Odd bits

I did make a few other things that slipped my mind. I knitted a sweater for my step nephew and luckily remembered to take a photo before I posted it to him. I also crocheted another hooded cardigan, this time for my niece. It is done in pink and orange Rio yarn and come out really well. It is too big for her at the moment. I also knitted a Babe from "Five Babes and their outfits" for DD. Well, we let my niece and nephew play with them and in the end we had to send it home with them. Nephew bit the eyes off and gave them to me, Niece likes smooshing it in her face and running her fingers through the hair. :D

I also made a baby sized Irish Chain blanket in pink, purple and green. Nothing much, just trying to blog regularly and add pictures as I go. Hope you are all having a good Sunday.

Almost normal

Well, so much for keeping the blog up to date. :P I have been busy, really, I have. The summer holidays started in the middle of July, I was given notice to move from our house, then at the end of the holidays decided to move in with mom. Then DD started highschool, now that is a scary thought. She loves her new school, it is a performance art kind of school and that is just what she needs. Last week they did auditions for a play and she is really excited about the play, even if she gets the smallest role.

Now, what have I been making? I was making things in between all of this. There was the "Crochetville Ancient Games of Greece" while the Olympic games were on. Even though I was disqualified, I had a lot of fun. I had originally planned to make my sister a double bed sized afghan for her birthday, just after the start of the Games I realised I actually needed some baby blankets, so changed my challenge to 5 baby blankets instead (hence the disqualification). Well, I managed to finish the 5 blankets. Pictures to follow. One was a baby gingham in blues, there were 2 hearts shawls (one in beige & white and one in a silvery white), a ruffles shawl from Shifio's website, and a blanket of my own in white and purple.

I have also been making some more baby matinee jackets and was playing around with the idea of booties and socks, but oh, those baby socks are finicky on DPN's! I have now got a pattern for some 2 needle baby socks, if I can work my around that, I might give the DPN's a try again, if I get shorter ones. I bought the cutest crochet shoe pattern on Etsy by Hollanddesigns. She has the cutest baby patterns in her Etsy store and the shoes were quick and easy to make. And the end result so CUTE! My SIL loved the pair I made for my niece, I really need to make her some more. Every little girl deserves at least one pair of these shoes. I did make a dress out of matching yarn, but we weren't too impressed with that. Win some, lose some. ;) And I made a dress from the Crochet! magazine.

Now that life is normal (well, as normal as anyone can hope for), maybe I will remember to blog more regularly. I can hope, can't I?

Finishitus :)

This week I have finishitus. I have been finishing off things that I started when I had crocheting ADD. Yup, I start things, see something else I like and move onto that. Well, this week I am finishing off things to get ready for Saturday. I found a matinee jacket and bonnet I started last year, didn't take long to do the sleeves and bonnet, I finished the hexagon cardigan I started last week or the week before. This pattern is quick and easy, I saw one some over on Crochetville had made and had to try it. She got the pattern from a youtube.com video. It is in Portuguese (I think) but the visuals are good and easy to follow. I finished the bigger camo hooded cardigan and the Bus Cuddle. I also got some yarn from a friend in the US and I used some of it to make a matinee jacket. The yarn is lovely, white with green and blue flecks with a silver thread running through it. Everything still needs buttons, I don't like sewing buttons on and wait until I have a few things that need buttons before doing that. I will be sewing them on tomorrow. :)

Over on the 'Ville someone is having a bet for not buying yarn until Christmas Eve, a lot more willpower than me, I would've failed miserably, I bought 2 cones yesterday. I can't resist a bargain, I went into a charity shop and found some cones for £0.99 each and bought 2 white ones.

I am making some more hexagon cardigans and hopefully I might have more pictures next week. Have a good weekend. :)

Just some more

So much for regular updates! I think it is more than a month since I posted anything new. I have no excuses, I don't know what happened. :)

I have finished the white hearts and roses shawl (start in previous post), I made a green one as well (I like the pattern, what can I say?), I have made a Gingham Baby blanket from one of my favourite sites, The Happy Yellow House. I have made a hooded cardigan in camo type yarn, came out better than I expected and I am now making a bigger one for my step-nephew in South Africa, almost finished, just needs to be put together and the edges done. I am considering making for my niece and nephew as well, I have almost decided on colours for them and maybe sewing a springbok motif on it for them. I haven't taken photos of the bangle bags I have made as by now you know what they look like, I just change the yarn and colours for each one. On Saturday is a summer fete at the school and I have a stall to show and sell some of the things I have made. DD thinks I should make 80 bags as each of the girls at school will want to buy one. I think she is being slightly ambitous, so not sure if I can make that many in 4 days. lol
There is a picture of the progress of the Bus cuddle I am making for my nephew as a Christmas present (I am trying to get a headstart on those projects) and also some of the hats I made for the lady in London. Silly me forgot to take photos of the two I made before that which were quite interesting in that they had different shaped patches put on them. I feel like I have made loads in the last month, but it doesn't look like I have done much. Hmmmm. Enjoy the pictures.

