Fine china

In January of 2018, which is the middle of our Summer, we (my clan and I) house-sat for three weeks for some extended family members of a member of our extended family (if makes sense if given some thought!)

The home was on 100acres of land in a part of the world we'd never spent much time in, so, besides being a sort of "working holiday" (lots of animals and gardens to care for), it also gave us a chance to explore the surrounding region in a leisurely, off-the-beaten-track manner (not "Tommy-Touristy" where you generally only spend a few hours or days anywhere but also not in the nonchalant manner of those who reside in the area and, often, never check out any of their local attractions. I stand guilty of the latter, myself.)

We had the time of our lives; it was memorable and blissful and so revitalising.
Even mucking out the animal areas took on an aspect of enjoyment, even fun. We loved that holiday, every single moment :)

I'll post some photos of the holiday in a later post but, for now, I wanted to share a part of the holiday that I particularly (and peculiarly) found wonderful: Op. shops.

I love op. shopping.
A large part of my wardrobe consists of clothing found in second-hand establishments, as well as quite a portion of my yarn stash! I've also got paintings, ornaments, books and various other sundries from these little places of pre-loved goods.
But, during our house-sit holiday last January, my focus was on crockery; plates, to be precise. You see, the owners of the home we babysat had mismatched dinner plates.
I don't know if this came about due to natural attrition or whether they just liked an eclectic look when they sat the table but, once I got over the ingrained "everything should match" attitude, I began to really enjoy setting the table at mealtimes, thinking about who was going to get which plate this time around and which plate I wanted to use myself today/tonight.
By the end of the first week of our stay I was so enamoured of the mismatched crockery look that I decided to adopt this idea for our home; and so began the "Great Crockery Hunt" of 2018!

I browsed every op. shop I could find in every town we visited during our three-week sojourn and, thank you, Lord, I found some absolute treasures.

Let me introduce some of my favourite finds:

I'll never forget the day I bought this plate: It was a Saturday morning in a tiny rural town, so small that their op. shop only operated three days per week (Saturday being one of them, thankfully). The outside temperature was in the high 30s (Celsius, that is) and the temperature in the op. shop, an unlined, windowless shed, must have been pushing mid-40s (110+ Fahrenheit). I stood in line in sweltering, airless heat for about 5 minutes (only two ladies behind the counter and half of the district wanting to buy something that day, or so it seemed!), clutching my plate close to my heart before handing over a whole Aussie dollar for its purchase. I was ecstatic! 

I knew nothing about crockery manufacturers (still don't) but was happy to discover that my plate was made in England by a company called Alfred Meakin (one of my buying criteria was no mass-produced "Made in blah, blah, where everything seems to be made nowadays" plates, unless I really loved the pattern).

Then, a few days later, I came across some lovely saucers in a gift shop (in the same tiny, rural town), also made by Alfred Meakin. I bought the lot for about $5-$6 (can't remember the exact amount). I didn't need saucers but I loved the painting on them.

I also found a dinner plate made in Portugal in an op. shop in a bustling regional city; all white but I liked the idea of it being Portugese and so it made its way into my Great Crockery Hunt (GCH) stash. There were some other lovely finds, both in plates and saucers and, occasionally, bowls and cups (some of which, alas, have now gone on to crockery heaven) but I didn't want to bombard this post with umpteen pictures of plates so they will wait for another entry.

I do want to share this one last treasure, though.

Technically, it does not fit in the GCH category because I did not find this until after we'd returned home but I think it is worth sharing because I was still in "eclectic crockery" mode and when I saw this plate in a local op. shop I immediately clasped it to my heart (like my first one) and made it mine, after parting with the princely sum of $3. 

I love this plate; it is beautiful, possibly my absolute favourite plate (though sometimes I look at the other rose one, above, and hum and haah over that title). But, no, I think it's this one and it was not much of a surprise for me to discover it was another Alfred Meakin. 

Both dinner plates feature roses which, I've recently realised, I am drawn to when featured on crockery.

Rose is my name and china roses are my jam, it seems!

Seasonal cushion

My baby turned 18 earlier this week and, as a special surprise, I made him an Autumn/Winter cushion.

The Autumn side, with an Autumn-coloured background and leaves.

The Winter side, complete with raincloud :)

I love the colours and shapes of the various leaves.

I fastened the cushion cover with two buttons from my op. shop collection!

I can't wait for Autumn to arrive, it's my favourite season...

More waffle!

The green blanket is finished!

The pattern is a waffle stitch I followed from a Bella Coco tutorial and the border is my own concoction - a mix of treble moss stitch and double crochet (U.K. terms used).

I used Caron Cakes Tea Cakes, a mixture of acrylic and wool, in the colour Green Tea. All in all, just over four cakes' worth. This yarn is beautiful, soft and heavy, perfect for a rug.

I realised not long into the blanket that I'd made it too wide for a lap rug so I decided to turn it on the side; having done that I then had to make a rather large border to compensate for it being too short the other way (excuse me if that sounds like gobbledy-gook, it worked out in the end and that's what counts!).

Improvisation is the mother of crochet success 🌝

...complete with "label" ⛯

I like this pattern so much that I also used it to make a pram blanket for a friend's grandbaby.

(I don't bother blocking blankets, hence the uneven look. They're meant to be soft and squishy and uneven, in my opinion.)

A softer label for this one.

This blanket was made by rolling together six (yes, six!) balls of 4ply baby yarn, making for the softest, squishiest baby blanket ever! This would make a wonderful underlay for a baby's pram or cot, it's soft and thick and scrumptious. My whole clan scrunched it and loved the softness!

