A Proper Crochet Blog

Ok so I have waffled on about life in the house, time for a proper Crochet post.

I've been making a hat, scarf and hobo set for the sis-in-law in purple aran.

The hat is in Puff stitch with atiralee detail, the base for the scarf is Queen Annes Lace, then I have expanded the width with cluster of 4's in double crochet and lace chain.

And the hobo's are the old faithful of Treble crochet with tiralee beaded roses.

So I think I will show everyone the Queen Anne lace pattern on Thursday and go from there.

Its not Tonsiltennis

its a viral throat infection... lovely.

Connor is very happy, under doctors orders, he is in bed with a dvd and a tub of icecream.

And I'm sat here, blogging away, using difflam spray.. grand stuff it is, numbs the throat but the ears are ringing... If only I could tune them up to give a Christmas Carol

Thursday 17th December

Everyone is welcome to join me at Heaths for mincepies and mulled wine.

I havent got a clue what we are going to do, but if anyone has any cheeky Christmas jokes please bring them along.

Check details on the side bar... actually give me a little time to post them, I have to get dressed for the docs...

Sorry but I won't be kissing anyone for a while...

If anyone is expecting a snog under the mistletoe, well I'm afraid they won't be recieving one from me.

I am now at the end of my tether with illness. It has been non-stop for nearly 2 months now and a girl can only take so much...

I now have a a COLD, not SF, and tonsiltennis aka tonsilitus...isn't life grand!

Katie had it last week and myself and Connor have it together now. David is scared to come home from work incase he brings something new into the house, lol.

But I'm thinking, get it now before Christmas and be germ free for the holiday period.

Why do you need to gulp more, when you have a sore throat...?


Answers on a postcard please

So Sorry

Everyone must have thought that I had deserted the blog. I haven't just that my thingymarjig that plugs in the telephone box dodar, wasn't working properly...

So here I am to finish off what I started over a week ago.

Our Raffle winner for the christmas Gnomes, I believe is Annie with number 30.

I say believe because my son in his helpfulness, and he meant so well, decided to INDIVIDUALLY put every raffle number in the pot, instead of strips!

So a number was drawn, which was 30... then I had to s it and piece every strip together...


So Well Done Annie.

I'll let everyone know what we raised on Thursday.. still disappointed...

Anyways off to write a new post again.

A Little Disappointed

Well Ladies and Gents, I have to say that I was a little disappointed with todays fayre.

We were be far the best stall on the Christmas Fayre, ( I know this because a council inspector said so!), but myself and KT couldn't get the interest going as much as we would have liked. And to be honest it was until later that we thought about turning the stall around and using it as a mixture of sales and of tombola.

HOWEVER we won't give up...

We have decided that we will find another market event and do a gift and tombola stall. We learnt a lesson today, so hopefully we will be able to build up the Charity Pot.

I do know the amount raised, but there will be only one Raffle Gnome given out. I will be giving Chris one of her gnomes back as she has other folks that have donated money and are wanting one.

I will e-mail Chris in the morning and tell her the amount raised, and update folks either at class, or through e-mail. ( Through Chris's wishes).

All I can say is thank you once more for the kind donations, and we will try our very best in the next couple of weeks to get more.

Oh and Diane, I know we don't have a picture up yet, trust me we have been trying, hence the wait for this post, but for some reason the phones software is 'reading' properly, whatever that is, and tell your lovely husband thank you for moving my car safely :) - We will get a picture of you to send to Austraila asap.

Crazy Crafter

As many of you know I am preparing for the Christmas Market being held next week.

I have less than a week to get everything ready, and only realizing now how many jobs I have to do to be prepared!

I would like to thank everyone that has made or donated items for the stall, yesterday was quite overwhelming, with all these items.

So back to the crazy crafter.

Today I have to get housework done. It is a must as my partner pointed out he can't find the sofa due to so many items. And why are there so many scraps of wool, glitter, sticky stuff etc etc everywhere?

He is a very patient man - I hope, lol.

