Learning...

New stitches with more texture than my normal single crochet. The boredom of the eggs has spurred me on to try something new. I have a great book of stitches on my Kindle, which is where these came from. They are Angle stitch, Popcorn lines stitch and Popping circles stitch. All pretty easy to do. The popcorn one will make a good bath mat for the cardboard dolls house that has sat on our kitchen table gradually filling with dolls and other bits and pieces, but otherwise untouched. I might make some new bunting for my classroom with my stitch swatches. Good for texture talk. ( one of the many things children are required to be able to do to jump through the hoops of the current curriculum.) I might write a new curriculum called 'Teaching and Learning Through Crochet' !

Project Lionheart

Amazing! Shauna Richardson is the artist who made these. In the video below it details how and why. So impressive, and an absolute marathon of crocheting! Right, back to that scarf...

Octobowl

My latest crochet creation-meet Octobowl! He is an octopus and a bowl combined, and because this is just what everyone needs, he is in my new Etsy shop, The Tangled Stitch. Yes, now I have three. It seems I can't stop opening them! I am determined to stock this one more than the other two though. Hmmm, we'll see! I am pleased with the way he turned out. It took ages making all his little legs and I had a bit of trouble at first trying to get them balanced so he would stand.

Finishing him was my reward after two very early starts, and lots of work. Termly planning and reports for this term are done, only weekly planning, phonics assessment analysing, post its and lots of laminating to go!

Off to finish another crochet item now, and have a cup of tea. I hope your week is going well, whatever you are up to.

Songs, Sketches and Stitches

"We would be warm, below the storm
In our little hideaway beneath the waves."

What a lovely thought, to be in an octopus's garden, in the shade. My octopus is out of the sea and enjoying the tulips.

When I sewed him together, my main concern was fitting all of his eight chubby legs around his little body. The exciting side-effect of his fat legs is that he stands up. He looks more like one of those enormous alien like squid with giant eyes. A creature I would love to see-though at a safe distance-maybe from my yellow submarine!

Cassie requests that you tip toe, as she is fast asleep.Aren't they lovely? PPA this afternoon, and had to go to the shops on the way home, and couldn't resist them!We had an inset day on Friday-which nursery somehow were not included in at all-which gave us a day to really get going with the packing. We have done almost all of one of our big cupboards. There were a few finds of things that have been in there a long time. Some were thrown away, some kept, and some rehomed by me-a metal dentist's tool (too dangerous for play, but perfect to add to my clay tools), a horseshoe, two giant pinecones (from a large box of them) and two lovely blank paper sample books-donated by our lunchtime supervisor ten years ago apparently. I am afraid the children have been deprived, and I have brought them home to use as sketchbooks. They have glossy paper which I thought would be good for drawing with pen. It turns out it is also good for watercolours.Sometimes, I feel like I am playing 'artist'-like I feel as if I am playing 'house' when I put a vase of flowers on the table. A double whammy today then! My bowl of satsumas.My beach finds from Saturday-flint comes in such a variety of shapes and subtle variations of colour.

Cosy Weekend

Lily is summing up how I feel today-like staying in and being cosy as it is cold and wet outside. I was working on my blanket this morning and she wanted some lap time, so we combined the two and she ended up cocooned in colours. Now all three cats are cosied up on the bed and I have been pottering around, watching films and making a cake. I made a banana cake the other night-following a different recipe than normal. It had the addition of yoghurt. I didn't have any plain yoghurt so used a pot of Activia strawberry yoghurt. It has made a tasty cake even better!
Today I made a pound cake. I have not tasted that yet, but am waiting for Andy to come home-he has been to see his Mum this weekend. I also discovered a delicious brand of chai tea. I love Starbuck's chai tea latte, and have been searching for a teabag that tastes like it. All the types I have tried have been disappointing, until this weekend when I discovered Natco's.
I have made it in two ways-first by brewing the teabag and heating up and frothing milk, then adding a sugar, second by heating the milk and sugar with the teabag, frothing this and then topping up with boiling water. The first way was good but the second was delicious and had that spicy kick. Better than Starbuck's!
In addition to 'Seraphine' which I watched last night and loved, I have watched 'Enid' today-about Enid Blyton. Quite depressing really-if the film is accurate then she was a person who had a sad childhood which seemed to damage her and make her almost retreat into her world of stories, needing the affirmation of her child fans or 'friends' as she called them, and not be able to be as loving as she could be to her own children. I enjoyed it though-mainly because of Helena Bonham-Carter who I really like. Now I am watching 'Pride and Prejudice'-the Kiera Knightley one as opposed to the BBC one. It is good but the BBC version created the characters so perfectly, that they are forever etched in my mind, and the people in this film are like imposters. Though the actor playing Mr Collins is just as funny as the actor in the other version. Judy Dench is also very good.

Small Socks

Tiny Tottenham Hotspurs home strip socks. I have made them for a friend who wants them for some kind of demonstration-I am not exactly sure what. He was talking about it in the pub and I said that I could make some finger socks so I have. I had to think a bit about how to turn the corner to make the heel but worked out a method-I just went back and forth for half the circle for four rows then joined it together again. They are resting on my ever lengthening stripey blanket. I have been making more monsters this week so the blanket has been left alone. I can't wait to finish it!
Tonight I have started six dolls for storytelling next week. If I get them finished I will show you on Sunday. I am very excited about them! I am really looking forward to the decorating and finishing after all the body and limb making has been finished.
We have decided to go out for the day tomorrow to places in Kent we have either not or seldom visited. It has been a long week and it should be nice to get out, especially if it stays as lovely as it has been today and yesterday. I hope whatever you are doing that you have a lovely weekend!

Monster!

Here he is-my first little Amigurumi monster! He is even cuter in real life!
Apparently, 'the pervading aesthetic of Amigurumi is cuteness.' So that's OK then.

Touche Crochet!

In my mind I have been battling with crochet for years. And now I have beaten it! Touche! I have had a hook, my great aunt Peggie's, for ages, and sometimes have got it out and looked at it, then looked in a book or online, had a go and then lost patience with the whole nonsensical thing. My friend Cleo, of the craft days, has tried to show me, but to no avail. I just did not get it. I get it now! I no longer have to be jealous of crocheters as I am one too! It is addictive. One more row, just one more, and my swatch grows slowly but surely. Ok, it doesn't look much, but it is a picture of progress. Middle bottom-my first go-small and was getting smaller so stopped. Top left-second go. Left-squiggly thing-when I realised that you can go around the edge or wherever you want, which makes things such as this possible! (Crochetdermy, by Shauna Richardson) I saw her bear at The Power of Making exhibition. Middle-my biggest swatch-still gets bigger in places but was careful to be neat going around the edge. Bottom right-double crochet (all the others are single crochet) Grrr! Double crochet! Can't do it, won't do it, don't even want to do it! On the videos I am learning from, the lady holds the yarn in her left hand and the hook in her right. I tried it like that, and although I could do it, it didn't feel natural, and made my left hand ache. So I tried holding the yarn in my right hand as well as the hook, like I do when knitting and found it much easier. However, this was much harder with double crochet as there is more fiddling involved in the stitch. Also the line below was not working out, so there was nothing to connect to. I may try it again sometime but for now I am more than happy with single, and have plans in my head, which probably will stay there! I have not watched the granny square video yet and am really hoping it does not involve double crochet stitch!

A bathroom mat for a dolls house? Even crocheting string is fun!

Is being turned into a pouch for something or other!

No real use that I can think of, but I like it! Looks like a sea plant.

Grrrr!