GAD 115, TWO crochet classes, Knitting and Crochet Blog Week AND teaching 30 Brownies

I kid you not, it was a very very busy Crochet day for me today.

My first Crochet Pupil brought in this fantastic cushion that she's been working on.

She only started classes in January 2012 - can you believe that?

There is such precision in her work

She has a real passion for Crochet

And today we started to make a beaded coaster

After threading on 70 multi colour beads

We started to make this Coaster together

It's looking great already

Pupil No. 2 is the lady that asked me to Crochet a cardigan with her, in cotton 4ply and a 3mm hook, it's fine work

If you remember, her work started off in PINK but she decided that she didn't like the pink after making at least 11 rows of the square work area

So she started AGAIN in white!!

And it's looking very very beautiful so far.

GAD 115 started life as a coaster.  I decided there and then that I wouldn't Frog it (pull it out) so I added a Granny Square frame to the 1st two rows made mainly from clusters and added it to the other 114 squares already joined into the blanket

Knitting & Crochet Blog Week

Day 2 3KCBWDAY2

Photography Challenge Day!

Today challenges you to be creative with your photography, and get yourself in with the chance to win the photography prize. Taking interesting photographs in this instance isn't about flashy cameras or a great deal of technical know-how, it's about setting up a story or scene in a photograph and capturing something imaginative. Your photograph(s) should feature something related to your craft, so that might be either a knitted or crocheted item, yarn, or one of your craft tools. One example of setting a scene would be to photograph a girl in a knitted red cape walking through the woodlands with a basket of goodies, as in the Red Riding Hood tale, or you might photograph a knitted gnome hiding among the flowers in your garden. Photo editing is permitted for competition photos.

Unfortunately I did not have a chance to fit this in today as I ended my day with teaching a Brownie Pack of 30 Brownies how to Crochet!!

We made friendship bracelets with beaded ends and here are just a few of their creations

The best thing is that they really enjoyed it!

Granny A Day 114 + Knitting & Crochet Blog Week 2012

Happy St. George's Day

Here is GAD 114 to commemorate the day.

I had to add an extra RED treble in along the last row, row 4, to continue to line.  The back is a bit of a mess, but hey, never mind - it's worked out rather well I think - what do you think?

We don't celebrate the day in the same way as the Irish, for example, celebrate St. Patrick's Day, which is a shame, so here is my small "celebration" to mark this occasion.

Now......

Today I am going to tell you that it's the 3rd Year of the Knitting and Crochet Blog Week 2012

http://www.eskimimimakes.com/2012/04/knitting-and-crochet-blog-week-2012.html

And this year I have decided to join in, as I do blog daily (well pretty much) about my Crochet
LOL do I need any further encouragement to blog or to crochet?

No

Today's code is 3KCBWDAY1

and 

Today's topic is:

Colour Lovers
Colour is one of our greatest expressions of ourselves when we choose to knit or crochet, so how do you choose what colours you buy and crochet or knit with. Have a look through your stash and see if there is a predominance of one colour. Do the same with your finished projects - do they match? Do you love a rainbow of bright hues, or more subdued tones. How much attention do you pay to the original colour that a garment is knit in when you see a pattern? Tell readers about your love or confusion over colour.

This is such a great topic to blog about as I love colour.  The more vibrant the better.  I am lucky as I have olive skin, so I can take to bold vibrant colours a lot better than toned down "shades of white" type colours and I am often found wearing Reds and Bright Oranges.

I am looking at my 2 shelves of yarns & wools, and my 3 baskets of the same, as I sit here and type away.  One basket is dedicated (see 1st picture below) to my latest yarns, the other is dedicated to odd balls and bags of 10 or 12 matching colours - 2 shelves have a total mixture of more muted colours in various shades of Blue, Black & Browns + I also have a drawer full of "special" wools like Merino & Cashmeres - these are in colours like Navy Blue, Deep Green & Creams.

If I am following a pattern then I tend to stay with the colour choice of the pattern as that's probably one of the reasons that I chose to crochet that item in the first place, however I did treat myself to a lovely stash of very colourful yarns at the beginning of 2012 - The intention was to make all my Granny A Day (366 squares for 2012) Squares out of these lovely colours, but then I thought about using up scraps for GAD, so I had a whole basket of lovely colours to use up!

As you can see I've made a very colour Giant Granny Square Blanket which is still a WIP

I have also made this scarf - inspired by the one that was selling for £400 in a glossy magazine just before Christmas

These are some of my GAD's

The beginnings of my Ripples Blanket

Gorgeously warm colours

"Shades of...."