Honestly, the hardest part of this blanket was the actual winding of the yarn but, believe me, it was worth every moment as it was so easy to work with when it came to the actual crocheting part.

I thank the Lord for creativity, it has been so much more than just a hobby recently.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.    James 1:17 (KJV)

A "Green" day

No.1 son's birthday is not far away so I have decided to make him a blanket - my thought was shades of green but I checked with him first, just in case he preferred another colour. Turns out, green is his preference, too :)

So, I headed off to a yarn store this morning and bought four balls of Caron Tea Cakes in Green Tea, a rich, deep, variegated colour scheme, perfect for our young man, methinks.

This yarn is thick and soft and lovely with which to work (yes, started it already!) and I am very much looking forward to seeing the colour change as it progresses.

Big, soft, squishy balls of yarn - love 'em :)

Wonderful (and different) colour variations throughout each yarn ball.

The first few rows already done!

A close-up look at the pattern - the waffle stitch (courtesy of a Bella Coco youtube tutorial; she is a great teacher) The yarn calls for a 10mm hook and I'm using the Boye brand, one of my favourites.

As well as starting a green blanket I've also been stewing the first batch of home-grown rhubarb that I've ever harvested from my garden!

I planted the plants two years ago and, according to the gardening experts, it takes two years before they grow well enough to be harvested. I can vouch for that as last year there was not much growth, stalk-wise, but mostly foliage. 

My first crop of rhubarb

Bubbling away nicely :)

It's cooling at present but I'm already planning stewed rhubarb and custard for a special dessert treat this evening. 

Memories of childhood comfort food...

Trellis Stripes

I think I can confidently say that I love making crochet blankets because I've just finished the latest pattern and am already planning the next one!
My latest blanket is a design from the Attic 24 blog (found here: https://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/2019/01/sweet-pea-blanket-cal-part-1.html)

Lucy has created yet another gorgeous design, which she has named the Trellis Stripe, and when I saw it I was immediately smitten.
Lucy is doing hers as a CAL (short for Crochet-ALong) and is releasing it in parts. I chose the colourwash version and began it, only to discover that this version was designed to make a blanket 6ft long - too long for what I wanted. (Note to self: read the whole pattern before starting a project!).

So, I decided to modify the colourwash pattern slightly and here is the result:


[N.B. I put my comments under my photos, not above them. I see it done both ways on other blogs and sometimes get confused. Hope this helps from the outset :)]

My colour scheme, matched as closely as possible to Lucy's colours. I used Porta Craft acrylic 8 ply yarn as we don't have Stylecraft DK in my neck of the woods. I love the Porta Craft range; it's soft, good quality and reasonably priced, plus they're an Aussie company.

The finished blanket (with my woeful photo editing!). I love the colours.

A close-up of the Trellis Stripe pattern. So beautiful looking and yet quite an easy pattern. Lucy from Attic 24 is a clever, talented lady.

Folded up and looking super-soft and squishy (with the obligatory button "label"). I find most of my buttons at op. shops.

I couldn't resist squishing it up and letting it sit in a heap.

Another squishy heap, showing the delicious colours and the cute button!

One more photo - this time showing it draped over a chair. Gorgeous colours, gorgeous pattern; a joy and a pleasure to make. Thank you, Lucy.

Now, on to the next blanket.

Temperature Blanket

Last year, when I had not long picked up a crochet hook again (after many, many years away from it) I came across the idea of crocheting a Temperature Blanket, a blanket that recorded the daily maximum temperature of your area for a whole year.
Intrigued by the idea, yet daunted at the same time (never having tackled anything so large before), I decided to give it a go.

What a journey! 

I searched online for some suggestions, came up with my own temperature chart (which I amended several times), included rain days, stormy days and family birthdays, and started it in January 2018.

A year of crocheting a blanket, bit by bit, until, at last, I had a record of a year's worth of temperatures, all in one large, colourful palette.

Once the blanket was finished I turned to the border. I decided to do several rows of moss stitch (a.k.a. linen stitch) using some of the temperature chart colours. What a difference it made - I heartily recommend doing blanket borders :)

Now it sits on the bed, along with Fresnel and Emily (both given to me by wonderful friends).

Frezzy and Em have given it their seal of approval!

Finally, the finishing touch - my version of a "label" (usually adorned with a lighthouse sticker but this time I decided the button needed no further adornment).

I love how chunky and warm it looks when it is folded up (even though we are sweltering through some hot, Summer weather right now. Come the cooler months this is going to come into its own.)

I love the colours, I love the softness, I love the button - I love everything about it!

When I started this Temperature Blanket journey I felt a bit daunted but I am so glad I attempted something outside of my comfort zone. I can't remember where I first came across the idea but, hats off  and danke, merci, and thank you to the clever, unknown lady.

New Year, new beginnings.

Well, after six years I did not even realise this blog still existed until I did a cursory search - but, here it is and I even figured out how to access it again (not bad, considering my lack of tech-savviness).

Life has changed a lot in the past six years but it's nice to be able to revive this little corner of the internet, even if I'm the only one who ever reads my musings.

I intend to post a lot about crochet as I've rediscovered how wonderful it is after many, many years of not picking up a hook at all. When I figure out how to post photos I'll add them to my posts (just spotted the "insert image" button at the top so, hopefully, this will be relatively easy).

I will also post about lighthouses, my family, my faith and the beautiful town where I live.

For now, I'm going to try and end with a photo of one of my latest crochet projects (I'll share more about it in my next post).