a bit of 'lo and beholdness' continued...

ta dah! a 'lo and beholdness' circle of crocheted goodness becomes a 'lo and beholdness' warm and woolly coat for a cold mid century stool.

yes indeedy, it never ceases to amaze me what lovely yarny grandness can come from a few balls of yarn and stick with a little hook. when my little warm and woolly coat was finished up, my little crafty heart swelled with pride. i am not saying this is a big headed kind of way, no sirree, not me. i am saying it in a 'blimey, did i really make that bit of yarny goodness with my own hands' kind of way. oh such is the fabbiness of craftiness. after all it is a circle and up until now a crocheted circle has been out of my crocheting ability reach.

once again however i am reminded, with determination and a little bit of patience and many many moments of not succeeding in the ways of being a 'roundie', my perseverance has paid off. my lovely little stool with his woolly coat is living in my crafty snug upstairs. such is my love for him i have warned all clan members, with or without fur, it is out of bounds.

within seconds of placing my little 'lo and beholdness' jacket upon my stool, Our #3 said "oh, you've finished, great can we sit on it now?" and plonked himself down on my 'moment of roundie glory'. the shriek that followed alerted him to the fact, yes it was finished and no, you cannot.

i have noted over the past few weeks the petals are slowly flattening, and at times the cover appears to have shuffled to the side a bit. i have no evidence that others are sitting on my stool, or resting their feet, however i have sneaky suspicions 'when the cat is away, the mice will play'.

if by chance you fancy yourself a little roundie woolly coat for a cold stool, or indeed just wish to continue making a larger circle of petals and head towards a lovely rug for the floor, or a smaller one to make a cushion cover, then i am happy to share how i did it.

however before we begin, let me tell you several nitty gritty things.

1. this is not a 'how-to' for the petals, i am assuming you have already studied Mille's lovely pattern for petals, she so generously shared with us the other day

2. i used chunky yarn and a size Mr Hook 6.5mm K. where i did not have chunky in the colours i wished to use, i doubled up a worsted weight yarn. in fact the aqua colour i used is made up of two different shades put together and it came out spiffily in my books (do you like that! i do too, it is so much more than just spiffy, it is most spiffily, my new favourite word)

3. if you have understood how to make Mille's petals then you will understand what i am talking about below, if you have not understood, then i fear it will all read like gobbledy de goop.

4. i did have to rip out several rounds as the circle grew to keep it flat but i was determined not to be beat. you may well have to do the same.

5. all along i continued to check the fit with my stool after every round, just to make sure i was on the right track. each stool will be different so this is just a rough guide to help you along.

so hey ho, let's go

round 1, 2 and 3: as written in Mille's pattern

round 4 and 5: repeat round 2 and 3

round 6: repeat round 2

round 7: alternate between single petals and double petals

round 8, 9 and 10: repeat round 2

i stopped here as this was big enough for the top of my stool. if you are going on to make a rug, you will have to decide if rounds of single petals or alternating between single and double petals in a round will increase the circle nicely and flatly.

after my last round of petals, i half double crocheted (US term) all the way around joining at the end of the round and chaining up 2, to begin the next. you do no wish to increase as you are now working on the edge. i ended up with seven rounds of half double crochet to fit my stool's side.

to make the cover sit still and not move around or slip off (the stool is vinyl underneath) i then did a final row of single crochet missing out every other stitch from the row before, giving it a nice almost elastic edging to it.

i carefully placed the cover over the stool, not wishing to stretch the final round of stitches too much and damage them and Voila! it flipping fitted! it was indeed a small miracle.

i think a cushion cover would be most peachy and i have plans to work on one if i can find the printed out instructions of Mille's fabby pattern. i placed them somewhere super duper safe so i would not forget to pack them for Old Blighty. so safe, i have lost them...

she is hoping it all makes sense and wishes you a few crafty moments with your Mr Hooks this weekend ~ Tif

footynote: Mr Spell Checker found over 22 issues today, he particularly found 'spiffily' to cause him fretfulness like never before

a bit of 'lo and beholdness' in the shed...

