Archive | Crochet

Our Week

By Linda on June 30, 2012 in Crochet, Family, Gardening, Knitting

Thank you so much for all your lovely comments and messages about Beans the Cat Pattern, I am so happy you like him and a few Beans patterns have already been knitted up and shared on Ravelry. I really love seeing your knitted projects so thanks for sharing them:) I will be adding a few more free patterns soon over the next few days.

It has been a cold week here in Johannesburg. The fires are lit early in the mornings so we can keep warm. Our homes here in South Africa aren’t built for really cold weather so when the temperature drops below -1C it’s usually colder inside our home than outside!

We’ve had a scare with Jen this week, she hasn’t been feeling too well, she has been for blood tests and we have discovered that her insulin levels are four times higher than they should be! We have a wonderful doctor who is guiding us through this. We are changing our diet to low GI, cutting out all refined sugar, white pasta and flour etc… and we will move forward from here. Please would you keep her in your thoughts…

Do you remember this wool blanket that I made on my knitting machine? It’s finally finished, Jen and I crocheted a border around the edge and it’s so lovely and soft…

This morning we cooked our feathered girls some oats for breakfast to keep them warm.

Early morning frost on out roof.

We have been pruning and cutting back some of our trees, all the wood is dried out in bags and will be used for next winter’s fires.

I love finding little drawings on the walls outside, so sweet:)

I’m really not sure what’s been eating my spinach and lettuce, it isn’t birds, our veggie garden is enclosed with shade cloth, perhaps it’s rats or insects?? So this is what I have decided to do to try and combat the problem. I am going to recycle my milk bottles into little cloches to try and give these plants a chance. I really would like my veggies to grow so I can use them in salads and green juices. I’ll let you know how it goes. Any advice here would be appreciated.

The frost also took three of our potato plants. We pulled them out today and I was so happy to find a few potatoes still looking amazing underground.

Have a lovely weekend!
Linda

Father’s Day Crocheted Beanie

By Linda on June 20, 2011 in Crochet, Father’s Day Beanie

Father’s day was lovely yesterday, Richard started his day off by doing what he loves… riding his mountain bike. He went on a 50km bike ride through the farms, came home and had a full breakfast. My folks joined us for a family braai for lunch, it was a lovely day…

I have been wanting to make Richard a wool beanie hat for quite some time, so on Saturday afternoon, I got out my crochet hook, (yes, you did hear me correctly, crochet hook) and some chunky Merino wool and I started making him a beanie. It was such a quick project, I really want to keep making them!
I see another obsessive phase of crochet beanie making starting here, if I say so myself!
I think it was the amount of time it took to put this together, if I remember correctly, an hour tops… I crocheted Richard’s in a chunky handspun Merino yarn called Cement Wash…

The girls were so excited about their dad’s beanie that they asked me how I made it, I showed them and within 45 minutes they had both made themselves one!

Ok, so if you would like to make a Father’s Day Beanie, here are the instructions…
Just so you know, I have never written a crochet pattern, so I hope this makes sense:)

Materials:
Chunky wool
Size 10 crochet needle
Wool needle for sewing up.

Pattern:
What I did was, measure around Richard’s head and then took the measurement in inches. I then subtracted 1 and a half inches so that the beanie would have a snug fit.
Chain enough chain stitches to measure the measurement you have taken, let the chain stretch a little to reach the measurement. ( measure around the head just to be sure:)
Join your chain in the round and start crocheting.
Double crochet into each chain loop and keep going until you have reached the curve of your head, about 8 rounds, yours might be different. You will have to keep trying it on for the correct size and fit.
Then double crochet into every second chain stitch for possibly 2 rounds and then into every third chain stitch for a round (or so…)
Finish off with your wool needle and if there is a slight opening, thread through a few chains and pull tight to close the opening.
And there you have it a Father’s Day Beanie!

WIP Wednesday, Spinning, Knitting and Crochet

By Linda on April 6, 2011 in Crochet, Joy Spinning Wheel, Spinning, WIP Wednesday

Today has been a lovely day, it has rained mostly which only means one thing! Perfect spinning weather… and that is exactly what I did! I spun up this gorgeous Alpaca and silk roving that was dyed by Wonderful Wool on Etsy, I see her shop is empty at the moment, you can see some of her dyed rovings in her sold section. I have also finished making my pure wool blanket on my chunky knitter, it really works beautifully and now I am crocheting around the edges to enable them to flatten out a little.

It has been quite a sad week here, Erin’s beautiful chicken Alice went missing on Monday, she is nowhere to be found… we have looked everywhere. We are all heartbroken… Alice was very dear to all of us especially Erin. She chose her when she was just a fluffy chick, one of her feet were deformed and Erin wanted her because she was worried that no one would buy her because of her deformity. She has loved her from the first day we brought her home… Today is a little easier and I am sure time will heal this loss…

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week – Skill + 1 UP 2KCBWDAY2 – Magic Loop Technique, Crochet and my Knitting Machine

By Linda on March 29, 2011 in 2KCBWDAY2, Crochet, Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, Magic Loop Technique

Thank you all so much to those who visited yesterday and left comments:) It has been wonderful visiting so many lovely blogs.

Today is the second day of the annual Knitting and Crochet week:

29th March. Skill + 1UP:

Look back over your last year of projects and compare where you are in terms of skill and knowledge of your craft to this time last year. Have you learned any new skills or forms of knitting/crochet (can you crochet cable stitches now where you didn’t even know such things existed last year? Have you recently put a foot in the tiled world of entrelac? Had you even picked up a pair of needles or crochet hook this time last year?

Since last year this time I have learned a few new skills that I love!

Firstly, I have learned the Magic Loop Technique, this completely revolutionised my knitting skills, I have continually used this method of knitting in many of my patterns that I have designed since then. I think that the first pattern I used it for was my Easter Egg pattern. It was so wonderful to be able to just knit something small in the round with no seams to sew up! This pattern has a brief introduction to the magic loop.

The second skill that I have learned after so many attempts is Crochet! How wonderful and rewarding it is to be able to now finally understand what all those crochet terms mean:) I have managed to crochet a hexagon and I will be making a blanket over the next year or so.

Lastly, I have learned how to work a knitting machine, it is really so easy to set up, my blanket has now doubled in size since the last photo and I will be adding another 2 skeins of yarn and then it will be finished. Erin has asked for this blanket to be a gift for her birthday next month:) I will crochet around the edge in a natural undyed Merino yarn to finish it off.

It really is such a wonderful gift to learn something new and I feel tremendous gratitude in my heart:)

2KCBWDAY2

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