A long time in coming.....

......... but I have been busy with other things!

Its amazing how fast time flies. The summer seems to have gone in a flash. So, rather late this month, I have finally done a new desktop calender. The good news, however, is that I took loads of interesting photos over the summer and plan to make the rest of the years calenders well in advance.

I just need to remember to upload them on time. As always, there is a wide screen version as well.

New Mittens

When I was in Ely a few weeks ago I popped into my favourite shop - Yarn on the Square.

It isn't your run of the mill yarn shop, it it full of pretty designer yarns which are also quite expensive! Now I am not saying the shop is expensive but when you are used to paying about £1.50 for the stuff you normally use, anything over £5 is expensive. And, trust me, this ball was well over £5!!!!!

The problem was, it called to me. I saw it on the shelf and just couldn't resist the colours.

I have been thinking for some time about designing a pair of fingerless mittens that are worked from the fingers down and that only leave you one end to sew in when you have finished. I hate sewing up seams!!!!!

I was also planning ahead for a magazine submission. I figured the colours would look good in print.

So this weekend, I made the mitts. I have to say, I am really pleased with them. And that yarn is so warm and soft. So even if they are the most expensive pair I have ever made, I am just going to love wearing them! Unfortunately, I have since had an email saying that the new magazine is no longer going ahead.

Apart from the fact that I am extremely disappointed, I think it is a great shame. The UK could do with something a bit different in crochet.

The pattern for these mitts is available free on Rainbow Valley.

Lots of flowers!

This is what it is looking like at the moment.

There are six different flowers each a little bigger and a little lighter than the last one. I am going to be making another each of flowers two to four, which will give me nine in total. I think any more will spoil it. I can fill up some of the empty stems with fluffy heads. I also need to work on an opening bud and maybe make two or three of them. Then, if I have time, I might change the way I have done the buds. When I started this, September 16th seemed such a long way away. Now I only have 19 days left!!!!!

My 1st Flower

What you have all been waiting for - my 1st flower. The flowers on this clematis start off a gorgeous violet colour and gradually fades to a pale lavender before the petals finally fall off. The 1st flower is based on a newly opened flower.

I am using a technique called "Thread Painting". This is where you use two or more strands of thread/yarn together then change just one thread at a time to the new colour. This gives the effect of the colours shading from one to the next rather than an abrupt change.

I have used this technique a few times with gorgeous results. I am using DMC perle size 8, two strands at a time, in 208, 209, 210, 211 and white. This one uses just 208 and 209. I think the centre should be trimmed a little more though. The actual flower looks a lot neater.

Fluffy Heads

I have been taking loads of photos of my real clematis to try to get the crocheted one looking right. However, I do plan on using a LOT of "Artistic Licence". As I tell Mark when he complains I am not being accurate enough - "You are an engineer, I am an artist. So I can use artistic licence."

The centres of the flowers start off with a little cream in the middle of mostly plum. As the flower gets older the plum opens, revealing more cream.

When it eventually loses all of it petals, the fluffy head left is all cream. I made them with loop stitch, working round and round amigurumi style and keeping the loops to the outside. When it was finished, I trimmed them off and fluffed them up.

Leafing Through!

Or Through Leafing!!!! Either way, I have finished the leaves. All 270 of them! I have also made some fluffy heads and am now on the flowers. No pics of these yet though.

Look what I have got!

Books! Lots of them! Yes, my books have finally arrived and I have 3 boxes full to sell.

I did have 5 but one was all pre-ordered so it didn't take long to get those sorted out and the other 4 fitted into 3 with a few left over.

I have taken some to the Library and will be taking some to the florists later. I will be taking more to the Museum later on in the week.

Now I can get back to what I do best ~ crocheting.

My Clematis now has over 200 leaves on it. There are still quite a few to be made but I am getting there. I was hoping to have them all done and sewn on by the end of the month but I think I may have been over optimistic.

I really need to get started on the flowers soon, otherwise it will not be done in time.

134 leaves and 4 buds later................

Yes, that is how many finished ones are on here. I have finished wiring all of the leaves and sewn most of them in place. And I have made quite a few more. I started at the top with smaller ones as I decided it would be easier to make them and attach them as I go, rather than work out how many I would need and do them later. I can fill in all the other full sized ones later.

I also changed my mind about the buds. Doing them in the same colour as the leaves just didn't work out. You couldn't see them. So after a bit of research - sitting in the garden and looking at my favourite clematis - I decided on a paler colour.

Unfortunately, I already had it in my stash so I didn't have to go stash shopping. I think you will agree, these buds show up more.

Mark says "If you had done it like I thought you were going to, you would have finished it by now."

Hmmmmmmmmmm, maybe so. But........

"Yes Dear, but I have done it like *I* thought I was going to!"

