More than just a crochet hook

It's a riddling rack! Riddling is a part of the process of making champagne. The bottles are put into a riddling rack, and whatever sediment is in the bottles comes to the cork end of the bottle. Every day or so, someone comes along and gives each bottle a shake and a twist. Finally, the cork end is frozen, the sediment is taken off the frozen end, the cork reinserted, and on with the rest of the process.

I just thought it was a pretty cool way to store wine bottles in a house that has precious little floor space left.

The wood on the face of it - the parts with the holes - are made from what used to be a door frame. I found that on eBay. The side panel is from wood that used to be a fence and was going to be burned. My buddy Rudy saved it from the fiery fate and gave me a piece of it. It is ALL oak, which matches everything else in our house.

It hangs on the wall next to the kitchen door - handy for dinner, yet out of the way. The good people at True Value Hardware are my go-to peeps for all things hardware-ish. They helped me figure out a way to attach it to the wall. So far it has @ 15 bottles, and it is holding up nicely.

And I don't even drink wine! That's Chris' territory.

Aunt Joy

Please click on any photo to see it enlarged.

This is my Aunt Joy and her doggie Ana. Joy is my mother's sister, and had a large part in getting me started in the world. When my dad died, she came to the funeral, and at that time invited Chris and me to come visit in Sugarland, Texas. We decided, on sort of short notice, to take her up on her offer. I worked furiously, but was unable to finish a blanket for her before we left. I brought it with me in the hopes that I might finish it while on vacation. Pack the hook, the yarn, find some kindergarten type blunt nose scissors, the label, needle and thread. Good idea, but I forgot one essential item. The pattern.

Dward was taking care of our kitties back at the house, so I asked him to send me the file in an email. The two days I could have been crocheting non stop were the two days I spent waiting for that file. After it arrived, there was too much else going on, what with seeing the sights in and around Sugarland and Houston, so the blanket got finished after we got home again.

Here's the clip art I used as a template for the dove, along with the finished product. Finding just the right font, size and position for the name was something Chris and I spent a fair amount of time working out.

Let's Try Something New

Inspiration! This guy Bob, nicknamed KnottyMale, makes some knockout stuff. Click the link and go see his work. I've admired his artistry for some time, and decided to try making a bag. A simple bag - how hard could it be?

Ok, it's not a flat surface like a blanket or a rug, but I bet I can figure it out. No, once again no patterns were made. I just made an excel file for the swirly design, and off I went. It was well under way, and got ripped out again and again to correct small issues. Then I decided that if it was worth doing at all, it was worth doing well. There does not seem to be such a thing as a practice piece when it comes to crochet. With all the time I was putting in to figuring this out, I wanted to have something nice at the end of it. So it all got ripped out again, down to the first row. Part of the issue was the inside of the bag. Why not get it to look nice? See the pretty row of purple stitches up the inside? They line up just so now. They don't show on the outside.

The handle was fun. Remember, I had never done this before. I have no idea how other people put on their handles, but mine is a continuous sort of thing. The handle or strap makes a half twist from one side of the bag to the other. That way, I could make the purple line that runs through the handle. Make sure it twists at the other end where it attaches again. Then you just follow it around the rim, over the handle, around the other rim, over the handle again, etc. until it looks like it is done.

Most of my work is crocheted back loop only. In this piece, the purple, ONLY the purple of the design is worked in both loops. This was an attempt to do away with the line that appears across work done back loop only. But I failed to take into account that that dreaded line shows up better the lighter the color of yarn. So although there is no 'line' in the purple design, you don't notice it. Maybe next time the body of the piece will be darker and the design in a lighter hue.

This is Caron One Pound Acrylic Worsted Weight, done with an I hook. It is tapestry crochet throughout, to make the fabric denser and sturdier. It covers the carried yarn quite well, I think. The spiral design is from Celtic Charted Designs by Co Spinhoven.

Black and White Celtic border

The pattern for this hat and scarf set is from a wonderful book: Celtic Charted Designs by Co Spinhoven. I love this book and turn to it often for inspiration and ideas.

The yarn is Sirdar Snowflake, polyester. The yarn took some getting used to, since it is very thin with tufts. I spent a lot of time looking for the stitch on the previous row to crochet into. Has anyone ever gone blind doing crochet work with teensy fluffy yarn?

Red and Yellow Stripes

Stripes! Sort of a Cat in the Hat sort of thing, eh? The colors were determined by the yarn on hand. Someone on Freecycle gave me several trash bags full of all kinds of yarn. Such luck! The hat is Tapestry Crochet, which makes it not as stretchy. The scarf is done in alternating rings of color. Next time I'll try doing the hat that way.

Wavy Experiment

Now that I have a knack for making hats, experimentation is the thing. Remember the yarn I received as a door prize at the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival? It is in various shades of blue, so another try with wave action seemed to be in order. This time, the waves are more random, which made the hat more of a challenge. But the hat fits, and is warmer than I would have thought. With the scarf, you'll be toasty until the temp gets down into the thirties or so.

Here you can see the waves a little better.

Lucky You!

In March I posted the following on my Facebook page:
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Lucky You!

I don't know where this started but, it came to me from a person I admire and I love the idea!- The first four people to respond to this note will get something made by me. My choice. For you. Conditions: - What I create will be just for you, and I'll definitely put a lot of love in it. - I make no guarantees that you will like what I make! I promise to try. - You will have no clue what the item is going to be. It could be a story or a CD. It could be a piece of handmade jewelry or potholder. I may draw, paint, collage or crochet something. I might bake you something and mail it to you. I may grow you a plant. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure! - I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. The catch? The catch is that in order to receive a gift, you have to re-post this and make and send out four surprises of your own, so if you aren't gonna follow through and make something for four others, you get nothing from me. Come on people, who doesn't like getting mail? If I did not tag you it is still Ok to Post. I did put a bit of thought into those I tagged. In your responses put your address (unless you're certain I already have it) and your favorite color.

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I got one, count them, ONE reply. So I decided to send ALL of my somethings made by me to her. I know that she has a husband and three kids, so instead of four things, I bent the rule and made five. I hope they enjoy.