Hobo Bag

This is another Pintrest find, I loved this bag on sight and I knew I could make it when I read the pattern found here at a site called ShortyLam Crochet.

It's a simple v stitch made up of trebles and single crochet.  The author  made her own version but if you look closely it doesn't curve quite as much as the original for my liking.

I got around this by decreasing on the 6mm hook round of single crochet by one stitch every 6 stitches.

I'm really happy with the outcome.  This isn't an everyday bag, due to the colour but it's a good one for the odd outing.







I used 12ply cream Marvel from Spotlight for about $3 a ball and used less than one ball.

The handle is currently a belt from the local emporium for $3, the silver rings were .70c each from the same emporium and I used brown satin ribbon, less than two metres for less than $1 a metre, also from the emporium.

I lined the bag with a remnant from Spotlight, it's cream thermal drape material in a jacquard pattern and it looks great.

My entire bag cost less than $20 to produce.

As you can see I hand sewed some of the ribbon around the top of the bag, to hide the stitching of the lining.  That's my sewing machine in the background LOL.

I also relined my granny bag with more of the remnant and still have some left over.

The thermal drape material doesn't fray because of the thermal lining and it provides a level of stiffness to the bag that the crochet alone doesn't.

It's a lovely simple bag, the body was crocheted in one evening.  I put it all together and lined it this afternoon, including popping out to the emporium to find the hardware.

I'd like to remake it and see if an increase and decrease in the bottom makes a difference to the shape, just for the sake of curiosity.

What a week

I've been wrestling demons this week, trying to give up smoking and failing.  I had a bad reaction to Zyban 3 days into not smoking at all so it's off that stuff and trying another.  All in all I haven't felt like doing much of anything so it's a good thing that I planned this for my holiday.

A friend asked me to crochet her some hats for her baby girl.

This is my first effort, trouble is I have no idea how big a baby head is these days.  My kids had exceptionally large heads anyway but it's been a decade since I had a child under one year old full-time so I have lost my ability to estimate the right size.  I can guesstimate for a 10 year old though!

Saturday morning on the deck

The hubs and I woke up around 8am this morning, long before the smaller people.  It was a beautiful morning so we took our coffee out to the front deck.

Cass was warming herself on the backyard fence, for a 19 year old, she gets around.  One minute she was basking in the sun, the next she was approaching us from the other side of the deck.  That tree she is sitting beside is a favorite for the birds, this time of year it has little berries all over it that the birds eat.
My garden is wild, really it's overgrown and the birds love it.  In spring when the bottle brush is flowering, a pair of Tui come to drink nectar.

I enjoy watching the birds.  The Starlings and Mynahs generally frighten the smaller Sparrows and Wax eyes away.  There are swallows and finches too.  In the afternoon my white picket front fence looks like a scene from a Hitchcock movie, with birds sitting all along it catching the last of the afternoon sun.

Everywhere I go, the dogs go too.  Sparkie is our self appointed guard dog.  Trouble is, he barks at everything! Hedgehogs, pedestrians, passing cars.  Here he is guarding me as I sip my coffee.  From what I'm not sure.  Toby was laying in the sun at my feet like the loyal dog he is.  Now if HE barks I worry.

We fenced the deck with swimming pool fencing so that we can put the dogs out there safely, at night during summer, we lock the gate and leave the ranch slider open to keep air circulating through the living area.

Finally, here is Cass demonstrating her advanced camouflage technique.  It's easy to see why she is such a good hunter, her coloring makes her blend into the light and shadow quite well.

Cables and double trebles

First things first, my adventures in crochet the last few days.

I got inspired by this image in a magazine.  You see Aunty Mum has been doing cables on the socks she has been knitting.  Finding this pattern meant I could do some crochet cables which would give us a kind of common purpose? I really wanted to do something different and the cables look so well, clever!

Cables are not something I have ever tried, the pattern looked simple and I thought it would make a nice ear warmer for the wee girl when she's playing hockey this winter and a hat just isn't really possible.

I popped up to Spotlight and purchased some Moda Vera Beetle on sale for $2.80 for a 50gm ball.  It's 50% acrylic and 50% cotton, I thought it would give good stitch definition and therefore show off the cables to best advantage.



And here it is.  I think the mishmash of colours while pretty and certainly approved of by the WG, doesn't really lend itself to show off the cable.

The pattern looked fairly wide so I made a slight adjustment to the pattern and made it slightly narrower by eliminating a couple of stitches on each side.  It's still enormously wide on the WG.  Heck it's wide on me.  I'm not sure how given that I used a slightly smaller hook than recommended and the recommended weight yarn.

I might have to try it again with a baby yarn and see how it works out.



Here it is sitting on my laptop keyboard to give you an idea of the scale.

So now I am making one with a single cable, having learned the principle of making a twisted cable.  It basically consists of double trebles and to get the twist, you miss the first 2 and crochet into the second 2, then go back to the first two.  Does that make sense?

When I have finished this one I shall write up the pattern seeing as I worked it out by myself.

Sorry for the quality of the picture my phone camera doesn't really capture it as well as it might.

Double trebles, much easier than I thought they would be!  I am no longer afraid of them!

And in other news, it is now Friday, the last day of the Holidays.  I do like having the children/young adults around but I am very much looking forward to them going back to the mall so I can get on with things.

