Tuesday 27 March 2012

Klaar! 'n Beanie vir HJ

"Wie spot sal mee gespot word", sê ek vir my vriend HJ, wat my hekel hoogs amusant vind.  
"Ek gaan nog vir jou 'n keppie hekel, ek sien die haartjies begin min raak".
He he heee :-D

En hier's sy verjaardagpresent :



"Those who mock will be mocked", I said to my friend HJ, who always pokes fun at my crocheting.


"I'm going to make you a little cap, to hide the growing baldness".

So he got the above for his birthday:
En hy was wel beïndruk!
And he actually did like it!

Pattern "Boy Beanie" in "The Happy Hooker"
(for South Africa here)

Wednesday 21 March 2012

PCH...Mapping my way

So the (new) workroom's floor has been sanded and oiled, and the walls have been painted, masking tape removed from the wardrobe's doors and I'm slowly starting to re-pack everything that was shoved into the spare bedroom...


(shiny new floor, "Worn Wood" walls, by Plascon,  piles of childrens book to be sorted)

and in between I'm browsing a bit on Pinterest, and during the week I saw this:


which sent me running back to the just-opened wardobe to grab a WIP I started a while ago, originally inspired by a similar cushion seen on the Foxs Lane blog if I remember right, embroidered with their route:


Confirrmation that it should be done, came in the form of this fabric that I had Roman blinds made up with:



So what am I doing??

Mapping our travels on two continental pillows!

One will have our individual trips, and the other those that we made as a family. I've already stitched most of the destinations and planned to finish the flight routes today, but alas, the public holiday only allowed  me half an hour.




I have encountered some difficulties:
  • an ancient map print with probably pre-WW1 geo-political borders (Prussia, anyone?)
  • a map that is not to scale...
  • and seriously warped
  • and very very faint printing on a small small map (was sitting with Google Maps on my iPhone to try and figure out where exactly approximately to place Prague, Saskatoon and Karlovy Vary!).
So, to do still:
  • stitch the flight paths and  few remaining destinations
  • maybe stitch the names of the cities, as the borders are a bit confusing
  • maybe stitch a heading for each cushion.
Any ideas/recommendations?

Friday 16 March 2012

Klaar! Suster Sonskyn

Oee dis eintlik al lankal klaar...  My Sonskyn-serp, vir 'n helder winter en sonskyn in Desember, as ek by my sisi in Ierland gaan kuier :-)

Its actually been finished a while ago now...my Sunshine Scarf, for a bright winter and sunshine in December when I go visit my sisi in Ireland :-)



Die patroon is van die Yvestown Blog, en was so maklik om te maak.  Ek het 'n (dikkerige) Merino Solids DK van elle gebruik, en ek dink 'n nr 5 hekelpen.  Dis min of meer dieselfde as die Japanese Flower Scarve, en volgende op die lys is dus...'n Japanese Flower Scarve  (en hier en hier) waarvoor ek verlede jaar Bambi bamboes-draad gekoop het!

The pattern is from the Yvestown Blog, and was so easy to hook.  I used elle's (thickish) Merino Solids DK, and I think a nr 5 hook.  It's more or less the same pattern as the Japanese Flower Scarf, and next on my list is therefor...a Japanese Flower Scarf (and here and here) I bought the Bambi bamboo yarn last year already!)



Erm...net eers die baba-ripple en die bietjie African Flowers en nog 'n entjie aan TGRB klaarmaak...

Erm...must finish the baby ripple, though, and work a bit on the African Flowers and TGRB...

Monday 5 March 2012

My Amigurumi February...an octo(sexto)pus


How cute is this?



I used the Baby Monsters pattern for the body (www.craftyiscool.blogspot.com)

The legs were hooked as part of the last row of the bottom circle. To hook spirals: hook a chain twice the length that you want. Turn, make 2 SC in each chain. I found the spiral effect was stronger when I hooked in the butt of the chain (the back part of the stitch).

Somehow I didn't count right, and my octopus ended up a sextopus - only 6 legs!

Ah, but it's still sweet

Friday 2 March 2012

Klaar! Leandra se kussing.


Leandra's cushion is DONE! (A while ago). But her birthday was only last weekend, so now I can show it off (cause I'm quite chuffed with it :-)

O wee!  Hierdie kussing is al lankal klaar.  Maar kry ek tyd om 'n mooi te neem en dit net klaar te beskryf? 

Nee.

En sy het eers die afgelope naweek verjaar, so nou kan ek maar wys.



Hiersy nou:

The front:



The back (I didn't pattern-match the fold-overs, bit lazy, but few's gonna look there).


Om te sê ek's in my noppies, is 'n ... onderbeklemtoning.  Very happy!

Die lap het ek mos hier gehad; 'n hele paar jaar gelede by Wetherleys gekry, by 'n hopie materiaalmonsters wat hul wou uitgooi.  Perfekte pas.

I got the fabric for free a couple of years ago, lying on a pile of sample that was going to be thrown out.

Die rande: Een ry SC, gevolg deur 'n eenvoudige skulprand van 1 SC 1 HD 2 DC 1 HD 1 SC.

The edge: one row SC, followed by a simple scallop of 1 SC 1 HD 2 DC 1 HD 1 SC.



Die wol:  Vinnis Cotton (hoekom sê ons in Afrikaans 'wol' vir enigiets wat om 'n hekelpen of breipen kan gaan?), en die kleure:

The yarn - Vinnis Cotton in

Tamatierooi (Tomato 575)
Donkerblou (Navy 589)
Ougoud (Old Gold 596)
Turkoois (Sage 547)
En dan groen en bruinerig, weet nie watter ene is watter... (Wine 580) en (Chestnut 503).

Dit was 'n heerlike kussing om te maak. Die wol, die kleure, die lap, als het reg uitgewerk!

Hoop sy hou ook daarvan.

(En kyk, dit werk ook op my bed...by my winter kussings...).



It was a lovely cushion to work on. The yarn, the fabric, the colours, everything worked out right.

Hope she likes it too.
(And see...it even goes with my winter continentals...)