Round Up on 2012

Well, here we are: 31 December 2012. It was exactly a year ago that I decided to embark on the blogging madness of this year. It's not that I haven't blogged before: in fact I've been blogging on and off for 10 years now. But this year was the year I was aiming to:

+ Blog Every Single Day, and
+ Work up every block in Jan Eaton's 200 Crochet Blocks book, and
+ Learn to Finish Projects.

Nuts. Both of the first two are nuts! Well they are if you're also working full time & studying part time!!

This will be my 230th blog post on this blog for the year, which out of 366 days isn't too shabby. I really gave up the ghost once I'd admitted I wasn't going to be able to keep up the every day posting sometime in mid-August, and that's also when my course really took off. However, I did end up having my work hours pared back, so I could have gotten back on the horse. But I didn't. I am however really super happy with my blogging efforts this year.

And LOOK at what I made!!

I am even MORE happy with my crafting efforts! I managed to finish projects!  Just look at all those completed items up there!! It's such a happy collage :)  I am SO HAPPY to say that! I finished my friends' Celebration Blanket, which was one of the aims that I listed on the first blog post ever.

Isn't it beautiful! The recipient was VeryHappy with it, and I think her beautiful daughter loves it even more :) (Last I saw it was being used as not only a rug, but as a cape! Excellent Work Eve! Because it could be a MAGICAL cape!)

I also learned how to make Amigurumi! I started off with cute little monsters!

And my big project was a beautiful Bunny for my nephew. George The Bunny is Much Much loved, and as I hoped it would be, he is carried around by his ears :)

2012 has been a terrific year of growth in my craft. I have learned many new things and thanks to the Krista Crochet-Along project, I've made new friends.

My big end-of-year surprise was beginning my own business! LizzieBee: Handmade (over on Facebook too) is a quiet little enterprise I started up making home-made furnishings. At the moment it is only tea towels, but I am venturing into dishcloths, coasters, pot holders & napkins in the new year. It's exciting and scary and I had a induction by fire with xmas orders. I'm hoping to keep quietly at it in 2013. Watch that space!

And you, the people who have visited my blog this year. You have come here over 10,000 times, which had made me the Happiest Person! Thank you SO MUCH for visiting me this year, and please continue to visit :) I am hoping to continue making all the blocks from Jan Eaton's book, make more amigurumi's, and keep finishing projects, one square at a time.

Lizzie

Block #70: Lemon Peel

So.. it's December 30th and there's only 1 more day in the year, so I think I can comfortably say that this is the last block for the year. And it's only #70. Still!

Block #70!
From Jan Eaton's 200 Crochet Blocks, # 52: Lemon Peel.

Ta da! It's worked up in Morris & Sons Avalon 4ply Pima cotton in "Granite". Which was BEAUTIFUL to work in. (So it should be at $8 pop! Available here through the Morris & Sons website  where it's currently on sale till tomorrow!)

It really is lovely to work in, which is why I bought a bit for an xmas gift to myself a few weeks ago.

The Lemon Peel pattern (simply a repeat of dc, tr, dr, tr) is actually really soothing to make up, and it works up very quickly.

Xmas stash!

Got some stash for xmas!

Got two - TWO!! - Crazy Zauberball's from my Aunt Lorraine, and at the same time I got myself the two balls of Morris & Sons variegated cotton, the stitch markers (with soft pointed ends, good for using in close work) and the measuring tape. (We had all met down in Melbourne, so yay!) Bought my grandma a ball of the Luxury wool yarn from Bendigo Woollen Mills, and it was such a good price I got myself one as well! And look at those BEAUTIFUL scissors!! My partner got me those :) So excited!!

I love the measuring tape. It's got the little hold button in the middle so whilst it's all kept neat and tidy in the little container, you can pull it out, push the button and the tape is held out of the container as far as you've kept it. I love it! I've had an old one for years now and the button doesn't work anymore. Is very frustrating, since I love the way it's a neat-and-tidy measuring tape, so I'm thrilled to have a new one :)

I have NO IDEA what to use the Crazy Zauberballs for though! They're magical as sock yarn, but I don't make socks!! I'm thinking a matching hat & scarf, to be honest. At least with one of them :) Any suggestions?

