October crochet squares

I've decided to take part in the craftster 12" Crochet Block a Month craftalong and here are October's squares.




They were nice quick projects, and I can put them away and not feel like I have to work on them, or other squares straight away which is nice.

Necklace for my Granny

Ok, so here's the last of my Christmas jewelry creations. Unless I think of something else I want to make for someone, which I may, because I've got a couple of ideas now. So it's probably not my last one. Anyway, enough rambling and on to the pictures.



This is made with assorted glass beads on gold tigertail with some crimps and a wire nest with more pretty beads. My granny has quite a few items of jewelry with lovely warm oranges and browns, so while this may be more of the same hopefully she'll like it. It's a bit longer than I'd usually make but she also likes long necklaces.



While I'm generally more a silver person I really like this one, but I've got enough jewelry so it's definately a present!

Bird embroidery

This is the tote bag I've made for my granny to put her Christmas gifts in. The design is from Needlecrafter, which has some great free designs. I love the vintage look of this one, it just kept growing on me as I worked on it.



It was the first time I did lazy daisy stitches and on some of the flowers you can tell. Unfortunately as well, I included central flower beads on the same piece of thread as the petals and when I washed out the design outline some of the beads have pulled on the thread a bit, making the flowers even more uneven. I've adjusted them now, but they'll probably do it again. I guess I've learnt my lesson, and hopefully someone else will learn from my mistakes!

I'm just doing embroidery on one side of this bag, rather than a double sided one like the last.

Bookcrossing Convention

The 2006 Australian Bookcrossing Convention was on in Adelaide this weekend and I went, and had lots of fun. I've ended up with 13 or 14 more books, a DVD, a CD, and lots of new friends.

I released quite a few books (nearly 30, some at the Convention, and some on the streets of Adelaide) and I've got a few good catches.

This is my favourite:

I saw someone stop outside my place of business, and gathered around it, then I went outside to see what they where looking at and found the book. This morning on Sunrise they had been talking about book crossing and now I am experiencing it, I think that's great I will definetly read the book and leave it somewhere for someone else to befriend it.

CAUGHT IN KENT TOWN SA AUSTRALIA

But I also like this one:

Found at the Adelaide BC Convention. (Actually, picked up on the sea - wall at Glenelg) I've been looking for this book for years!

It's lots of fun passing books on!

Necklace for my Mum

So I'm getting on with Christmas presents. While it may seem like I'm organised I'm sure I'll still be running round at the last minute sorting things out. Either that or I'll forget stuff in Adelaide (I'm having Christmas in Melbourne, YAY!) and have to post it back home.

Anyway, I've made this set for my mum.



It's made with fresh water pearls on nylon thread, and tying all the knots was painful! Especially on the earrings. But I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The earring hooks are sterling silver so I went all fancy pants with the whole thing!



Here's an action shot of me wearing the necklace. So if mum doesn't like it...I get another new necklace!

Nestlace Pendant

I really like the Nestlace I've seen on craftster, and I had some wire and I found a bead shop around the corner from me (I don't think it's new, it's just a bit hidden) so I bought some beads (only what I needed this time) and used some of my wire to make this pretty thing.



I'll have to make some more pendants for this necklace. It means I can get more out of the jewelry I've got.

Alcoholic embroidery

This year I've decided rather than wrapping gifts for my immediate family, I'd give them in embroidered tote bags. It's more personal, long lasting and much better for the environment.

I started off with my dad's, because for once it was reasonably easy to think of what to do (I'm still not sure about the gift, but nevermind that!).

So here it it, my own design and other than a few creases that need to be ironed out a bit better I'm pretty pleased with it. I suspect it will get more creased when actually used so maybe I won't worry too much about it. It's actually a bit straighter than it appears in the first photo though.




I've decided to use a Needlecrafter design for my granny but I'm having trouble with ideas for my mum and sister so any suggestions would be fantastic.

Mum: she's currently studying French, so I was thinking something along those lines. If I can't think of anything I'll probably do the Eiffel tower but I'd rather a little cartoon or something in French (maybe something from a school French textbook if anyone has anything they could send me? My mum's books don't have anything I've found useful and they're in another state). Either that or a platter with french bread and cheeses and wine, but I'm not really confident designing that one myself, it's a little complex.

Sister: She's into all the brand names and stuff so anything too unique would probably be left in the cupboard. While she likes to go out, she's fairly health conscious (she's studying nutrition), the bag might get used for going to the gym.. Her favourite colour is blue. She doesn't really read. At the moment ideas I have are a mouse or mice (read the mouse post!), cute anthropomorphic fruits and vegies, a retro style cocktail image, although I haven't found anything specific just yet.

Please help me with these ones!

Wow

I went for a long walk into the city the other day and for once I actually took my camera and I grabbed a shot of this.



Isn't it amazing. I just love that someone has painted that on their wall. It just made me smile when I walked past.

