Never Knew

Finally FINISHED!

2011-07-24T14:30:00.006+10:00

A LONG, LOOONG time ago, about a year ago, actually, I was bitten by the inspiration bug when I saw this post by Lucy at Attic24. She was making all these lovely little squares using left-over yarn. She talked about how quick and fun it was to make these squares. And wow, didn't her blanket look great once it was all finished. So I gave it a go... and I thought it was quick and fun, too... for a while... then I got a little bored and so this project came and went over many months. They were a great thing to do while waiting in the car for the kids when they were at their many after-school activities - each square only took a few minutes.

But it does take a lot of time to make enough for a blanket. And to add to the seemingly never-ending-ness of it, I'd decided to use a smaller-than-recommended hook, a 3.5mm. And it was a spiky one at that, so it kept catching and splitting the yarn. Most annoying. And then there are all the ends to weave in - so many ends!

So after wandering away from this project and then returning to it many times, I finally had lots of lovely squares. Then came the problem of the half-squares. I couldn't for the life of me work out how they were done. After many internet searches and lots of enquiries, I finally found help on flickr, thanks to "hooked on yarn", who kindly told me how she had made hers. Here is the link to her beautiful blanket on flickr, and here is the picture where she explains how the half-squares were made. (And you can find her lovely blog here, something that I have only recently found myself!)

So then, I worked on half squares.

And eventually I used up all my yarn. I am pleased to say I used up almost every scrap of this yarn that was in my house. It is Carnival Soft 8ply, left over from my Lucy Bag that I made in late 2009. There is a little bit of the beige colour left, the rest is all gone.

And then I had to sew it all up.

Now, my mum taught me to sew (both with a machine and by hand) when I was a little girl. But that doesn't mean I like it. In fact, I avoid it like the plague. And, although I thought it might be different when crochet was involved, I quickly realised that whip-stitching dozens of little squares together was nothing different - it was just .... sewing. Boring old sewing. I hated this part of the project and had to make myself do it. First I arranged my squares into my over-all pattern/design (very tricky as I can't be "random" and I get all OCD about the squares being "fairly distributed"!).

Then, after finally telling myself to stop fiddling with the arrangement, I sewed up the 8 individual rows.

By now I had realised that it was all too small. It was going to be the Smallest Blanket in the History of the World. I did contemplate making it into a pillow instead, but eventually decided that it would do as a security/comfort "blankie" for my youngest and that it would work as a lap blanket for her in the car. So I pressed on.

Once the rows were sewed, it was time to do the zig-zag crochet. After more online research, I got enough ideas to give this a go. I had a cheap variegated yarn in stash that was very similar to the Carnival Soft so I decided it could be part of the zig-zags.

Lucy did a very small row of zig-zag between each row of squares. Because I had the smallest blanket in the history of the world, I decided to try to making my zig-zag rows a lot more substantial.

First I thought I'd see how the zig-zags looked in dc (UK tr). I didn't like it.

So then I went back to Lucy's idea of sc (UK dc). Better. A little tedious to do, but better. In back loops only, to create a lovely ridged look. And lots of sc rows, to make the blanket as big as possible.

Once my rows had their crochet zig-zags, it was time to sew the rows together. I again did not enjoy the sewing, but must admit this time it was a little more fun because I could see the end in sight.

One advantage of a sew-it-together-at-the-end project is that you can correct variations in tension a little bit. You can see here that at one point I was making squares much looser than at another time over the months, but once it was all sewn together, they flattened and evened out fairly well.

You can see here how some of my squares are much bigger than others!

I then added more zig zags to the top and bottom, and a simple sc edge down the longer sides.

I had started this blanket so inspired and excited, and then had moved through phases of boredom, avoidance, annoyance, frustration, exasperation, and then resignation and determination to get the darn thing finished. I was so happy to get to the end - to have this project done and OVER. I didn't really even like it anymore.

Until I looked at it. All finished and ends woven in and sewn up.

And then I thought, wow! It looks really great! And then I loved it again. :-)

And my little girl loves it, too. So nice that she can have blanket of her own, even if it's the smallest blanket in the world. (By the way, it probably isn't the smallest blanket in the world, but it is small. It measures 73 cm x 57 cm.)

So there you are. The story of my zig-zag blanket, all the highs and lows. It took an awful lot of hours to make, and I'm not sure I will ever make another sew-it-all-together-at-the-end blanket, but now that it is done I do feel mighty pleased with it all. And I'm so glad that I did persevere to the end.

I hope you enjoyed reading about this project's journey, and that it leaves you feeling inspired to get on with your half-finished projects, too (or am I the only one who has them??). ;)

Have a happy, hooky day,
Caz :)

Chevron Cardigan - Finished!

2011-07-14T01:23:00.005+10:00

Well, it's been a l-o-n-g time between posts, but I am here now, and very excited to share the news that my cardigan is finished and is a "wearable"! And, therefore, a success!

My cardi getting blocked

The sleeves worked out in the end; I pulled out the one that was flared and tried again. At first it all seemed to hard and I put the whole project aside for a while. But it was while reading a discussion on Ravelry, (from a CAL back in 2009!) that my problem was revealed to me. Someone wrote about their pattern repeats: Hmmm. I count 4 sets on one sleeve and 5 on the other….. This simple comment, written way back in 2009, but stored in Ravelry (Ravelry is AWESOME!) showed me the light. I had another look and saw that, indeed, this was the problem. So I had to fudge the start of the sleeve, continually referring to the other one, until I had managed to create a round with 4 pattern repeats, and a joining stitch that matched the other side. (I don't think where I joined the rounds was quite the way it was explained in the pattern, but it worked, and was the same on both sides, so I went with it!)

After that, it was plain sailing! The bodice went very quickly. I changed to a 6mm hook for the waist/below the bust area, and after that changed back to a 6.5mm hook so it fitted more easily over my hips.

And I think it looks great! And it feels great on - I love wearing it!

So, do you want to see? Okay, here goes...

Ta-da!

The trim was another tricky point. I read up on other people's projects (I'll say it again: Ravelry is AWESOME!) and I saw one that I really like (see it on Ravelry here) used slip-stitches instead of single crochet on her edge/trim. Now, that might sound simple, but a quick Google search on slip-stitches revealed to me that there is a whole world out there of slip-stitch crochet, and really interesting stuff it is, too. But that's for another post, another time, me thinks. :-) You see, there are all different ways to do slip-stitches, which left me unsure what to do on my cardi; what did this lady mean by "I just did several rows of slip-stitch"?? I finally decided, after trying a few things, to simply slip-stitch the "normal" way - through both loops - and after about 6 (?) rows, I was happy with my edge.

Then the buttons... I'm still not 100% sure about these... I'm thinking of changing them to a simple black... what do you all think?

But it is DONE, it fits, it is wearable, it doesn't look too granny-ish or hideous. And I have even dared to wear it in public. I am out and proud with my crochet! :-)

I am so glad I have finally found some time to hop on here, type this, and share this with you. I have missed my blogging very much, but paid-work and life-in-general crop up an awful lot at my place, and get in the way of my blog. I hope you don't all mind too much that I've been away for so long.

As you might have noticed (!), I am a big fan of Ravelry, and I'm finding myself over there more and more. It is a great way to share projects quickly and simply. So if you're ever wondering what I'm up to, look for me over there as I am going to get all my projects updated on Ravelry very soon. (My profile name is NeverKnew.)

But I still love my blog and I do want to keep it going (as well as being on Ravelry). I am going to try and not over-think my posts too much (I tend to do that) and try and keep them quick, brief, simple. Hopefully I will be able to share with you more often, then.

Because I do have a lot more crochet to share. Oh, boy, do I ever. I haven't had time to blog lately (sometimes not even time to read other blogs I love! *sniff!*) but I always find time to crochet. Even if it's just 10 minutes before bed, I try to crochet every day. I need to crochet every day. This is why my blog is called Never Knew. I Never Knew that crochet would become such a huge part of my life, my daily zone-out wind-down, and also such a trigger for creativity. I don't know (now) how I ever lived without it.

So I will see you all soon, with more crochet to share. I would love to know what you think of my cardi; your comments are always welcome. :-)

Till next time, have a happy, hooky day,

Caz :)

Ummm... that doesn't look right...

2011-04-29T16:41:00.010+10:00

My crochet cardigan is coming along nicely... generally speaking... but I have hit a little hiccup.

Here it is with a little bit of the bodice... looking good (if I do say so myself!) and fitting quite well...

I then continued to work on the sleeves. There was one tricky bit - where the sleeves meet at the end of each round. I really didn't get it but I just sort-a fudged it and the stitches there look a little different (it's like there are 2 "valleys" (decrease stitches) side by side) but no matter as it's on the underside of the sleeve... no one should see it... and, anyway, this cardi is for me, and if I don't care, why would anyone else?

It started out okay...

But... something strange started to happen, and I suspect it's related to my "fudging". The sleeve was slowly getting wider all the way along my arm. I wondered if maybe this happens in the pattern to everyone. I decided I would press on regardless ... maybe a flared sleeve would look nice anyway.

Right sleeve (flared)

BUT... when I worked on the second sleeve... hmmmm... this is MOST odd. I think (I believe) that I am joining this sleeve exactly as I did the other one, in my strange, slightly-made-up method, but this time the sleeve is NOT growing. Not getting wider. In fact, it looks quite nice, all fitted and snug.

Left sleeve (fitted)

Grrrrrrrr.

So, what now?

I guess I will have to rip out the first sleeve, and try again? I will have a very, very close look. Try and see where the sleeves look different to each other.

I hope I can work out where I went wrong - because if I can't... I'll have 2 very different sleeves!! :-P

Will let you know how I get on.

Thanks so much, by the way, for all the wonderful comments I have been receiving of late. So glad you like my crochet cardigans. Some readers mentioned that they were thinking of looking up the pattern I am using for this cardigan. I thoroughly recommend it! (Pattern can be found - for free! - here, and info on Ravelry here.) It is very easy to follow and very well explained and there are lots of pictures to help you along the way.

Also check out this link on Ravelry (if you are registered on Ravelry, if not, you should join - it's great!) - there was a CAL (crochet-a-long) for this cardigan back in 2009. Although it was a while back, there is still heaps of info on that forum and you can search through the posts to find discussions on the areas in which you are confused/interested. And a more recent CAL discussion can be found on Ravelry here. Actually, now that I mention it, I might pop over there again now and see if anyone else had this problem with the sleeves! :-)

Until next time,
Have a happy, hooky day,
Caz :)

For Wills and Kate

2011-04-26T13:08:00.015+10:00

In my head I am a republican but in my heart I am a monarchist. :-) Especially when there is a royal wedding on the way. I am a sucker for all things grand and royal, especially when they involve handsome princes and beautiful soon-to-be princesses.

I remember when Prince William was born - I was about 8 years old at the time - and there was (almost) as much fuss and excitement here in Oz as there was in the UK. I remember thinking that I might be a little bit old for him, but, still, I could marry him one day. It was possible. :-)

Well, now, 29 years on, it turns out that it was not to be for me and Will. But he did, indeed, choose a "common" girl*, and a lovely one at that. And another Catherine, to boot! (See, it really could have been me!) I thoroughly approve, Will. (I'm sure he's pleased to know that.)

And the fact that Kate is an ordinary girl, that it could have been you or me, makes the royal wedding seem all the more exciting to me. A little bit of fairytale fantasy still (oddly!) exists in this very practical, modern world.

So my romantic, monarchist leanings got the better or me and I was even taken over by some granny goodness (Michelle must be having an influence on me!) and I have started creating this cushion cover. The pattern was cleverly created by Michelle over at the Royal Sisters and can be purchased at her shop. I actually won my copy of the pattern in one of Michelle's wonderful give-aways and now is the perfect time to pull it out and give it a go.

The pattern is created using tapestry crochet, where you work with multiple colours at once, crocheting over the colours you don't need (so they are hidden behind the work) and then changing over to the next colour that you want as you go. This means there are very few ends to weave in, but the balls of wool can get a little twisted as you go along!

It is a great pattern and Michelle has explained everything clearly and in meticulous detail, so it is not at all difficult to follow.

I plan to finish my cushion cover while watching the live coverage of the wedding on Friday night (my local time). I will be camped out in front of the telly with crochet, wine, and nibbles, and will be soaking up every grand, historic moment while hooking away.

So, do you think my finished cushion will look good on Wills and Kate's sofa? Anyone know exactly what address I should send it to? I want to make sure they get it. I'm sure they would love it and I must be the only person who has thought to send them such a thing. ;-)

Happy Royal Wedding, everyone!
Caz :)

*common girl - being a girl whose family could afford to send her to posh schools and universities. But common, all the same. :-)

Crochet Clothing Projects Part 4 - A New Cardigan for ME! :-)

2011-04-23T22:14:00.003+10:00

First of all, I would like to say a huge THANK YOU to all those who commented on my last post. It was so great to read all your messages and I'm just thrilled that you love my daughter's cardigan!

Some of you liked it so much that you said you wished it came in adult sizes... well, some people have managed to do that... let me explain more...

It was only after finishing Rosie's cardigan that I realised the pattern was on Ravelry. (Duh! I should know to check there by now!) I found out that a few other people had made the baby top kid-sized as well. AND a few had even pushed it to adult-sized (like this one), simply by using bulky yarn and large hooks. It looked really groovy, so that got me thinking...

Could I make one for ME? I had enjoyed making Rosie's so much, and it looked so gorgeous on her... could the pattern be modified enough, easily?

Well, in the end, I found something even BETTER!

I had a browse on Ravelry at zig-zag/chevron cardigans and I found an AMAZING pattern that is FREE. More than ONE THOUSAND projects using this pattern have been posted on Ravelry - and almost all of them RAVED about how easy and great this pattern is. Pattern is found on this blog (check the side bar) and can be downloaded as a PDF.

So I got all excited and decided to give it a try.

I bought an enormous amount of yarn from a discount store (Crazy Clark's) at the end of winter last year. The discount store yarn was discounted even more than usual! In fact, I think I scooped up this collection because it was a ridiculous 70% off their normal discount price or something like that. I think it worked out at less than $1 per 50g ball. The yarn is 50% cotton, 50% acrylic and is lovely and soft - I am surprised by how nice it is considering the bargain price.

Anyway, amongst that stash I have about 10 balls of black. I had no plans for this light-worsted weight, black yarn as yet, so I decided to try it with this pattern. I hope I have enough!

