Something I crocheted

<div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmtvyp5cR6oXUMIV8Vw5zmJY2Jh2jwqKmftSGH76Tsr7pp0zmoPZ7OcG5BK1sEVT3L2RjOQdVof2zqeS8pCBw8oTNwzzubPB1YA0anz5MQbwD0HVtHaRcVd_yEWgygWLavskywvKYcusg/s1600-h/bookmark.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: verdana;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317414744648634578" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmtvyp5cR6oXUMIV8Vw5zmJY2Jh2jwqKmftSGH76Tsr7pp0zmoPZ7OcG5BK1sEVT3L2RjOQdVof2zqeS8pCBw8oTNwzzubPB1YA0anz5MQbwD0HVtHaRcVd_yEWgygWLavskywvKYcusg/s400/bookmark.JPG" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 274px;" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">If you like crochet at all, you must go and check out Bee's blog, </span><a href="http://chaincreative.blogspot.com/" style="font-family: verdana;">chaincreative</a><span style="font-family: verdana;">. Bee is the lovely lady who taught me to crochet at </span><a href="http://loop.gb.com/" style="font-family: verdana;">Loop</a><span style="font-family: verdana;">, I'd tried to teach myself from books and thought I was a lost cause but apparently not! (At least not when it comes to crochet.)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Yesterday Bee posted about starching crochet and I thought I'd share this bookmark - it's the last of a batch I made a few months back for a </span><a href="http://craftster.org/" style="font-family: verdana;">Craftster </a><span style="font-family: verdana;">swap. This one is one pattern repeat short, because like so many other things, I made it while watching CSI and wasn't paying attention. I starched it with spray starch so it's nice and stiff. It's very very easy and the pattern is </span><a href="http://crochetroo.blogspot.com/2006/05/fan-bookmark.html" style="font-family: verdana;">here</a><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sorry for the awful photo - it's dull outside and there is absolutely no light in here at all.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">And here's what the bookmark is currently... um... bookmarking. I kid myself that it's improving my Portuguese, but really it's the Quentin Blake drawings and Dahl's warped sense of humour I love.</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBSYCJujzBiQpk1PUwOJ147ep3JLURFaOFsm_BKrqP5LuqoRbe4FOyZ3xJ-30eA9yFvkR7Eh-LZLtRJpDeTZo9xX9NIORiCndzGKHdJGPdxL2WalTF9q-SeWMZLycYggFaHVa_kdSMGak/s1600-h/charlie.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: verdana;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317414870417979794" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBSYCJujzBiQpk1PUwOJ147ep3JLURFaOFsm_BKrqP5LuqoRbe4FOyZ3xJ-30eA9yFvkR7Eh-LZLtRJpDeTZo9xX9NIORiCndzGKHdJGPdxL2WalTF9q-SeWMZLycYggFaHVa_kdSMGak/s400/charlie.JPG" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 259px; height: 400px;" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">I'm still without my Macbook and therefore without Photoshop, so I'm using GIMP which I have to say, I really hate. Hurry up, Apple :(</span><br /></div>

Something I crocheted

If you like crochet at all, you must go and check out Bee's blog, chaincreative . Bee is the lovely lady who taught me to crochet at Lo...

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Finished!

