Sunday 31 March 2013

Blog Week 2013 Coming Up

Dis amper tyd vir Blog Week 2013!  





Blog Week gee deur middel van interessante onderwerpe en 'n groot groep deelnemers lekker blootstelling aan pragtige werk en hope inspirasie.

Onderwerp verlede jaar het ingesluit 'n Photography Challenge, My Crochet Heroes, Improving My Skillset,  The Unbalanced Crafter, en vry onderwerpe waarvan ek besluit het op Wave Your Flag.

Some photo's of my contributions for Blog Week 2012


Kyk by Eskimimi Makes vir meer inligting.  Blog Week begin 22 April, onderwerpe word Maandag bekend gestel. Verseker gaan ek weer deelneem! 

Thursday 28 March 2013

A blanket for Tracer's baby

Tracer is "our" waitress at one of our regular pitstops.  When our Little Man (no almost 9) started to walk, we would choose the corner seats, line up the couches to make a little "cage", and he could happily stumble around the coffee table. She used to serve that corner and we quickly became "her" customers - to the point that wherever we get a table now, that poor waiter has to succumb and she will serve our table :-)

The Little Man now wolves down two of his own cinnamon sugar pancakes, instead of nibbling at bits of mine; and he's also brother to a five year old Bull Calf - both loved by Tracer.

She's a single parent, struggling to get out of waitressing, to get a better job.
She also lost a baby a couple of years ago.

So we shared her joy when she announced that a little one is on his way and I thought a little blanket would make a nice gift.

Enter my stash-busting endeavour and pile of Elle Rustica:

A Granny Stripe baby blanket

I wanted to use broad stripes, then realised that some of my colours would not stretch that far! So after a few repeats, the stripes became narrower, and after a few more the stripes became...single stripes.

Rustica is a soft, 20% wool blend, with lovely muted colours.   A also used it for my eldest's Giant Granny (that's the one I'm hooking in my banner photo). It has these black speckles and tend to become a bit pile-y, but is also a hard-working yarn that can withstand lots of use.  I tried to use all my blues, greens, khaki's and browns, with the white thrown in to brighten things up.


Softness


The blankie was delivered last week (she's still working!) and our baby is due 10 April.


Ready for delivery

Saturday 23 March 2013

Friday 22 March 2013

Holiday Hooking

Today my sis will depart from icy-cold, rainy, stormy Ireland and pitstop in London on her way to still-hot South Africa. We'll spend some time in the bushveld, some in the city, but most at the beach.

Some hooky might go along:

Yarn to compete a flowery scarf for a dear friend returning to Germany after many years here:
(Vinnis Serina and one ball of One of a Kind 4ply cotton)


Not sure about the variegated yet


Trying out a shawl pattern:


Supersoft chunky cotton with Rowan Tweed


Maybe the other scarf pattern as well...


Two strands of bamboo together


Using stash to finish some beanies


The variegated might be knitted


What about the mobile hooking-while-sitting-next-to-the-swimming-pool-and-outside-kung-fu-and-at-the-school-gate-project?


If you're thinking "Plan E"you might be right :-)
Oh shoot, it's taken upside down!


PS - They just landed in London after circling for 30 minutes.

Roll on tomorrow.






Friday 15 March 2013

What I did with the old crochet blanket

Remember I had this old, ultra-bright, not-so-pretty old-fashioned granny-rectangle blanket, that I wanted to bring up to the 21 century?

Did I say "old-fashioned"?


My first plan was to maybe make a patch-cover with very colourful fabric - remainders from cushions made for outside (If you can't beat it, join it...)

Then I thought may be denim, to tone it down.  

No, maybe a warm red fleece, to make it nice and snuggly for the kids. (And even went and bought 2m of fleece fabric!)

And then I went back to denim, because I have a pile of nice, soft denim.


I did say bright...


