Yay

So I'm showing off but here is the item I made on behalf of the designer for inclusion in inside crochet magazine. I am beyond chuffed.

Olympic weekend

 

We have been so lucky, Mum got tickets for all of our family (there were 8 of us) to go to the Olympics. We were at Eton Dorney lake for the first day of rowing heats. We got up at 5am. Not good for a 14 year old let me tell you. His 5 year old cousin fared far better. The site was completed some years ago by Eton college (the posh school) specifically for the Olympics but also for the school to use.

Now I don't profess to know much about rowing, but I have learned a lot this weekend.

We were there to mop the Olympic spirit for a once in a life time opportunity.

What a fabulous day we had. It was hot and sunny, we sat on the grass and cheered and waived Union Jacks.

I swear to you I could see the rowers of team GB speed up as they passed my cheering Mother.

They were followed on the far side by several vehicles and overhead by a camera on a loooooooooong wire. the lake was 2000 meters long.

On our side of the bank various people followed the race on bikes. It was a real spectacle.

I have got to say it was a true triumph for the UK, well organised, slick and professional. I feel proud of our tiny nation for being able to stage such a momentous event (for the third time) and during a global recession. Now lets have some more medals.

Jubi - late

Can I be the last to wish you all a happy Diamond Jubilee? Ahem. To me the spirit of the Jubilee is continuing for the rest of the year because of all the other celebrations that there are going on. Going to watch the Olympics, Dads big birthday getting together with far flung family (my particular fave) So that's my excuse and I’m sticking to it. I decorated the house, a lot of it was what I had leftover from the Royal wedding last year so I’ll not bore you with that but I did make some fireplace bunting based on the Easter bunting that Sandra made at Cherry heart.

           

Other than that I had a very exciting time when the torch bearer lady brought her torch to Pilates and……..

It was so lovely but sadly I look huge. I wouldn’t care I've lost way over a stone recently too. On a positive note my hair was behaving. I am told that they all were allowed to keep their torches and uniform for £200 quid which is not bad as they are selling for about 3 grand on Ebay. Not judging, that's a big lot of cash.

I am also in a good mood because someone who seems to know all about it has left me a message on my Inside crochet post saying that its going in and that I should keep my eyes peeled. Woo hoo. I do hope I’m not in bother for spilling the beans. I really did think that was it for the Magazine but I was told earlier that it was taken over by a new publisher. I’m so pleased.

A great weekend to you all I will be knitting bunting, how about you ?

Olympic torch relay runs into town

I was standing at the very beginning of the route so it was quiet.

I even peeked inside the bus at the rack of torches

Here are all the runners, ready for their 300m section

I was also showing my support for this lady who is in my Pilates class.

She really does smile like that all the time. Such a positive woman despite a few tricky life occurances

There she goes!

It got busier further down the road, my son was standing

right at the top of this picture, every school in town was out there, it was amazing.

 

Am reeeeally going to try to blog more, I’m not THAT boring hones, some things do happen and I have been making stuff too.

Not inside crochet

A little while ago I became utterly overexcited about being asked to crochet professionally. The editor of Inside crochet magazine asked me to make one of his designs and submit it to the publication. It was primarily to cut down on time spent posting things as he lives in Canada. I spent weeks doing, undoing and redoing a lovely garment which I sent off at Easter and which they have been sitting on since. Well, today I have heard they have gone bust and that it wont be published. I was going to have my name in it too.

I had waited ages to show and tell as I was worried about people seeing it before publication but as it wont be in…… How would you like to see the finished piece?

You may remember I showed you the yarn. Its from knitshop colour blue green. 60% cotton plied with 40% wool. Its lovely, I used 5 balls and was sent 10 so got to keep the remainder.

The collar

The back

Front

The fancy hem.

I blocked it all  too. I even block granny squares, it makes a world of difference to a finished piece.

This garment is a cover-up for over a swimsuit.

The guy I made it for is trying to get it back so that he can try to get it into another publication so we might see it in print but lets not hold our breath.

I am sad that a moment of notoriety has not come my way but that is nothing to the loss of income for those concerned. My heart goes out to those people.

Anyway I do hope you have enjoyed seeing it, it was challenging and hugely enjoyable.

