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.

And that was the Craft Fair!

So, yesterday I went off to the Melbourne Quilt & Craft Fair.

I worked at the fair a few years ago for a friend and I really enjoyed myself. The fair, not so much, but helping out my friend and seeing all the excited women coming through - that was good.

I really wanted to enjoy the fair this year. I hadn't been in a few years, and I'm being super crafty this year. The fair's motto is: "Come and be inspired". Yeah, not so much.

It was good to see my friend Joan, and have a look at all the gorgeous quilts that were on display. Then we walked around the fair and poked around the stalls. Not so much for a crochet girl with only about 5-6 stalls that had yarn, and I have to say some of the yarn was GORGEOUS. But there were a lot of quilt stores, and quilting isn't something I'm doing at the moment (although I have lots of material for it, and learned how to hand-patchwork a few years ago).

The fair did provide me an opportunity to check out Hooked Zpagetti yarn. I spied some designs in a Better Homes & Gardens magazine earlier in the week that I grabbed from the library and this is the yarn that was used. It seemed like a "t-shirt yarn" made of material, so I was pretty thrilled to be able to have a good look at what it was like. Hooked Zpagetti don't retail their yarn and only sell it through their website.

See? Really thick yarn. This is one of their medium cones, and it was $9.50, which was a real bargain I've discovered, since they usually sell it for $16.95! The hook in the picture is a 12mm!!! It's now the biggest hook I own. O.O







I also grabbed some more fine lace cotton, which is something I can pick up in Spotlight, but not this brand!! And the colours that were available! I couldn't not pick up some #12 cotton so I can keep trying out my smaller crochet patterns in my efforts towards learning to make doileys.

Look at those colours!! It's "Valdani" cotton, which I haven't seen before, and it was a real struggle to limit myself only to these three!! I just wanted to buy a box of it :)

Working up the Zpagetti yarn today so I'll post about it tomorrow!

Krista Rug Week 24

So I went to the Craft Fair today, which I'll write about over the weekend, but for now, here is Block 24 of the Krista rug!!

Here's the link to the pattern!

Craft Fair!!

Oh, I am TOTALLY excited. I've decided to go down to the Melbourne Quilt & Craft Fair that's on this weekend (Thurs - Sun) in the city. I was going to go, then thought I wouldn't, but a friend who was going to go today has just said she's actually going to go tomorrow, and I Thought WHY NOT!!

A gorgeous cowl.

Came across both these on Pinterest the other day..

The Black Hole Cowl by Laura Jansen. (This pattern is available as a Free Ravelry Download!!)

I just love the chunky yarn. I don't have any, and I must admit I was eyeing some off in my local yarn store last weekend....

I really love the button as well. One of my cowls is a bit too big and I've been considering popping on a button to tighten it up on cold mornings.

A new slipper...

On the weekend I worked on slippers. I wasn't particularly happy with them, especially the 2nd purple one.

So, I made another one.

 

This is in an 8ply like the previous two, but it's a stiffer yarn than the previous slippers. 

 

 AND, I used a 4mm hook, not a 5mm hook. As you can see, it fits my foot MUCH better.
 

 It's much more snug. Not sure how well it'll go over socks for winter, but it's a much better spring/summer alternative.

I didn't make the string across it quite long enough though. Bummer!

The buttons are also special: I bought them in Canada years ago, they look like wood, and these are the first thing I've ever sewn them to )

Hearts all a'flutter... (Free Pattern: Ravelry)

From Ravelry...

Creative Crochet Crew just called this one perfect for yarn bombing.

They are just gorgeous, aren't they?

Springtime In My Heart is a pattern available through Ravelry.com and can be found here.

The other slipper....

So here's the matching slipper to yesterday's footwear...

What do you mean it's a different colour???

:) I was going to quickly run out of the pinky-red, so I did the opposite for the other foot. But, look how DIFFERENT it is!!

 Baggier.

 MUCH baggier.

I know I've got skinny little feet, but this is ridiculous.

For the purple slipper, I decided to follow more the pattern, and started each row with a chain treble, and then counted. I had around 6 extra stitches by the end of the slipper, maybe more. The slipper is much 'deeper' by my heel.  And I seem to have sewed the button on in a slightly wrong position...

So, I really wanted to give them another go. But this time,  I was going to use the hook I thought was appropriate, and a different yarn. It will give a different gauge to this yarn with a 5mm hook. Turn in next time!!

Slippers! A free pattern!

Someone on the Krista Crochet Group posted up a pair of slippers. I'm not sure if it's *her* design or not, but we all seem to have jumped on the bandwagon and we're all making slippers :)

These are the first pair of slippers I've ever tried to make, and must say they were very satisfying to finish up.

The pattern is from GoodKnits.com & is called "Mary Jane Slippers". The ones that are finished up on the page look different from mine, but I simply think it's practice & a different yarn.

The pattern is in US terms as well, which I didn't realise until I started hooking it up, and I realised that her double crochet stitch was in fact a treble.

It's for worsted weight yarn, so a good 8 ply, and calls for a 5mm (H) hook. You also need a tapestry needle and a couple of buttons to sew on.

I'm not happy with the way that I've worked up the slipper, but I think it's got to do more with the fact I have very narrow feet.

See? They've turned out quite baggy, and that's following the pattern. I'm about to try a different 8 ply yarn, with a 4mm hook instead. I want the slipper to be more tightly woven, and a bit shorter towards the toe.

