Crochet Stuff

In the last month or so I've been overwhelmed by yet more house sorting. I'm going to run out of rooms to re-decorate at some point, surely? We're now on to the middle floor and the room which we have always called my workroom. It was my original craft room when the children were at home and occupied the top floor and it's going to carry on being a sewing room. It was sorely in need of a new coat of paint and a re-varnish for the floor though which I've just finished.

When my son and daughter are both here for a day in a couple of weeks time, they're going to move some furniture back in here. At the moment, the bedroom next door to this room looks like this.

I can just squeeze past the bed to hang up washing in front of the three bookcases stacked in the corner. One corner of this room is also taken up with things my daughter has been storing here while waiting to find a house but the good news is ... they've got somewhere!

This is the best news we've had for years. They have been living in a damp one bedroom flat with no windows for four years, during which time they've had a flood, a fire and numerous other problems. At the moment they are without a cooker or hob and getting the landlord to do anything takes forever. The house they are buying is a four bedroomed thirties semi in Oxford which boasts not only windows but an actual garden! Needless to say, they will be paying less for their mortgage each month than they do in rent on their current flat.

They are hoping to move in the autumn. This means that Rose will be able to take the things she's got here so they will move it all downstairs into what will be the new storage room for now. This is the back room on the ground floor which has also been keeping me busy lately because of this ...

This is what happens when your floor joists are damp. You end up with your floor being several inches lower than the bottom of the walls. After several days of work, Steve the plumber and builder managed to track down the leaking water pipes which were to blame (one hiding under the kitchen floor and the other in a wall), re-route them both and then repair the joists. It made huge amounts of mess as you can imagine but the floor is now magically back where it should be.

I've moved the de-humidifier up from the cellar to that room and it's now chugging away, working to dry the room out. I'm hoping that it will be settled enough to re-decorate next summer and, in the meantime, the floor is now strong enough to use the room to store things while we work on the rest of the house.

All this has not exactly helped my health but, then again, even normal things make my Long Covid worse. I had a straightforward doctor's appointment last month which set me back for weeks. The day after it I lost my sense of taste and smell again and they still haven't recovered. This makes eating more of a chore, combined with being too ill to cook ... I'm meant to be going back for some blood tests but have to recover enough to be able to cope with another appointment. I didn't realise before all this happened how inaccessible the NHS becomes when you're ill. 

Anyway, I expect you've been wondering where crochet comes into all of this. Well, I noticed recently that I have published 599 patterns on ravelry in the last sixteen years (although it does count all those multiple Christmas patterns as separate ones). Anyway, I thought I ought to publish a typical Frankie pattern for my 600th. I decided it should be a bit unusual and involve plastic canvas. Anyone who knits my patterns regularly will know what I mean.

So, I came up with the idea of knitting a mini suitcase. I thought I'd base it on the little card suitcases I use to store my perle threads for making Dorset buttons.

Designing this is not going smoothly. After six complete re-starts, I finally have a lid that actually fits the bottom of the case.

After a similar number of false starts I've also contrived a fastening for it and I am currently avoiding working on the handle. So, needless to say, knitting is not my favourite thing at the moment! Which is why I keep turning to the contents of this basket.

All I want to do is to crochet. This had led to me fishing out various unfinished projects as well as starting several new ones. 

Shall I show you some of them  in a bit more detail? Those plain pink hexagons are the start of a star bedspread, inspired by a vintage pattern. I'm working them in 4 ply and have only done a few so far.

I really like blocking shapes over plastic canvas but, as I don't have any big plastic canvas hexagons - I wonder if you can buy such a thing - I've drawn a hexagon on mountboard and covered it with library film to pin them out on.

The joy of these blocking mats is that they're sturdy enough to prop up out of the way while things are drying. I've only blocked the first couple of hexagons so far so you'll have to imagine how those triangles will eventually become the points of stars.

The next project is also hexagons, this time my version of African Flowers. These are fun to make and I love the way the flower petals suddenly appear about half way through.

I'm using two shades of a variegated yarn called Hayfield Spirit for these, the lighter one for the flowers and the darker one for the edging. I love how well they work together and the cream in between really sets them off.