Change of plans.

Slight change of plan about the Clematis leaves. I sewed on all the leaves I had finished, just to the end of the stems and not in place as I thought I could do that better when the leaves were attached.

Then I decided that the centre leaf should be a bit further up the stem than the others so started taking them off and re-attaching them.

Then I decided that the bet way to stiffen them was with florists wire rather than find something to spray them with. So I started taking them all back off - again - thread wire through the stitches and sew then back on.

Then I found a longer needle to thread the wire through with so I don't have to take them all off to do it, just the ones that need moving up the stems.

I started crocheting the new ones with the wire included. This means no blocking as the wire keeps the shape so I will be able to sew them on as I go.

It also meant a trip to the Florist as I am going to need a LOT more wire.

The original lot I got at our monthly "Craft and Lace" group when we did a workshop for table centres before Christmas. I asked if I could buy some of the wires used and she gave me a handful.

I went into the Florists on Thursday to ask if she had more or if she could order me a bundle. She very kindly sorted out what she had left and gave them to me. Apparently they are too thin for the flowers and don't support them properly. They are perfect for crochet though. Now I am getting used to it, these wired leaves are working up almost as quickly as the unwired ones. They take about 20 mins each. I still haven't finished wiring the ones that are all ready on there but it has been a bit hot to sit with that heavy thing on my lap in the evenings.

However, sitting out in the garden is perfect! I can rest the frame on the patio table to keep it off my lap and watch the birds fighting over the peanuts at the same time.

And I thought you might like this pic of Benjamin at the Chatteris Historic Festival this weekend.

Print Ready!

I am all excited!

My book is finally print ready. I just have to wait for the person dealing with it to go back to work after his hols to get things in motion to send it to print.

So, what started out as a personal photography project in January 2008 is finally going to be a book.

And more good news, I have managed to sell some to the local schools with payment in advance which means no more scrimping and saving to afford the publishing!

I was able to download a free trial of InDesign which, with just a little bit of cussing, I have learned to use just enough to produce a print ready version pdf to send to the publisher.

That program does some wonderful things and would be amazing for digital scrapbooking but £699 is a little out of my range for it.

Clematis Leaves

After taking a short break to finish off some items I found in the attic, I have got back to the Clematis.

Here is the first batch of leaves on the blocking board. It holds 38 and I am going to have the fill the board up a few more times before I have enough to finish. I have started sewing some on but just 12 don't look very impressive so you are going to have to wait until I have sewn a few more on before I take a photo.

I have been working hard on the book as well.

I have had it proof read and they found loads of mistakes. As it is all still on the computer it isn't major hassle to change them.

Just time consuming!

I now need to do all the technical stuff to get it "print ready". I am not looking forward to that as I have to learn to use a new program.

It should be going to print on June 28th - barring any major problems.

Back to getting it print ready!

Nearly there!

I am really excited!!!!! I am finally going to see my book in print. It has been a while coming because I have had to save my pennies to afford it.

And, of course, the reduced work hours meant a huge chunk out of what I could manage to save. Now I need to decide how many. The prices I have had mean that if I order 150 I can sell them for £8.95 each, 200 = £8.50 each and 250 = £7.95 each.

I have enough to get 150 and, with a little more saving, might be able to afford 200. Unfortunately, 250 is a bit out of my budget range. I also need to do a bit of market research to find out how many I could sell.

So, if you would be interested in buying one, please use the "Ask me, I might" button on the left to contact me and let me know. They will be £8.95 at the most. If I manage to sell them cheaper, I will give you a refund when the book is sent.

I am hoping to go to print before the end of the month which means they will be on sale by the end of July. I will keep you posted on any developments.

Need a Hand?

I do! And I don't mean some help.

I need a "hand" to "model" my puppets. I need to spend ages taking photos of all of the ones I have finished revising so that I finish these patterns off and sell the finished puppets. Another bag full out of the way.

Last time I asked Benjamin for help to model some he was in a very bad mood because he wanted to be off doing other things and was very uncooperative!!!!!!

I was looking at those wooden ones on eBay but when I saw them in a shop, the thumb didn't go where I needed it to. Anyway, Mark helped me make this. He bent the garden wire and I covered it in the no longer needed tube bandaging and stuffed it.

It works like a dream! Of course, if the finished puppets sell well, I may make some more. To be honest, I don't want to spend my time crocheting to sell but I am trying really hard to save up to get my A-Z published - which isn't easy with the reduced hours and a 12 year old son who always needs something new.

So far I have made about £17 on ebay with all the stash. Not as much as I was hoping for but better than nothing and also saving just either throwing or giving everything away. I also found the gorgeous green chenile I knew was up there. No way am I getting rid of that. I have been dreaming for years about what I am going to make from it!

