The best and the worst

This week has seen both aspects of the crochet world.

The good bit is the bunting for Yarndale. Lucy of Attic 24 designed the basic triangle and sent out a request for people to make some. The packages are coming in now, literally from all over the world. It's amazing the way crochet has brought us all together.

The bad bit is about Heidi bears. She designed the magical Happypotamus which people like so much, an elephant and the latest, a pony which is going to become a unicorn.

Her patterns are really thorough, with photos to help at all the tricky bits, and the designs are exciting. Now, however, someone is pirating  her designs. It's so easy to buy one pattern and then photocopy it for friends. I won't do that, because designers have to make a living or they stop designing. But to issue the pattern on the internet is appalling. Please support these independent designers and stay away from the cheats!

I'm working on classes, so playing with post stitches. Here we have the front

and back

of a cushion.

I paid a flying visit to the shop this morning and was chatting to Phil about the need to demonstrate stitches, and moaning about the slow progress. He suggested I do a throw. I pooh-poohed the idea (sorry, Phil!) but then came home and thought about it some more. Making swatches is a lot faster than cushions, and they can be joined when I'm ready.

So here we have one of my favourite swirly things, adapted to make a square:

 and a pattern adapted from The Harmony Guide to Crochet Stitches. This one was very difficult to photograph, to get the texture, but it does demonstrate a use of crochet chains:

This morning Julie was stroking more new wool - Louisa Harding Mila. The colours are stupendous.

And finally, a lovely thing that happened today: a thank-you note from Doreen's granddaughter Ellie for the hippo I made her. It even had a drawing of a hippo. I'm still smiling.

Never too hot

to crochet! But it's all motifs, because it's much too hot to have stuff on my knee.

So what's new? Well, not much. Here we have (yet another) hippo, this one for Doreen's granddaughter.

Please note the turquoise eyes!  I've just one more to finish, then on to elephants and a unicorn. Jules and I have been playing with colours for the unicorn; you can't have anything ordinary for a magic creature.

Time is being spent on projects for crochet workshops: if you learn post stitches, this is what you can do ... sort of thing. So this is the start of a blanket for a Moses basket:

Then there's this:

I was thinking of a bag, but then Rhiannon thought it was a tortoise, so perhaps a tortoise cushion?

And:

Note the spiral theme. I love making them! This one is an experiment to create a cat cushion. I think it might have to be a black cat with a white chest.

It's been fairly quiet in the shop - in fact Bournville has been quiet. Jules and I have been drooling over yarn - of which more later - and I'm ashamed to say I was sniffy to the rep over the crochet patterns. OK, they look like stuff from the seventies, they're very simple and dull,  but I didn't have to tell him.

There's a nice write-up of our Marie Curie day in 'Knit Now!' magazine:



Jules is closing down the funds for this year with the total at £2,600! She and Caroline worked so hard on all the unseen stuff, but that total is pretty great, and it's nice to see them getting the publicity they deserve.

Don't worry, we'll carry on raising money by making little toys etc during the year.

So many choices, so little time

After a very happy workshop on Saturday with Sandy, her aunt, and Sharon, I have a week to concentrate on plans. They might be plans for future workshops, or for patterns, or just for crochet - who knows?

Sandy went off with some no 20 crochet cotton to make ear rings. It occurs to me that we could do a workshop for crochet ear rings so Jules, Caroline and I had a discussion about stocking crochet cotton. What we really need is a supply of little balls like these from Yarnstick :

They have enough thread to experiment with, and not so much that you'll never be able to use it all.  Nice earrings, a chance to use beads. Yes, we'll try that.

After Gillian appeared at our last night with a stunning new knitted bag, I've been experimenting with crochet motifs for the same effect. Here we have part of a cushion in Drops Poem:

I really like making these little hexagons; the swirl is created by post stitches, which I love doing.

 And then Julie pointed me towards some new sock yarn.

The colours are much brighter than the photo shows. I'm in love.  I'm thinking of making the green/blue ones into a tortoise.

I'm not going to show - yet - two new Katia yarns which have fantastic colours. I need a rainy day to try for a decent photo. Or you could come to the shop, and see the whole column of vibrant colour.

