Tuesday 14 January 2014

A Parliament .....



..... of owls.

Here are just a few of the owls which have been crocheted by some of the "Carry-on Girlies".  The heights range from about 10" to 20" and all have quite an individual look about them - different yarns, buttons for eyes and some needle felting.

If you would like to see them in person, then come along to Babes in the Wool, Newland Avenue, Hull.  I think they are going to be in the window until the end of January 2014, and don't forget to pop into the shop and say hello.


Hooky hugs, xxx


PS  Contributors include: Ann of Skirlaugh, Queen Pauline, Ann Cross, Jean, Caroline, Ann-Marie, Anita, Angie 69 and of course, Lesley and Katie

Monday 6 January 2014

2014 Already! Where did 2013 go?

So time flew so fast last year that I ended up only making two blog posts.

A lot of my time was taken up with crocheting, and afterall, crocheting is very addictive.

I taught myself to crochet 30+ years ago but didn't really make a lot at the time and I went back to knitting and lots of other crafts instead. But about three years ago, I was shopping with my teenage daughter and we found a book on crochet and I thought it looked good for refreshing me and also for guiding my daughter into a new skill.

The book is The Crochet Bible and I have to say that it is excellent.  It covers just about everything you need to get started in crochet and also has many projects for the different skill levels.

After completing many crochet projects I was given the opportunity to teach crochet to beginners.  So, since the beginning of 2013, that is what I have done, and this is also where a lot of my time was taken up.

I also spent about 7 months knitting a Gansey for an exhibition held at the Hull Maritime Museum.  Now that was a task and a half! The pattern I worked was the Humber Keel in a tightly spun 5-ply worsted wool in cream.

Gansey's are a traditional fisherman's sweater, knitted in the round on 5 steel needles worked in individual patterns for each fishing village/community.  Rather morbidly, the patterning helped with identification; if a fisherman's body was found after an accident as sea, they could be returned to the village where they were from, all because of the design on the jumper they were wearing.

I have to say that at times I wondered if I would ever get the jumper finished, but I certainly did, even if it did take me right up until the final deadline.  In the final couple of weeks I spent so many hours knitting that my wrists were extremely sore.  I rested them by doing a lot more crochet!    

The finished jumper fitted lovely and was so comfortable to wear, but wasn't mine to keep.  I plan to get myself some wool and get a similar design on my needles soon.  I just have to decide on what colour to make.

Visiting the museum and seeing my work on display was a treat for me.  I visited the exhibition 3 times and felt proud to have been given the opportunity to knit one of the 10 regional Ganseys on show which had been knitted specially for the Hull Maritime Museum.

I also spent some time teaching jewellery classes, continued my journey with polymer clay and also learned rag-rugging and needle felting.  So all in all, I had a very crafty year which helped to prevent my sanity from leaving me completely!

What's in store for 2014? More crochet, more knitting, more polymer clay, more needle felting, more rag-rugging, more sewing and I am planning to re-visit quilting.  And of course, more frequent blogging!

Watch this space, another post coming soon.

Crafty hugs xxx