crochet addictions (and some other stuff)

just one more post about my crochet addiction (for the moment at least). but what else do you do, when going into an op-shop and finally finding a pile of crochet hooks*!

how could i possibly leave them there? lovely metal hooks, with such a nice feel! i never never never find crochet hooks in op-shops, and i got this whole bundle for 50 cents! love love love it

so the bit not about crochet: while we were on holiday, the little church around the corner from where we were staying had a garage sale. we poured over everything, and i got a pile of wool, and a pile of books. including this one. first of all i walked past it, i mean its nothing to look at from the outside:

but flipping it open:

 



what's not to love about it!  patterns for 70's children's toys. sewing patterns, knitting patterns, clothing patterns. can't wait to get started on them all!

*i have asked it before - but can someone please explain to me why op-shops always have an abundance of knitting needles, but there is never a crochet hook to be seen!?

baby blanket postscript

so, i thought i'd do a little post-script on the baby blanket i had been making for so so long. as you know i gave it to the parents-to-be a few weeks before their baby was actually due. and well, i was glad i did, as their little girl decided to come early. all good and healthy, just teeny tiny. 

anyway, i went to visit them in hospital, and was blown away by the fact that the first time i met her, she was wrapped in the blanket i had made. not yet 24 hrs old, and covered in something that i had made for her. it made me really happy. 

then a few days later i got a txt from her mum that said 

"i just wanted to say your blanket has been the best thing ever.
she's had it on constantly since she was born.
it's a perfect size and weight and just so cheerful to cuddle up with.
thanks so much."

i hesitated a little while before posting about this. at first it seemed gratuitous and all self-congratulatory. but i've been thinking about it, and for me, this is what craft is about. making stuff, be it craft or sewing or making food, is about showing love. for me, its practical love, love embodied in this thing i give to you. something helpful. something to nourish your body or your soul, that nourishes my soul as i give it. and its kinda nice when the person you give it to gets that as well.

skills from uni (or candlemaking with a how to)

well, i don't know about you, but i learnt some very useful skills while i was at uni - like how to make candles. i have never actually done it though, and it has been a number of years since i was at uni. however, i had a couple of candles that had burnt through the wick, but with plenty of candle left. in the reduce/re-use/recycle way of things, the other day i decided pull out those old university learnt skills and give candle making a go. i started with an old candle, some new candlewick, a plastic cup and an old can. i then chopped the candle into little bits. and popped the bits into the can and popped the can into a saucepan of water over a fairly low heat (the water didn't even need to be simmering). the peg held the can in place, as otherwise it tended to float and threatened to tip the wax into the saucepan. while waiting for the wax to melt, i set up my molds - plastic cups - with their wicks. i trickily tied the wick to toothpicks and suspended it from the top of the cup, to ensure it didn't get swamped when i poured the wax in. once all the wax had melted, it was simple to pour it into my molds. i then left it to cool down and solidify - i left them overnight for good luck. i ended making three candles like this. then i popped them out of the cups, trimmed their wicks and...ahhhhh... how lovely.

so excited....

i love it when inspiration builds on inspiration... see, i was feeling inspired to make some more pillowcase veggie bags. i have been talking with some friends from my church about being more sustainable - including reducing packaging etc. and as part of the discussion, i showed them my veggie bags and from the positive result decided to make a few extras to pass around. but a few of my recent pillowcase purchases were fairly plain single colours. hmm, i thought - what can i do to make them a bit more interesting? the lovely gina from clutterpunk inspired a solution, with her thread sketching the other day - followed by a great tutorial today. so here they are (not quite finished - they still need draw strings, but i was so excited i had to share) note the pre-requisite bird on a branch (i suspect we will see this design popping up everywhere as a first attempt). big thanks gina!!!

another look

so i went shopping this morning and used my new post-life pillowcase veggie bags. seeing blooger and i are back on photo friendly terms, i thought i would post a pic of them in action... potatoes in one, and onions in the other. i love it!

