Day 218 - Crochet Days in Dorset 2013 & an Interesting Exerise!

First of all here is the Square for Day 217 (yesterday)

And Day 218

Now for the interesting bit

Did you know that the time it takes you to crochet something could take you longer than you actually think!  Like me, you could be doing it to relax, sitting in front of the TV or you simply pick up your hook, crochet away, unwinding at the same time & not realising where the time has gone.

Well I challenge you to TIME the next piece of Crochet that you make, including the colour changes, fastening off, sewing in ends, sewing on buttons, whatever you have to do to finish the piece. 

I used the stopwatch on my iphone clock.

Realising the time involved in Crochet

Making the Granny Bag again turned out to be a very interesting exercise as I timed each piece I made.

 

Each Rectangle (x2) took 2.5 hours           = 5

Each Square (x4) took 1.25 hours               = 5

The Base took 80mins                                = 1 /  20

The Top took 2 hours                                = 2

& the handles 30 mins each                        =  1

 

So total time to make = 14 hours 20 mins.  This does not include the time it took to cut out the lining, machine sew & hand sewing involved!

Also, I am a fast crocheter, I wrote this pattern & I didn't have to refer to it that much, so if you are a beginner, find it hard to read patterns, have 3 million screaming kids or an attention seeking puppy to look after or the phone rings, these "obstacles" will add to your timings as it takes time to put your hook down, stop the timer, deal with XYZ, go back to your work, start the timer & work out where you last left off!!

And finally

CROCHET DAYS IN DORSET 2013 

I am now taking bookings to maximum of 8 places

These are the proposed days :

Choice 1 = Friday 27th & Saturday 28th September

Choice 2 = Saturday 28th & Sunday 29th September

Here’s what’s planned!

Day 1 – Arrive on the chosen day, any time after 12 noon.There is ample street parking.  Refreshments / Light lunch & a good old catch up will be provided. Crochet will start at 1 p.m.

We will finish Crochet at 5 p.m. & you can go and check into your B&B’s & freshen up in time for a meet up & an evening meal plus a few drinks at the local Pub – The Old Ox Inn, Shillingstone.

Then to bed!

Day 2 – On the following day, the crochet will start at 10 am. We will crochet until 1p.m. when lunch will be provided (kindly let me know if you have any dietary requirements at all) & after that we will all go on a local walk together, using the local trailway and visiting Shillingstone Station Project (you will be taken back in time when you see this place!) All this is just on the doorstep (literally) and a breath of fresh air will prepare us for the afternoon of Crochet which will end at 5 p.m.

So this is your chance to bring along that Crochet Pattern you are stuck on, work on that stitch that you can’t master or just learn something new from one of the many patterns available in one of my ever growing pile of books & magazines!

If there is any specific technique that you want to learn, then just let me know in advance e.g. “I want to learn to crochet a poncho” or “I want to learn how to follow a pattern or understand the symbols that I keep on seeing in pattern books”. I will cover each topic in turn and can be prepared & have everything needed to hand!

Refreshments of Tea & Coffee or Cold Drinks, including cake and biscuits, plus lunch on the 2nd day, will be included in the price of £85.00. (no change from 2012!!) Places limited to 8 people

The cost of any B&B / Evening Meals / Drinks will be payable by you, directly to the proprietor of the establishment.  I can give you details of local b&b’s in the area.

Crochet Days in Dorset was a great success in 2012 & I hope that it will be the same for 2013!

Kindly let me know if you are a YES a NO or a MAYBE by SATURDAY 16TH AUGUST 2013 & I can arrange from your replies.  You will then be sent a booking form & this will need to be completed & returned with a 50% deposit to reserve your place.

I look forward to hearing from you so if you are interested please email campbellmac44@gmail.com 

PLEASE PUT 

Crochet Days in Dorset 2013 in the Subject Line

(just in case I have to search my junk folder!)

Day 129, Crochet Class & Technology ARRGGGHHHHHHH!

My Crochet Student came on leaps and bounds today!  It's only her 2nd lesson, so we revisited the basics, before moving on to working in the flat round

&

Didn't she do well!!

I have packed her off with some homework, which is to make a flat round in double crochet - I have given her a pattern to follow, so it's a combination of pattern reading and practicing to work in the round!!

Now this is Day 129.  I have combined 2 colours in one here, to try to keep the colour variation going.

And now for the Technology ARRRGGGHHHHHH!

I have Adobe Photoshop, but I have never used it, so today I decided to try to have a go at removing the background of this.....

LOL it looks like it's worked on here as the background here is white, but when I try it elsewhere e.g. on the cover of my book, it shows as having a white background, which I don't want.

Give me a hook any day!!

Day 128, Flower Power & Book Update

My Flower Power thanks today goes to @smooogle from Twitter who sent me these perfectly crochet flowers by post today.