Helda, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Oops

I had decided to do regular updates on my blog and already I am not keeping to it. :) A few things going on here which are swirling around my mind and making me think about a lot of things going on in my life, so not going to talk too much in this post, just going to put in some pictures and a little bit of descriptions. I made another toddler dress from the pattern I got from a friend, but changed it a little bit. I made the skirt part more lacy and put the heart patch on the bodice instead of the skirt. When DD saw it she said I should make one in the opposite colour combination, so I did. I also tried a top pattern I bought from luv2crochet. The pattern was very easy to follow and it worked up quickly. I don't usually work with orange, but thought it was a nice bright colour for a child. I finished up the rainbow ghan this morning and I really like the pattern, I am going to make more. I won't show more pictures of the triquetra ghan as the last 2 blocks are identical to the first two. The ghan isn't far from being finished, so there should be a photo of the completed item soon. I have been plodding along with the bus cuddle as a christmas present for my nephew, thanks to Krystal's bat that she swings around over on Crochetville. I started another baby blanket today, it is called "Hearts and Roses" and I bought it from someone on e-Bay. It was over a year ago, so can't remember who the seller was, but the designer as far as I know was Nanna G. I also made another two of Inga's bags, I am trying to use the yarn I have that is not suitable for baby items, the bags still need to be lined. Enjoy the pictures. :) I also need to mention that a friend of mine, Helda, had an article published. Helda started the London Crochet Meetup and also has a podcast. I will put a link to the podcast on the blog soon.

Almost forgot

I almost forgot to write about the package I received last week! My friend over on Crochetville said she would be sending me a pattern along with my friendship squares, I got more than that! She is a very sweet lady who has spoilt me. :) The pattern was for the cutest little toddler dresses and she sent yarn, too. Gorgeous yarn that is going to be used for something special. I have made a dress from the pattern already and am working on the second one. I have changed the pattern of the skirt for this one and will show pictures of that another time. For now, here are the pictures of what was in the package and the first dress.

Bags, bags, bags

This weekend I decided to have a bag weekend. I made Inga's bag. It was quick and easy, except for the lining, but once I got the hang of it, I enjoyed sewing the lining. I was very impressed with the way it come out. I only did 4 rounds for each square, I think next time I might do 5 to see how much bigger the bag will be. I also made the Shell Bag from the Happy Yellow house website. Also easy and quick. And then I made some more bangle bags while I watched Law & order Saturday night. I have done some more saltines for the bus cuddle and rows on the triquetra ghan, but haven't taken updated photos of those yet. Just as well, it took me an hour and half just to load these few pictures, not sure if problem with the laptop or the card reader yet. I am almost finished with the first dress from the pattern a friend sent me last week, I will put a photo of that up next time as well. DD has her SATS this week, so please think of her and send her good thoughts. I can't believe she will be starting high school in September. When she got back from her school trip 2nd May, she told me she had a good time and she wasn't tired, 5 hours later I got this photo of her and she slept for 13 hours! Definately a sign she had a good time. ;)

A bit more

I feel like I haven't done much this week, so here are the photos of a few things. I have done some more on the triquetra ghan for DD's birthday (in a month from today) and I might actually get done in time. I have done 2 of the 4 squares and they are so quick and easy to do. I am enjoying the filet work. Also I have kept up to date with the saltines for the first cuddle ghan for christmas. It is the Wheels on the Bus Cuddle. It is the second one I am making and I am having as much fun this time as the first time around. I am adding extra rows to the top and bottom. I have made some little dresses as well, using surprising little yarn and quick and easy to make. When I can motivate myself to do it, I will type up the pattern and make it available on my blog. Maybe I should see if anyone asks for the pattern? wink, wink. If anyone is interested, let me know and it will probably get me to do it sooner, rather than later. My other projects were a Rainbow set ghan I have started. I drooled over it when Aussie on Crochetville made it and decided I needed to make one as well. It does not have an owner yet, but maybe soon. And then there is the comfortghan I put together for another Crochetville friend krazy-kitty. She got the package this morning so it is save to show the picture now. There are squares from America, Australia and the UK in the ghan, so it is an international effort. And then there was the capelet I tested for somebody. It is very pretty and easy to make.

Unexpected visitor

I got an email from my sister last week and forgot I wanted to post the pictures here. She works in Scarborough in South Africa (we grew up in SA) and she had this visitor at work for a while. I was born and bred in SA and don't remember seeing many snakes, I always thought they slithered away when they heard someone coming. So here is the email she sent

"Well, we are used to baboons, mongoose, birdlife, tortoises and such BUT today we had a puff adder right below our deck!!

A couple of pics attached!!"

And here are the pics. She told me today the snakehandler came to take him away and will send me more pictures. I will put them up as well. The lucky girl is also going on safari to Botswana next week as part of her job. She works for a safari company
and there is even bit about Tanya if you scroll down the page. She will hopefully send me some pics of that trip, too.