Crochet Around The World

Upon surfing the net, I came across some picture's that I liked of people crocheting. Just thought I would share them with you. The first one is my favourite.

Crochet in Sydney Australia 2007

John Lennon Crochet Graph

Once again this year I made my brother-in-law Mal, some thing musical in crochet form for a christmas present. Last year it was the piano scarf. Knowing he liked, absolutely likes John Lennon, I thought I would try my hand at a crochet John Lennon graph. I did get the original idea from here. Mine does look different to the one at that site, it may have been due to the fact I took the picture and used knit pro' for the second time on the same picture, or it may have been my confusion on the different shades of grey that came out in the black and white graph. Any how it was a very big hit with my brother-in-law.

Below is before I finished the border.

I bought some dowel and painted it black for hanging.

This is just a size comparison with one of my bed socks, LOL.

When I was using the graph, I used sc for each square and when I finished each row, I coloured it in with a high lighter, so I knew where I had been. I made it with in a week at a few hours a night. It was enjoyable to see it come together.

I believe Mal' is going to have it framed.

Christmas Joy/Enjoyment.

I hold our yearly family christmas party before christmas day, as we are what I call a mixed family (step children). I do this to try and make it easier on everybody, as you could imagine they would have so many places to attend on christmas day, so this way the pressure is taken off them some what. This year we had it on the 20th of December, so Santa has been already.

Below is a family photo of me and my husband with his children and their partners and little Bella just had to get into the photo, she is of course the prettiest one of all of us.

The it came to some fun time, Beck' decided to taste my cheek, with a big sloppy lick!

Below is our tree, decorated with my crochet ornaments.

This is a play centre that I obtained for 2 of my grandson's.

I would just like to take this opportunity to wish every one a Safe and Happy Xmas! 2008.

Scrap Yarn Recycled

Remember the big bag of scrap yarn that was rescued for me?
Well this is how much of it is left so far.

I'm not sure if I would have gotten around to this as quick as I have if it was not for my recent head injury which required 14 st's and gave me concussion. It was best for me to just sit and not do too much, which kept the nausea and pain at a distance.

So here I have the result of knotting and winding the yarn into use-able balls. They each weigh about 50gm's a ball, I used the small digital scales and guess work to get them to around the same size.

The scrap bits of yarn that were way too small, have made it into one of my scrap yarn vase's, which will be used for decoration until I decide to felt it later on.

Christmas Stockings

This is what I was making with the Tunisian joining method. I have a four door unit and I only had 3 stockings, so of course I had to even it up. It's just 3 rounds of 24 granny squares joined together. I ran out of xmas green yarn, and that is why it is just red and white.

But I do believe the colour difference makes them all unique, I did not make the one with the puppy on it, it was just too cute not to use.

My Yarn Scraps

My yarn scraps are growing, these are just from cut off ends or yarn not worth the rescue. You can view the original post here. There is also some links for scrap yarn projects.

This is my first jar I filled.

The Tunisian Joining Method

Using the Tunisian joining method for crochet squares can certainly make a nice joint to be seen or a hidden join. It seems to be a bit faster and I joined 8 squares at a time with these squares. I think if I had a smaller Tunisian hook than the 4.00mm I have on hand, I would have opted for a smaller one. You can see more on the Tunisian joining method here, with the original learning link I used. Next time I will use a different colour for the joining method so as it can be seen much better, the photo's do not do it much justice.

This is the joining side.

This is the opposite side to the joining side.

This is the size 4.00mm Tunisian hook I used.

Quick Child's Poncho and Hat Set

First of all this is not one of my own patterns it came from this site. I would say it is a beginner to intermediate pattern. I was looking for something quick to make and this is quick.

At this stage I had used a 50 gm ball of yarn.

At this stage I had used another 50gm ball of yarn.

The completed set used just over 200gm's of yarn.

I think it looks very pretty in the pink shades I have used, it is actually from the same ball of yarn, it was a strand each of pink and white and about an 8 ply, the yarn was a bit of a pain to work with, but the end result makes up for that. I used a 6mm hook for the poncho, changed to a 5mm hook for the sleeve edging and a 4mm hook for the hat and flowers. I just made up the pattern for the flowers, but there is a flower pattern that comes with this pattern.

