I had the lazies.

I had the lazies...the laziest couldn't-lift-a-finger-to-write-even-one-blogpost lazies. 

Lethargic might begin to describe it.

Was it the long, long summer holiday?

We had a looong 6 weeks, of which 4 were spent by the sea, of which 3 were splashed in blasting hot sunshine and blue skies - not quite the usual during December on the Garden Route where you'll often have windy days.

Hartenbos has the finest, softest beach

Was it the excitement of planning a new house?

Fourteen years ago we had the opportunity to build a new house, and now we have another take. Lucky to have found an architect who 'got' us, and could produce a concept within a week.

Was it the worry over my youngest's little friend who was diagnosed with kidney cancer the week after schools closed?

He's had chemo, and a tumour and kidney was removed, and is bravely facing another 27 sessions of chemo, but he's doing well, and his parents are absolute beacons of hope and faith.

Was it the overwhelmedness (that might be my own new word) at the outpouring of love and caring from Ons Hekel-members for a fellow member whose daughter had to undergo open heart surgery?

It went well, she was discharged, sent us a message...and then suddenly died :-( 

Members spontaneously arranged for a blanket to be hooked for her mother in memory of the daughter. We're hooking 20 cm squares with some purple in it (her favourite colour).

Was it the thought of the 45 text books I had to cover for school, and then start gr 4 again, 32 years after passing it the first time?
Gr 4 changed quite a bit :-)

Or what is I Just Plain Lazy?
That might be it...

Joining ancient rectangular doilies to use as bunting during a quick overnight break to Rietfontein Ostrich Palace

The tan is still there (plus the extra kg or two...), the plans for submission are being finalised, we came through a week of two anniversary dates and three birthday parties in two days, I enrolled for a year of Bible School, my youngest have lost his two front teeth, my eldest decided he is going to love Natural Science in Gr 4 (good boy!), my husband is furiously training for Ironman, my ferritin stores are back to normal, my domestic worker has gone on pension and ... The Boss will be in town this week! And I'm going to try and stay awake for the whole thing. No choice there, seeing as it's standing tickets :-D

I did manage to complete a tiny very few little things, mostly crocheting while we were driving across the country and back.

Southbound through the Karoo

This flag bunting was designed by my friend Cornel and featured in the Idees magazine a year or so ago.  The idea was to use it as tree decorations (the young karee outside our little beach house), but it also ended up as being used for little yarn bombs. I used Raeesah cotton,  a DK yarn with the most beautiful, solid, clear colours, but spliiiiity, splitty, splitty.  Very much the same as Drops Cotton Light that some UK/European bloggers complained about.  My sis even abandoned her plans of joining and edging a baby blanket with it, and sent me the whole batch to try out/re-distribute.  I kept one. 

However, it worked out fine, and I left my tiny bunting at a favourite farm stall (Camdeboo Farm Stall in Aberdeen), at a get-together with fellow hookers in Klein Brakrivier, another old favourite roadstop - Smitswinkel Farm stall,  a new favourite LYS-when-on-holiday (Needle Nook in George), De Vette Mossel beach restaurant in Tergniet, and Bizarre Bazaar, a great new second hand shop in Mossel Bay.

Hooking my way through  the holiday

There was some left for my tree, with a few stars.

I yarn-bombed the nearby stop sign, as nobody stops there...

STOP now!

And I completed exactly a measly five squares of The Summer Throw that was going be finished...and then back  home I realised I used a different hook size to the first four...

I probably wasn't concentrating too hard...

Oh jeepers tog.

So I frogged four, re-hooked the lot, and completed my purple Anja-square today.

Also the Mt Vernon square, with a few rows added, unblocked here

The anniversary.  We've been married 18 years :-0 Where did the time go?

As we're not the traditional anniversary-gift-type, we settled into the happy arrangement of me going to the Le Creuset shop to get something  "for us".  This year, however, I was ambushed by this chair en route to Le C...and after some sweet talk it now resides in the home office!  So I declare the appropriate 18th year anniversary as "leather swivel chair".

Feels like you're sitting in a hug.

Right.

Back now to the Summer Throw...with autumn just around the corner :-P

It's giving me a slight headache.

Happy new year :-) 

Hooking and holidaying

At last, it was the winter holiday, but alas, no winter!

I love the winter holidays.  Three weeks of lying* in, or early-morning walks in crisp-cold air, hearty soup, my gran's souskluitjies, big, roaring bonfires in the evening, a hunting weekend-or two.   

A quick drive to do some bass-fishing and have a quick braai, just 25 min from home. 

