beginner's boo-boos

I was first taught to crochet by a neighbour. Couldn't tell you exactly how old I was at the time... definitely in primary school... maybe eight or nine years old?

Her name was Dorothy... she wore metallic bronze coloured nail polish (well - it WAS the 70s) and smelled strongly of cigarette smoke. I was in awe of Dorothy. She knew how to crochet AND she owned a knitting machine - double wow! Also, her daughter had a perfume making kit... so that was three gold stars in my book...

Anyway, Dorothy introduced me to the fabulous granny square. I loved making them. Round and round I would go... the square getting bigger and bigger until I ran out of yarn... then I would unravel it and start again.

Hmmm... my unraveling tendencies did start in childhood... INTERESTING!

Well, I guess that the novelty must have worn off at some point... and I stopped crocheting.

In my late teens, I decided it was time to get serious about crochet. I could knit beautifully, but kept running away from patterns which contained any crochet... even just an edging. I had lots of crochet patterns already... I just needed to learn to DO IT!

So I bought myself a stitch guide, and sat down with the instructions on one side of me, and the pattern on the other. HOWEVER... no matter how carefully I followed those rotten instructions... my work did not come out anything like the pattern in the picture!!!

I might have gone totally insane... I'm not sure... but let's just say it was a LONG time before I could even look at a crochet hook again.



Enter the era of the INTERNET... by now I'm a grown up (well... sort of) and I decide to give this crochet thing one more shot... I WILL NOT LET THIS THING BEAT ME!

I discovered something very interesting... crochet terminology is not universal!

USA and UK terminology are different... arghh... but also similar...

that is... they use the SAME TERMS but have DIFFERENT MEANINGS

One of the joys of living in Australia... is that BOTH terms are used here... All this time I had been using a UK pattern with a US stitch guide... no wonder it was a disaster!

Such a simple factor... and yet so important. You MUST know which terminology you use, and which terminology your pattern is written in. With experience you will learn to recognise this just by glancing at the pattern. It's not difficult to find out... but you MUST know.

Now... generally if faced with a choice, I would lean towards the British way of doing things. Perhaps because my parents both grew up in the UK... I don't know... it just seems more proper! But in this case I've adopted US terminology... since I find it the most convenient. Most of the patterns I use are found online, and the bulk of them are written in US terms. Same goes for online tutorials, stitch guides, etc. So it just made sense for me to learn and use those terms.

Well... that's one beginner boo-boo out of the way. Next time I'll share another dilemma.

event plaid

Well... I took my sweet time in getting back to you, didn't I??? But I'm ready to tell you all about that neapolitan icecream project. Click here to refresh your memory, if you have no idea what I'm talking about...

So... All up-to-date now?

Okay. I've been working on an event plaid blanket. It's a really fun concept, where use use the NUMBERS from a SPECIAL EVENT to determine the colour repeats within your project.

Confused yet?

Well. I made this blanket as a gift for my mother-in-law... for her seventieth birthday. So I used the numbers in her date of birth... 1/3/39... there's my numbers... easy... 1 3 3 9



So, what that means is that I choose four colours, and work in stripes

I worked one row of my first colour, cream
I worked three rows of my second colour, brown
I worked three rows of my third colour, pink
and then nine rows of my fourth colour, burgundy

1... 3... 3... 9... see?

and here is a photo:



By this stage I was getting pretty fed up with the project. The crochet was complete, and yet it wasn't looking anything like I had hoped it would. I guess the thing is, that you are creating a plaid effect... so at this stage you have only created the 'bones' of the piece.

Basically, you crochet the horizontal stripes, and then weave in the vertical stripes... creating the plaid effect. For the weaving, I used three strands held together. Following the same stripe sequence as before... 1... 3... 3... 9... easy!

Then it's just a matter of tying off the ends. I added a little bit extra to bulk the tassel up a bit.

So... if you are interested... click here for the link to the original pattern I used.

My verdict?

So glad I stuck with this project! The crochet section is mindless... a good simple project for while you watch a movie, or gossip with your craft buddies. The weaving section is slow and fiddly... and you HAVE to get it right. The finished effect is stunning... but the progress looks crappy all the way along. Honestly. It's not until you tie that last knot, and sit back and look at it... that it feels worthwhile.

it's official

It's official.

There are just far too many fun groups on Ravelry to join...

The latest one which has come to my attention is the Fabric Knitting and Crochet group. A whole group made up of people who love crafting from rags? I'm in! And if it appeals to you... you should join up too...

For february, they are working on bath mats. There are a couple of different patterns to choose from. I have chosen this one because I haven't used cables in my rag work before, and wanted to give it a try. This particular pattern calls for 19mm needles, but my largest size are 15mm... so they will have to do!

