Books and Clay

Decided to try another seahorse but using 4 ply wool instead of cotton.  It was much nicer to work and being multicoloured gives it a lovely blend of colour with beads for the eyes.  It's currently en route to Australia.

The one advantage of moving house is you find things you had forgotten about or filed away out of sight.  I came across a book of modern crocheted scarves and decided to make one though unfortunately for me, my aunt declared it wasn't a "proper" scarf due to the abundance of gaps and it's failure to keep you warm!  Made with four ply yarn and mostly chains, it was a nice pattern once the first row had been worked and blocking it finished it nicely.

I'm missing my allotment so much I suppose it was only a matter of time before I crocheted some vegetables!  I made these to practice crocheting amigurumi which I need to perfect before I start making Claude the octopus.  I also need to practice getting the amount of stuffing right.  Stalks and leaves were fiddely but they turned out ok.  Only other colour of wool I have is bright pink so who knows what will be next!

Have to say I'm chuffed with this.  Pattern is my own using stitches and knowledge picked up from projects I've done.  Sourcing beads during lockdown was problematic but these work well enough with it.  Discovered I quite like working with cotton, rarely splits unlike wool and stitches are more obvious.  Guessing I'll be in debt to DMC for a long time. 😆

This is my first attempt at amigurumi.  It was part of a kit from Aldi so the yarn isn't the best splitting easily.  The pattern had the head sewn in the middle which is wrong for seahorses.  Next time, I'll use a smaller hook as the stitches aren't close enough and more stuffing in the neck area.  Not bad for a first attempt though. 😁

Came across this jug cover which was fairly straightforward to make.  Making the jug itself was a first for me and I think next time, I'll add the handle on separately as it's a little off centre even though it's where the pattern said to put it.  Photo was taken before it's been blocked.

With shops shut and deliveries taking days and weeks, gifts were a bit of a problem. A bit of searching and experimenting lead to me crocheting mug cosies.  Both of these are a little different in the pattern.  Sourcing buttons involved a two week hunt and I have enough buttons to last a very long time!

I had Christmas day on my own for the first time as Mum and James were stranded as their street is on a hill. They watched a car try to come up and it just slid all the way back down so we postphoned everything until Sunday. It didn't bother me so much being on my own as it was due to the weather, besides I managed to make headway with the blanket for my new niece who was due on 29th (still no appearance at the time of writing!). Anyway, it's finished and as it had to be different from my other 2 nieces blankets, I did it in squares and stitched them together which took most of a day to do. The squares that are one colour are actually sewn sideways to make it look different. I'm just waiting for the bairn to make her appearance and I'll let my wrist recover before starting another one. I'm thinking about doing a non-baby for a change, at least until the next baby comes around! Happy New Year to all!

My friend Joelle and I finally managed to meet up on Saturday so hit the shops in Montrose. I managed to make a good start on my Christmas shopping which was great and then we headed back to mine and walked out to the lighthouse to build up an appeite for tea. We had an Indian takeaway (and alcohol of course) and watched Shrek the Third as she had never seen it. It was a lovely night and nice just to chill. It's hard nowadays to meet up due to the different hours we work. I went up to Aberdeen yesterday to give Maria and Bryan the blanket. Owen was awake and is soooo lovely. It's amazing the way babies stare at you - you have to wonder what they are thinking. The cats said hello as well though Benson (the fluffy one) decided to wait until I was leaving - maybe it was cheerio?! Anway, as promised, I've uploaded the photo of the blanket. You may think it's the same as the last one but it isn't really. It's the same pattern but the colour scheme is differ...

Well, this is blanket number one and I finished it on the day he was due. It's hard to see but the colour scheme is blue, green, yellow and white. It looks better on the camera though. The body of it only took a couple of weeks to do but Mum thought I should do the edging the way it said in the book. The problem was (and still is) I can't make head or tail of it, so I spent five hours down at my aunt's madly crocheting away. I've only done five out of ten rows as I think that's enough otherwise it'd be overkill. Anyway, Rory made his entrance on 27th August 2009 and is gorgeous!! He was due the day before and Kathleen went into labour bang on time though she ended up getting a caesarean. Both are doing well. So now it's on to blanket number two and I've decided to do the same pattern mainly as the baby is due on October 5th. By the time I get to the edging, I'll be back down at my aunt's again as I still don't understand the pattern!!

This picture was taken for the presentation I made to our Rotary Club last year. The urn on the left was the very first thing I made at pottery when I was in Wales. Believe it or not, it was supposed to be a jug!! This is the fourth blanket, the one I made for Sally's son James. This urn was never supposed to be this tall, it just sort of grew and barely fitted into the kiln. The design is an Ancient Greek Octopus and is scratched into the white slip (wet clay that's coloured and painted on).

Another hobby of mine is crochet which my Aunt taught me though I was taught with wool and in straight lines so I find cotton and shapes harder though I've made one or two things that way. I did make a necklace for a friend which worked out well. Anyway, I make tea cosies (bizarre, I know) and baby blankets. My sister fell pregnant with her first daughter so I had to learn fast to make her one. Each blanket is unique and I improve with every one I may add. So far there are four: first one for Jade (Kate's eldest), Brooke (her second), Jayden (my friend, Jennefer, in America's son) and James (Sally in Wales's son). My neighbour Kathleen at the back of my house is pregnant, due in August so I'm making her one and my friend Maria in Aberdeen is also expecting in October so numbers 5 & 6 will done together which will be a first. At the moment, my favourite is Brooke's as I couldn't understand the pattern so made up the edging! A bit of blood, sweat and...