Yarn Bombing

Yesterday I had a trip down to the coast in Kent to visit my mum. We had lunch out, and wheeled her down the pier. I thought you might like to see these photos of the railings, which have been yarn bombed. I think it has even been added to since my last visit (when I forgot to take my camera).
 

As you can see it goes on for yards and yards ....

I love this giant tarantula, as well as the red arrows display team ...

... and this chicken and food section ...

So much for my idea to knit a Battenburg cake. It is so hard to come up with something original.

I

Lovely bright beach huts ...

... and I liked this spooky display.

I even saw a starfish, which I am pretty sure was knitted from my own pattern. Well done Herne Bay knitters and crocheters, you have done a fantastic job!

Lavender and Crochet Bunting

That time of year has come again when lavender has been picked. I had a tiny amount from my own garden, but this was added to by the lavender from the communal gardens of the sheltered flats where my mum lives. As no one else seemed to want it she claimed the whole lot.

Both these sets of bag were made from old blouse material. The bird blouse was a favourite, although I think I prefer the traditional little pink bags.  I will explain below the reason for the rather curiously shape triangular bags.

You may have been wondering if I was going to continue with my Crochet Diary. It has been a few weeks since I did any crochet. So much crafting to do, and so little time.

I was shopping with my daughter when we saw some lovely bunting, with was made of little triangular lavender bags. It was quite expensive, and as I knew I had quite a lot of lavender this year, said I would have a go at making one. So that is the reason for the bags being triangles. The extra bags were just the ones we had left over.

But to add a bit more colour I decided to alternate with some crochet granny triangles. Not the granny squares on my to do list, I know, but I think I am confident enough now to go on to some squares.
 

The garden fence was not the final display place, and the bunting is now in my daughter's bedroom. It just never seems light enough these days to get a good photo indoors.

Crochet Diary One - First Steps

Crochet Diary Two - Teddy Puppet

Crochet Diary Three - Country Flowers 
Crochet Diary Four - Bowl or Hat?

Crochet Diary - Hat or Fruit Bowl?

I tend with knitting to write about projects that I have finished, and that have worked. But with this crochet diary, I think I need to show you the failures as well, as it is meant to be an honest look at my learning.

I wanted to try and make a crochet bowl. I have seen some really beautiful bowls and baskets online, but couldn't find a pattern I could follow. So I thought I would just busk it. The bowl caused much hilarity among the family, as it did not have any rigidity, and was not even very nice to look at. More of a shapeless bag than a bowl.

So I changed the plan, and wondered if I kept going I could turn it into a stylish hat. This also caused another bout of teasing, and threats that no one would ever go out of the house with me if I wore it ...

So I think I have learned something, and that is that I am not ready to crochet without a pattern.

The old problem of how to photograph yourself in a hat

The whole thing has been unravelled, and I am back to thinking about granny squares and blankets.

Crochet Diary One - First Steps

Crochet Diary Two - Teddy Puppet

Crochet Diary Three - Country Flowers

My Crochet Diary - Country Flowers

In my first crochet diary I thought I had shown you all the crochet books that I own. But then I remembered that I have two other books, which I think of as knitting books, as I had only used the knitting halves of them.  The 100 Flowers to Knit and Crochet by Lesley Stanfield, is the book that enthused me into resuming knitting, after not doing it for a few years. And the 75 Birds, Butterflies and Beautiful Beasties was one of my leaving gifts when I moved jobs. Although I have knitted quite a lot of the projects, the crochet sections of both books had been completely ignored.
 

These Hellebores took several attempts

The 100 Flowers book divides the patterns in Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced. So far I have manly stuck to basic, and still have to sit with my other book open to remind myself on how to do some of the stitches. Annoyingly most of my favourites are in the intermediate and advanced sections of the book, but hopefully I will get to some of them in time.
 

Lazy Daisy and Flared Rose

These two both have errors if you looks closely. I spiralled the rose the wrong way, and the daisy is one petal short.

Forget-me-notes and Primrose

I really like these ones, perhaps because they are some of my favourite flowers in nature, and the primrose has a 3-D quality.

 

Mistletoe

I thought it would be really fun to make a bunch of these to hang up at Christmas.

 

Cloverleaf

This cloverleaf was made in a hotel room in Bruges. I thought maybe I could crochet on the train, but this was just too hard.