The weather having finally decided to be summer, motifs are much more appealing than something that warms the thighs! So how about a workshop for a freeform bag? I love doing Irish crochet rose leaves, so here's one with another leaf I was trying:

Caroline says the rose leaf is like a cactus.  But I don't want cacti on my bag!

On the other hand, I was wondering if they could be turned into Christmas trees. In case you don't know, Bournville has the most beautiful Christmas tree. One of the trees in the ground of the Quaker meeting house is decorated; when you first see it, it takes your breath away, and it becomes a symbol of Christmas.

Other motifs I like:

The surface crochet is fun to do, and perhaps a topic for another workshop. (The big one is Aran weight, the greeny one is Bergere de France 4-ply Coton 50.) But what shall I make with them?

If my hands would work faster, or there were more hours in the day, see how creative I could be!

Workshops are back!

We began the new 'term' on Tuesday afternoon. Jules and Caroline had done a great job on the workroom; Phil's painting of the shop looked good on the wall, and the bunting around was an inspired thought.

People who come for their first workshop are often really nervous. That makes me nervous too, because I don't want to put them off the craft! Linda, on Tuesday, was surprised that she was tired; most learners aren't used to concentrating so hard, for such long spells. Linda, in fact, did very well, and has gone off vowing to practise.

So now I'm preparing for Saturday.

The wool is wound - granny squares are more fun with multiple colours.













I'm still working on content. This is a square from Debbie Bliss:

It's really pretty, BUT the flower is complicated unless you use different yarn for each of 3 rounds of petals, which leaves so may ends to get rid of. So I tried a pattern by Kristin Omdahl:

Much simpler, but too hole-y - the holes take away from the flower. So this morning I tried adapting it:

I like this one better. But first I have to write it up.

On Saturday Sandy, one of our Knitting group is coming for the workshop, so I want to make sure she has something new to learn.

So I have to write up the flower square, add the needle finish to the general instructions, tinker with the mug cosy and print out the lessons. I keep trying to cut down on the amount of paper I shower people with, but I'm failing ... miserably.

That was a week, that was!

Monday night, Julie and Caroline took off for Scotland, to go to the Robbie concert with Sally.

That left Doreen in charge, with me as sidekick. We had one or two very interesting customers. One lady was from Australia, and had found us because she wanted the ribbon scarf yarn. We were a bit shocked when her card machine receipt came out in Australian dollars!

Then there was the Spanish lady who had virtually no English. She'd brought in a t-shirt with a couple of little holes in it, and we offered different ways of mending. You try it, without any language in common!. But we found something she was happy with and she went away smiling.

Then there was the lady who bought the fluorescent green Stylecraft Special. She wanted to make caterpillars! She breeds moths (why would you?) and has a whole load of these caterpillars IN HER BEDROOM! Now bear in mind that I hate moths. I hate moths with a passion. But I smiled ...

Julie and Caroline came hurtling back on Wednesday for Stitch Bournville. There we had our newest member: baby Louis, aged 9 weeks. You can see Caroline got a cuddle!

Then the group picked out the raffle winners from the Marie Curie day. This is my prize (sorry, Maureen!)

Thursday I blocked my entry for Bournville Summer Show:

It came out much bigger than I expected. Now you have to bear in mind that this is our fifth year living in Bournville, and each year I was going to enter but couldn't decide what to make. This year I went through: a maypole, a Matellasse blanket, a mask for Blodeuwedd, a piece of crochet overlay etc.

When I'd blocked this I changed my mind again, and asked for a top I made for Rhiannon, which she has never worn.

Friday I finished the 22 sheepy key rings.

Saturday morning, at nine o'clock, I was standing over Julie while she finished her entry, and rushed her so much we forgot to take a photo. It's a tea cosy made of the ribbon yarn, with sandwiches and cakes on top. The sandwiches were particularly clever! We hustled round to the Sports ground and found the marquee in less than hi-tech form, with ladies drawing out labels for entries because they had run out of printed ones...

We managed to get back to the shop before Maureen arrived, so she didn't even know we'd entered and could go off to judge completely impartially. Jules got a Highly Commended, and I won!

Looks impressive, but I'll tell you a secret: there was only one other entry!

