My Toilet Paper Roll Holder.

I wanted a unique and original toilet paper roll holder for my entry in the Toilet Paper Roll Design competition with in the Crochet Lovers Victoria competition.
I had wire and beads in mind from the very beginning.
First of all I collected the medium that I needed.

I pre strung the wire with the beads.

Then I began to crochet away, beginning with a chained circle and increasing for 3 rows only.
I noticed that this wire was very hard to crochet with and it was scratching up my good no 6 hook. I have crocheted with wire before and I do not remember it being this hard before.
I eventually changed to another no 6 hook and kept going on for the outer side of the holder. I eventually ran out of one whole spool of wire, but I knew I had back up from another spool of wire.
It was not until I used the back up spool that I realized the wire was a thinner gauge. I had been crocheting with 24 gauge wire, I usually crochet with 28 gauge wire and it is much easier on the hands and the hook!
Now I had used that spool of wire too. I had no more back up on hand.
So I just sat the unfinished wire toilet paper cover on the toilet roll, whilst I thought about my next move. Wait and buy more wire, I couldn’t even remember where I had bought it in the first place, or try another medium. Oh yeah sure what could possibly look good with the wire?
Brain storm, try this. Crochet a lacey bottom.

So I did.

With a no 2.5 hook and some fine crochet cotton I made up the design as I went around the out sides.

As it started to take form, I got more and more excited, “this is going to work I thought”.

But my job was not over as I finished my final round.
I must stiffen this lace for it to stay in place for ever.
I wanted the perfect shape, but I knew the glue would stick to the toilet paper roll. So I wrapped the toilet paper roll in glad wrap to prevent this from happening.

Using a mixture of both PVA glue and water slightly heated, I dipped the lace into the mixture and shaped it around the paper roll.

My next step was to sit back and wait for the lace to dry out and hope that it will hold up the wire and beaded top part.
I would venture out side now and then with an egg flip to make sure the cotton was not adhering to the plastic board.

Finally I knew the cotton crocheted part was dry enough, due to the extreme hot weather we have been having. So I removed it from the toilet paper roll and it was upright and sturdy. Yay!

Sharkey the toilet lid cover was now going to have a new friend.
But I really wanted this to match the large toilet paper roll holder and the toilet brush, which is a steel look.

I think it is actually too delicate for this toilet and I know my sister-in-laws bathroom in her holiday house is decked out in all of these colours. So guess where it is headed? Off to Phillip Island where it will truly blend in and show off its unique individuality.

Oh boy it looks good on my kitchen table with all of my stainless steel.
But I do not think that is really an option, do you?

The Fire Truck Fund Raiser Day

I rocked up just prior to 8.00 am and set up next to the sausage sizzle man, he is to the left of the table in the picture below.

I was then provided with a marquee, which looked more like a mosquito net and I also set up and sold the items that are on the table out side to the right of my tent. Those items were all donated for the day and I did a pretty good trade on those as I set bargain prices. Better to be sold than not, was my motto on the day.

The star dish cloths were made by Shilo from Ravelry. Shilo also made many more things for the day and she even came along to help for a while. I must thank Shilo's husband for bringing her there, Shilo's daughter for being such a sweety and Shilo for helping out. So a big thank you, to the Shilo family.

Oh now who do you think this clown is? Nah, I wouldn't be caught dead in that get up! But hey, anything to drag extra business in was well worth it.

Now this little fellow is my grandson Braydn. He came along to see the fire trucks and fast cars.

And this is Bradyn's brother Cooper, who got to go in the fire truck and the lovely girl next to him, is my number 3 daughter who assisted to get the fund raiser off and running.

For you footy fans, here is the Melbourne Demons Mascot, near some very nice hotted up cars.

There was plenty of fire trucks on board for the day, but sadly 2 of them were called out, to yet another fire.