So, as you can see, I have started! Feeling very excited about this one! The pattern works from the top down, and can be tried on as you go. I LOVE working with this system - you can see if it's going to work out or not. But I am still having trouble deciding when to create the arm holes. How loose/tight they should be. Thankfully, there is OODLES of advice out there on Ravelry (thanks, everyone!), so I'm going to take a deep breath, give it a go, and see how it pans out.

I ended up ripping out my work back a couple of rows to row 13 and attempting the join there. Hope it's not too tight... but I also don't want it too loose... I guess it's a Goldilocks cardigan... :-)

So now I'm working my way down the body... will let you know how it goes!

(By the way, yes, I have noticed it has holes in it, so, yes, it may have similar problems to my "Shroat" in that it will be really warm but also cool (from the holes) but I am willing to take the risk based on the wonderful-ness of this pattern. Anyway, the holes are less... hole-y... so I'm hoping it doesn't matter so much...)

Happy Easter, everyone!

Caz :)

Carried away by inspiration... (Clothing Projects Part 3)

2011-04-16T12:28:00.001+10:00

Here is a more recent clothing story, one that I am really excited about.

Since my shracket and shroat projects back in February and March 2010, I haven't dabbled in the clothing side of crochet at all (unless you count scarves and hats?). It all seemed a little too tricky, a bit daunting, really.

But a couple of weeks ago that changed - when I saw something that inspired me so much I just knew I had to give it a go.

I was following links on blogs and came across this beautiful clothing item - a sweet top for a little girl. Please follow the link and check out all the photos and details of this lovely top.

When I discovered that it was actually a pattern for a baby, I became most intrigued. The blog post provided a link to the original, free pattern (in English, which was great, because the blog is in French). It was first published in 1950 and is designed for ages newborn to 6 months. But, with a bigger hook and heavier yarn - no other alterations needed - this clever French blogger had managed to convert it to 6-year-old size!

I have been thinking about making my own daughter (also 6 years old) a poncho. But the whole arm-less thing about ponchos always bugged me. This pattern, I think, still has that lovely swing-look of a poncho, but with sleeves. Perfect!

So I decided to give it a go. I was so excited I couldn't wait. I put all other WIPs aside, and dug into stash that had been reserved for a blanket (not yet started), thinking that can be replaced eventually (if need be). My daughter, Rosie, is currently crazy about blue, so I chose blue shades and white. And I just got stuck into it. Followed the pattern exactly, but with the thicker yarn (Moda Vera Cupcake - I love it, it's so soft!) and a 5mm hook. It's basically a ripple, so it was all pretty easy to work out...

That was on a Saturday morning, a couple of weekends ago. By Sunday night, I had done everything except the sleeves. I couldn't believe it - a top in one weekend. I did crochet like a woman obsessed, almost all weekend, but (for me) this was still very speedy work.

So, as you can see, here is the top without sleeves. I love it like this, but in our climate it is just way too impractical. Maybe I will make another some time using cotton thread, and then I could go the sleeveless idea. But not in this thicker, warm yarn.

Over the week I added the sleeves. Then there was the endless end-weaving. (I hate that part!) And an edging - I just did sc (UK dc) around the neckline and fronts. And also the buttons. My daughter chose them herself (of course) and she does love everything "fancy" - glitz, sparkle, shine, frills, lace, ruffles. So, after much consideration, she chose these pretty purple crystals.

And then we were finished! From idea to complete in a week. I am feeling rather amazed, to be honest. And very chuffed indeed. :-)

I'm not sure that the stripes were a good idea. It makes the top look very, very retro, which isn't, personally, my thing - I'm not trying to deliberately create a retro look. Of course, it's hard not to with crochet, but a single colour may have reduced the granny-factor. Then, again, maybe the stripes are okay ... I do look at my work with a very critical eye. I also think wool would work better in this design (but wool is waaaay too hot for us up here in the north!) and I could have probably gotten away with a bigger hook - it might have ended up in a looser drape.

So, while I love my creation, I think the original inspiration is better and I am already thinking of making another in a single colour.

Miss Rosie wore it for the first time tonight - to a local restaurant and I found that I couldn't stop looking at her in it. Maybe I am being too critical about the stripes. The top looked so beautiful on her - and I kept thinking: I can't believe I made that. It doesn't look so retro to me now... Or maybe I'm losing perspective... but in a good way?

So, what do you think of it? - I would love to know! And if anyone wants to try it, please don't hesitate to give it a go. The pattern is dead easy, and can be found here. Please contact me (comments below or email) if you have any questions at all - I'm only too happy to help you out if I can.

Until next time,

Have a happy hooky day,

Caz :)

Crochet Clothing Projects Part 2 - My "Shroat"

2011-04-13T09:37:00.002+10:00

Okay, so as I mentioned in my last post, I took the plunge last year and attempted some crochet clothing. It was this pattern on Ravelry that made me decide to give it a go.

Making a "shroat" (shrug/coat) for me was going to be a bigger investment in time and money than the little one I had made for my daughter. I finally decided to get some Paton's Washed Haze Aran (since I was enjoying using it for Oliver’s Rainsong Blanket – which wasn’t finished at the time, by the way!) and, I'm not sure how, but I worked out that I’d need 10 x 50g balls. I got a great deal on ebay for $30. I finally settled on a 10mm hook. I tried with my 16mm one (the pattern calls for 15mm) but the stitches it produced were just ridiculous. Too loose, too hard for me to manage. (In hindsight, though, looser stitches may have been better in the end...)

Okay - so this is how you make it:

The idea is that you start with a shrug. That was really easy - just a rectangle that you fold in half, stitch up the sleeves, and slide in your arms.

Hard to take photos of myself wearing it!

Then you run stitches in a circle around the back-of-the-neck and around and down to the bottom at the back, and back again. This adds a collar and a ruffle on the bottom - a "shracket" - a shrug/jacket.

Okay, you with me so far?

THEN (if you still want to keep going!) you can add more to the back (and a little at the front - that was the confusing part for me!) and you end up with a "shroat" (a shrug/coat).

AND/OR you can add more length and add ties and make your "shracket" into a "shrap" (a shrug/wrap).

For mine I went with the shroat idea and decided to keep going until I'd used up every ball. I really like the length.

These next few photos were taken a couple of days ago - more than a year after the photos above!

I was having trouble taking photos of myself... ha ha... not my best photo...

So Miss Rosie took this one for me...

And this one...

I hope this gives you and idea of the finished item!

The pattern is okay but a little confusing in places. An ol’ crochet pro would probably have no problems following it, but not me. More than one time I wasn’t sure what they meant, and so I panicked and just... stopped making it for a while! I ended up sending messages to a couple of fellow Ravelers asking for help, and they kindly replied. (If they are reading this – thank you!)

In the end I just had a go, and it worked out. And the other Ravelry-ers were right - it IS very quick. And it is VERY easy.

Only problem is... Rosie was right! It doesn't keep you warm because of all the holes in it - unless I wear it with something long-sleeved underneath! And with the yarn I used it is actually quite a warm coat so it ends up all a bit hot-cold if you wear it just with a cami underneath.

I know, this is such a terrible problem! ;-) It is too WARM up here for me to wear it very much! Oh, how awful to live in a place where the average maximum temperature in winter is 25 degrees! :-) The evenings can be cool, but, like I said, not cool enough for the long-sleeve top and shroat combo, and too cool for the shroat on its own. :-P

So, a bit of a silly project then? Not necessarily. It was still a really great learning experience. I never, ever thought I'd make my own crochet clothing. And now I have. So, it's all good. :-)

Now about the pattern... Ravelry provided a link to the pattern, but the link no longer worked. I then googled and searched and googled some more and eventually found a link that sort-of worked. The website is a bit dodgy - sometimes it will load up for you, other times it says it can't access the webpage. If you want to try the website, follow this link here. Let me know if it doesn't work and I will try to track it down for you.

I have also just found out that the pattern can be purchased here.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this post today. My first two crochet clothing items have now been shared on this blog - only a year after I made them! :-P

Till next time, have a happy, hooky day,
Caz :)

Crochet Clothing Projects Part 1 - A "Shracket"

2011-04-11T12:58:00.001+10:00

Okay, this is long overdue. I have wanted to write about my attempts at crocheting clothing for AGES. In fact, this post has been in draft for so long, it has been hard to put it all together today. (So my apologies if it's all a bit ... bitsy.)

But I really do want to document what I've done so far... and try and keep it into some sort of chronological order.

So here goes, with the very first crochet garment I ever tried - way back in February 2010 (yes, more than a year ago!).

So, this is a “shracket” – a shrug crossed with a jacket – that I made for my daughter. I found the pattern while browsing on Ravelry and was most intrigued – mainly because everyone kept saying they found it amazingly quick and easy. That’s my kind of clothing project – quick and easy. :-)

So I dabbled with it and modified the size and I came up with this one for my daughter. By using 8ply yarn and a 10mm hook, it worked out to be just the right size for her. I was particularly chuffed because I made it in just 2 days and with one ball (100g) of yarn, and the yarn was from a discount shop and cost only $2.50. A jacket for $2.50 – how cool is that. And my first ever crochet garment to boot.

My daughter liked it but her first comment was, "Mum, it won't keep me warm, there are holes all over it!" She is, in fact, correct, and it only really works with a long-sleeved top underneath. (And where we live it is rarely cold enough to need more than a long-sleeve t-shirt!) :-) I really liked the pattern and enjoyed making Rosie's, so I decided to take the plunge and make a grown-up one for myself.

I'll tell you more about that one next time - stay tuned for "part 2"!! :-)

Caz :)

Happy Bloggiversary To Me!

2011-04-05T14:15:00.012+10:00

It occurred to me the other day that my blog is a year old. What a quick year that has been!

Me aged 1. Seems appropriate!

My personal, non-blogging life has been busy and eventful over the past year (generally, it's all been good, but it has been busy!) and this has made regular blogging quite difficult for me. I really do enjoy writing on my blog, though, so I try and find time whenever I can.

I Never Knew how much I would enjoy it! It feels great to have a place where I can record and document my crochet projects and my crochet journey. I enjoy writing it and I love hearing back from people. I Never Knew and Never Expected that so people would comment on my posts or follow my blog. I am amazed, flattered and thrilled by the response I have received over the past year. I'm quite stunned to see today that I now have over 150 followers! Amazing, and wonderful, and all I can say is thank you so much for showing such an interest in the crochet that I have shared.

And I Never Knew that I would "meet" so many amazing people in Blogland! I honestly didn't realise that people "follow" blogs and that through regular reading and comments, people can actually build up connections and relationships with each other. I really didn't expect that. I thought my blog would be this simple little web-page, floating all alone in cyberspace, unconnected to anyone or anything else. I thought people might just stumble across it through a google search, and that's it. Blogger.com is so much more than I realised - I had no idea that it would help me find other crochet-lovers and how our blogs keep us all connected.

Basically what I'm saying is I Never Knew there was a Blogging Crochet Community out there - but I'm so glad I've found it and that I'm connected to it. I love visiting and reading all the great blogs I have found (I read blogs far more often than I post on my own). And I have met some really wonderful people. We may not be "real-life" or "face-to-face" friends, but I feel a real connection with many of you. I don't know ANYONE else in "real life" that is my age and loves crochet. It makes me feel very lonely at times, so I have come to feel that I don't know what I'd do without you, my blogging/internet friends. You live far away, and are busy living your own lives (as am I!) but you are still very "real" to me. :-)

Awwwwwww! That's getting a bit sentimental! LOL But it's true. :-)

I guess what I really want to say is THANK YOU so much for visiting this little blog, whether it's only been the once or if you visit regularly, you are all welcome and I love having you here. Please never hesitate to leave a comment, ask a question, or send me an email. I love to hear from you!

So, here's to my next year of blogging!

See you around in blogland!

And again THANK YOU for making this so fun. I really Never Knew.

Caz :)

More crochet gifts...

2011-03-14T23:14:00.002+10:00

Following on from my last post, here are some more gifts I gave at the end of last year.

My daughter's teacher was about to go on leave and was heading for the UK and Europe as soon as school ended... hoping for a white Christmas and I'm pretty sure she would have had one. So with her bottle of wine she got a scarf, and a block of Toblerone. (Just 'cause she likes them. :-) )

The scarf is lovely and soft, but there are a few things about it that I wasn't happy with.

For starters, it took more wool than I expected; that's why it has black rows either side of the purple. (I had more black than purple. I used purple as this particular purple is this teacher's favourite colour and she wears this colour somewhere on her person almost every day. But I thought the black would work okay with it.)

Also it's a bit too short; I was worrying about the amount of yarn I had. It's the sort of length that will work tucked into the front of a coat, but it's not the sort of length for multiple-wraps-around-your-neck or tossing-over-your-shoulder stuff.

I'm 99% sure that I used this pattern. (It was a few months ago and I was pretty busy - I didn't note down anywhere what I was using!) The pattern is simple, but a little bit different: all you do is US dc, US sc, all the way along. Then, on the next row, do a dc in every sc from the row before, and in every dc from the last row, do a sc. Make sense? The pattern explains it better than me. :-) It produces a nice bumpy texture and helps the yarn to drape softly. I liked it and will probably use it again, next time trying a more chunky yarn like the pattern suggests.

I'm not even sure of the hook size any more, but I think it was a 5 or 6mm (bigger than recommended for the yarn to help the scarf to drape). The yarn I do remember, it is Moda Vera Cupcake. A nylon/acrylic blend, it is sooooo soft. Lovely to touch and work with.

And here is one more thing I made last year. I found this great pattern over at Tangled Happy. Tangled Happy is a great new blog absolutely choc-full of crochet ideas. I absolutely LOVE it! If you haven't visited it, please do - it is such a beautiful place to browse and get ideas.

Anyway, this "ear-warmer" pattern - I thought - was also a great headband pattern. I made these for two sisters, aged 2 and 5. The red one is for the little girl, so it is a bit smaller and one row thinner. The pattern is dead simple and sooooo quick! I used 8ply cotton/acrylic yarn and a 4mm hook. Such a quick, easy gift.

To attach the flowers, I used an idea from Little Birdie Secrets - I sewed a button on to each headband, and the flowers are attached to the hat using the button and the centre-loop of the flower. This means the flowers can be swapped over if the girls want to, or they can be left off the headband altogether for a simpler look. I really liked doing the flowers this way and think I will use this method a lot in future, as my own little girl often changes her mind about what she likes!

As for the flower patterns... I'm pretty sure the first flower I did (the red one) was from a link provided by Tangle Happy (pattern can be found here). But I found this pattern to be a little to open/loopy, so I got some ideas from patterns here and here, and modified my second flower a bit so that the petals sat a little closer to each other and to the button. I wish I'd taken more note of what I did, because now these have been gifted, I can't look back at them at all. Sorry! But if you try those links, you'll get some great ideas for layered flowers.