do you recall a certain lovely thrift store blanket?

no need to fret about your recall skills, nor mutter under your breathe

"blimey Tif, i can hardly recall what i had for dinner last night, let alone your thrifty finds"

for i have provided an image to help, i know its friday and the week has been long so i do not wish you to have to mutter under your breathe because of me.

actually i can recall what i had for dinner last night, a rare occurrence indeed. not 'having dinner', the recalling it bit. it was a meal of orange with a hint of green. it was completely home cooked and surprisingly appealing looking, therefore worthy of recall in my mind.

however it is not about my culinary delights today, no sirree! it is all about Mille and her crocheting kindness.

upon finding my lovely thrift store blanket, then gifting it to another i continued about my life.

then one day Mille appeared, she told me how the blanket had inspired her to make one for herself and as she had trouble finding a pattern for it, very cleverly (i am thinking) worked it out from my blanket! this had me very delighted and even more so when she wrote up her 'something pretty' pattern and was happy to share it with us. thank you so kindly Mille for inspiring me to pick up Mr Hook again and others i am quite sure.

i am totally in love with Mille's use of colours, this is so often where i trip up but not today, for today i am riding high, higher than i have ever ridden in my short history of crochet riding...

for you see, thanks to the brilliant Mille, a small miracle came to pass last night in Mossy Shed.

as i sat, pondering her pattern with Mr Hook in hand and a ball of gray (see what i mean about colour), i established two rounds of petals and instead of doing as i was told and finishing up with a round of granny square to complete the one petaled square, a little voice whispered in my ear.

that little voice tempted me to do another round of petals, it questioned if indeed i could perhaps go another round or two after that. it was daring me to aim for a circle of crocheted goodness. i made a silent promise to Mille i would come back to her squares after i had ventured off with my little voice

never in my short span of crocheting career (do i have one) have i managed a circle of muchness. but i was feeling reckless, i was in my new snug, cozy, crafty hangout upstairs tucked out of the way of my clan, i was feeling anything was possible at that moment in time. the world of crocheting was my oyster.

and so it would appear the crocheting circle gods were in line, for row after row of petals and hour after hour of me sitting there listening to the early morning show on Radio 2 had me believing that miracles do happen. as i stood to go to bed, a little achy and creaky, well past my due date of hitting the sack, i laid my crocheted circle offering down and right there and then, a chorus of angels appeared, (singing quietly cause it was late) and glory shone down on me.

a crocheted circle of 'lo and beholdness' had been born and not an ounce of 'colour iffyness' about it.

she is wishing you a bit of 'lo and beholdness' yourselves this weekend ~ Tif

rebellion in the shed...

its a little nutso at the shed, more so than usual. on Monday the green carpet of 30 years living upstairs, is being replaced by a beige carpet of 10 years with interesting self patterning courtesy of my lovely friend Maggi

on Wednesday evening, my man and i started the job of emptying three bedrooms worth of stuff and hauling it into the bonus room. Our #4 (newly aged 13) sat amongst his dwindling possessions, whilst nursing his broken toe acquired less than four hours before.

"why is everything we own look like it belonged to a granny, even the carpet we are getting is old and granny like?" he had a point, it does have a 'granny like' quality about it now i have inspected it closer, which of course i am delighted about.

he continued "every room we have is filled with old stuff, why don't we ever have gleaming new modern things?"

i looked around his room and noted he has an ikea bookcase and desk in white. the only thing remotely vintage in my mind within his four walls at that moment, was me, my man and an old pine chest of drawers loitering with intent to hold his clothes, however they have never made it that far.

i always saw ikea furniture as modern and new and i was now seeing a 'doubter' in my son.

gosh, he was my one who loved a thrifty hunt amongst the shelves of despair, finding great enjoyment with the crappity crap that lay before him. i chose to put it down to his broken toe, turning 13 and the black cloud above him talking. a rare thing indeed, for black clouds do not hangout over his head, in fact this maybe the first black cloud i have ever seen venture to do such a thing.

yesterday evening i voiced a need to go thrifting (two times in one day!), i am on a mission for materials and as is always the way, you can never find what you are looking for, only what you did not know you needed, like a cheap print of flowers in an iffy frame.

still i was going to give it a go.

