The Garter Stitch Scarf

Nothing flash.  Nothing fancy.  Just a simple garter stitch scarf.  For my hubby.  Started last Winter when I was sitting with him in the hospital.  I needed something simple to focus on, so what better than row upon row of mindless knit knit knitting!!

So, why has it taken so long you may ask?  1.  Other projects got in the way.  2.  I got a full-time job.  3. I forgot about it.  4.  I got tired of those rows of knit-knit stitch.  5.  My daughters wanted a blanket each.  6  I took up piano lessons.  7.  I've been reading a lot and I can't read and knit at the same time (sigh... wouldn't that be brilliant?)  8.  It was no longer cold, wintery and scarf-like weather and seemed silly to knit a scarf in the summertime.  9.  My daughters still want a blanket each.  Is nine excuses enough?

Anyway, it's finished now, and you know what I love about a finished project?  The main thing is that something that has been lovingly worked is ready for use, but I also love to cross a project off my Very Long List of Unfinished Projects!!  I'm now ready to re-address The List and see What-Comes-Next.

I love it when Girl 2 asks very politely if she could "please have a scarf just like Daddy's but with brighter colours?"  And of course I will make her one, but I did suggest that perhaps I should finish her blanket first, so that's what my evenings are now filled with, bright and cheery crochet colours.  Will share some new squares with you soon!

I aspire to the cable stitch!!

Never a model about when you need one!!
Have a happy day.
Trudy

Finished Project for October

Be stunned and amazed.  A finished project for October, finished in October, blogged about in October ... whatever it takes to have a post for Blogtoberfest!!

This is another 'cheaty' finished project.  It's a cheat because it hasn't finished up being what it was supposed to be!  Sometimes I find it's the best way to finish a project that's been hanging about for years, and this one has.  I took it away with me when hubby and I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary (almost 4 years ago!!)

And it was supposed to be this, which is really pretty and sweet, but it wasn't getting done.  This was a project started at a lovely crafting day out with friends, designed by the gorgeous Rosalie Quinlan.  For me those craft days are almost too exciting to sit down and stitch, there's so much buzzing around me.

So rather than leaving the project discarded, I thought of a way to finish it to become something completely different.  I have framed it in a hoop and it's ready to hang.  With my girls soon going into their own rooms, I thought this may look sweet on one of their walls, and Girl 2 has claimed it as her own.

 

 

How many more itsy-bitsy projects have I got socked away, before I have to get finishing on the big ones, my quilts ... eek, not many!!  I'm off to cross this one off the list.

 

Have a happy Sunday.

Trudy

Finished Project for September

Four days into the new month, here is my finished project for September, a dolly quilt.  Well, actually this is not a photo of the finished quilt, this is the quilt in progress, all cut out, lined up and ready to hand sew different sized squares onto bigger squares.  Please excuse the quality of the photos.  I don't think any of them show the true colours, it was very hard to photograph and get the colours just right.

Do you ever have those times when you get together with a friend, an idea bubbles and the next thing you know you have a Wild Idea?  That happened two years ago, with my buddy, Trace.  We were away for a girls' weekend together, and of course we had packed our crafty bits and pieces.  By the end of the weekend we had decided to publish a book on dolly quilts!  We made a list of our guidelines, which covered different themes and size, we decided to each make them independently of the other and then compare them, and go from there.

 

We had a really, really long list of ideas which included themes such as Arabian Nights, Childhood Memories, Architectural, Worn and Faded, Inspirational, Home, Tribal, Amish etc. etc., but the one we started with was Tri-Coloured.  Size 16 x 16 inch square.  That was two years ago, and I've just finished.  The idea of the book has since been taken, and our enthusiasm has waned to say the least, but here we are finishing together.  Lots of life stuff has got in the way of this project.  Doesn't it always?

 

 

A funny thing happened on the way to the fabric store.  I had very clear ideas in my mind of the colours I wanted to work with.  Grey, cream and fawn.  Can you imagine it?  A lovely, soft, dreamy, sophisticated colour combination.  Then I went into the store, one of my favourites, Patchwork on Central Park, in Melbourne and I was bamboozled by all the colour and I picked up the teal which I instantly fell in love with and then the golden mustard colour and then the reddish burgundy and I was floating on Cloud Colour.  Purchases made and out I went, and did I think of grey, cream and fawn again?  Nope.

