The year that was 2013

So, it's New Years Eve and time to look back on what has happened this year and what I've achieved and look forward to what I hope to do in 2014.

At the start of the year I turned 55. Since I no longer work full time (I was retrenched in 2010 and haven't worked since) I was allowed to withdraw my Superannuation which came to a total of around $44000. Not really much to show for 34 years in the workforce but it was better than nothing and it did pay for some new teeth and a great holiday.

Of course, the most outstanding thing that we did this year was our trip around the UK and Ireland. It's hard to remember anything else we did this year, but it was a fantastic trip. I'm not sure if I would ever do such a long trip ever again as we were kinda over it before we finished and were ready to get back on the plane for the return flight. There were a lot of memorable moments on the trip and one of the first things I plan on doing in the new year is to put the rest of the photos up for everyone to see. The first three weeks have been put into Google+ albums and can be found here.

On the crafting front I completed quite a few projects and here is the montage.

In this photo there should be 3 Blankets,  9 Toys,  16 Trauma Teddies, 24 Hanging Towels, 1 Mug Cosy, 3 Pairs of Baby's Bootees, 2 Santa Stockings, 1 Christmas Tree, 1 Angel Book Mark, 1 Toddler's Jacket,  1 Child's Hat, 1 Table Runner, 1 Baby's Ensemble and 1 Shopping Bag, although a couple of the Trauma Teddies could be missing (there are 16 in my Ravelry project page).

Sue wasn't quite as productive as I was with only 4 completed projects.

My main focus for 2014 will be toys, novelty hats and things that I plan on entering into the shows in October/November. My current to-do list looks something like this:-

Things to make to replace stock for my market stall:

Bottle Cosies in more team colours

2 String bags

Teapot Cosies

bag holders

Koala

Small Bunny

Robot

Wine Glass Socks

Current Work In Progress:

Crochenit Cot Blanket (trying a method for doing rows that are longer than the hook)
Toddlers Jacket (on hold due to lack of yarn)
AustralianaV2

Trauma Teddies

Tunisian Spiral Blanket

Hanging Towels

Baby's Jacket, Pants and Hat Ensemble

Santa Stockings

Box Stitch Baby Blanket – taken over from Sue

Things I'm itching to get started on:

Crochenit Knee Rug (same as Cot Blanket and will also use up some of my stash of 8ply)
Crocheted Slocks
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.

Banner for Stall

Table Runners for each Australian state and territory (currently trying to design the ACT one).

Tunisian Crochet Intarsia Table Runner

Dinosaurs (bought the patterns from PlanetJune)

This is quite a long list and I doubt that I will make much of a dent in it (some of these things have been on the list for a couple of years already) but I intend to try.

That's it for this year, Happy New Year to all.

Richard.

Friday FOs - 20.12.2013

This will be my last FO for 2013 as I will be away at the in-laws place in Dubbo next week. There are no prizes for guessing what this FO is as I have done many of these this year. Here is this week's FO.

Trauma Teddy # 16

Somehow it seems that I should have made more of these by now. Guess that's what happens when I take 3 months off.

No more FOs now until the new year but you can still check out what others have been making using the links in the sidebar.

Richard.

Wednesday WIPs 18.12.2013

Well, I've managed to get my act together and work on something almost everyday this week, which means that most of my WIPs have seen some progress. Here are the items that I've worked on this week that are not yet finished.

Crochenit Cot Blanket

I've made some pretty good progress on this and am confident that it will be finished in the next couple of weeks.

Box Stitch Baby Blanket

I'm very close to the next corner on this and am looking forward to the rows getting shorter.

Tunisian Spiral Blanket

I've started on the next round of the spiral. I'm almost our of the black I am using but I'm sure I have more in the stash.

Toddler's Jacket - Zoom by Ellen Gormley

I have completed the first sleeve but I definitely don't have enough of this yarn to do the other, nor will undoing the edging get me enough so I may have to hibernate this item until I figure out what I'm going to do about it.

Baby's Jacket, Pants and Hat set

The Jacket is done although I forgot whether I was working with an American Pattern or English pattern when I started doing the edges and used the wrong stitch. I don't think it will really matter in the long run.

AustralianaV2 - designed by me

I managed to add another half a dozen rows to this this afternoon before I took the photos. I do hope those stains come out in the wash.

There will be no Wednesday WIPs post from me next week as it is Christmas Day and we will be away from home. Drop by on Friday to see what I have managed to finish this week. My last post this year will probably be on Saturday (unless I get the urge to post the sermon on Sunday night).

Check out the links in the sidebar to see what everyone else has been making.

Richard.

Saturday Shenanigans - 14.12.2013

It's getting closer to Christmas and all the Christmas festivities are in full swing.

