Brummie Blogger

Frou Frou

I was just about to start typing this when I suddenly noticed the delicious latte on my desk. The one that I made about thirty minutes ago, which had gone slightly cold. That's the second time I've done that today and it's annoying, 'cause it just doesn't taste as good.

The first time I let one go cold today was while I was engrossed both in re-watching the Dancing on Ice final and crocheting Frou Frou. The latte was not as enjoyable as it would have been twenty minutes earlier but the ice dancing was just as riveting as the first time I watched it. Suzanne Shaw was magical, and I'm so pleased that she won. I've just downloaded a version of the music she flew to as I'm sure that contributed to the moistness in my eyes after her performance. I'm just sad that I won't get to see the live show in Birmingham this year, due to being 'on vacation', as they say in the US.

And Frou Frou is finally finished.

Worked with two strands of 4 ply 100% acrylic, that was originally bought to use on my knitting machine, which I no longer have. I was worried that I would run out of yarn before the garment was finished but as you can see from the left over cones, I had plenty to play with. The stitch used for the body of the garment is Granite stitch, which works up nice and quickly. It is worked from the bottom of the back, up the back into the sleeves and splits to go down the two fronts. All one piece. The lacy border uses a base of double crochet, with the lacy part made up of chains and loops.

And there it is. It fits ok, but I'm not particularly happy with it. That neck is very peculiar. The instructions for it were ambiguous, I thought, and could have been interpreted in two different ways. I tried one way for about fifteen rows but it looked very wrong so I undid that and did it the other way. I think it's correct but as I said, I'm not happy.

I'm going to be positive about it though. It was good practice to get me back into the swing of making something larger than a bag, and I've learnt a new stitch. And I had the discipline to finish the dratted thing, so that's a plus. I'll probably dismantle it and ball the yarn up to use on a different project. I'd quite like to ball up all my coned yarn as it'll take up a lot less space that way. Also, I'll be able to weigh it more accurately to know how much I have to play with, and it's much easier to work with a ball than a cone. Cones fall over.

Oh, and I'm still listening to Welcome to the North, and it's still bostin'! 

New header

I have a new header. Like it? I was rather fond of the theme that I’d picked originally, until I was surfing through some other blogs and found one using the same theme. Now, in theory, I knew that there must be many other blogs using that theme, but seeing it was a different matter. I suddenly needed one that nobody else had. As you do...

So, my first thought was to keep pretty much the same as I had, as I liked the colours, but to make myself a custom banner. Only problem there is that I’m not that clever at doing fancy stuff in Elements or Xara. I got the basic size and shape, and filled in my background colour, but got stuck when I wanted to put in some swirly flowery bits. Back to the drawing board.

Next idea was to use a photo of the Birmingham City skyline, or use photos of various bits of Birmingham to make a collage type banner. I’ve no doubt I could have found some suitable photos online to use, but something like that would need include the Selfridges building, which is, without a shadow of a doubt, the ugliest building I have ever clapped eyes on. I’m sorry Ang, I know you like it, but I honestly think it is hideous and there’s no way it’s appearing on any blog of mine. Its only redeeming feature is that it contains Krispy Kremes.

My next plan was to do something seasonal and as I have several trillion photos of flowers and gardens on my hard drive, that was quite simple to do. Pick a photo, play with the levels, crop it to size and add some text. Then I just tweaked the colours in the rest of the theme to match. There we go – a daffodil theme. I guess now that I’ve discovered the joys of custom banners, I’ll be looking for suitable subjects to photograph, to make pretty new ones. Any excuse to get the camera out does for me.

I had a nice surprise when I walked into my craft room this morning. There was a parcel on my chair with a note on it saying the parcel was from The Easter Bunny. Inside was a box of assorted Ferrero chocolates. Yumm! Thank you Bunny aka Stephen.

Frou Frou is coming on nicely. I did quite a lot while watching the Grand Prix this afternoon. They seem to go together quite nicely, F1 and crochet. (Lewis had some bad luck, but at least he ended up in the points.)

So, Frou Frou now has her seams joined and has the frilly edging round the sleeves. I even tried it on, and wonder of wonders it fits! I'm still not convinced of that neckline though. It's very strange. Perhaps it'll look better when I've got the last bit of trim on. Optimistic to the last, eh?

I'm very keen to have a go at the Hourglass Jacket. I've been outbid on the yarn I was after but there are more coming up in the next few days so I'll try and get one of those. Cherry is very kindly loaning me some knitting needles so I'm sorted there. Thanks Cherry!

Not a productive day

Yesterday was not a productive day. I had a fairly mild migraine, which has only just about gone so I've done very little. I did do a bit of scrapping yesterday, but spent most of the morning researching car hire in Vegas.