"can i come?" he pipes up, which immediately made me suspect he had homework to do.

"how will you manage with your toe?" i ask

"i'll hobble around"

so i went 'a thrifting' this time with my pins of paleness and a companion hobbling. i found a forsaken little soul and he found a brilliant red Adidas jacket with LONDON appliquéd on the back and the skyline (including Big Ben) across the chest. it was in 'top notch' nick and a bobby bargain to boot. he was delighted and so was i.

ah yes, for second hand gods had intervened and his doubting ways were gone. just because something is second hand does not mean it has to be old or granny like. perfectly new looking goodness can be found too, he just needed a little reminder

someone who does not need reminding is Little Olive, who after a day of play yesterday, spent the evening wisely 'swaddled' in her home of secondhand goodness

she is most happy with the transformation of her secondhand, 'slightly kitsch' picture find of yesterday ~ Tif

be still my beating heart...

one peachy fine morning, Debbie, Our #1 and moi took a train to London to meet up with Lou Dearie. you know Lou, for she was the lovely dearie whom flew across the pond so she may beaver away with like minded souls last september in seattle.

well lovely Lou kindly offered to show us a little bit of vintage London and i can tell you dearest readers, she did not disappoint. our first port of call was Old Spitalfields Market on a thursday because that is vintage day! we spent many a peachy moment in vintage granny goodness heaven. actually just recalling Spitalfield Market with Lou has me overcome with giddiness, not to mention all the forsaken souls which whispered in my ear as i pottled around the stalls. words really cannot do the vintage goodness on display justice and so i think i will let Leonard and his Lens do the talking for today and i will be back with our second and third port of call on our spiffy day out to London, tomorrow...

she is wielding her paint brush in her new office space upstairs and things are beginning to look mighty fine ~ Tif

for the love of burke...

once again i found myself heading to the big city last week (with bangs to aid me) and once again i found myself lost. for the love of burke and his fabby chairs, i had no choice but to use my secondhand senses and deep breathing exercises to get back on route. after quite a few trips over bridges, in a large roundabout way i found myself where i wished to be with great relief.

i have only ever found one burke chair before, it was many, many moons ago, but all so clear like it were yesterday... how is it one can remember precisely the day and time one finds the most fabbiest of vintage finds and yet i cannot remember what i did yesterday or indeed need to be doing today or tomorrow. when i found the two burke chairs last week, they also came with a friend. i had not known about the friend until i turned up, but his little ugly duckling ways standing next to the two swans caught me unawares. my thrifty maternal instincts for all waifs and strays took a hold, especially when he swivelled so nicely upon introduction. i didn't stand a chance

back at the shed i unloaded my haul. i told myself this was madness, as i squeezed them into my studio and stared at their beauty, not knowing quite how i was going to disguise the fact i had bought yet more chairs into our nest. i decided to scatter them in different corners of the shed, thus giving the appearance they may have always been there, blending in amongst the other forsaken souls i have happened across in the past.

"ah ha" i exclaimed to myself, little olive (busy licking burke's legs) and used dog "a brilliantly brilliant plan if ever there was one!" i could tell they were most impressed with my cunning plan.

i also told them, i could not, would not, under any circumstances, never, ever touch the cushions until after Christmas, for my Mother Christmas duties were top priority over cushion slip covers, even i could see that. i noted both little olive and used dog were wearing smirks after i have finished my words.

after two hours i was twitching, after three i was rifling through my bark cloth stash and by the fourth hour, one burke chair was sporting a spiffy reversible jacket. i stood quietly back in amazement, for it fitted like a glove, a beautiful vintage bark cloth glove and i noted as i stood there, a small amount of glory shone around.

