Friday FOs

Happy Friday everyone. Here are my finished objects for this week.

Trauma Teddy # 21

I decided to go with a white body this time. I've done quite a few browns and a couple of grey ones so I thought it might be good for a change.

Hanging Towels using Tea Towels

These two will be on sale in Mt Beauty tomorrow morning.

Hanging Towels using Hand Towels

Sue decided we needed something thicker for our own use so we're going to keep these for ourselves.

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

Richard.

Thursday Thoughts - Knitting is an Old Woman's Pastime

It has been a while since I have done one of these Thursday Thoughts but this is something that came up on QI recently (at least it was only recent here in Oz).

It seems that there was a tribe of cannibals that considered old women to be the least useful members of the tribe so would eat them in times of famine. When Allan Davis heard this his response was "What about the knitting and crochet, who is going to do that?"

I kinda know how knitting and crochet gets this reputation. It is mainly due to to the younger generation wanting everything now and not being willing to put in the time and effort into making things themselves, but what most people don't seem to realise is that these old women started when they were quite young. They also don't realise that knitting was invented by men and was once a male dominated task.

Being a middle aged (I don't consider myself to be old yet) man that knits and crochets I kinda get offended at being described as an old woman.

Richard.

Wednesday WIPs - 29.01.2014

Well, it's Wednesday again, but this isn't an ordinary Wednesday, it's kinda special. I got a new trombone stand from Sue, a card from church, a cake for afternoon tea (which I shared with those at craft'n'cuppa) and 1000 points on my membership card when we went to the club for dinner. If you haven't figured it out yet, it's my birthday. If you want to know how old I am, I'm 14 (when counting ages I only count to 21 and then start again), you just need to know how many times I've been 14 and figure it out from there :).

Anyhow, Wednesday is also the day for showing off WIPs, so here they are.

Tunisian Spiral Blanket

I managed to find a relatively cool period to make a bit of progress on this. Just one more corner to turn then I'm on the home straight.

Box Stitch Baby Blanket

Another change of colour and getting closer to the finish line.

Pineapple Doily

Three pineapples complete and 5 more to go. I actually made a mistake in round 8 and had to rip back a few rows. That's what I get for not reading the pattern properly.

Knooked Beanie

I've decided that I've done enough ribbing on this beanie and have started on the stocking stitch.

AustralianaV2 - designed by me

A few more rows have been added to this.

Baby's Jacket, Pants and Hat Set

 I am making progress on this one also.

Tunisian Lace Wrap

One repeat of the pattern has been completed. This is the item that I take with me when I'm expecting to be sitting in a waiting room. I think I should have had it earlier today when I went to take some paperwork to Centrelink for Sue.

Fish

The three pieces are now complete, stitched together and the body stuffed. Now I need to pick up the stitches and start working on the tail.

Amigurumi Robot

Yes, I started a new project this week. It's not like I don't have enough projects on the go at the moment but I like to get replacements for the toys that I've sold done as soon as possible.

I'm still debating whether of not to start another blanket. Maybe I'll start one when crochet class resumes and have it as my go-to project for that. I'll have to wait and see who turns up for class and see what they want to learn. I only have about five blankets that I want to get started on. Let's see, there's the Hungarian stitch blanket, Tunisian sampler blanket (I've got the 101 Tunisian Stitches book to work through, Crochenit (Double Ended Tunisian) Sampler blanket (I've got the 101 Stitches book for that also), a butterfly and roses baby blanket (Tunisian Intarsia), and a blanket made using the motifs from Ellen Gormley's book. Which one do I start first? I also have to think about how much time I'm going to be spending studying as I plan to get back into that this year.

Ah well, lots to think about. In the meantime, check out the links in the sidebar to see what everyone else has been making.

Richard.

Saturday Shenanigans - 25.01.2014

It has been a while since I've done a weekly update. So long, in fact, that I've forgotten when I did the last one so I figure I had better go back a few weeks.

We went away for Christmas, visiting Sue's brother and sister-in-law up in Dubbo. It was a most pleasant few days, but we didn't really do anything particularly exciting.