Well today, once the housework is done, I'm going to tackle finishing some items off, sewing in threads adding beads, drying out Orange slices, ( I have been informed that will take at lest 6 hours in the oven, low heat) for the popcorn garlands.

I then have 25 magnolia stamped images to handcolour, cut out and prepare for my card making fest over the weekend, which also includes 30 boxes to put the cards in. (I've all ready made 5 cards).

15 crochet and bead tree ornaments to make.

I might fit in preparing tea somewhere here - I have too its the law to feed my children!

Then I presume, I have made it to the early evening and I might think about doing some signage - thank you Katie for pointing this out - I had totally forgotten about this little thing.

I have to work on a price list - prices bother me and I'm going to grab some family and friends to ask advise about this. I don't want to over charge plus I don't want to under charge either - bit of a balancing act really.

So hopefully thats today sorted and then more Crazy crafting stuff over the weekend too.

My Roll of Honor

Thank you to the following folks, who have donated time, energy and and amazing talents:

Annie

Chis

Elaine

Chris's step daughter? (I think - I will check).

Heath

Katie

Steve

and my other half just for being patient

I'll update as soon as I can with a progress report.

Plus once I have recieved photo's from yesterdays class, I'll post about that too.

Have a great day, whatever you are doing

Did you know?

If you click a photo in this blog it makes it bigger....


Yep I learnt a new lesson today, lol

Teddy Bear Class

Here he is... unfortunately he has no name.. but we can work on that.

This little chap is our next project and today I want to post the recipe, so you can gather your tools, yarn and bits and bobs in time.

He should actually be only 2 inch tall, but I made mine to sit in the palm of an adult hand.


You will need:

3mm -3.5mm hook plus 1.5 mm hook (if you don't have a 1.5 don't worry, you can use mine on the day)

Ball of Baby Bamboo (see piccie below) - yep you can get it from Heaths

Tights (clean please, lol) or toy stuffing

Wool Needle


I will provide:

Oddment for muzzle as I use DMC's

Fishing wire

Beads for facial details if desired.


Darker colurs

Lighter colours


Please, please, please...

If you would like to attend let either myself know via e-mail, or phone and book at place at Heaths.

Hope to see you there

Off we go again

I've written this twice all ready, I know none of you would be surprised by the fact, but I thought I would let you know anyway.

So to Thursdays Class,

We welcomed Elaine, hi Elaine, and we all grappled 3, yes I said THREE new stitches, starting with the hardest - psst don't tell anyone, but they aren't that hard....

The Galaxy Snowflake - cracking name,


Heres, some piccies




We have Elaines in the petrol green chenile, Annie acrylic yellow and my mustard one ( I do apologise I can't remember the name of the yarn).


Once we got through this master class, haha, we went onto the Puff Stitch.

Now as you can imagine we had a bit of a giggle about the sizes of our Puffs, and I think large or small as long as the shape was OK and even, neither size made a difference for practicing.
Here is mine, and our Super Model Chris, showing off one of my hats, my she is a brave woman, thank you Chris.



So now we have mastered the Galaxy Snowflake and the Puff Stitch, one more to go and that was...

The Popcorn Stitch


Elaines masterpiece. Chris's masterpiece.


You would think that we would be tired out by now and its 1.30pm, but there is still more to learn, and after making sure we aren't making a nuisance of ourselves, we go on...


To Tiralee Roses, now these rose are very easy to make, ask Annie!, they look so complicated, but they are a nice little touch that you can add to a creation, or to band together to make a scarf or belt.

Elaine got into the swing of things, but then realised she didn't have enough yarn, so she went ahead and adapted the pattern by adding a small inner instead of the large outer... Confused?

You'll understand in a moment.

They should look like this




Annie in mid flow...


Chris checking her petals, some disappear, but we found them again...


And Elaines little 'inner'


And there endeth the Class


OK who am I kidding, lets look at some of Annies goodies. On a personal note, I am so chuffed for Annie, as she will admit sometimes, it doesn't come as easy as it should. The main reason for this, and I kid you not, is that she does things back to front... its the first time I have seen this, but she has cracked it and I hope like me, you can see how confident she has become with her hook.

