Hand made Christmas Challenge......

I noticed this challenge on Knicky Knacks blog recently, and thought I'd by up for a bit of handmade Christmas action, so I'm joining in this week, I have made presents before for people, with mixed results ( I made a bag for someone once,(who shall remain nameless), only to have the same bag regifted back to me 2 years later! There was a nice bottle of wine in it, so I guess I did alright out of it, but I don't think she thought much of my bag pressie!! boo hoo.)
Having said that... I'm going to have another go this year and try and make a few pressies and support other handmakers.

I made these little washers for a swap I'm taking part in, and thought they might make a nice little pressie with a bit of interesting soap or something along those lines. Maybe for the kids teachers.
Please tell me if I'm deluding myself and they scream hokey homemade crap! I think they are cute and a little bit retro, and I have a few other gorgeous colours to try them in, I like the little granny inspired edge the best I think.
Anyway, I found the pattern by googling "washer patterns crochet'' ( I think), sorry can't remember the exact site, but the pattern is called 'Crochet Dandy Dishcloths' (cool name don't you think).
I hope my swap partner likes them.

Check out what other people are up to in the Homemade Christmas Challenge here

my creative space #4....

This is where I'm at today - extra rounds on the grannies.........

....enjoying all the colour combos...... changing the pattern order .......generally having a play.

Oh, and also serious crochet business happening for the Spring washer swap, colours chosen and pattern started, time for a cute little colourful border, I hope it works out!
Also a question - do you need to block cotton crochet, does it look better if you do, and if so, what is the best method? Still learning, quite obvious I'm sure!

Thanks for dropping by, there are plenty of inspiring creative places to be found at Kirsty's place!

Spring swap!

I have signed up for Jellywares Spring Washer Swap, and have recently received my partners details, so I had better get cracking on a couple of washers! I made an attempt last night, but somehow my 31 stitches grew to 42 by the time I had done the required number of rows! I am still pretty new to crochet, and crocheting a piece of fabric is quite different to doing a granny square.
Soooooo.... I started again, and I'm keeping a close eye on the stitch count this time! Seems to be going ok so far. Maybe I'll knit a couple instead, I'm much more confident in my knitting ability!!

It should be fun to post off my little parcel, I haven't been in a swap before so I hope It works out alright! I'll try and have a photo tomorrow.

Have a great day!

at my house....

We had a great weekend, went to a great party (thanks Nikki!) on Saturday night ( child free) and ate, drank and made merry!!!!( plenty of bad disco dancing and what I like to call"social singing"!!) Woke up Sunday morning, after a VERY windy, rainy night to find this tree has been uprooted from our nature strip and fallen through the fence. Made a bit of a hole in the fence , but luckily didn't take out the power or phone lines.

We went down to Geelong to see Gary's dad for fathers day, so I managed to get a heap of crocheting done in the car and while we were chatting after lunch. Jack showed us some great home movies of when the boys were babies and toddlers, I had forgotten how cute they were!
Andre thought my hair looked like a boys (it was very short, and I have to agree, not very attractive!) and thought I should travel back in time and change it! If only it was that easy!!

This week looks pretty standard - lots of busy kids activites, ortho appointments, sport, work and other stuff. We have a bye in tennis tonight so I've invited mum and dad for dinner, I am roasting a shoulder of pork that I got from Fernleigh Farm a while ago. They grow and sell rare breed free range pork, so I'll be interested to see if it tastes different to conventional pork.

One special thing this week - Friday night I'm off to the city to see one of my fav bands, Powderfinger, on their goodbye tour (boo hoo!) I Can't Wait!!!! Great live music and a night out, it doesn't get much better than that!

Have a great week!

Bits and pieces.....

I thought the garden was looking really nice the other day when we had a break in the rain, so I just had to take a photo! The grass is in desperate need of a mow but we will have to wait for it to dry out a bit. Can't wait to get stuck into the garden and plant out a heap of spring/summer vegies, just need a few more hours in the day!

I found a gorgeous new yarn shop yesterday (new to me anyway!), in Mt Eliza, (I was so excited I forgot to see what it was called -duh!) they had lots of beautiful bright colours and a fantastic selection of coloured cotton yarn, something I want to use more often. I was looking for a specific colour wool that I had run out of and they had it, so I bought a few balls (and I couldn't resist quite a few others as well!). I want to make a multicoloured granny inspired by the lush pastel shades of the 1950's and sixties - watermelon, deep mint green, pastel aqua, lemony yellow, limey green, peachy pink, maybe a few others. I know the shades I want, I just have to find them, and I think I found a good aqua, green and watermelon yesterday, so I was happy!

I made some more little flowers in a multicoloured 4ply with a solid colour centre. I think they turned out pretty cute! What do you think?

Have a great day,happy creating!

my creative space #3....

Slowly the pile grows, turning rounds into squares.
My creative space was the kitchen table today!

Flower power!

Yah! Spring is finally here, hoping for some warmer weather coming our way. I have been a bit preoccupied with making some cute little flowers, they are quite addictive! I've used a few different patterns and yarns, Lucy at Attic 24's flowers are below, and above is a simple flower I found at About mo and Me. They are so bright and colourful and quick to make! My sister is turning some into hairclips for my nieces, and I want a whole heap for the beautiful flowery garland on Mo and Me 's blog, it is just gorgeous!

These are pretty small as I made them on a tiny 2mm hook with 4ply wool so they would be nice and firm, I don't like them too 'gappy' and floppy. The pale pink cotton one is a bit too floppy and open for my liking, but I'm sure if I made a few in different colours they would look great all together, I have some other nice shades in this cotton, so will have a go. I'm not sure if I like working in cotton, it's something I'm going to have to get used to I think.

Happy Spring crocheting everyone!