I’m still working on the crochet version of The Hiking Reindeer cowl. It’s slow, because slow is what tends to happen when you work 4-ply (US: fingering) black yarn in a gloomy room when your previously-stupendous eyesight has suddenly remembered that you're not young any more and has gone all blurry. When the cowl is done, I’ll post the pattern here... if I can still see well enough to find my computer. Meanwhile, do please have a seat. Yes, you may indeed sit on the chair, although you may Continue Reading
Painting By Numbers. Also, A Giveaway Winner!
Hello blog, my fine friend. I've been working on the crochet version of the Hiking Reindeer Cowl. No longer are the trees listing drunkenly to the right. But something in the switch from knitting to crochet appears to have translated the reindeer into a moose. I'm not sure what a moose is doing in the southern English countryside on which the scene is based: it must have been hiking for some time. But the pattern will be done fairly soon, at which point I'll publish it on this site for Continue Reading
Go Home, Trees: You’re Drunk
People, there's still time to enter the marvellous book giveaway, right here. Spread the word! Meanwhile, have you heard of the sunk cost fallacy? It's a term used to describe how we tend to make decisions based on time/money/energy that we've already invested (i.e. irrecoverable 'sunk costs'), rather than on what would really benefit us in the future. This generally happens because we don't want to waste that investment. Fair enough, but that time/money/energy is gone already, regardless of Continue Reading
So Have You Won? Take A Look!
Aaaaaaaaaaaand.......................................time's up! Put down your pen and face the front. No talking, please, because the Edie Eckman giveaway is now closed. (I should clarify that we're not actually giving away Edie Eckman - her friends and family vetoed that idea - but through this blog, Storey Publishing is giving away a hefty chunk of Edie's crochet wisdom, distilled into one marvellous new book.) Before we find out who's won, I want to say a huge THANK YOU to each and every Continue Reading
Every Which Way Crochet Borders By Edie Eckman: A Review And A Giveaway
This book review is part of a blog tour* to celebrate the publication of Edie Eckman's new book: Every Which Way Crochet Borders. Waaaaaaaay across the Atlantic in the US, is a woman who likes to live life on the edge. She's based in Virginia** (which is on the edge of the US, you'll note. Coincidence? I THINK NOT.) And this month, she's brought out her second book about ornamental crochet borders. Y'see? Life on the edge. This woman adores borders. Can you imagine living in her house? Borders. Continue Reading
The Knitting And Crochet Guild
Given that you're here, and assuming that you're not right now scratching your head and thinking "Hang on, this isn't the blog about oxy-acetylene welding that I was searching for,"* it's probably safe to assume that you're partial to looking at a bit of knitting/crochet. (I used to call it 'yarn p♥rn', but then I noticed that a few folk were landing here via some questionable search terms - and no doubt being deeply disappointed when they arrived - so I gave that up.) One of the best places Continue Reading
About A Chair
[whispers] It's done. Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time (an embarrassingly long time ago), there was a young psychologist who lived alone in a flat in Oxford. She loved her home very much and was happy there, but she didn't have much spare cash, so not being able to afford an antique overstuffed armchair on castors, she went instead to Ikea, where she bought a Poäng chair:- The chair served her well over the years, and was sat in without obvious complaint by a long succession of Continue Reading
Finishing Touches
No, really: I'm practically done. All that remains after a year or so of work on that completely crazy project is to sew/crochet the thing together in its final setting. I know that a fair few of you have generously walked this journey by my side, for which I can only thank you for your extreme patience. In a few days' time, I'll be able to photograph and show you the finished object in situ. I just hope that it's been worth the wait. In the meantime, here are a few shots of the finishing Continue Reading
Rhubarb!
All right, all right, you lot. I can see how titling a post 'Finished Object' might have given the teeniest impression that I'd finally finished that project. Sorry. But your comments have also nudged me to get on with final push towards completion, so thank you. Though when I do weave in the last end, I'll be posting under a considerably more hysterical title than 'Finished Object'. Look out for a post titled OMG, OMG, IT'S DONE, IT'S DONE, IT'S DONE! SQUEEEEE!!!!!!!! Unless the finished job Continue Reading
All Aboard The Stylecraft Blog Tour Bus For A Giveaway And A Free Pattern!
Have you been following this year’s Stylecraft Blog Tour? Yesterday, designer/author Sue Pinner showed us her marvellous Spinning Top crochet blanket pattern. Six new shades have been added to the aran and the chunky Stylecraft Special acrylic ranges, and the fine fibrous folk at Stylecraft have mixed these up with some of the existing shades to make a couple of different ten-ball colour packs that they'll be selling for a while. Over the summer, they kindly gave a few of us yarniacs a pack to Continue Reading