Annies flower with button middle detail.




Annies birds, you may recognise the pattern from Lucy over at Attic24, these I believe are for charity for the Christmas stall.

Great job Annie.


Well that is definately it for Thursday Class,

thank you ladies for attending and hopefully we'll see you next week

Good Afternoon

Hiya all,

OK I've been thinking about our lesson tomorrow, and I have decided that we are going to tackle some scarey looking stitches.... All are very easy to do actually, so don't be put off.

Recipe for Class

A 5mm - 6mm hook if possible and a light coloured double yarn.

(A darker yarn can be used once you have mastered the stitch).


If anyone finds the 5mm-6mm hook too large to use then please bring your usual hook.

We'll also take another look at the Catherine Wheel again if we have time, plus I'd like us to look at making a rose.

Roses come in handy if you have a plain piece of work and you need an embellishment.


I have found a very simple pattern, that uses ch, sc, hdc and dc - so read up on those stitches again. I'll have sheets with stitches on as a reminder.


I'm going now to write everything up, so until tomorrow folks

Well...

I bet you have all thought I have forgotten about the blog?

I haven't, but this stomach bug is not the best. Great way to lose weight!!!

I'm working out what stitches/patterns we can do on Thursday ladies, so keep an eye out.

The wedding went great and I'll fill everyone in on the gossip Thursday

Happy Crocheting

IMPORTANT NOTICE

I am sorry ladies but I have to cancel tomorrows class.

Unfortunately it looks like I have the dreaded bug that is going around, and I need to get myself better for the wedding at the weekend.


I will be telephoning those ladies that have booked after 6pm.

Once again I do apologize for the inconvenience

Showing off Hobo's

As you all know I call wristwarmers Hobo's, and I have been making a few pair of these.

They are very easy to make up and you can at a very basic level have a pair done within two hours.

I can do a pair whilest watching the soaps in a hour.

Here Chris is modelling them and not so much blur...





Hook 5 - 5.5mm with Chunky Wool


I based these on a foundation chain of 28, 4 turning chains, TRC to end of the chain.

Do 7 rounds of TRC in total.

8th rnd, TRC5, chain 4/5 (depending on the size of your thumb) TRC the 4th/5th stitch in from chain, and TRC to end.

9th rnd TRC across all stitches and along 4/5 chains made.

Finish off by either sewing or crocheting cast on edge to cast off edge (9th rnd).

Or you can substitue TRC with the Ripple stitch which will work over 28sts.

Never Trust Your Son to Take A Message

Well after a very long day, I have returned home to have my son tell me, someone phoned about class, he thinks its to do with crochet, (but I am also a trainee teaching assistant), and they gave their name but he can't remember it! Could I phone them back?

HUH....

Kids.....


So if anyone out there did phone, please contact me again, and hopefully an adult with at least one braincell will sort out your query.

And finally for today

I am always wondering about ways in which I can support everyone with their crochet, and I think in the next week or so, I am going to make a sister blog, that can show patterns and instructions in more detail.

If anyone else has any other ideas that they would like to see implemented please let me know and I will see what I can do.

Right off to do my other passion, homework!

Have a happy crochet time

Wanted to show...

the two Swedish Gnomes that Chris is donating for Macmillain Nurses





They are based on the design from Alan Dart.

Chris has made a fab job and hopefully they will raise a lot of money for her charity

Triangular Catherine Wheel

As my intermediate ladies found out, the Catherine Wheel can either be fun or frustrating.

But I wanted to show you what you can do once you have grasped the basics.

Usually it is formed into a Square, but I have played around a bit, without a precise pattern and managed to get Triangular sample made.



As you can see it seems to make up quite well.

Anyone know how to use the focus button?

OK don't laugh, but I did warn in an earlier post that my photography skills were basically pants...

I'm afraid the pictures that have arrived show this to be very true.

So if you wear glasses, take them off... If you don't, put some on...

It could be the only way you can see classes exploits in some sort of focus.

So to class held on 29th October.

We had two newbies join us, Heather and Margarita.

