WIP Wednesday 31-08-2011

I haven't done as much unpacking as I should have but I have been busy with my hooks and pointy sticks. Here are the projects that have made some progress this week.

Crochenit Cot Blanket

I have added a few more rows but it still doesn't look much like a blanket.

Tunisian Crochet Mitred Square Blanket

Another 2 squares have been added to this one this week.

Dawg - back

My Hoody is making good progress, probably because it's my current "go to" project whenever I'm in waiting rooms and the like.

Knitted Scarf

This one hasn't seen a lot of progress lately but I did take it to craft group this afternoon and spent about an hour on it.

I'm thinking of frogging the Toddler's Jacket that I started a little while ago as I didn't realise that the balls of yarn I had chosen were only 50g each and not the 100g balls that I'm used to. I still need to unpack my stash to see if there is anything suitable in there that I can use although I think I have enough projects on the go at the moment.

If you want more WIP Wednesday goodness, just head on over to Tami's Amis.

I do have some finished objects this week so I will be back on Friday.

Richard.

Samuel - Your Servant is Listening

The reading for this morning came from 1 Samuel 3:1-21

It's amazing how 2 people can be alone in the same room yet one won't hear the speak yet the same person can be in a crowded room with a lot of noise and still hear someone call their name.

At the time of Samuel's birth spirituality was very low and "the word of the Lord was rare". Samuel listened to the Lord with the ears of a servant, ready to respond at any time, and he became known as a prophet of God.

The book of Judges describes the downward spiral of God's people. In spite of all the prophets that God sent to His people, they would not listen.

We need to listen for the Lord with servants ears, just as Samuel did.

How do we know if it is God talking to us? We need to draw closer to God and continue to spend time with Him. We need to expect to hear from God! If we stay close to God then we will recognise His voice.

It's easy to go through the motions every Sunday but we need to expect to hear from God. We should also be ready to listen for God everyday, at work, at home and at play.

The Week That Was 27-08-2011

Another busy week has almost finished. This week we finished moving everything out of the old place, cleaned up, handed back the keys, visited the doctor and the chiro and took our craft to the Benalla "Make it, bake it, grow it" markets.


The markets today weren't great, but at least we passed our "break even" amount which means that we covered the stall fee, insurance and petrol costs with a little bit to spare. Today's sales mean that I have a bit more to add to my to-do list, just some hand towels and a bonnet and booties set.

Last weekend I had my first sale through my Madeit store only to discover that the tea cosy that had been bought wasn't in stock. I must have sold it at a local market and forgot to remove it from Madeit. It turned out that the woman that bought it wanted 2 of them so I agreed to make her another and explained about the first. She was quite OK with it and let me know what colours she wanted the replacement in as well as the second one.

That's it for this week.

Richard.

WIP Wednesday 24-08-2011

It's been a busy couple of weeks with the move and everything. We have the cleaners in tomorrow and the final inspection in the afternoon and then then all the unpacking. If it's anything like previous moves it will be years before everything is unpacked.

With all that's been going on I still managed to get a little bit of crochet done.

My hoodie has been progressing well.

Back of Hoodie

I'm almost up to the shaping for the armholes.

The Tunisian Crochet Mitred Square Blanket has had a few more squares added to it.

Tunisian Crochet Mitred Square Blanket

The first ball ran out just before I finished the last square of the third panel so it looks like this is only going to be 5 panels wide instead of the 6 originally planned. It will still be a good size for a knee rug.

The Crochenit cot blanket is making slow progress.

Crochenit Cot Blanket

It doesn't look much like a blanket yet but it is growing.

I also added a few more rows to my tartan rug.

Rose Clan Dress Tartan Rug

There's a good chance that I will run out of red for this one and I'm giving serious thought as to what I should do about it. I'm unlikely to be able to get the same dye lot.

I had my first sale on Madeit, a tan tea cosy. Unfortunately, I had already sold it at a local market, so now I have to make a new one. It turns out that the buyer wanted 2 of them and gave me instruction on what she wanted for the second one.

One of 2 Tea Cosies sold through Madeit.

It still needs to be sewn up and embellished with flowers. I let her know that the other wasn't actually available and she indicated that that was OK and gave me a new colour scheme to work with for it.

That's it for me for this week. I don't expect to have anything finished for Friday so you'll have to wait another week for my next FO Friday post.

For more WIP Wednesday goodness, check out Tami's Amis.

Richard

Old Testament Characters - Haggar

The reading for this morning came from Genesis 16.

Hagar was the first surrogate mother, having been used by Sarai and Abram to give Abram the son he needed to fulfil God's promise, but God had other plans.

