Friday FOs - 19.09.2014

This week has been all about bears. Three young girls are leaving town this weekend and their uncle wanted to give them a going away present and commissioned me to make three teddy bears, similar to the trauma teddies that I make but with movable legs. So here are the finished bears.

Three Bears

I hope these three are enough like bears to pass muster.

In the meantime, I still wanted to make my weekly trauma teddy so here it is.

Trauma Teddy # 54

This makes 36 for this year.

That's it for this week. There won't be a Wednesday WIPs post from me next week as that is the day that we are moving. There may be a Friday FOs post but don't count on it as I expect next week to be quite busy. I'm sure there will be plenty of other things to check out from others so check the links in the sidebar to see.

Richard.

Wednesday WIPs - 17.09.2014

This has been a bit of an odd week for me. We have been preparing for another move as the landlord has decided not to renew our lease and that has impacted on my crafting time and I have been a bit slack and have spent some of the time I do have available playing games instead of crafting. As a result, of the 9 or more projects that I have currently on the go I have only worked on three, two of which you will see on Friday. This means that I only have one item to show you today.

Woollen Baby Blanket - motifs from Ellen Gormley's book

Although I managed to get one full row of squares done on this I don't think it is enough and I am going to have to start spending more time working on it if I'm going to have any chance of finishing it for this year's show. Maybe I will have to stop playing games of an evening and work on this instead.

Check back on Friday to see what other projects I have worked on this week and check out the links in the sidebar to see what others have been working on.

Richard.

Friday FOs - 12.09.2014

It's Friday once more and time to show off my FO for this week. That's right folks, only one FO to show you and there aren't any prizes for guessing what it is.

Trauma Teddy #53

Another Trauma Teddy ready to give to a child that is need of a little extra comfort.

As usual, check out the links in the sidebar to see what other have made this week.

Richard.

Wednesday WIPs - 10.09.2014

I have had another slack week with working on my projects and actually took two whole days off. As a result of this slackness not all my projects got worked on. Here are the items that I have worked on this week but haven't finished.

Woollen Baby Blanket - motifs from Ellen Gormley's book

I managed to finish a row of octagons.

Baby's Jacket, Pants and Hat set

I have made most of the first leg of the pants.

Toddler's Rugby Pullover

The vertical striping is back and I still haven't figured out why it changed to the diagonal. You just can't tell how variegated yarn is going to work out until you get working on a project.

Two of the three bears

One is stitched together and is just awaiting facial features and the second is almost ready to stitch up. I will finish putting the second together and making the third before adding the facial features.

That's all my WIPs for this week. I will have at least one item to show on Friday but I think most people will guess what it is. In the meantime, check out the links in the sidebar to see what everyone else has been making.

Richard.

Friday FOs - 05.09.2014

Having so many projects on the go at the same time is no excuse for not finishing anything during the week, even if it's only a trauma teddy. This week I have managed to finish two items, and here they are.

Crocodile Stitch Christmas Tree

It's only quite small and I haven't strictly followed the pattern but it has given me ideas on how to make it quite a bit larger.

Trauma Teddy #52

So this is number 34 for this year, and I have changed the design again (mainly because someone didn't like the other one I did).

That's it for me but there is more to check out on the links in the sidebar.

Richard.

Wednesday WIPs - 03.09.2014

Well, with my regular crochet time, time spent at a Baby Bazaar and taking Sue to see the doc, I have made plenty of progress this week and even started something new. Here is what my WIPs look like today.

Woollen Baby Blanket - motifs from Ellen Gormley's book

I decided to do a bit extra on this one this week as I only have a couple of months to get it finished, but then I got told I only had three weeks to get one of my other projects finished.

Baby's Jacket, Pants and Hat set

I managed to get the the pants to the point where I am ready to start on the legs before deciding to work on something else.

Rugby Pullover

 And this is the something else that I decided to do. Since I have a bit of a shortage of boys stuff I figured that this would be a good place to start. I was a little surprised to see this variegated yarn working up in stripes but even more surprised when the stripes started going off at an angle. I'm not sure what changed there, I'm sure it's not my tension, but I may have to count stitches to make sure I haven't added or decreased.

Experimental Bear #1

I almost have this one finished but I don't think it's going to work for the final design. I still have the ears and facial features to do but I might leave them until I get the three bears that I need done in three weeks finished.

Experimental Bear #2

I think this one is a bit better but I'm still not sure is it will be one of the three I sell to my friend at church. I have one more design to try and I think the legs need to be shorter. I could probably take a few rounds off these before I attach them.

Murray of Athol Tartan Rug

I have added the next section of chains. It's now a matter of reversing the order of the first half of the rug.

Tunisian Spiral Blanket

I managed to get another colour change in while waiting for Sue to get called in to the doctor's office. I'm not sure when this will come out of the bag again.

The yarn eater is still waiting in my bag for another opportunity to come out but I'm in no hurry to work on it so it can keep waiting.

That's it for my WIPs this week. Be sure to check back on Friday to see what I have managed to finish this week, and check out the links in the sidebar to see what others have been working on.

Richard.

Monday Mayhem - 01.09.2014

I have been a bit slack with posting my weekly updates lately. Mainly because I am finding that I am getting to the computer a little too late at night. So this is going to be a bit of a summary of what has been happening here over the last month.

Apart from all the crochet, knitting and knooking that has been happening (which you would have already seen if you have been following my Wednesday and Friday posts) life has been going on much the same as it has for the last few years. Last month I went back for more blood tests and doctor's appointments as a follow to having been diagnosed with diabetes. It seems that I'm not quite bad enough to warrant medication for my sugar levels but, because of the diabetes, the doctor has decided that I should be on medication to bring my cholesterol under control.

The markets last month were a bit of a let down. The one I have been attending regularly in Mt Beauty was very slow with only 4 or 5 stall holders in attendance and not many people looking to spend their money. I also went to the Baby Bazaar for the first time last month and it was quite disappointing . There were quite a few people around but they didn't seem to want to spend their money on my wares. There were a few people that seemed to be interested in some of the items but they found excuses for not buying any of them.

Both Sue and I have had our ups and downs with our health, mainly the usual aches and pains that come with all the itises and other ailments that we have, but this morning Sue had a fall. I had asked her to do something with all the paper work and other rubbish she had been piling up on the floor as it was making it difficult to get into the cupboards and making it awkward for her to get to her desk and this morning she lost her balance while carrying in her breakfast and she fell, aggravating things that she had been having trouble with for quite a while. With her being unable to get up am me being unable to help her (she is 120kg) I had to call for help and an ambulance and police arrived in due course. The result is she has seen the doctor again today and is in more pain than usual, being unable to do much at all with her right arm.

For those that are interested in seeing what my to-do list looks like now, here it it.

Things to make to replace stock for my market stall:

Bottle Cosies in more team colours

Teapot Cosies

bag holders

Jacket, Pants and Hat set in blue (need a couple of other colours also)

Sunhat and Bootees in white

Large Jug Covers

Small Jug Covers

Tiny Duck

Tiny Dog

Heather Hippo

Large Witch

Large Penguin

Current Work In Progress:

Toddlers' Rugby Pullover
Trauma Teddies

Tartan Blanket – taken over from Sue

Woollen Baby Blanket using Motifs from Ellen's book

Bootees

Hanging Towels

Baby's Jacket, Pant and Hat set

Christmas Trees

Christmas Stockings

Teddies for a guy at church

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
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)

Plenty of work there to keep me going for quite a while.

That about wraps it up for August. I hope you all had a good one.

Richard.