a little project

i have always found plastic bags a bit of a frustration at the supermarket. i take along my own bags for the groceries at the end and i always just pop my veggies loose in the bottom of the trolley. but beans and the like remain problematic - i inevitably end up having to use the plastic bags they supply. the bags (usually) work beautifully getting my beans from the shelf to my dinner, but then i just throw them out. they are too little to re-use as bin liners, and my imagination peters out after that. ahh, but not anymore. leonie's post about her hula potato bags got me thinking and gina's quick and dirty sewing project gave me further inspiration. i combined the two ideas with a little op-shopping and here we have it. four post-life pillowcase veggie bags. i picked this pillowcase, both because it is so pretty, but its also very lightweight fabric. and i used both white ribbon and yellow bias binding i had at home for the drawstrings. so now, off to the supermarket to try them out...

and the beginnings of the new

just a sneak peak of the new that i am making from my old, unfinished and tragically unfashionable jumper i posted about below. it's crocheting fun - how can i resist sharing...

where the old, unfinished and tragically unfashionable becomes new again

so, i posted about how i went to canberra a few weekends ago and got to hang out with some family. well, talk with my step-mother turned to crafting, knitting and my new found crochet skills. she then reminded me of the jumper i had starting knitting when i was in high school. not only that, she pulled it out of the cupboard, and asked me if i was ever going to finish it... ah, no. i do remember that i even had to knit the back twice, as my tension had gone way out, and it ended up far too big. but still, there is no way i would wear this - what was it with short and wide as a fashion statement? so after much reminiscing and a little discussion about the wool itself, i have decided the moment has come and the unraveling has begun.
watch this space for some fun crocheting goodness - i have such a plan!

joining grannies

so, i've crocheted myself enough practice grannies. now i find it's time to join them up. again, my lack of ability to follow or understand patterns has caused a bit of chaos. i started off chaining them together, like this. but i was not really happy with the result. the great thing is that i popped over to little lovelies the other day and found that i wasn't the only one joining grannies. at her direction i popped further over to the lovely carina's craftblog for a fabulous tutorial! a-joining-we-will-go...

felted jumper project the third

ok, so for those of us counting, i do know that second usually comes after first. i have started my second project from the jumper i felted the other day, but i am kind of a bit stuck with it. it hasn't quite turned out how i was planning, so needs a bit of a rethink. so while i am doing that, today i started on with the third project. i used this pattern from allsorts (which i found via the toy society). i have a friend who had a baby boy the other day, and i wanted to make him something. it was pretty quick to make, and good fun (and if you look carefully, you can see him nearly finished sitting on the window sill in my creative space post below)

first felted project - a tea cosy (with a how-to)

yay! don't you love it when you have an idea in your head, and then when you make it up, it looks just like you hoped it would... yay! i am so happy with it, i thought i'd share it.

i wanted to make a felted tea cosy for one of my favourite tea pots, so i made up the pattern by drawing around the bottom of the pot, and then planning out the sides. i then cut out the pieces from the sleeves of the jumper i felted last week. this pattern took a sleeve and a bit. i hand stitched the sides to the base. i decided to leave the front open for the spout, but stitched up the back. (this pic is while i was part way through the hand sewing). i finished it off with yellow blanket stitch around the edges and a little feature button - also yellow (i tried a number of colours and button sizes, but i liked the simple yellow best). so there you have it, a simple felted tea cosy - to keep your tea pot warm, cosy and pretty looking...

felting success

just a quick note, as actually i am looking up crochet tutes (i am determined to get the hang of it - those butterflies won't make themselves) in recent times, i was given a mostly finished hand knitted jumper in amongst a whole stash of wool. having been inspired by this book that i got for Christmas, i decided felting the jumper was the way forward. i have all sorts of felted projects in my head to make - but the trouble was, i was not having any luck with making the felt. i had washed the jumper in the washing machine on the hot cycle a few times, but to my disappointment, it never seemed to shrink at all. so today i went searching for tutes. i found a great one by laughingpurplegoldfish here. its got a great explanation of the process and of what is required to make jumpers into felt (heat, moisture, agitation and soap). after learning this, i did a bit of a re-think. heat - i was using the hot wash, so fine. moisture - ditto, fine. agitation - well, i had been throwing the jumper in the machine by itself. it seems a lonely jumper just won't felt as it has nothing to rub up against. laughingpurplegoldfish uses gumboots. i decided to throw in a couple of old towels. soap - i had been using my gentle wool detergent. i decided instead to use a big scoop of harsh washing powder. i put on my washing machine, with the new improved felting plan and finally success!

