Call for Contributors – Create a Blog Dialogue

As many of you will know Anjie & I have been busy this month doing Thing-a-day. Now as we approach the end of February and the end of thing-a-day, We are inviting like minded crafty, artistic & creative people to join as a contributor to Create A Blog Dialogue.
This is a communal blog that I set up at the end of 2009 along with Anjie from Pompomemporium.com
We intended the blog to be a space to showcase current creative work as well a place to discuss, review and document the whole creative process in whatever medium. Hence ‘A Dialogue’  So we now cordially invite you to join us on our journey – you can comment, contribute and show case as often or as little as you want.
Please contact either myself via email at thesunroomuk@googlemail.com or contact Anjie via http://www.pompomemporium.com/  and we can add you as a contributor.

Process – The Initial Concept

Okay what exactly are we hoping to achieve here? I guess I should be blogging about it, as we go, then you can all follow what’s happening and what we are trying to create and achieve.
I first came across Anjie’s site during the summer and found a lot of her ideas to be very inspiring. I find when you work with others or at least bounce ideas off one another and feed each other inspiration new possibilities emerge and new directions can occur.  I also learned about ‘thing a day’ on Anjie’s site and this seemed like an excellent idea to me. I approached Anjie and asked if she would be interested in working on a blog format and dialoguing our creativity. The process is to undertake a creative activity every day for a month and thus instil the ‘habit’.
Now this may seem a bit strange as we both are regularly creative anyway. So to refine the concept even further another premise is to try new things that we wouldn’t normally try. Push the envelope, so to speak. Due to time commitments we have decided that January would be the best month to undertake the project. In the meantime we thought it would be good to blog about ideas, concepts, thoughts and plans.
I guess it’s like the stone in the pond, ripple effect. I may come up with a notion and blog it and Anjie may have a different take and inspire my creativity in a new direction. Rather than doing all our planning and debating offline (400 miles between us) or between private emails – we thought part of the process should be to blog from the start.
I/we also envisaged that we may just get other peoples creative habit going so they too could work on getting the habit. There is a school of thought in psychology that states that it only takes 6 weeks to establish or eradicate a learned behaviour. If that is the case or you but into that theory then perhaps it will only take a short while to develop the creative habit.

Quick and Easy Chained Poncho

Materials: 50g DK yarn, 8mm crochet hook.
ch 100 join with a slip st.
Row 1: ch 9, skip 4 ch 1dc into 5th chain, *ch 6, sk 4 ch, dc into 5th ch*,** rep to end, join with sl st.
Row 2: work 1 dc, *ch 7, work dc into dc below row*, ** rep to end, join with sl st.
Row 3: work 1 dc, *ch 8, work dc into dc below row*, ** rep to end, join with sl st.
Row 4: work 1 dc, *ch 9, work dc into dc below row*, ** rep to end, join with sl st.
Row 5: work 1 dc, *ch 10, work dc into dc below row*, ** rep to end, join with sl st.
Row 6: work 1 dc, *ch 11, work dc into dc below row*, ** rep to end, join with sl st.
Row 7: work 1 dc, *ch 12, work dc into dc below row*, ** rep to end, join with sl st.
Row 8: work 1 dc, *ch 13, work dc into dc below row*, ** rep to end, join with sl st.
Row 9: work 1 dc, *ch 14, work dc into dc below row*, ** rep to end, join with sl st.
Row 10: work 1 dc, *ch 15, work dc into dc below row*, ** rep to end, join with sl st.
This pattern is offered and made available for personal use only. If you wish to reproduce this in any way please contact me or make sure that reference is made to the original author’s blog http://www.goodtimesithinkso.blogspot.com/ Thank you Crochet Conversion Chart US/UK International Yarn Weight Conversion Chart
I hope you enjoy using this pattern and if you are looking for other free patterns please visit Crochet Pattern Central

Mother’s Day Gift Purse Bag

Materials:
1 50g ball of Wendy Moiselle, 1 8mm crochet hook.
The yarn is a blend of slubby fibre and ribbon and is much prettier than the picture.
Ch 4 and join with a sl st to form a ring.
Rnd 1: ch 1, work 5 sc into the ring, join with a sl st.
Rnd 2: ch 1, work two sc into each sc, join with a sl st.
Rnd 3: ch 1, *work two sc into 1st st, work 1sc into next 2 st*,  ** rep to end join with a sl st.
Rnd 4: ch 1, *work two sc into 1st st, work 1sc into next 3 st*,  ** rep to end join with a sl st.
Rnd 5: ch 1, *work two sc into 1st st, work 1sc into next 4 st*,  ** rep to end join with a sl st.
Now begin work continuously in the round.
Work another 15 rounds break yarn off.
To Finish: Darn all ends in and thread a ribbon through the bag about 3 rows from the top. This ribbon is then pulled and tied to make a drawstring.
This pattern is offered and made available for personal use only. If you wish to reproduce this in any way please contact me or make sure that reference is made to the original author’s blog http://www.goodtimesithinkso.blogspot.com/ Thank you Crochet Conversion Chart US/UK International Yarn Weight Conversion Chart
I hope you enjoy using this pattern and if you are looking for other free patterns please visit Crochet Pattern Central

Wednesday Night Project 170210 – The History of The Cloutie Clootie Tree.