A couple of weeks ago we had temps up into the 40s for about a week and that made life a little difficult. During the first half of that week we went down to Bomaderry (south coast NSW) for a bit. We had dental appointments in Sydney on the Tuesday so that wasn't very pleasant but it was a lot cooler than at home so it was kinda offset. When we got back to Bomaderry we went into Nowra to pay a visit to my father and step mother.

 On the Wednesday, being our 14th wedding anniversary, we decided to do a little exploring and headed to Minimurra Falls. After seeing how much it would cost to park the car to walk 2.5km there and back we decided that there were other falls we could have a look at. After visiting Carrington Falls we headed toward Robertson for lunch then across to Fitzroy Falls, down through Kangaroo Valley and back to Bomaderry. It was quite a pleasant round trip. We then picked up Sue's aunt and headed over to her cousin's place to meet up with the rest of the family.

When we finally got back to home it was 43C and we didn't feel much like doing anything. This kept up for a few days.

I was planning on getting back into bowling this week but something came up, or at least tried to. I think it was the previous night's dinner. I woke up that morning with my head spinning and my stomach doing backflips. Sue tried to get me down to the doctor but we only got around the corner when breakfast want to make another appearance so I ended up in the back of an ambulance for the first time. It seems that I had vertigo and needed more drugs to take care of it. My head still spins a little and my balance seems a little out at times but a least I'm keeping my food down.

Not much else has happened recently. We're now gearing up for all our usual activities. Sue will be back at college soon and I will be back to teaching crochet. I will have to give the college a call soon to see if I can complete my course this year.

Hope you all had a good one.

Richard.

Friday FOs 24.01.2014

Another week and another FO to show off. Well, actually, it has been two weeks because I didn't finish anything last week, and, while I promised a friend at church I would try and do one Trauma Teddy every week I've only managed one in the last two weeks.

Here it is.

Trauma Teddy #20

The fourth for this year and the twentieth overall.

To see what everyone else has made this week just check out the links in the sidebar.

Richard.

Wednesday WIPs - 22.01.2014

For those of those that missed me last week, Sue and I were away from home and I was unable to take photos and post the status of all my WIPs. I wasn't sure that I would be posting tonight because of illness. I was having trouble standing up this morning and generally not feeling well.

In any case, here is the status of all my WIPs this week.

Tunisian Spiral Blanket

A little progress has been made here.

Knooked Beanie

Almost finished the ribbing on this one.

Box Stitch Baby Blanket

 The rows are definitely getting shorter.

Fish

On the last section of the body but I'm having trouble keeping the strands of yarn from tangling. I guess that's what happens when you use 3 colours on one project.

Baby's Jacket Pants and Hat Set

A few more rows have been added to the pants.

AustralianaV2 - designed by me.

I'm making good progress on this.

Tunisian Lace Wrap

I'm not sure why I started this at this time of year. It's really too hot to work on anything this big, but I bought the yarn on special ($2/100gm for wool blend was too good to pass up) and was itching to see how it would come out. The pattern calls for worsted weight and this seems to be about sport weight but I think this will still look OK when it's done.

Cotton Doily

I'm not sure about the thickness of this cotton. When I bought it (£5 at Luton Market) I thought it might be #10 (U.S. bed weight) but closer examination made me think might be #20 but the way it's working up it may even be #40. In any case, I'm sure I will get a lot of doilies out of this cone.

That's it for my WIPs. I'm not sure how much progress I will be able to make of the larger items before next Wednesday as we are expecting more hot weather. It was in the 40s last week, low 30s this week but getting back to 40 next week.

In the meantime, Sue has made some progress on one of her WIPs.

Knitted Magic Square Blanket in Pink

As usual, check out the links in the sidebar to see what others have been making and I will be back on Friday to show my finished object for this week.

Richard.

Friday FOs - 10.01.2013

It's time, once again, to show off my finished objects. Those of you that have been watching my Wednesday WIPs posts will probably realise what one of the is because it didn't show up in this week's Wednesday WIPs post and most will know what one of the others is because it is something that I've been making at least one of each week for some time now but the other will be somewhat of a surprise because it was started and finished on Monday so hasn't made an appearance on Wednesday.

Here are my FOs for this week.

Crochetnit Cot Blanket

All finished, ends sewn in, ready for the show later this year. I will be putting this aside until after the Albury Show which is at the beginning of November.