Hagar was somewhat immature and ran away when mistreated by Sarai, but God found her and convinced her to return to Sarai. He made a promise to Hagar and she praised Him.

Isaac and Ishmael were brothers but their descendants have been fighting each other throughout history. Sin doesn't just affect the people that sin and it's effects can last a long while.

God heard and saw Hagar when she was at her lowest and He met her where she was and gave her courage to do what she needed to do. If we need courage we can also trust God to meet us where we are.

Richard.

The Week That Was 20-08-2011

Another busy week but not much crochet or knitting happening. The bulk of the moving happened on Wednesday and all went well in spite of the weather. It rained all day, and Thursday wasn't much better.

I managed to get to crochet class on Friday although I wasn't really needed as both the ladies there already know what they're doing with regards to crochet. It gave me a bit of time to work on a couple of projects anyway.

I also went back to the doctor's office this week to get the results of the CT scan that I had. It appears that I have a disk that's either moved or bulging that may be pressing on the nerve (I'm pretty sure it is considering the pain I been in lately). They can't tell for sure and would need an MRI to confirm it but I would need to get a specialist to ask for that as they charge $400 if the request comes from a GP.

Today was market day (Thurgoona Anglican Church) and I took time out to try and sell a few things. I thought I already had a sale before I got there but it turned out that the customer that ordered the beanie had something else on and couldn't make it out there. She will call sometime and try to arrange to pick it up later as the next market is in 2 months. I did manage to sell a little bit today, enough to say that I made some profit.

Time to review my to-do list to include today's sales.

Things to make to replace stock for my market stall:

Pink Baby's Sunhat
String Bags
2 sets of Wine Glass Socks (sold one today)

Current Work In Progress:

Rose Clan Dress Tartan Rug
Tunisian Crochet Blanket
Crochenit Cot Blanket (trying a method for doing rows that are longer than the hook)
Knitted Scarf
Toddlers Jacket
Jumper (sweater to you Americans) for me

Things I'm itching to get started on:

Doily in #40 cotton (I've had the pattern for a while)
Tunisian Crochet Dishcloth (for tutorial I want to write)
Crochenit Knee Rug (same as Cot Blanket and will also use up some of my stash of 8ply)
Crocheted Slocks
Something from my "99 Granny Squares" book
Something in Tunisian Crochet Lace (I'm thinking of modifying Ellen's Jacket pattern by substituting a lace stitch in the main body of the pattern)
Something from Ellen's new book.
A doily from an old pattern book I bought today.

The True Vine

Sue was sick this morning during the service so we didn't stick around for the message so I'll just give you the scripture reading and let you write your own sermons. The reading comes for John 15:1-17

The Vine and the Branches

 ¹ “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. ³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴ Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.    ⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
   ⁹ “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command. ¹⁵ I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. ¹⁷ This is my command: Love each other.

The Week That Was 13-08-2011

Another week of pain, but I'm a little closer to finding out the cause. From what the doctor told me there is little they can do in the way of treatment so it looks like anti-inflammatories and pain management for me. I get the results of a CT scan that I had on Thursday back next Friday.

On another note, we signed a lease on another property yesterday and have started preparations for moving. It means that we will be without internet for part of next week while things get moved over to the new abode, and it will probably mean that my crochet and knitting efforts will slow down for the duration. I'm sure I'll find some time to do it though.

We had a few church friends over the last couple of days to help with the packing and such. With both Sue and myself somewhat incapacitated they were a great help. We've already managed to take a load of stuff over (everything that was stored in the storeroom) and have reloaded the storeroom for the next trip.

That's it for this week's wrap-up, next week is going to be real busy, but not on the crafting front.

Richard.

FO Friday 12-08-2011

With everything that was going on today (signing a new lease, inspecting the new residence, packing, etc) I almost forgot to take a photo of this week's FO. Those that have been following my WIPW posts have probably worked out what it is already, but here it is.

Panda

I have already had thoughts about how I could use this pattern to make bears of any colour. How about a clown bear with each part made in a different colour? I might have to try that one day.

I won't be doing an FO Friday post next Friday as I will be too busy moving, all my spare yarn is all packed away and none of my current projects are anywhere near finished.

As usual, check out Tami's Amis for more FO Friday goodness.

Richard.

WIP Wednesday 10-08-2011

Hi All,

I've been quite busy this week, in spite of the pain. I have found that the pain (or at least my perception of it) decreases while I'm crocheting in front of the TV. Maybe it's just that I'm concentrating on other things that I don't notice the pain so much.

Anyhow, time to show off my progress this week.

I didn't have to teach anything at crochet class last Friday so I had plenty of time to work on my own projects, so I added another square to the tunisian blanket.

Tunisian Crochet Mitred Square Blanket

And I started another crochenit blanket.