Blogger Award

I was recently invited to participate in a meme, but I did not do anything about it. Then I was sent an award which is a little similar to the meme, but a little easier and it is an award. That is more tempting, I've seen them around and wondered if I would ever receive an award and now I have. I received this award from Jolin Country, thank you for thinking of me Jolin. I know plenty of blogger friends who deserve an award, but I can only choose a few which I will list below.

The rules are that the recipient is to list six things that make him/her happy before subsequently passing forward the glee to others

1. My family, their good health and happiness.

2.Spending time with my family

3.To make a stranger feel welcome

4.Assisting a person in need

5.To be a good and honest person

6.Crocheting makes me happy and satisfied

.

Sherryknit, her health problems do not keep her down!

Joan, for her sheer perserverance in the learning of new crochet techniques.

Linda, who truly is a crochet fanatic.

Kobus, who brings us into her world of recycling

Laughing Purple, for ever the recycler and for sharing every thing new she discovers.

Can I add more? there are so many out there who deserve an award, which is like a bit of a pat on the back!

Waste Not Want Not?

From the sorting room of the Op Shop, this lot was seen as un useable. The majority of the bag contained short lengths of tapestry thread, but before it was to be tossed out as garbage it was rescued for me!

It looks a mess, does it not? See the black box to the left?

This is all fine cotton thread.

Now this is the inside and the contents of the black box.

They are some of the finest crochet hooks I've ever seen.

A very fine Afghan hook.

I am assuming that this is a winder for fine thread.

The bag also contained some unfinished patch work with many hexagon disc's, I know nothing about patchwork, so I'll save it for some one who knows about it and can use it.

You are probably wondering what I will be doing with all of those short lengths of yarn, well I'm just going to tie them together randomly and use my yarn winder to make crazy balls of yarn that I can then crochet with, what I'll make I am un sure of at this time.

Yarn Winder To The Rescue

I want to use this yarn for a new project, the problem is, that it is a 2 stranded yarn and the beginning and the end of the ball was joined together. A right mess. So I thought, why not give my new yarn winder a try out and make the balls of yarn into friendly user balls of yarn!

There we go! Mission acclompished!

Now I can see the beginning and the end of the ball, and I can also begin using the centre strand of yarn which is my preferred preference.

Snow Flakes, Visual Tutorial

Oh I just love a good visual tutorial! I made these snow flakes in about an hour, watching and making as the video played. I have to give credit to Joan over at Lets Go Yarning for posting the you tube link and of course to the creator of the learning video on you tube. It doesn't stop there though, she has many more, so it's worth viewing the link. I have just supplied 3 of her, you tube video's here, for the 3 snow flakes I made. I used the glow in the dark yarn that was sent to me from my US friend Linda. I have not blocked them as yet, I was just too excited about them and had to share them here with you all! I love the centre one, but I have run out of the white glow in the dark yarn, boo hoo. Oh the only thing I did different was at the end of each snow flake, I chained 10 then slip st back into the beginning of the ch 10, to make a hanger for them.

Christmas has come early with 5 little puppies

I've posted about my puppy breeding once before in this blog post. Last night another litter was born before the stroke of midnight on my daughter Cristy's birthday. I assisted my dog with the first born, then she was away on her own, she is a very good mother to her pups and goes straight into action on each birth cleaning and chewing off the cord of each pups arrival. It's truly amazing to see.

This is the first born.

In no time after the first born, there were 2 more.

Upon checking her tummy I still felt movement with in her, so I knew there was to be another. Here she is in action cleaning and chewing away the cord.

After the 4 were born and the long night, I did not expect any more and went off to bed, that was about 3.00 am. I was awoken before 7.00 am by hubby, who had to tell me there were now 5! Yes 5 puppies in all. You an see the 5th one in the centre of the picture below. He is a runt and not coping as well as the other 4, you can see his fur is wet, as his mother keeps urging him on and he is improving.

They are maltese cross and are lovely mannered pets.

Christmas Stocking and Foil Decoration

This is the finished result of the easy xmas item. If you can make a granny, you don't need a pattern to do this, just make enough squares to join them together in the shape of a boot.

I used the Tunisian joining method to join the squares. It is a very fast joining method.

And this is the end result of crocheting with the foil curling ribbon. It will be put up along with all of my other xmas decorations once I get them out and decorate for xmas.