New challenge!!!

So last night I found my new challenge.

It's thread crochet again, but it's a doily with coloured flowers. 
I've never attempted colour changes on thread before and this has the main colour and 4 others.
There are 3 colours of flowers that alternate, and the green that gives the feeling of leaves for them.
So we shall see how it turns out.

This is how far I had got last night. Another 2 rounds to do then I start on the colour changes!!
I hope it goes ok.

I'm using a 1.75mm crochet hook and I think size 10 thread.  My colours are in size 8 as that's all I had, so I'm not sure how that's going to affect things either ... we'll see!!!
I do have a green in size 10 and a lighter green in size 8 ... not decided yet which to use.

I can see it looks uneven in the picture, but once I pull all the loops where they're meant to be, it does look ok.

Updates to follow soon!!

Take care everyone.

:)

More gloves and a creative block!!

My eldest son spends quite a bit of time outside, so as the weather is getting pretty cold here now, I decided to make a more 'blokey' pair of fingerless gloves for him.

I used a chunky (bulky) weight yarn. They're very warm and cosy, so I'm pleased with them.

Since then I've had a bit of a creative block.  I can't settle on what I want to do next .... I feel like I'm wasting my evenings when I could be working on something. It's just deciding which project to work on.

I could do another thread project, or a yarn one or try and work out how to use some of the more challenging yarns I have ... or I could knit something.
Or I could take up my needle again and do a stitching project.
I'm going to have a browse through my books and I'll hopefully be back soon with something else to show you. 
Hope all is going well for you.

Take care!!

:)

Two more finishes ... almost!!!

My thread doily is now finished, although not yet blocked, I still have to work out the best way for me with that. Here it is hot off the hook!!!

This is really the second thread doily I've attempted.  I did one when I first taught myself to crochet, then I tried a second one, but only got a few rounds finished as I found it hard to work out the pattern, so I added an edging myself and used it as a tiny doily for under a small vase!!

This time I looked at the photo of their finished doily and found that helped me when I wasn't sure what the instructions wanted me to do. I really enjoy thread crochet a lot but I am still very much an amature of course.


Remember the fluffy scarf I had problems with?  That's now finished as well. :)   I just need to cast off.  I meant to save a label so I could say exactly what I used for this, but I must have thrown them out.  It's like an eyelash yarn but softer and more wooly almost. Very, very soft.  I used three balls so on a really cold day, lots to snuggle up into and with all the colours, it goes with a

lot of different things.  It looks a little thin on the needle there, but it's just pushed up to the end.  I have done it 24 stitches wide, so it's just the right width for how I like it.

So now I just want to finish these completely and get stuck in on my next project!!!

Hope all is well with all of you. Take care everyone!!!

:)

Fade experiment!!

Dishcloths!!
Love the colours, hate the fade!!
Well I had a good look round and found someone who said to try and set the colour by soaking the dishcloth in vinegar and water for about 30 mins and then rinse.

So does it work???

Here's a picture of a newly crocheted dishcloth and a first time washed dishcloth after having the colour 'set' as per the method above.

It isn't perfect but there is definitely less fade this time then on previous dishcloths.
Whether I need a stronger solution or whether this is as good as I'm going to get it, I don't know. I'll try the stronger one on the above dishcloth and see whether it improves!!

So since my last post I've crocheted a round scarf to go with my fingerless gloves.
This is in the same yarn, purple chunky but I did it in a lacy pattern as it's going to be wound round my neck a few times, so I don't want it too hot and heavy.

 

I also knitted a scarf from like an eyelash type yarn. Having got three quarters of the way through the 3rd ball, I dropped a stitch and can't get it back to pick up, due to the type of yarn it is.
I must have undone about 10 rows and have only succeeded in dropping more stitches, so it looks like the whole thing will have to be unravelled and reknit. I am so fed up!!!  All that work for nothing!!!
SIGH!! 

So I decided to do something completely different and picked up my thread doily I was working on many moons ago.  (I put it on my blog back then).
It only needed the last two rounds on it, but I had started this way back last year when I was a new crocheter and my tension is much different now.  Of course this meant I unravelled the lot and have started afresh.
So I have laid the doily, as far as I am at the moment, on the book with the doily is is going to be in the picture at the top. Hopefully once finished and blocked it will look much more like the way it should!!!
I'll update as it grows.

I was given some blue yarn by a friend, so I plan to do some fingerless gloves for my eldest son. I'll hopefully start them by the beginning of next week.

So I hope all is well with all of you.  Take care!!

:)

She loved it!!!!