On Monday we had the Mirambeena Activities Group open day, concert and lunch. As part of the Mirambeena Melody Makers I got to do a bit of singing and accompanying on the trombone. As the crochet tutor I got to show off some of my work.

On Tuesday we had the Community Services Christmas lunch. With Sue now volunteering as the receptionist for Community Services one day a week she got invited to this one.

Sue was busy with her Community Services work on Wednesday and Thursday. It is a real busy time of year for the Salvos with all the hamper preparations and sorting through the gifts for kids of needy families so they needed her an extra day.

On Friday we drove up to Wagga Wagga to see a movie called "The Christmas Candle". We had to go to Wagga Wagga to see this as they're not showing it in Albury. I can highly recommend this movie, it has a great Christian theme.

Today we had had a fund raising barbecue at the local Bunnings hardware store. Santa Claus made a an appearance and some of the Corps folk sang a few carols while some of us slaved away cooking and selling sausage sandwiches in 30ºC heat.

All in all, it has been a pretty good week. I hope you all had a good one also.

Richard.

Friday FOs - 13.12.2013

Just one FO for this week and here it is.

Trauma Teddy # 15

There still seems to be a demand for these so I will keep making them.

To see what others have been making just check out the links in the sidebar.

Richard.

Wednesday WIPs - 11.12.2013

Things have been a little slow on the crochet front this week with 3 of my WIPs not seeing any progress at all. I guess they will need to be the first ones I work on this coming week. On the flip side, there were 4 projects that did see some progress this week, and here they are.

Crochenit Cot Blanket

I finished one end and started the other. It won't be long now until I weave in the ends and call this one finished.

AustralianaV2 - designed by me

I've managed to get a few more rows done on this one.

Large Santa Stocking

I finished the main part of the stocking. Now all I have to do is sew it up and do the final rows and hanging loop and it will be done. I hope to find time to finish this next week.

Tunisian Spiral Blanket

I'm almost finished going around  but it's still quite small. I think I may need to go around again.

Well, that's all that I've been working on this week. Check out the links in the sidebar if you want to see what others have been working on.

Richard.

Monday Mayhem - To-do lists

For some people these are the bane of their existence, for others they are a necessity. When I was working I needed a to-do list because I kept forgetting what jobs I had to do on a particular day. Now I keep a to-do list to keep track of what I'm making, what I need to make and what I want to make.

Here is what my to-do list looks like at the moment.

Things to make to replace stock for my market stall:

Bottle Cosies in more team colours

2 String bags

Teapot Cosies

bag holders

Koala

Small Bunny

Robot

Wine Glass Socks

Current Work In Progress:

Crochenit Cot Blanket (trying a method for doing rows that are longer than the hook)
Toddlers Jacket
AustralianaV2

Trauma Teddies

Tunisian Spiral Blanket

Hanging Towels

Baby's Jacket, Pants and Hat Ensemble

Santa Stockings

Box Stitch Baby Blanket – taken over from Sue

Things I'm itching to get started on:

Crochenit Knee Rug (same as Cot Blanket and will also use up some of my stash of 8ply)
Crocheted Slocks
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.

Banner for Stall

Table Runners for each Australian state and territory (currently trying to design the ACT one).

Tunisian Crochet Intarsia Table Runner

Dinosaurs (bought the patterns from PlanetJune)

This seems to be a never ending list as I keep finding things that I want to make. Sales at markets and on-line don't really help other than financing my hobby, they just add to the list. Sometimes I think I'll give up on the list and just do what I feel like doing, other times I make a concerted effort to try and catch up, but mostly I plod along trying to get a few things finished each month.

What is your to-do list like?

Richard.

Saturday Shenanigans - 07.12.2013

This week has been a bit of a mixed bag and I must profess that I haven't done as much crocheting as I possibly should have. Some days it has been too hot to think about picking up one of my projects, other days have been quite cool and I still didn't pick anything up. I have done some crochet this week, just not as much as I would in cooler weather.

On Thursday evening the corps band went to Kmart in town and put on a concert for all the shoppers. I guess this means that the season has started. We will be doing the same next week and the week after.

Yesterday marked the end of the term for the crochet class and Mirambeena Melody Makers (MMM). The MMM have a few concerts to perform and one of them was this evening. One of the local churches has a Christmas Tree Festival where different groups and individuals enter  a competition to see who can be the most creative Christmas Tree decorator. Anyone that wants to can pay $5 and vote for their favourite trees with the money going to the chosen charity of the people who entered the tree the is voted for. The winning tree is the one that raises the most money. They also have local choirs go in and entertain the crowds and tonight it was our turn.

I will wait until next Saturday to tell you of the other concerts we're going to be involved in. I hope you all had a good week.

Richard.

Friday FOs 06.12.2013

Since I have been a bit slack this week I haven't worked on as many projects as I could have (I would blame the heat but it has been cool the last couple of days), but I have still managed to finish something, and here it is.

