Ah, Monsieur Frog, I see you’re here yet again. Do you have to visit us so very frequently? Yup, that’s – ribbit – the sound of – ribbit – another crocheted swatch being reduced to heaps of wiggly raw yarn. Sigh. Ribbit.
Actually, I don’t especially mind, because it’s fun creating summat from nowt, and I’m relishing the experience of shaping and refining this *new* idea for a crochet project. I want it to be right, more than I want it to be speedy, and assuming it works out, I’ll happily share the pattern with your goodly selves. The other day I showed you some bricks because there’s a lot of masonry involved in this idea, but now I have better bricks, and roof tiles.
The brick yarn is Scheepjes’ Soft Fun Denim, shade 510, just in case you too have a yearning for masonry, and its subtle brown ombré works rather well. The roof tiles are crocodile stitch, worked in Stylecraft Extra Special DK, shade Sandstone (but spoken as someone with qualifications in geology, that colour is NOTHING like any sandstone I’ve ever seen). But the croc stitch in the picture is a rubbishy mess because I followed a rather inadequate pattern I found online, so now I’ve found a better pattern:-
(and yes, I do indeed have naked cherubs on my skirt. Doesn’t everyone?) But the latest incarnation of the roof is perhaps too wide, so I frog, frog, frog, and begin again. Wine generally assists with this process.
And when this creation is finished, you’ll be the very first to see it, I promise. Do you perchance detect a smidgen of excitement here chez Twisted Towers?
Speaking of Twisted Towers (our old, converted-brewery home), I found something rather curious whilst outside with the Toddler Twinnage. I’m continuing the brickwork theme of this post because looking closely, I noticed a pattern in some of our bricks:-
And peering closer (because I’m odd enough to stand with my nose pressed up against interesting walls), I realized that the dark bricks had a rather fabulous dark green glaze, although it’s flaked off in many places over the course of a century or two. But look! Green glass!
Meanwhile, thank you most kindly for your comments about my happy mismatched knitted socks. Of course, your generous encouragement is entirely to blame for my purchase of more luscious clearance-bin sock yarn, this time a rather fetching llama-derived creation:-
Here it is, in the afternoon sun. Heavens, I might even be at risk of developing a stash, at last.
arlingwoman says
March 8, 2015 at 11:57 pmYour brick pattern with the green glaze is, I think called Flemish Bond. The glazed bricks were a particular decorative flourish. You could look it up by searching masonry bond on the internet. I live in a building with a pattern called American Bond. I think Jefferson’s Monticello was done in Flemish Bond. I know nothing about crochet or knitting, but masonry…Anyway, your crochet bricks and roof are lovely.
thecontentedcrafter says
March 9, 2015 at 12:50 amI’ve been frogging too – it gets a bit tedious when you see evening after evening’s work didn’t make the grade. I need to buy some patterns!! I also like your green sock yarn – very pretty!
pippa says
March 9, 2015 at 2:42 amLove that new sock yarn,don’t say you weren’t warned. I found an old photo [sort of old, 2009] of my clothes line with 20 pairs of socks hanging – check out the heading picture of my blog – knittinginthenorthwoods.wordpress.com
I don’t even want to think about how many pairs I’ve made since then. It’s a addiction, but less destructive than most.
mollieandclaire says
March 9, 2015 at 7:36 amWell, all I can say is about time too. You can’t be a true addict without a stash 😉
The bricks look very bricky and I am looking forward to the big reveal!
In my experience no colour designated by name is ever really the right colour as their name. Apart from maybe white. But even then…Do you think people who dye these glorious confections all have some kind of word dyslexia?
Your skirt is delightful. I just realised that my favourite dress, which I thought was abstract is actually a leopard print… Hmm, keeping it Bet Lynch since ’72.
atelieroursonne says
March 9, 2015 at 10:51 amCan’t wait to see what you are building up to 🙂
Stash development sounds also like a good plan. And it really is your duty as a psychologist. You simply have to experience addiction to be able to help some of your patients. And obviously a sock knitting addiction is a very safe way of doing so. After all it is not going to damage your body, is it? So go and get some more 🙂 Oh and post some pictures of lovely and colourful sock yarn…. maybe something purply-orangy-turquoisy for me pleeease?
alookatthelittlethings says
March 9, 2015 at 12:45 pmI love the idea to use the crocodile stitch for the shingles.
sewchet says
March 9, 2015 at 1:28 pmHmm, a house shaped what, I wonder? Cushion, tea cosy, picture?? Maybe even a yarny incarnation of Twisted Towers! I await the reveal with baited breath, all the while admiring your socky stuff:)
slippedstitches says
March 9, 2015 at 4:01 pmI love the project your creating. The textures are interesting. Wonderful info on the bricks.
narf77 says
March 9, 2015 at 4:47 pmFroggy and I are NOT talking at the moment. We have cultivated a strained, but continued relationship and are currently at a stalemate. I find he tends to visit when I am at my busiest and am thinking about other things and then BAM he lobs on the doorstep, most inconveniently, and I have to stop and ‘entertain’ him for a while. Thinking of letting the duck move into the house. She loves frogs…I didn’t think that anyone was as attached to house bricks as Father Jack was from the Father Ted series Ms Twisted, but I see I may have been wrong. The nuance about the glassy green patina on your own specimens show that we have the ‘breek’ equivalent of Mr Bill Oddie on our hands here.
You are dead right about us lusting after a pattern, especially for that roof tile (crocodile) stitch. I am an avid collector of stitches. I tend to stick with the simple ones but hoarding crochet stitches is a lot less home invasive than hoarding bowls and what Stevie-boy doesn’t know, he can’t question now can he? ;).
I had to deny myself glass 2 the other evening. I found that I was following the same row of my pattern over and over again and that was only after glass 1!
YUM YUM YUM! Now THAT is what I call lust-worthy yarn Ms Twisted. Bring forth the socks!