sharp

For many days now the creative side of me has been hibernating. None of the usual prompts are helping, so it seems I just have to endure this used-teabag feeling until it dissipates all by itself.

I have managed to do one thing, however, which frankly hasn’t required much in the way of creativity but at least my hands haven’t been idle. I recently ordered a Sharp crochet hook and very happy I am with it. For ages I’d been wanting to be able to crochet directly into the edge of blouses and blankets and cushions, and fiddled around with chain stitches and needles and all kinds of things before finally finding this little treasure.

I have edged some polar fleece blankets and two infinity scarves that definitely have potential:

 

The black stripey one has a shell edging in a silky yarn (I have no idea what I used, the label got lost) and I used Vinni’s dk cotton Nikkim for the paisley one in shocking pink. I quite like the little pyramid things but they were fiddly.

To be continued…(hopefully sooner rather than later)

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a year on

Today is my bloggy birthday.

I’m quite pleased with myself – I’ve been pretty good over the years at not finishing what I start (from small things like knitting projects to bigger things like marriage and writing a novel). Usually, I start second-guessing: as in, This jersey doesn’t feel like it’s the right size, rip it out, or I don’t like all the chainy things in this pattern, chuck it in the bin, or This concept isn’t working and you can’t write anyway, no-one will read this crap… I need to stop that. I need to FINISH WHAT I START, even if that requires switching off the self-criticism and putting my doubts on hold.

So, a year of maintaining something that requires regular input and thought and effort is something to be proud of, for me. Meeting all of you and being inspired in return is a huge bonus.

I guess I should announce a give-away to celebrate, like all the generous crafty bloggers do, and I will – but not today. Today I am going to finish allowing my back to recover, and if that means spending it lounging on my bed in pyjamas being served peeled grapes by a virile young Argentinian in a leather crocheted thong with Nickelback’s latest cd in the background, then I must just accept that gracefully.

To be continued…

I <3 Tulbagh

I took an impulsive, unscheduled break in beautiful Tulbagh this week. I am home now, but I think I left part of my soul behind.

This is what I found there:

1. A wonderful friend with a wonderful cottage in the middle of nowhere, a sleeper couch, peace and quiet.

2. A lot of cows. Early in the morning, this one didn’t seem to want to have her photo taken. But I was intrepid.

I felt like a genuine wildlife photographer getting this shot. I’d silently tracked her a good 10 metres along the garden fence, and was rewarded by this split-second itch-scratch.

3. Apparently I was being tracked myself. Mia kept a beady eye on me from the roof.

4. A thousand mountains.

(Don’t worry, I won’t show you them all).

5. A little girl called Lila-Raine, for whom I made a quick headband:

 

6. A peacock who, with a display like this, must have mistaken me for a peahen. I was flattered.

7.  Garden creatures that had my heart stopping with horror when I first laid eyes on them. Tina assured me they were grasshoppers, but they looked like prehistoric human eyeball-suckers to me.  I kept my car windows tightly wound up at all times for fear that one of these things would fly or jump inside my car.

8. An amazingly gorgeous shop that belongs to Susan, Tina’s sister, in new premises in Buitenkant Street. More about the Marmalade Angel tomorrow.

Now you see why I didn’t want to come home.

To be continued…

Bowled over

Today I intend to:
1. Hang up my washing in the sun and not leave it in the machine for another 24 hours
2. Include lettuce, tomatoes, spinach, apples, sunflower seeds and other colon-friendly and bone-building foods in my diet
3. Make Alex’s bedroom good and tidy
4. Not pull rude signs at taxi drivers on the road even though they all deserve every rude sign they get
5. Visit Doreen and tell her how grateful I am to have found her
6. Drink coffee out of my new button mug that doesn’t really have buttons but just looked like it did when I bought it

7. Not allow myself to get stressed over silly small things
8. Get to the post office and send things overseas to lovely people
9. Update my blogroll (DONE) – yay (see right)
10. Shave my legs (winter is over so I can no longer justify needing the extra warmth)
11. Post photos of my most recent crochet efforts:

Yes, they are bowls. I proudly showed the first one to Rob the other night: he tore his gaze from his laptop screen for a second, glanced at my offering, said blankly, “Oh. Nice. What does it do?”, and went back to news24. Pearls, I tell you, pearls.

To be continued…

Just some random thoughts

Sometimes I wonder if I don’t have some kind of late-onset attention deficit disorder. I seem to live my life by lurching from one thing to another (chores, projects, errands, rest periods, etc) in a haphazard and sometimes frenetically erratic series of moments. I can be halfway through writing a post when I suddenly leap up to check whether I have red 4-ply wool for a shawl I was thinking about making the other day, from a pattern I got from Janet. Wandering from the lounge to the kitchen to look for a ruler to measure a photo frame that I’m taking pics of to list on Etsy, I will start on the dirty dishes to be done, then rush back to my bedroom to check on a quote that I can’t get out of my head in a book by Rachel Cusk because I think I left it next to my bed, and en route find myself glueing bits of mirror onto a Number One for a new mosaic order.
Can this go on? Can I help it? Does this swiss-cheese method of activity work to my advantage, or am I at the mercy of an inability to concentrate on any single thing for longer than 60 seconds? Sometimes I