And then I thought, bugger it all, just use it like that on the spare bed. Going for the vintage look, we have the parquet floors and buckskin ready:


Instagram can make it look better :-)


But then last night I just thought I'd take it to Hospice, because I really don't like it.  It's not pretty.  

What to do?

It might live on the bed until after the holiday, then I'll decide.  

Meanwhile...open or folded?






Saturday 9 March 2013

A morning at the markets

When  my eldest was a baby, we'd be up very early Saturday mornings (well, every morning).  What to do at 05h00 on a Saturday?  You go to the market, of course.  

Pretoria has quite a few markets, catering to the needs and wants of most everybody in town.  One of the most popular, and the place where can usually be found on a Saturday, is the Pretoria Farmer's Market (and here). It starts very early in the morning...you can have your breakfast and fresh coffee at 05h00, with the birds.  Even in winter, when it's still dark, people will be there with headlamps, warming their hands around the fires.    You'd want to go early - by 10h00 everything is over and from 09h00 you'd be lucky to still get food.  

This morning, we were a bit late, but still had a good start to the day...


Chicken and venison for later today
(Had my breakfast pie here, as well).


A favourite - ginger, coffee and vanilla biscuits


Two strings of beads to use as Plan C for handles for a handbag I hooked



Old crochet books for Ons Hekel



Recycled tin candlesticks to use outside



Fresh honey for my husband



Ooh he sneaked in something for coffee time!



Marinated goat's feta, olives and sundried tomato



And a lazy Saturday morning wouldn't be complete without a quick pitstop to Bellbottoms (and here)...


Just unpacked, just for me!


 Roll on two weeks, when my sis arrives from Ireland and come to the market directly from the airport!
What better way to stretch your legs after 11 hours in the air - in the South African sunshine with coffee and a vetkoek ready.


Tuesday 5 March 2013

A hat for Gené

I don't usually like to copy a pattern that is raging through Blogland...ok, except for the Neat Ripple that I always want to hook!  So even though beautiful,  no wall flower hangings, or owls etc. was going to be hooked here.  But then I saw my friend GenĂ© the other day, and she's undergoing chemo, starting to lose some hair, and Lucy's hat was relatively recently posted...so I offered a hat.

I still had some lovely soft Vinni's stashed. She preferred the cotton (Vinnis Nikkim), which was a good choice, I think. The hat looks more floppy than Lucy's, but it had to be very soft and comfortable.  'Khaki'  must be one of my absolute favourite Nikkim colours, I love the subtle variation in the hand-dye.

Ek hou gewoonlik nie daarvan om 'n patroon te doen wat die gier van die oomblik is in Blog-land nie...maar Lucy se hoedjie was 'n uitsondering toe ek iets wou maak vir vriendin GenĂ©.  Sy is tans besig met chemoterapie en wil nie 'n pruik kry nie, daarom wou ek haar 'n mooi hoedjie gee. 
Gelukkig lĂª daar hope Vinnis in die kas rond. Sy het die Nikkim-katoen bo die bamboes verkies, 'n goeie keuse omdat dit lekker sag is.  Die 'Khaki' is seker een van my gunsteling Nikkim-kleure. 


One soft, floppy hat done

The flowers are the Pointy Petal flower of Crochet with Raymond and the leaves are Lucy's.  I used Vinnis Serina (bamboo).
Die blompatroon is die  Pointy Petal flower van Crochet with Raymond en die blare is van  Lucy. Vir beide het ek Vinnis Serina (bamboes) gebruik.


Two flowers to brighten it up


I like the hat. Hope it fits!  
Shall I try a wintry one as well? 
Here I'm parading it at our regular Craft Share get-together (more about that in a next post)

Craft Sharing


Ek hou van die hoedjie.  Hoop dit pas!
Dink ek moet 'n winter-ene ook probeer...
En hier poseer ek ewe by ons laaste Craft Share.

Ed.  It does fit and totally matches her eyes :-)