The Week That Was 31-03-2012

And Theme-a-licious:March Madness update

Another busy week comes to a close and today also marks the end of March Madness.

I'll start by looking back on the week just finished.

College this week saw us start on Access and we learnt how to set up a database, how to link tables, how to set up queries and how to set up reports. Next week we will have an assessment to see how much we've actually managed to absorb. We also finished up learning how to use Photoshop and next term we get to learn how to use it to design web pages, but in the meantime we still need to complete a few projects and hand them in. I think we've also completed the major part of learning how to use Flash so I guess next term will concentrate more on the animation side of things. In hardware class we started to to look at web servers and how to configure them. Web class was just more of the same, work on our websites, keep our blogs up to date as well as our Facebook and Linkedin profiles. I wonder how many people can say they get to spend time on Facebook as part of their education or work.

I didn't have any markets this week but I have a couple lined up for the Easter weekend. One of those is an evening market which could be interesting as the weather has been cooling down quite a bit lately. I had better take a jacket.

And now for March Madness. Here are almost all the projects I have worked on during March, starting with the WIPs.

Daffodil Teacloth

Tommy Turtle

Men's Afghan Stitch Gloves

 This is the left glove, the right having been completed earlier in the month.

Second Sleeve of Hoodie (Dawg by Drew Emborsky)

Crochenit Cot Blanket

Slanted Scarf

Toddler's Jacket (Zoom by Ellen Gormley)

 I also started 2 more projects today but didn't take any photos of them. They are another blanket using a design that I've stuck in my head for a while (it will be interesting if I can actually figure out how to make it) and a pair of booties to go with the sunhat I completed this week.

Now for the completed objects.

Wine Glass Socks

Pale Yellow Teapot Cosy with Flowers and Butterfly

Pink Teapot Cosy with Leaves

Pink Booties

Baby's Sunhat

Next month is April Amazons where we are supposed to work on our largest projects so it might be time to bring out the Tartan Blanket again although the Daffodil Teacloth and the new blanket I've started probably qualify also.

I hope you all had a good week.

Richard.

FO Friday 30-03-2012

Another Friday and I've managed to finish another item this week, and here it is.

Baby's Sunhat

Maybe I should have reduce the brightness on this one as you can't see the detail in this photo. There is a bit of a pattern just above the brim but it's quite difficult to get a decent picture of a white object.

I also think I need a model the show off my baby clothes better but the only way that's going to happen is if I make one myself (crocheted, of course). Does anyone have the appropriate measurement for a 3-6 month baby?

As usual, checkout Tami's Amis for FO Friday goodness.

Richard.

WIP Wednesday 28-03-2012

Hi all, I have made quite a bit of progress on a few others and even managed to finish something (which I will show off on Friday). I even have a picture of Sue's latest WIP.

Here are the WIPs.

Daffodil Teacloth

3 segments done and the 4th started. This is getting so big that I'm having trouble fitting it on the table so I don't know how I'm going to take photos of it once it is complete.

Tommy Turtle

Just need to finish the third leg, make the fourth and the tail and I'll be ready to put the body together, then I'll need to make the shell.

Palm of left glove

A little more then I do the thumb.

Second Sleeve of Hoodie - Dawg by Drew Emborsky

Just a little bit of progress here.

Crochenit Cot Blanket

Another change of colour here.

Slanted Scarf

A few more rows have been added to this.

Toddler's Jacket - Zoom by Ellen Gormley

Just a couple of more rows to go on the body.

On Sue's needles at the moment.

Bunting in Australian Colours

Sue started these at the request of Vic Minett in Coventry. Vic has been asking for people that can't make it to the knit-a-thon that's happening in April to make bunting, but most of them are being asked to make it in UK colours. If you live in the Coventry area and can knit then you need to get yourself to the knit-a-thon that's happening on the 12th of April.

That's it from Sue and me. Checkout Tami's Amis, Nicole's "Keep Calm, Craft On", Kristine's WIP Wednesday and Ginny's "Yarn Along" for more WIPs.

Richard.

Psalm 22

Sorry about not posting last week's sermon but I was busy elsewhere. See yesterday's post for details.

Here are the YouVersion notes from this morning.

