The Week That Was 30.06.2012

Well, it's been a bit of a slack week in some ways but busy in others. I managed to get back into the gym this week, although tuesday's effort was cut short when I got called down to the pool. It seems Sue had done something to her should that was causing her a great deal of pain and she needed my help to get changed. It seems to be something similar to what I have although mine has settled down quite a bit and it's very hard to tell how bad it is with her as she has a very low tollerance for pain.

Yesterday was the last crochet class for the term so we had a big morning tea to celebrate. I only had one pupil this term and she was only there about half the term so I got to work on various projects of my own uninterrupted for most of the time. Classes start back of the first Friday in August so I have about 4 weeks off from that. I wonder if I'll have anyone to teach next term.

Since it's the end of the month it must be time to have another look at my to-do list. Not a lot has changed recently but here it is anyway.

Things to make to replace stock for my market stall:

Bottle Cosies in more team colours

2 String bags

Teapot Cosies

Fan Bookmark

Tea Towels

bag holders

Current Work In Progress:

Rose Clan Dress Tartan Rug
Crochenit Cot Blanket (trying a method for doing rows that are longer than the hook)
Toddlers Jacket
Jumper (sweater to you Americans) for me
Tea cloth in #40 cotton

Blanket from pattern in my head done in Tunisian Crochet

Koala Amigurumi – pattern by Planetjune

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 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

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

Platypus Amigurumi – patter by Planetjune (I've already had some interest in this one so it looks like I could sell a few of these)

Plenty there to keep me busy for a while.

Richard.

FO Friday 29.06.2012

I almost didn't have an FO Friday pic for you today because I forgot to take a photo this afternoon. Good job the camera has a flash.

Slanted Scarf

A very simple pattern (which is about the limit of my knitting) but it still took me a while to make. The slant is created by making a stitch at one end and knitting 2 together at the other end of every other row. I already have someone interested in buying this one so I'll wait until after I see them to give them first refusal. I just hope that people won't look too close and see the uneven stitches or mistakes that I've made.

Well, I've made it through half the year without missing a Friday. I wonder how much longer I can keep this up. If Sue has her way I may have a little trouble posting in a couple of weeks as she wants to do a trip to Canberra so she can visit the Computer Fair and a few of our friends. We'll just have to wait and see what happens there.

As usual, I linking up with Wisdom Begins In Wonder, Susan's I've Made Friday, Tami's Amis and Just Winging It. Check them out and see what everyone else has been making.

Richard.

WIP Wednesday 27.06.2012

I have made a lot of progress on most of my projects this week. I still haven't got around to sewing my hoodie together and I still need to get some more wool so that I can finish it off, but I've had plenty of other things to work on, and here they are.

Rose Clan Dress Tartan Rug

 Still going, I think I'm almost to the halfway mark.

Squares in Squares Blanket

 Just the border left to do, then sew in the ends and call it finished. It currently measures 1.06m (~42") across and I'm not sure how I'm going to photograph it once the border has been done. I may have to fold it in half like I do with the tartan.

Crochenit Cot Blanket

 Still going strong on this one, adding a few more rows each week.

Koala - designed by Planetjune

 Finished the body and stuffed it, now to do the limbs.

Segment 5 of Daffodil Teacloth

 I managed to add a few more rows to this one, plenty more to do though.

Toddler's Jacket - Zoom by Ellen Gormley

I've got past the arm holes and am now working on the body. I will go back and do the arms later.

I'm linking up with Tami's Amis, Ginny's Yarn Along, Kristine's Ambassador Crochet and Nicole's Keep Calm, Craft On as usual. Check them out to see what everyone else is doing.

Richard.

Love the Lord your God

Deuteronomy 6:1-9 NIV
These are the commands, decrees and laws the lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. Hear, O Israel: The lord our God, the lord is one. Love the lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Sermon Notes
 