 

Narcissus is the only one I have managed to make from intermediates.

I love these projects - partly because they are small, so not too daunting. I'm not quite sure what I will do with all these little flowers and leaves. I definitely think I am getting past the fear stage of learning - particularly of the diagrams. So I may be working myself up towards a granny square.

My Crochet Diary - Two

So I am still working at learning to crochet, and here is my first completed crochet project. Isn't he cute. I saw an appeal on Linda's Crafty corner for knitted/crochet bear puppets for a charity record attempt. Linda has also really helpfully published a Bear Crochet Pattern. What was reassuring was having read through it I thought I could understand the pattern. The only thing I slightly altered was making him a little circle for a muzzle. He also has a little bit of wadding in his head and muzzle. I must find out where to send him to for the record attempt in September.

I am still making a few mistakes, but I am learning as I go. The first major mistake with teddy, is that once again I have put my crochet hook under one strand, not two. (Thank you CreativeJewishMom for explaining this to me.) The book I am working from only illustrates the first row, and doesn't explain that further on you insert the needles under both strands. 

Thank you everyone who gave me tips and advice and encouragement after my last Crochet Diary post. I have found that Youtube videos are really helpful, although the UK/USA difference in stitch names is a bit annoying. The main thing you can really learn from a video is how to hold the thread and hook (another thing I have been getting wrong and doing much more like a knitter).

The other things I am finding hard is how to count how many rows I have done, and how many stitches I have. How many extra chains to make at the end of each row, and how many stitches in to start.  I can see if you get this wrong your work could start shrinking or expanding. So turning at the end of the row is always a bit scary.

My target is to eventually make a granny square blanket, or perhaps even a single granny square would be a good start. But for now I am looking at little crochet projects to learn a few more skills. More advice would be very welcome!

My Crochet Diary

I usually see my summer holiday as a great opportunity for, yes you've guessed it, knitting. But this year the special holiday request from hubby was "no knitting". I guess a vacation is meant to be a break from the norm, so was I cheating when I agreed to the no knitting, but decided to use this time to try my long talked about ambition to teach myself to crochet.

So I rather proudly present my first ever piece of crochet. Now I think I may be feeling a bit like the kids in my knitting club when they have completed their first bit of knitting. I am going to try and do a series of posts on my attempts to learn to crochet, so you might want to follow my progress.

I would really appreciate any advice from experienced crochetters (is that even a word). Easy patterns, or books that I can understand would be useful. These are the only books I have. The two books are both fairly old - I think my mum gave them to me. I look at the amazing variety of stitches, but I think I need a much more basic book with some practical projects, as these are just a bit overwhelming.

So I started by borrowing my daughter's Cath Kidson's kit. It's aimed at kids, so surely it can't be too hard, I thought, but soon realised that the instructions to make a granny square cushion were way beyond me. So thinking of how I teach knitters, I decided to just make a square, and think I have learned the doublechain and treblechain. Although even that is a bit confusing, as there seems to be a half treble chain, double treble and treble treble!!! After a bit I did find it quite relaxing, and got into a bit of a rhythm. There are a few mistakes, and the things I found difficult is to judge where to put the hook in, and also turning at the edge of each row. (In knitting it is really obvious if you have gone wrong as you can just do a stitch count.) I got a bit fancy at the end and had a go at a scallop edge, which I think would have worked if I had had a longer edge and could have kept going. 

What I think I am doing wrong is that I am thinking like a knitter, so I felt fairly happy to crochet with rows going back and forth. But I want to make some of those cute amigurumi that I see, and for that I think I need to go in a circle. The other thing I find confusing are the patterns I have seen that are diagrams. Beautiful series of squiggles and shapes, but no idea at all how I would follow one.

This was my only attempt at a little circle. I was just going in each stitch twice. Seemed to work, and I think I have made a little hat.

I just can't decide who it looks best on ....

That is all for now ... but there will be another crochet post soon. As I said I would really welcome any pointers to easy patterns or books that have some very easy projects to try.

Sophie Goes Out to The Opera

Sophie is off out for an evening at the opera.  She is wearing her best silk dress, with a matching cape to keep her warm from the chilly night air. Victorian ladies have to be very careful not to catch cold. Her bonnet is crocheted, and trimmed with the same navy blue lace as her cape.
 

Click here if you want to see a bit more about Sophie, how she came to my house and her clothes.