Heather a lady who has some skills at crochet, and told us of the time spent with nuns and having to do precise work on a frock or smock, I believe. It seemed to be brutal when you are a small child.
For all the good work that nuns do, why is it that they are so scarey?

Margarita ( such an exotic name - though in the back of my head Marg was allows on the tip of my tongue!) Was an absolute beginner, her main craft is felting, and after receiving a book about crochet flowers she wanted to learn so tht she could felt her crochet into her work. An excellent idea, if I do say so myself.

We also had the usual supects of Annie, Chris and Rosemary.

Having a mixed class of abilities is a scarey thing for me, as I am a beginner at teaching the subject and I wanted to make sure everybody got something out of the lesson.

Heather and Margarita, started with the dreaded practice square, and they too joined 'I hate the foundation round appreciation society'.

Heather flew through this, and also grappled and conquered Granny Squares, well done Heather.

Margarita however, like some, found this to be a more differcult task. But with patience and getting comfortable with her hook, she managed to finsh the task.

I can't say it enough, once you have got the feel of your hook in a comfortable position, crochet can become very rewarding and I hope The Square didn't put her off!

Rosemary was on her Teddy Bear Quest and as there will be tiny grandchild feet soon to be pattering, Rosemary got stuck right in, with the help of paperclips as nifty spiral round counters.

I was a little mean with Annie and Chris, as I has prepared the Catherine Wheel/WoolEater pattern for them to tackle.

But rights I should have done this step by step with them, but after a couple of mishaps Annie was on a roll, and I think she surprised herself, she did great work.

But funny enough Chris I believe found this pattern a little frustrating. Chris has come on leaps and bounds and has great confidence in her work.

So to pictures

The Store in Autumn Glory





I darent show the rest.

Heather in full flew



Margarita deep in concentration



Annie cracking the Catherine Wheel



And Chris being determined to get it right




Teddy Bear Quest

Heres one I made earlier, and Rosemary is trying her best to replicate it






Chris's Creations

As promised from an earlier post here are Chris's Granny Square and her Circles


(sorry about the blur, but I promise it is a beautiful piece of work).



As you can see everyones skills are growing, and the class are having a good time learning new skills.

Well Done Ladies for all the hard work and the fun you bring to class

When will things go right?

Finally the photo's have arrived...YAY...

Unfortunately Virgin are upgrading their system, so I can't publish them... BOOOO..

So again sorry folks, as I can't really post about class until I can upload the piccies.

Chit Chat

Just a bit of chit chat whilst we await photo's from class.

I have added a Conversion Crochet Hook Chart in the right bar, so that should help quite a bit.

I have been over to Attic24 and Lucy has kindly given me permission to use her Birdie pattern to make Birdies for the Christmas Fayre - thank you Lucy.

Annie has donated a beautiful bag for the stall, all hand made of course - thank you Annie,

And Chris has donated a couple of Swedish Gnomes (designed by Alan Dart), the monies for these will be going to Macmillian Nurses. They are the cutest things I have ever seen, and I have grabbed the pattern myself to see how many I can make...
My list is getting longer.......

Book Signing

Just a quick heads up that on Saturday 31st October, local authoress Bev Beattie, will be signing her new Felting Book at Heaths Store.

Signing begins at 11am and will finish about 1pm.

So if anyone is interested in Bev's ventures, please turn up on time and grab a copy of her book.

Bring back pigeon post

Well yet again my e-mail system seems to be letting me down.

Heath has sent me photo's of todays class, through two different addys, yet I haven't received any.

So I can't do a full blog this afternoon.

Very frustrating, I must say, but hey ho there is always tomorrow.

Blogger Broke!

Well I just wasted half an hour trying to log into Blogger, but I think someone broke it!

Anyways I'm here now...

I've been making a series of pieces that hopefully will come in handy tomorrow.

I'd forgotten how lost you can get in doing the Wool Eater and really how easy it is to do once you have done the first 4 rounds.

Just got to re-write the instructions and get them copied then other than sorting out my stitch pages I should be ready.

Off to grab a coffee and to look at the dirty pots in the sink.

