I've taken some better pictures of progress on the big crochet project. But before I show them to you, do you mind if I go off-piste, subject-wise? Because some things in life interfere with knitting and crochet time, and I want to grumble, if you'd be so generous as to indulge me. Here goes... I don't like running. I do it, on and off, because it's a cheap and outdoorsy way of keeping fit. And because, for as long as I occupy what would otherwise be useful space on this planet, I will Continue Reading
Progress On The Crochet House Project
A change of season is in the air. It's wet here, and not especially warm. I keep looking at the fire and at the basket of logs beside it, and thinking 'Soon, my friend. Soon.' Meanwhile southern hemisphere bloggers are starting to note signs of imminent spring, so I guess it's nearly our turn to shiver here in the north, not that we've had much of a summer this year. I've rambled at length about our village's cherry-growing heritage before, but today the cherry trees in the orchards are just Continue Reading
In The Yarn Garden
Evenin'. I've been busy in the garden. Not the real garden, you understand, where overgrown shrubs fight vicious battles for legroom, and where convolvulus sneaks across the lawn when it thinks nobody's looking, although if we're talking about the real garden, I'm quite partial to this quiet corner:- No, I'm talking about the garden of the crochet house-related project. It's going to be detailed, with paths and a pond, and lots of flowers and general garden stuff, but you have to begin Continue Reading
Looking For Mud
It's good to be out of quarantine at last. The Tyrannical Twinnage and I have been bimbling around south Oxfordshire's various towns running errands today. One of those errands involved yarn, so I can't complain. More on that, later. We took the winding back roads through thatched, rose*-covered villages, and over ancient stone hump-backed bridges that bounced the twinnage in their carseats and made them giggle. Those bridges criss-crossed the Thames, the river narrow and enthusiastic in its Continue Reading
254 Roses.
Well if I can ever persuade our wibbly-wobbly internet connection to upload the photo, I'll show you the 254 red roses (yes, I counted them, which was an awful lot quicker than embroidering them was) that I made on the front of the big-house-crochet-secret-project. I'm sorry, I assume you're sick of me being coy about what this project is, but I really do want the finished, installed thing to be a surprise, even if you've seen elements of it along the way. Ah, here we are. The little hamsters Continue Reading
A Brief Word
A very brief one because, well, chicken pox. And a vomiting bug. Our house is not a healthy place just now. In a few days' time, I'm sure we'll swap round illnesses, just to mix things up a bit. But I just wanted to show you some progress on the big housey crochet project from before I got vomity. I've paused work on the garden to embroider some rambling roses all over the house, because no wonky ol' cottage is complete without a rosebush scrambling up its walls. I used some Rowan Fine Tweed Continue Reading
Knitting A Pond, Crocheting The Lillies
So yesterday, TheTwistedYarn passed the happy milestone of 100 000 views. I'm sure that a few of these were folks landing here accidentally and scurrying rapidly through the labyrinthine corridors of the 'Yarn on their way in search of a site about molecular biology or how to mend vacuum cleaners. And that's OK: we're inclusive here, though not very informative about molecular biology. But hopefully, the vast, vast majority of these hits were by colour-loving yarn-wielders, and I really hope Continue Reading
Bricks. Mortar. Grass.
Goodness, I'll never be a bricklayer. I'm getting towards the top of the wall of my big furniture-related housey secret project, and I am very nearly over this whole brick-mortar-brick-mortar-brick-mortar monotony. I'm looking forward to embroidering roses scrambling all over it. Mad, monstrous roses with no inhibitions. Also I'm looking forward to starting the garden. Some of your comments on previous posts have given me ideas.... (Thank you.) I'm also wondering about possibly a Continue Reading
In Which Life Imitates Art. Or Vice Versa. Or Summat.
Well, I'm back. Properly back, but more on that later. The ridiculous thing was that in my IVF-befuddled state, I clean forgot to mention that my column is in this month's Simply Knitting. Here's a sneaky peek. I really must get on with writing the next one. Anyway, to the point of today's post... There comes a point in many big projects where the novelty of the early stages has well and truly worn off, but the end isn't yet sufficiently in view to draw you closer. You just have to keep on Continue Reading
The Crochet Of Yesteryear
I’m holding a reproduction copy of the first ever edition of ‘The Woman’s Weekly’, published in 1911, a magazine that is still going strong today, as far as I know. I’m turning the pages out of historical curiosity and because, well, vintage knitting/crochet. Apparently ‘WWW’ stood for ‘Woman’s Weekly Wednesday’ in those days: I guess they’ve had to ditch that acronym, in recent years. May I show you a few things? Let’s begin with the sublime, before moving on to the ridiculous. I was Continue Reading