next day i told myself it would be madness (again) to leave the other chair without his little jacket, what if the good fortune sent by the handcrafted gods ran out, just thinking about it made me start to fret. if i did not get on with it hoppity quick then the gods may think i did not care for the 'fitting like a glove' gift they bestowed upon me and take it away! by the end of the day, two little 'gloves' were completed and shining away in the kitchen knook

alas, the ugly duckling awaits his transformation, the handcrafted gods have moved on to some other lucky crafting soul and i must await with patience for their return. whilst i am awaiting, i shall continue with my Mother Christmas duties and ponder what is best for the little ugly duckling so he too, may get his moment to shine...

she will be back tomorrow with something to share, something like she has never shared before ~ Tif

barking cloth mad...

on saturday, i noted to little olive we were close to 40 days until Christmas.

this spurred her into action

i, in turn was spurred into sorting my fabric stash.

what with Lou's pile turning up, closely followed by a fabby swap of bark cloth with the 'ever so lovely' Polly, i needed to make sure all the lovely little bits felt most welcomed...

after spending many quality moments folding each of them,

into the little glass cabinet i cleared out in their honor.

i decided there was nothing for it but to stay in my pajamas all day and play with them.

no clan member appeared to notice i was playing hooky from the usual saturday 'chorey' things,

by tea time i had taken full advantage of being invisible,

notching up a lovely cushion cover for the rocker

and two simple but quite happy slipcovers for two happy stools in the lounge.

previous to my day of 'playing hooky' i had done some 'shuffling' around the shed. the black couch has shuffled through to my studio, giving my folks a nice cozy corner for reading in, away from the main 'hub bub' of the shed.

one of Folly & Glee's lovely vintage shades is at the ready for my dad and his reading material.

on sunday morning, little olive was up early, having a wash and getting warmed up for day 2 of training.

i noted used dog appears to not be bothering with reindeer training this year.

today (and yesterday) i am playing catch up for my day of hooky. toilets need to be cleaned, floors swept, a book written and beds changed, not to mention the excitement of cooking some orange meals in preparation for tomorrow. yes indeedy, hurrah hooray! my folks arrive from across the pond, armed with Cadbury's chocolate and two whole weeks of their peachy company, which i am really, really giddy about...

she will be running 'gleeful re-runs' tomorrow ~ Tif

footynote: a gold sticky star if you spot the pesky gnome in one of the photos! this may require specs or a big magnifying glass :)

footynote #2: actually having just looked at this post, it would require a huge magnifying lens, so if you cannot spot his pesky little gnomeness then here's the 'big picture' to stop you going batty trying to find him :)

parting ways, positively...

yes indeedy dearest readers, it is with heavy heart

and a nagging voice within my head saying

"haven't you learnt your lesson yet Tif?"

i must report, Mrs Hook and i will be parting ways for a while.

i do it every time and i am a fool to myself.

after my happy outcome with the 'high hopes wrap' for a chilly day,

i needed to dabble further with the fisherman cream yarn from lion brand.

i thought to myself, there could be no doubting,

if i made a big cream chunky blanket

my clan would become The Waltons.

we would share many happy moments upon the couch,

said lovely blanket keeping us cozy.

talking 'talky' things,

reading books

and always, always with a smile on our faces

i set out upon my 'no doubting' quest to make thee blanket

and to some degree i have succeeded in my mission.

the degrees of success goes as such...

successful degrees

1: blanket and edging completed

2: tags and little twiddly bits that make me smile, completed

3: admired by clan members,

but only because i stood for a long period of time holding blanket up

making 'clearing throat noises' in the vain hope,

eventually someone would look in my direction.

this was not easy i might add,

as it took quite the time for myself and blanket to be noticed

by which point my ailing arm was complaining big time

not so successful degrees

1: it should have been bigger,

only two clan members can be comfortably situated under it at any one time

2: the cross was supposed to go from side to side,

thus implying a nod to our home country and the flag of England

3: i have noted, upon completion (to a degree) of blanket

it does not contain The Waltons special family powers

but all that being said,

ignoring the lack of England flagness about it,

the inability to bring a sense of Waltons to my clan

and my inability to wave around my right arm and shoulder,

making me off duty in the kitchen and cleaning department

(silver lining if ever i saw one)

i do believe this is my most favority, favorite blanket to date

and if a time comes

when Mrs Hook and myself get it on again, in the near future

we shall beaver away on completing the flag bits...

