More about the Local Show

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

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!!

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

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

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 :)