Well, that's all I have for my "show and tell" today! :-) But more to come soon as I had a very productive Christmas holiday.

Have a happy, hooky day,
Caz :)

Long Time, No See

2011-02-14T14:48:00.002+10:00

It has been almost two months since I have said hello to you all in the world of blogland, and I must say it is very nice to finally find a spare half-hour to sit down and type a quick message to you all.

Yes, I am still here, still visiting all the crochet blogs that I love from time to time (though not as often as I'd like), and will hopefully now have time to post more regularly again for a while.

We are finally back into a semi-normal routine of school and work and me playing taxi-driver for my kids (for swimming lessons, dancing lessons, soccer training, etc etc) and somehow finding time to crochet (and blog!) occasionally.

Over our long, tropical, very wet summer I have enjoyed a relaxing holiday, with lots of visitors coming and going. We spent a lot of January watching the continuous media coverage as flooding spread over huge parts of Queensland (the area underwater was the same as France and Germany combined!). The flash flooding west of Brisbane was terrifying and heart-breaking. We had family evacuated from that area, but all are, thankfully, safe.

We felt devastated to see Brisbane (my home town) experience flooding almost as bad as in 1974. Some of my family had to evacuate their homes, but fortunately they were spared the inundation others experienced. We do have friends in Brissy whose homes went under, and they are still being affected by the disaster, unable to live in their homes. The community spirit during the clean-up was amazing to see and hear about - Queenslanders were at their finest at this time.

Here are some photos from news sites: Brisbane at the peak of the flooding: here and here; and the amazing army of volunteers helping with the clean up: here.

We then experienced the chaos of the whole back-to-school new-school-year - always a busy and exciting time for my kids, and extra-crazy with both my husband and I being school teachers. This year my responsibilities at work were changed unexpectedly just before students returned which has really thrown me in a spin and added to my workload.

AND in the second week back we had school closures as the biggest cyclone to ever hit Australia was heading our way! Our town was originally right in line with the cyclone's predicated path.

Last year we endured cyclone Ului (category 3) and fortunately experienced minimal damage. But this cyclone (Yasi) was a category 5 and much bigger in size as well as speed. We ended up packing up everything that we could and evacuating our home, before the cyclone changed course slightly and headed slightly north of us. In the end our town only experienced minimal rain and winds.

The beautiful seaside village of Mission Beach and the towns of Tully and Cardwell were worst-hit places when cyclone crossed the coast. Many homes have lost their roofs; some houses were completely ripped apart. If it had hit a larger town (like Cairns) head-on, the devastation would have been enormous. But that is little comfort for the families who have lost everything in these smaller towns.

Click here for a gallery of photos showing the aftermath of Cyclone Yasi.

So, like I say, it has been a busy - and unusual - start to the year, but things are starting to fall into a more regular routine once again. Cyclone season isn't over yet, so we always have one eye on the weather reports. Touch wood my beautiful state won't be hit for six again.

Amongst it all, I have found some time for crochet. I have lots to show and share with you all, it's just a matter of finding time to get the pics uploaded and to write about it all. Sounds simple in theory, I know, but when you have kids and you work part-time, very little is simple, at least that's how it seems to go at my place!

Hope you are all well, and look forward to sharing some crochet with you soon,
Happy hooking,
Caz :)

P.S. If you would like to donate to the Brisbane flood appeal, visit this website. There are thousands of people who have lost everything, and every bit you can contribute WILL help!

And donations to support those who have lost their homes from Cyclone Yasi can also be made there.

(This is Queensland's official government website and is a ligit, safe method for donating. If you can give, even if it's only a few dollars, then please do.)

http://www.qld.gov.au/floods/donate.html

My First Ever Cable

2010-12-26T01:29:00.011+10:00

I got this magazine for Christmas yesterday. Yes, it's summer here, but we still get the Northern Hemisphere magazines... complete with winter patterns... :-)

No matter! They are still interesting and chock-full of ideas. I love reading through crochet magazines - I learn so much!

So, on Christmas night, with all the fun and festivities winding down, I decided to give this pattern a go. I (almost) finished the first glove that night.

I am really pleased with the cable part of the pattern. Normally I feel too daunted to attempt such complicated-looking projects, but being a small item I decided to take the plunge.

It seemed a little tricky at first, but once I saw what the pattern was asking me to do, it all made sense. I Never Knew how cable designs "worked" - how they reveal themselves as you stitch along - but now I do. And it's not that difficult at all!

The stash yarn I used, with its coloured flecks, takes away from the texture of the work a little, but I still think it looks nice.

I was so excited that I couldn't wait to share it with you and I got photos up on here as soon as I could! :-)

Not that I'll be wearing these, though... maybe I can send them to one of my friends living in the UK or Europe - it's cold enough there at the moment!

Since I last posted, I have been really busy at work and then my holidays began. Since then I have been busy with Christmas and family time, and I have found only a little bit of time to crochet, and no time to blog! I have been trying to keep up with reading all my favourite blogs, though, but can't seem to find the time to create posts of my own.

I am trying to finish some WIPs that have been lingering for a little too long. I'm losing interest but I really want to persevere and finish them; I've told myself that I can't start anything else until they are done!

Except for these mitts, mind you! ;-)

Anyway, I do have some crochet to share with you, and I can't wait to do so. Just a matter of finding the time in this busy, festive time of year. Our home is full of visitors at the moment - this is a very family-oriented time for us - it's lovely but busy!

Will share my other projects with you just as soon as I can.

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and are enjoying the festive season. Hope you all find some time to crochet amongst it all!

Caz :)

Christmas Bunting - A Pattern!

2010-11-23T08:40:00.002+10:00

Okay... FINALLY... I have attempted to turn my Christmas Bunting into a pattern.

Like I mentioned, this is a combination of patterns and ideas from other clever people on the web.

Making the star

The first step is to make a star and this pattern is part of another pattern from Michelle at The Royal Sisters and she has kindly said that she's happy for me to share it with you.

If you want to see the original pattern and instructions for this part, have a look at Michelle's Grandma Star Hexagon Tutorial. I am using the first part of that pattern.

Like Michelle, I am writing in English crochet terms (and American terms in brackets).

This flower/star has "petals" made with a cluster/bobble kinda-stitch.

This is the cluster stitch:
yarn over hook, insert into next stitch, yarn over hook and pull up loop (3 loops on hook),
yarn over hook and draw through 2 loops,
yarn over hook and insert into same stitch, yarn over hook, pull up loop,
yarn over hook and draw through 2 loops,
yarn over hook and insert into same stitch again,
yarn over hook, pull up loop, yarn over hook, and draw through 2 loops,
yarn over hook and draw through all 4 loops remaining. Cluster stitch done!

Okay, so here we go:

Chain 4 and join with a slip stitch to make a ring.

Round 1: chain 1, 12 dc(sc) into the ring.
Join with a slip stitch to first dc(sc)

Round 2: chain 2, then:
yarn over hook, insert into same stitch,
yarn over hook pull up the loop (3 loops on hook),
yarn over hook and draw through 2 loops,
yarn over hook and insert into same stitch,
yarn over hook, pull up a loop,
yarn over hook and draw through 2 loops.
yarn over hook and draw through all 3 loops remaining.
(this is the cluster stitch but it's a bit different/weird because it started with a chain 2)

THEN
*chain 5, skip one dc(sc)
make cluster stitch into the next dc(sc)*

Repeat * - * until there are 6 petals and one dc(sc) remaining.

Chain 5 and join with a slip stitch to the top of the first cluster.

Finish off and weave in ends - you've completed the first part - you've made a star!

As you can see, I made my "stars" in a groovy gold thread. I made all my stars first, then moved on to the next part - surrounding them with a granny triangle that becomes the Christmas Bunting!

OKAY... (How am I doing? :-) Feeling quite nervous here!)

Making the flags

Now time to make the triangles. I used red.

S0....

Change to new colour. Attach new colour with a slip stitch to one of the chain 5 strands. Chain 3 (counts as a treble/dc).

Do three more trebles(dc), chain 3, do 4 more trebles(dc), all along that chain 5 strand (in between 2 petals). Chain 1.
In the next space (on the next chain 5 strand): 4 trebles(dc), chain 1

In the next space: 4 trebles(dc), chain 3, THREE trebles(dc), (corner made leading into the "shorter" side of the triangle), chain 1

In the next space: 3 trebles(dc), chain 1

In the next space: 3 treble(dc), chain 3, FOUR treble(dc) (corner made, you are now going down one of the longer sides again), chain 1

In the last space: 4 treble(dc), chain 1

Join with a slip stitch to the top of the chain three, completing that round.

Did that make sense? Can you see in the pics above the treble(double) "groups" as I call them? On two sides the treble(double) groups have four stitches per group, and on one side of the triangle the groups are groups of three? This makes one side shorter than the other two. Or have I confused you more now??

Well, moving on to the next round...

Slip stitch across to the next chain 3 space

In this space:

Chain 3 (acts as a treble/dc), 3 trebles(dc), chain 3, 4 treble(dc), chain 1,

In the next chain 1 space: 4 treble(dc), chain 1

Repeat in the next chain space

Then you reach the corner again. Remember, this is the corner that takes you to the "shorter" side, so this corner will be:

4 treble(dc), chain 3, THREE treble(dc) (corner made) chain 1

Then in each of the next chain 1 spaces: 3 treble(dc), chain 1

Then you reach the next corner. You need to finish your "shorter" side and start the next "longer" side, so you do:

3 treble(dc), chain 3, FOUR treble(dc), chain 1

Then in the next two spaces: 4 treble(dc), chain 1

You should be back at the start of this round. Join with a slip stitch at the top of the beginning chain 3.

Slip stitch to the next chain 3 space...

And repeat for a many rounds as desired!

Does that make sense???? I really hope it does!

When you are ready to finish your work, you can do this soft, shell edging:

After joining with a slip stitch at the end of the last round DO NOT slip stitch all the way over to the next space. Instead, you only slip stitch to the MIDDLE of the treble group. Then you use that corner space, but you are reaching over to it.

4 treble(dc) in corner space, chain 4

slip stitch into the 4th chain from the hook (picot made),

4 treble(dc) in the same (corner) space,
join with a slip stitch in the middle of the trebles(dc) in the next "treble(dc) group" from the last round.

Then, in the next chain 1 space: 4 treble(dc), join with a slip stitch to the middle of the next "treble(dc) group".

Continue until you reach the corner.

At the corner, 4 treble(dc) in the corner space, chain 3, then THREE treble(dc) in the corner space, chain 1. (Do NOT join with a slip stitch as you have just been doing down the side.)

Continue along the "shorter" side as you have in previous rounds: 3 treble(dc), ch 1 in each space (so this side will look straight - no shell edging)

At the corner: 3 treble(dc), ch 3, 4 treble(dc), join with a slip stitch to the middle in the next treble group from the previous round (so you're starting the shell edge again for this side).

Continue down this side:

4 treble(dc) in the next ch1 space, join with a slip stitch to the middle of the next treble(dc) group from the previous round.

Continue until you reach the end of the round. Then join with a slip stitch to the original slip stitch from the start of this round (end of the previous round).

Finish off and weave in ends.

You've done it!

Joining your flags

Chain about 20, maybe more. It depends how much "hanging up thread" you need at your ends.

Then dc(sc) into the top right corner or your flag. *Chain 3, 1 dc(sc) into the next chain 1 space.* Repeat *-* to the next corner. Chain 10 (or however far apart you want your flags). 1 dc(sc) in the next flag's top right corner. Repeat *-* to the next corner. Chain 10 again and continue until all flags are connected. Chain 20 to create "hanging up" thread for the other end, then finish off and weave in ends.

NOTE: the "top right corner" is the corner that has 4 treble, ch 3, 3 treble

Phweeeew! I'm exhausted! :-)

This is the first time I have ever, ever, EVER tried to write out a pattern. It is so much more difficult to do than I realised. I have a new appreciation and respect for anyone who manages to successfully write out patterns for others to use.

So, that said, if any part of this doesn't makes sense, please let me know! Chances are I've left something out, or typed something incorrectly. So please tell me so that I can help you out, and also fix it up so it makes sense to others.

Hope you can do it/that it makes sense!

Happy hooking!

Caz :)

Cushion Success!

2010-10-31T10:20:00.006+10:00

Well, it all worked out in the end - better than I expected!

I added a couple of extra rounds to the back (daisy) side, and then I blocked both cushions.

So now I'm a blocking convert - it makes such a difference!

I also did this amazing concept called... wait for it... counting stitches. I know! Crazy, huh?, but it just might work!

It turned out that my squares were now almost identical in stitches - one side was about 4 stitches smaller than the other.

So, taking the advice from some of my lovely comments, I just made sure that as I went along, I did a stitch that sort of squished two crochet stitches from one side into one stitch from the other side. It looked like it was going to be noticeable, but just two little stitches stitched into one didn't show up in the end. I made sure that it was done about 4 times for each side, and that I kept these spaced apart, fairly evenly, across the side.

I hope this is what Jacquie from Bunny Mummy meant by:
"join the two halves by putting them right sides together and over sewing in outer loops only"!?

Then when I reached the end of the side, the stitches lined up and I could sew to the corner with ease. Whoo Hoo!

Something else wonderful happened through all this blocking and extra-round-ing - the cover got bigger! So much bigger, in fact, that I thought it might, just might, make it around this cushion that came with a blue cover.

A little hard to judge at this stage!

This cushion (cover + insert) was $7 at Big W. And a white insert, same size? $5. Silly, hey?

(Also silly - who's making crochet cushion covers when she could just buy a perfectly fine cushion and cover for $7?? ;-) Hmmm.....)

This cushion is 40cm x 40cm - a standard size that I thought I wouldn't be able to cover... before blocking and adding those extra rounds. But now... it was going to be snug but it just might work! And with the blue cover - much nicer than a white filling thing.

(I know I could always sew my own covers, to any size I liked, but I really, REALLY dislike sewing. I have a sewing machine, up in the cupboard, I know how to sew, but I will avoid it whenever possible - including with this cushion!)

ANYWAY... I sewed it up... I used Bunny Mummy's button closure method... I didn't have enough buttons so my opening is pretty small... and I had a moment of panic because I thought NO WAY is that cushion going to fit through that opening!

Then I decided I would MAKE IT FIT! So I squished and pushed and squashed and punched and shoved... and ...

I got it in! Sewed on the buttons (yes, I only did that at this moment!), and ...

It was done!

YAY!

Voila! I think we can call this: Cushion Success!

