About 4 years ago I started to spend a bit more time with mum and during one of my visits I went along to her church craft class. This was my first experience of crochet and although I was pretty rubbish I loved it, as they say, 'I was hooked'. I decided then that I wanted to learn to knit and crochet.
I vaguely remember having knitting lessons at primary school but that was a very long time ago so my first (most recent) attempt at knitting was a children's kit I bought from a bargain book store. It was very cheap and came with chunky wool, big needles and very simple instructions. It had everything I needed and hey presto, I had a knitted a scarf.
As a complete beginner I thought I needed to start from scratch. Although I am not keen to subscribe to magazines there was a new one out called Knit and Stitch which mainly covered knitting and crochet. Each week came with instructions and enough wool to complete 2 squares of a final blanket and cushion set. Off I went on my blanket journey. I still haven't finished all the squares (yet) as it is taking me some time to sew them all together. However, the magazines taught me so much from basic stitches to more complicated designs. It also included a stitch library and a 'how to' section which is great as a reference guide.
As I gained confidence and a love of crochet I started to search through the Internet and came across Lucy's wonderful Attic 24 blog. Her enthusiasm for crochet and colour is so infectious and I couldn't wait to have a go at some of her designs. First I made a Jolly Chunky Bag. I loved all the different bright stripy blankets and so embarked on the Granny Stripe blanket. I probably should have tried a small blanket for my first one but I got a bit carried away and so this one is huge, it is photographed next to a super king size bed (and Jess)!
I really wanted to try and have a go at making some baskets and after a lot of research decided that some thick t-shirt yarn was a great place to start. I don't remember following any kind of pattern but just made it up as I went along. After the round brown basket I had a go at a rectangular one. I also crocheted over some thick wire in the top round of light blue to try to give it some stability and shape. I added a little flower in an attempt to cover up the slanted row increase.
New Crafts
I love trying new crafts and this was my attempt at Tatting. Yes it sounds strange as, to us, Tat is a word used to describe cheap rubbish. I bought this Learn to Tat book which comes with a very handy DVD as it can be a fiddly craft to get started with. I didn't get through the whole book (it wasn't M's favourite DVD to watch!!) but I did manage this tiny butterfly. One day I'll get back to the DVD and try some more designs.
As a child I remember making latch wool rugs with mum, I think every room had a homemade rug in it. I found this gorgeous sunflower kit and just had to make it; once complete mum had to help me with the backing as I couldn't quite get it to sit right.
Last year, before we moved, I spent a delightful day with Emma from Silver Pebble where she taught us (a small group of 4) to make jewellery out of silver clay. It was such fun and yet another craft I would like to indulge more time in.
I'm hoping that in 2017 I will be able to have another go at trying to master some of these crafts and maybe even try something new.
No comments:
Post a Comment