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.