And how was YOUR Christmas?

Stitches

When you think of crochet, you think of the simple stitches: the double (or single) crochet, the treble crochet, a slip stitch. But working with these stitches, and around these stitches, can produce beautiful different stitches.

I found this via a Facebook group today:

"Pattern of Lush Bars" (in Russian)

As the link says, this page is actually in Russian, but Google Translate gave me the title that I've used, so hopefully that's accurate!

How BEAUTIFUL is this stitch?!?!

(picture from above website, copyright them.)

It seems pretty straight forward, but that little fan is created by using a spike stitch, then carrying the stitches forward and leaving them on the hook, which creates the little fan.  Can't wait to give it a go! Of course, I'm not particularly fantastic at working new stitches, so don't expect to see any results until I'm pretty happy with them!!

Hmmmm yarn at it's source...

So... I live in a small country town, near one edge. Beyond the school oval which lies at the end of our street, there is grazing land for cows. Which I can hear when I'm suffering from insomnia in the middle of the night, having a conversation. Or at least one's going "Where the smokes are the rest of you guys!!" by yelling "MooooooOOooooo" a lot. Although we're relatively close to a paddock or two, we're still in a medium-density area. We're not on acre blocks or anything.

Meet our new neighbour:

Yep. A sheep.

Awww it's so CUTE! you might say. How ADORABLE! you might croon.

It's not adorable when it's been brought straight off the farm, and is missing it's flock. Nooooo then it's bleating from 6am to midnight and I'm not joking with those times!!!

It's not particularly young, that fleece is a bit old, not creamy white like the little lambs that are frolicking around farms in our area. If I lived on a farm and actually raised sheep, I may hear some bleating from time to time. But it would be quite a distance away, not 5 meters from my back windows.

All I can think of is "mmmmm lamb chops" and "I wonder if I could get it shorn and spin some yarn out of that fleece...."

At at 6:20am this morning, you can bet your bottom dollar I was thinking of lamb chops.

Do you live in a rural area? Or do your neighbours have random livestock on their property, grazing on their lawn?

African Flower.... coasters.

A few weeks/months/a while a go I posted up a cute little African Flower Hexagon.

I've made a few more in the last few weeks.

The first two and nice, bright & cheery; I love the third one, and I'm not sure about the 4th. I haven't made any more of it: I don't think it quite works.

They end up being the perfect size for coasters and work super well.

*tap tap* is this thing on?

*tap tap*

*tap*

Is this thing on?

Oh, hi there! Gosh, are you still looking here? Kudos to YOU if you are! Blogger tells me it is days - DAYS I TELL YOU - since I last updated. Almost a month.

Which is frankly unacceptable. So much for blogging everyday for a year!

When I last blogged, I was patiently waiting for a little amigurumi bunny to wind its way across the wide red expanse of Australia to it's new home. And then I didn't post. And then the bunny arrived.... and I still didn't post. I have since pieced together the rug I've been working on, and I'm halfway through the border. This now has a firm deadline in 10 days, so it'll be finished soon. I've also started on my xmas/end-of-year presents, since it'll be a lean giving time this year, everyone's getting something home made, preferably out of crochet :) There will be a few dishcloths (the last few posts I put up were of my dad's dishcloths: which have been received and thought of as ... placemats. Whoops?), and lots of coasters.

A few weeks ago, my step-dad came over to my side of the country and we toddled around Melbourne together. I wanted to have a look in at Morris & Sons (because, how can you not) and even HE was impressed at the store. And look!

I GOT YARN!!! FROM MORRIS & SONS. 

I have instructions to make a tea cosy out of it. It ended up being a really nice half hour. I got my step-dad involved in choosing the yarn (100% cotton, ridiculous air miles, let's not talk about them) and I explained about choosing appropriate colours & how sometimes you need something really different (see the above pink/purple) to make a bit of a "pop".