That said, I doubt I will be doing another cushion any time soon! It all took a lot longer than I thought, a lot more yarn than I thought, and a lot of fiddly-sewing drama which is SOOOO not to my liking!

Back to blankets, methinks!

And a few other projects I've been dabbling with...

Will share it all as soon as I can.

By the way, I haven't forgotten about that bunting pattern. It's going well, I've been taking photos and all... just haven't gotten it all finalised yet. That pesky Paid Work is getting in the way big time at the moment - this is one of the busiest times of the year for me. :-(

And when that's all out of the way, I will be able to blog a lot more. Looking forward to that. :-)

See you all soon, I hope,
Caz :)

Cushion Confusion

2010-10-23T08:30:00.002+10:00

I know, no-one should be confused by a cushion, should they?

I thought it would all be rather simple.

But I'm having a devil-of-a-time trying to sew up this thing! Well, not sew it up, per se, but:
a) work out how big to make it! You want it to be firm and snug - not floppy and ripply - but it also has to actually fit over the insert
and
b) get both sides the same size!

Problem "b" is proving quite difficult because the front and the back are quite different. The front is made up of granny squares... here it is... I mentioned it in another post, here.

And the back is (mostly) a solid granny... it's the one that I made from the Charity Daisy that I wrote about here.

I know I should have blocked them. It would have made everything clearer. But I thought - since it would all be stretching over a pillow eventually, anyway - that I could get away without doing it.

So I just tugged and pulled at them a bit, lay them flat on top of each other... thought to myself: yeah, that looks about right...

And then I started sewing them up... and this happened:

Whoops.

Hmmm.... so... back to enlarging the daisy side.

And then we can try again.

I'll let you know how I get on.

Caz :)

P.S. I still don't know how to solve problem "a". I'm just hoping it will somehow magically be the perfect fit?

P.P.S. Can any more experienced, wiser crochet-ers help me out with any of this?? Would love to hear from you if you have any advice (or even if you don't - comments are always welcome :-) !).

Cushion Creation

2010-10-20T10:47:00.000+10:00

Thanks to everyone who responded to my last post about my Christmas bunting. I'm so pleased that you all like it, and it is clear from the comments I received that there are people out there who would, indeed, like me to write up the pattern I kind-of invented.

Well, I said if you wanted me to do it, that I would. So I will. (Did that make sense?) :-)

I am happy (but a little surprised) that I have made something that others are so interested in that they might want to try it for themselves. That's really cool, actually, now that I think about it. Awesome! I'm very happy to share, so I will.

I just have to get around to typing it up. That pesky Paid Work is getting in the way of Life again, but I will have a go at the pattern this weekend. I've never written down a pattern before - I'm sure I can manage it - but I suspect it will take a bit of time.

So, bear with me, if you can?

In the meantime, I have another project I'd like to share with you, if you'd like to see?

Some time ago (before I went on my bunting frenzy!) I wrote about a Charity Daisy pattern that I was using for a cushion cover.

Well, here it is again:

And, while on holidays, I also made the other side for this cushion:

Pretty, hey?

This side is made using a groovy flower pattern from the talented Elizabeth Cat.

The pattern is not on her blog (but please check out her blog anyway - it's very beautiful and interesting!). The pattern is instead written in the comments under a picture on Flickr.

This picture, actually. Click here to go to the pic and read the pattern.

My Andy Warhol Cushion, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Cat.

Now the pattern is a little confusing - at least for a beginner like me. I also found it quite fiddly and it took me a few goes to work it out. I think I've got it right, now, but I'm still not entirely sure!

This is what my version looks like:

After the flower is made, a granny square is wrapped around it. Now, some of you may know that I've not always been a fan of the granny square (as I wrote about here), but I must say they are growing on me, especially ones that are a little bit different and interesting - like this one.

I looked at a lot of different ways to join squares before deciding on trying a join called Flat Braid Joining. I found out about it at Marie Anne's blog, Every Day Crochet - you can read about it in this post, here.

Marie Anne really loves this join and uses it all the time. Her blog gave some links to video tutorials and these explained it really well. It looks tricky, but it's actually not too hard after a few goes. I really like the lacy-braided look it gives and thought that went well with the granny squares. (Well, I thought it made them look less like granny squares, actually, and more like an all-in-one, interesting, lacy creation.)

So, thank you, Marie Anne, for those great links and all the info on the join. I am very happy with the result.

I then added a few rounds of double crochet (UK trebles) in the "solid" granny style around the whole thing because I thought that would match the back nicely.

I only hope that the tension is all okay and that when it is a finished cushion it isn't too ripply. I guess I should probably block it but I never seem to get around to blocking - it all seems like too much of a hassle to me!

I think (I think) it is going to fit a 36x36 cm cushion insert and I have now bought one. I was thinking about buying a blue pillow because that would look better (I don't like the white insert peeking through the holes of the grannies) but I couldn't find one small enough. So at the moment, it's just the white insert that I'm using. Whether or not I fix that later might depend on how "over" the project I am by then! :-P

So now I'm ready to attempt to sew the two sides together! By wonderful, happy co-incidence, Jacquie over at Bunny Mummy recently posted some info on sewing cushion sides together - showing how she adds buttons down one side. I am so thrilled because it's all perfect timing for me and her method looks really easy!

I'll let you know how I go.

And, no, I won't forget about the bunting pattern. :-)

Till next time,
Have a happy, hooky day,
Caz :)

Another idea!

2010-10-16T12:32:00.006+10:00

Okay, I had another idea....

I was working on my Christmas Bunting, doing UK Trebles in groups of four, as per the Grandma Tree Pattern from The Royal Sisters (like I explained in my last post, and in the one before). And I was thinking to myself "Why does this pattern have stitches in groups of four, rather than the traditional three? What does that do to the pattern?"

And then I got my idea:

Do ALL the sides need to have the same number of stitches in their clusters/groups?

What if - what IF - I did groups of four on the two long sides of my bunting, but just groups of THREE on the shorter side??

Would it go all wonky? Or would it work?

Well, I tried it ... AND IT WORKED!

Yes, yes, alright, all you clever people who already knew that would work. I've only been crocheting for a year, remember? This is all amazing to me! I Never Knew that you could DO that!

And the result? A more isosceles-ish triangle! Perfect for my bunting!

YAY!!

Alright, I'll leave you in peace now. Please excuse my frequent postings this week. I'm back at work after the holidays, you see, so, of course, that means I'm avoiding said work whenever possible. Hence the increase in crochet and in blogging. ;-)

I better get back to it, though. The (paid) work, I mean.

But before I do, I would like to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has been stopping by this week, checking out my bunting and leaving me lovely comments. It was so great to read them all! I loved that you loved my bunting, and that you thought the Christmas pattern-combo bunting was groovy. That was great to hear because I've been so excited about it.

I was particularly pleased to see that the consensus seems to be that I have actually, kind-of, made up my very own pattern here! Even Michelle herself (from The Royal Sisters) stopped by to say that she loves my new idea! And she even suggested that I provide a tutorial about it! Wow. I really admire Michelle's beautiful and clever crochet, so I do indeed feel very chuffed to get that "seal of approval" from her.

So, what do you all think? Would you like this pattern-of-sorts written out on here? With photos or some-such? That would be a big thing for me - heading into new territory there. Never Knew I'd end up in such a spot. Never Knew I'd end up inventing something!

Well, I'll do it if you want. I will. But I feel a bit daunted by it. So I won't if you don't need it. Like I said, you can easily pop over to Michelle's blog for an excellent photo-tutorial of her hexagons. Do you really want my help, too?

Please let me know.

Anyway, back to that paid work I mentioned. If only crochet could pay the bills. *sigh*

Thanks again for stopping by!

Happy hooking,

Caz :)

Christmas Bunting! A (sort-of) pattern!

2010-10-14T06:19:00.003+10:00

Well, after yesterday's bunting post, I found I couldn't be stopped! It's Crochet Bunting City here!

I feel so excited and on such a high of creativity - want to know what I've gone and done now?

I've invented a new kind of bunting! Christmas Bunting!

What do you think?

Again, this is not actually my own invention - I can only take credit for the clever-combination. :-) It's a mix of clever patterns and ideas from other clever blogsters.

In fact, it's the same lovely ladies that I mentioned yesterday - Michelle from The Royal Sisters and Alice from Crochet with Raymond!

The star is from The Royal Sisters - it's from the "Granny Star Hexagon" tutorial.

I was making some of these a few weeks ago with the idea of joining them into a ... I don't know... maybe a table runner?... something. Just trying things out, really. I made the star part in this amazing gold thread that I found in Spotlight, and then I tried adding the extra rounds in a cheerful Christmas red.

Anyway, last night, I was looking at those stars and thinking... if they are six-sided, couldn't they be turned into something three-sided?

Then I was looking at Alice's blog (Crochet with Raymond) and I saw, on her new bunting pattern, what has she done? Started with a centre made from six clusters! And then she made that into a three-sided triangle!

So, yes, it can be done! Thanks, Alice! :-)

So I took my lovely gold star, and started creating granny-triangle rounds.

Following the Granny Tree pattern on the Royal Sisters, I used groups of four double-crochets (UK trebles), not the traditional three. This actually worked well because that covered the gold chains around the star better than a group of three, as those chains are rather long (5 chains stitches, from memory).

Then when I was happy with the number of rounds, I edged them following the Granny Tree pattern again. But at the tip I added a little picot again. (This is an idea that I got from Crochet with Raymond and I mentioned this in my last post - apologies for the repetition!).

And suddenly, there before me, was this very fancy, very special-looking Christmas-y bunting! Well, it looked fancy and special and Christmas-y to me, at least! :-P

Yes, I do feel rather proud of my special Christmas bunting and I couldn't wait to share it with you.

So if you want to make one of your own, pop over to The Royal Sisters and have a look at her Grandma Star Hexagon tutorial, and then combine that with her Grandma Tree tutorial. If you're not sure how to turn six clusters into a triangle, have a look at Alice's bunting pattern on Crochet with Raymond - her photos make it nice and clear. And before you know it, you'll have yourself some Chrissy bunting like mine!

(I don't feel that I can put the pattern here, can I? Since it's not really my own - it's a combination of others... you know what I mean? But these blogs are just a click away - just follow my links. They are great blogs with lots of great ideas and the photo-tutorials make everything super-easy.)

And, if you try this, please let me know how you get on! What else did you make that was similar? The possibilities are ENDLESS! Cool, hey? I Never Knew. ;-)

Have fun and happy hooking!
Caz :)

Geometry and inspiration... and bunting

2010-10-13T09:02:00.005+10:00

I love looking at crochet blogs and web-sites for ideas, reading what people have done and how or why... seeing the amazing things people can make. And these ideas all mull around in my head...

And sometimes - not often, but every now and again - some ideas merge. Combine into something new.

And tonight something came together in a way that surprised me. My easily distracted and wandering mind put two things together and any other day I wouldn't have seen them as similar.

Let me explain the wanderings of my mind... if you could humour me...

First, I was admiring bunting. Yes, bunting. In my last post I explained that I really quite like bunting, and I recently received some as a little gift in the post from Sue at The Quince Tree, and this cheerful bunting had gotten me all inspired about making my own.

So I was looking at granny-bunting, which is basically a granny triangle. And thinking about how it is so very... even-sided. Equilateral, if you want to get technical! :-P And the thing is, I'd like to make my bunting a little more long-sided... a little more ... isosceles!

But how could this be done? Can it be done with a granny triangle?

I love the bunting that Alice created over at Crochet with Raymond. She has two bunting patterns, and I really like her first one. The frilly sides make her bunting quite pretty and also a little more isosceles-like. (I'm not sure they really are isosceles triangles, but they just look more longer-sided.) And the picot stitch at the bottom of each triangle stretches it all out just a little more. Very clever indeed.

Lovely bunting from Crochet with Raymond!

Anyway, then I put my love of bunting aside, and started browsing for Christmas ideas.

I was thinking of maybe making some Christmas Granny Trees following the pattern on The Royal Sisters, maybe making a garland or some-such. And that was when it happened. I was looking at the (very clear and helpful) photo-tutorial that Michelle has for her trees and suddenly I saw it.

Grandma Tree from The Royal Sisters

Her trees, with their bumpy sides but straight bases, were rather isosceles-looking! In truth, they were very similar to Alice's bunting triangles - just with four-treble groups instead of 3. And the bumpy sides were similar, but just a slightly different way of doing them. Hmmm... I thought to myself, I quite like these tree-y triangles!

What if - what IF - I made Michelle's tree, but didn't add the stump? And what if I added Alice's picot droplet at the tip of the triangle? Could this become the ultimate bunting pattern - the shape I was looking for?

I tried it - and I LOVE it!

So basically, what you do (would you like me to explain how I combined them?) is: follow Michelle's tree pattern (at the Royal Sisters) until the last round, BUT when you reach the tip of the "tree" (or the bottom tip of the bunting flag), do the four trebles as you start the corner, then chain four and make a picot by slip-stitching into the fourth chain from the hook (that's the idea I got from Crochet with Raymond), then do four more trebles to finish that corner, then continue on as per The Royal Sisters' pattern. And stop at the end of that round - before you make the tree stump. Obviously. :-)

Did that make sense? Visit their websites - I'm sure it will make more sense once you do! :-)

And that's it! Like I said, not that clever really, but, boy, does it feel good when something in my mind just "clicks". I have looked at The Royal Sisters' Granny Trees so many, many times, but never before saw a bunting triangle.

Many people say I have a strange mind ;-) but sometimes it just WORKS. Hee hee. :-)

I'm off to make some more bunting now! And, um, then get back to those other projects! :-)

Happy hooking,
Caz :)

Editor's note: Since writing all this, I have come to the realisation that there are many ways to make long, thin, crochet bunting flags. Simply doing stripes of single (double) crochet with decreases at the end of each row, something like that would probably work, wouldn't it? And no doubt there are patterns out there following that idea. But I was looking at granny-triangle bunting, and that's why they were equal-sided, and that's where my thinking started. I may or may not go and look for other options, but this Granny-tree-triangle combo has left me feeling so pleased that I think it will do, for now, in my quest for the perfect bunting. :)

Good to get away... and good to come home!

2010-10-11T13:33:00.009+10:00

I have two things to share today.

First of all, we've been away on holidays. Down to Brissy (Brisbane) to catch up with family. And a lovely time was had by all - t'was fun enough for the kids and relaxing enough for me. :-)

While we were down there, I was able to visit my little sister's new townhouse apartment. I'd seen it in pictures but it really was great to actually be there. She is very proud of it, of course (it's the first home she's purchased), and loved having us over and showing us around.

