Bikinis and hot water bottles

Odd combination, I know (but I told you, we have funny weather in Cape Town!)

First off, I’m experimenting with patterns for crochet bikini tops (and bottoms, eventually). The free pattern for this is here.

This is how far I’ve got, still on the first cup but it’s going quite quickly.

I’m using Vinni’s cotton Nikkim and a 3mm hook, but I might switch to a thinner cotton and a smaller hook – the size I’m doing says A cup, but this is starting to look more like a C to me.  And of course when it’s finished I will need a model… any takers?- because it sure as hell isn’t going to be me!!!

I also bought a pattern off Etsy last night, where the top is worked in rows across instead of up and around, if you know what I mean. It’s good to keep abreast of these things, I think.  One doesn’t want to be a boob.

Last week I found some mini hot water bottles on one of my trips through the craft/DIY wholesalers, and Anne decided to rise to the challenge. Here are her two first attempts at crocheted covers, which I think are awesome:

  

These will be on sale from Jam Tarts at the next market we attend, which is this coming Saturday 17 November at St Stephens Church in Pinelands. (This Saturday?! argh… why do we do this to ourselves???)

To be continued….

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House slippers

I bought this pattern from Mamachee on Etsy the other day: Oma House Slippers, and am loving it.

I made a pair in thick cream cotton for Alison’s birthday, and this pair below in a sort of soft tubing in teal for Issy’s birthday yesterday, and the pair in Shetland Chunky in blue is for a friend who is flying back to her home in California today. I thought they would be perfect for wearing on a plane, when you need to be as comfy as possible.

I also wanted to make my own yarn from t-shirt fabric, which is what that blue stuff is above, with pictures of horses on it. I found the tutorial here: Polka Dot Pineapple. It felt like such a mission to make it and then to only end up with two small balls, but it’s obviously a very cost-effective material for slippers. And I plan to make a million more. Unfortunately that won’t be today – I have woken up with a very sore throat and ear and headache, so this is the sound of me shuffling back to my bed right now…pad pad pad.

To be continued…

Spring is here!

Just a couple of oddments from me today, nothing like my usual creative focus or intellectual challenge. hahahaha

First off, spring has reached Cape Town! It’s time to unearth my cotton blouses and sleeveless waistcoats:

Second, here is a mirror I made for a certain important person in my life. His reception area is very dull and bleak, and I thought this would cheer things up.

(and you try and take a photo of a mirror without getting your reflection in it!)

Third, thanks to G-Ma Ellen, I discovered this divine crochet pattern for slippers from Mamachee on Etsy:

Fell in love with, ordered, paid, and downloaded! How spectacular is this super-speed techno world of ours! Turns out I have no 6.5mm hook in my tools, so I’m off to Simply Stitches in Pinelands just now. As soon as I finish this post. Oh, and shower and dress.

Finally, get yourselves on over to the Woolhogs Made-It Challenge – the prize for October has been donated by the lovely Rainbow Junkie in the UK. You don’t have to make anything knitted or crocheted, it can be baked, stitched, modelled, painted….the world is your banana. And no, I have no idea what made me write that. Sometimes I’m just silly.

To be continued…

Yesterday, today and Tamara

Funny how sometimes a person can get right inside your head, even if you’ve never met them (even if they aren’t actually real, like a character from a novel). That has happened to me with some of the friends I’ve made through blogging, one of whom is Tamara from Crochet with Tamara.

I have a beautiful bag that I purchased from her earlier this year, it is hanging on my wall in my bedroom where it is a source of inspiration to me.  One day, when I’m ready,  I’ll take it off the hook and use it, but not just yet.

I have a couple of garments in my wardrobe, waiting for me to have a Tamara moment and renovate them into the kind of funky and striking clothes that I know they can be. You know, for my funky image!!! ha

I also love Tamara’s shoulder sack “purse” (what we call a “bag”), and she’s posted a couple of photos of ones she has made recently.  There is something about the shape of the bag that appeals to me, so she kindly shared her pattern and I made one myself. Not the greatest crochet success, as it happens, because I got the bottom a bit wonky and may also have decreased more on one side of the strap than the other. But, hey, I finished it, right!?

  

And what’s a bag without a flower?

Now it just needs a lining, but that’s for future Jill.

To be continued…

Weekend in review

Yikes, it’s Monday already.  I hope you all had a great weekend.  I had an averagely productive one.  Could have done more but, hey, what’s a weekend without a couple of afternoon naps in it, right?

Got started on a new set of mosaic crucifixes (jigsawed by Rob):

       

Came close to finishing the shoulder sack that Tamara kindly sent me the pattern for:

Crocheted a shawl for Rabbit, with flower by Doreen:

And even got my hands dirty in the garden, filling a couple of black bags with weeds and getting some cuttings ready to pot up and give as a gift to an ex-colleague with a new garden:

Right, that’s that.  New week – new list.

To be continued…