Birthday Card

I bought a card for one of my friends birthdays (because I didn't think I'd have time to make one) and then I lost it, so I've had to make one anyway. I was trying out a new glue and I think I used a bit much but it's not too noticable and I think the card is cute anyway. I hope she likes it!



I'm guessing I'll find the bought card the day after I post this one. Oh well, I'm sure it'll come in handy. Maybe I should pre-make a few cards for when I forget people's birthdays until the last minute.

I can knit!

I have finally stepped up to challenge one of my crafting phobias - knitting.

I've tried to knit a number of times since I was a little kid and my granny tried to teach me. Every time (ok maybe twice) I would try, my creations (generally something simple like a scarf) would enlarge in size until they were trapezoid rather than rectangular at which point I'd generally stop working on them. I'm not sure what happened to them after that. I imagine my mum probably threw them out.

Anyway, I decided that I should try again. Over the last year or so my crafting skills have developed from making an occasional card to spending much of my spare time (which I need more of) crafting, so I decided I should develop my skills further into the area of knitting, and I didn't fail. Although, even if I had my mum bought the needles a couple of years ago and I was using scrap yarn, so it wouldn't have been a big investment of time or money (what did I have to lose?).

So here is my new neckwarmer (as we've had a 34*C day this week I don't know that it's going to get a lot of use in the near future).




It's done in garter stitch and even has a button hole (which I made too big for the button I had so I then made a crochet flower which gets stuffed through the hole - it works quite well).

I'm very happy that I've managed to do something which I always thought I couldn't.

Postcardy Goodness

Ooooh, look what I got! Pretty vintage postcards from MissMeshell. We did a personal postcard swap (my first swap, ooooh!) and I got these lovelies.




I'm not quite sure where they're going to live at the moment. I don't have a cork board or anything and I don't think I can stick them to the walls here so they might go on my fridge.

The Case of the Escaping Mice

I went home to Melbourne over the weekend and my sister (in a terrible display of irresponsibly pet ownership) had bought a mouse at the Melbourne show during the previous week, with one of her friends. By the time they got back my sisters friend had realised she couldn't get a mouse so my sister ended up with two, which she was keeping in a cage which she bought with the mice.

On the Sunday night I was reading a book in bed when I heard a 'scritchy scratchy' noise behind my head. I carefully pulled back my pillow to discover one of the mice underneath. Unfortunately it disappeared underneath the bed before I could grab it. Having a secret mean streak within me I took great delight in waking up my sister to get her to help me catch it. Eventually, following the trail of poo we realised it had gone into my cupboard...not the best place for a mouse with all the stuff on the floor (shoes, books, a box of fancy dress stuff, a box of stuffed toys). We managed to find it and trap it in a corner but then it got away and disappeared. So my sister decided to sleep downstairs and I went back to bed.

The next morning the second mouse had also disappeared (I think they managed to fit through the bars, mice can do that!) so we kind of assumed the mice were lost but left the cage door open 'just in case'. A couple of hours later the mouse that had been in my bedroom was back in the cage. While I was catching that one to put it in a new house I saw the other one run under my sisters bed and managed to catch it (all by myself as my sister was at university). By this time my sister had decided she no longer wanted mice and her friend picked them up later that afternoon, having found someone else who would have them.

The moral of the story - pet ownership is a serious responsibility or a lesson in how to annoy your older sister.

Color Me Blanket - Completed!

It's finished. Ok, so I didn't do two of the crayons but this is definately big enough for a new born.

I'm looking forward to starting some new projects now. I think I'll do some nice small easily finished ones!

Color Me Blanket Update

I've finally finished the green crayon. It took me ages because I kept getting distracted!



I've started on the letters now, they look pretty scribbly, but I'm saying that's a desired effect. Anyway, as my cousin isn't born yet, he/she won't be able to read for some time!

At the moment I'm planning to leave it at this size, because I think it's big enough and I want to start some other projects!

Jewelry set: Winter Berries

I was having a bit of a play with my new beads and I made this set, how does 'Winter Berries' sound for a name? I really love this set, but I've made it for a Christmas present for my sister (I'm a bit organised this year) and so I'll have to give it away. But if she doesn't like it, then I guess I've got some lovely new jewelry.





I didn't actually like the initial set of earrings I made (but I did like the photo) so after I took this photo I destroyed them and made...


...these ones. The original ones were a bit asymmetrical and messy, and I think these ones go a bit better.

The set is made with Opalite beads on tigertail.

The Waves

Since Miss Meshell's recommendation of Virginia Woolf I've read the waves, and so I thought I'd write a bit of a review of it.