Some of the great texts in the Bible are deceptively simple. We can read the text and spend time meditating over it, and after doing so you come to the realization that the truth is so important and so clear that little can be done other than repeat it over and over again. Deuteronomy 6:4-5 strikes me as such a text. I want to share with you just briefly this morning three points we can take from this text. The writer of Deuteronomy suggests three good reasons why it is important for us to love God. We love God, first of all, because of who he is. V4 The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Yahweh revealed himself to the people of Israel. He had chosen them to be the people through whom He demonstrated his love for the world. God had let them know that he was not just their God as one god among many but God alone over all creation. We also love God because of what He has done for us. This admonition to love God comes to the people in the context of a book designed to remind Israel of her covenant with the God who delivered her from the bondage of Egypt. He made himself known to her in the very act of redeeming her. By grace she was brought into a very special relationship with God. In Jesus Christ God made himself known to the whole world as a saving, redeeming God who desires to bring men and women into a relationship with himself. And the third reason why we love God is that this is the way he wants us to respond to his love. There is certainly a recurring theme in the book of Deuteronomy where people are instructed by the Lord to respond to his gracious activity by loving him. And of course our motivating force behind the love we are to have for God is his prior love for us (1John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.) So what does is really mean to love Him? Well, Chuck Colson says, the beginning of loving God is a passionate desire to obey and please God – a willingly entered into discipline.

My Copious Notes

I didn't actually take any notes today, I just sat and listened.

May God bless you richly this week.

Richard.

The week that was 23.06.2012

I kinda forgot to post last Saturday so this should probably be titled "The Fortnight That Was" but I suspect that no one even noticed anyway.

Last Saturday was market day and I had a reasonably good day. I only had 3 sales but one of those was a $30 scarf so I was quite happy with that.

I finished my Cert III course this week and now have 3 weeks off before I start my Cert IV. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with myself for 3 weeks but I figure I can get in a bit of crocheting and maybe a bit of exercise as well as a bit of web design. The plan is to start work on a web site for my wife's bookkeeping business and another for my web design business. How far I get with these will depend on how motivated I feel.

Since I finished all my school work by Tuesday morning I managed to get to Craft and Cuppa, for which I'm supposed to be the co-ordinator. We farewelled one of the crafty members of our church as her and her husband prepare to go home to Cootamundra next week. We had another farewell for them this evening as half the church congregation met at a local chinese restaurant for dinner.

Today we also spent some time running a barbecue at a local hardware store so it has been quite a busy day. The store provides everything except the food and the manpower for charitable organisations to raise some extra funds so we like to take advantage of this offer whenever we can.

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

Richard.

FO Friday 22.06.2012

Before I show off my finished object for this week I'll give you all a little background story.

I started making bottle cosies a while ago but haven't managed to sell any yet. When I originally made them I figured I would start with local football team colours thinking that they would be more popular that the NRL or AFL team colours, and the local teams used similar colour schemes anyway. It seems that I thought wrong. Everyone was telling me I had the wrong colours, but they wouldn't tell me what the rights colours were. Last Saturday found me at the local markets and once again I got told that I didn't have the right team colours, but this time I got told which teams they wanted, so here is the first in Geelong Cats colours.

Bottle Cosy in Geelong Cats Colours

I probably should have done the hoops narrower so that I could fit more in but I think this should be OK. The other one they wanted was Carlton which is all navy blue so it will be real easy (unless they want the logo on it). I've got plenty of time to make it as I'm not going to markets again until August.

If you want to see what others have been making, check out Tami's Amis, Wisdom Begins In Wonder, Susan's "I've Made Friday", Natural Suburbia and Just Winging it.

Richard.

WIP Wednesday 20.06.2012

Well, it's Wednesday again and I've been very busy and have lots of WIPs to show off.

Rose Clan Dress Tartan Rug

 I've managed to find some time to thread a few more chains through. There is a lot of red in this one.

Squares in Squares Blanket

 One more triangle to go then I can start on the border.

Slanted Scarf

 This one is almost finished, but I already have a finished object for this week so I'll leave this one until Saturday.

Segment 5 of the Daffodil Teacloth

 I've been able to spend a bit of extra time on this this week so there has been quite a bit of progress.

Koala - A Planet June pattern

 My first Planetjune pattern and my first Australian animal. The stitch marker is about where the nose will be on the finished object.

Toddler's Jacket - Zoom by Ellen Gormley

 I've added a couple more rows to this. Today at craft group I had a couple of requests to show how I got the crosses.

I have a bonus for you this week, one of Sue's WIPs.

Pram Blanket with Diamonds

This is a pattern Sue worked out for herself.

As usual, I'm linking up with Nicole's Keep Calm, Craft On, Tami's Amis, Ginny's Yarn Along and Kristine's Ambassador Crochet.

Richard.