Psalm 22

Psalm 22:1-31 NIV
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises. In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. "He trusts in the lord," they say, "let the lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him." Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother's breast. From birth I was cast on you; from my mother's womb you have been my God. Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. Roaring lions that tear their prey open their mouths wide against me. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me. My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet. All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment. But you, lord, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me. Deliver me from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs. Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen. I will declare your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you. You who fear the lord, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel! For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help. From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows. The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the lord will praise him— may your hearts live forever! All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the lord and he rules over the nations. All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him— those who cannot keep themselves alive. Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it!

Sermon Notes
 
It's easy to read Psalm 22 and instantly recognise the words of Jesus from the cross. However we first need to look at the original context of the psalm. 1. Psalm 22 and David - Honesty before God - submission before God - even in the midst of a lament the main focus is wanting God to be near. - psalm ends in worship. 2. Psalm 22 and Jesus - Jesus knew Scripture, he was quoting from their book of worship (the psalms). - many verses in psalm fulfilled in Jesus. 3. Psalm 22 and us - we can be (and need to be) honest before God. - we need to submit, recognising that He is God. - we are reminded that Jesus has been there too, He felt forsaken. - it reminds us to look ahead, their is hope. God hears our cry and will answer.

My Comments

I did take quite a few notes this morning but they are superfluous as they are all contained in the above notes. One thing I did take from this mornings sermon is that I need to change my prayers. From now on I'm going to try to remember to simply ask God to be with me in my activities rather than asking Him to help me.

May God bless you richly this week.

Richard.

The Week That Was 24-03-2012

This has been another busy week, with plenty of ups and downs, unfortunately finishing on a low, but more of that later.

The week started with a trip to Deniliquin with a group from church to help feed evacuees from Hay. The trip took about 3 hours and I did try to make use of the time with a little knitting but I found the movement of the bus while trying to watch what I was doing made me a little nauseous so a gave up after only 10 rows. We did get a bit of downtime during the afternoon so I got out a couple of the projects that I bought with me and made a bit of progress on them. It was quite a tiring day and we got home quite late.

At college this week we had on lesson on Excel before getting assessed. I didn't realise that Excel was so simple that it could be taught in 3 hours. I'll have to wait and see if I learnt enough in that one lesson to get me through. We also stepped up what we're learning in Flash and Photoshop with more animations in both, and we've been working on a personal website using Dream Weaver while learning about social media.

If you check out my WIP Wednesday and FO Friday posts you will see that there has been quite a bit of crafting done this week with plenty of progress on most of my projects as well as a pair of booties finished. This week I'm working on getting a sunhat done and I'm well on the way to achieving that.

Today was market day in Benalla and it was very disappointing. I only had one sale and didn't even cover the cost of the stall, let alone the other expenses. I've worked out that the monthly trip to Benalla costs me about $50, so if I don't sell at least that amount the trip costs me money. So far this year I've made two trips and made a total of $30 in sales. It's especially disappointing when I look back at last years figures when I didn't fail to sell at least $50 worth of goods any time I made the trip. Last month there were a number of stall holders complaining that sales were well down on previous months but most of them  were up again this month. If I don't do better next month I may have to cut my losses and abandon that market.

Since today's sales had no affect on my to-do list and I have no more markets until Easter it must be time for a to-do list review, so here it is.

Things to make to replace stock for my market stall:

White booties and sunhat

Bottle Cosies in more team colours

2 String bags

Current Work In Progress:

Rose Clan Dress Tartan Rug
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
Tea cloth in #40 cotton

Men's Afghan Stitch Gloves

Tommy Turtle

Things I'm itching to get started on:

bag holders

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.

Australiana2.0 Table Runner

Banner for Stall

Table Runners for each Australian state and territory.

Tunisian Crochet Intarsia Table Runner

Blanket from pattern in my head – possibly tunisian crochet short rows.

Spiral Blanket (saw one on the internet and figured I could have a go at it without the pattern)

Plenty there to keep me going for a while.

Richard.

FO Friday 23-03-2012

Another Friday and another FO.

Pink Booties

These booties don't take long to make so I had plenty of time to make them during the week and still had time to work on other projects.

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

Richard.

WIP Wednesday 21-03-2012

Another Wednesday and more progress to show. This week has been a little different with a trip to help feed some evacuees on Sunday. I took 3 projects with me so that I had something to do on the bus and if I got any down time. I've never knitted on a bus before and wasn't sure how successful I would be at it. In the 3 hours it took to get to our destination I managed about 10 rows of the slanted scarf.