And what did I see as I climbed the stairs to the living room? What was waiting for me, draped across the couch, looking comfy and welcoming?

My (I mean, her) Event Plaid blanket!

I did say I'd share a photo of it in situ, didn't I?

Well, here it is! Looks fabulous, if I do say so myself!

My sister says she loves curling up under it at night, in front of the telly. Checks email on her laptop, on the couch, blankie over her legs. It is actually getting USED, which I think is awesome. I would hate to think of it being kept in the linen cupboard because "it is too special for every day" - NO! - that would be a big, big WASTE! So good on you for using it, Sis! Spill coffee and cookie crumbs on it! It is washable, after all.

Anyway, I'm starting to ramble, but I think you can see that I was so pleased to see it in its rightful home, being used and loved. It felt really good to see that.

My sister was happy to pose with the blankie, but then she got a little camera shy! :-)

Anyway, after all the fun and relaxing of our trip down south, it was time to head back to the tropics and get ready for the new school term (groan!). Was feeling a bit un-excited at the thought of holidays ending and chaos resuming, so I must say it was very nice indeed to arrive home to a parcel from the U.K.

A parcel from the U.K.? Ooooohhhh! I know what that is: it's a parcel of goodies from Sue at The Quince Tree!

I won a give-away, you see. It was most exciting as I almost never win anything! And what a lovely lot of goodies Sue was giving away - all to celebrate the 100th post on her blog. (It really is such a lovely blog by the way, full of colourful crochet and lovely food ideas and recipes. If you haven't stopped by her way, I thoroughly recommend that you check it out.)

So I opened the parcel and found it full of little wrapped items. My kids found this sooooo exciting, so I was able to act all excited with them (which was good because I actually WAS really excited).

And in the parcels we found these:

Lovely smelly soap, chocolate from Cornwall that is just DIVINE, a bundle of Sue's beautiful mini-cards (which were made from a collection of her stunning photography), and - best of all - a lovely string of rainbow, crochet BUNTING!

I'm not normally a frills'n'fancies home decorator - I don't fill my home with ornaments and excess cushions and frills and trims, I'm far too practical for all that - but I do make an exception for bunting. (And paper chains, when children are involved.) Bunting is just so cheerful and festive, don't you think? I made some paper bunting for one of the children's bedrooms, but this string of crochet triangles will be perfect in the other bedroom. In that bedroom my little girl has quite a wide window, and - what do you know! - it fits across it beautifully!

I'm finding that I turn my head every time I pass her room; I can't help but look through her open door at that cheerful string of flags and smile to myself as I walk by...

So, thank you, thank you, thank you, my dear friend, Sue! I think it is so kind and generous and wonderful that you would send me such lovely things half-way around the world. And congratulations on 100 posts - here's to many, many more.

It was a lovely, cheerful thing to come home to.

Now it's got me thinking about making some crochet bunting of my own...

Just as soon as I finish the half-a-dozen projects I'm working on at the moment! :-P

Or maybe I could just dabble a little bit with the idea tonight... ;-)

*sigh*... I like starting projects so much more than finishing them!

See you soon with more news on all those projects,
In the meantime, happy hooking,
Caz :)

This time last year...

2010-10-10T16:44:00.008+10:00

It was at the very beginning of October last year, right at the end of the Spring school holidays, that I sat down beside my mum (who was visiting at the time), and I uttered those fateful words:

"How do you DO that?"

My mum was doing some crochet. It took some persistence, but - after after convincing her that I really wanted to know - she showed me how to do it.

I Never Knew what that would lead to. Never Knew that a year later I would have a blog about my crochet, and some finished items of which I am so, so, proud. And a box, a basket, and a bag-or-three filled with WIPs and UFOs, and lovely, lovely yarn!

As I wrote about here, I Never Knew this was coming. Never Knew I would find this amazing LOVE of crochet, Never Knew I would get such a THRILL from creating something with hook and yarn.

And if you'd told me, I would have laughed.

The thing I like most about it is that it seems to have awoken a creative side in me, a side that had laid dormant for far too long. I saw a wonderful quote on Handmaid Liset's blog, a quote from Charles Dickens. It said:

The whole difference between construction and creation is this; that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists.

And I understand that now. I Never Knew, but now I do. :-)

Just goes to show everyone show try something new once in a while.

You just Never Know what it might do to your life and your well-being. You Never Know where it might take you.

My crochet has taken me here so far, and I'm loving the journey I'm on.

Thanks for sharing it with me as you visit my blog, and view my pictures on Flickr. I'm so glad that as I move into my second year of crochet discovery and creativity, I can share my revelations with you. :-)

Caz xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Pretty as a Daisy

2010-09-19T12:55:00.002+10:00

I've got something I'd really like to show you. Feels like I'm a school-girl again and it's my turn for show-and-tell and I'm feeling really excited about it. Crochet does that to me. :-)

It's this lovely, tricky (well, tricky for me!), very grooooovy daisy square!

(this one was not made by me - details below the photo)

made by "meowy takes photos"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/waffles2005/4874098122/

Let me tell you about this funky, free pattern and the great project going on behind it.

The pattern is available from Krochet Krystal. Krystal has a really cool idea. She will share the pattern with you for FREE! (You just need to register with her and then she'll send all the info to you).

There's just one, simple condition: you need to make her a square, using her pattern, and then send that square back to her.

And what does she do with all these daisies, being sent to her in exchange for her pattern, from people all over the world?

She makes them into blankets and donates them to worthy charities.

Like this one:

Blanket number five at Krochet Krystal

It's an honesty system, basically. In a world-gone-mad, full of accountabitily and lawsuits, there is someone out there still working on the idea of goodwill.

Makes me feel good inside, knowing that. And, as I am an honest person (really!), I fully intend to complete my end of the bargain.

Only problem: I didn't know until I got the pattern that she wants you to use worsted weight yarn. And I have so little of that kind of yarn! It's hard to find in Oz. But it gives me a great excuse to go yarn shopping, doesn't it? ;-)

In the meantime, I made this one with some of my left-over Patons Smoothie yarn, the yarn I used in the Event Plaid blanket. Pretty, isn't it?

I found the pattern quite tricky at times, but I think I've got it right. Good practice for the one that I'll send her.

This is going to become part of a new project. A small-ish, spur-of-the-moment project. These don't often happen to me - I'm normally planning and budgeting carefully for some time, thinking about the costs and amount of yarn, etc, etc. But because this is now officially stash yarn, I can go with the flow a bit more. It's nice. I'm liking it. :-)

So, if you are interested in the pattern, or are interested in Krystal's charity work, head on over to Krystal's blog. By making her a square, you get the pattern, and you get to help a good cause at the same time.

Of course you can do more than one square, if you like. But one square is all that Krysal asks for. That's it. Then the pattern is yours to use and enjoy forever.

Let me know if any of you give it a go. I'd love to see your daisies and hear what you think about the pattern.

Til next time,
Happy hooking,
Caz :)

P.S. Just wanted to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone that commented on my Event Plaid blanket. I'm so pleased with the finished result and it's great to read that you guys like it, too. I love reading your comments; they really make my day. :)

Event Plaid - TA DAH!

2010-09-13T08:45:00.002+10:00

Extreme close-up of extreme weaving!

Yes! It's finished! Yay!

It is so true what the other blogsters said: it is only once you finally pull through that last row of weaving, stand back and look at it, that you can really see it. And then you think WOW.

It was all worth it.

So worth it.

It looks GREAT!

Well, actually, it looks like an ordinary blanket! LOL :-D Not at all like crochet.

But that's good, because my sister wouldn't want any vintage, granny-esque crochet in her lovely new place. Her new home is very modern and minimalist and I think a granny square on the sofa would look so... well, wrong. But this won't. This looks like a lovely soft, woven blankie. Perfect for carefully-draping-so-it-looks-casually-thrown over the back of the sofa. And also perfect for curling up under while watching a bit of late night telly.

I will be down in Brisbane in a couple of weeks so I will be able to give it to her then. I'm so excited!!

So, anyway, I won't keep you in suspense any longer.

You want to see?

Here it is!

TA-DAH!

Do you love it? I sure do. I hope my sister does, too.

When I finally finished weaving, I knotted all the ends. I tied each end with its neighbour, if you get what I mean, so that each tassel had four strands:

Then I trimmed them all to the same length - about 12 cm long. I found it a little tricky to keep it even, but I think it's worked out okay. (I also need to worry less about such things. :-) )

Now all that's left to do is give it!

Once I've visited her place in Brissy, I'll share a photo of it in situ, in her actual home, on her actual couch.

That'll be really cool.

If you have any questions about the pattern or how I managed to wrangle it, please feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. I'm only too happy to help.

And don't forget to visit the blogs where I first got the inspiration: these posts at This Life and Laughing Purple Goldfish. As I mentioned in this post, these lovely ladies explain the whole process very well, and their blankets are most excellent, so check them out!

One more photo, on our bench, on our front verandah, to help you get an idea of the size: :-)

Well, thanks for sharing my Ta-Dah with me. I don't know many people around here who would understand my excitement quite the way that you, my lovely readers, do. :)

Til next time,
Have a happy, hooky day,
Caz :)

P.S. Laughing Purple Goldfish's current blog can be found here. The link to her Event Plaid post (above) takes you to her older blog. Both are worth a look and I think the newer one links to the older one - somehow! C :)

Event Plaid - Nearly There!

2010-09-11T20:58:00.001+10:00

I'm still working on the weaving part of my Event Plaid.

It's weird when you're half-way - it's sort of like a "before" and "after" image at the same time!

Want to see how it's going?

Here's how it was looking just a little while ago:

Anyway, I'm off to keep working on it.

Hopefully a Ta-Dah moment coming very soon!

Til then,
Have a happy, hooky day,
Caz :)

Event Plaid

2010-09-07T21:14:00.005+10:00

This is my latest project - and it's almost finished! It's called an "Event" Plaid because the plaid is created by a special date.

I first saw this idea on this lovely blog, This Life. She lives in the US and she first saw the idea on this post at Laughing Purple Goldfish, which is a blog in Melbourne. So back to Oz I went to see that one, too. (Laughing Purple Goldfish is a great blog, by the way, full of interesting ideas, tips and patterns. I thoroughly recommend it!)

Anyway, please follow the links above to their posts on Event Plaid blankets, because they explain the whole idea very well. But I'm about to try and explain it as well. Okay, here goes:

First of all, you need a special event/occasion/anniversary, etc. My special occasion is my sister has bought her first home - this is a house-warming gift.

Next you need to decide on a date. My date is 24 June, 2010. It's the date that my sister moved into her new place.

Then you need to choose yarn and colours, and organise the colours according to the date. My yarn is Patons Smoothie DK, which I showed you in this post. I chose 5 colours and they match the date like this:

twenty- (2 rows dark red/claret)
fourth (4 rows teal)
of
June (6 rows pink)
2 thousand (2 rows yellow)
and ten (10 rows blue)

See what I mean? (Again, check those other blogs - they explain it better!)

So that also decides the order of your stripes. EXCEPT... I didn't like that colour-order :-P so I kept the numbers but re-arranged the stripes. So, I've kinda messed with the whole idea there... oh, well, it's still the concept behind the whole creation.

So THEN you start to crochet. You crochet rows following that stripe pattern and the number of rows so it corresponds to the date.

The basic crochet stitch pattern is this: double crochet, chain one, skip next stitch (which is a chain-stitch), double crochet in the next double crochet. This creates a kind of mesh effect, like a net, with lots of holes:

dc (UK treble), ch1, dc, ch1...
6 rows pink, 2 rows yellow, ten rows blue... etc

Does that make sense?

It ends up looking like this:

THEN once that part is done, you do something a little different and it's really kinda groovy - you WEAVE. You weave over, under, over, under, all the way along the vertical, so the weaving is 90 degrees to the crochet stripes. Again you follow the stripe pattern so the same colour order and number of rows is followed. You usually need two or three strands to "fill" the weaving spaces well.

And this makes a plaid effect!

See what I mean? Cool, hey?

I have actually done heaps more weaving than this now - I'm about three quarters of the way through it - but I haven't taken any more photos!

A couple of things to mention, though. This project gets very boring at times. The crochet part seems to take forever. And it doesn't look very special or interesting at that point. I am so glad both the blogs mentioned above talked about this in their posts, because if they had not, I may have given up. But they both assured me it was worth continuing on with it.

And then the weaving feels like it takes ages, too. And I found it quite tricky and fiddly. First I tried it with a weaving hook that my daughter has from a craft set but it was too short and awkward. Then I tried with a sewing needle, but that made the yarn strands twist over each other. In the end I switched back to a crochet hook, and that worked quite well. As I went on it got easier.

I used two strands for the weaving, as I found that easier to weave - I measured the lengths I needed (which were about 3 times the length - this allows for the fringe as well) and then I doubled it over and pulled it through with the hook.

I am almost finished the weaving, and it looks really cool once the weaving is there.

Well, I hope that all made sense. I'm off to work on this again, and hopefully in a few days I will have a wonderful, big TA-DAH! to show you all. :-)

Til then,
Have a happy, hooky day,
Caz :)

Yarn, Glorious Yarn!

2010-08-28T18:00:00.003+10:00

I ordered this wonderful bundle of yarn online a few months ago. It is Paton's Smoothie - an acrylic, DK/8ply weight yarn that has a wonderful, silky feel to it. I absolutely love it so I was surprised to hear that it has been discontinued. Seems a shame, but the upside is that I could get it online for a great price! :-)

This yarn is for yet another project to add to my collection - and, yes, it's for yet another blanket! But this one is for a special ocassion, and that gives me the motivation to get on with it and get it DONE - all the way to the end - ASAP.

Well, things are crazy-busy here as usual, so I must dash, but I'll share more about this project soon as it has gone really well, and is - indeed - almost FINSIHED!!

Have a happy, hooky day,
Caz :)

P.S. I haven't forgotten about sharing my crochet top with you - the one that I wrote about here - but it's rather a long story and the post I've started writing is becoming quite complicated! I do tend to ramble... and over-think things! :-D but I will keep working at it, try and simplify what I've written and upload a post about it all soon. :-)

More about the Local Show

2010-08-08T21:00:00.001+10:00

At the end of June, our region had its annual local show. The show, as I mentioned in this post, is a bit like a local town fair: it showcases all the best the town has to offer: best cattle, best horses, best wood-chopping, best arts and crafts, best produce. And, of course, there's side-show alley, with its rides, dodgem cars, fun houses, laughing clowns, games of chance, and the quintessential ferris wheel. When you live in a small country community, with not much to do, it's always great fun to go along to the show.