I can't really say the same about the yarn I'm using for these crochet squares.

Although Batik Swirl is a very nice yarn, I wasn't happy with how I was ending up with a mixture of soled coloured squares and some with just an odd bit of another colour. This is why I decided to add some surface crochet in the shape of four diagonal wavy lines which I'm hoping will make them a bit more interesting.

You get a tidy straight line on the wrong side too which I like. This gives you a bit of an idea of how the squares will look when they're joined.

So much for hexagons and squares. I do enjoy learning new crochet techniques and, last year, I discovered the joys of Corner to Corner Crochet (sometimes called C2C). Look it up and you'll see what I mean. As the name suggests, it's worked diagonally in a series of blocks. I first tried it out when I made a scarf for a friend for Christmas, using King Cole Riot DK.

I can't remember which shade this was, either Rainbow or Caribbean I think. Anyway, never being one to waste a good project, I thought I'd make another one to turn into a pattern. This time I'm using Juniper which is a mixture of pinks and greys.

The other exciting thing about this type of crochet is that it produces a regular grid of blocks which means that, by changing colours and using charts, you can produce all sorts of wonderful pictures. This Christmas Blanket was one of the first to catch my eye. I toyed with lots of ideas for charted designs but then decided to go back to basics which, for me, means maximum effect with minimum effort.

Working diagonal stripes means much less changing of colours but still gives you lots of design possibilities. I'm using two shades of four colours (with cream as the main colour) and making sets of eight different combinations of these colours.

This is the plan for how the finished blanket will look with eight sets of these eight squares.

And yes, I've used this idea before. This is the basic idea behind my knitted Pathways blanket from many, many years ago (hence the dreadful photos). So, here are the first eight squares of what will be my New Pathways blanket.

I won't bore you with the details now but I've worked out a way of changing colours with these squares so that both sides of the blanket will look good which I'm very pleased with. It's nice to be able to throw a blanket down without having to check which side is the right side.

I've also enjoyed learning Tunisian crochet over the years and I'm particularly taken with the colour possibilities you get when working with two yarns and a double ended hook. Here's the scarf I made when I first discovered this technique.

Now I'm using different yarns and a different stitch pattern to make another one - just because I felt like doing some Tunisian crochet again.

This time I'm using two variegated yarns for a more subtle effect; I love the way Tunisian crochet blends variegated yarns so that they look almost woven.

These are all the crochet projects I'm carrying around in my basket but I've also resurrected a couple of others. The first one is a workbag made up of rather over the top flower blocks.

I worked on these flowers four years ago when I was looking after my lovely stepfather, Bob. I kept the bag of yarns up at his house and would do the odd round whenever he didn't need me. He always commented on what I was making and thought these were pretty. After he died and I came down down with Covid the next day, I put this project away and didn't feel like picking it up again. I'd done so much though that it seems daft not finish it so I'm going to try to get it done, although my heart's not really in it.

On a more positive note, I've picked up this baby shawl again lately too. I wanted to design a simple, square shawl that could be worked in washable acrylic yarn and used every day without being scared of spoiling it. 

It's got to be a lot bigger and it will look much better once I've added a pretty border and blocked it. I'm working it in V stitch with lines of eyelets to break it up a bit. I also added a round of clusters every fourth round to make it a bit more interesting and stop it getting too boring to make.

So that's the crochet that's keeping me going at the moment and making life a bit more fun. what about you? Is anyone else in a crochet phase at the moment?

Patchwork Curtains

For about two months now I've been working on some patchwork curtains for my craft room. I started sorting through piles of fabric in March and finally got the curtains finished and hung at the window yesterday.

When I began I had no idea just how time-consuming this project would be. Just choosing the fabrics took ages and then I had to iron it and cut all those squares. I was planning to end up with two panels of 96 squares (8 x 12) and I wanted a mixture of dark and light colours. To simplify things I decided to use the same fabrics in both panels so that meant cutting two 8" squares from 96 pieces of fabric. I managed to cut about eight pairs a day.

The next stage was to lay out one lot of 96 squares on the floor to work out a pleasing arrangement. To make this easier, you need to get as far away from the layout as you can (this involves steps and / or furniture climbing) and then either take a photo or look at it through the wrong end of a pair of binoculars. That way, any unbalanced sections will jump out at you. After a bit of swapping the squares around, I ended up with this.

