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 - 27.08.2014

I have made quite a bit of progress on my WIPs this week and even managed to turn one of them into a FO.

Here are all the items that I have worked one this week that won't be featured on Friday.

Woollen Baby Blanket

I managed to add four more octagons to this one on Friday morning then found that I still had a bit of time to spare so I worked on the tunisian spiral blanket also.

Tunisian Spiral Blanket

Managed another couple of colour changes.

Murray of Athol Tartan Rug

I have reached the halfway mark for weaving in the chains. Now I just reverse the pattern all the way to the end.

Dragon Scale Christmas Tree

I thought I might have a go at this one for a change of pace. I'm not following the pattern exactly but it is still looking quite good.

Experimental Bear

I started making the arms and legs but didn't get very far. I think I can get this finished for next week though.

Baby's Jacket, Pants and Hat set

I managed to add a few more row to the pants. still a bit to do before I start on the legs though.

That's all my WIPs for this week. Be sure to check back on Friday to see what items I have managed to finish this week. In the mean time, check out the links in the sidebar to see what everyone else has been working on.

Richard.

Friday FOs - 08.08.2014

On Wednesday I said that I had three FOs to show off today but I managed to finish off another item this morning so now I have four, and here they are.

Small Santa Stocking

The first of many Santa Stockings.

Tiny Dog

I've used a 5c coin for a size comparison as I think this is one coin that is the same (or at least comparable) size with coins of other currencies. I think our 5c is similar in size to both the US nickel and the UK 5p.

Trauma Teddy #48

I have decided to experiment a bit with making these in the round to save on stitching. It also gives me the option of doing the legs separately, which will fulfill a request from a friend at church, and draw the neck in a bit. I think this new teddy needs a bit of tweaking but it's close.

Bordered Place-mat

I finished this one during crochet class this morning so it will go back to the group organiser next week. It is surprising how much work a tutor can get through when he doesn't have any students.

That it from me for this week. Check out the links in the sidebar to see what others have been making.

Richard.

Friday FOs - 18.07.2014

Another Friday has arrived and it's time to show off my finished objects again. I had hoped to be able to show more than two objects but that's all I've finished this week.

Here they are.

Christmas Tree

A bit early for Christmas but I figured I would give myself plenty of time to build up stock ready for spring.

Trauma Teddy #45

This is number 27 for 2014.

That's it for this week. Be sure to check out the links in the sidebar to see what others have been making.

Richard.

Wednesday WIPs - 09.07.2014

It has been a good week for staying indoors this week with rain almost every day. I didn't spend all my time crocheting and knitting but I did get quite a bit done meeting all the targets I set for myself.

Here are my WIPs this week.

Woolen Baby Blanket - motifs from Ellen Gormley's book

Four octagons were added this week. Another couple of rows and I will be back to where I was before I pulled it apart.

Murray of Athol Tartan Rug

Seven more chains have been completed and woven in on this one.

Knooked Scarf

Another pattern repeat has been completed on this one.

Toddler's Jacket - Zoom by Ellen Gormley

The body is now complete. Time to start on the sleeves.

Baby's Jacket, Pants and Hat set

The next row is where I split for the two sides of the front so the back is complete.

Tunisian Lace Wrap

The main part of this is done, just working a dc (US sc) chain border around the whole thing then a bit a frilly stuff on either end.

Christmas Tree

I know it seems a bit early for Christmas stuff but I figure I need to get a bit done before September so I can start selling it in Spring.

I have also finished a couple of items which you will see on Friday so come back then to have a look. In the mean time, check out the links in the sidebar.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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