September Already

Well, that was the summer holidays...  I don't know where they went.  Back to school we go!  Actually, I like the routine of termtime.  I'll have had enough of it by about November (September 14th), but after the summer hols, it's a bit of a relief.

I have not been entirely idle, although my study is still full of rubbish.  Slightly less full than before, having cleared the surface of the desk and filled the recycling bin with paper, but the shelves are still untouched.  Between outings, I've been crocheting like a maniac, always with two or three projects on the go.  Here are my creations!

Another little Folky Bird.  The wings are outlined with pearly beads and it's got heart-shaped shell button eyes.  I'm thinking that these might make good Christmas tree ornaments.  I might make some more for the shop for the season of joy and jingle bells.

Hoot Hats!  Daddy Owl, Mummy Owl, and Baby Owl.  A lady setting up a new shop in Lincoln got in touch with me through Folksy expressing interest in hats like the one currently on my shop.  These new ones are actually much better because they're in a nice cotton Rowan yarn and they're lined with the cotton jersey in the next picture.  Cuteness! 

Using my ironing board again for cutting out fabric.  It's just the best way to do this!  I use it for wrapping presents too.  Top tip!

Now, a senior moment.  The Hippoo hiding in the tissue paper isn't terminally shy, I just forgot to photograph it before wrapping.  *is idiot*  It's a very pretty Hippoo, made as a present for a friend who's having a baby.  Not sure what kind of baby, so I used a lilac shade of Baby Cotton Kapok and made little white hearts to go on the side.  I wish I'd taken a picture, because it was very pretty.  The next picture shows the yarn and the very first stage of making.  *rolls eyes at forgetfulness* 

And the major project of the summer - a gorgeous flowered cushion cover!  I worked out a pattern for a rosette square and picked some pretty colours in Patons 100% Cotton 4ply.  There was quite a lot of experimenting, and I originally thought of making the squares into a bag.  Much better as a cushion cover, though, I think.

The back's in plain white granny squares.  I had wanted to do a single large granny square to cover the whole back, but I cannot do one that doesn't swirl round.  More experimenting necessary.  I'm obviously doing something wrong...

The cushion cover has a plain white cotton pillow-case style liner, and the crochet cover slips over, closing with five little ribbon ties.  Sweet!

More pictures of this in progress are available on my Flickr photostream - just click on the badge in the sidebar.  The cushion cover and the Folky Bird will also be going onto my Folksy shop later on this week.

 And now for something completely different...

If anyone's interested in encouraging wildlife in the garden, this is a fabulous plant - a Monarda or Bergamot.  We put it in last year when we redeveloped a border, and it's been brilliant!  The most amazing flowers, and every time I look at it, there are at least a dozen bees on it.  They adore it!  The picture above was taken in June or July, I think, and the one below was taken this morning.  Still flowering away, although it's going over a bit, and the bees are still in love with it. 

Okay, I must go and get on with things, and I must resolve not to neglect my blog during termtime as much as I have over the summer.  More updates soon, I hope!

Waste of Money

Yesterday...

And today...

It's just not worth spending money on beds for cats. They're as happy with a filthy box or bucket in the greenhouse.

Happy Herbert

I've been surprisingly uncommunicative during the summer holidays. You'd think with the extra time I'd be blogging all the time. I don't even have the excuse of kids!

I do however have cats. Herbie's getting on a bit so we bought him a new bed to encourage him in on these colder nights. He's a happy boy...

Small room, big job

This is my study.  Bit of a grand name for what is essentially the box room, but it's mine, and full of my stuff.  That's the problem, really.  It needs sorting out during the summer holidays, so that I've got room to work, practise and store my crochetings.

Here it is, already with one big improvement made.  The set of plastic drawers is a recent addition to house the stock for my Folksy shop, to keep it all safe and clean and tidy, instead of keeping it in bags, piled in heaps on the floor.  You may get a sense of how stuffed this room is already.

Enormous typing chair!  That's gone now, replaced by a much smaller but equally comfy chair.  The room feels twice as big already!  The massive desk is staying.  I am firm on that matter.  I used to have a huge, old-fashioned office desk when I was a teenager - one of those wooden ones with the big stacks of drawers either side of the knee-hole.  I miss it, and in the absence of something ancient and wooden, I'll make do with this modern job from Staples.

The music stand is a permanent fixture.  It doesn't take up much room, and it means I can sit on the chair and do a bit of practice.

One set of shelves, filled to overflowing.  It's going to need everything pulling out and rationalising.  I'm sure I don't need all of those things.  I don't even know what's in half the boxes!  That's a mandola on top of the stack - like a mandolin, but bigger.

Down the side of the desk, where the tower unit of the computer is intended to sit, I managed to slot the cases for my viola and violin.  It'll be a nuisance if I need to get them out regularly, but I'm not using either instrument for teaching at the moment, so it should be okay for a while.

On top of the other set of shelves, a lute and a bunch of empty files.  What can I say - I may need them...

And look what I got from one of my pupils at the end of term!  So sweet!  

Those old OU books are going to have to go away.  I did two undergraduate courses, just to get in practice, and I'm starting a Masters in January, so I'll need to create room.  I won't get rid of these books altogether, of course.  They'll go in the attic.  It takes a crowbar to separate me from my books permanently.

Yes, the rest of the shelves, and two guitars propped against the wall.  Just out of sight behind the chair is a mandolin.  Those two shelves, at the top and bottom of the picture, are jam-packed full of music books.  One can never have too many music books, no?

Another guitar, tucked into the space between the shelves and the corner.

My violin and viola, safely hung up on the walls with their bows.

The new drawers, and behind them, all the bags the crochetings used to be in.