Christmas Tree

It's not much and I could decorate it if I felt up to it but it's too late now to take it to markets as the next one I'm going to will be after Christmas.

To see what others have been making just check out hte links in the sidebar.

Richard

Wednesday WIPs - 04.12.2013

The last couple of weeks have been quite slow on the crochet front. The weather has warmed up making it difficult to work on blankets and such, and last weeks trip to Sydney didn't really help much. I did take a couple of projects with me and spend a bit of time working on them. Air conditioned waiting rooms are quite good for doing doing some work.

Here are the items I have worked on over the last couple of weeks that I haven't finished. It was raining today so I took the photos indoors. This means the colours are way off.

Box Stitch Baby Blanket

This was one of the projects I took with me last week but only worked on while watching a bit of TV.

Tunisian Spiral Blanket 

I managed to do quite a bit of this on the train and in the waiting room. I'm not sure if it will big big enough yet with just one round of black so I may go around again.

Baby's Jacket, Pants and Hat Set

The seams are all sewn up and just have to sew on the buttons and do the fancy edging on the jacket then it will be time to start on the pants.

Crochenit Cot Blanket

One end is almost done. It seems that this goes a bit faster with the cabled hook thatn the double-ended one.

I have managed to finish something this week so I will have something to show you on Friday. Until then, check out the links in the sidebar to see what everyone else has been making.

Richard.

Monday Mayhem - Dentistry and Blowholes

Last week we had dental appointments in Sydney. While I realise that this may seem a long way to go to have someone poking around inside your mouth it is somewhat cheaper to go to our health insurers facility than it is to go to a local.

We decided to make a little holiday of the trip and drove to Kiama which is on the south coast of NSW. It is also that last stop on the electrified rail line with trains going up to Sydney quite regularly.

After getting our teeth cleaned and probed for problems we got back to Kiama and decided to do the touristy thing and check out the blowhole.

The beach near where we were staying

The hole that everyone goes to Kiama to see

Not as spectacular as I've seen it but still active

Another angle

While we were there Sue wanted to get our photo taken at the base of the lighthouse to match a photo she has of her parents.

The lighthouse near the blowhole

After this we decided to check out the Little Blowhole. I hadn't known about this little blowhole prior to this visit so I was somewhat intrigued to see if it was any good, and it was. It was actually more spectacular than the main blowhole that everyone goes to see.

The hole doesn't look very impressive, only about a foot square

It put on quite a display while we were there

Just for a little perspective on how big some of
the plumes of water were

Apart from spending half an hour in the dentist chair it was quite a pleasant trip. On Friday we relocated to Bomaderry (a little further south) to visit family and celebrate an upcoming birthday.

Richard.

Sunday Sermon - 24.11.2013

The readings for this morning sermon came from Luke 23:33-43

33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
35 The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”
36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37 and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”
38 There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews.
39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. ”
43J esus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

and Colossians 1:9-20

9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 
16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 
17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

In our current society kings and queens are mere figureheads with no real power.

We teach our kids that they can be anything they want to be, that they are rulers of their own destiny, but can we really be rulers of our own destiny with some many outside influences? Our adult lives are influenced by deadlines, bill, addictions and all sorts of other things.

Thousands of years ago the prophet Isaiah foretold of the coming of a king. A king that would do many things and have many names. Jesus is a king unlike any other. He is not a figurehead. He cannot be manipulated. He is a king eternally.

Jesus has come to connect the body (the church) with its head (God). He calls you to follow Him.

What rules your life? Who do you serve?

May God bless you richly this week.

Richard.

Saturday Shenanigans - 23.11.2013

And so we come to the end of another not so busy week with nothing particularly exciting to write about. If this keeps up then I'm going to have to give up this Saturday night post.

I think I spent a good deal of this week watching TV and crocheting, although the last couple of days I seem to have been neglecting the crochet.

Today was different though. Sue and I spent the day at the corps do the "Caring For Kids" training. This means that, once we have passed police checks, we will now be allowed to work with kids.

I hope you all had a good week.

Richard.

Friday FOs - 22.11.2013

Well, it's that time of the week again, time to show you what I've finished this week, and here they are.

Trauma Teddy #14

The latest Trauma Teddy ready to go to a waiting room somewhere in this area.

Choose Your Own Dragon Adventure by Fresh Stitches

I went to take photos of this one this afternoon and noticed he didn't have a tail so I had to find it and sew it on first.

As usual, check out the links in the sidebar to see what everyone else has been making.

Richard.

Wednesday WIPs - 20.11.2013

I'm feeling as though I've been a little slack this week as not all of my WIPs saw progress this week. Of the items that have progressed, these 7 are the one that remain WIPs.