Bottle Cosy

Sue wanted a purple bottle cosy because she likes to freeze some water in the bottle and the cosy makes it easier to handle.

Trauma Teddy #19

I'm not sure whether to call this one #19 or #3 of 2014. It might make it easier for the end of year tally if I refer to it by the number I've completed this year.

That's it from me. I'm quite pleased with how the blanket worked out. Check out the links in the sidebar to see what everyone else has been making.

Richard.

Wednesday WIPs - 08.01.2014

This is the time of year that I usually start a lot of projects knowing that I have the rest of the year to finish them. I keep making the resolution to finish the year with no more WIPs than I start with and my starting number is 6 (That's what I had at the beginning of last year and that's what I started this year with). I was a little surprised this afternoon when I found out that I still had only 6 WIPs, yet I started 5 items since last Wednesday! It seems that I have managed to finish as many items as I started.

Here are the items that are still WIPs today.

Tunisian Spiral Blanket

I saw the one that inspired me to do this on Kim Gussen's Pinterest page but I still can't remember the name of the designer. I had to start another ball of black and the new ball isn't quite as black as the old ball but it's barely noticeable.

Box Stitch Baby Blanket

The rows are now getting shorter but it doesn't really feel like it yet as they are still quite long.

Baby Jacket Pants and Hat set

I managed to find the hat elastic and start on the pants. Now I'm not sure if I haven't pulled the elastic a bit tight.

AustralianaV2 - designed by me

I managed to find a bit of time to work on this and got paste the Koala and the Possum.

Knitted Beanie

If you look at this picture and think that there might be something wrong, you could be right. While this is a knit pattern I'm actually using a crochet hook to make it so there isn't a second needle. I wanted to try and see if I could do some special stitches which can't be done with pointy sticks.

Knitted Fish

Just to prove that I can use pointy sticks I'm knitting this one. Actually, I've had this pattern for a while and think that I've been avoiding it because it is a knit pattern.

And now one of Sue's WIPs, just to show that she hasn't been idle.

Knitted Magic Square Blanket in pinks

I still have to decide what to do with all the projects that Sue has started and not worked on for a while but that's another story.

If you want to see what everyone else is making the check out the links in the sidebar.

Richard.

Friday FOs 03.01.2014

The first week of the near year and I figured I would start the year off right with a few FOs. I can't promise that I will have FOs every week but I will do my best. Here are this weeks FOs.

Trauma Teddy # 17

Trauma Teddy # 18

Two more Trauma Teddies to be given away. I guess if I keep doing these I should be able to have something to show every week.

Large Santa Stocking

I didn't manage to finish this in time for Christmas so I guess it's ready for this year.

If you want to see what everyone else has been making then just check out the links in the sidebar.

Richard.

Wednesday WIPs - 01.01.2014

Happy New Year everyone. It's time for the first Wednesday WIPs of 2014.

These are the WIPs that I'm officially carrying forward from last year. Since I started last year with 6 WIPs I didn't want to start this year with more than 6, but I'm kinda cheating as I have one in hibernation and there are still a couple of Sue's projects that I will be taking over as well as the 2 ongoing projects (Trauma Teddies and hanging towels) that I'm not counting.

Here is what my WIPs currently look like.

Large Santa Stocking

Almost finished this one, just the top couple of rows and the hanging loop, so expect to see this as a FO on Friday.

AustralianaV2 - designed by me

 I've made good progress on this one in the last couple of weeks.

Tunisian Spiral Blanket

I'm not sure that I have worked on this since last time I showed it but figured I would show it again as it is the start of a new year.

Baby's Jacket, Pants and Hat set

I haven't worked on this one either. I need to find my hat elastic so I can start on the pants.

Crochenit Cot Blanket

Another one that is close to being finished. Maybe next week's FO, but don't hold your breath.

Box Stitch Baby Blanket

Now that I'm working towards the last corner the rows will be getting shorter.

That's all the items I'm calling WIPs at the moment. I will be looking to start all the projects that I want to enter into the show this year shortly so expect the number of WIPs to grow over the next few weeks. I do have a couple of items finished this week so come back Friday to see what they are.

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

Richard.