Until tomorrow

Happy crocheting

Oh going to relook at colours of this blog also, because they are giving me eyeball strain.....

E-mail Trauma's

Just a heads up, I have been having major problems with my e-mail accounts, and only today have I been able to access some of the e-mails that class members have sent.

I do apologize, but I am answering any e-mails recieved today, as long as the system will let me.

Any major questions, please phone me.

Or write a list for class on Thursday


Thanks

Thursdays Class

Hi Ladies and of course Gents

I have a lot of catching up to do because of the hen weekend. Which was a blast, but I will recall tales of this on Thursday to those that will listern.

I have just popped into the shop and been informed that there could be at least five of us. So I am thinking of doing the following.

I know one of the ladies is new and probably a beginner, so I will be teaching her the basics.

My other ladies I am going to write up two patterns, one is hobo's which can be done in either TRC or Ripple.

The second pattern will be for the Catherine Wheel aka Wool Eater.

We will hopefully discuss about teddy bears and get prepared for a class before Christmas.

RECIPES:

Hobo's :- Either a hook sized 3.5 - 4mm with double yarn 0r
5 - 5.5mm hook with chunky yarn (this one makes up fastest).

Catherine Wheel :- 3.5 - 4mm hook with double yarn in TWO colours at least
(This pattern is more technical but you are more than able
to do it :)).

I'll shoot off some e-mails now and hopefully see you all Thursday

Happy Crocheting

Long Bee Wristwarmers

Well the weekend is catching up fast and I need to finish my Bee outfit for the Hen weekend.

I'm in the process of finishing my rather long wrist warmers, or as I like to call them Hobo's.

I'll post a piccie when they are done.

Christmas Fayre

I must be mad, especially as it is choas when it arrives. But I have roped in KT to help and we will be selling crochet creations plus some other bits and bobs.

Crochet Creations will be:

Ripple Scarfs
Ruffle and Twist Scarfs
Hobo Gloves, otherwise known as Wristwarmers
Banners
and anything else we can fit in

Other Crafts will be:

Boxed Tilda and Edwin Christmas Cards
Tilda and Edwin Milk Cartons filled with all sorts of yummies
Apple, Orange and Popcorn Ropes - to decorate Christmas Trees
and anything else we can think of.

If any ladies (from class) have any creations they would like to sell, let me know and we'll sort something out.

When crochet goes wrong

Here is a fine example of crochet going wrong.

Thank you Annie for being brave and letting me share this



This was Annies first attempt at a Granny Square, and as you can see it has a mind of its own and went off for a walk somewhere.

But I think without undoing it I could make something of this.

I am pondering and when I have thought of something I'll let you know, and maybe Annie may ask for it back!

Beginners Class - 15th October

Hi everyone,

We had a nice morning, without many tangles or frustrations and we welcomed 3 new people to class, Donna, June and Rosemary, with the usual suspects Annie and Chris.

Donna, June and Rosemary soon got into the hang of it, though I think we all decided that the cast on round has to be the worst round in crochet. ( I hate it too!)

There are many things that I want to post about so here is a list and you can scroll down to the bit that interests you the most:

Photo's of the shop
Class itself, photo's included
Classes coming up
How to crochet Circles
I want to know? Teddy Bears

Photo's of the Shop


Steve kindly took these shots, as you will see later there is a reason why I am not a photographer!

For those that haven't visited before take a look;

Giant Pom Pom Christmas Tree - Welcomes you through the door, yes Christmas Season is creeping upon us!



You can't crochet or knit without your tools, a great selection, in fact too many to choose from, but what the heck!



The shopkeep himself! Heath trying his best to blend into the background. Also you can see some of his artwork.



Yarn, yarn and some more yarn to get your creative juices going, (too many to show for now, but they will be added in other posts).






If anyone is wondering where the class fits into the shop, we have a nice snug corner at the back, with comfy chairs and cushions we can plunder from the shop, shhh don't tell the shopkeep!


Crochet Class - 15th Ocotober 2009

We started about 10ish with Donna a totally new beginner, and June, who knew a little from years back when, and we started with the dreaded practice square.