So far we have been to the mall I don't know how many times, they've seen a couple of movies and they've been a few places.  Trouble is, they want me to keep them entertained and that is tiring.

Later this morning

My friend Jessie has a little boy 17 months old.  She wanted me to take some pictures of him today so we went to Western Springs to the playground.

He had a ball and I got some really awesome shots of him with all sorts of different facial expressions.

He loved the slide best but chasing seagulls seemed to run a close second for this wee guy.

Best of all, I got to enjoy a day at the park without having to chase kids away from the water or protect them from scary biting geese and swans.

Sibling rivalry it would seem isn't just a human issue, this little chick was pushed off by his/her sibling for prime position next to Mum.

I was surprised at the number of baby animals still around, pukekos, chickens, ducks and swans all had babies following them.

One thing puzzles me though.  Where have all the white swans gone? When I was a child, white swans were everywhere and seeing a black swan was a rarity.  I was always told they flew from Perth to NZ and that's why there were so few.  Now you can't find a white swan at the Domain or Western Springs, I haven't seen a white swan in years.  There's something poetic about a white swan reflected in dark water, you just don't get that wonderful reflection with black swans.

Holidaze

One week down, one to go.

Today the hubs has gone to Wellington on an overnight business trip, leaving me alone with two teens and the WG.  His business trips this year have been mercifully few so far, and I have already been to Wellington myself on business, so I can't really complain.

Our weekend was busy!

We decided on Saturday to extend my bench space and kitchen storage.  This involved purchase of a laminate counter with a cupboard and 3 drawers and two overhead cupboards.  It's the same height as my stainless steel bench top and after 10 years here I finally have enough room to store my crockpot (it has been living on the bench) toasted sandwich press and the new pie maker (both of which previously lived on top of the fridge).  It is all so spacious and tidy now!  I can serve up meals without having to balance plates!  It's not exactly twee or vintage, but I have an early 80's home, nothing is exactly how I would like it.

I was so thrilled that while the hubs was banging and crashing around in the kitchen, cutting holes in the gib to rewire an unsightly power point (don't worry, he's an electrician by trade) that had been put in by the previous owners for the dishwasher (which has now been removed permanently to create room for the new counter) I whipped up this wee jar cover to decorate the new addition.

I then spent literally hours rearranging all my cupboards, washing everything and putting it away all nice and tidy like.  It's somewhat amazing to me that things put away in kitchen cupboards attract dust and grease even though they are not used.

I still have a drawer empty.  I think I will fill it with my recipe books, they currently living in the window sill.

See that walkie talkie sitting on top of my tray of eggs? I don't know why that's there, I do know there are a row of them sitting in chargers on my dining room sideboard and I rather suspect they arrived last night when the hubs got home from training.  I have plans in mind for my kitchen.  I suspect I will be fairly busy for the next few weeks.

Scarfs and other Winter things

I'm like a squirrel storing nuts for winter.  I finished the WG's hat, then a v stitch scarf in raspberry with pale pink fringe to match the hat.  Then I decided a ruffled brights scarf was in order, I mean everyone should have choices right?

The WG will be going to intermediate school next year and that means uniform.  This is the last year that I get to dress her, kind of.  Make no mistake, she chooses her own clothes every day but I still get input to the larger wardrobe.  The boho crochet beanies I made her last year are the envy of many a little girl at her school, as is her pencil case.  These are one of a kind things that nobody else has, that make her a little exclusive.  So she's keen for more.

Ruffled scarves are easy peasy, but look somewhat complicated and they use quite a bit of yarn.  It's simply a matter of crocheting a foundation stitch to your desired length, then adding 3 for the first treble.  Then you crochet two trebles into every stitch till it's spirally and ruffly as you want it to be.  I used the Moda Vera Willowy from Spotlight (it's on special for $3.99 a ball) and a 3.75mm hook. 5 balls though is a lot of yarn for a scarf.  Still it's exactly what I wanted it to be, it reminds me of a carnival and I'm sure it will brighten the greyest winter day.

I'm making another in black and silver.

Meantime I've had some adventures with the girls.  Western Springs was sadly missed, they (the girls) decided they just had to go to the movies.  I wanted to go so badly on the off chance I would meet up with Aunty Mum who was up visiting Auckland from Tauranga.  Unfortunately you have to learn to pick your battles with teens and tweens without letting them know there is a battle of wills.

I made the argument that it was a waste of a lovely day to spend it in the dark in a movie theatre, that rain was coming in the next few days but they held firm and pooh poohed my forecast of rain in coming days.  Deciding it wasn't a hill I wanted to die on, I dropped them at the mall and came home to do some housework in relative peace for a couple of hours.

The Man Child has no interest in being seen at the mall in the company of his 10 yr old sister (and up until her second year at school she was dead set she would marry him, cried her eyes out when he went off to intermediate and left her at school by herself and would love her friends to see her with him!) despite the enhancement being seen with a somewhat comely 16 yr old female cousin would afford, stayed home to help his dear old Mum.  He really can be very good.  He mowed the lawn and cleaned the deck while I vacuumed and dusted.

This afternoon (apparently sleeping until midday is de rigeur for school holiday teens although the tween is usually up by 9am) we are heading down to Save Mart to see what we can find amongst the racks.

Then I expect there will be a fashion show.