I had a great time :)

So, in the next few weeks, I'll be posting about the FINISHED Amigurumi Bunny! (called George, and renamed... Bunny. Excellent!), dishcloths, coasters of various types & colours, a finished lap rug, and possibly a tea cosy... O.o

Thank you for sticking around over the last few weeks: I really appreciate it ;)

A special call out to Sherry, who twittered at me and got me off my non-blogging arse: Thanks sweetie :) 

2 Completed Dishcloths!

Well I had fun making these. One came from a new pattern, using a technique/style/stitch I'd employed before, and the other was a completely new style to me, but had been employed in the Krista throw rug, which is where I snaffled the pattern. 

This one's nice, and is the pattern that I shared on Friday ( from Mon Petit Violon pattern here ). It's a repeated shell motive (sort of), and I've shared a block using this motif from 200 Squares from Jan Eaton.

I like the texture of it, and hopefully I've sewn it tight enough that it wont stretch too much. I've also done a tight dc border to help with this too.

What I found a bit odd was that the cloth wanted to 'buck'.

You can see here that the edges are neat, but the centre is rippled slightly. I'd usually say this is a tension issue, but it started in the first row. Anyway, I like it, and no one's going to notice that it's slightly rippled after it's been used to clean dishes :)

The second one shows the pattern from Week 12 in the Krista rug.

Isn't it nice! And I decided to tackle it (at 10:30pm last night, why I have no idea) because I thought it would make a good dishcloth :) It's also got a dc border, gone around twice actually.

This is worked in the diagonal, which I've not much practice in, so it was really interesting to watch it come together. I LOVE the texture and the way that the blocks change direction!

I'm hoping to whip up another tonight, and do up a few coasters before I send this off on Tuesday :)

Dishcloth yarn of choice

So, this weekend's Dishcloth Yarn of Choice is...

Panda Cotton Blend 8ply

Comes in such a nice variety of colours.

(you'll have to excuse the anemic look of the turquoise ball in the top right hand corner: I'm afraid it had already been sacrificed to the dishcloth!)

Dishcloths

Time to make some dishcloths.

Fathers' Day is next Sunday here, and I'll need to get something into the post for my Dad by Tuesday. So, out with the cotton yarn tomorrow and I'll (try) to whip up some dishcloths. (Try, since I'm never very fast at crocheting anything, and tend to be a little distractable... !!! )

I like the look of this one:

(from Mon Petit Violon )

Isn't it nice! I found it on Ravelry and followed the free pattern link to the blog, Mon Petit Violon which looks lovely :) The pattern seems to be a simple shell repeated, so with some concentration, I should get it done.

What do you think about a pot holder to go with it?

Apologies

I must apologise to you, my loyal followers. I haven't posted anything in almost 10 days.

Last week I spent ALL WEEK finishing up my first multi-piece Amigurumi. I would share it with you, but it is a present, and I would like it to get to its destination before I do. However, it is AWESOME. So, you know, be prepared.

Also, due to some redefined working hours, I will have EXTRA crochet time starting from next week. I'm hoping not for too long, but there will be extra crochet time (ECT) for at least the next few weeks. I'm hoping to have extra projects to share!!

I would like to start producing little amigurumi's to sell as well, so here's hoping!

From tomorrow, back to a post-a-day I am hoping :)

Another spiral coaster...

Whipped up another spiral coaster..

I just love these!

This one I made with 4ply cotton (red) along with the thicker 4ply cotton (white) that I used for the overlay stitches. 

It did buck up i the middle like the previous coaster I made in acrylic, but I was able to pull this one into shape much better. 

Free Pattern: Sprial Coasters

Ahhhhhh...

Well, I had fun doing this last night. Let's start with the pattern.

Thanks to CCC (The Creative Crochet Crew)I found Spiral Coasters/PotHolders by Made In K Town sometime during the week. And how lovely, there's a FREE PATTERN for them :)

How CUTE are these!!!

Now, these are worked in a spiral. I learned how to spiral last weekend, and showed you my effort yesterday. But something ELSE is new to me, and that's the white overlay/surface stitches that she's crocheted onto the coaster. This is me, when I found out about these a few weeks ago:

O.O .... <_< ..... >_> ...... O.o

Happily for me, this pattern explains it SUPER EASY and once you understand how you over-crochet the surface stitches, it becomes really clear.