I have to say, they're pretty good for wearing over socks, which is what I do in winter!

As I was working this slipper up, I realised that the ball of yarn I was using was definitely NOT going to last to two slippers, so my left slipper is made in dark pink with purple edging, and the right slipper (which I have since finished after the sun went down, so a photo will go up tomorrow) is purple with red edging! The pink slipper has a pink button, and the purple slipper ended up with a pale lemon button.

The right slipper also ended up bigger in the width (so taller up through towards the heel), which I can only put down to an experiment that I did with turning and the starting chain.

I'll let you know how tonight's slippers go with the different yarn and smaller hook.

Pattern: Mary Jane Slippers
Yarn used: Moda Vera Snuggle

Krista Spot-Sampler Blocks 22 & 23

WOW coming up to the end of the Krista Crochet-along rug!! I missed last week's square (week 22) because of the flu, so tonight I'm posting today's up with last weeks.

Week 22!

Instructions for week 22...
And the marvelous Kim's square:

And ... Week 23!

Instructions for Week 23

Here's the marvelous Kim's version:

Square by Kim Stockton

Free Form Crochet

A friend on twitter directed me to this website today:

From http://leblogdemarie.fr/

 What a stunning piece of freeform crochet.

The website is actually in French, and the author (Marie) labels it "Crocheter en liberte", which means "liberated crocheter".

It's made me want to tackle freeform crochet which I've always ALWAYS put aside on a shelf for something maybe to try at one point in the future. This has just brought it a little closer.

But for now, I have a bunny to make! Tomorrow I am going to find some appropriate bunny-coloured cotton to make my bunny for a little man out of. It needs to be sewn together super well, because apparently he's just started walking!!

Monster Pillow

Well, this is the cutest pillow ever.

This pillow is apparently for "Karen Zurn". Karen, I love the pillow that you've reserved :)

And in fact, Debi Vanzyl (Etsy shop) I love your Beast Pillow.

I shouldn't be posting this here, because this pillow is actually knitted. But I'd love to create my own Beast Pillow. It totally reminds me of a monsters cartoon that used to be on TV.

Flu!

Well it's been about a week since my last post, and I wanted to come online and apologise to everyone who reads my blog.

I've had the flu.

This might not mean much, but I haven't had the flu in around 15 years, and it absolutely floored me for the past week. I couldn't even think about crocheting for about 3-4 days in there, and haven't done much in the past 8 days.  I'm hoping to get back on the crochet wagon this week and back to normal posting.

Sorry everyone! Have a Sally :)

My current project!

What could it be??

It looks like...

a cup.

Doesn't it. A receptical.

And it is! A receptical... of STUFFING!!!

It's the body of the little rabbit I'm making for a cute little man :) I'm not sure *this* one will be his rabbit (it is made out of black yarn after all) but I wanted to get going on it and make sure I could made the rabbit. Then, if I don't like the yarn I'm working with (which I'm not sure I do) I'll go buy some nice soft hard-wearing cotton! In a cute bunny colour :) like ... fawn. Or dark brown. Or... Lilac.

Nah... just kidding ;-)

Block #69... African Flower!!

Isn't she a beauty :)

I made up this gorgeous hexagon a few weeks ago from a pattern I found, but I'll be blowed if I can remember where it came from. I'll come back and edit this post if I do remember.

I love the colours I've used though. It's my new coaster at home :)

EDIT (13/9/12): Here's the link! African Flower Hexagon Crochet Tutorial by Heidi Bears Creative Went looking for it tonight to make a few more ;-)

My little society of Amigurumi's!!

Aren't they CUTE!!!

NAwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!

There's the little pink squid missing from the photo, but these are the little guys hanging around our flat these days :)

I was sooo excited to realise that I had a friend that REALLY needed a little monster to hang around with her, and then ANOTHER friend had just moved into a new place and needed a new little monster too, so last week I had the opportunity to make three little monsters for some friends :)

Week 21!!! Krista Spot-Sampler Rug

Holy... when did it become week 21 of this crochet-along???

Another week, another shocking photo ;-)

Here's Kim's from the Krista group...

Because Kim is awesome :)

Here's the link to the pattern!

Owl Mug Cosy!!!

I have to share this Owl Mug cosy that I found today...

(Photos copyright of Justyna Kacprzak)

Because it is the CUTEST THING EVER!!

I shared it on Facebook after someone mentioned to me on Twitter (let's just stop for a moment here and go "Ahhhhh social networking..." *grin*) that they would LOVE IT if I could make her one of these for work. Then I had a bunch of other friends mention how they'd LOVE IT if I could make THEM one too.

(Photos copyright of Justyna Kacprzak)

I seem to have 6 or 7 orders for these all of a sudden :)

This pattern is available to buy through Craftsy.com for USD$3.50, which is a steal. I love it :)

(Photos copyright of Justyna Kacprzak)

I know I'll definitely by buying it ASAP.

More Amigurumi & a FREE tutorial..

... but it isn't mine.

Check out these adorable critters!!

(Photos copyright of Kervei)

Aren't they CUTE!!

They're from http://kervei.blogspot.nl and they are just the cutest quick owls!!

Here's the tutorial for them - it's FREE! - scroll down through the Dutch instructions (unless you're fortunate enough to read Dutch! This isn't me...) for the English instructions :)

(Photos copyright of Kervei)

I really love how she's set them in a budding bare tree :)