I just made the fire and hooked a beanie:

We're experiencing a very warm winter.  Every morning I hopefully dress up with something warm and a scarf, only to discard most layers by lunchtime.  So it was with high hopes that I packed for the usual visit to the grandparents and, hopefully, winter rain.

But no, we hit the southern Cape in the midst of bergwind conditions, making the days ideal to spend on the beach, but no snuggling! But I did get to catch up on the smaller hooking projects:

At 1o'clock - Attemp numero 5 of the mezzaluna shawl.  Note: sit down in quiet with an hour or more at a time to work o this one.  Count.  Mark with highlighter. 

Half past four - working with Karoo Moon handspun merino on the beach.  It became a lacy cowl for MIL.

Six: Graceful Shells poncho for me, also with Karoo Moon handspun merino...and then I didn't have enough!!I'll need at least two more balls.

Half past seven: The beginning of a flowery scarf at a local road stall.  The breakfast was great.  The flowery scarf became a baby beanie later.

Eleven o'clock - The Great Romany Blanket came out of hibernation!  It grew with 10 rows.  I must sit down more with this one.

There was time for a little driving around and looking at the latest  at some of my favourite stops - Smitswinkel Farmstall, offering colourful granny blankets for the first time!

And De Dekke Antiques had this purple throw among piles of white tablecloths, a steal @ R390.  Depending on the day anything between 35-40 euro.

I took the boys to a small history museum in Hartenbos, and while they were fascinated by the Great Trek exhibits and the gun room, I marvelled at some very old examples of lovely hooking - a nighty and a beautiful table cloth (compare with Haafner's latest! Similar solid square with bobbles, the other way round.)

Also had a second look at the linen in Hartenbos Huisie...my sis and I will both hook a blanket for this room, and chose Elle Pure Gold colours based on these pillow covers and the stripey mat.  It is a secret CAL between us, she's already started but I've just decided what pattern to use...

And then rained, on the day we went home :-(

But all hope was not lost, as we were on route for a weekend in the highlands.
(South Africa's mos a world in one country; we do fly fishing in our own Highlands while staying in a mini-Grand Canyon)

www.komatigorge.co.za

During the day it was warm enough to fish, play in the river, paddle-boat and canoe, and by late afternoon it cooled down enough for a little port with my hooking.  By evening I stoked the fire to read read and read while The Dad did the braai.

All in all, a great rest, with good enough progress on various WIP's and plans.  

Still waiting for a good cold front, though.

* Show me the second language English speaker that doesn't at some stage confuse the lays/lies!  Again I had to make sure.  You'd think by age 42 I would remember. 

So here's a neat link:

http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2012/03/lie-or-lay/

A Very Pink Placemat

During our December holidays, I met one of my Ons Hekel-friends for the first time.  We had a lovely afternoon, chatting about wool and colours and things, having great coffee and cheesecake which she served on these placemats:

Tydens die Desember-vakansie ontmoet ek een my die Ons-Hekel-vriendinne.  Oor die lekkerste koffie in George en 'n bord kaaskoek, kuier ons die middag verby oor wolle, kleure en hekeldinge.  Ek was mal oor hierdie klein, vierkantige plekmatjies wat sy gebruik het:

Kiets Cat's cotton placemats

It's just big enough for a small plate, and I loved it.  I liked the square, simple, open design, and the fact that it isn't a huge rectangular placemat.

So I posted about it on  Ons Hekel, with a photo, and set about looking for an open square pattern to use.

Dis net groot genoeg, met 'n eenvoudige, oop ontwerp, en ek wou ook sulkes hê.
Ek vertel toe daarvan op Ons Hekel, en beginnie soek na 'n patroon...

Testing some patterns with MIL's wool and the help of a local port. 

Meanwhile, back in Pretoria, another Ons Hekel-friend already started to figure out the pattern from the photo I posted, and started her own!

Intussen begin vriendin Adele in Pretoria sommer dadelik met haar weergawe van die patroon!

Adele's pretty green placemat

In the end, I decided on the Freesia Square from this photo I found on Pinterest. After hooking all four squares and trying various joins, I resorted to frogging two round of all to do a Join-as-you-go, and then added the first three round of Border 12 from Around the corner - Crochet Borders (Edie Eckman).

Ek het uiteindelik die Freesia-patroon gebruik n.a.v. 'n foto wat ek gesien het op Pinterest (en so paar aanpassings gemaak).  Die randpatroon was nr 12 uit die boek "Around the Corner - Crochet Borders" van Edie Eckman.

