unlucky for some...

Here they are... the thirteen different yarns which I am using for this cushion cover. It felt like more than that when I was working with them!

In answer to your questions, I am using 4mm knitting needles, and have cast on 77 stitches - which measures approximately 30cm, making up the width of the cushion. I'm working in moss stitch (also known as seed stitch, depending on where in the world you are) and changing colours every row. There is no pattern to my colour changes. I just grab whichever ball takes my fancy.

My plan is to knit the cover in one piece, so I will be making a rectangle which is the same width as the cushion, but twice the height. Then I will fold the rectangle in half and tie the ends together along each side. Come on now... you KNEW that I wasn't going to be weaving in all those ends, didn't you! Click here to see my accidental hat, where I used this technique along the top edge.

The final touch will be to add a zip along the open end. Cushion covers at my place MUST be removable! My little goldfish can be absolute grubs at times... so the covers will definitely need regular laundering. I'm thinking that I will re-use the zipper from the current cushion cover, which will be just the right size.

UPDATED TO INCLUDE PHOTO OF FINISHED CUSHION

new cushions

For the longest time, I have been wanting to make some new cushion covers for our couch...

But it took me forever to get started!

I knew I wanted something casual and fun... nothing that would grubby up too easily... perhaps something colourful, but not necessarily bright... definitely nothing gaudy... you get the idea...

A bunch of comfy cushions which would sit nicely together, but not 'match'... no two will be the same.

And of course they would have to be made from recycled yarns.

So finally I have started...

Can you guess how many different colours of yarn I am using?

hometown square

I feel like all I seem to be working on at the moment is these squares... It's not that I'm not enjoying them, it's just that I'm no longer inspired by them. But the end is near, and I'm really excited to see the finished project.

Not only that, but I have signed up to do it all again next year!

The 2010 Block-A-Month Crochet-A-Long Group is already up and running over at Ravelry. I'm thinking that next year I might make the rug in more neutral colours... and include a combination of 6 inch and 12 inch squares. Then again... the new year is still a month-and-a-half away... that's plenty of time for me to change direction and decide to go with an entirely different plan.

Everyone is welcome to join in the 2010 BAM CAL. If you are already a member at Ravelry, click here to go directly to the group page. If you are not a member at Ravelry... maybe you should be! It's a very inspiring place.

Anyway... getting back to the details of this square. It's called the Hometown Square by Mary McKnight, and you can click here for the free online pattern. I've used a 4.5mm aluminium hook, and a variety of DK weight reclaimed yarns.

Didn't really enjoy this one much. The petal section really annoyed me. It wouldn't sit flat, and kept jumping up - which made it look ridiculous.

So I made a modification. After I completed the square, I went back to the petal section and worked an addition round to finish off the petals. If you look at the photo, you will see the lighter blue petals, which were part of the original pattern. I then added the navy trim around them. That weighted them down, and gave the flower a more finished look.

spirally scarf

I love the idea of a curlique scarf...

Only problem is, that because you are generally increasing in every stitch... each row is longer and longer than the last. By the time you reach that final row... it seems to go on for an eternity!



I've made this one using a 4.0mm bamboo hook, and some reclaimed wool. The wool came from a top which had belonged to my mum... so the scarf now has sentimental value to me. I like to wrap it around my neck a couple of times, and it feels like a great big warm, reassuring hug.

This spiral scarf is a Lisa Gentry design, you can click here to buy the pattern. I did make a slight modification to the final round. I wanted a more 'picotty' edging, so instead of working 4sc, I worked (2sc, 3ch, 2sc) into each space.

I started this scarf in winter... but it's now almost summer here! In fact, we have had quite the heat wave - so I don't think I'll be wearing it any time soon...

octagon medallion

Wow!
Where did the time go???
It's been ages since my last post.

I could tell you that I've been spending every spare moment at the gym, and that's why you haven't heard much from me... I can't very well work out and blog and craft all at the same time now, can I? But that wouldn't be entirely true. In fact it wouldn't even be close to true.

You've all been so wonderfully supportive of me with the whole underpants issue! And I really appreciate it. Thanks so very much to those who sent messages, especially those who shared some of their own experiences with me.

Now I just need to be a bit more supportive of myself.

I love the gym... when I go, that is...

Once I'm in the door, I quite enjoy it... and of course I always feel wonderful (and exhausted) afterwards... but the really hard part is forcing myself to go in the first place. I seem to come up with a million excuses, and reasons not to go. Not entirely sure why I avoid going, but it's a negative habit which I'm trying to break.

But that's not what this blog is about...

