Somewhere in My World 2010 International Freefrom Fiberarts Guild Show

Click here to see the exhibition.

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100% of the profits from this book will be donated evenly to Kiva.org Mercy Corp for Haitian Relief

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Baby Developmental Ball

This is a relatively easy ball to make for any new baby. It is hyperbolic but don’t be intimidate by the word. I think this ball is developmental because of the shape, texture, formation and of course, the black and white colour.

Why Black and White? High Contrast Colors are STILL the best. Newborns can see from birth, just not as clearly as an older child or adult. Until your child is about six months of age, he will respond best to bold, contrasting colors and graphics. That’s why it’s important to provide your baby with toys that feature the visual extremes of black, white and red. These high-contrast colors will captivate and hold baby’s attention, encouraging visual development as well as physical activity – like wiggling, kicking, and arm waving.Genius Babies
Materials:
50g white double knitting or worsted yarn
Black dk to do the final round, 5mm hook.
Pattern:
Chain 3 and join with sl st.
Work 5 sc into the ring and join with sl st,
Rnd 1-7 from here onwards work continuously in dbsc round and around. Do not join the rounds with sl st. You may wish to use a stitch marker to count the rounds.
Rnd 8 – single dc into each st
Rnd 9 – work 1 sc, 1 dbsc all around.
Rnd 10 – join the black and work one continuous round in single sc.


If you appreciate my pattern and idea then please consider voting for my little blog The Sunroom
If you are looking for other free crochet patterns then please go to Crochet Pattern Central

What Do You Want ? Brainstorming -Giveaway

Have you ever the old saying that a ‘watched kettle never boils’ ? Well that was how I’ve felt this week. I’m as sick as all of you with the ‘postal strikes’ and waiting for mail that never arrives.
I’d given up thinking about new yarns and then as if by magic the postman arrived with a box full of goodies for me. This beautiful yarn has come from Yarn Market. Despite the recent postal strikes in the UK this arrived swiftly and in perfect condition. This wool is Caledon Hills and is so snugly, soft and beautiful. I now have quite a dilemma – what will I do with it?
Caledon Hills comes in 72 different shades and two different weights chunky and worsted or double knitting for us in the UK.
Here are my colours :-)

Lavender

Meadow

Goldenrod

Golden Finch

Sweet Pea
So what will I create with it ? I have two embryonic ideas but am enjoying just looking at it and touching it at the moment. The texture is so heavenly. I love the ideas stage.
I want to create a couple of new patterns for all of you. So here is my proposal. Leave me a comment with your idea for a new knitting or crochet pattern and the most original idea/suggestion will win 100g of this lovely yarn. Please note that this is open to anyone worldwide not just the UK. I will create the design and publish it freely for you all to use. I will run this until the 31st October, 2009 and will notify the winner on that date.
Oh and just in case I haven’t nagged you all enough already, about this, please can you vote for my little blog in the Dorset Cereal awards. The Sunroom ‘Vote Here’ and Thank You

The Green Shoots of Rocket

Hi Everyone,

No I didn’t say green shoots of recovery but rocket. After my gardening frenzy at the weekend I realised how negligent I had been in terms of growing things this year. This seems absurd to me now given I have a big area for vegetables and a greenhouse, shame on me. Anyway as some form of last minute gesture I decided to plant lots of green things to see us through the winter. So on Saturday I planted rocket seeds which we love in our house, children being the exception.

Rocket is so easy to grow – seeds planted Saturday and already sprouted this morning (Wednesday) – hurrah.

I have started the seeds on the kitchen windowsill and they will continue to grow there, or outside or in the greenhouse well into winter.

Rocket being harvested – hopefully me in a few weeks time.

Yesterday we actually got some sunshine again, a rare occurrence at this moment in time. I decided then to plant some perpetual spinach which will hopefully germinate in the coming days. This plant will continue to grow well through winter as leaves are picked off for use it will grow and grow again. By next spring we’ll all be Popeye!

Next up I’m intending to plant garlic in the greenhouse for planting out in spring. I am also going to sew lettuce for salad leaves through the winter. Anyway all the hyperactivity in the garden at the weekend pruning, shaping, trimming and chopping has left me with aching blistered hands. This hasn’t exactly been conducive to crocheting my current rag rug. The 15mm crochet hook doesn’t sit with ease in my hand.

As ever I have gone off on a variety of creative tangents. Firstly a new healing, comfort – prayer shawl.

Whoa well my healing prayer shawl is now finished which is great as it means I can get on with completing one of the other various WIP’s (work’s in progress). I will write up this pattern later and hopefully post it on the blog tonight – I will write the pattern in both US and UK terms. I have already blogged about prayer shawls here http://goodtimesithinkso.blogspot.com/2009/08/vegetarian-haggis.html

I made this healing shawl up as I had made one a couple of weeks ago and forgot to photograph it prior to sending it off to the recipient. The Prayer shawl was warmly welcomed and has been used extensively in the recuperation post major surgery and ultimately a life changing experience. It delights me to think that it may have brought comfort in a time of need. The lady that I gave it to has used it in a traditional way, around the shoulders, but also upon her lap. The comfort of stroking a textured shawl is reassuring in itself.

This is a good basic pattern to have in your armoury let’s face it we never know what life is going to throw at us, our loved ones and our friends and neighbours. I chose a very textured loop yarn as in my opinion texture is an important aspect of any shawl. The loop yarn that I used is a green and teal mixture and crocheted up to look very earthy. I’m pleased with the end result and hope that some of you too will like it.

As previously mentioned a good starting place for detailed information is http://www.shawlministry.com/

According to this resource the symbolic meaning of the colours I have used is as follows.

Green – Earth, Healing, Prosperity, Fertility, Clarity, Sympathy, Hope, Renewal, Health, Balance, Confidence, Abundance, Growth, Life.

Mentally and physically relaxing.

Teal – Trustworthy, Devotion.

How wonderful to think that my healing shawl could be imbued with these qualities. Regardless these qualities are symbolized by the colour choice. So choose your yarn according to the beneficiaries needs.

I spent a large part of yesterday preparing fabrics for the ongoing rag rug and again this probably hasn’t helped my aching hands. I also made the decision to write up my pattern for my spiral scarf except this one is a knitted version of my crocheted one.

I am hoping to get the scarf complete tomorrow.

I had better post this so that I can get on. More photographs to be taken, a scarf to be completed and a pattern to be documented.

Again have a great day.

Tate – Colour Chart

Tah Dah – I’m as pleased as punch that one of my photographs made it into the Tate colour chart online. I just learned about this late yesterday and spent way too long online watching the colour chart continuously transform in front of my eyes. It’s almost like a seamless, endless optical illusion. It is both captivating and compelling – well it is to me anyway.

‘In conjunction with the exhibition Colour Chart: Reinventing Colour, 1950 to Today Tate Liverpool invites you to contribute your own colour monochromes to this group. Photographs submitted to the group will be shown on Tate Online, and a 36 images will be used to make a glossy Colour Chart poster.
Photos from the group will be displayed on the exhibition website on Tate Online and the poster we create will also be displayed at Tate Liverpool. ‘

By a matter of pure chance I managed to get a screen shot of my photograph as it emerged. Above top left second row.

http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/exhibitions/colourchart/photos.shtm

Here cropped into a mosaic. All of the individual images can be viewed online at the Tate although it may take a while to see all 4000 + images. The original images are all still viewable on flickr here

http://www.flickr.com/groups/colourchart/

My original photo which probably says more about me – yes a supplement junkie. Anyway I hope you like the exhibition and the colour chart. I have a big smile on my face for now.

Have a great day.