<div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgElb0ATqLiHBjD5YWmI6_bpSsgyLHw0x1huH7G5xb-IxrPSJY3P5lrAPVcYDDdCshMS0XCbElJ5Ixa1nk8OOEi0nV4hqMv03In-fFBaBEESGjS-aJr2aC4nbNmgtz0QMOMmSZCEifhOKg/s1600-h/finished-sock-1-small.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300917147630449826" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgElb0ATqLiHBjD5YWmI6_bpSsgyLHw0x1huH7G5xb-IxrPSJY3P5lrAPVcYDDdCshMS0XCbElJ5Ixa1nk8OOEi0nV4hqMv03In-fFBaBEESGjS-aJr2aC4nbNmgtz0QMOMmSZCEifhOKg/s320/finished-sock-1-small.jpg" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" /></a>I finished my sock! I can't believe it's done. It was so easy in the end. And it fits absolutely perfectly. I brought it to work to finish it off at lunchtime and I felt like a celebrity, everyone had to come and look at it and marvel at the magic self-striping yarn and give it a bit of a squidge. Now I just have to make another one... I've cast on already but I remember all the tiresome ribbing from the first one, that was the least fun bit. Here's some stuff I got in Walthamstow on Saturday. There's a fabric stall in the market that I've got a few bits and pieces from before, but they seldom have anything out of the ordinary. But this time they did!<br /></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuxl4eU3AjN51ayQWL-WT6Z4GtjU6VdkdTyeN2QPn7gwGonYxBhnDZ1y9Gd6QuJOrPPCseW95wr7bVNcMhF7MrHa_hTIe71QsCAVUU3INlv5WrqMqnwlhoFEeitKEFc0EkG406vcE0YL0/s1600-h/button-fabric.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: verdana;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300916184361604514" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuxl4eU3AjN51ayQWL-WT6Z4GtjU6VdkdTyeN2QPn7gwGonYxBhnDZ1y9Gd6QuJOrPPCseW95wr7bVNcMhF7MrHa_hTIe71QsCAVUU3INlv5WrqMqnwlhoFEeitKEFc0EkG406vcE0YL0/s320/button-fabric.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />Corduroy with button print! I got the end of the bolt, which wasn't much, and some of it is going to a swap partner but I'm keeping enough to make myself a little purse or something.</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">And this... this?<br /><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4vWh-J1BDUhM-aY16Dl-h3CnkpqLHOndycpRGskVC950TuQvXGuzU8mxJFaBkAsGSCk9yEpLXSH6U0wOdMwASzgq-hw__NDa45K-NmZ8sma_I6ODFC7fKq_f1n5nnTKRJTxfd7Yg57FQ/s1600-h/velour-fabric.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: verdana;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300916407977774514" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4vWh-J1BDUhM-aY16Dl-h3CnkpqLHOndycpRGskVC950TuQvXGuzU8mxJFaBkAsGSCk9yEpLXSH6U0wOdMwASzgq-hw__NDa45K-NmZ8sma_I6ODFC7fKq_f1n5nnTKRJTxfd7Yg57FQ/s320/velour-fabric.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">It's velour, with a very unusual print! I couldn't help but buy a metre of it even though I have no clue what to do with it. Any ideas?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">And I picked up some books - there's a new cheapy book shop which has 70% off everything, so I picked up a couple of books in there, and another one for a pound in a charity shop. Because you can never have too many books, right?</span><br /></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLVCPhw6i9qAqxgKaxnqpte4zU-SL87DuWVhnqLLJ-WAqEFMKut51xWR_ZgnOQHQjkJG22HDjY2uoTaD8faJFla5Z1uY0zd8TtreR8FThS8cgEqkh0JhZEhqCtUuPnJaTFA6d1cEP0xfw/s1600-h/new-books.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: verdana;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300916761547463234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLVCPhw6i9qAqxgKaxnqpte4zU-SL87DuWVhnqLLJ-WAqEFMKut51xWR_ZgnOQHQjkJG22HDjY2uoTaD8faJFla5Z1uY0zd8TtreR8FThS8cgEqkh0JhZEhqCtUuPnJaTFA6d1cEP0xfw/s320/new-books.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">All in all I think it was a pretty good haul, and the whole lot, fabric and books, only cost me about £12!</span>

Finished!

I finished my sock! I can't believe it's done. It was so easy in the end. And it fits absolutely perfectly. I brought it to work...

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Scared of socks!