For my first coaster, I used Panda Magnum, one of the balls I picked up at Lincraft earlier in the week. See how LOVELY a colour it is!!! I love purple :) This is a beautiful eggplant-purple as well, which just makes me want to buy LOTS of balls in this colour and make all the things!! For the white stitches, I've used a ball of 4ply cotton that I have in my stash, that's a little thicker than all my other balls of cotton, so it's hard to use in combination with other cotton colours. Perfect to use in something like this however.

Was really happy with how it turned out, but look at something that I noticed after I finished the surface stitches...

WHOOPS! It's become a cute little hat! The cotton obviously worked up tighter than the acrylic of the Panda Magnum, and it's pulled the coaster inwards, creating a curve.

I simply worked at it, stretching it out a little, and its doing just fine now. It's a little curvy towards the edges now, and I think that's simply a results of the acrylic/cotton combination. I expect it will work itself out as I use it as my new tea coaster.

Think I might do a post on surface stitches: would anyone like a paragraph or two with pictures on that?

Learning how to Spiral....

Spiral crochet has begun to pop up around my field of vision. You spiral amigurumi patterns, cute beanies can be spiraled, and coasters can be spiraled.

I love coasters, I'm learning how to follow amigurumi patterns, and making a hat is on my List Of Things To Learn. So, obviously I'm going to have to learn how to spiral crochet.

Think I could find this easily? Nope. Not on my first search of Ravelry.com. I found some nice projects, and a few patterns. But then I realised "Hey, I got that book out of the library once" when I saw a project based on a piece in "201 Crochet..." and THEN I thought "Oh Wow, I bet Jan Eaton talks about it in her "300 Crochet Techniques"!

And sure enough, she had :)

Not the best attempt, but still, a spiral :)

It's slightly curved at the edges, like I'm making a HAT, but you can't see it in the photo. Still, I guess if I kept going it will work itself out.

The trick is to start with a dc, then a htr, then work tr's around. Start off small, and increase slightly.

Going to attempt a cute coaster I've found later...

Crocheting & Olypmic-watching...

OK, so I have this fantasy that I'll sit down and crochet the WHOLE NIGHT whilst watching the Olympics.

Except, it doesn't really work that way, does it. I get distracted and end up completely fixated on the TV screen and forget the crochet I'm supposed to be doing.

I have a bit of an extra push to work on two things this week, both of which doesn't seem to be happening that much. I really want to finish the little bunny amigurumi ASAP since it's my nephew's birthday next week and I want to post it off. And I want to finish off (or at least get it all joined) the green hexagon rug for my friend. (She's having a bit more intimate time with a hospital and a radiotherapy gun...)

So we'll see how I'm doing over the weekend. I know it's only Thursday, but there are plans :)

Anyone else getting completely distracted by things on the box? Like, oh I don't know, the AWESOME BMX or the rhinestone-blinding-glittering Rhythmic Gymnastics??

Just me, huh? ;-)

hmmmm yarn

Oh dear.

I dropped by Lincraft yesterday evening on the way home from work and bought MORE YARN.

I think I must admit I have a yarn buying problem. Then again, maybe not so much of a big problem: I don't buy 30 balls at once for a project, then go out a month later and buy another 30. That would be bad - I have NO WHERE to store all that!!

I bought three balls of an acrylic to work up the amigurumi I'm working on in a different ply & hook size. Then I bought a ball of CHUNKY yarn to experiment with (hoping to share the results later in the week). I also bought my first ball of Panda Magnum in a delicious plum colour. NO idea what I'll use it for, but it's just looooovely.

Crochet = Healthy!!

No, really.

After posting yesterday about those really comfy awesome looking crochet pods, I spied this article:

Can Crochet Improve Your Immune System?

It's an except from a book called Crochet Saved My Life, and I found the article on Crochet Concupiscence.

It talks about how the immune system suffers under stress, and how crochet can help relieve that stress.

As frustrating as I can find crochet sometimes, I do find crochet very restful and UNstressful, especially when just making something simple that you don't have to follow a complicated pattern to complete.

How about you? Do you find crochet reduces your stress?

