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Finally FINISHED! 23 Jul 2011 8:30 PM (13 years ago)

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

Chevron Cardigan - Finished! 13 Jul 2011 7:23 AM (13 years ago)

My cardi getting blocked

Ummm... that doesn't look right... 28 Apr 2011 10:41 PM (13 years ago)

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 25 Apr 2011 7:08 PM (13 years ago)

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! :-) 23 Apr 2011 4:14 AM (13 years ago)

Carried away by inspiration... (Clothing Projects Part 3) 15 Apr 2011 6:28 PM (14 years ago)

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

Crochet Clothing Projects Part 2 - My "Shroat" 12 Apr 2011 3:37 PM (14 years ago)

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:

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.






And this one...

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



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" 10 Apr 2011 6:58 PM (14 years ago)

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.)

Happy Bloggiversary To Me! 4 Apr 2011 8:15 PM (14 years ago)

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

More crochet gifts... 14 Mar 2011 5:14 AM (14 years ago)

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 13 Feb 2011 7:48 PM (14 years ago)

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 25 Dec 2010 6:29 AM (14 years ago)

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! 22 Nov 2010 1:40 PM (14 years ago)

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

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





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...


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


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






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








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





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


Continue until you reach the corner.




















Phweeeew! I'm exhausted! :-)


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.

Cushion Success! 30 Oct 2010 4:20 PM (14 years ago)

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.

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.


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 22 Oct 2010 2:30 PM (14 years ago)

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 19 Oct 2010 4:47 PM (14 years ago)

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.

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! 15 Oct 2010 6:32 PM (14 years ago)

Okay, I had another idea....

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!



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!
Caz :)

Christmas Bunting! A (sort-of) pattern! 13 Oct 2010 12:19 PM (14 years ago)

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 12 Oct 2010 3:02 PM (14 years ago)

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.

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.


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! 10 Oct 2010 7:33 PM (14 years ago)

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! :-)

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... 9 Oct 2010 10:44 PM (14 years ago)

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 18 Sep 2010 6:55 PM (14 years ago)

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)

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:


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! 12 Sep 2010 2:45 PM (14 years ago)

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!



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! 11 Sep 2010 2:58 AM (14 years ago)

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 7 Sep 2010 3:14 AM (14 years ago)

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:

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 :)