Blocking away

(Using my husband's swim board for pinning...)

I worked with Vinnis Nikkim, a locally produced cotton yarn that I absolutely love.  The plan was to make four of these for Hartenbos Huisie ...but then I had only one ball and don't want to buy more - there's a major de-stash project going here :-)  So I'll stick to the one for now and maybe hook four matching smaller squares in whatever suitable colour I find during Project De-stash...

Ek het Vinnis Nikkim gebruik, en het toe op die ou end te min om vier plekmatjies te maak...ek wil nie nou nog koop nie omdat daar eers orde moet kom in die nimmereindigende wolversameling! Dalk maak ek vier kleintjies vir my tee-beker, as ek vroegoggend op die stoep sit en beskuit eet. 

Now to find a piece of great cake...

Ed.
I couldn't leave the plate like this; had to get a pistachio muffin from The Lucky Bread Co...

That's better.

How do you crochet the most beautiful landscape in the world?

I like to think that most everybody has a heimat; that place they think of as 'home', or where they come from, that has that special corner in their heart, even thought they might not return that often.

My heartland is the Klein Karoo (Little Karoo).  It is tucked into the south western corner of South Africa, set between two mountain ranges, the Klein Swartberg (Little Black Mountain) and Groot Swartberg (Great Blank Mountain) (and we use the Afrikaans even in English context). It basically consist of 5 towns, from Montagu in the west, bordering the Breede River Valley, through Barrydale, Ladismith, Calitzdorp and Oudtshoorn in the east, bordering the Outeniqua and Langkloof.

Klein Karoo, South Africa
(map http://www.karoospace.co.za/trading-post/the-classic-karoo-map)

I haven''t lived there for 30 years now, having spent only 3 years as a young girl.  But that was a definitive three years - attending the same primary school my mom did (two of her teachers were still there!), being able to run to Grandma's house after school at least once a week, living on a deciduous fruit farm, playing in the river, climbing the koppie with my cousin, running through a freshly ploughed field "to  harden my feet".

After leaving, we would return every year to spend either Christmas or the winter holiday with the  family and still I return, every time we visit the in-laws or our little beach house, to visit my granny in Ladismith.  And every time, once I go up Robinson's Pass, my heart squeeze at the beauty of the veld, the grey-greens of the fynbos, the dark pinks of the protea, the burnt orange of the aloes in winter. And this year, for the first time in many years,  I went in spring:

Klein Karoo spring colours, near Calitzdorp

The Klein Karoo in spring is a sight to behold! It doesn't have the short-lived flowery abundance of Namaqualand, rather a more subtle colour fest, but once you look closer, there's a beauty that takes you breath away.  I took the above photo late one afternoon, near seven o'clock, on a ostrich farm with a view towards the Klein Swartberg. I sat and sat on the grass, my boys were playing in the dam-like swimming pool, and I just drank in the beauty (with my tiny glas of port ;-).



Late afternoon chillin'

For a long time I've wanted to hook something in the colours of the Klein Karoo, and with that picture in mind, an unplanned visit to the LYS in Mossel Bay turned into a tiny splurge on Vinni's Cotton...





The greens and greys of the fynbos and Karoo shrubs

There are too many varations of green and grey to describe, and here and there a splash of bright green will surprise you.  Luckily Vinnis fares good with their subtle greens!



Klein Karoo wild flowers

I stood in the yarn shop trying to match yarns to the tiny photos on my phone

• the blues of the Karoo viooltjie (Aptosimum indivisum)
• the white of the oumakappie (still trying to indeitfy this one - the regional common name isn't as common!)
• the salmon-pink of klapperbos (Nymania capensis)
• the bright cerise of the pronkvygie (Cerochiamus pachyphylla) and spekboom (Portulacaria afra)
• the yellow of granaatbos (Rhigozum obovatum)...

 And what would I hook?

I found the answer in a second-hand store in Calitzdorp: a milk-stool type side table, of which my parents had the exact same waaaaay back when:

The milk stool (under the green doilie)

I will sand it down and paint it vaguely white.  For now, it's living with a green doilie in the corner at the little beach house.

Time ran out and I was travelling by plane, so I took the measurements, and throughout the last day visiting the in-laws, kept myself busy with Alice's Granny Mandala pattern and my bagful of Vinni's.  Luckily, MIL  had a similar side table with almost similar measurements, so I could get an idea of what it would look like:

Klein Karoo milk stool cover on MIL's side table

Yes, it would work, but I still needed a bit of white for my favourite oumakappie flowers, so I added a row or two.  Back home, the only way to get an idea, was to drape the stool cover over a cake tin, where it will stay until January, when we hope to go down to Hartenbos again!  Might be a tad too long now, but at least I have all the colours I wanted.