These pics were taken from up atop said ferris wheel. As you can see, being a country show, it's a fairly small affair, and beyond the show grounds is a whole lot of ... well... nothing! Countryside, sugar cane fields, and - just out of shot of the photos - the small town of Proserpine.

In this photo (below), in the top left corner, you can see a building with a green roof. This building held the produce, cooking, school, photography, and art and craft displays.

Including...

the crochet blankets...

...all FIVE of them! (Told you it was a small show!)

See my Rainsong Blanket there? On the bottom shelf? :-) Nice! I feel like one-of-the-gang! :-)

I feel I must comment, though, to the way our work was displayed in comparison with other crafts, particularly the quilts. Now, no offence intended to all the quilters out there - it is a difficult and admirable craft, I'm sure. But the quilts are hung, on rods, up high, while the crochet blankets were left scrunched in a corner!

Okay, maybe they weren't scrunched, but you can see for yourselves how they were displayed:

And you can see, in the background of the photo above, the back of one of the quilts, hanging up as I've described. I wish I'd taken more photos of the quilts to help explain this more, but basically they were hanging up all around the pavilion.

Here is the winning "blankets and lap-rugs" crochet entry. It's made of those repeated motifs that are meant to look like a 3D cube. I like that 3D illusion stuff. There's a free pattern for a similar one here. I think this blanket would have looked a lot more 3D if it had been given a better display.

Does quilting really deserve more display space and admiration? Is it true that people see crochet as "the poor-man's craft", so lowly and easy that it only deserves a little corner? I'm just curious on your thoughts here. I think for the work involved in our blankets, they could have been displayed a little more generously.

But, regardless of how they were shown, it was nice to see my first-ever-completed blanket there, amongst them. I felt really chuffed. :-)

Oh, and here is a close-up of second prize. Very nice stitch-work:

Who knows, maybe I'll have some luck next year. I've already got some projects in mind! :-)

Well, I hope you've enjoyed your journey though our local, country show. It's only small, but it's always a lot of fun, and it feels good to be a part of it!

Till next time,
Caz :)

Rainsong Blanket - the stats

2010-08-05T23:37:00.002+10:00

Finally, here are the details of my first-ever-completed blanket:

Name: Oliver's Rainsong Blanket

Pattern: Rock-a-bye Rainsong

Pattern source: "Best Crochet Afghans" by Leisure Arts
Hook size: 5mm
Yarn: Paton's Washed Haze Aran (10 ply/aran/worsted weight - I think?) in Steel, Dark Blue, and Mid Blue
Amount of yarn: 10 balls each of Dark Blue and Mid Blue, 11 balls of Steel (approx*)
That's 31 x 50 gram balls = 1550 grams (1.55 kg)
Dimensions: 92 cm x 181 cm
Number of stripes/rows: 76 stripes (152 rows)
Number of stitches: approx 21,000!
Date commenced: 29 December, 2009
Date completed: 21 June, 2010
My reflection: An easy pattern to follow and not difficult to do. The long double-crochet stitch makes things a bit more interesting. It did get boring at times, but I love the way it looks with the colours blending into each other; it was definitely worth all the effort in the end.

No luck at the annual local show, by the way. But that's okay - I wasn't really expecting anything (and the other entries were pretty good :-) ). It was just nice to see my work out on display.

And I love the fact that my son uses it on his bed every day, and when he feels sick or tired he drags it into the lounge room and curls up under it. That is far more important and endorsement enough for me! :-)

'til next time,
Caz :)

* My 10 lots of 3 would have been enough except... I went and made something else with the yarn when I was half-way through the blanket, didn't I? Did you see the slippers in an earlier post - the blue granny-square slippers? I made them for my Dad and used quite a bit of the "steel" shade. I now know that this was a VERY silly thing to do! I realised a couple of weeks ago that I was going to run out of that shade first and I ended up having to order 2 extra balls of that shade. So I'm afraid I can't tell you accurately how much yarn I have used! :-P

P.S. May I just add that it's lovely to finally find time to blog again? The past six weeks have been super-crazy at our place, with many visitors passing through, including a 1-year-old who was here for a few weeks. He kept us very busy and turned our lives upside down! I hope you haven't forgotten me and that someone is actually reading this! :-P I've missed blogging on here and chatting with you all and it feels so great to be back! :-)

See you soon.

Rainsong Blanket - ALL FINISHED!!

2010-06-23T20:29:00.012+10:00

It's FINISHED! It's finished! It's finished! (said while dancing around the room)

My first-ever, actually-completed, crochet blanket is finished.

Such a wonderful feeling - so satisfying. I just love, love, love looking at it, wrapping it around myself, enjoying how soft it feels and how finished it looks! :-)

I ended up doing the edges in rounds of single crochet. I liked the way this was a very simple stitch, and different to the main part of the blanket. I think a plain edging is good because it doesn't distract from the main stitch pattern - instead it just holds it all together and makes it look finished.

Did I mention that it's finished? ;-) And that I'm pleased about this? :-D

Let me share a few more photos with you:

I am so pleased with it, pleased as punch. :-)

And then this crazy idea came to me: I should enter it in the local show!

Now, thinking internationally here, I'm not certain every country follows this great Aussie (and British, I assume) tradition of the Local Show. In the US they might call it a "State Fair"(?). In Australia it's also known as an Exhibition, and the Brisbane Exhibition is known as "The Ekka" - following the Aussie style of shortening long words.

Anyway, for those who don't know: a Local Show is an annual event/festival. It's a fair with side-show alley - all the rides and games - but the show is also a chance to "show" our local best. There are horse riding competitions, wood-chopping competitions, and there are entries that are displayed and judged. Prizes are given for: the best cattle, the best chooks (chickens), the best sugar cane, etc, etc. And there's also the best cakes, the best home-grown vegetables, the best flowers, the best paintings... and the best crafts: knitting, quilting, and... crochet!

And our show is THIS FRIDAY AND SATURDAY!

I finished my blanket on the weekend - just in time to enter it. I don't have hopes of winning best blanket or anything like that - I just love the idea of seeing my work on display. Up there for all to see. Finished. I would feel mighty proud - and pleased as punch - all over again. :-)

So I will make sure to take photos at the show on Friday and share them with you as soon as I can.

Wish me luck!

Til next time,
Caz :)

P.S. Here's the link to my local show's website: Show Whitsunday. I live in a small, rural community, so it's all very small-time, but it's all in good fun. :-)

FINISHED Objects

2010-05-31T14:41:00.001+10:00

Last week I shared with you my collection of UFO's and WIP's.

Well, today I thought I should show you some of the F.O.'s that I have actually managed to complete in the eight months since I learnt to crochet. I plan to explain them in more detail in blog posts in the future:

I recently dabbled in baby hats (I have a couple of friends whose babies are due very soon!):

I found a hilarious pattern for Granny Square slippers! Yes, the former-granny-square-hater has not only made granny squares, but turned them into slippers! I kind of think they are soooo daggy/uncool/retro that they are almost groovy:

And I've done it not once, but twice!

I even tried some clothing! Here's a sneak peak of something I've just finished... this was taken half-way through:

I plan to blog about this one in my very next post, as it's all finished!

So, yes: in my defence! :-) sometimes I actually do finish something!

I really do like starting new things, though... :-)

Have a happy, hooky day,
Caz :)

Positives and Negatives

2010-05-30T14:41:00.012+10:00

Hello again,

So lovely to be back typing on my blog again! Such a Positive feeling!

I have had a horrible week at my work: it's one of the busiest times of the year for me, and although I technically only work 3 days a week, I've been working around the clock for the past week or so. So now I am emerging from a cloud of over-work and lack-of-sleep to a beautiful Autumn day and I'm making the most of it to relax and recover.

So, all that extra work - definitely a Negative. :-(

This beautiful day for rest and recovery - definitely a Positive. :-)

This is the view from my back deck this afternoon as I type on my laptop. :-)

Another Negative: NO CROCHET! That's right, I have been working day and night, and my crochet - ALL the current WIPs - have been left untouched! :-( What a Negative!

That's another thing to add to my Never Knew List: I Never Knew a lack of crochet time would ever bother me! But it did! Knowing it was sitting there, untouched, made me feel really down. :-(

BUT there IS a Positive: I have been working hard to catch up this weekend! :-) I am seven stripes (fourteen rows) behind in my goal of a stripe-a-day for my son's blanket. Seven stripes! But today, I have TIME. Well, I suppose, I could be cleaning, or washing clothes, or a dozen other jobs, but they can wait until tomorrow. Today is crochet catch-up day - yay, yay, yay, yay, YAY. :-)

And another, wonderful, Positive thing happened this weekend: I saw my name and blog linked on someone else's blog! :-)

Karin, from Karin aan de Haak, has decided to try the pattern that I'm using for Oliver's Rainsong Blanket. She explains on her post that she saw my work and loved the pattern, so now she's giving it a go! What a Positive, to see that my crochet has inspired someone else. It really made my day! I can't wait to see her finished blanket. Karin is one speedy crocheter, so the odds are on her finishing before me, even though I started months ago! :-) She's going for a really multi-coloured look; check it out here.

As for my Rainsong Blanket, despite the set-back this week, it IS coming along nicely:

It's getting longer!

I have a couple of concerns: 1) I'm not sure the remaining yarn is enough for the length I want (!) and 2) I need to decide how to edge the finished work, and also how much yarn I will need for that. Hmmmm.... tricky, tricky... Any advice regarding this from clever-crochet-people would be most welcome!

Well, I'm off to do another stripe.
Enjoy your day, wherever you are in the world,
Caz :)

WIPs and UFOs

2010-05-23T22:03:00.001+10:00

UFOs... Unidentified Flying Objects...

When I first saw Crochet-Lovers using this term online, I had no idea what they were talking about.

They were usually talking about an item that was incomplete. They were also - usually - feeling unhappy about the project: it wasn't going well, it didn't look like it should, the pattern wasn't working, etc, etc.

Hmmmm... I thought to myself, well, maybe this is why it's "Unidentified" - the project has gone so skewwy that they can no long even identify what it was they'd started to make! An Unidentified Object.

And as for the Flying... well, that seemed obvious. If a crochet project was now so off-kilter that no one could even identify it, well, then, you'd throw it across the room in frustration! Wouldn't you?

An Unidentified, Flying Object.

Made sense to me, anyway. ;-)

I've since found out that UFO does NOT stand for Unidentified Flying-across-the-room Object, but does in fact stand for Un-Finished Object, a term that makes a LOT more sense. :-)

I Never Knew how many UFOs I could accumulate.

But now I'm starting to understand why the term exists.

However, I prefer to call them WIPs - a Work In Progress. Because, even if I haven't touched them for months, I like to think of them as somehow, in some way, still being In Progress. If in no other way, then in my mind. They are progressing in my mind, and my thoughts and wishes to finish them keeps them alive and IN PROGRESS. :-)

So with that philosophy in mind, I'd like to share with you some of my WIPs (or UFOs if you prefer):

I have 50-odd tiny squares...

That I would love to turn into something like this:

This is Lucy's Tiny Squares Zig-Zag Blanket from Attic 24.

And then I've made 4 of these so far:

in a lovely linen-cotton. I found the pattern online, but was first inspired by Lisette at HandMaid Liset. I'm planning to make a sort-of summery blanket, inspired by this beautiful one Lisette made:

"Dutch Glory" by HandMaid Liset

And then, ages ago, I started this blanket. As you can see, it's not even cushion-sized yet, and hasn't been touched for months (doesn't mean I've forgotten it, though!):

This is from a pattern in Our Best Baby Afghans by Leisure Arts. In fact, it made the cover:

(That's also the book that has the pattern for Oliver's Rainsong Blanket.)

And then there's lots of little projects, like the African Flowers bag that I'm trying to make. I have joined one of the six sides, trying to copy Susanne's bag. It's not the same (*sigh*) but I think it's might be okay...

This is the bag that I'm trying to replicate (I've shown you this before, but I just love it, so I want to show you again):

From Susanne Albertsson on Flickr.

I will explain each one in more detail in future blog posts; I don't really feel I should bother you with details until after they have progressed a little further!

But if you simply can't wait until I've finished them to find out more about them, please just leave a comment or send me an email. I'm more than happy to help if you have any questions about any of them. And, let's face it, it could be quite a while before I will have them all completed! :-)

So, as you can see, I am keeping myself rather busy! Shame I only have time for about 1 hour of crochet a day - if I'm lucky!

But keep on popping by and I promise I'll update you as each one eventuates into a F.O.!

I'm off now to do another stripe on Oliver's Rainsong Blanket. Out of all my WIPs, it's the one that is the most In Progress at the moment... :-)

Til next time,
Have a wonderful, busy, hooky day,
Caz :)

Oliver's "Rainsong" Blanket

2010-05-16T11:14:00.004+10:00

This is the other major project that I'm working on at the moment - a blanket for my little boy, Oliver. Yes, two blankets at once - I know how silly that is - now. (And that's not even counting the other couple of blankets I've experimented with, and "sort-of" started!)

So, how did this all begin?

Well, one day, not long after I'd started on Rosie's Rainbow Ripple, I was quite surprised to hear my son say "Mum, what are you going to make me?". I hadn't thought he'd be the slightest bit interested in my crochet or in blankets. But he actually, genuinely wanted his Mummy to make him a blankie. Which I thought was really sweet.

(You see, this is yet another thing I Never Knew, Never Expected: not only do my children tolerate me crocheting, they find it curious and interesting, they actually even like it!)

I had borrowed a book from our local library: "Best Baby Afghans" by Leisure Arts. I had been looking through it just out of curiosity, just to learn a little more and get new ideas. I showed it to Oliver and said "pick one from here if you like". He had a quick browse and chose one within a minute. "That one" he said. He liked the name.

I was of course a little cautious about starting a big project on a 6-year-old's whim, so I checked and double-checked for a couple of days. There was no changing his mind - this was the one. Okay, I said, and I started investigating yarn options online. I found something on ebay that I have been very happy with. It's been discontinued but you can still get it online here and there (more about it below).

I started this blanket while we were on holidays in Tasmania in January, 2010. Actually, you can see me working on it in my profile pic on the side bar; here's a bigger picture of me working on it:
This was taken when we were taking a break while bush-walking in Cradle Mountain National Park. Yes, I took crochet with me on a bush-walk. Hey, I have little kids, I knew we'd be having lots of rests! :-)

It's a beautiful part of the world. Have a look at some pics if you're curious: here and here.

(That's why I am wearing such warm clothes in this photo. Normally I only wear clothes like this for about 2 or 3 months of the year - in June and July, and sometimes August. Summer in Tasmania is MUCH colder than our winters in the Whitsundays!)