 So last night I took the neck warmer up to my friend and she loved it!!
I was so pleased I'd made it for her.
She is into knitting and crochet, sewing and card making, so in short, she loves to craft BUT she said because of that no one ever makes her anything, so she was thrilled to get this.
She loved the basket weave chunkiness of it and said it was lovely and neat.
So all is good!!

Here's something I wanted to ask others who knit and crochet ... do you check your gauge?
Now I have to admit that's something I NEVER do!!!
Not for anything. So I'm curious as to whether anyone else does. And if you do, do you think it's worth it? Does it make any difference??

I now have a lovely pair of chunky warm fingerless gloves. I'm so pleased with these and I love the little strap and button detail to make them look pretty still, even though they're so chunky!!
I used a glass button with rainbow colour's in it and I think it sets the dark purple off beautifully.


Button detail

So I'm currently working on a scarf or cowl.  It's not definite what it's going to be actually as I've unravelled it three times already!! 
I just start something and then decide it's not quite what I want ... hope I get it finished soon as I have other things I'm itching to get on with.

Take care
:)

Neck Warmer

One of my friends has throat problems and she often has to wear a scarf indoors in the winter months even. So I decided to make her a neck warmer in the hopes it would be a nice change for her.
I made it in a 50/50 cotton/acrylic mix, so that it won't make her neck sweat but also did it in a chunky basket weave stitch, to make it cosy.
I hope she likes it.

I'm now working on a pair of chunky warm fingerless gloves. Lovely and warm, so hope to have those finished soon.
:)

Never been so pleased....

... to see the back of something!!!
haha.
Yes the dreaded grey jumper is at last finished!!!!!

Here it is on my eldest, fresh off the needles. Steve tried it on when he got home from work and he was well pleased with it, so that was nice.
I've been undecided whether to continue the neck warmer or not. So now I can think about if I want to continue with it or unravel and start something different, BUT at least I'll no longer have that grey jumper staring accusingly at me from my work basket.  I'm free!!!!!!

Can you tell how happy I am about it?

:)

Catch up time.

 So I've been pretty busy since I last blogged.

Steve has been getting moved about and didn't know what was going on at work half the time.  He finally decided to go for another job, which meant he would lose everything, benefits, years of service, the lot, but would at least be in a job he liked.  So he had an interview and is waiting to hear, should hear late December I think.  Meantime, he get's moved again to a position they want him to stay at and finally he feels happy in it!!!
So we'll have to see what happens now.

It was our 25th Wedding anniversary in September and Steve and I had a long weekend away, just the two of us.  It's the first time we've been away on our own for 20 years, so it was a real treat.  We went to North Yorkshire in a cottage and it was lovely!!! :)

We then had a family week away as well in October, as we had some Tesco vouchers that we had to use or lose, so we booked a caravan for the family.
It was our first break away for 4 years and we really enjoyed just being together with no other pressures.

Craft wise, I've been working on the dreaded grey jumper and am now at the point of doing the neck and then sewing it up... pictures to follow!!

I was given a heap of very pink wool. Very pink!!   What to do with it?  I decided to have a go at crocheting a sort of small throw thing for the chairs and sofa.  I have completed the sofa one but Steve says it's too pink for him and too busy with the cushions as well .... what's your opinions??? Be as brutal as you like, lol.

I'm holding off on the chair backs now as we are seeing whether we can live with this one or not.
The photo doesn't do the pinkness of it justice, it's REALLY pink!!!  LOL

I've been disappointed with the dishcloths I made.  They hold up beautifully, but the colour faded on the first wash.  I used peaches & creme, beautiful shades and very difficult to get hold of over here, so I was pretty fed up how the colour just went, as that was the point of buying it, the beautiful shades it comes in.

Anyhow, I read and read until I came across someone else who had found this a problem and they suggested setting the colour with a mix of vinegar and water.  So I have crocheted some new dishcloths and this time set the colour (hopefully!!!) by means of this method.   I'll let you know if it works or not!!

I made the first one in a shell and post pattern, the plain yellow is a basket weave and the bottom one is in a half double crochet pattern.

Well blogger insisted on putting all the pictures in a heap at the top of this post, so I've been busy copying and pasting as it wouldn't allow me to move them!!  I'm obviously doing something wrong, but for now, hopefully they'll stay where I've put them.

I'm now working on a neck warmer, but I can't decide if I like it or not, so that might be getting unravelled today, we'll see.
I hope to be back soon with the finished jumper to show you, but meantime, I'm going to have a look and see what you've all been up to. Take care!!

:)