applehead

flower power...

Every year, at the beginning of December, my parents would take my sister, brothers and I into town to see the David Jones Christmas windows. For me it always marked the start of the Christmas season....on Saturday evening, we decided to take Rose and Charlotte into the city for their first look at the windows. I'm not sure who was the most excited: the girls or myself! This year the windows are based on well loved Christmas carols acted out by a host of marionettes. Above each scene is Santa, holding the strings "making" the puppets work. My favourite was the Twelve days of Christmas window with the beautiful pear tree, complete with partridge and two very chic looking "French" hens!  Afterwards we stopped for gelato as a special treat to round off the evening. Definitely the start of a family ritual.....

Now that I have moved into a Christmas frame of mind I have started ( amongst all of other on-the-go projects) to think about what I might make for various family and friends.
One of my gift ideas calls for some crocheted flowers so I have started trialling a few different styles. After the response to the 100 flower scarf pattern ( I have seen some of the results here and there- so lovely to see) I thought that I may as well pop up the patterns as I go for anyone who might want to use them.

Here is crochet flower # 1...the basic five petal flower....( I have used an 8 ply wool and 3.50mm or size 9 hook)

#1 Five petal flower

To begin: Chain 5 and join with Sal st to first chain to form ring. ( if you prefer use the base adjustable ring method which results in a perfect centre every time...I use it for everything now...)

Round 1: Ch 2 ( counts as 1 dc) and work 14 dc into the ring, sl st to beginning chain.

Round 2: *Ch 4, skip 2 dc, sl st into next dc: repeat from * 4 more times ending in last stitch in base of beginning chain.

Round 3: in each Ch 4 space work 1dc, 4 tr ,1 db tr, 4 tr, 1 dc: join with a sl st to first dc.

End yarn, leaving a tail for stitching or joining if desired.

(Note: Instructions are British/European so for US/Canadian use sc for my dc and dc for my tr.)

The great thing about this flower is that you can stop after the second round and have a small very basic flower like the blue one on the left...I have used these on hairclips (and I'm sure that there will be few of those in Christmas stockings this year!)

The pink flower on the right is made in a Manos Del Uruguay Handspun Semi Solid kettle dyed yarn, one of my favourites( you should see the colours!) with a slight variation in round 3: into each 4 ch space I have worked 1 dc, 9 tr, 1 dc to give a more rounded petal shape.It had been worked on the same size hook so it is only the wool that makes the difference in size.

Calendar update.....almost there with my special dates pages and my April pages for the other calendar should start arriving at their new homes this week....hope you all like them!

Note added 27/11/2010 - there is now a very tedious and not very well shot video tutorial of this here

 

13 down, 14 pages to go....

April is completed and will go into the post tomorrow....off to the USA, Ecuador,Israel, The Netherlands, Portugal and Australia! Once I worked out what final touch was missing ( and added it) I was pleased with the outcome. All I need to do now is to take a couple of photos to post on the Flickr group page - can't wait to see what turns up in my letter box.....

In the meantime ( ie between cutting and pasting and painting) I have finally managed to turn these...

one pilled but much loved tee...

and a plain and rather boring tank

into this!

So now I don't have to say goodbye to one of my favourites....

and hopefully these ATC's for Marieke will have arrived safely in The Netherlands...

spinning 'round.....

On Friday , in Hyde Pak, I met my first real "live" blogger from Counting mermaids ...admittedly I was a little nervous as I had little idea what to expect( what if we didn't click or worse still really didn't like each other?). I hadn't even thought to ask JT what she looked like. However I thought I would be quite easy to spot, in my head-to- toe freeform crochet outfit ( just joking and no offence to those who enjoy this artform but I truly just don't get it.....).After a pleasant 15 minutes playing spot-the-craft-blogger, JT turned up and we somehow recognised each other.

Remember all of the knitting books I had up last week, for sale or swap? Well lucky for me, JT was interested in a few of them and I was very keen to find someone to teach me to hand spin wool on a drop spindle. Take a look at the Counting mermaids blog and the amazing ,covetable wool that JT makes and you can see why I was a little bit excited about this swap. A few emails later and it was all a done deal. So Friday saw us in the park, talking and spinning ( rather awkwardly on my part but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it).Even though I've only just begun I've found that there's something very satisfying about the process. I can't wait to try knitting something from wool I've spun myself.
As part of our swap JT put together a spinning kit for me with a drop spindle, Kool Aid for dyeing wool,wool rovings and batts (some of which she had hand dyed herself) and a wonderful "magic" ball of her own hand dyed and spun wool. I can't wait to see what falls out as I'm using it. The girls also had their own parcel to open - a notebook made from vintage Golden book covers. Here take a look yourself....

At the very bottom of the bag were these little labelled packs of all sorts of fibres.....my own little fibre library!

Oh, and JT had mistakenly made a batch of caramel slice ( they were meant to be shortbread with chocolate but the recipe seemed to be quite misleading) and had brought along a container of it for me to take home. I don't know about you, but anyone who can make up a batch of caramel slice by mistake is a winner in my books! Needless to say I came away from my spinning lesson a very happy camper indeed.......thanks JT and stay tuned for some pictures of my first attempts!

happy me....

I finally brought home my "three girls"...a screen print by Dashenka Prozehazka

It is hanging right outside my office ...I'm about to do an ATC doll swap which I think will be inspired by these girls. Damian wasn't quite sure about it when I first brought it home but I think it's growing on him....