And in the wardrobe, I found the bag of chunky I was saving to make myself a cardigan. Some of my nice warm woolies are getting a bit past their "use-by" date. The elbows are getting thin and stringy and the cuffs are starting to unravel. And there was no way I was going to buy any new ones when I knew all that stuff was in the attic just waiting to be used.

And about that Clematis. I haven't given up. I ordered some of the sagey green thread to make the leaves from. It have arrived and is ready and waiting for me to use it but I have a long list of things which need to be done first. Besides, small cotton leaves are definately a summer project as I can't be making chunky cardigans then!

Funky Fibre Give Away

I am trying really hard to clear a load of stuff out.

I have found a bag of assorted balls of funky yarns which I really don't want to throw away.

So, email me for my address, send me an S.A.E. with a large letter stamp on and I will send you a selection of at least 6 x 6m lengths.

If I don't get a big response, you can have more as I will only throw them out otherwise.

And please pass the news on, I need to clear out my wardrobe!!!!!

Finished Luceting.

At last. It is just as well that I had to make the frame smaller otherwise it would have taken me almost twice the time - if I had been able to finish it!

I ran out of thread. Not a major problem, I can just order some more - or so I thought. Also, I had hunted high and low for a ball of thread I thought I had. I distinctly remembered ordering two balls of 4 different colours at Christmas. However, this was just before I broke my wrist. When they arrived I was in a lot of pain, couldn't crochet and just dumped the whole bag in the wardrobe. When I finally looked properly in the bag, I realised I had been sent one ball of green short which had never been sent on.

I phoned Tandem Cottage, ordered another two (plus two other colours) and queried the ball I was missing. A few days later my thread arrived - minus the green I desperately needed. As it was the weekend I couldn't phone them so I hunted online and discovered that I couldn't buy the colour I wanted anywhere.

Purple Linda was very helpful and I finally discovered that DMC have changed their colour chart for Petra and the green I want is no longer on it.

After saying a lot of rude words, I phoned Tandem Cottage and asked them about it. It turns out her rep has not been anywhere near the place in ages, she can't get any answers from DMC themselves and she didn't know about the colour range changes.

She did, however, have the colour I want in a size 8, so sent me that. I got it the next day and have finished off the bits I needed to after more rude words. Thinner thread used double gets tangled ever so easily and I spend almost as much time untangling it as I did actually making the bits I needed.

As you can see from the first picture, its a bit of a mess. Most of this is due to all the loose ends in all directions. I can't hide them because of the way I have made the frame. But don't worry, they are not staying like that. I will be using all the ends to sew the leaves and flowers on after thay have been crocheted. And after I have decided what colour to make them in! I can go for either a deeper forest green or a lighter sage green.

I hope the other pictures, that I cleared the loose threads out of the way for, give you a better idea of what it looks like.

Summer Challenge - Part Two

So maybe I was being a bit ambitious with a frame that size but I never did do things by halves. I started working with my lucet, 8 brown threads to make the thick first stem, which I separated into two sets of 4 but added two more green to each so I still had 6. I carried on, separating the threads and adding more in to make the various branches. I was going ok to start but as I started making more branches it got very tangled. Very, very tangled.

So I abandoned that idea! Not that I gave up completely, I just needed a re-think. I finally undid most of what I had done and started again. This time deciding to make the branches separately and sewing them on afterwards. However, I still kept the beginning as it was. It was only one bobbin to cope with and hardly any tangles.

I proceded making just the two main stems. While I was doing this, I was thinking of a a way to attach the new branches with out too many ends to sew in. I can do it when I crochet, why not with the lucet?

This is what I came up with -

I worked out how much thread I would need for the bit I was working on. No easy way, make it up, undo it and measure how much I used. It might seem a waste of time but as I was doing lots of bits the same, it saved time - and thread - in the long run. I measured the thread off, doubling the original measurement and putting a slip knot half way along.

Using a tapestry needle, I threaded it through the middle of the stem I wanted to attach it to. The slip knot provided a stop end.

I then used a steel crochet hook to pull two loops through, which I slipped over the lucet - and carried on as normal!

Here are the resulting stems. The loose ends will be used to sew the leaves and flowers on later.

I was actually quite pleased with myself until I went to Craft Club last week and found out that were are supposed to keep them relatively small. About 2'. It is well under 2' wide but........... So I cut it off at the bar across the middle. The way I have attached the jute thread meant that I could do it without having to redo the whole thing. It is now 2'6" and isn't going any smaller.

Did I mention my lucet?

I went to the NEC at the end of March, for the Hobbycrafts and Sewing for Pleasure exhibition. I haven't been to one of these for quite a few years so I was really looking forward to it.

Also, some local online friends were going as well. We had all booked on the same coach trip so I was doubly looking forward to it.

