In case you thought my promises of completing that insane project were sounding more hollow with each passing week year, I decided to show you some progress on the garden portion... which happens to be the final section. For those of you who haven't been reading The Yarn since it was hand-copied on parchment by medieval serfs, this project is large, bonkers, furniture-related, mostly crochet, and I'm very excited about showing you what it's eventually going to be. Not long now, my fine fibrous Continue Reading
Crochet Garden
So, I'm embroidering and crocheting the garden of the big furniture-related crochet house project, when I really ought to be doing proper useful stuff. The fire is lit already because it's been one of those grey, drizzly mornings that makes you think, "Really? Do I have to get up and adult today? Again?" I decided to build a rockery around the pond. First, I made some rocks in subtly variegated grey yarn, by single-crocheting (that's double crochet in UK parlance) with strategic increases and Continue Reading
Autumn Outdoors
It's a satisfying time of year to be outdoors, clearing away a season's-worth of overgrown undergrowth whilst it's still mild enough to work unencumbered by eight layers of clothing. Also the colours, of course. Ah, the colours:- Many times before, I've mentioned this village's long cherry-growing heritage, and now the few remaining cherry orchards are in their autumn livery. I'd been feeling guilty about 'growing' yarn vegetables in the garden of my big-crochet-house-project whilst Continue Reading
The Crochet Cottage Bag Pattern!
Well, here it is, at last. The pattern. The pattern... for the crochet house shoulder-bag that I designed. It's been a while coming. Would you like to make one? It's not that hard, honest, just a little fiddly around the windows. But I've explained everything in the pattern. And if you run into any problems, you can always give me a shout. I'm really very, very excited about this thing. Sometimes a crazy idea in your head just works. And it's free! :-) So without further ado, shall we Continue Reading
How To Crochet The Brick Stitch.
Well, noble folks of a fibrous persuasion, I have good news, and I have... good news. Which would you like first? The good news, you say? OK then. Well, I've finally finished writing the pattern for the crochet house bag. Hurrah! I'm excited to share it with you (for free), probably tomorrow unless the universe maliciously interferes. I'm conscious that people don't want to download/print patterns with over a million photos, so the other piece of good (I hope!) news is that today I have put Continue Reading
Those Carrots
But anyway, back to the knitting/crochet. And also a little bit of embroidery, because working round the garden of that big crochet house-related project, I’ve realized that at this teeny scale, some things are just easier embroidered. Yep, despite taking on such a monstrously bonkers, months-long mega-project, I’m all for making things easy when I can. So. This garden is going to have a lot of veg. I’ve always preferred growing things you can eat to growing flowers, although let’s not discuss Continue Reading
Mostly Crocheting The Vegetable Patch
September. The season is on the swing, towards autumn here in the UK, but towards spring if you're in the southern hemisphere. There's a hint of chill early in the day, regardless of whether or not the later hours become warm. The logs are stacked beside the fireplace and the kindling bucket is full. It's so tantalisingly nearly time to light a fire. There are blackberries to be gathered from the hedgerows for crumble-making:- As the temperature falls, it's spider season, and those of us Continue Reading
The Challenges Of Pattern-Writing
Gosh, this is complicated. Whilst I dither about the garden of the big crochet house project, I’m writing up the pattern for the crochet house bag, because I want to offer it (free) to those of you who are crazy enough to want to make one yourselves. And hey folks, guess what? Insanely complicated fiddly piece of crochet translates into insanely complicated fiddly pattern. Who’d’ve guessed?! One of the things I love about knitting/crochet is that a relatively short list of instructions on a Continue Reading
On Running
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