Gauging gauge

I have recently been asked to make a garment and, naturally gauge was a major issue. For many years as I developed as a crocheter gauge flew happily out the window as I was a constant loose crocheter. No matter, who cares if your square blanket is even several cm bigger (or smaller) than the pattern says? Clothes have always been an issue. Only recently are my efforts bob on size with the stated hook.

Up until now, as I had a loose way of working, I would exchange my hook for a smaller one, rarely being bothered to swatch and just hope. Swatching I now know to be a great help and something I would almost always do. The simple rule is if your piece is coming out too big for the right number of the right stitches then try a smaller hook. If you have too many stitches in the measured area try a larger needle.

This time I had the awful situation where my number of stitches per inch were ok but the number of rows were off. I have seen this discussed recently on a forum I am subscribed to and the advice given was to get the height right and put in less or more stitches to get the width right. My personal advice is the opposite as on a pattern the number of stiches are crucial to the pattern. I find a garment can be “persuaded “ to be a bit bigger in either dimension when you block. I will be mentioning that in a later post (when I get started) as I see so much lovely work on the net that is then presented for a tah dah shot looking like a dogs dinner. Its such a shame, its not hard (well it can be a bit tricky if its huge) and the benefits are amazing.

P.S I will be sharing the garment I have made soon, its  all a bit secret squirrel but not long now.

Also sorry about the picture quality, cameras in the car, cars in the dealership getting fixed.

Knit relief

Hello lovely friends. I just wanted to start by saying a heartfelt thanks to all of you who made such lovely comments on the granny stripe blanket. Its very much appreciated.

Moving on I want to draw your attention to the button on the right hand side of this post.

The button will take you to an eBay auction that is raising money to go towards sport relief. In the UK, Sport relief is a branch of Comic relief which was started Richard Curtis (writer of Blackadder and many others) His wife Emma Freud (journalist and presenter) is also heavily involved and has received an OBE for her services to this charity. Their Daughter Scarlett has devised knit relief through her blog Teen Granny. Her blog is all things crafty and I recommend it. She asked likeminded people to contribute a hand made item to be sold for this charity. Many people have chipped in some very fine crafted items and barely a day in, bids are flying in.

I made this,

see if you can find it.

Bless you all, happy weekend.

ta blooming dah

I’ve been a bit in limbo waiting for something else to happen that hasn’t and so I have had unexpected time to work on granny picnic. I have used the Jan Eaton pattern in her 100 squares book. I have also been highly influenced by Attic 24 in terms of how many in the starting chain and number of stripes etc. I have used an edge that Alice invented years ago and that I ferreted away in the old brain. Its very pointy and I think, buntingey. I did have half an idea to make it multi-coloured but simply wanted this project finished. Today we have spectacular sun and I really aught to be digging but a photo shoot is less strenuous. I hope you enjoy reading the pictures!!!

Not dead

Why is it that I am so bad at sharing whats going on? I did think that I was doing better but no.

Anyhoo this is a flavour of what I have been getting up to.

Just in time for the weather turning lovely and warm we decided to rip old fire

and replace it with one that matches the furniture.

 

This has been something that I have hummed and haarrd about for 5 years. Its done now!!

I have been inspired to make a new super colourful blanket for picnic season, its huge and has been nice to be underneath during the chilli spell but we are having a heat wave here, well less freezing snap.

I love it, bright colours are not really me neither do I do random colours, far too stressful so I have copied Attic 24. I say copied I did leave out the Fondant colour, didn’t fancy it.

Granny gorgeous but oh heck all those ends!!!!

I have also made some baby clothes

               

My friend Louise and I also did a Valentine inspired swap, my things have yet to materialise Stateside but look what I got……

Pretty stamps

Gorgeous wraps

Fabric, buttons and stickers.Drum roll please brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

The most lovely HAND MADE quilty hanging. I swear it is so perfectly made, the hand sewing is microscopic. I want to hang it next to the new fireplace so I can look at it always. I’d love to have a go at a simple (ish) quilting project as Louise has sent me other fabrics in the past too and I would love to do justice to them. Anyone got any good ideas?

I will try not to let it all stack up and attempt one a week, hope you have enjoyed the catch up.

Lou