Ripples Blanket is growing in size and colours

I have a few more colours to go before I start again.

These "rainbow" circles will make FAB cushion covers - very full of colour to brighten up any sofa

Vibrantly bright colours in a few GAD squares

I made some Rainbow Hearts

That eventually got turned into 

A very nice string of Bunting

This top was made in White rather than the patterns suggested Cream, so not too dis-similar 

And a classic Valentines Heart was changed to Navy Blue as this is my husbands favourite colour

The buttons I recently bought are a whole rainbow of colours

More bunting

In vibrant colours

So all in all I have a good "all round" stash of colours - probably too many of them really.  Actually is there such a thing as having too many balls of Yarn or Wool??  

NO of course there isn't!

But I don't think my husband will agree and I hope that I am not found out when I have to start packing up for our move to Dorset! LOL

To read more blogs within the Knitting and Crochet Blog Week group then simply start a new web search typing  3KCBWDAY1 into the box and you'll find loads and loads and loads of wonderful Crochet & Knitting blogs to read.

Granny A Day 112 - Granny A Day 113

I am SO SORRY that I (a) didn't warn you that I wouldn't be posting on my blog yesterday and (b) that I didn't actually post at all.

Anyway here is both Granny A Day 112 & Granny A Day 113

I was determined to use scraps of wool for both squares and that's what I did!

I just about managed to start GAD 112 of as you can see - there wasn't a lot of scrap brown left over.

So this is Granny A Day 112

And this is Granny A Day 113

And this is (obviously) 112 and 113 together

Big Lion is now in his new home!  

Yes he was given away as intended to my friend and neighbour for her 40th Birthday Present.  I just hope that she liked him and that he likes her!

Well that's all from me for the weekend folks

Hope you have all had a good one?

Granny A Day #111 & WIP

Granny A Day # 111 is this lovely Baby Yellow, Primrose Yellow, Baby Pink and Rose Pink creation.

I had to start a new row today, so this square is all out on it's own for now, until more squares join it in the days of Granny A Day to come

Now for my WIP (well one of  them anyway)

Do you remember that I started this top?

I managed to put the front of the top together recently, but due to work load, classes and other WIP's I haven't had the time to start the back.

So today, being the rainy day that it was, I made that start....

And progress does, what is does....

And I managed to join a few more motifs than intended

As you can see, I am marking out the motifs that I have joined on the suggested joining diagram on the pattern book.

I also had time today to have a really good flick through all the magazines that I was given yesterday:

Sew Hip, Modern Quilting etc and I am going to subscribe to a few more publications very, very soon as I find them all reviving other handmade crafts that I used to enjoy spending time on.

A Very Special Day at Inside Crochet Magazine on GAD #110!

I had a very very special day today at All Craft Media's 1st Open Day.

I was honoured to be invited, along with a pupil of my choice and we met a very friendly and professional team of all their magazines, 

including Knit, Yarn Wise, Modern Quilting, Sew Hip, Handmade Fashion and more.

They are all so passionate about what they do, it's no wonder their magazines are so FAB.

We were all given a pile of magazines to take away and I can tell you that I will be widening my crafting skills and magazine subscriptions now.

We were warmly welcomed and had a great introductory chat from the owner & chief  Kerrie Allman who told us how her company came to be and indeed how it grew from a small Knit magazine to all the magazines they produce today.

We were then greeted and chatted with the Editorial Team of all of the magazines as samples of Knits, Quilts, Crochet items etc were passed around.

It was very exciting and I was in my element - my mind was going "oh I could make that," or "I could try making one of those," or "I WILL take that new craft up."

So not only will my crafting skills be growing but my Magazine Subscriptions too.

(Note to self - Birthday Wish List)

After a very nice lunch, we were invited to "craft" so here's one of my fellow lucky invitees spinning some natural wool

I took my Granny A Day blanket along and added GAD # 110 to the other # 109

Here we are all concentrating 

On Crochet, knitting and embroidery

Having a nice chat and

exchanging skills and ideas

Here are some pictures of the office - where it all happens

A Work In Progress

Can you see the little Camper Van featured in a recent issue of Inside Crochet?

We were then treated to watch a Photo Shoot

Which took place in a local field

And the youngest member of the team

Was roped in as a model too

Here we all are for our group photo

Now this is my "Inside Crochet Magazine" Granny A Day 110

made on site, on hallowed ground.

I love this blanket so much and at day 110 it's not even a 3rd of the way along yet.

I am having trouble getting all the squares in one photo!

What am I going to do when the blanket grows even more?

To finish today's blog, I would like to thank Kerrie Allman for inviting me and my Crochet Student Lilly along for the day.