As always, it was mostly paper crafts and cross-stitch so I didn't even spend 1/3 of what I too with me. But I did get a few things.

One was this REALLY expensive ball of wool. If I had realised just how much it was, I probably wouldn't have. However, I didn't. Still, it is for a lovely pair of knitted fingerless gloves that I saw on Ravelry. I downloaded the pattern and a friend is going to knit them for me. I also got one of those 3-D butterfly punches that I have been fancying for a while and a corner rounder for card to go with my BIA.

And a lucet. I haven't seen one before and I was quite fascinated watching the demonstrater using it. I was also quite facinated with some of the things he was making with it. It is basically to make cords but he was doing all sorts. If you want to know more, go along to his site "The Lucet Company", he explains it all so much better than I can. I am no where as near as good as him yet, but I just couldn't resist making some Rainbow laces to match my earrings!

Summer Challenge

At our Craft and Lace Club, we decided it would be fun to have a "Summer Challenge". After some discussion the theme of "Summer" was decided upon as some wanted "Gardens" and some wanted "Seaside". Summer covers everything.

After some considerable thought, and changing my mind about 50 times, I decided to try to re-create the Clematis in my garden. After even more considerable thought, I decided to make the frame from bamboo and garden string. I wanted to make it look as realistic as possible. The canes I bought were about 4 foot long, so I decided to use the whole length. I lashed them together to make a frame. However, my dearest complained that I hadn't done it properly or tight enough, so I gave it to him to redo! I then spent the rest of Saturday afternoon and evening tying garden string with clove hitches to make a latice for the clematis to "climb" up.

I was ever so pleased with my creation and set to work designing the rest. I have decided to use my new lucet to make the stems.

Sofa, So Good!

Our sofa was old. I bought it 2nd hand just before I had Benjamin so it was well over 12 years. It was getting rather uncomfortable.

But the worst thing about the sofa was listening to Mark complain about it every time we used it!!!!!!

The plan was to decorate the front room before buying a new one but we just couldn't wait. On February 24th, we ordered a nice new corner unit from Argos. They told us it wasn't in stock but did we know about their 28 day delivery promise?

So, there we are, expecting our new sofa withing 28 days. Incidentally, the payment came off the credit card almost immediately.

Just before the 28 days was up we checked our delivery status online. It said we would have a call to arrange delivery by March 29th. So much for a 28 day delivery promise.

On March 27th we had a call to say our order had been delayed annd was expected in the warehouse by April 18th.

So I phoned them. No, they don't deliver on Sundays but they do work on Sundays so we should have a call to arrange delivery for the following week.

"But what about the 28 day delivery promise?"
"That only applies if the item is in stock."
"So its a load of bunkam?"
"No, its not a load of bunkam but........"
"Yes, ok."

On April 7th we had a call to arrange delivery. The first available slot was Saturday April 10th between 7 and 12 am. Well, I wasn't going to say "No", was I?

On the Friday we had a call to say it would be delivered between 8 and 9 am and we would get a call an hour beforehand.

So we didn't get up, thinking that an hour was more than enough time to get ourselves organised when they rang. Yes, you know where this is going, don't you?

At 7.23 we had a call to say they would be here in 15 mins. That, by any stretch of the imagination is not between 8 and 9 with an hours notice.

So not only did I have to get dressed and ready in less then 15 mins, I also had to put up with a very grumpy man who hadn't had his two cups of tea yet.

Still, it was worth it. The sofa is really comfy and I don't have to put up with the complaining any more.

However, I used to keep all my bits that I was working on down the side of the sofa. I can't do that any more. Mark has suggested that I get some sort of case to keep the stuff in that can go away when I am not using it. I quite fancy this. But I need to see how big it is first.

I can crochet a Rainbow

And so can you!

I has come to my attention that so many people out there can crochet but can not follow a pattern. This is the one that was featured in Scrapbook Inspirations in 2008.

With this in mind, I have adapted my free Rainbow Pattern over on Rainbow Valley to one that is just for those learning to read patterns. It really isn't that difficult when you know how!

Everything is coming up...

Violets!

I do love these little white ones. They are not so prolific as the common blues ones which took over my trough and choked everything else in there.

Here are some pretty little blues ones. Again, not the common ones. I think they may be cultivated ones but have no idea really as I was given them. I hope they are not going to spread too much otherwise they will have go. I only have my planter with limited space so can't have them taking over.

And this is a Black Viola which I bought at the end of last summer. It was in flower when I bought it so I am hoping that flowering this early means it will carry on all summer. It does look a bit darker than in the photo.

Finally, just a little something I planted this morning! These are some crocuses I crocheted for a Spring Challenge on one of my craft groups. I thought the garden was the best place to take photos of them!