Slanted Scarf

I managed to do a couple more rows at college while waiting for the computer to boot up and log in as well as the 10 rows done on the bus so it is growing, slowly. Someone last week asked about the yarn I'm using for this and while I can't give you specifics as I have lost the tag that came with it, I can tell you that I picked it up at Bendigo Woollen Mills when Sue and I went there about 18 months ago. It was in the bargain area so I think it may be a discontinued line.

Between lunch and dinner we got about 2 hours to do whatever we wanted so I pulled out the other 2 projects that I had taken with me. I finished the increases on the sleeve of my hoodie.

Second sleeve of hoodie - Dawg by Drew Emborsky

And I added a few more rows to the Toddler's Jacket.

Toddler's Jacket - Zoom by Ellen Gormley

I have 4 more rows to do before I get to the border and then attack the sleeves.

Other projects that have progressed this week are:-

Segment 3 of Daffodil Teacloth

Tommy Turtle

Men's Afghan Stitch Gloves - left hand palm

I didn't add anything to the crochenit cot blanket this week so that will be a priority on Friday morning.

Sue wouldn't let me take photos of her WIPs this week as she hadn't made significant progress. She has been busy studying instead (something that I should probably spend more time doing myself).

As usual, you can check out Tami's Amis, Nicole's 'Keep Calm Craft On', Kristine's WIP Wednesday post and Ginny's Yarn Along for WIPs to check out. As of writing this, Kristine, over at Ambassador Crochet hasn't posted so I'll update this with a link to her blog tomorrow night.

Richard.

The Week That Was 17-03-2012

The end of another busy week has come and it's time to reflect on what I have achieved.

I had my first assessments at college this week, the first was OH&S. Real exciting stuff! The second was Word. What this means is that we won't need to study anymore OH&S and will be able to concentrate more on HTML, CSS and Web design. In the other class, we move from Word to Excel. I'm not sure what there is in Excel that I need to know about that I don't already know.

I haven't been doing much exercise lately. What is supposed to happen is that Sue drops me off at college in the morning then I walk home, but Sue had an exam on Monday so was there when I was leaving, Tuesday she decided to pick me up because she was in town for a chiro adjustment, Wednesday she decided to come and pick me up so that I didn't have to walk home in the rain (what a thoughtful wife she is) and Thursday she decided she wasn't going swimming so let me take the car. Maybe I'll get a bit more exercise next week.

On the crafting front, I have made quite a bit of progress on several projects, although there is at least one that has stagnated. It didn't help that I didn't go to markets today where I would normally have a bit of time to work on various projects. Instead I stayed home and helped with some housework. There is still plenty of housework that needs to be done but neither of us had the energy to keep going.

Yesterday, while at crochet class, one of the ladies in the scrapbooking class gave me a few places that I can contact about other markets that I may be able to attend, so next week I will be making a few phone call to find out some more information and possibly book a site.

It looks like I may not be at church tomorrow as the CO has been busily contacting people to put together a team to help feed evacuees. There is a bit of flooding happening around the place lately and us salvos have got to do what we do best, feed the hungry.

That's it from me for this week. I hope you all have had a good one.

Richard.

FO Friday 16-03-2012

So far this year I have managed to a an FO ready for every Friday and today is no exception. Here is my latest teapot cosy.

Teapot Cosy - Pink with leaves

Since I've been learning all about Photoshop at college I thought I would find out how many of Photoshop's features were available in the Gimp.

As usual, if you want to see more FO Friday goodness, checkout Tami's Amis.

Richard.

WIP Wednesday 14-03-2012

... and Theme-a-licious:March Madness

Today I'm not only showing off all the WIPs that I've been working on this week but all the projects that I've been working on since the start of the month. Technically, the Theme-a-licious post should be be done tomorrow, but I'm too lazy to take photos two days running.

I'll start with the projects that I've working on this week.

Second sleeve of hoodie (Dawg by Drew Emborsky)

Slanted Scarf

Toddler's Jacket (Zoom by Ellen Gormley)

Men's Afghan Stitch Gloves

Pink Teapot Cosy with Leaves

Daffodil Teacloth

I'm hoping to have the teapot cosy finished for Friday. I'm pretty sure that's doable.

Here are the other items that I've worked on in March.