Crochenit Baby Blanket

It doesn't look much yet as I've only done the first row.

I met up with another NEVYL (North East Victoria Yarn Lovers) at Spotlight on Saturday for our monthly knit along and decided to start another Toddler's Jacket.

Toddler's Jacket

My main take anywhere project at the moment is my hoodie.

Hoodie for me

If it doesn't look like I've made much progress on this it's because I frogged it and restarted it. When I measured my first attempt it was too small and I needed to add about 20 stitches to bring it up to size. The pattern is called "Dawg" and is written by the Crochet Dude himself (Drew Emborsky).

I've been packing up the yarn ready for moving next week so the only the projects that have yarn allocated to them get worked on this week, and since I finished the Panda I was working on I decided that it was time to do a bit more on the tartan rug.

Rose Clan Dress Tartan Rug

Due to the move which is happening next Wednesday, there will be no WIP Wednesday post from me next week. We're actually going to be without internet for a few days next week so I wouldn't be able to post one anyway.

Check out Tami's Amis for more WIP Wednesday goodness.

Richard.

Tell Your Story

Today's reading came from 1 John 1:1-19

A lot of people have trouble believing in thing they cannot see. Even those that witnessed Jesus had trouble believing in Him so it should come as no surprise that people today have the same problem.

A woman that lost 50kg advertised her clothes for sale. She got a lot of calls but no-one wanted to buy her clothes, they were more interested in how she lost the weight. Just like those callers, non-believers want to know what works, they are interested in the changes that have been made in your life. We need to show them that Jesus works.

A little girl wanted to know a few things about the Sunday school lesson she had just heard and asked her mother "Is God really bigger than all of us?" "Yes" was the reply. "Is God really inside us?" Again the reply was "yes". "So if God is bigger than us and He is inside us, shouldn't He show through?" God will show through if we let Him!

Richard.

The Week That Was 06-08-2011

Well, the results are back and it seems that I have an inflammation in the shoulder joint. The doctor told me not to put much stress on and gave me a script for anti-inflammatories. It seems that there isn't much else that can be done for it so this is just another pain that I will have to endure for the rest of my life.

On the crafting side, I started another 2 projects this week (yeah, I know, 5 projects should be more that enough), another tunisian crochet toddlers jacket (because I want more than one for the stall) and another crochenit blanket (a baby blanket that I wanted to experiment with). I probably shouldn't keep starting projects like this as it means the ones already on the go are going to take longer to complete.

Sue and I also went back to the gym this week. Sue needs to keep things moving so is doing a few simple exercises to keep her knees bending. I've cut down my routine to avoid anything that is likely to stress my shoulder. I figure I will give it a couple of weeks then ease back into the other exercises with reduced weights. I will have to wait and see how that goes. I have a weigh in next week also so I will be able to discuss strategies with the trainer then.

There was supposed to be a bit of a meet up at Spotlight today but only 2 of us turned up so I think we will can that one for the future. It seems that Albury is too far for some to travel, either that or they are too busy doing other things on Saturdays.

Well, that's been my week this week, hope you all had a good one.

Richard.

FO Friday 05-08-2011

To start with today I would like to thank all the lovely people that have been leaving comment. It's great to hear from you all and know that I have more than one reader.

This week has been a bit of a slow week for me with only one finished object, and here it is.

Knooked Beanie

This is my first knooking (knitting with a crochet hook for the uninitiated) project. While some aspects of it were a little easier than knitting with dpns there were some aspects that didn't turn out the way I would like. The ribbing is a bit loose and the stitches are uneven. My first effort of knitting in the round I had problems with losing the needles during the decrease stage as there weren't enough stitches to hold them, I didn't have that problem with this as the cable held the stitches in place, however, I'm sure I could knit faster that I can knook.

I hope everyone isn't too disappointed that I have only finished one item, but I'm having some health issues at the moment and they're slowing me down a bit. I hope to have at least the panda finished for next week but we will have to wait and see.

As usual, you can check out Tami's Amis for more FO Friday goodness.

Richard.

WIP Wednesday 03-08-2011

I looked at my WIPs for this week and was somewhat disappointed. Only 4 of my 8 WIPs had progressed. You will have to wait until Friday to see one of them but here are the other 3.

Panda

I was especially disappointed with my progress on this one as I expected to have it done before today. I think my shoulder may be slowing me down a bit.

Knitted Scarf

Just 10 rows added to this this week.

Back of Hoodie

Finally made a start on this and am making good progress.

Crochet class starts up again on Friday (I'm now head teacher) so I should have a couple more items progressing before next Wednesday.

Check out Tami's Amis for more WIPW goodness.

Richard.