Box Stitch Baby Blanket

I made some good progress on this one, moving through the green and onto the pink. I've decided that I will start reducing the other side when I start on the next yellow stripe.

Toddler's Jacket

I am fast running out of yarn for this and I'm not sure what I'm going to do about it. I don't know where I can get more of this.

Tunisian Spiral Blanket

I think I may need 2 rounds of black for this to get it to a decent size. I will measure it once I get back to the start.

Crochenit Cot Blanket

I bent the double ended hook I was using for this one and know it's quite unusable so I have switched to a cabled hook. It kinda makes it easier to do a row but I have to switch the hook from end to end each row.

AustralianaV2 - designed by me

I'm now about half way on this.

Large Santa Stocking

This is another that I'm going to run out of yarn on. I'm thinking of finishing this in white.

Christmas Tree

All the leaves are done and now it's time to make the base, stuff and stitch it.

I have a bonus for you this week. Just to show that Sue hasn't been idle and that she actually intends to do something with the yarn she bought the other day, here is what she has been working on.

Magic Square Blanket in Shades of Pink

Of the 2 remaining items that I haven't shown you this week, one is no longer a WIP. You will get to see which item that is on Friday.

As usual, just checkout the links in the sidebar to see what others have been making.

Richard.

Monday Mayhem - The Craft Stall

I just thought I would show you what my craft stall setup looks like. Here is a photo I took a week ago while in Myrtleford.

My Craft Stall

The tables seem to be getting more and more crowded and I'm trying to make as much use of the hanging space provided be the canopy.

Richard.

Saturday Shenanigans - 16.11.2013

Another week has gone by and I have been very busy in one area and very slack in another. While my crocheting moves forward the garage still looks like it did a couple of weeks ago. We will get around to it eventually as I'm sure Sue will complain about not being able to park the car in it at sometime in the future.

Everything else seems to be motoring along as normal. Crochet class was quiet yesterday although I did have one pupil for part of the time. It seem that the guy in the sewing class wants to learn how to crochet. Unfortunately, he has trouble holding the yarn in the opposite hand to his crochet hook as he is somewhat used to knitting ( not that he has been knitting for all that long). I did manage to teach him something (I think) as he hadn't learnt how to bind off his knitting and always got his sister to do that for him.

There would normally have been a market today but it seems that it has been cancelled until further notice due to a lack of interest. I don't know if they tried to contact any of the regular stall holders to let them know but they don't appear to have tried to contact me. I only found out last night when I managed to get hold of the president of the club that runs it.

It seems that I may have passed a milestone with this blog recently as it is showing that I now have 50 followers. Feedspot is also showing that I have 25 followers so I'm not sure if that means that I actually have 75 followers now or if those 25 Feedspot followers are part of the 50 followers that Blogspot is reporting. In any case, I hope that they don't find my blogs to be too boring and that I can find some other items of interest to fill the other days and maybe attract a few more.

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

Richard.

Friday FOs - 15.11.2013

I don't have anything exciting finished this week, just the regular stuff. Here are my FOs for this week.

Christmas Towels

Two more Christmas towels to add to the collection.

Trauma Teddy # 13

And one more Trauma Teddy.

Once I finish the other Christmas projects there won't be any point in doing any more this year as I won't be able to attend any more markets. The one I thought was on tomorrow has been cancelled until further notice and I won't be able to attend the next one in Myrtleford because we will be otherwise engaged.

If you want to check out what others have been making just click on the links in the sidebar.

Richard.

Wednesday WIPs - 13.11.2013

I have been trying to spend a bit more time crocheting this week and I believe I have been quite successful. Here are the 9 unfinished projects that I have worked on this week.

Crocheknit Cot Blanket

I have now finished the second side so only the ends to finish off.

Chose Your Own Dragon Adventure - by Fresh Stitches

I'm still having trouble attaching the snout straight but I think this is close enough.

Large Santa Stocking

I've turned the heel and only have the foot to go.

Christmas Tree

I managed to get the first few rows of leaves done.

AustralianaV2 - designed by me

 I managed to do a few rows on this one.

Baby's Jacket, Pants and Hat set

The main part of the Jacket is complete. Just need to do the trim, so it up and then do the decorative edging.

Tunisian Spiral Blanket

I managed to find enough of the yarn I was using to get to the corner so now I'm doing a black frame.

Toddlers Jacket - Zoom by Ellen Gormley

Still working on the first sleeve and it looks like I may have to go hunting for more of this yarn or figure out some other way to finish it.

Box Stitch Baby Blanket

I managed to change colour and get more than half way through the next colour band. I think I did quite good on this one. I just need to decide how long in long enough.

That's all my WIPs for this week. Be sure to check back on Friday for my FOs and checkout the links in the sidebar to see what everyone else has been up to.

Richard.