You might remember last year I found these pink rolls of ribbing... well... I'm hoping they will be perfect for the job. Here's my progress so far:

inspiration...

Been incredibly busy lately, with all sorts of NON-CRAFT activities... so I don't have much to share with you today.

So instead, I will share a few links...

Quite a number of you have been asking for details of the blogs which I follow. The truth is, I don't spend much time on other blogs... otherwise I'd NEVER get any crafting of my own done. But there are three places I like to visit for inspiration.

CraftStylish
this month the focus is on pets... which is not really appealing to me much... but if you go back to the january posts, the focus was on recycling... plenty of inspiration there

Craftzine
I love to check out what people are up to here. Even if the focus is on a craft which I haven't mastered yet... it is fascinating to see what is being made out there.

Martha Stewart
Don't tell anyone (especially Mr Goldfish) but I think I might be in love with Martha. I always check out her 'craft of the day' and also her 'organizing tip of the day'



So tell me... and one another... where do YOU like to visit???


Back again!

I'm editing this post to include links to the sites you suggest... just makes it easier for us all to have a sticky beak

the pioneer woman

cake wrecks

ravelry

whip up

lime & violet

so spoiled...

I'm excited to tell you all about the neapolitan ice cream project... but that will have to wait until tomorrow. Because right now I want to tell you all about the wonderful day I had yesterday.

It was always going to be a fabulous day. Once a fortnight I meet up with some fellow crochet addicts. We get together at my place, and spend the day indulging in craft, chat and way too many calories (oops) We 'oooh' and 'ahhh' over one another's current projects, and share hints, tips and ideas. We met online through Ravelry, and are all at quite different places in our lives... but have this fabulous common ground... our love of all things fibre!

This week, I was very spoiled... take a peek at some of my goodies...



Daphne brought along this wonderful STUFF... I'm going to call it STUFF, because we don't exactly know what it is... but it seems to be some kind of carpet nylon. Definitely durable.

But why would you give someone six balls of carpet nylon???

Well... if you click here I promise that it will all make sense...

Daphne knows that I am planning on making one of these for my kitchen. I mean, how could I not... that project is so ME. Of course I have a plentiful supply of crazy yarn, but no nylon... well, until now that is.

And I received another gift from Daphne yesterday... she shared her KNOWLEDGE with me! I have been TRYING rather unsuccessfully to make this square. Over and over and over again... I couldn't even get the heart in the centre to come out right. I had reached the point where I completely abandoned it, claiming that I never liked that square anyway... but Daphne encouraged me to give it one more go, and talked me through the pattern. It turns out that the problem was not with the designer's pattern writing skills... but my pattern reading skills were at fault. Fancy that! But I'll fill you in on that another day...

Cristina brought me some goodies today, too. She has been sorting through her craft things, and clearing out what she no longer wants to keep.



I'll unravel this half hat and scarf, and reclaim the yarn for another project. Maybe a top for my daughter. I know the yarn looks hairy, and hairy yarns are usually a nightmare to unravel, but this one is kind of SLINKY as well (does that make any sense?) and comes apart nicely



This jumper has already been felted by Cristina. It's nice and thick, and will probably make a fabulous bag. Yes, I will make a felted bag tutorial soon. I know I've been promising it for a while. Perhaps I will use this jumper for it? Good plan



Some coloured fleece... soon to become a felted bowl



Some ribbon yarn... destined to be a bag (no - I don't have enough bags yet)



And a box of old jewellery... I'm going to have so much fun with this!

But wait... there's more...

Look what arrived in the mail today:



and look what's inside



my PURPLE PEOPLE EATER pattern

I'm very excited (can you tell)

mmmm... ice cream!

There's something very neapolitan ice cream about these colours... don't you think?

strawberry... vanilla... chocolate...

yum!

storing knitting needles...

I'm often on the look out for interesting and practical ways to store my craft supplies... and knitting needles are always a bit of a challenge. So I was delighted to discover this piece at the local 'op shop'... tagged at $1.50



I'm a little bit addicted to all things wicker. To be honest, I just can't get enough of the stuff! The textures and the colours... it all fascinates me. And it always seems to have a sense of warmth and character about it.

So I'm guessing that it is a picnic basket kind of thingy... with space to store a couple of bottles of wine, and a picnic rug. But it screamed KNITTING NEEDLES to me... the 'pockets' at the front are perfect for all my straight needles... and my circulars, stitch holders and cable needles are in an old round biscuit tin, in the back 'pocket'

Now I just need to find something equally as interesting to store my crochet hooks in...

Tell me. How do you store your hooks and needles?