Crocheted Nets

Oh boy, I just LOVE the idea of these:

Found over on Crochet Concupiscence they are part of an installation in New York (follow the link for more details)

Working hard...

I've spent the afternoon working on my amigurumi bunny for my nephew. He's ONE this month, and very cute. I loved my bunny that I got when I was two, so I figure he might like a bunny a bit younger :)

But, I don't know. I've worked it using two strands of a 4ply cotton and it seems awfully hard and rigid. And I'm going to run out of cotton and I really don't want to because I can't go buy more till the end of the week, and I want to finish it this week.

So, I undid my bunny body, after struggling with it all afternoon. Then I worked it up in about 2 hours using the single strand. SO MUCH EASIER. Now I'm worried he'll be too loosey-goosey.

...

I'm hopeless. I'm going to try and find some happy soft thicker acrylic on the way home from work this week.

Some Flowers...

My Mum likes sending my things she finds in magazines. I like getting letters, so she's always sending across articles about the town I live in (becoming quite a little foodie town & it's a popular town to write articles about), and every now and then something arty. This week she sent me something great: it's a single page from a Better Homes & Garden magazine. I've since discovered it's from June 2009, and it's a "Field of Flowers" crocheted rug, made up of, you guessed it, flowers. No, really!

SarahLondon talked about it on her blog: "Field of Crocheted Flowers" back in 2009.

(picture from http://sarahlondon.wordpress.com/ )

Anyway, I worked up two different versions of the flower pattern in two different yarns.

Cute, huh.

This one's using Moda Vera Snuggle, 8ply, with a 4mm hook. 

This on'e using Moda Vera Marvel, 5ply I believe, with a 4mm hook.

The flowers themselves do curl slightly, which actually really works with a decorative flower.

I'd like to make a few more and cover a cushion. Don't think I could do a whole rug. The rug needs 480 flowers, which uses 60 balls of the yarn she uses in the project. O.O That's a LOT of flowers. 

Week 25: Krista Spot-Sampler Rug

Well, a bit surprisingly, it's the last week of the Krista "Spot Sampler" rug. Spotlight have combined block 25 with the joining instructions for the rug. Here's their block:

Here's the instrcutions.

I am so glad I decided to follow this crochet-along for the rug, even though I've stopped (yes) making up the squares. (When I realised I wasn't going to sew them together and actually make the rug, I decided to stop wasting the yarn, since I have "wasted" (ie, not doing anything with the work) so much of it already this year.) I have made NEW FRIENDS at the Krista Crochet Group and it's a joy being able to interact daily with other crochet fiends. (As well as all of you I reach out to every day!!) I've learned how to work new patterns in crochet and practiced new and unfamiliar stitches. Which is the entire point of a sampler rug!! :) 

This will be the last post for the Krista Rug. Thank you for following.

Keep Calm...

Spied on Crochetime for her Terrific Tuesday.

LOVE IT. Especially when we think about how large our yarn stash pile can grow... one ball is never enough, and one ball will never really add to the pile...

With the Olympics in London this week and next, seems a bit cross-appropriate :) 

Happy Horsey Birthday!

I'm not sure if this tradition is kept up anywhere else, but today in Australia, August 1st is traditionally Horses Birthday :)

This is a pretty cute little Amigurumi pattern for a horse :) Available here.

I want to say Hi :)

I want to say hi.

There are lots more people viewing my little crochet blog these days, that I want to say HI to everyone! Welcome to my corner of the internettywebbytubes!

This isn't a very crochet post, but I'll find something nifty to put up, I promise!

When I started my blog 7 months ago, it was my 2nd real attempt at a blog. I liked the idea of Tumblr, but couldn't really get it going how I wanted. I used to keep up with my first blog A City Girl Gone Country by dizzylizzybee, and that blog was started with the best of intentions!! But life intervined, and I never quite managed to achieve in moving to the country what I wanted to write about (what living on a big block of land was like, what having chickens was like, etc). Our move took about 8 months longer than I hoped, so it started to turn into more of a cooking blog (with one post being more massively successful than any other) and I wish to go back there one day. THIS blog started because I read about a craft blog where the girl (a local Melbourne girl) had posted a NEW and DIFFERENT craft project every single day last year. I thought that was an amazing effort. So with that idea, I thought "I want to post something to a blog every day" and combined with my love of crochet, One Square At A Time was born. I have a project that I wanted to finish, and a book of squares I wanted to work my way through (since I had my favourites and never seemed to move past those), so that was the reasoning behind OSAAT.