Anyway, I digress - sorry - back to the blanket ...

The pattern is actually quite simple: double crochets (that's a UK treble) and chain spaces, and the longer stitch is created by looping into the chain-spaces and creating a "long double crochet".

It's really quite easy once you try it. The basic repeating pattern can be found online in various places. At this link a helpful lady called Teresa shows the stitch using those pattern diagrams and also explains it in words, and over here she shows a video tutorial. Teresa calls it the "larksfoot"; Leisure Arts call their pattern "Rock-a-bye Rainsong", because the repeated pattern kind-of looks like falling rain...

This is much narrower than Rosie's Rainbow Ripple (I learned my lesson!) so I find it easier going. Also this heavier yarn makes a big difference. That said, I did put it aside for a while during summer as it was just unbearable to have it across me as I worked on it (gee, it's a hard life up here in North Queensland, all this sunny weather!) But now I am back into it. My goal is to find time to do one stripe (ie two rows) every day for the month of May. It's about 30 stripes already so that would double it and maybe almost finish it. Then I'll have to decide on an edge - the one in the pattern (which is a little bit lacy-looking) or something simpler?

Now, about the yarn. It's by Patons: Washed Haze Aran. It is 60% cotton, 40% acrylic. I think it's worsted weight, that is, it's heavier than 8ply (DK weight), and they suggest 4.5mm needles for it (I'm using a 5mm hook). It feels kinda weird while working with it, not wooly in the slightest - but also not acrylic-y - just sort-of strange. But when the yarn is made up into the blanket, it feels really lovely: smooth and soft and warm and not at all fluffy or itchy. It think it's a great yarn and I wish it was still easily available.

And what I really like about this blanket is that Oliver still loves it! He curls up under it in front of the telly or while we're reading a bedtime story. He loves the feel of it and seems to find it so ... comforting... which is just so nice for me to see.

It seems that my kids are building up an association here: crochet = mum. And since they still think I'm awesome (they are not teenagers yet!), this appears to be leading to: crochet = mum = wonderful. :-) So nice. :-)

Hmmmm... "A stripe day in the month of May"... can I stick to my goal? At the moment I think so!

I promise to keep you posted. And, may I say, thank you so very much for all the lovely comments people have been leaving on my blog. They cheer me up and really keep me motivated to keep going with both this blog and my crochet. I really love reading them and hearing from you all, so please keep 'em coming. :-)

Until next time,
Caz

P.S. I'll leave you with a pic of my two big projects hanging around together...

P.P.S. If you want to see other examples of this blanket, I have only found two in the general online world: here and here. Members of Ravelry can see 18 versions of it under the name "Rock-a-bye Rainsong".

Have a great day! :)

New Projects!

2010-05-10T12:57:00.020+10:00

I seem to enjoy starting projects more than finishing them. I'm also easily distracted and it's even easier when there's wonderful inspiration out there on Flickr and in Blogland.

Am I unique in this way? It's not really very efficient, is it? :-) And it's certainly not economical. Unless you're using up left-over "stash" (which, for this project, I am, except for that one ball I've used up half-way through, so I'll have to replace that, but otherwise it was all in the house already...).

Anyway, this weekend just gone I decided to take a quick break from some of my bigger projects and amuse myself with something smaller:

I wanted to try all-white African flowers:
I was thinking of doing a 7-flower cushion. A couple of weeks ago I found a second-hand jumper that I could use for the backing.

I wanted the colours to be simple, but bold. And... Ta-DAH!

all joined up on Sunday night! From start to (sort of) finished in one weekend! I am getting faster at crochet! Yay! Hooray for me. :-)

So, now to finish the edging and make that cushion...

Except...

Now I'm getting side-tracked again...

I have another idea...

I love, love, love this bag. It's on the African Flowers pool on Flickr:

Bag, originally uploaded by Frualbertssons.

It's creator said she invented the pattern herself. Last night I stared and stared and stared at this picture. The longer I looked at it the more I understood how it all came together. I started to figure it out.

But could I really replicate this design? Would I dare to try?

The cushion idea wasn't so interesting anymore. That jumper could sit in the cupboard, waiting for another time.

I really want to figure this out!

So, by my thinking, I'm going to need another 6 flowers...

Hmmmm...

Should I give it a go? What do you all think?

I think I'm going to. Give it a go, that is.

Stay tuned for updates. :-)

And in other news, another item distracted me this weekend:

I am so, so happy that I found these!

Footstools! Also known in Australia as Poufs! (Really!)

I have been admiring these ideas on Flicker. Aren't they great? What a great idea - to brighten up a dull old poof with some colourful crochet!

originally uploaded by zuglói lány.

Cat Sofa Ta-daa!, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Cat.

Hmmm... but I didn't have any dull old poufs to decorate.

That's why I was so happy to find these in Dollars and Cents (a discount warehouse/$2 shop) on the weekend. They were only $10 each. The lid comes off so they are also storage boxes, and they collapse so they can also be folded away if/when you don't need them. Cool, hey?

But, yes, rather cheap and ugly. At. The. Moment!

Can't wait to cover their lids! It's going to be fun! :-)

But for now, back to this bag idea... oh, yeah, and those blankets...

Til next time, have a bright and colourful day,
Caz :-)

Rosie's Rainbow Ripple

2010-05-07T08:07:00.003+10:00

No, this isn't mine (I wish!). This is Lucy's wonderful ripple blanket that she made a while back over at Attic24. You can read the post about it here.

Isn't it beautiful? As I Never Knew there was crochet beyond doillies and granny squares, I was quite taken aback when I saw it. So colourful! So pretty! And to think that could be done with simple crochet stitches... and could, maybe, even, be done by... me?

I have since found out that ripples and chevrons and zig-zags are actually old hat in the crochet world, everyone's been there, done that, it seems, but I Never Knew about them, so they don't seem old-style, un-cool, or daggy, to me. Especially not with beautiful colours like that!

And, thankfully, Lucy provided yet another free, step-by-step, photo-by-photo pattern that I could follow. Not for the exact pattern above (that one she found in a book), but for a similar one that she devised herself (how clever). Here are some pics of Lucy's work following her own Neat Ripple pattern:

Nice, hey? Gosh, she gets some lovely yarns and in lovely bright colours.

I knew right away that I wanted to make one. I thought a rainbow-coloured ripple would look so, so lovely on my daughter's bed. Rosie's favourite colour, when asked, is not actually a colour; instead she simply replies: "rainbow". :-) It would be called "Rosie's Rainbow Ripple".

So, sitting at the computer, hook-and-yarn in hand, I decided to give it a go.

And what a great pattern! Lucy made it so EASY. She explains things so well and her photos are amazing. The starting chain was so hard for me - but Lucy warned me that this was probably going to happen, so I persevered. :-) And then it all started to come together.

Here's how it looked after a couple of rows:

I was sooooo worried about it being too narrow for her bed, so I made sure my starting chain was nice and LONG.

Very, very, long.

In fact, far too long:

It's wide enough to cover a double bed, in fact:

Oh dear, oh dear. Oh well, I thought, too late to go back now. It will just be extra wonderful when it's finished.

One day.

Hmmmmm. Yes. One day.

I have put this one aside from time to time.

Each row really is so, so, very long. But slowly, slowly, it's getting there.

Here's how it's looking these days:

It is actually long enough to cover Rosie's bed the other way. So hopefully by this winter (June/July) it might be wide enough to be a vertical ripple, if you get what I mean.

I love that at the end of each stripe you can tie off the ends. At that point I throw it over to Rosie and she happily plays with it for a while, wrapping it around herself, making it into a shawl and wearing it about the house, etc. It's nice to see her enjoying it. Another thing I Never Knew would happen: my kids actually like that I crochet; they think it's kinda cool. :-)

Here is Rosie's Rainbow Ripple with my Lucy Bag.

So a few details of this WIP:

Name: Rosie's Rainbow Ripple
Pattern: Neat Ripple from Attic24
Yarn: Cheap stuff - I didn't dare risk spending big bucks on my first ever blanket. It's called Carnival 8ply; it's acrylic and it's thin and ... well... it's okay. Not wonderful, but not completely awful, either. Carnival is made by Panda, and Panda also makes something called Magnum 8ply which is very similar but a bit nicer. So I have ended up with some Magnum shades as well. FYI Aussie readers: Carnival is available at Big W stores; Magnum is available at Spotlight and other craft stores.
Hook size: 4mm
Size: starting row was something like 240 stitches! (Crazy, I know!) It's about 165 cm wide. At the moment only about 40 cm long - 18 stripes (2 rows per stripe, so 36 rows).
Date commenced: October 2009

If you've never tried a ripple, this is a great, easy-to-follow pattern - give it a go. :-) If you have any questions about it, please leave a comment or send me an email. I'm only too happy to help.

And now that I've told you about it, it'll be quick 'n' easy for me to update you on its progress from time to time.

Thanks for looking. I hope your day "ripples" along nicely. :-)
Caz :)

... and then I found the Lucy Bag - my second completed project

2010-05-03T22:50:00.018+10:00

After attempting the string bag in this post, I felt a little discouraged by the final size, and decided I needed to return to Google to find other patterns and ideas. And then I found Attic24. As I mentioned in this post, Lucy's blog was a wonderful surprise and showed me a side of crochet I hadn't know existed: crochet that was full of colour, of rainbows, of soft yarns, and ... my favourite patterns of hers were free of granny squares! (As you may have read in my blog below, I was trying to avoid what I saw as "old style" crochet such as granny squares!)
Anyway, this beautiful bag by Lucy (above) fitted my criteria: a nice, big bag, colourful, bright, not a granny square in sight. And a free, step-by-step, photo-by-photo pattern. How could I go wrong? I couldn't - and I didn't - I was able to follow her instructions to the letter and only a month after learning the basic stitches, was able to make this bag! All by myself - with Lucy guiding me all the way! :-)

My apologies for these next few photos. They were taken with my mobile phone but they are the only ones I have of these stages:

First I managed the circle...

I was a little unsure about joining at the end of each round, but I decided to be brave and just try it; it worked out in the end...

Then I stopped the increases and it magically started creating the sides...

It started to look "bag-ish":

And then the straps. I was worried they'd be too short so of course they ended up way too long! Oh well, I sewed them on further down the bag to try and fix that problem.

Then I tried the flowers Lucy suggested: another free, step-by-step tutorial, so patiently explained so that even a beginner like me could work it out...

And then, finally, it was all put together!
Thank you, Lucy, thank you! Lucy's clear explanation and excellent photos really did tutor, guide, and mentor to me and I am so very grateful - and happy! - because I now can do so much with my hook and yarn. :-)

So here are the details:

Pattern: Crochet Bag on Attic24, aka the "Lucy Bag" :-)
Pattern source: Crochet Bag Pattern on Attic24
Yarn: Carnival Soft 8ply (DK weight?) acrylic - 80g balls
Hook: 4mm
Dimensions: bigger than I expected - about 36cm diameter across the base and 36cm up the sides- but it's big and floppy so it looks a lot bigger than that when it's stuffed with yarn! :-)
Date commenced: October, 2009
Date completed: actual bag - November, 2009; straps and flowers - December, 2009
My reflection: A great pattern for beginners and the tutorial makes it fool-proof. I'd like to try this again one day in a cotton and see if that keeps it more compact - less baggy and floppy. But it serves its purpose beautifully and it was a very pleasurable experience making it. If you're looking for a bag to try - this one is great!

I use this bag for all the shades of yarn I'm using for another project - and it's another Lucy pattern, of course! Her patterns/tutorials are the perfect place for a beginner to start when trying to teach oneself using internet links. :-)

So more about that WIP next time.

I hope you find these details helpful if you've been looking into doing this project. Please feel free to leave questions or comments below - I love hearing from you. :-)

Hope you are all having a happy, wonderful, rainbow-coloured day.
Until next time,
Caz :)

The first crochet project I completed - ever.

2010-04-20T01:01:00.014+10:00

This tiny little crochet bag was completed about one week after my Mum first showed me how to crochet. It took me ages and I found I couldn't stop myself from working on it whenever I had a spare moment. It was mean to be a grocery shopping bag, so I expected it to be much bigger... you may have guessed that. :-)

I really didn't want to make frilly little doilies or anything like that - I really wanted my crochet to be useful. You see, I don't particularly like ornaments or decorations (or 'dust-gatherers' as I sometimes call them!). I much prefer to think that the thing that I'm making will have a function; there seems to be a point in doing the work, then.

And I thought a string shopping bag was just the thing - practical, easily transportable, enviro-friendly, a quick project, a potential gift for basically everyone I know (for who wouldn't want or need a string bag at some point?).

So with this thought in mind, I googled "crochet bag patterns" and was stunned to find thousands out there (again, Never Knew). The one I finally settled on - I think - was this one. It looks quite large in the picture. :-)

Well, it was a learning experience, anyway. My daughter enjoys adding accessories to her outfits and has been seen on more than one occasion walking around the house using this as a head scarf. :-)

(She likes to get creative with her headbands and clips!)

So, here are the details:

Project: Crochet String Bag - attempt number one
Pattern: can be found online at Melinama's blog "Pratie Place" and also online here.
Yarn: okay, this is probably one of the reasons it's small: crochet cotton, 4 ply
Hook: can't remember, probably 4mm as I think it was all I owned at the time!
Dimensions: approx. 17 cm wide (at the widest point), 16 cm high (not including handles)
But in the photo below, you can see it stretches a bit... but not to any real practical purposes.

Date completed: early October, 2009
Reflections: not bad for a first project. Would like to try other pattens, other yarns, and larger hooks in future! I have my eye on these two patterns: one from The Purl Bee and the other from Laughing Purple Goldfish Designs.

Perhaps I'll find more success with those.

Til next time,
Caz :-)

More Things I Never Knew

2010-04-17T21:34:00.010+10:00

Can I just begin by reiterating again: I LOVE crochet and everything about it - NOW. But before I had this revelation, I - and I'm sorry if this upsets anyone - I really thought it was, well, umm... UGLY. And very, very, daggy. (For over-seas readers, that means totally uncool in Australian.) And very, very, granny-ish.

And (dare I say it?) I always loathed granny squares! I think because whenever I saw them, they were made in horrid, scratchy yarns, and were in garish, 70s colours. And they had a distinctly old-person connotation - and were therefore not my thing! In fact, that was the only crochet I can ever recall seeing in my childhood - granny squares and doilies. Both so not my thing.

BUT, what I'm saying is: that's changed now, so, before you all turn away in disgust, let me quickly defend myself and explain some of the things I never knew, and how these discoveries turned my mind around.