As you can see, Linnet was a great help. I pinned the squares into piles, one for each row of eight squares and got ready to start sewing.

As I was aiming for a stained glass effect, I didn't want any raw edges visible where the squares joined so I used a double seam called a Flat Fell Seam. This is the seam used on jeans - everyone wearing jeans, have a look at your legs and you'll see what I mean - and it worked well, even if it added hugely to the sewing time.

First you sew your two squares together with the wrong sides facing; I drew a line ¾" from the edge on the square I was adding and sewed along that. Then you press the seam flat and trim the seam allowance on the new square to about ¼". I just did this by eye. The next stage is to fold the first square's seam allowance so that it comes just short of your seam and press it, then fold it over again and press that. Now you go back to the machine and top stitch that fold down. It took me about an hour to join a row of eight squares and then add it to the row above so, again, I added one row a day.

As well as taking ages, these seams also use huge amounts of thread. I lost count of the number of times I had to change the bobbin on the machine but it was an awful lot. That was when this little machine came into its own.

This is a battery operated Hemline Bobbin Winder and it's absolutely brilliant. I'd always hankered after one of these - I do love a gadget - but told myself it probably wasn't necessary and wouldn't be any easier than winding the bobbins on the machine. Turns out I was wrong on both counts. It works like a dream, winds the bobbins more quickly and smoothly than my machine does and, of course, saves you having to stop in the middle of a seam to wind a new bobbin and then re-thread the machine.

This is what it looks like inside. You fold up the rod in the middle, attach the sticky out bit stored in the lid and pull up the spool holder. Then you follow the thread path on the machine (you might just be able to see it in that photo above) to attach the bobbin to the spool, press that blue button and it does the rest.

I didn't have to persuade the thread to fill the bobbin smoothly and it stops automatically when the bobbin is full. You can wind lots of bobbins in one sitting which saves even more time.

So ... I checked the length of the curtain after the tenth row and decided I only actually needed elven rows, not twelve - hurray! Once the first panel was done I pinned it over the curtain rail to see what it would look like.

Yes, definitely stained glass. Even the rather wishy washy colours showed up brighter than I'd expected. The visible squares between the seams are 6"².

The next problem was working out how to arrange the squares for the next panel. I tried a straight copy and then flipping the pattern horizontally but neither of those worked. In the end I flipped it vertically so that the individual rows were the same but the top row became the bottom, the second to top the second to bottom and so on.

This is just an image I generated on the computer to test the layout; Now I had to actually sew the second set of squares. By the time I'd done that, I had a huge pile of fabric trimmings ...

.. and it was time to work out how to finish the edges. The first problem was that the edges were wider on the left sides and the tops than on the right and bottom edges. As I was double folding the edges and top stitching them twice, this gave me very little to play with if I wanted to keep the visible squares the same size as all the rest. I just about managed with the side seams and then had the bright idea of turning the panels upside down so that the shorter bottom edge became the top (where it would be hidden by the curtain tape.

I was still sewing one seam per day but, by the time I'd added the second lot of curtain tape yesterday, I decided just to get on and finish them. Luckily, they both hung to the same depth (not always the case in this wonky house) so the hems were quite straightforward to sew. I then picked over both curtains for trapped and stray threads of which there were a lot before ironing the curtains and hanging them up.

It was a grey and gloomy day yesterday when I took this photo but, even so, those colours really glowed. I then flaffed around with some ribbon and brass rings to make a pair of simple tiebacks and I was done.

It's difficult to take photos that show how lovely these curtains are; they really brighten up the room and are a lovely splash of colour when I walk in the door. All that work was worthwhile.

Mum's Knitted Bags

My latest pattern is not actually mine at all but was one of my Mum's.

Mum could turn her hand to any number of different crafts but, in later years, she was pretty much a full time quilter. When all her quilts finally have a proper place to live, I'm looking forward to showing them all to you. Be warned, it might take a while.

She did have a phase of knitting bags though, some from patterns but mostly making them up as she went along. I've got a few of those too ...