<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:arial;" >I've been dying to learn to knit socks for ages and ages, but something about them frightens me. I can do Fair Isle and lace and have no problems using dpns, but the very mention of short row shaping makes me run and hide behind the sofa. And I even signed up for a sock knitting class at </span><a href="http://www.loop.gb.com/" style="font-family: verdana;">Loop</a><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:arial;" >, but it was cancelled due to insufficient numbers. I was gutted.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:arial;" >Well I'm determined to get over myself. My husband has one pair of slipper socks and they are looking the worse for wear, and I have several balls of sock yarn that I bought two years ago in a brave moment but that have sat in my stash ever since. I found </span><a href="http://www.cometosilver.com/socks/SockClass_Start.htm" style="font-family: verdana;">Silver's Sock Class</a><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:arial;" > which has lots of very detailed instructions and is bursting with photos for the mentally challenged, like me, dug out some 2.5mm dpns, and cast on. I have no idea what the yarn is, the ball band is long gone, but it might be something like Prism?? Here's what I've done so far.</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZieh9TLcCpChru9Lha_X3YeYR31McgBqtC8o6yzaOn4hMCanVr3RouAD7xckgTg2aO6l_qr1ZMG-igs7kBOxZBjLvvlCP4Pk68ZzvOr_At-fOGlg5HK6D88FJyiALgr1KRHRdys-eBcI/s1600-h/DSCN1449.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: verdana;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275298827419672386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZieh9TLcCpChru9Lha_X3YeYR31McgBqtC8o6yzaOn4hMCanVr3RouAD7xckgTg2aO6l_qr1ZMG-igs7kBOxZBjLvvlCP4Pk68ZzvOr_At-fOGlg5HK6D88FJyiALgr1KRHRdys-eBcI/s320/DSCN1449.JPG" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:arial;" >The photo is a bit poor... I'm using my compact because my SLR is in the bedroom but as soon as I open the living room door a wall of cold hits me, so I'm hibernating in here. Here's a photo of the ball:</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXNLcN4oCdHatent1i1M_Nssqznz_P-BCQIaEWRxIOElefS_S1yog4TO5FKrvgE7OX5Mzc_hyphenhyphenR_lP3wUwDgRNO6-KxXZCTjJTRK8H40l3Q__afbsMY9zLFDZ8m0uov7PSjGC_Nl874PxA/s1600-h/DSCN1450.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: verdana;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275299664578070018" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXNLcN4oCdHatent1i1M_Nssqznz_P-BCQIaEWRxIOElefS_S1yog4TO5FKrvgE7OX5Mzc_hyphenhyphenR_lP3wUwDgRNO6-KxXZCTjJTRK8H40l3Q__afbsMY9zLFDZ8m0uov7PSjGC_Nl874PxA/s320/DSCN1450.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:arial;" >I forgot how tedious k2 p2 rib is. And it's slow going. But at least I can watch TV at the same time.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:arial;" >In other news, I think I'm addicted to Klutz books. Is that possible? I started off with the </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shrink-Art-Jewellery-Klutz/dp/1591744377/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228251932&sr=8-1" style="font-family: verdana;">shrink plastic jewellery</a><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:arial;" > one which was fantastic. Then I found the </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hemp-Bracelet-Klutz-Akers-Johnson/dp/1570541876/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228251957&sr=1-1" style="font-family: verdana;">hemp bracelets</a><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:arial;" > one in a charity shop for 50p, still with all the hemp (but missing the beads), and ordered the </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bead-Loom-Bracelets-Other-Beads/dp/1591745047/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228251985&sr=1-1" style="font-family: verdana;">bead loom</a><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:arial;" > one from Amazon which was fantastic. (Well, the weaving bit is great, the sewing in the ends when you're done is less fabulous.) The supplies that come with the books are really great quality and you can find them pretty cheaply from Amazon sellers or Playtrade on play.com. So since I'm on a drawing and painting kick I had to have the </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Drawing-Artistically-Undiscovered-Klutz-Quentin/dp/1570543208/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228252079&sr=1-1" style="font-family: verdana;">drawing</a><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:arial;" > and </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Watercolour-Klutz-Thacher-Hurd/dp/1878257447/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228252053&sr=1-1" style="font-family: verdana;">painting</a><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:arial;" > Klutz offerings, which are clearly aimed at kids but since I have the drawing ability of a two year old that suits me fine. Plus "Drawing for the Artistically Undiscovered" has Quentin Blake as a co-author, so even if I never draw anything I can look at the pictures. I'm a huge fan of his. I was obsessed with Roald Dahl books as a kid and still think they're the best kids books ever. Here are my two new books: (Sorry the photo is so terrible.)</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIyjDcZ1XmD487MVoGo74iSQZEX4MCcSXL8Ee3V7l3POuY0ClnuGApMGC8VsT6LD-wF3hYHJI1_ZUQkh8T4X8hHA3b-arRjSqqrTpNXmDuK-8gqpjjpQ8ePaI_anUU_Hgv2JLxE0ida0k/s1600-h/new-books.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: verdana;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275303096578467650" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIyjDcZ1XmD487MVoGo74iSQZEX4MCcSXL8Ee3V7l3POuY0ClnuGApMGC8VsT6LD-wF3hYHJI1_ZUQkh8T4X8hHA3b-arRjSqqrTpNXmDuK-8gqpjjpQ8ePaI_anUU_Hgv2JLxE0ida0k/s320/new-books.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:arial;" >But the most exciting thing to pop through my letterbox today was something I've been waiting for since 1995!</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigm3-nqosrED5aiMI2dna0FhKB05mPgbjW0xgL2klIYybcilYOPM5I9kufDcoRHiuIxd3-StTjvO_S2uyDMCAe047Us7zFs2gPyENWRSyHnJE3M05CERzSJwp7okhjlw3i-LWSiOYiGzc/s1600-h/chronotrigger.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: verdana;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275303814299328834" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigm3-nqosrED5aiMI2dna0FhKB05mPgbjW0xgL2klIYybcilYOPM5I9kufDcoRHiuIxd3-StTjvO_S2uyDMCAe047Us7zFs2gPyENWRSyHnJE3M05CERzSJwp7okhjlw3i-LWSiOYiGzc/s320/chronotrigger.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:arial;" >Chrono Trigger! It was one of the brilliant SNES RPGs that never made it to Europe, and it's just been re-released on the DS. But since the DS is region free I don't have to wait till the UK release next year - I just ordered it from </span><a href="http://www.videogamesplus.ca/" style="font-family: verdana;">Video Games Plus</a><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:arial;" > in Canada. But I'm determined to finish the Final Fantasy IV remake before I even take this out of its wrapper :-)</span></div>

Scared of socks!

I've been dying to learn to knit socks for ages and ages, but something about them frightens me. I can do Fair Isle and lace and have n...

Read more »