned out a bit small, so given its a two-toned square baby blanket, i popped a double crochet edge on it. its not exactly square, but still, i'm pretty happy with it...

turning 50

 

if only i knew how many more to go...

a pillow pal

i did a random and unexpected bit of op-shopping today. and came across this... a CPR "pillow pal". what fun! a pillow case designed to help you remember and practice your cardio-pulmonary resuscitation.

i definitely couldn't leave it there, not with my continuing pillowcase obession. for 99 cents this gem was mine. but what to do with it?

well, a little lace, a little scrap material, and here you have it, the latest addition to my ever-growing bag collection. 

i love the way it looks on the inside too... 

cough cough, scrub scrub

one of the downsides of making burnt fig jam lies in the word "burnt". well, not so much in the word itself, but in the action it represents:

i've been soaking this pot since wednesday night, and given i am stuck at home sick today, i will begin the scrubbing process. last time it took three goes and use of dishwasher powder to finally get it all off...

but in other news check out this:

i found it at the beach. really i did. the sand and the waves made it. its so pretty, hey. i am thinking of giving it away. but its a big thing to give your heart away, so i am holding onto it for now...

can you smell that?

its the sweet sticky smell of fig jam burning (burning in a good way, trust me)

it fills our house, and very soon it will fill these jars...

 (i love abundant fig trees that belong to generous friends). 

a day of half finished projects

so, i am trying out my new crochet book, and it seems i am less good at following patterns than i thought. the first square i tried was, well, to start off with - not square. so i tried again, the pattern seemed simple enough...  

i'm halfway through this "square" and things are not going well. (in yellow of course for my current baby blanket project)

so i thought i would stop and make something else.

like a wheat bag. see, the request was for a wheat bag with a cover, that can be taken off and washed, like a wheatbag-case. so i made it out of a pillowcase (no surprise there). the base wheatbag is the slightly shorter one. and the wheatbag-case has the lengthways stripe.

however, to finish it, i am in need of some wheat... (and, now that i look at the photo, i think i am also in need of an iron)

fig emergencies

so finally, our internet is working again. it came back on friday, but then it sat in the corner and sulked for a few days, until we finally managed to coax it back into action. moody thing, our internet is.

but in other news: fig emergencies

one of my lovely friends has a fig tree. a very productive fig tree. it is magnificent, full of lovely ripening figs. and a week or so ago, she called me up. see, she had been sick all week and unable to pick all the ripe figs. so she asked if i would please please come over and pick the figs before they all got over-ripe and fell off the tree. 

so i went over to her house to help her with her fig emergency. i learnt a few things while i was there. like,

• even when picking figs in 35 degree heat, one should wear shoes - rotting figs are not that pleasant squishing between one's toes. 
• and, buttons can very easily get get caught in fig nets, which can lead to needing to rip the buttons off, to prevent one from ripping holes in the nets (untangling is never going to work).
• and, when closing the ladder, one really should keep one's fingers clear of all the moving parts. 

but despite this, my generous friend gave me all the figs i could pick... 

about 4 kilos worth

and so in the style of our favourite icecream, i turned the figs into 

burnt fig emergency jam.

so so good. i even made some burnt fig emergency icecream to take to my friend to say thanks for letting me help her out with her fig emergency.

lost in transmission

or:

my internet has gone away.

it seems to be taking a little holiday from our house. i am hoping it will come back on friday, like it promised, but we will see.

hopefully it will, for i have such exciting things to tell (involving fig emergencies)...