That bright stripey one with the flowerpot buttons was one of her favourites. It was nice and big and she did like to carry lots of things with her when she was out and about. 

Do you see the little blue and gold one peeping out just below that bag? This is the one that I'm going to talk about today. Mum actually wrote down her notes for this one so I thought it would be nice to publish it as a pattern.

It's knitted in the round in a combination of garter stitch and stocking stitch and has a pleasing shape. Mum used one of these to hold her knitting tools and another one for one of her many appliqué projects. She would machine sew in the day and hand quilt in the evening while watching television but she also had little collections of apliqué blocks in progress complete with scissors and threads all over the place ... just in case. There was normally one in the glove box of the car ready for picnic sewing.

All of Mum's bags were lined ad she liked using bright fabrics for this. This one has a beautiful Batik lining.

So, over the last couple of weeks, I've been knitting some of these bags and playing around with the pattern a bit to get it ready to publish. I've tried not to change very much so that it's still her design but I did change the purl garter stitch to knit as most people find that easier (including me).

This is the first one I made. It's bigger than hers which were all knitted with DK weight yarn. I used James C Brett Chunky for this one which is more of an aran weight really and the finished bag is about 23 cm or 9" tall.

The button was from Mum's button box and I used some another of her Batik fabrics for the lining.

Then I thought I'd try out the pattern with different weights of yarn to give different sized bags. The medium size one is knitted with King Cole Bramble DK and the little one is thin sock yarn left over from my Basic Socks pattern.

These are quick to knit and don't use much yarn. I'm sure you could find a use for any one of them. The pattern, as normal, is free to download from my ravelry designer page. The link to the actual pattern is after the next photo. 

Ann's Pockets

Before I go, here's where Tolly has been while I've been writing this ...

... as high as he can get in this very high room. This time he managed to get up there without knocking anything down; last time he dislodged two knitted donkeys and an angel en route. He does love to climb. Yesterday I had to remove him from the outside sill of my bedroom window - it's two floors up! - given that he jumps at sudden noises, I didn't think that was the safest place for him to be.

Beryl, Iris and Jasmine

No, I haven't suddenly acquired three new cats (although wouldn't they be great names for cats?) Those of you who can't resist a nice piece of charity shop china will know at once what I'm talking about. Beryl, Iris and Jasmine are the three colours of china produced by Woods for many decades from the 1940s onwards; it was particularly popular in the 1950s. Beryl is green, Iris is blue and Jasmine is yellow. 

Green Beryl was produced in the biggest numbers and was a staple of many village halls for years; it turns up regularly in charity shops and the like. The other two colours are a bit harder to find so I was especially pleased to find this little collection yesterday.

A small teapot and three cups and saucers, all in the pale blue Iris. I was particularly pleased with the teapot as, not only had I never even seen a Woods Ware teapot but it's my favourite 1 pint size. They also made a bigger 2 pint size but that would be a bit big for me on my own. I'm very taken with the way the circular lid slots into an oval hole so that you can twist it to lock it in place. Sounds odd I know; you'll just have to take my word for it.

Needless to say, I had my tea out of it yesterday afternoon and you'll be glad to hear that it's a good pourer. The other reason that I like to use old teapots is that modern ones don't have built in strainers. I think they expect you to use tea bags and I use leaf tea. You still need a strainer but that internal one holds back quite a lot.

Anyway, this find prompted me to fish out all the pieces I have to show you. Don't they look pretty all together?

I don't actually have that much of the green Beryl really. I do however have enough for a small tea table in all three colours now.

Or perhaps this ...

Some of this china is in regular use, including my two custard jugs (well that's what I use them for anyway) and the little milk jug.

My Mother-in-law had the green Beryl as her wedding china in the 1950s and she gave me my big jug - thank-you Janet. 

I have a few plates of various sizes too and one little pudding bowl. There are three bigger plates  but only one Iris tea plate. I'd like some more of that size.

I have yet to find a list of all the items Woods made in this range but I did find a very good blog post about it which you might like to read (it has very pretty pictures too). Beryl by Woods Ware: 1940s and 1950s British Utility China. Do any of you still enjoy using this pretty and practical china?