for now however,

i am thinking it best

to ignore the 'not so successful degrees',

embrace the 'successful degrees'

and call my blanket

a 'positively postive' blanket of the utmost kind

she is remembering, remembering the 5th of november and wishing you a spiffy, safe one ~ Tif

a 'high hopes wrap' for a chilly day, how-to...

now some folks may say,

"oh Tif, i think you may be mistaken,

for it would appear you are wearing a glorified blanket around your shoulders

and not as you say, a high hopes wrap"

but i know

and you know dearest readers,

what they obviously do not know.

all one needs is a pair of rose colored specs

and an imagination of the utmost kind,

for the glorified blanket around my shoulders

to become a 'high hopes wrap' for a chilly day.

not a super duper freezy chilly kind of day

but a medium sort of chilliness day,

when one can still maintain a little bit of charm in the clothing department,

and not so freezy chilly one loses all cares of looking charming,

reaching for the nearest duvet to drape around ones self before leaving the nest.

ingredients ~

* one pair of rose colored specs

* one imagination

* one Mrs Hook size K/6.5mm

* lion brand wool-ease yarn in chunky

2 balls of fisherman (color #099)

1 ball of silver grey (color #155)

1 ball of charcoal (color #152)

* one doily

* one kilt pin

* a few left over bits of yarn from your stash

just a word before i proceed with my little 'how-to' for a chilly day.

to be honest you can use any yarn or color combination you wish.

Mrs Hook is a size K hook,

so if you wish to follow my measurements perhaps use a yarn suited to her ample size.

the final measurements for this peachy wrap is roughly

15" wide x 51" long

or

38cm x 130cm

as with all my crocheting tutorials, it is quite simple,

however i have used the joining technique of the 'ordinarily extraordinary' blanket,

if this is a "no-no" for you,

then i would suggest making your individual colored strips

and then slip stitching them together at the end.

and last but by no means least!

i have used the US double crochet term throughout,

which is UK treble crochet :)

so with all that being said, to borrow a phrase from the brilliant RAMONES

"hey ho, lets go"...

recipe ~

using the fisherman cream yarn, chain 20 plus 3 (for turning)

double crochet into 3rd chain from Mrs hook

and continue double crocheting happily for 130 cm (51")

attach new color, sliver grey and chain 10 plus 3 (for turning)

double crochet happily back towards your cream strip

when you have reached your cream strip,

join the grey to the cream

using the 'ordinarily extraordinary' way

(at this point you will be at photo #7 of the blanket 'how-to' close ups, so follow from there)

continue along your happy way,

joining the grey to the cream strip as you go.

when you come to the end of the silver grey strip,

join the third color charcoal, chain 5 plus 3 (for turning)

double crochet back towards the heather grey strip,

again using the 'ordinarily extraordinary' join as you go

once you have finished your charcoal strip, finish off your yarn.

weave in any threads needing to be disguised.

you will now have a lovely rectangle strip of crocheted goodness.

looking not unlike a narrow blanket :)

gather up your doily, pin and yarny leftovers.

carefully stitch your doily down in one corner of your wrap,

by weaving yarny colored leftovers in and out of the doily's pretty pattern.

i also used a bit of green yarn to wrap around my kilt pin,

this was to keep him warm, i thought about him being chilly too

and thought how nice for a little pin to have his own 'warm wrap' whilst out in the cold.

and there you have it!

Voila!!

a 'high hopes wrap' for a chilly day

i am thinking so many possibilities here,

jollier, brighter colors,

weaving lace or ribbon through the 'ordinarily extraordinary' eyelets,

edging the wrap with picot or shell edging,

just with a bit of imagination,

i have no doubt you will take this woolly wrap 'how-to'

and make it you own

she is brainstorming her 'table of contents' with used dog and little olive ~ Tif