Now this was a real thrill, a jet engine vehicle. I have never seen one before and I was not aware of what happens when they start up. But I soon found out and jumped 10 foot into the air! I was able to snap this awesome picture of the flames ripping out of the jet. I'd love to have one of those for heating on a cold night, but not the noise along with it. My hubby was at home and he said our windows shook, he thought it may have been another earth tremor as we had a real one the night before.

Just some more hotted up cars. Boys and their toys.
Well the day was it self was enjoyable, a band played some toe tapping songs. There was plenty of activity happening around to just sit back and take in. And between the 2 stalls I ended up with a grand total of $400 for the day! I was very pleased and it was a pleasure to be able to pitch in and help raise the money for the day.

I do have left over stock that I will be taking to the Salvo's collection centre for the fire victims.

I hope you have enjoyed my little adventure here.

This is what the relief packages look like now.

The yellow ribbon that all the parcels are wrapped in, represent the bush fire victims, just like a pink ribbon represents breast cancer.

Below is a group shot.

Feminine scent's, moisturiser and deodorant wrapped in a lovely soft cotton face cloth.

Luxury soaps, again wrapped in a lovely soft cotton face cloth.

Deodorant's for the men too.

And a little bit for baby, baby powder and nappy change lotion packs.

I just may be able to source some more goodies before they are sent off. A special thank you to those who have helped me with supplies and the making of some cloths too.

My New Betty Boop Figurine

She's very cute and very blue, a gift from one of my daughters. But I really wanted to show you some progress shots of the collection of face cloths that are coming along. 11 of them are pictured below, whilst more are being made. The one's on the left were made by Shilo from Ravelry. Thanks for your assistance Shilo, much appreciated!

This is a lovely shiny pink cotton, supplied from Happy Peacock, another member from Ravelry. Thank you Happy Peacock! The pink cotton is making lovely face cloths.

Same Pattern Different Look, But Why?

I just made my second Tunisian short row dish cloth, pattern link is here, I find them to be one of the best dish cloths to use, so durable.

The 3 below are made from the same pattern, but if you look closely you will see a difference with one of the dish cloths, one difference being the middle one was not made by me, but why is it so different when the exact same pattern was used and they are all face up?

Rachel from HGTV kindly supplied me with the middle picture of her dish cloth and pointed out the obvious difference to me and why it was so.

It's quite simply that I am a righty and she is a lefty, so the pattern turns in the opposite direction. How about that? I found it quite interesting. How's this one though, Rachel would drive on the right hand side of the road, whilst I drive on the left hand side of the road. US versus AU.

Relief Packages Are A Go!

This is just the beginning of the personal care packages for the bush fire victims. By next week it will be so much larger and we can begin giving them out.

On a lighter note, have you ever seen or eaten dragon fruit? It's the red thing below.

And this is what it looks like opened up. It tastes a little like kiwi fruit but not as strong in the taste. I just spooned it straight out of it's case and ate it that way. Yum, yum and filling too! Very low in calories and contains vitamin C.

Twin V, Face Cloth or Dish Cloth Pattern

This is a very simple stitch to use for making a face cloth or dish cloth. I tried to draw a stitch pattern which is below that may help you. I have used an 8 ply cotton and a size 4.00mm hook for my cloth. Time taken about 1 hour.

To make a square shaped cloth, crochet as many rows high as you started with the foundation chain, ie: 30 chain to start, 30 rows high.
Use any ply yarn with suitable sized hook.
Gauge not important. 50 gm ball of yarn sufficient.
US abbreviations used.

Stitch count is, chain a multiple of 2 ch, plus 1, plus 2 for the foundation row.
I began with 30 ch, plus 1 ch, plus 2 ch, for the foundation row.

Foundation row (rs): work 2 sc in the 3rd ch from the hook, *skip next ch, work 2 sc in next ch* repeat from * to * to end working 1 sc in last ch and turn

Row 1: Ch 2, *skip next st, work 2 sc in next st, * repeat to end, work 1 sc in second ch at the end and turn

Repeat row 1 for every row worked.

Below is the right side of the stitch.

Below is the wrong side of the stitch.