A drawer of teddies, bunnies and danglies.

A small herd of hippoos.

Hats and bags.

And in the kneehole of the desk, the 4kg bag of stuffing that I mistakenly ordered to stuff a few bits and pieces when I started making teddies.  4kg of stuffing is actually quite big...

And on the patio, is that a nice new patterned cushion in the box for my new chair?

No, it's the obligatory cat that seems to find its way into every box that's opened in this house!  (He stayed in this box on the patio through a ferocious rainstorm.  *rolls eyes*)

I know this isn't the most interesting thing to be documenting, but it motivates me.  If I can see where I've come from with this, then I'll feel really good when the room's organised and tidy.

Now.  I'm watching Spooks.  I'd forgotten how good that was!  Definitely worth digging out the old series.

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Major Project (and a big decision)

I'm in the process of tidying my study this summer.  It is a Major Project.  I've been taking pictures, and I'll post some when I've got them loaded on the computer.

The big decision is that I really want a Caroline Rose print for my birthday.  The trouble is, narrowing it down to just one... See here *sighs*

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More creations!

 I sold quite a lot of corsages and brooches over the last couple of weeks, so I set to making a few more things to put on my Folksy shop.  Most of the brooches sold seem to have been gifts for teachers.  I like that!  (Being a teacher myself...)

So, a few more corsages.  They look more like rosettes now I've added the fabric and ribbons to them.  Maybe I'll call them rosettes.  Fairly flat, which is a good thing.  It's much cheaper to post things that will go through the 'large letter' hole at the post office.  Talking about cheaper, I got all these lovely bits of ribbon off price tags on clothes!  Clothes I bought, I add hastily - I don't go round stealing price labels and their ribbons.  But these little scraps of ribbon are far too pretty to throw away.

And the Folky Bird I'd started making.  I've got this red Rowan Handknit Cotton, plus some cream and beige Rowan Pima Cotton that just look gorgeous together, so I think some little Folky-style decorations will be just right for that.

A Folky Heart, using the same yarns, and a line of buttons to neaten up the row of increase/decrease stitches.

The other side has a contrast row, whereas the first side just has a stitched outline.  

And a colourful Hippoo!  The weather's been so depressing that I got all that lovely colourful yarn out that I had left from the Technicolour Dreambag and started making a matching Hippoo.

I did finish off another Hippoo last night, but I don't have any pics of that one yet.  She's in candy shades of Sublime Baby Cotton Kapok - very pretty, and feels super-soft.  I'm planning to make another one for a friend who's having a baby.  She doesn't know what kind yet, so I'm going to use some lilac Cotton Kapok and do a white heart on either side

There are a few part-finished projects on my stash box right now.  A couple more rosettes in different colours and another Folky Bird.  I did three more rows on a bag I've been making last night too.  Listening to the Proms concert, crocheting and reading Dracula, all at the same time!  I've never read Dracula all the way through before.  It's really good!  Not sure I can say the same about the Boulez piece at the Proms concert.  I tried, but it still sounded like a lot of people playing a lot of different unrelated notes.  Give me the Beethoven and I'll go to do the washing-up during the Boulez, I think.  (They're doing all nine Beethoven symphonies in a run of five concerts, but they've paired them all with Boulez pieces.  Odd choice, but maybe I'm missing something.)

There will be pics of Candystripe Hippoo soon, along with Folky Bird 2 and the new rosettes, and the items I've pictured here will soon be up on Folksy.  There are three more days of term left, but as far as I'm concerned, I'm on holiday now!  All my actual teaching has finished, and all I've got to do is a bit of paperwork and a couple of meetings.  The thing I'm looking forward to most this holiday?  Some nice weather to do some crochet outdoors, and being able to have a nap every afternoon.  I'm easily pleased.  :-)

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New Hippoos!

Having sent off Petunia and Hugo to sunny Formby, to display themselves at China Butterfly,I set to with my hook to restock with hippoos.  No home is complete without a little herd of hippoos, after all!

Introducing Rosalie and Mudbath Mungo!

Rosalie is a tiny hippoo, made with Rowan's Fine Lace yarn and a 2.5mm hook.  Very fiddly, but I do like working with fine yarn, and it feels lovely!  I just wanted to stroke the ball of yarn.

Mungo is a bigger boy, made with Rowan's Pima Cotton and a 4mm hook.  He loves his mudbaths, like hippoos do, and he still has a big splotch of mud on his side and a serious tidemark from his last mudbath!

More colourful hippoos on the way.  Rainbow Hippoo!  It looks so pretty with all those colours I used on the Technicolour Dreambag, but there's one hell of a lot of ends to sew in!

And here is a batch of pretty yarn I've just received from Black Sheep Wools.  You might see that there are a couple of balls missing.  That's because they're in my car, gradually working into a candystripe hippoo in my lunchbreaks.  Can't stop the crochet!

And another experiment, after the Bluebird Dangly worked out so well.  I'm not too sure whether this looks like a Christmas tree ornament.  It was meant to look quite folky, but maybe I should make a bunch of these to sell for Christmas?  I'm planning to outline the wings with little pearly beads and add a little hanging cord in  a lovely beige yarn  (the same colour as Mungo's tidemark, in fact!).  The heart you can just see is going to get a second side, get stuffed and decorated before getting a hanging string.

Mungo and Rosalie will make their debut on Little Lovely Stuff on Folksy later on, when I get back from work.  I was hoping to have a free afternoon today, due to one of my schools having a sports day, but the Great British Summer has prevailed and the sports day has been cancelled.  No free afternoon for Ali.  :-(  Ah well, it keeps me out of mischief...

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