This week in pictures...

Snapshots of the things that inspire me this week...

 The two blankets, finally blocked, packed and mailed off!

My circle of colours I got from my craft shop last weekend. I love that grey in the left of the picture and have a design in mind to use it for. Will let you know how that goes.

Scallop/Single Crochet border I designed myself for the baby blanket. And now, a word from our sponsors...

The blues, those lovely hues...

The purples, pinks and reds... like woolly flower beds...

The blacks, whites, and greys...for those oh-so somber days...

The jolly cheerful yellows, chasing away my sorrows...

The fine cottons in turquoise and gold, can't get enough of them, even if they're all sold...

A work in progress of deep purple yarn, the bit poking out is to cover my arm...

The sad little scrap waiting to be seen, brothers in arms, dull brown and bright green!

Sample square

Every once in a while, I come across a motif, design or element that's too good not to replicate. I found such a design last week.

I was browsing Ravelry, not really looking for anything specific, and I decided to search for anything made using the crocodile stitch. I turned up this gem of a square (designed by Joyce Lewis), that's going to be used in a future blanket project.

It took me about 10minutes to finish, and the key is to follow the instructions strictly. Fortunately, they are detailed and clear enough that you can't possibly go wrong once you get into the rhythm of the thing.

Anyway, enough blather...may I present, the crocheted Crocodile Dahlia Square!

Drum roll, please...

 

I love how its raised up from the square. I wanted it to look like a fat, flat flower on a bed of grass, so I went with white for the center, pink crocodile stitch petals, and the green for the backing square.

I love it!

Baby set complete

Finally finished another darling little baby set for my dear friend.

Here it is...

Shades of brown, to match the first blanket.

I made a hat, booties (my own design), and a blanket. I will share the booties pattern as soon as its been written down, tested and all the kinks worked out. I promise.

Cell phone jacket

I've wanted to do something in white, red and black for some time, but I wasn't sure how it would turn out, so I decided to make something small to start.

I settled on cell phone jackets. Small and functional! After I made the first one, I got so many compliments I decided to make another.

Materials:

• Scrap yarn (any colours)
• Hook size to fit yarn (I used my trusty 3.5mm and a 2.00mm for the flower decoration)
• Decorations (I used beads that came off a yoked top someone bought me)
• Sewing thread and needle (to attach your decoration)
• Buttons (I used a button and loop closure to close my phone jacket, but again, this is entirely up to you)

 I made this cell phone cozy over the weekend with a few scraps of wool I had lying around. The how to can be found here, and you can tweak the pattern to suit your own tastes.

Back view of the finished jackets. The red was my first, so I was still learning, but the white just had to have a little extra something, so I crocheted a simple circle in black, followed by a round of 2sc in each st around, sl st to join, and used a button to sew over the center.

 Forgive my dodgy camera skills...

Front view of the jackets, showing the decorations I made. For the red, I crocheted a small flower with gold embroidery floss and used a big black bead as the flower center. I also sewed on a smaller circular bead close to the top of the jacket.

For the white jacket, I staggered squared beads down the front for a sort of "ladder" effect, which I didn't like at first, but has now grown on me.

 I had some flat black beads lying around from a beaded top someone gave me (the ones with the beaded necklines that usually have replacement beads sewn into the lining).

How I spent my weekend

I am very excited today to be sharing all the wonderful things that have recently come into my life.

All the things I've done, made, bought, and enjoyed.

I had a long weekend, made even longer by the fact that I sustained an injury (I fell on my side getting out of the shower, how daft can you be?). all that time on my back weighed heavily on my mind as I tried to stave off madness by crocheting.

So here's a picture story rundown of my weekend, in all its busyness...

I went to a garage sale on Saturday, here in Abuja. In the hallway of the flat I was heading to, I came upon this gorgeous little mosaic. I think it would be beautiful as a blanket? Maybe using tiny granny squares in a  join-as-you-go method?

Later I met some phenomenal young people filming a reality show called "Roc Da Mic". My friend's firm is sponsoring, and we got to sit in on one of their taping sessions, where I fell in love with this incredibly detailed mural.

My thrifted Ikea bowl from the garage sale. It cost me about $5, and from what this site says, I'd have bought it for $15 brand new!

The bargain bowl!

Also thrifted from the sale were these books. One, an Aussie joke book with brilliant one-liners (e.g. he has an educated palate...too bad the rest of his head never finished school), and the other a Steinbeck. I promised myself this year that I would take the time to read all the literary greats. I've slogged my way through Moby Dick, Dorian Gray, and the first 10 pages of Tess of the D'urbervilles!

I am mad for books. Don't care who the author is, I'll read it. I'm a glutton for the printed word. You can keep your ebooks, your Kindles, Mobipockets and pdf's. Nothing beats a good, thick book in your right hand, and a hot cup of lemon tea in your left on a slow weekend!

I had a "domestic accident" on Sunday as I was getting ready for church. I fell on my side in the shower. Actually, it was as I was getting out of the shower that I fell. Loudly and painfully. So I had to lie prone for most of Sunday and Monday, and my sole companion was my Slinky.

My little, bouncy, cheerful rainbow coloured Slinky.

Can I share a secret?

Unless you're a big fan of all things monotonous, when you've slunk a Slinky for about 5 minutes, you start to wonder why the hell you bought the thing in the first place?

And that is an ugly, ugly place for your mind- for anyone's mind- to go to. I pray you're never lonely enough to spend your time slinking a Slinky.

God forgive me, I loathe that Slinky!

And that's how I spent my weekend.