Below is a close up of the stitch.

Below is the cloth with a simple sc border around it.

My attempt at a stitch pattern.

Enjoy.

Tunisian Crochet along with the Video Tutorial

Oh I found this site that has not only the pattern to use, but a video of making the patterned item too! So cool if you do not want to read the pattern and or you think it seems too hard to do.

Well it's not too hard, with the video tutorial to watch, make it while you watch it, pressing the pause button when you need to. I find these video tutorials fantastic!

Below is a Tunisian short row dish cloth that I made whilst watching the video tutorial. It took a lazy hour to complete. I am also thrilled to say that sewing in loose ends and tails are shown in the video and they are the same way that I do it.

Here is the link to the pattern and the video here. But don't stop there have a look around this site for more video tutorials and patterns. What a great way to learn. Thank You to Mary Grace McNamara from Hooked on Needles for supplying these lessons!

Second Froggy Hat For Aaron

You may remember this post here, the first hat I made was too small. I tried it on my grandsons and it was the right size for my one year old grandson and Aaron is 3 years old. So I went back to the drawing board and made a second one to fit Aaron. Being the second time around it was much quicker to make the features and I also used (US) dc instead of the original sc. So now they are ready to make their way to the US for little Aaron. I'm hoping Aaron may have a favourite Teddy Bear he can put the smaller froggy hat on.

Off The Hook And Onto The Floor

You'll have to go back in time to appreciate the end result of this rag rug I just finished for my kitchen floor. The original post begins here in early December of 2008. It was a big bag of scrap yarn, the scraps being under 12 inches per piece and some were also a bit longer. When I first began tying the yarn scraps together I was trying to hide the knot, but once I knew what I was going to make with the scraps, I tied them longer. The knots are deliberately all on the one side of the mat, for that real rag rug look. It is just a bit of a shame that the ply was different in some area's causing the rug to look wider on one end. It's all made in simple sc. The yarn was left over from tapestry scraps and it is 100% wool, I also blended this with a carpet nylon for extra strength and durability.

Little Rev, likes my mat too.
Below is a preview of the face cloths that are slowly building up for our fire victims.

Australian Inferno

My state of Victoria burns and I sit back and feel helpless.

What can I do? I am but one. I am not trained in this expert field of fire fighting, so I would just be in their way.

The one thing I can do is crochet.

So I will crochet for the victims. The victims need so many things, they have lost it all.

My small gesture to begin with is to crochet more face cloths, I have sourced quite a bit of personal deodorant and soap. The face cloth, soap and deodorant will go hand in hand, for just a little bit of personal care.

I will not go to the market this winter and every thing I would usually make for the market to sell will be given to the fire victims. They as we, will need to keep warm on cooler nights and in the winter. We must not forget the fire victims! As a Nation we are all banding together. Whilst the top of our country floods the bottom of our beloved country burns. The flood victims are giving their flood relief funds over to the fire victims! I am proud of our Nation a generous and kind Nation who stick together when times are so tough!

Thank You to those who are helping me in my small adventure here, my American, Australian and Dutch friends who are contributing to my small effort.

Just one of our hero's at the front of a fire.

Not Crochet, It's Little Rev!

I recorded little Rev in action for all to see how happy he makes me and how funny he is.

Rev was the last of 5 puppies to be born, he was the runt of the litter and it was obvious he had problems from the beginning. He was quite cold for the first 24 hours of his beginning. He struggled to feed, I weighed him 3 times a day to ensure he was gaining weight. When he began to walk, he walked backwards, this is why I named him Rev, Rev being short for reverse. I took him to the vet and it was obvious he was starved of some oxygen at birth. But he began to improve and he walked forward. It was not until he was seperated from his mother that we realised he is deaf. His sense of smell is incredible though. I have many visual stimulants and I am teaching him sign language, just simple hand movements for now. I am assuming I will need 2 people to teach him to sit, but I will wait until he is a little older and is used to the simple sign language I am teaching him now.