Crocheted gifts, current projects and gadding about

A short and sweet post this week, as I haven't any finished jumpers to show.

I'm on the second sleeve of 'Your Victory Jumper', so it might be near completion by next week.

I recently made my friend a clutch bag for her birthday.

I looked at lots of chevron patterns, tried them out, but none worked for me. I had a go at my own version, and I was pleased with how it turned out.

It is a pattern I would like to make available as it is relatively quick and easy. It uses chunky weight yarn and a 5 or 6mm hook. You have to be a bit partial to chevrons though.

We've been busy in the TGW household, the start of a new term for my boy, and out and about DJing in the Stow. Last Sunday we took Nashville-on-Thames to the Wild Card Brewery, for some Honky Tonkin' and Rompin' 'n Stompin'. It was an afternoon event, so we brought the little ones along. Our friend Andrew Mueller was there, as the other member of the 'family'. In fact, it was just he and my husband who first set up Nashville-on-Thames at The Lexington. I've just muscled in recently, to play what Andrew describes as 'pre-war horseshit'! Otherwise known as Western Swing, and damned good it is too. Bob Wills, Hank Penny, early Hank Williams, Tex Williams, Leon McAuliffe, Al Dexter, and the Modern Mountaineers to name just a handful. It was a success, but quite stressful 'wrangling the critters'.

He is quite a shy boy, but has shown an interest in being in the limelight recently. He took the microphone at his school disco at Christmas and thanked people for coming, which nearly floored me. (I think someone had spiked the punch).

Whereas Miss B is always forcing her way to the front of the crowd. That's my girl! Loves dancing and singing. And roaring like a monster.

We have another Mixtape coming up next Saturday, in conjunction with a Bank Holiday Hog Roast and Cider Festival at The Chequers. We have decided to theme ours as more of a luau though, when my husband found this image.

I'll be walking into the party like I'm walking onto a yacht. Think late 70s, early 80s sophistication.

Image from Prom Night,

 trying not to laugh

At the last one we had people dancing on the tables. I think it was Tori Amos' 'Professional Widow' that did it. How do you top that?

I'm looking forward to another gig this Sunday in the Stow again - BeBop Baby. This will be the youngest crowd I've played for, and I'm really excited about it.

Tomorrow night I'm going to The International Club again.

...a small back-street club in some European country, it doesn't matter exactly where, a place where they played hot jazz, dance bands and swing music interwoven with Latin-American rhythms, bal musette and other popular music of the day. A place where high-life rubbed shoulders with low-life... where the flotsam and jetsam gathered to try to forget the real world outside.

I'm meeting a like-minded vintage knitter for dinner first, who promises to wear a completely home made outfit, including a knitted jumper and coat. Hmm, the gauntlet has been thrown down...

Theodora.

The Hall of Shame - The Great UFOs of 2014, (and earlier)

This post has been a long time coming. (I have borrowed the title from Pin Up Crafts, via Wendy at Butterfly Balcony). 

The purpose of this is to shame myself into finishing the projects shown here, and also to try to stop starting new ones. We'll see how that goes shall we?

 (Please excuse this shocking shot, it was so cold, and my two and a half year old was having a meltdown in the garden)

Firstly the crochet. Two blankets, the one on the right, (and below) was one of the first things I crocheted, so it had to be a nice and simple granny stripe. It's still not quite long enough to cover my legs - but nearly. Shame about the garish colours. I remember buying the 'wool' (all cheap acrylic), and getting a bit carried away. I think I spent under thirty pounds and came away with a black bag full. (Yes, they had to give me a black bag). I have since added to it. (Sigh. I don't know whether it is a compulsion or a full-on addiction).  

The wavy/ripple/chevron blanket (top pic, on left) was inspired by Coco Rose Diaries, whose wonderful blanket in more muted shades than mine was photographed so beautifully - I was hooked. (Sorry about the pun). It is lovely and dense, super cosy and again almost long enough to snuggle under.

There is a third blanket, lurking at the bottom there. (And below).

Another couldn't-help-myself, butterflies-in-the-tummy feeling until it was started. I think that is why I start so many things. The thrill of the new, the shiny.

I had had this as a pin on Pinterest for ages, and found it on Sandra Paul's great crochet blog Cherry Heart - her Clamshell blanket tutorial. I started it before I went on holiday in August, along with a cushion cover in a great stitch pattern, which is also in the Hall of Shame.

The granny squares I started two years ago are still hanging about like a bad smell on the stairs, but instead of doing something with them, I decided to start some hexagons. For a blanket maybe?!!!

They are now destined to be a bag, if I can work out how to put it together, and then find the will to line it.

The last offender is a hat and belt set, and actually the hat is finished so shouldn't technically be included, but I hate it. It looks like a bucket on my head, but I cannot rip it out, literally, as it is finished with a round of metallic wire. Not millinery wire, of no, that would have been too easy. This was thick jewellery wire. Ouch, my hands.

I started the belt as I had a lovely vintage mother of pearl belt buckle that would look perfect with it. The yarn I found in the States, Sugar n' Cream, an aran weight cotton, in what I think is a very 30s colour, a green and cream mix. Maybe I should give the hat another chance, I do love that shade.

Lastly, the cushion I have been working on from Inside Crochet magazine for months.

It is supposed to be about double this size, but I'll be lucky to do another two or three rounds. I'll then try to find a round cushion to fit it, fail, and end up stuffing it with Fiber Fill, or whatever that fluff is called.

That brings me to the end of the crochet.

Must try harder.

Next time - the Neglected Knits.

Theodora.

Current crochet projects

It's so nice to have a few projects you can dip in and out of, and I find crochet is the perfect craft for that.

At the moment I am working on a few things, the first of which I must have started almost 2 years ago, when I seriously knuckled down to crochet. Having learnt to knit first, I found it difficult to get my head around the different terminology, and just stayed clear of all the wonderful patterns out there.

It is, predictably, a granny square blanket.

I'm using acrylic yarn, something I've always avoided, having mainly knitted vintage jumpers that just aren't the same in acrylic. But when you want to use 20+ colours for a blanket that will need washing regularly, there is really no choice. And I have to say I'm a convert! Although the down side is that I end up buying too much because it is so much cheaper than wool. I bought most of the yarn for this blanket in one go, which meant walking home lugging a black bag. I was quite embarrassed, but not as much as I should have been. I still wouldn't use it for jumpers though, not even children's jumpers. I'm still a yarn snob.

I'm also just finishing a cushion cover from Kath Webber. It is featured in Mollie Makes, Issue 30.

The pattern uses Rowan's handknit cotton, and I happened to have a few odd balls, so they were put to good use. Also 2 balls of Freedom Sincere dk in a pale green and candy pink. I love how it turned out, and I was surprised at how easy the chevrons were to work. And it shows how to weave in all the ends as you go along. Great pattern.

I'm also working on some motifs from Nicki Trench's Cute & Easy Crochet with Flowers

I've seen lots of patterns from this book featured in magazines, but it's great to have them all in one book. Even though it is totally water damaged now as my daughter spilled water over it the same day I got it. Grr. I think this will be a throw or blanket, but I can see it making a great bag.

How many projects do you have on the go?