Rag trees, clootie wells, and raggedy bushes are English, Scottish, and Irish names for special places with a mystical reputation. People visit in the hope of healing and good fortune and tie a piece of cloth on a particular tree or bush near a well or source of water. Often the tree is a hawthorn (aka whitethorn or maytree).
There are many, many places in the world with a tradition of attaching cloth to special trees as a ritual for good luck, good health, or as a votive offering. Wishing wells and sacred springs of water are widespread too.
A Wish Tree is an individual tree, usually distinguished by species, position or appearance, which is used as an object of wishes and offerings. Such trees are identified as possessing a special religious or spiritual value. By tradition, believers make votive offerings in order to gain from that nature spirit, saint or goddess fulfillment of a wish.
I first discovered these trees when visiting The Samye Ling Centre, Eskdalemuir, Scotland.


Cloutie Tree
As you enter the peace garden from Johnstone House there is a Cloutie tree with colourful cloths tied to its branches.  It is both a Scottish and Tibetan custom to make a wish and then tie a coloured ribbon to the tree.  As the cloth fades the wish is carried off by the elements and hopefully one day comes true.  People are welcome to take a coloured ribbon from the black container beneath the tree, make a small donation in the box and then tie a ribbon to the tree.
My crochet clootie tree. If anyone would like to contribute a crocheted ribbon to the tree please email me at thesunroomuk@googlemail.com

The Clootie Tree – Crochet Gardening

Is There a Machine That Can Crochet ?

Here is a fabulous maybe ‘crochet’ top that I found in a charity/thrift shop last week. I just had to buy it because it’s crochet right? Well take a good look at the pictures and let me know what you think. I can’t decide if it’s machine made or crochet. If it is crochet is there a machine that can crochet? It was my understanding that there wasn’t. Let me know what you think.

Sunroom Easiest Ever Crochet Edging

This really is the easiest ever crochet edging which can be applied to any work or garment and comes up really nice.

This pattern works on any multiples of 1, odd or even.
With the appropriate hook for the yarn used simple *dc, sl st, dc, sl st*, repeat as often as required to edge your item or garment.

This pattern is offered and made available for personal use only. If you wish to reproduce this in any way please contact me or make sure that reference is made to the original author’s blog http://www.goodtimesithinkso.blogspot.com/ Thank you Crochet Conversion Chart US/UK International Yarn Weight Conversion Chart
I hope you enjoy using this pattern and if you are looking for other free patterns please visit Crochet Pattern Central

Pumpkin Trellis Shoulder Wrap

 

This shawl is worked in a basic trellis pattern. Shaping is created through beginning each row with 7ch and then 1 dc into 4th ch.
Materials:
50g pumpkin DK yarn, 6.5mm hook

Pattern:
Ch 100 + 7 (counts as first trellis)
Row 1: dc into 8^th chain from hook, *ch 7, sk 4 ch, dc into next ch*, ** rep to end.
Rows 2 - 13: *ch 7, dc into 4^th ch from previous row*, **rep to end.
Note: Rows 2-13 are worked identically.
To Finish: darn all ends in.
Edging: this wrap doesn’t require an edging and you could apply any that you wish but here I worked as follows.
Row 1: *work 1 dc into 1^st ch, sl st next ch*, ** rep to end.

This pattern is offered and made available for personal use only. If you wish to reproduce this in any way please contact me or make sure that reference is made to the original author’s blog http://www.goodtimesithinkso.blogspot.com/ Thank you Crochet Conversion Chart US/UK International Yarn Weight Conversion Chart
I hope you enjoy using this pattern and if you are looking for other free patterns please visit Crochet Pattern Central

Wednesday Night Project 100210 – Tweave.co.uk

At Tweave, virtual textiles grow and alter as you and others create them by contributing tweets. Explore how contributors are connected by interacting with the resulting virtual woven textiles.
Tweave is a creative project that has been developed by artists Ed Holroyd and Amy Houghton. Follow Tweave on Twitter so we can keep you updated.

What is Tweave?