I can't wait to get started on yarn bombing my Scooter - I might even do that tomorrow!

 Day 128 is this multi colour flower that was made with 2 strands of Regia sock yarn.

I am fast running out of new colour options!

And now for my Book Update....

I spent a good portion of my day adding more patterns & pictures to my book, which will be aimed at Beginners that want to IMPROVE their Crochet, so I am writing & designing patterns to do exactly that, as I feel that at this point of ones Crochet Journey the Beginners to Improvers, often get overlooked.

I have never written a book before and this is a very exciting experience as I will be self publishing my work, unless of course there is a Crochet Publisher out there that would like to take me on??

Who Knows!!

Days 124, 125 & 126 May Day Bank Holiday Weekend

I have enjoyed the Bank Holiday Weekend a lot!

I have added a few more rows to the Bitsa Blanket & continue to do so - when will I stop??

I also made a floral key ring especially for ....

My mobility scooter, which I have been practising on and off (and so has my husband LOL - just for the fun of it)

I made the most of the sunshine & crocheted in the sun

More flowers for decorating my scooter with!!

And here re the 3 squares for the weekend...

And finally....

The Raffle has gone really well!!!  I think there are still 2 discount promotion codes left so if you want to have a try then go to https://www.facebook.com/LearntoCrochetElearning 

Day 1-2-3 -Easy as Doh-Rae-Me! Sunshine Crochet & NEWS!!

I took today's Crochet Lesson outside to the sunshine as it seemed a shame to sit indoors when it was so lovely out there.

As you can see Scrumpy tried to join in too!!

KPK & I went back to crocheting socks 

We had both completely made one sock but had to add the heel

And that's exactly what we did!

This picture captures our right feet, up on the garden table with our abandoned shoes safely away from the attack of the "Dark Destroyer" aka Scrumpy Puppy

We chose Crab Stitch to finish off the top edge, which we both agreed, looked perfect on these chunky socks

What do you think?

And now for more Flower Power!

+beth butcher sent me these lovely crochet & knitted flowers with button trim today

They are so lovely, as are these from my student KPK

My mobility scooter is going to look so fantastically floral!

I won't say "And Finally" just yet  as I have to show you Square 123 which is beautifully sunny and a tribute to the sun that we had today

And now for the NEWS!

The news is that I have decided to write a book, a Crochet one (of course!!) which will be a small compilation of some of my patterns.

I won't tell you any more at this stage, but as soon as it's ready, which won't be long now, hopefully, I will let you know!

Ta-Dah

I hope you all have a FANTASTIC Bank Holiday weekend

Crochet love to you all 

xxx

Day 119 = Flower Power!

Unfortunately I didn't have any time to make more Toe Cosy's today

But I did have time for Day 119 Square!!

 

And these!

Lovely flowers

 

In various Shapes

 

And colours

And sizes!

 

Even 2 colour ones!

And they will all be attached to the basket on the Mobility Scooter that I have bought to get me through the 8 weeks, when my leg is in plaster!

 

PLUS lots of lovely twitter people are going to crochet some for me too!!!

How nice is that!

Day 117 & 118 Toe Cosy's Weekend

The good news is that I am alive and well.  The not so good news is that my original ankle / nerve damage operation in 2007 due to an accident in the 2004 Tsunami is now coming undone, so after speaking to the consultant, Mr S, on the phone the other day, the only way forward is to open it all up again and hopefully get it sorted for good this time.

SO

I remembered how cold my toes always were when in a plaster cast last time and as I don't want that to happen again, I decided to make a few toe cosy's!

This is my original cast from 2007....

And Toe Cosy #1

 With an nice rib edging

And Toe Cosy #2 is a Stash Buster one!

This Toe Cosy is for a Twitter Friend @evethomas40 (twitter) 

http://www.evethomas.co.uk/blog.html

who has her leg in plaster at the moment, so cold toes will be a thing of the past when she gets her little parcel this week!

 Where did I put my Crochet Hook?

I particularly like the "summer pastel" colours of this toe cosy #'3

And this one is inspired by the Bumble Bee Toe Cosy #4

 although someone on Twitter suggested the "baddie"in Where's Wally!!

Another Stash Buster but working in rows with a fancy border...

is Toe Cosy #5

If you know someone in plaster with cold toes and needs a bit of a change from grotty old socks, then get in touch as I can make Toe Cosy's to order - pretty much any theme you'd like e.g.  Football Team Colours, Rugby Team Colours, Cartoon faces, Animals etc.

Plain Toe Cosy's start at £5 &  more elaborate works of art will be from £7.50 to £10, however contact me & I'll give you a price!

campbellmac44@gmail.com 

 

 And after all that Toe Cosying here's 117 &

Day 118

 

Hope you like them