I like to go through the stitches, first round is the round to make mistakes in and the second round of the same stitch is to get it right and to get your rythme going.

I boo-boo'd and got my American Stitches mixed up with the British, something of a habit of mine which I am determined to break, (thank you Annie for the suggestion to put this right).

Annie and Chris arrived a little later, and got stuck straight in with practice squares, though Annie decided to do her stitches in a different order, ha ha, but they looked good.

Chris has mastered her Granny Square and is working on a piece of the most gorgous chocolate and lime colour - sorry Chris I didn't grab a picture of it, but when you have finished the item I will post it, so everyone can see what a great crocheter you are.

We had a late arrival of Rosemary, again someone who had some knowledge but needed help just correcting her stitch count, and where does that stitch go, that always seeemed to disappear?
Luckly she had seen the poster in the window and jumped at the chance to join in.

Through talking to each other, we found that not everyone is comfortable with a slimmer hook, and it is important to be comfortable, or you can lose the crochet bug before you start. Thats why classes are good, everyone has a free opinion to everything that they use, and you can experiment without thinking anyone is critising or scrutinising your work.

Donna, June and Rosemary cracked Granny Squares in their first lesson, and they will be receiving an e-mail with written instructions on how to strat these, just to remind them.
I know Donna wants to make a larger Granny Square blanket, so we are looking forward to that.
And June is after doing some clothing articles.
Rosemary is on the Teddy Bear trail and I'll be shooting out an e-mail with instructions, adn of course visiting Teddy Bears later in this post.

Here are some pictures of the group and the different ways in which they hold their hooks when they are creating

Donna: Rosemary:



Annie: Chris:



Hmm, it seems that Junes picture is lost in the camera etha!


As you can see, everything is pretty informal and cosy, and there is always, tea/coffee, biscuits and sweets on the go.


Classes coming up

Well I didn't know but Heath has pre-booked a class for October 29th (£15) for the morning 10am - 1pmish - we never seem to end on time, but that just shows how much everyone is wanting to learn more, or worse has a bad crocheting addiction!

So go and get your names down if you would liek to book in for that date.

I am putting some feelers out there, to see what folks want to do, which is coming up shortly in this post.

Lets have a break, and get creative, especially for Chris :)

How to Crochet Circles

Not something I have done, but that means we can all learn together.

This is a Three Round Circle to get us started.

Foundation Rnd: Chain 6 and join at first ch to make a foundation circle.

Rnd 1: Either work in DC (double crochet) or TRC (triple crochet) - Do the appropiate amount of turning chain 3/4 then make 11 individual sts, so you have a total of 12 spokes, sl st to join the circle of stitches. (Should look like a wagon wheel, and I don't mean the chocolate variety, if it looks like the choc one you have seriously done something wrong!).
Change colour.

Rnd2: In a SPACE, not stitch, work a DOUBLE cluster of your chosen stitch - Remember we make a turning chain to count as our first spoke of the cluster. Continue to work around the spaces, doing double clusters, without any chains inbetween. Again join with a sl st and change colour

Rnd 3: With new colour make turning chain in a SPACE and make another 2 spokes so that you have a cluster of 3 in total in the one space. Chain ONE, then continue into the next space, making a cluster of three. This round has a chain added sbetween each cluster, to help with the shape of the circle.
Finish with a sl st and hopefully you should have a 3 round circle.


I want to know? Teddy Bears

We did discuss it and the little teddy that I made for class seems to be a hit. So the thing I want to know is ...
Who is up for a Teddy Bear class?
I am going to look at a couple of different patterns and see which ones are the easiest to do.
And also work out a proper schedule for the future, so folks aren't missing out because of work committments, etc.


Until later,

Happy crocheting

Carole

Hello and Welcome

Hi all to those that are passing by and taking a gander.

This is a new blog to help instruct and maybe inspire anyone out there about crochet and any other yarn based craft.

In this blog there will be tutorials, help and news of classes and the antics that the class get up to.

So please keep checking in.

Coming soon photographs from our latest class and information about up and coming classes.

Until later