Milk stool cover posing as cake tin cover

Can't wait to go back.  The veld will be waiting, and September it will look like this again:

Vygie veld, Rietfontein Ostrich Farm

And Towerkop will still be standing tall



Klaar! Nog 'n kombers vir Hartenbos Huisie

Wat is lekker...om saam met jou sisi, op vakansie, aan 'n projek te werk.

Sy het alreeds in Ierland met hierdie mini-grannies begin, 'n klomp van haar (heerlike Stylecraft) ou wolle saamgebring, en ons het verder gewerk by Hartenbos Huisie.

What is nice...to hook with your sis, on holiday.

She started this mini-granny blanket at home in Ireland, and brought a pile of (lovely Stylecraft DK) stash with her.

Vroegoggend buite op die stoep met koffie en beskuit.

We hooked on the stoep, with early morning-coffee and rusks.

'n Eenvoudige randjie om die bont te tem:

A simple edge to tame the bright colours:

Et voilà!

'n Tweede kombers vir Hartenbos Huisie.

A second blanket for the little beach house.  

Dankie my sisi.

Klaar!! Kussings Kussings Kussings Kussings

Drie kussingprojekte klaar!

Twee oortreksels vir Hartenboshuisie, alreeds in JUNIE klaargehaak, maar nou eers aanmekaargewerk.  Ek het 'n ou ligblou gingam-tafeldoek gebruik vir die agterkante, en met ligblou borduurgaring vasgewerk (wat noem mens dié, glipsteek?).  Patroon: Lucy se Summer Garden Squares. Kan nie wag om hierdie twee op hul rottangstoele in Hartenbos te gaan neersit nie. 

Three cushion projects done!

I finished two covers for the Little Beach House (crocheted in June, but only completed now). Forthe back I used an old, light-blue gingham table cloth, which I stitched with ligh-blue emrboidery thread. Pattern: Lucy's Sumer Garden Squares.
Can't wait to put it on the rattan chairs in Hartenbos.



Ek het Anner Stel sover gekry om hier te kom sit om die oortreksel vir Krulliekop se kussing klaar te stik, terwyl ek bg. twee doen.  Ons is albei baaaaaie deeltydse naaldwerkers, so dit was nogal 'n interessante oefening, aangehelp met baie koffie en rooibos.
Patroon: Cornel se teemus-motief (aangepas van Ingrid van woodwoolstool)

I got Other Stel to join me and finish the cover for her Curly Girl's cushion.  Both of us sew very occasionally, so it was an interesting exercise, with lots of coffee and rooibos tea to help us.
Pattern: Cornel's tea cosy motif, adapted from Ingrid of woodwoolstool)

 

Die ronde kussinkie het ek ook al maande gelede klaargemaak, vaagweg gebaseer op 'n kombinasie van Lucy se Summer Garden Squares en Alice se Granny Mandala  en nog elders  'n vatlappie waarvan ek nie eens die patroon meer onthou nie.  Die kussing is spesifiek gemaak vir 'n ou gietysterstoel wat altyd in my ouers se spaarkamer gestaan het, toe nog in wit gedaante.  Hier by my was die stoel al room, gunmetal, weer wit en tans rooi.  Hy migreer so van die kombuis na die agterstoep en weer terug. Die agterkant is gemaak van 'n ou denimkussingsloop. Die knopies is net dekoratief, en ek het dit weer vasgewerk met 'n sagte geel borduurgare (het toe nie die oranje wat ek eintlik wou gebruik nie).  Ek moet dalk net 'n beter kussing maak, hierdie was sommer 'n kortpad-vat-'n-platterige-vierkantige-kussing-en stik-dit-rond...

The little round cushion was finished months ago and is vaguely based on a combination of Lucy's Summer Garden Squares, Alice's Granny Mandala and another pattern that I can't even remember. It was specifically made for and old wrought-iron chair that used to live in my parents' spare bedroom, then white. I have painted it ivory, gunmetal grey, white again and it is red for now.  It migrates between the kitchen to the back stoep and back into the house.  

The back of the cover was made of an old denim pillow cover. The buttons are just decorative. I sewed it with a buttercup yellow embroidery thread - wanted to use bright orange but only then realised I didn't have any! At some stage I'll have to replace the inner with a proper round one, as I literally cut corners of an unused, unloved little square pillow...

Klaar! Vier kussings!

Done!  Four cushions!