Baby's Helmets

I'm not sure why these are called helmets but Sue assures me that that is what they're called.

They are both made by Sue, except for the flower on the second one, which was made by me. For some reason Sue trusted me to crochet the flower more than she trusted herself.

I think I'm getting close to the end of the items I have made and will soon have to start talking about other stuff, like what I'm currently making.

Hanging Towels

These are always a good seller and I have made many. Here are just a small sample.

These are actually terry towelling tea towel, but they work quite well as hand towels, although the material is a bit thin. If you look closely, you will see that one of these isn't done in standard crochet. I've been experimenting with tricot.

I generally try to match the colour of the top with some part of the towel and I think some look better than others.

At this time of year I bring out the Christmas towels.

I will be doing some more of these shortly as I have a market coming up in a few weeks.

And then there are the plain hand towels. These are thicker and more suitable for some purposes. I generally try to have a few darker towels as there are some people that like to have these for greasy or oily hands since they don't show the stains like paler towels would.

I think the effect of tricot with variegated cotton is quite good.

I have also been experimenting with different coloured cottons in tricot. You can have up to 3 different cottons on the same project. I don't have any photos of those at the moment but I'll try to take some before I sell them.

Immanuel - God with us

Today is the first Sunday of Advent and the COs decided to put together a live nativity scene. We had a kid, a lamb, a calf and a donkey up on stage and the children came in dressed as the wise men, shepherds, etc. We even had a baby although Mrs Lt wasn't game to put her 2 day old in the manger so she just carried her. Once you got used to it, the smell of the animals was hardly noticeable.

Now for my copious notes from the sermon.

No one can know the future, what their children will do or become.

Did Mary know the impact that her baby boy would have on the people around him or future generations?

We don't need to go searching for Him because He is Immanuel - God with us.

Accepting the free gift of God is what Christmas is all about.

The week that was #6

Sue and I started something new this week, and exercise program. Sue joined Aqua Movers and I started a gym program. So far Sue has only attended one session, electing to stay home yesterday but I have been twice. It's early days yet, so I don't think there have been any noticeable results other than a few extra aches.

I have been busy cutting towels in half and crocheting tops on them this week. Progress has been a little slower than I would have like but I am making quite a few of the tops in tricot, and that takes a bit longer than normal crochet.

I now have 3 weeks to prepare for my next market outing. I was informed at a nearby LYS that a church not far from where I live is have a market day, and they don't mind if you don't have your own insurance, they just charge an extra $5 so that you're covered under their insurance, which suits me just fine. One day I may take out the necessary insurance but it doesn't seem economical. Last I heard, people pay upwards of $300, and I barely sell that much in a year.

The to-do list is still pretty much the same as last week, although I missed a couple of items in last week's list, and I think some of the priorities need to be changed.

The current list of projects in order of priority are :-

Towel tops - need to do some Christmas towels for the next market as well as recover stock levels after the last market.

Tea Cosies - I only have 2 in stock and 2 naked tea pots so I had better try and get some of these done.

Arm rest covers for Sue - I have the first ready to sew in the ends and about one third of the second made.

Tartan Rug (Rose Hunting) - the mesh is complete but I have a lot of chains to make and weave in.

Teddy Bear - the next toy for the market.

Baby clothes - I have a few in stock but it would hurt to have a few more.

Beanies and scarves - I don't think I need these until about March-April next year as it's too hot for them at this time of year.

If I get through all these then there are still Sue's UFOs to look at and a number of new items that I'm thinking of making like tissue box covers, kids novelty hats (got a pattern for a frog and a dragon) and several toys (I have a few new patterns and a few that I would to do again).

Of course, whatever I sell at the next market will need to be replaced so that will change my priorities again.

I think I have enough there to keep me busy for a few weeksmonths.

Lady's Cape

My wife only makes a few things for the stall and I've shown off a couple of those already, but here is one that she made for herself.

Unfortunately, it didn't fit her, even though she made it the largest size the pattern went up to, so now it's available on the stall (whenever we actually find some place to set it up).

Round Doiles

I wanted to show off the jug covers before I showed off these.

These doilies all use the jug cover patterns but done in a thicker cotton with picots in place of the beads.

Jug and Glass Covers

This is one item that everyone tells me that they can't usually find. Well, guess what, they never visited my stall before because this is one item that I started selling the first day I set up.

I started doing these after my wife's girlfriend gave me a couple of pattern books and a bag of beads. I've since had to buy more beads as I've run out a couple of times.

I have large jug covers ...

... medium size jug covers ...

... and small jug covers (suitable for covering a glass).

I started making the small covers after a lady from North Queensland told me a story about the little green frogs that come hopping through the house at night, and if you have an uncovered glass of water by the bed at night and take a drink, you might end up swallowing a little more than you anticipated.

Frilly edged doilies

These are a little fiddly to make as the individual squares are quite small (about 4-5 cm) and slip-stitched together using back loops only, and the edge is supposed to pucker because there are too many stitches  for it to lie flat.

Pretty Petals

The name of the motif used in this doily is "Pretty Petals" and come from an Australian collections of American patterns called "Quick 'n Easy Crochet". One of the neighbours knew that I made doilies and chose that pattern for a friend and wanted them for Christmas, so I got cracking and ...

... here they are.

Battle Ready Soldiers

We had a group of people from all over the division here for a weekend Boot Camp, starting on Friday and finishing with this morning's service. The idea of Boot Camp is to teach interested people about The Salvation Army and help prepare them for soldiership. Of course, not everyone that completes the course signs up to go into uniform. I've been a soldier now for 14 years so my only participation in this event was this morning's meeting.

The scripture for today's message came from 1 Samuel 17, where David slew Goliath.

Some notes from today's message follow:-

God made The Salvation Army to be a fighting force not a club.

Saul was the peoples king, God chose David.

Saul led an army that was afraid of its opposition, they had little faith. David faced the enemy with faith.

Goliath was a giant in the army, David was a soldier with a giant faith.

As we grow as soldiers, our faith increases and we can take on bigger opponents in God's strength.

Do as David did, don't focus on the ground, don't focus on the size of the enemy, focus on God and what He can do.

The week that was #5

I seem to be getting forgetful lately. This is the second time this week that I forgot to blog before going to bed.

This week we had the launching of the Kmart Christmas Tree. Several of the Mobile Mission members stayed around for that and helped form a band, and we had some kids from one of the local schools singing along. It seems so early for singing carols but the shoppers seemed to enjoy it.

I managed to finish the 4 doilies I was making for a neighbour, just need to get the ironing board out so that I can press them. I have now started on the hanging towels for the next market day.

I am also very close to finishing sorting out the yarn stash. I have a various bits and pieces in various containers that I need to round up.

My to-do list now looks like this:-

Hanging towels - may have to get some more cotton as I'm running out a certain colours but will try to us what I have available.
Tea cosies - This should use up a bit of the stash.
Beanies and scarves - someone suggested doing them in footy team colours, hope I have enough of the right colours.
Baby clothes - usually a good seller
Teddy bear - current UFO

There are also a couple of my wife's UFO that I might try to find the yarn for and finish since she seems to like starting things and not finishing them.

Pineapples

I quite like doing the pineapple stitch and seem to have collected quite a few patterns using it. Here are just three that I have in stock at the moment.

Oval Doilies

I have a book of oval doily patterns and I go through it and remake them any time I my stocks get low.