Our plan was to not bother with getting a car for Vegas, but to get one for a couple of days once we got there. Our hotel has a free shuttle to and from the airport, and also to The Strip so we thought we'd really only need one for the odd day out in the desert. After looking deeper into this, the shuttle to and from the airport is hourly, so we could potentially have a one hour wait for our shuttle after that 11 hour flight. Plus the shuttle to and from The Strip finishes before our Cirque shows so we'd be faced with trying to get a taxi, which according to what I've read, isn't that easy in Vegas.

I priced up the cost of a car from Monday to Friday, picking it up locally and it was only about £20 more to get one as we arrive at the airport to keep for our whole stay, so I've sourced the cheapest one and booked it. It'll give us more flexibility if we have a car handy, but we'll still make use of the shuttle and monorail some days.

I've been reading a fair bit recently and am now on the last book of the original Thomas Covenant books. Once I've read that, I just have one more book to read and then I can start the newest one - Fatal Revenant. I'm very much looking forward to that. I love Stephen Donaldson's writing style!

I have my new crochet pattern on my desk, the one from Stitch Diva Studios that uses broomstick crochet. It's calling to me, asking to be made. I've been watching the excellent tutorial videos on their site and broomstick crochet looks very easy to do. I've been looking for yarns online to make it with, but they're coming up a bit expensive if I use a 100% silk yarn as shown in the pattern, and none of the yarns in my huge stash would do for it. I've spotted some yarns that would do nicely on Ebay, so I have a bid in for some Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk. If I win it, I'll have myself a bargain so fingers crossed. Then I just have to get some 15mm knitting needles to go with it.

I suppose I'd better go and finish sewing up the sideseams of Frou Frou, so I can add the trim to it. I'm using a crochet hook and one strand of yarn to sew it up, using slip stitch. I find it easier than sewing and it gives a better finish. I'm still not convinced it'll be jacket-shaped when it's finished, but it won't be long now before I find out. Watch this space!

Talking crochet

I've just been doing some more to my crocheted cardigan. Just forty or so more rows down the second front, and I can start sewing up the side seams before crocheting the trim. It really is such a strange pattern. I can't wait to see if it resembles anything cardigan-shaped when it's finished.

As I can see the end of this project looming, I've been thinking about what to make next. I have two books, both with interesting patterns in them, The Happy Hooker, (you have to love a book about crochet with that title!) and Crochet Me. Both have potential next projects in them, but I've also been considering making a bedspread from granny squares or even some pretty hexagons.

Then I saw a pattern on one of my favourite sites, Stitch Diva Studios. The pattern is for an Hourglass Jacket made from Broomstick crochet. I've never tried that before but having seen the excellent videos on the Stitch Diva site, it looks quite easy. I've purchased the pattern, a bargain at only $7, and just need to rummage through my yarn stash to see if I have anything that'll work. Then I need to get some knitting needles.

Yes, you did read that right, you do broomstick crochet with knitting needles and a crochet hook, and this particular pattern is worked in the round, all in one piece. You'd have thought I'd have learnt my lesson about garments made all in one piece after the interesting time I'm having with my current project, wouldn't you.

So, I just need to source some 15mm straight or circular needles, have a rummage in my yarn and I'm all set to go. I'll try and finish the current garment before I get too involved with planning the next few, though.

A crafty day

I've just spend a pleasant few hours working away on my crocheting. My cardigan is nearly finished now, as I managed to get loads done while watching the Australian Grand Prix. (And can I just say well done Lewis! Great start to the season.)

I'm just working down the second front now, and then I just have to sew the sides up and crochet the trim round. I have no idea what the shape will turn out like as it's the first garment that I've made for years and it's a very peculiar shape to begin with.

Normally, you'd make a back, one or two fronts, for a jumper or cardi, and then a couple of sleeves, before stitching the lot together. This cardi is made all in one piece. You work up the back, increase to include the sleeves and then work down one front, before closing off and re-attaching the yarn to work down the second front. There's some interesting increasing going on halfway up the sleeves but at no point do you make a hole for your head. I'm having faith though, and hoping it all works out to plan. It's very awkward to keep throwing about every time you turn a row, though, as the whole thing is massive now. A photo will be posted for you to either laugh at or admire, depending on how it turns out.

Earlier today, I scrapped and managed a whole layout in one go. It's yet another Disney Photopass photo. I have rather a lot printed out so as I'm in a one photo per layout mood at the moment, I may as well work through those. I've been putting the Photopass layouts in their own album and I'll mix in any from future visits too. I'm guessing there could be a few more photos taken when we go next month.

The photo was taken on our way to one of my favourite rides - The Hollywood Tower of Terror. It's Basic Grey, again, this time some very nice Stella Ruby. Some Fancy Pants and Scenic Route chipboard and a few ribbons. Plain and simple, but I'm quite chuffed as I've been wanting to use that particular bit of chipboard for a while.

Other than that, I don't seem to have done an awful lot today. My eyes are still quite painful if I move my head so I've been trying not to do that too much. Hope it's better tomorrow as I'm back at work after a blissful one and a half weeks off.