I...

Never Knew crochet was FUN: Once I got the hang of it (and that was within an hour), it felt soooo good to do! It's hard to explain, but it just felt like great fun!

Never Knew crochet was rhythmic, and therapeutic: almost meditative! It soothes my stressed out mind and helps me wind down after a hectic day. The repetitive, rhythmic stitches bring out a wonderful meditative feeling that I think is very healthy to feel once in a while, and - until then - I wasn't feeling it! I'm sure it's been good for my health!

Never Knew crochet would help my diet: It's true: I've been snacking less. I used to spend some evenings each week, on the couch, watching telly... and inevitably, I'd get the munchies, and start snacking. Now, it feels strange to sit in front of the TV without crochet in my hands. And to stop to have a snack - well, that'd interrupt my crochet! :-) So, there you are: crochet can be good for your health! :-)

Never Knew crochet was colourful: until I found Attic24. Wow, that blog was a revelation! Lucy's blog showed me that crochet doesn't have to be bogged down with daggy, clashing browns and oranges from the 70s, and that it doesn't have to be exclusively granny squares! Rainbows rule in Lucy's world, and that's why she is able to bring such an optimistic blog to her readers, and brighten their day as she shares hers. Her colourful creations and her clear, step-by-step, free patterns allowed me to try out so very many things that I would never have even dreamed of attempting. Her blog has really carried me along on my journey, and I am forever grateful for her generous, sharing nature. :-)

Never Knew crochet could be more than just blankets and doilies: Thanks to Blogland and my local library, I've discovered that you can make all sorts of useful things like bags of every shape and size, jumpers, hats, scarves, boxes, slippers, hair-ties, jewellery, and the list goes on and on! And they don't have to have granny squares in them! :-) I Never Knew that you could make crochet that was not granny-square-ish, and not lacy/doily-like. I like the idea that you can make "crochet that doesn't look like crochet", if you know what I mean!

Never Knew yarn was so, so, so, wonderful: I used to think yarn (or "wool" as I used to call all yarns) was, just, wool - boring. Now I love to visit the yarn/knitting isle just to admire the colours, enjoy the textures, even when I'm not planning to buy any. I Never Knew that yarns could be so pretty, so colourful, so soft, so varied. I Never Knew that you can (that you're allowed!) to crochet with THICK yarns, and how different that can look. And I Never Knew that you could use other textiles - I found a wonderful book that showed how you can use string, plastic, leather thonging, rag strips - and this is an idea that really appeals to me.

Never Knew crochet could be beautiful: I think this was because I'd never taken the time to really look at any. And because I didn't understand or appreciate the effort and skill that goes into a piece of work. Now when I see an item that has been created with care, with a good sense of colours and tones, with neat, regular stitching, I am always filled with admiration and awe. (I also feel that way because these beautiful works are actually finished, something that I am yet to accomplish with many of my projects, so I am full of admiration of the creator's perseverance!) :-)

And now that I have found the wonderful collections of crochet on Flickr and on the internet in general, I am continue to see creations that amaze, inspire, and motivate me and I am so grateful to everyone who takes the time and effort to upload their pics and share them with the world through cyberspace.

and now, I'm going to admit it. To. The. World.

I:

Never, Ever, Ever, Ever, Knew that I would START TO LIKE GRANNY SQUARES!: Yes, I have "turned to the dark side" LOL and have found that granny squares really are kinda groovy. No wonder they are popular - they are so quick and easy. And there are so many ways you can vary them! And they don't have to be multi-coloured, and they don't have to be just for blankets, and they can even become circles and flowers and hexagons, and ... well, as you can see, I really am on a journey of discovery! :-)

Never Knew crochet could also be done by people aged under 50: Again, this is a revelation that the internet has provided me! I don't think I know anyone in my face-to-face social circles (ie non-internet contacts) that is my age (I'm 35) and likes to crochet.

So I certainly felt very much the weirdo to have this new hobby, until I found that there are others like me, spread across the globe, kindred spirits who are in their 20s or 30s or 40s who also get excited about yarn, or the prospect of a new project, who look forward to quiet moments so they can get on with their crochet. People who, like me, also have jobs and little children and busy lives, but somehow fit the crochet in as well. It really has been wonderful "finding" many of you out there in blogland, and it is so very nice to "meet" you all. :-)

(As for the over 50s, I'm very happy to meet you all, too! I'm just trying to say that - while I did know that you older crochet-ers existed - I Never Knew about the younger ones, and that was a lovely surprise. So, no offence to you, I hope!)

And this leads me to my final point:

I Never Knew there was a whole world of blogs and websites that could inspire and support me:

The internet truly is such a wonderful and amazing thing and I think it's great for crafts like crochet. Instead of the old traditions dying out, I think the internet is helping to preserve them, allowing skilled, knowledgeable people to share their craft with the whole world. I learned how to do front-post and back-post stitches by watching tutorial videos on YouTube. That was fantastic! The videos were done so well, it was all clearly explained, and, of course, I could watch it over and over again until I got it right. A stranger in America showed me how to do that, and now over here in North Queensland, I can teach my kids one day.

And then, of course, there's the advice, support, encouragement I have found through what many refer to as "Blogland". :-) As I mentioned above, it has been so great to find others with this interest, and to discover the multitude of free patterns and tutorials out there. And everyone seems so helpful, so happy to give advice and share ideas. It's truly wonderful and it makes the world go 'round, I'm sure.

To all those bloggers that I've met so far, to those Flickr users who have shared photos, if any of you are reading this, I would like to say a HUGE Thank You to you all for sharing your work and your lives with me. You truly are a comfort and an inspiration and I love discovering and reading your blogs and finding out more and more about your creations.

It makes me feel like we're on this journey together. :-)

So, there you are. I really Never Knew.

But now I do.

And now I would like to start sharing what I've discovered. Maybe someone else out there Never Knew, either.

Thanks, everyone, for "listening".

Caz

All Joined Up!

2010-04-11T14:07:00.028+10:00

TA-DAH! Check this out!

Look what I've done: I've managed to join up all my African flower-hexagons - using join-as-you-go! I'm very pleased about this as I'd never tried it before. It was quite fiddly, but I can see why it's such a great method as by the time all the white rounds are finished, the cushion is also all done, done, done!

I am quite amazed at myself about this: it is only the third crochet project that I have ever actually completed (I still haven't found a chance to blog about the other two yet!); and I have managed to go from start to almost-finished in less than two weeks! For me, that's amazingly quick!

I kept going back to Flickr looking for guidance from others and Elizabeth Cat in particular was a GREAT help to me (thanks so much, Elizabeth!). The pattern and join-as-you-go advice are all there on the Crocheting Afrcian Flowers Pool (scroll down on the pool's home-page).

But I misunderstood the directions on how to do the final round of white and I left out an all-important chain stitch along each side. (You can read my confused ramblings here!) By the time I realised my error I was more than half-way through, and decided to carry on regardless. This extra stitch would have helped my work to lay flat, and without it, the edges of each hexagon are buckling up a little bit. I am hoping that blocking will help reduce this - I'll just have to wait and see.

Once they were all joined I added a final round of double-crochet (that's treble crochet in the UK - I prefer the US terminology) all the way around the whole thing. I think it looks "finished" now:

Now to the challenge of turning this into a pillow! And a HUGE pillow it will be - I don't know what other African Flower-lovers are using, but with my cheap acylic yarn and 4mm hook, this arrangement has ended up HUMONGOUS! I was thinking it might be better as a very small rug, or maybe a cushion for the floor as it really is so BIG! I am going to attempt to make a cover using an old jumper following Lucy's wonderful cushion-cover tutorial over at Attic24 (a most wonderful and inspiring blog - if you haven't visited her, please do!, I'm sure you'll love it).

This really has been a great learning experience for me in so many ways: colour arrangement and placement (I get a bit OCD about this and need to learn to let it be a bit more random - i.e. there is no "right" or "perfect" colour arrangement!); using join-as-you-go; finding out that sometimes things you make just end up HUGE; and making the hexagons themselves - all firsts for me. And it's been great. :-)

Anyway, this is meant to be a blog about patterns I've tried, yarns I've used, and how it all turned out, in the hope of advising anyone else contemplating the same projects. So here are the details for you all:

Pattern: African Flower Pattern
Pattern source: Crocheting African Flowers Pool on Flickr (just scroll down the the bottom of the screen to find it), also on Ravelry as "African Flower Hexagon"
Yarn: Panda Magnum 8ply - this is 100% acrylic and I think 8ply is about equivalent to DK weight?
Hook: 4mm
Dimensions: 53.5cm across (!)
Date commenced: 30 March, 2010
Date completed: 10 April, 2010
My reflection: A great pattern and the info and support on Flickr are fantastic. No idea why it ended up so huge! And now I also know why so many crochet-lovers complain about weaving in ends. Overall, I'm very happy with it and with myself. :-)

I was originally going to give this to a good friend of mine, for her beautiful 5-year-old daughter. I was thinking about my friend when I started this and all the way along as I worked on it - but I'm not sure crochet is her thing? I'm hesitant to offer it as I hate to think of her graciously accepting something that she doesn't actually like! My own daughter loves it, though, so she will be most happy to have it on her bed (or bedroom floor!) instead. :-) She's also 5 and is a very girly-girl and so loves this very flowery design!

If you have ANY questions at all about this - please feel free to ask/comment below. I would love to hear from you, and I'm more than happy to help. :-)

Til next time,

Caz :-)

Why "Never Knew"?

2010-04-06T16:39:00.009+10:00

As I mentioned above, this blog is called "Never Knew" because I never knew how much I'd enjoy crochet. I had no idea. And it really has been the most wonderful surprise.

I had learned to knit when I was much younger, but I found it terribly fiddly and frustrating, and I always needed my mother or Oma (grandmother) around to "rescue" my knitting when I lost a stitch, or two, or three... I had never learned to crochet, and I suppose after my knitting attempts I had decided none of it was worth the time and effort.

Anyway, my mum was crocheting one night (she rarely crochets, just sometimes when on holidays) and I leaned over her work and asked "how do you DO that?". I really wanted to try, I'm not sure why at that exact moment, having never bothered to try before. After some insistence, she showed me the basic stitches.

I was fascinated, and seemed to get the hang of it rather quickly. I had no idea that it was so easy! How the wonderful HOOK - as opposed to knitting NEEDLE - helped to keep the stitch on. And the fact that there was one stitch - just one - on the hook at a time! No need to worry about the rest of them sliding off when you put it down for a minute. And a few weeks later I discovered that when you change colours you can actually tie off that single stitch and your work was safe and wouldn't unravel! How simple! How amazing! Why would anyone ever KNIT!!?? :-D

Over the next week, while my mum was still visiting our place, I became like a woman obsessed. I crocheted every moment I could. I googled patterns and found out there is a whole world of crochet blogs, web-sites, and free patterns, all out there waiting for me to discover them. I decided I wanted to crochet little string bags - I was very keen to make crochet useful - and I had even decided I was going to give everyone one for Christmas. I crocheted and crocheted and crocheted. My mother thought it was most amusing.

As did I! I never, ever, expected to find it so satisfying! It's hard to explain the pleasure and satisfaction it brings me, because it's unlike anything I've experienced before. I have dabbled in many other hobbies over the years: cooking and baking, home and furniture re-decorating, aromatherapy and making my own skin creams, photography, scrapbooking... but none of them really gave me the "buzz" that this does.

And it hasn't gone away - that buzz, I mean. Six months on, and with about six WIP (I now know that stands for "Work in Progress") on the go at once (!) I find myself thinking about colour combinations as I drive to work, and rushing home at the end of each day, planning how I can get everything else done quickly, so that there'll still be time for crochet before the day is through.

Like I said, I never knew. :-)

More on my crochet journey soon.

Caz :-)

My African Flowers now have borders!

2010-04-04T19:19:00.007+10:00

African Flowers now with borders, ready to make into a cushion, originally uploaded by Never Knew.
I find arranging these so difficult - making sure the colours are balanced and well-mixed. Even now I can see one spot that I'd like to change. It will be interesting to see how they look once surrounded and joined in white.

I am going to try and make this arrangement into a round cushion, using Elizabeth Cat's "fan" pattern to fill in the gaps around the edge of the circle. I wanted to try making a smaller cushion, using only 14 flowers (as above).

Elizabeth always uses 19 flowers (like this one) and I've just realised why: because this creates a regular shape, with the same number of flowers on each side. My arrangement does not. :-(

Therefore I can't make my smaller version. I could make a small cushion using 7 flowers; it would look a bit like this:
and, as I have 14 already, I could, of course, make 2 of these!

But if I make just another 5 I can create a big one like Elizabeth's - and with my yarn it looks like it could end up really quite big, almost like a floor cushion.

I'm leaning towards the latter option. :-) So I'm off to work on those other 5 now. Then, finally, I can start joining them together.

Caz :-)

Crochet African Flowers

2010-04-02T17:30:00.009+10:00

I found these flowers - and the free pattern - on Flickr when I was browsing recently.

The pattern was provided by "Elizabeth Cat". The pattern can be found amongst the comments under this flickr photo.

I think the original idea was, when done in purples, these flowers look a lot like African Violets, but when done in any colour, they just look like pretty, pretty flowers.

Well, since trying out the pattern I have discovered how very fun and very easy it is! And in a short amount of time I have made over a dozen of these lovely flowers - enough to make a smallish, round cushion! I am very excited as it will be the first crochet cushion I have ever made, and one of the first crochet projects that I will have ever actually completed. :-)

Anyway, here are a few photos of my flowers. I really love how colourful they are. I love arranging them in a rainbow-like spectrum; just looking at them cheers me. :-)

More photos can be found on my new Flickr photo-stream. Yes, I was so excited by these that I finally made a flickr account and added these to the Crocheting African Flowers group! My name on Flickr is, of course, Never Knew, and I will be adding links on there to this blog.

Hope you like my flowers and I hope you have a wonderful, colourful day.
Caz :-)

Hello there! :-)

2010-04-01T20:12:00.005+10:00

Welcome to my brand new blog. I hope that you enjoy browsing here.

The aim of my blog is to record my crochet projects; to show what I'm working on, and what yarns, etc I am using for each project. I know that when I browse the web with a specific project in mind, it's so nice to find someone else who has tried the same pattern, and to see how they are going with it. So my idea was to also help others in this way. If a google search has led you here, then hopefully you will find a project similar to your own, or an idea that might help or inspire you. That is my intention, anyway.

I hope you enjoy your time in this little blog.

Now to the task of uploading photos and sharing all the work I've been doing over the past six months! :-)

Caz :-)