The idea of Tweave was born out of a dialogue about: the creation of crafts online; crafts and the slow revolution; and textiles and its links to communication, social networking and the development of computer technologies. Tweave also draws inspiration from the fascinating behaviour of the weaver birds who gather and build networks of intricately woven nests in large ‘social groups’ as well as those of us who tweet.
Tweave is a place for anyone to chat, interact, play, create and connect in real time using Twitter. Through the theme of craft and making Tweave will evolve around objects (in the form of hashtags) submitted to this site.
All tweets fed to Tweave are used to create collective online artworks which take the form of interactive virtual woven textiles. These virtual woven textile artworks may merely be a by-product of the tweeting process or may be consciously adapted by the chosen content of the tweets.

Welcome to Tweave

With Tweave you can use Twitter to make, share and chat in real time. Tweet about objects you are making and chat to others about what they are making. Ask questions and offer critiques and advice.

Get started by signing in with Twitter

You can sign in through Twitter. If you are already logged in to Twitter you will just be asked to accept the log in to Tweave. If not, you will need to enter your Twitter username and password. If you do not have a Twitter account, sign up to Twitter.

Add an object

To add an object you need to choose a hashtag. Hashtags are any word included in your tweets that is prefixed with the ‘#’ symbol and are used on Twitter to group tweets. Your hashtag will identify your object which you and others will be able to tweet about.

Find an object

Other people have added objects by giving them a hashtag. You can find these objects by searching for that hashtag.

Send a tweet

Once you have added or found an object you can start sending tweets. Tweave will automatically add the hashtag for that object to your tweet. You can also choose to add an image to your tweet which will appear in the gallery for that object.

View a tweave

Each object has a tweave: a virtual textile that shows all the people that have recently tweeted about this object and the hashtags contained in the other recent tweets by these people. This gives a glimpse at the relationships between the object, people and their peripheral conversations.
tweave.co.uk

Hyperbolic Valentine Red Roses

 
You can use any type of yarn with a suitable hook size. Here I have used a small quantity of red DK yarn (wool & Acrylic blend) and a 4mm hook.
Pattern:
Ch 4, join with a sl st to form a circle.
Rnd 1: make 5 sc into the circle and join with a sl st.
Rnd 2: ch 1, work two sc into each st
Rind 3: (work all subsequent rnds in the round i.e. do not join with a sl st and do not ch at the beginning of a round) 
work two sc into each existing st.
Here I completed 5 rounds and fastened off. If you want a larger flower work more rounds.
 
 
This pattern is offered and made available for personal use only. If you wish to reproduce this in any way please contact me or make sure that reference is made to the original author’s blog http://www.goodtimesithinkso.blogspot.com/ Thank you Crochet Conversion Chart US/UK International Yarn Weight Conversion Chart
I hope you enjoy using this pattern and if you are looking for other free patterns please visit Crochet Pattern Central

Wednesday Night Project 030210 – The Yarn Museum

The Yarn Museum is, initially, a virtual site whose purpose is to honor the artistry and beauty of handspun yarn from spinners around the world. It went online in December 2006 and continues to evolve.
Since yarn has so often been used to make other items such as hats, sweaters, rugs, this site delights in the (possibly) transitory state that yarn is in before it becomes the materials of something else - whether knitted, crocheted, woven or displayed in a bowl.
The Circle of Advisors (listed at left), are spinners who've agreed to check in on how things are going and offer their thoughts. They are all wonderful spinners who love what they do, and have offered a wealth of information and support. Please visit their sites to see many different perspectives on handspinning. I am a spinner and I love yarn. Although I started the project, The Museum will be a collaborative effort among all the spinners who want to participate, including you, The Growing Circle and The Circle of Advisors.
How you can be involved: tell us what you'd like to see on the site. Offer links to great information that you and others have made available. Tell us about sites we should link to. Write articles, if you like. Submit your pictures for inclusion in the online shows.
I hope you like what you see as you look around the site. More information is always being added. If you have questions, please drop me an email: lindaATyarnmuseumDOTcom Thank you for stopping by!
Please respect the copyrights of all the artists on these pages by NOT downloading images for your own personal use without their express permission. All handspun yarn images and individual yarns remain the property of the artist who created them.
Click here to visit the Yarn Museum

Rowan Knitting & Crochet Magazine 46

Winter 2009 is about all things handmade with the emphasis being firmly on traditional crafts. The demand for ageless knitwear offering quality, luxury and longevity is coupled with the continuing trend for natural fibres and is reflected in the following three stories:
Inspired by the privileged classes of the 1920’s countryside, Heritage is eccentrically English and includes striped, patterned and lace womenswear designs. Soft greens and greys contrast beautifully with rich heather purples, golds and chestnut.
Vivid autumn colour is the inspiration behind Folklore, which explores traditional folk designs including tartans, plaids, fairisle, tweeds and texture. Versatile and wearable, the designs are coloured with hues of greens, rich berries and hints of gold.






Click here to get your copy.