Well, my beautiful blanket for a beautiful friend is still in pieces, I haven't been able to work my way through the book (Jan Eaton's 200 Crochet Squares), and getting the flu for the first time in 15 years has meant I've missed posting on about 10 days in July.

But this blog has made me grow with my crochet. Because of searching out for new crochet things, I discovered a Crochet-Along project that Spotlight are hosting through their Facebook page which led me to join the most marvelous group, "Krista" Crochet Group. There are so many of us on their now, it's quite startling. I've discovered new ways of crocheting: new stitches, new patterns, new blocks from that book, new joining methods. I've tried to teach crochet for the first time, and am delighted in another friend's journey into starting to crochet (and she's doing so well!). I've recently written my first negative review, but still found something positive to say. I've cheekily shown you sewing projects that have nothing to do with crochet and have had to share the idea of a Sally Day (featuring Sally The Cutest Westie).

So, thank you for visiting my corner :)

Have some pincushions :) 

(from http://throughtheloops.typepad.com/ )

(Another beautiful pincusion, pattern available from Ravelry )

Nifty crochet pot-plant holder

Isn't this a beauty!!

I found this cute ripple pot-plant holder at the magical Morris and Sons in Melbourne last Friday. Magical, because one could browse their yarn boxes for ages, and magical because it's all so pricy I will only ever browse!! :D

Such a beautiful store, and the people that work there are so helpful! They aren't afraid to leave the counter and come over to have a chat about a question you have, and are real happy to do so.

I have a much happier Cyclamen that would look good with a pot-plant holder like this...

Zpagetti Yarn Review

So, I worked up the Zpagetti yarn that I showed you yesterday.

This was the HARDEST yarn I have EVER worked up. It was tough on my hands and tough to work.

I wanted to make a basket for my current project/s, which seem to take over the little table I have sitting next to the couch. It drives me nuts when I have all my crochet taking up the entire table space. I looked around for a pattern, then went to the Better Homes & Gardens magazine that I picked up at the library last weekend. Sure enough, they had a little table topper basket.

As you can see from the top picture, my basket didn't really work out like any of these. Perhaps the bigger one, but in the smaller size?

I wasn't impressed with the pattern either, but I'll talk about that later. Let's talk about the yarn.

OK so it's a material yarn, so it's going to be harder to work with than a traditional spun/acrylic yarn. But it was just so TOUGH! I wouldn't recommend this yarn to ANYONE who crochets with arthritis or 'sore hands'. It's just too hard to work. Perhaps if one could use the hook and then do more of the work as finger crochet?

This is my basket. For all the difficulty that I had working the basket, I actually really like it. It's a quick method to create a basket in a limited amount of time. It's very very sturdy.

 As you can see, it's holding two balls of cotton yarn (and my work, which is hiding!). At the moment, I have another full ball in there and another small remnant, and it's containing it all well.

I have this much yarn left over:

I could have gone around again and made the basket taller, but this is high enough for my purposes.

One of the real gripes I had with the Zpagetti yarn was where it was JOINED.

Look at that. This is a DARK BLUE yarn and they've joined it with white thread. Not impressed At ALL.

The pattern I was unhappy with as well.

They've constructed it in rounds, and it should be in spirals. Look at that ridge on the outside of the basket.





So, despite being relatively happy with the end result, I didn't enjoy working with the yarn, and I wasn't happy with the pattern. I'm glad that I bought some of the yarn at the show, since now that I've worked with it, I know that I wont be getting more to make a bigger project any time soon. Which is a shame, because I liked the look of the floor pebbles that were in the magazine that used this yarn, and I was interested in making this Cat Cave with it. It's sturdy enough, but I'd want it to be a bit softer.

Sorry Zpagetti :( It was lovely to meet you on Friday, but I didn't really enjoy working your yarn.