its such a cute little jumper now - all tightly felted together and ready to be turned into other things (once it dries, of course)

quick birthday present (for a 3 year old)

so, i am blessed to have an incredible fabric stash, inherited from my grandmother. it comes in really handy for days like today. the kind of days when you realise that you have not yet bought a present for the three year old, whose birthday party you are attending the next day. a quick fossik in my fabric stash box, and i pulled out the perfect fabric with neon pink and purple flowers - just what a three year old girl needs. so i made this bag up today, lining it with black and white polka-dots (also found in the fabric stash). it was pretty quick to put together, i just sewed the lining and fabric together, then zipped down the sides. i ended up sewing the strap on by hand, as it just seemed easier that way. now all i have to do is wrap it up!

when i can crochet...

i had this brilliant idea. i was going to crochet my mum a present for mother's day and seeing she lives interstate - i have to have it finished by, well, tomorrow. but there is a slight flaw in my plan. i still can't crochet. ok, so i haven't actually been practicing, (i've been busy learning to do origami, but that is another story). so my mum's mother's day present is going to be a wee bit late this year. still, i thought i would share the plan with you. i am going to make her some fridge butterflies - like these... these were my grandmother's, they were on her fridge as long as i can remember, and now they live on mine. my grandmother was a very crafty woman, and very talented, but i know that she actually couldn't crochet (which may be where i get my lack of crocheting from). so i don't know who actually made these, but i thought my mum would really like some for herself. and they are pretty easy to make (as long as you can crochet). make a circle, fold in half. tie something in the middle for a body - the orange one has braiding and the brown one has a pipe cleaner. and then stick a little magnet on the back, and post to your mum. or just put them on your fridge. or your friend's fridge. and enjoy...

the crochet approach

i have been wanting to do some crochet for a while now, but it has been a bit of a "one day" thing. you know - one day i'll do such and such. recently i have been trying to get around to doing some of those of "one day" things. see, i actually can crochet - i still have the red scarf that i crocheted a few years ago to prove it. but the problem is that i can't actually remember how to do it anymore. so having stumbled across Pip's How to Crochet post, along with being inspired by her great granny-a-day's i thought, now is the time. so, i have been practicing and practicing over the last few weeks and i have discovered that really, i am not very good at following instructions. i have a 'how to crochet' book, which despite my best intentions, i absolutely cannot understand it. (the book shall remain nameless, as i am sure that the fault lies with me). i then looked up a couple of online tutorials and couldn't understand them either. so i spent about a week practicing chain stitch and then just making the rest up. a solution, which fairly predictably, did not make for the best crochet - you can see, i seem to have made some DNA (which won't un-twist) and to have crocheted a thimble (my attempt at circular crochet) - but it was an interesting experience. i think the problem is that i tend to be a bit off-we-go in my approach. and i seem to have more faith in my ability to 'just work it out' than i have actual ability. failure then ensues. so i have decided to have change of approach and have turned to the purl bee tutorial for help. surprisingly, i can actually understand it (the great pics help). so here's to a new crochet approach. i'll keep you posted on how i do...

can you get lower "craft miles" than this?

i finished this scarf a couple of weeks ago, but today was the first day that i have worn it. such a lovely scarf for such a very cold day.  

i love this scarf for a few reasons, partly because it reminds me of green green grass. but even better than that, it is a local scarf, with very low "craft miles". see, i live within walking distance of the collingwood children's farm in melbourne. the farm is exactly that, a farm, with sheep and cows and pigs and growing things. i go there every month to the farmer's market, either walking or on my bike and when i was there last year i bought some wool. the wool comes from the sheep at the farm. they sheared the sheep, and then they gave the raw wool to the hand weavers and spinners guild, in carlton. there, it was dyed green green green, and then spun out into a lovely skein and given back to the farm to sell. i bought it last year, brought it home and started knitting. 

in its whole life it hasn't travelled more than about 4km from where it grew on the sheep. i find that really special. it would seem to me to be fairly rare to be able to identify the origin of the wool you use, let alone have it move so little from where it grew (unless you have your own sheep and well done you if you do). so it makes my heart warm as well and my neck...