This is my current favourite old photo that came in the same box of old letters that I have been using to do my calendar swap pages....it is of the 1913 Edithburgh Methodist Girls Guides. I wonder why they had all dressed up in Japanese costumes? Can anyone tell me where Edithburgh is?
No paper pack for this photo...my collection just keeps on growing.....

no hustle in my bustle...

First of all I saw the lovely one made and modeled by Nikkishell and I then followed her link to here ....and discovered the Miss Twiss Hustle Bustle skirt.After taking a look at what other people had made using her pattern i jumped right in and hit that "Buy Now" button. I actually received my pattern a few months back ( lovely heavy brown paper and too lovely to cut up so I just used the measurements instead) but have been too busy to make it. Then last night I had hit a brick wall with regard to my April calendar pages...they are so close to being finished but there is something missing. And I haven't yet worked out just what that something is! So I decided that the time had come for me to make my very own Hustle bustle.
The pattern is really simple and goes together very quickly. A few seams , a few button holes and a long tie and, voila, you have a Hustle bustle skirt. The only problem was, that when I tried mine on it just didn't look right. Too much fabric across the front and my bustle didn't look at all like the perky numbers everyone else was turning out.Did I have the tie threaded up correctly? Check.Was it , in fact on back to front? No. Definitely the right way around.It was getting rather late so I went to bed a little sad that my bustle was not all that it should be.
As soon  as Charlie went down for her sleep I hit the machine again as it had occurred to me that by simply changing the position of the buttonholes, I could solve the problem of the excess front fabric and hopefully the drooping bustle. And it worked. My bustle had found its hustle! ( I can't believe that I couldn't work this out  the night before....)
Here it is, in all its bustling glory. ( you can see by the photos that not only am I the model but also the photographer!)

If you have been thinking about getting the pattern and making one of these...do it now! It really is an ingenious little design and ( barring the slight issue with sizing) took me about an hour and a half from start to finish.....what's not to love about it!

steep learning curve

I am making progress with my pages for the calendar swap hosted through this blog....after several false starts I have in my mind exactly what I want my "special dates" page to look like ( although I have yet to come up with a title I like ....)

So far the making of the pages has involved an incredible amount of masking tape, layers of paint and gel medium as well as fabric, a  beautiful poem by Christina Rossetti and an old wedding invitation from 1919.
I have learned how to make a textured background as well as a few different ways to transfer images onto that ground ( not all successful and one less that pleasant...using acetone to transfer a laser copy is rather toxic even when done outside. Now I know what I hate about nail polish- removing it!)
I can't wait to finally see a complete page...I only hope that it comes close to what I have pictured or at least close to capturing the right mood.

Almost there.

rain...what rain?....

it started to pour at the beginning of the opening song and by the end of the second one we were soaked...but did I care ?
Not one bit.
After all U2 were up on stage and I was there to see it,hear it and sing and dance along with it! I could have stayed there all night.
Brilliant and unforgettable...need I say more ?
What a way to start the weekend!

I'm very good at starting things but seem to have a bit of a problem with the finishing...I crocheted these funny slippers for Charlie in an evening, made the little flowers the next afternoon and then sat them on a shelf . For some reason I ran out of steam just as I reached the stage of sewing on the buttons. Literally five minutes work. That took me three weeks to get around to doing!
Ah, well they're done now and I'm rather happy with them. I was inspired by  the pattern for these cuties in this book- however I could work only follow the chart up to the end of the sole and then I had to wing it from there.
I think that they look almost the same - at least they turned out roughly the same size!
Very cute on and Charlie loves them - only she refused to stand still in them long enough to let me take a shot with little feet in them.They're kind of round and dolly looking and they are great for sliding around our back room in . Hence the lack of a still shot...think I'd better be a spoil sport and put a non- slip sole on them before she comes to grief in them.

Sadly, I think I'm a bit past the age for a pair of these with pom poms on them....( this from a mama who gets around in a pair of pink bunny slippers......but only when no-one's looking......)

just a peek

I have almost finished my pages for the calendar swap hosted by simple me..here's a small glimpse...

Don't want to give too much away but it involves vintage sheet music, lots of paint and some old letters from the late 1800's and early 1900's . I bought a box of them at an auction a while back, intending to put them in the paper packs....of course , that was my intention....
Needless to say that box of old letters is still safely perched on my bookshelf - it is only now that I have been able to find just the right project to use them in.
Just a few final touches ( ahhh, the actual month that I'm doing would probably help) and then its on to my pages for the calendar swap that I'm hosting......I have the special dates page and I'm pretty sure I know what I am going to do.
Although that does depend on which way the wind is blowing on the day , of course......

Now , books...I have a lot of them. Some of them I use a lot and would never dream of parting with. Others,like these above,I enjoyed looking at but never really used them after that. Now what to do with them? I was going to put them on Ebay but decided to see if anyone out there is interested in them. All of them are in excellent  condition ( I must confess that Alterknits, Great Knitted gifts, Sarah Dallas Knitting , Stitch and bitch and the Motif book are basically as new...looked at then put onto the shelf until now...).

What do you think- should I put a price on them or offer them for swaps?  Or should I just stick them on Ebay? All I know is that it is time for them to go! Have a look at them here and email if you have any thoughts.( I forgot to take a seperate photo of "Stitch and Bitch" but it is up for offer too!)
( PS keep in mind that postage in Australia is not really an issue - between $4 and $9  - however for all of the international readers, it would probably work out cheaper to buy them off Amazon! If you are still interested let me know...)

update...1000 knitting motifs,Alterknits,Great Knitted Gifts and Simple Knits are gone!And I'm going to learn how to spin wool! What a great swap!