Crochenit Cot Blanket

Tommy Turtle

Teapot Cosy with flowers and butterfly

Wine Glass Socks

Is that mad enough for you? Actually, I'm supposed to work on a different project each day of March but I've just worked on multiple items on any day so I'm not really doing it right but it's probably madder this way.

As a special bonus, I even have some photos of some of Sue' WIPs this week. Here is what she has been working on.

Knitted Pram Blanket with Diamonds

Crocheted Pram Blanket - Box Stitch worked in the round

Crocheted Cot Blanket - Box Stitch worked on the diagonal

That's all we have to show you at this time. Check out Ginny's Yarn Along, Kristine's Ambassador Crochet, Tami's Amis and Nicole's Keep Calm, Craft on. That should keep you busy for a couple of days.

Richard.

Edit: Updated Theme-a-licious link at top of post.

Faith

We got to meet up with friends from Tuggeranong this morning when they came to bring us the message.

The reading this morning came from Matthew 14:22-36.

Jesus is in the storms of life, we are not alone.

Jesus promised us that we would have trouble, He never promised us an easy life. While most of us don't go looking for trouble like storm chasers, we will face many storms.

God has promised "Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you" Hebrews 13:5

Jesus is in the storms of life.
Jesus wants us to keep our eyes on Him at all times.
Jesus sometimes asks us to do ludicrous things, but that's OK. We need to trust and obey.
Peter had the courage to get out and have a go.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will keep your paths straight" Proverb 3:5&6.

Will you have the courage to step out in faith this week?

May God bless you richly this week.

Richard.

The Week That Was 10-03-2012

This week has been quite busy but with less drama than last week. All my college work is up to date and all projects and assignments have been lodged. Next week we have a couple of assessments, so some may find it stressful, but I'm not going to stress about them, at least not until they actually happen.

On the crafting front, the progress on some of my projects has slowed considerably. I think this is mainly because I am spending time making sure that I have at least one project finished each week. Most of these have been items that could be made in a day or two so I still have plenty of time to work on my main projects, but this weeks project seemed to take a little longer a cut heavily into time that I could have been working the bigger ones. I know it wouldn't really matter if I went one or 2 weeks without having anything completed but I would like to see if I can get through a whole year without missing a FO Friday.

Today was market day in Myrtleford. It's a big weekend in Myrtleford with their 5 day festival running from Thursday through to Monday and happens every year at this time due to Monday being a public holiday south of the border. There were a lot of people around the little town and most of them seemed to spend a bit of time at the markets but few seemed to be spending their money, well, they weren't spending it at my stall anyway. I received a lot of compliments, especially in regards to my latest teapot cosy (see yesterday post for pics), but compliments don't pay the bills. I did manage to sell a few items and covered my costs for this morning, with a little bit to spare, and I have had to add a couple of string bags to my to-do list, so it wasn't a total loss.

That's it from me for this week, hope you all had a good one.

Richard.

FO Friday 09-03-2012

Well, I did it, I managed to finish the teapot cosy in time to take photos for today's post. I didn't think I was going to make it for a little while there and it did mean working on it exclusively today. So, without further ado, here it is!

Teapot Cosy - viewed from side of spout

Teapot Cosy - viewed from the other side

Teapot Cosy - viewed from the top

I'm not sure that I did the butterfly's antennae long enough, but I think the overall effect is good.

Now to get cracking on next week's FO done so that I have a bit of time to work on my other projects.

Don't forget to checkout Tami's Amis for more FO Friday goodness.

Richard.

WIP Wednesday 07-03-2012

Another week of progress has gone past and it's now time to see how much I have managed to do this week.

Again I will show them in order of most to least progress.

Teapot Cosy

Daffodil Teacloth

Tommy Turtle

Back of Right Glove

Palm of Right Glove

Crochenit Cot Blanket

2nd Sleeve of Hoodie (Dawg by Drew Emborsky)

Toddler's Jacket (Zoom by Ellen Gormley)

There was no progress on the Slanted Scarf this week but I hope to fix that soon. The teapot cosy should be my FO for this week. There's a bit of decorating to do first. Check back on Friday to see the finished article. I'm not real sure about the glove, the fingers seem to be a little large and the wrist is a bit loose. I could probably fix the wrist with a bit of hat elastic but I'm not sure how that would look.

Anyhow, there's plenty to see over at Tami's Amis, Frontier Dreams, Ambassador Crochet and Small Things so go and check them out.

Richard.