I'm here to share my craft



Still plodding away at the 2009 Block-A-Month CAL. For the first half of the year, I was really disciplined. I worked both squares each month, and was well on track for completing the project. But I hit a bit of a stumbling block in August. Both of the August squares used a popcorn stitch pattern, which looked good worked in a single colour... but was just already too busy for me to go all multi-coloured with it. So I didn't make them.

Well, I did start them... but the results were really disappointing, so I frogged them. Then I couldn't get back into a rhythm again... until now!

So this is the November Ravelry Square. It is called Octagon Medallion and was deigned by Priscilla Hewitt. Click here to see the free online pattern.

Octagon Medallion was fun to make. It's visually interesting but the square itself is a fairly solid and stable piece, which meant that it took on a nice shape. This is one of the few squares which didn't actually appear to NEED blocking, it just came together beautifully.

That being said... I have spoken with a number of others who complained that their squares seemed to buckle and bend, and not sit nicely at all. Having further discussed it with them, they seem to have followed the pattern correctly, but it just hasn't worked up nicely. Frustrating, huh?

The only reason I can think for why this may have happened is TENSION. Now I can't remember what hook size I used for this pattern, but I do work with quite a loose tension. So if you find that your work curls in those first few rounds, start again with a larger hook and see if that helps. No point soldiering on with the starting hook. The bucking just gets worse with every round.

underpants

I have a confession to make...

one of the things that really, really, REALLY scares me...

is the size of my underpants!

I'm sorry if that's too much information for my more delicate readers out there... but it's true. Each year they've become a litte bigger... and a little bigger again... until they started to frighten me...

So I decided to face my fear of the ever-increasing undies, and do something about it.

My main problem is inactivity, and I don't think that I'm the only crafter out there who struggles with this problem. Quite frankly, I would much rather sit on my butt all afternoon and crochet, than go for a walk. Or if I was bored with crochet, I could always switch to knitting... or embroidery... or just surf the web for lots of creative ideas. It's not like I don't get any fresh air - if it's a nice day, I'll take my yarn outdoors to play.

Crafting is a very sedentary activity - and I do like to indulge in it whenever possible!

I certainly don't plan to give up on my craft. That would be insane... and far too painful. But I do need to balance it with some more demanding physical activity.

So I joined a gym!

Which I thought would be really scary, but wasn't...

The first one I checked out was perfect. Friendly and helpful staff. Clean, modern facilities. Fun atmosphere. Sensible, manageable workouts. Ongoing assessments and support.

And it is purple.

I know that seems like such a small thing compared to all those other points, but I decided to take it as a SIGN! The purple was perfect. It made me feel comfortable and at ease with the whole decision.

So today was my first workout. I overcame my reluctance to exercise in public, and I received a gold star on my name card! I love stars...

I'm so proud of myself for facing a fear, and dealing with it.

are you my friend yet?

Are we friends over at Ravelry yet?

I know that lots of us are... and it's a really handy way of keeping in touch when I am away from Blogland. Not that I'm addicted or anything... well, not much!

Anyway, my username over there is laughingpurple (the character limit didn't allow for laughingpurplegoldfish) and if you click here it will take you to my profile. Add me as a friend, so that I can add you back... and stalk you!

I'm joking about the stalking part... but serious about the rest...

Anyway

The other day I was out shopping.

On the path outside the shops was a gorgeous little sparrow, but as I approached him he didn't move away, which seemed kind of weird. I walked right past him, and still he didn't move. In fact, I had to walk around him to avoid stepping on him... but still he seemed unperterbed. He looked well, wasn't at all distressed... but just wouldn't move...

I watched for a little while to see what would happen. Hoping he would fly away, or at the very least to get out of the way of the pedestrian traffic. Or maybe someone would stop and gently move him across to the garden bed...

Actually, I really wanted to move him myself... but I'm not really a toucher of animals. I know that sounds ridiculous, I mean I'm quite capable of patting a cat or a dog, but that's as far as I go. If I had picked up that bird and he had struggled at all, I would have totally freaked out, screamed like a six year old girl and flung him away from me (probably onto the road, or into the shop window)

I know it sounds pathetic - I'm a thirty-eight year old grown woman, for Heaven's sake! I've been through childbirth three times, and touched countless icky kid messes... Why couldn't I help a harmless little bird?

I was still really annoyed with myself later that day, when I came across this fridge magnet...



Do one thing every day that scares you - Eleanor Roosevelt

I was so inspired by it, that I had to buy it and bring it home with me.

And it really got me thinking about the things that scare me. Silly little things. Irrational fears.

One thing for sure. Next time I will be the person who stops to help the bird.

What scares you?