Oddsockworld

Crochet flowers

I'm making 2 crocheted blankets at the moment. If I get bored with one, I get on with the other. These are some flower centres for the granny squares one. (There's a tutorial on the Attic24 website - click the link in the blog list to the right.) It's definitely a lot easier and faster to make them in batches - so I made 36 centres, then did 36 rounds and now I'm squaring up 36 before adding the single crochet stitch border. I have this idea that I'm going to get hold of some old caravans when we go back to England - and will theme the interiors based on these blankets I'm making. Then I might hire them out for festivals......

Blocking crochet squares tutorial

How to block crochet squares in no time - my squares usually look like this at first:

A quick method for blocking your crochet square is to draw round a square template (same size as most of your granny squares) onto a large piece of corrugated cardboard. Place a damp tea towel on top of one of your granny squares and press for approx 5 seconds or less with a warm iron set to the wool setting. Pin your granny square at the corners to the outline on your board, easing slightly to fit. Leave to dry thoroughly before removing. I always test a square first to make sure it doesn't shrink - or use machine washable wool to be safe.

Birds

My contribution to the Being Creative project for April - inspired by a lovely crocheted bird mobile I saw in another of my Flickr groups and the basic pattern is here Attic24

I did my own thing with the wing and crocheted a chain, gathered it and stitched down - also the beak is made from felt as I couldn't get the crocheted one to look right...

I used beads from my much-loved flipflops - they've travelled around a bit to some lovely places like Turkey, Egypt and Fiji and they are worn-out!

Big crochet blanket

Here's a blanket I am hoping to complete in time for my return to the UK in 4 years.....I don't need it here in Australia! I'm making it up as I go along, so anything might happen. In the meantime I bought some brighter wool so that I could make some granny squares for a quick and bright 'colour fix' ...

Granny squares crochet

 

I've been working on a large crocheted blanket for some time and was getting a bit bored with it so bought some brighter colours to make some little squares.....a sort of 'colour fix' to keep me going. I like these because they look a bit like jammy dodgers and other party cakes....next time I will plan it properly and make some chocolate ones too..... find out how to make these flower-centred squares by clicking the link to Attic 24 at the side of this blog under DESIGN/CRAFT BLOGS I FOLLOW

 

My next knitting bag

This is beginning to be a little bag-making saga.......
Here is the finished item......the knitting fits......it's not as neat as the first bag but I only spent 20 mins on it. The handles were left over material from the landing curtains I whizzed up the other day....as I didn't have any curtain rings, I snipped some fabric off the sides of the 'long drop' and made loops from them.....I hadn't even thought about making a bag at that time! Wonder what I can do with the other bits now.......nothing until I've finished knitting one sock at least! Does any of this sound familiar to my readers????????

My knitting bag

This is a heap of fabric left over from making cushions and cards last year.....and that cute little mitten snook into the heap via my sewing basket. My two daughters kept their little hands warm in that mitten a long time ago and I keep it close by!

So......I've read Lisa's bag-making tutorial vaguely, as I'm in a hurry and don't want to spend too long making the bag instead of knitting the socks....I thought I could use a couple of old bangles to substitute for Lisa's bamboo ones.....as the bag only needs to hold two balls of wool, 4 mini needles and my glasses!

As you can probably see, the bag is TOO SMALL for the wool and I couldn't work out (quickly) how to use the bangles as handles.......entirely a problem of my own making as I skimmed the instructions and I admit I sort of knew it wasn't going to be that easy! Not to worry, I found some blue webbing (stored for a 'rainy day' in a shoebox - and sewed that on instead:

There, that is a great little bag! My camera and I-pod will fit in very well.

Now I know how to make the basic bag, I'm going to do another one for my knitting......

Knitting socks

Him indoors assured me that he wouldn't mind the click click s*** (that's me dropping a stitch) of knitting needles, just as long as I would sit and 'watch football' with him. That's how I found myself knitting socks...on 4 needles no less.....they're not growing very quickly because I'm using 4-ply wool (Wendy Happy).....but I could see progress yesterday as I started 'turning the heel'. I try to do a few rows per day and I estimate it will take until this time next week to finish the FIRST sock!

I quickly bought a pattern with the wool and needles. Alas, when I arrived home, the instructions for the sock part said I needed 2 needles and I had bought the set of 4. Spent a while looking around for a pattern online and found what I needed: SILVER'S SOCK MAKING TUTORIAL

In the meantime, the needles and wool have been knocked around a bit and I wanted a little bag to store them in, so found myself thinking about Lisa Lam's bag blog......Lisa's blog was the first one I'd ever read, around 18 months ago. I had a look around at different blogs/blogging platforms but always went back to Lisa's for 3 reasons:

1. Lots of piccies and clear instructions on bag-making

2. Funny stuff

3. Clean design

So I chose Typepad for this blog, because it was relatively easy to customise for a beginner! And I chose one of Lisa's bag-making tutorials to 'run up a little number' for my knitting. Check in tomorrow for a photo......is anyone reading this yet?.....