I'd like to say I'm looking forward to a quiet week, but with 2 happypotamuses and one elephant to make for commissions, and two lessons to prepare for, there's not much chance.

Tales from a wool shop

Let's begin with a moan. On Friday we had a delivery of seven boxes from Katia, and Jules and I drooled over the loveliness. There are some lovely glittery yarns, and even lovelier multicolour. I carried round a favourite, like a teddy bear, all day. Yesterday Rhiannon went down to the shop, and GUESS WHAT SHE CAME BACK WITH!

She's even started knitting with it!

We've had some interesting customers in this week. For example, there were a couple from Seattle on a 3-month tour of England. They were, I think, looking for woven things, but had found their way to us.

Then we met Charlotte's little sister Evie for the first time, and she sat on my knee and gave us the sweetest of smiles. 

There were some duh! moments, like the lady who wanted lace for the bottom of a doll's dress and looked as if we were geniuses when we suggested crocheting round the bottom. These are the moments I like best in the shop, when we're trying to solve someone's problem. Sometimes it's difficult to believe the ignorance of people - like the woman who insisted you could not crochet with the same yarn as you knit with. But then there are the fascinating ones, like people completing their projects for design degrees. Of course they are often dashing in at the last minute and are really grateful for our suggestions.

A particularly welcome visitor was baby Mia:

She's so pretty! I hope her parents took away the hippo Phil commissioned for her: meet Fenella.

Notice the violet eyes! These hippos have been a real success in the shop; they are very pattable, with their lovely fat bums, and attract a lot of attention. Some people have gone away with details of how to get the pattern. (Pity we're not on commission!) My first two were raffled for the Marie Curie fund, and we have Catherine's in the shop being raffled now; I think we have sold something like £60 of raffle tickets so far. I love her multi-coloured one:



I have commissions for another two, (both pink! yuk) and then I'm going on to Heidi Bears elephant.

Today I'm working on Zoe's fairy slippers. They look weird, but I hope they will be magically transformed by the power of Zoe's foot. If not, I'll try again.

Next week Jules and Caroline are off to Scotland for a couple of nights so Doreen is in charge and I'm the underling. Phil is off to Liverpool for a boxing match, so we really are on our own. Then on Wednesday we have Stitch Birmingham and will be able to tell our knitting friends the latest on our fund-raising.

At the moment the total is about £2,400, and still rising. Next year's will be even better ...

Joining grannies

I'm still working on the granny squares for workshops. I want a few patterns which students can choose from to practise the basics. This - with ends darned in and cord applied - will be a bag for a little girl.

I've been playing with mug cosies for some time. The problem with them is that they tend so stretch and fall off the mug, even when they are fastened. Here we have my latest:

You can see how much I enjoy darning in the ends!

This is 3 small granny motifs with a double crochet edging. When you get to the short end, you work into the back loop only. This gives a stretchy bit which will (I hope) make the cosy stay on. It's going to be fastened with 2 linked toggles.Students will get a pack - yarn, mug, toggles, pattern.

Today (day off) I'm going to be joining the motifs for my third hippo. Lynne came in yesterday with queries about motifs, so I thought I'd show you my method of joining. I always join as I go, so from the second motif onward, on the last round, this is what I do:

The motif on the right is finished, so I'm working the last round of trebles on the one on the left. When I get to a place where I want to join, I work one chain, then take out the hook. (If you lengthen the loop as you do it, you'll avoid accidents). I insert hook where the join is to be, and pick up the working loop again.

Work one chain, and then I continue trebles on the unfinished motif. You can vary the number of chains to get different effects, or even use none at all.

Next I'm going to work on variants of grannies - rectangles, and then one with a little granny in the corner.

People - well, one person - has asked about Teasel, the newcomer to our home. She is settling in well, though it has taken three weeks, and is gradually exploring the house. Here we have her after a session of mad torture of the fish given her by Amanda.



You will all have recognised that I am rubbish at photos. I know it's a combination of impatience and ignorance, but I want to be crocheting. I asked son Gareth for photos of Teasel, and not content with a plain ordinary photo, he comes up with Ghost Cat.




But being 'artistic', he can't do my photos for me: he has to be 'inspired' and have the 'conditions right'.

So you'll have to put up with mine.