 

 

Eeek, these colours really don't do the real thing justice.  You're just going to have to believe me on that one!  It also still needs its wash and tumble to get any crinks out.  And here it is, snuggling with my re-discovered crochet dolly blanket from when I was little.

 



 

Another WIP off the list, hmmm, what to do for this month?

See ya tomorrow!!

Trudy

Finished Project for August

Just a few day's late ... I've been a bit distracted, but here is my finished project for August.  It's a funny little house pincushion, designed by Sue Spargo, but with a lot of tweaking by me.  I was going for a bit of a Dutch Colonial look as in the picture below ...

... but something happened along the way and I ended up with this!!

Not one of those projects that at the end gives you a moment's smugness at one's personal achievement, oh deary no!  This was more like "grrr, wonky stitches, mumble, mumble, seams don't match, mumble, mumble, I could have done that differently, better, etc. etc. ..."

But my list of unfinished projects is one project lighter, so onwards and upwards.

Wishing all the wonky stitches away.
Trudy

Finished Project for July

I know, I know, it's August!!  My Bullseye Afghan* is finished and I want to show you, I need to show you, I'm itching to show you.  I started this blanket just before Christmas and it has taken me seven months to crochet.  You just can't rush some things! 

Here is a photographic journey beginning with one circle, which slowly increased to twenty-five circles, to then playing with the placement of the circles, and to turning the circles into squares, and then the beginnings of sewing them together.  Phew, I'm pooped just thinking about the process.

It has been such a fun blanket to crochet.  It was easily transportable, which isn't always the case with a large crochet project.  I had a project-specific bag that I would throw a circle into and my hook and off I would go to horse-riding lessons or violin lessons and sit in the car waiting for the girls, and happily hook away.  I think the word "essentials" is referring to wool and hook, don't you?

End project.  Ready for use.  Still cold here.  Perfect timing.

I say "finished", but part of me is wondering if a border is needed?  I really don't know!  Is everything better with a border? Would love some feedback.

So glad I just raced outside to take these photos when I did, when there was a little bit of blue sky, as it's now raining cats and dogs!  Enjoy your week.

Trudy
* Pattern designed by Brittany Tyler, free on Ravelry.

Finished Project for June

The reason some of these unfinished projects of mine are sitting unfinished - this knitting project, for example, has sat practically since woman first put wool around a long stick and called it knitting - is that my interest wanes.  And what can one do with waning interest, you may ask?  Turn what was to be something into something a little different.  Turn what was going to take a lot more knitting hours into something which could be cast off immediately.

So here is this month's finished project which started out with huge potential.

This was going to be a Seriously Long Scarf.  See my knitting skills are sitting pretty low on the scale of knitting skills, none-the-less a brilliant idea later and scarf becomes neck worm.  And neck worm is very happy snuggling around neck of Girl 1.  Inside-out mind you, and with her giving us her best spy look.

The downside of cutting off a project mid-potential is that there is Wool Left-Over, and Girl 2 has shown interest in having a neck worm too.  Of course.

Hope you're all enjoying a little bit of sunshine today.
Trudy

Finished Project for May

Time to tick another project off my list.  Yeah!!  This started off as a lesson in learning the art of making flowers with a crochet hook, and then deciding what to make with them.  For a brief moment it was going to be a blanket until I realised it would be years in the making and perhaps not the size of project I wanted to embark upon.

For a brief moment it was going to be a scarf, but I do like the idea of something just sitting there, behaving itself and not flapping about, so I stitched the two big flowers together and I'm calling this a neck warmer.  A Rose Neck Warmer, even though the flowers don't resemble roses at all!

This was purpose-bought wool and I remember having an idea in my head of the colours I wanted.  I was shopping with my friend and she was quite appalled at the colours I chose, but I was undeterred!!