I really enjoyed this book. The unusual style of writing makes it a good book for reading slowly, savouring all of it. This is a good thing for me because often I tend to get caught up in books (anyone else suffer from 'one more chapter' syndrome?) and read until the early hours of the morning, before I have to get up for work the next day. I think if you read this all at once, you'd miss out a bit on some of the beautiful imagery, and so it was nice to be almost forced to put the book down before I got overwhelmed with it.

The style of writing also lets you enter the characters minds and also view each character from several different perspectives. I think this is a book which I'll discover more of re-reading.

Cat Bookmark

I was getting a bit bored with the Color Me blanket and needed a bit of a break, so I made this cat bookmark. At the moment it's planned to be a gift, but not immediately, so I'm putting it in a 'safe spot'. Hopefully I won't forget where!



Pattern

Materials
2 mm hook (size 14/A), Size 10 crochet cotton, needle for weaving in ends, scissors.

Upper Body (in round)
Chain 5 (last 2 count as first dc for round 1)
Round 1: Dc in 3rd ch from hook, dc in next 2 st, 6 dc in next st, dc in next 2 st, 4 dc in next st. Sl st to join. (16 dc, sl st). Do not finish off

Head (in rows)
Row 1: Ch 3 (counts as first dc), dc in same st, dc in next st, 2 dc in next st, turn. (5 dc)
Row 2: Ch 3 (counts as first dc), dc in same st, dc in next 3 st, 2 dc in next st, turn. (7 dc)
Row 3: Ch 2 (counts as first dc), sk st, dc in next st (first ear), sl st in next st, ch 2 (counts as dc), sk st, dc in next st (2nd ear). (4 dc, 1 sl st)

Sl st along side of head, with an extra sl st in corner (5), sl st in next 6 dc of upper body. (11 sl st). Do not finish off

Lower body (in rows)
Row 1: Ch 2 (counts as first dc), dc in next 4 st, turn (5 dc)
Row 2: Ch 5 (foot picot), dc in each st to end, turn (5 dc + 5 ch picot)
Row 3: Ch 2 (counts as first dc), dc in next st, hdc in next st, sc in next st, sl st in next st. Finish off (2 dc, 1 hdc, 1 sc, 1 sl st)

Leg (in rows)
Join in next dc after lower body.
Row 1: Ch 2 (counts as first dc), dc in next st, turn (2 dc)
Row 2: Ch 2 (counts as first dc), dc in next st, turn (2 dc)
Row 3: Ch 2 (counts as first dc), dc in next st, turn (2 dc). Sl st into foot picot of lower body. Finish off (2 dc, sl st)

Tail
Cut three strands of 40 cm. Fold in half and pull through over Ch on row 3 of lower body. Bring ends through this loop. For visual instructions go here. Divide into three sections and plait until you have desired length of tail. Knot end and cut fringe to equal lengths. Alternately you could chain a tail.

Finishing
Weave in all ends. Block and/or starch if required

This pattern has not been tested, so please let me know if there are any errors in it. Please don't copy, distribute, claim as your own or anything else that isn't very nice!

Snapshots from a bathroom

The building I'm living in is pretty old, and while some of it is just...old, the bathroom has quite a lot of character.




I love the way black and white photographs force you to acknowledge light and shade and can give images such depth.

Beading Organisation

Do you like my organisational things? To be honest, I think the plastic trays with my goodies in them are quite pretty, so every now and then I'll get them out and just look at them. Does that make me slightly crazy? Or more than slightly?


Anyway, these are my beads. I've got more that don't fit, plus my seed beads which are in tubes because it's too hard to get them out of the squares without spilling them everywhere. So I need to buy more trays to be more organised (admittedly the other beads which you're not getting a photo of are pretty tidy. Most of them are now in colour separated bags).


These are my buttons (yes, it's probably one of the worst collections ever, but when I have a project that I need some buttons for I'll buy some nice ones), and other bits and pieces (eyes, charms and ummm...tops off drug vials, but I'm sure they'll come in handy one day).


And finally, my multi-coloured wire. It's pretty and in this little jar is very cute. The wire is actually a bit too soft and thin to do much with, but I used some of it for the wine charms I did recently.

So that's my beading (and a bit of other stuff) organisation. It's nice to know where everything is and to be able to see it easily. I don't actually have a huge amount of room here so if I wasn't organised I'd just be in a mess. Or maybe more of a mess!

Sleep deprived.

This last week has been crazy at work. I've been there everynight until 7 or 7.30, then back at 10 pm (for at least an hour every time), 12 (half an hour to forty-five minutes) and 4 am (for at least half an hour). I've been starting late, but unfortunately due to early morning noise I haven't been sleeping that late. So now I'm so tired I could cry. Actually I did that last night when I couldn't get a muzzle on a dog. I was tired and frustrated and I reverted to toddler mode. At least it's the weekend tomorrow and I don't have a midnight check tonight. The 4 am one shouldn't take as long...I hope.

I've just kind of re-read this and it's probably obvious that I'm tired by the way I've
rambled.