Project a Day: #18 Flowers in the Honeycomb

Ah, Tuesday is gone! Had a great Social Media Training session at the Houw Hoek Inn today, hosted by BizXnet. Wow, my head is spinning! Social networking overload! I had no idea what one could actually achieve if you knew how to use all the social networking platforms effectively! It's a two day workshop, so I'll be learning some more tomorrow.

Now, I don't know if you'll remember, I started work on this hexagon blanket about two years ago. It sat in the closet unfinished for about a year and now it is finally finished! This is by far the biggest crochet project that I have ever done.

 -the main reason for this project's "storage" was that I didn't know how to put the motives together. I didn't want to sew then together, so I started experimenting with crocheting the motives together. Epic Fail! So into storage it went. I then thrifted a granny square blanket and noticed that the squares had been crocheted together. It took a while, but I figured it out by copying the pattern off the thrifted blanket. It was then that I took the box filled with hexagon out of storage and began to crochet them together-   

-I finished working in the ends in Feb of this year, forgot to take photo's of the finished project and forgot to blog about it. It has been sitting pretty on our couch for the past 6 months now. So at last, here it is! Blogged and shared with all of you. I must say I was quite chuffed with myself when I worked in that last thread! A gruelling process, but man, was it worth it-

Do you have a project stored away, just waiting to be finished? Please share by leaving a comment/link below. I'd love to know that I'm not alone in this "storing-my-project-for-a-year" thing.

xxx 

Project a Day: #17 From Doily to Cushion

Hi friends! Monday has come and past! This weekend feels light a vague memory. I do have some makings to share with you, though. A while back, I found these two fairly large doilies at a charity shop. I recently decided to turn them into scatter cushions for our couch.

 -my sewing is improving somewhat, but it's still not quite there yet. At least I can make button holes... these doilies have been crocheted a bit skew making the edging a bit ridged, but it'll do. I found the peacock cushion cover (in the top image) at our local Hospice shop, I only had to add an inner- 

   -This one will be done soon, it's slightly skewer than the first one so it might get tricky when sewing this one to the cover. I'll be sure to post a photo when it's done-

-Have a good week-

xxx

Project a Day: #16 Another Owly for Leia

My goodness! I cannot believe where time has taken us! My little niece, Leia, has turned 3! Unfortunately, due to work, Dave and I couldn't celebrate her birthday with her. So I sent our present with my parents when they went to George for Leia's birthday.

 -this is my very first fabric yarn, loom knit. I used old T-shirts to make the yarn and felt off-cuts for the appliquéd bits. This owly is also a fibre scrap gobbler. I threw all my off-cuts into a bag over time and used it to stuff this owly. Talk about recycling-

-Thanks to my mom for posting the photo above, on my Facebook. Apparently, Leia was so excited when she saw this big owl. My mom says Leia just couldn't leave it alone. Nothing makes me happier than knowing that my handmade goodies make their recipients happy-  

xxx

Project a Day: #15 A Japanese Rose for Lily

Just as we thought Spring had sprung early, the Winter rain hit us and it hit real hard. Besides the lovely sunny past weekend, it has been pouring for two weeks non-stop! Rivers are over flowing, roads are flooded, there is water every where! I don't mind it though, I love this weather. Besides, our region could use all the water it can get. Because of our winter-rainfall, we usually have water restrictions in the summer as most of the water evaporates in the heat of our summer sun. Then there is also the issue of the water usage doubling in summer as tourist and holiday makers stream in to our little town for the Whale season and our amazing beaches.

...but enough babbling! What I really want to talk about is my friend Lily. It was her birthday 15 July and we were all invited to celebrate with her that following Saturday at her South African family's home. The celebration was supposed to be a surprise so I browsed through Lily's Facebook photo's to get an Idea of what colours I would use to make her gift. She looked so fresh is some of her photo's, where she was wearing a bright Teal scarf so I went with that. 

 -I know Lily is Chinese but I could only find a Japanese rose pattern. The Japanese are oh so good at writing crochet patterns, they also invented the language of crochet charts-

-The rose came out kinda ombre, I love it! This was my first attempt at this pattern. I couldn't find suitable leaf patterns so I made my own. Not to bad, if I say so myself... At this moment Lily owns a one of a kind "OddOneOut" as I only made one of these, especially for her-

PS. Thanks for posting this photo on my fb wall, Lily, I'm so glad you like your gift. And you look so pretty, too :)

xxx  

Project a Day: #14 Mori Girl Necklet

It seems our winter has only just begun. It is freezing today! Today's project was inspired by all the lovely Japanese flower scarves I've been seeing on Pinterest. Go to my love crochet board to see some of the pretty ones I've pinned. For this "necklet" I used this crochet flower pattern and then I kinda just made it up as I went along. So I guess you can say I just created a pattern.

 -for this pattern, I used half a skein of Spice, Double Knitting. It's lovely for an Acrylic yarn, very soft on the hands while working it. Almost no yarn was wasted, the only off-cuts were from the finishing off(a few tiny pieces)-

 -At last this outfit is complete! I made this body con skirt last year but couldn't get an outfit together that "spoke to me". This year I found the forrest green tights at Fashion Express, the waterfall card at Meltz and now my Mori Girl Necklet has brought this outfit together perfectly-

xxx 

Project a Day: #13 I made an Owlknit

Ah, what lovely rainy weather we've been having. It's so good to be back on my blog again! I've missed out on so many of my fellow bloggers' posts, I can't wait to catch up. So, how perfect is this? That my 30 Projects challenge would pick up right where I left off...

So many has happened in the past two months, I'm sure we all could attest that. Our Paster's wife, Tinneke, had her baby shower in June and they're expecting a girl (Kristen). I've had this idea for a while now and finally had the opportunity to test it. A little, plush, knitted owl whom I call: Orea. She is an Owlknit. Orea is a real softy and she loves staying awake at night to watch over her soon to be born friend.

   -and just for the fun of it, I added this cute, pink, rubber ducky and pink ice-cream bubbles. Just to round it off, what would a gift from me be without an OddOneOut postcard-

-Orea was hand knitted with much love and carefully assembled. I do hope that little Kristen will enjoy having her around. Aw, isn't she a cutey?-

PS. Did you see my new knitting needles? Aren't they lovely? Since I've started knitting, I've realised that the size of your needles makes a huge difference, so I'm starting to collect some needles.

xxx   

Hello Blog! I've missed you soooo!

Hi friends, I know it's been a while. First we had a problem upgrading the Mac's software and then we had trouble reloading our programs. Then I got busy with Dave's work sending me more freelance work... I know, excuses - excuses. But I'm back now and I just wanted to share something with you before I go on with the 30 Projects. 

-Last year, Dave's brother (Paul) and his wife (Yuseon) sent him two books and me two book vouchers. It took me forever to find something that was worth getting. The bookstores in our area don't stock a wide variety and because I didn't know what I wanted, I couldn't just order it. But at last I found these pretties-

 -Thank you Paul and Yuseon! These are awesome-

 -These are both from Chronicle Books. They are beautifully designed and put together. The Carpe Diem Journal is full of quirky quotes and the hand drawn lettering is oh so inspiring. The Little Book of Lettering, is an amazing compilation of typography artists such as John F. Gardner, Daniel Davis, Luke Lucas and so many others-

I'm definitely going to look out for more Chronicle Book prints, their fresh design make you want to plan your decor around these books. When was the last time you bought a book? Please share your findings in the comments below. It's so difficult to find good books if you don't know what's out there. 

xxx