I think there is a very fine line in wearable crochet between what is groovy and a bit different to what everyone else is wearing, and then downright daggy and embarrasing, and to be honest I'm not 100% sure which camp this Rose Neck Warmer falls into.  Perhaps I should wear it out in public and get some feedback?  I'll let you know ... !!

While we're chatting about keeping neck's warm, as we dive headlong into Winter, have you come across the very talented Sandra Juto?  She makes the most divine neck worms (yes, worms!!) and wrist warmers.  Her colours are gorgeous.  Love them.  Here are a couple of photos of Sandra's beautiful work.

Love these wrist worms!!  I think I may just have to make some for this coming Winter as wrist worms/warmers are one of my absolute favourite winter accessories!

Last Winter I was inspired by Sandra to make a neck worm, and I must say it has been mighty snuggly and warm to have around my neck.  I was home alone the day I wanted to photograph it, and it was very difficult without a neck in it, but I scoured the house for props in order to share with you and I think the fruit basket does the job nicely for being the right shape and having a head substitute!  What do you think?  Apart from the red and pale blue in the neck worm, the rest was one ball of wool, and from memory I think it was Noro.

Back to the Dear Jane Dolly Quilt, maybe for June's finished project?  Hmmm, we'll see!!

Bye for now, Trudy

Finished Project for April

There was a little sneak peak a while back of this project.  And now I can say it's finished!   The pattern for this woollen pincushion came from The Quilted Crow in Hobart, Tasmania, titled "Little House on the Prairie", but I gave it a bit of a tweak when I started as I'd just attended a Sue Spargo workshop and was enjoying her style and colours, so it's more like "Villa Amongst the Fruit Trees".  Original pattern below.

This is quite a large pincushion, almost 8" across, so not one to travel around with you, but perhaps best sitting beside you on the couch as you stitch.

There was a moment when Girl 1 thought it would be fun to take it outside for a bit of a kick around the backyard, as she said it looks somewhat like a footy, but that was not going to happen, not on my watch!!

Loved working with these colours, and the wool fabric.  Have you worked with wool?

Enjoy your day.

Trudy

Finished Project for February

A confession.  Since counting my WIPs and making a list, and thinking about which ones I could realistically finish this year, I have found two more!!  So I actually started the year with 27 WIPs (gee whizz I'm back to where I thought I was at the beginning).  Anyway, here is February's finished project, a patched cushion.  [I know I showed you a little teaser of another project, but that has had to be put to one side for the moment as I'm waiting on the right fill to use].  With the patched cushion, I had gotten as far as sewing all the scraps of fabric together, and there it had sat, and sat for quite some time, more than a year I'm thinking.

The other day out came the ruler and pen and pins and batting and off I went.  If you haven't met the Pilot FriXion ball pen then it's a must-meet, as it writes on fabric then simply irons off.  And if you iron off the penmarks before you really wanted to (ie. by mistake) then I believe if you put your project into the freezer for a while the penmarks magically come back, amazing!

I pinned a piece of batting to the back of the patched piece and quilted with Perle 8 thread, in a soft pink, along my penmarks.  It was quick and easy to do, and will hopefully inspire me to do more quilting, although it hasn't just yet, oh dear ...

Now it's just a case of deciding where the cushion should sit.

And which project gets my attention next ...
Enjoy your day.

Trudy

Finished Project for January

In keeping with The Plan to finish a WIP Project a month, here is my project for January.  It is a small lavender sachet, inspired by the work of Melbourne designer Shannon Lamden from Aunty Cookie.  I have made lots of these lavender sachets to give away, and had done the stitching on one for myself but had never spent the time to finish it.  It was such a quick job to complete that I didn't even bother to sit down at the sewing machine, I stood up to sew those seams!!

I used a lovely piece of vintage teatowel fabric that I had bought at a garage sale, and the lavender came from a friend's garden.  Easy-peasey, and a fun project.  Here's a sneak peek at February's project, something else that is 90% done!!

I'm starting with the small projects that are almost complete, to get me powered up for the other monthly finished projects that are a bit weightier!!  I'm feeling better already, I might just have to do the happy dance!!

Trudy