Freeform crochet......

..... the most fun you can have while still breathing.

I had to take a trip to the 'big city' yesterday.  Well, not really the big city, the medium-sized city.

So of course I had to pop into 'spotlight' for a bit of a peek.

And guess what I came out with?

Ta-dah!!!!!

Surprise, surprise - another book!

I think it was this bag that caught my attention......

The colours are much nicer than the photograph.

Now, what do you think you're going to need for freeform crochet/knitting stuff?  Yarn stash of course!

So I'v been ferreting through the drawers and came up with this......

...and this....

..... and this....

When I do 'normal' crochet, I pretty well stick to 8ply wool, but this stuff requires different weights, textures, colours etc.

Now, I had JUST gone through the process of being ruthless with my yarn stash. I cleaned out my cupboards last week, and decided that seeing as I hadn't touched the yarn in that cupboard for YEARS, it had to go.

I had thrown the bag into the trailer - destined for the tip.

It had been sitting there for at least a week.

In the rain.

But......

....luckily it was in a zipped bag!

Ah well, so much for being ruthless.

Along with different yarns, you should have a supply of various sized hooks and any other bits, bobs and embellishments you can find.

So armed with yarn and hooks and book, I set to the task of mastering freeform in a night (joke).

Needed to go to the font of all information first though - off to search crochet blogs for tutorials.

I found this one - Carla's Freeform crochet scarf tutorial.  It is well worth having a look.

Don't you love that statement - "add yarn and crochet anywhere"

Anyway, the idea seems to be that you do what you like.

Start with some foundation chain, maybe about 20, but it's up to you.

Then you crochet back into the foundation chain, anywhere, any-yarn, any-stitch.

(Are you starting to hyperventilate?  Like, really what do you mean 'anywhere, any-yarn, any-stitch'?)

Change colours, and stick the hook back in anywhere.  At this stage, I was basically using DC's, half trebles, trebles (UK terms).

Then I started to get braver and did some scallopy bits.

And then I got really fancy and added in some eyelash yarn.

No need to worry what stitches you do with that - you can't see them anyway.

Then came some granny stitch....

......and so on.  You get the picture.

Now, I have to mention, that the way I'm doing this scarf/thingy is not the way it is in the book. 

The internet tut does it this way, just continuously adding on to the starting point in one big piece.

The book, however, makes up little palm-sized pieces, called 'scrumbles', then joins them together to form one piece at the end.

You know what they say,

"In olden days a touch of stocking,

was looked on as something shocking,

now heaven knows,

Anything goes!"

Well, it does in the world of freeform at least.

cheers

Fi

Domesticity the freedom to create - Part One

If you are in the mood, today is the day that I will 'wax lyrical' (gosh, who says that? Really?) about the joys and wonders of achieving the freedom to create, through being a domestic goddess.

Ah-hem...... drum roll please.

Ok, here goes.

Now, anyone that knows me, is probably rolling their eyes and thinking, 'who does she think she is talking about being a domestic godess?'

You see, about half my life is lived in chaos, and the other half is organisational bliss.  (can anyone out there relate to that?  I think it might be epidemic in the crafting world....)

But, the thing is, you see, when I do get, I really, really get it.

And I think as I get older (and wiser ;) ) more time is spent without the chaos.  Quite simply, because I've now had enough experience to know that organised is better.

Infinitely better.

(caviat: if you are a super-organised person, and you really can't work out what on earth I am talking about, because, you're thinking, but doesn't this all just come naturally?

All three of you are free to ignore this post. 

You probably have by now anyway)

Now, for the rest of us.

Most of you, like me, have probably been on all the organisational internet sites, drooled over pictures of domestic havens, run by women with their lipstick and highheels on before 7.00am, joined up for the 'flylady' mailing lists (who can keep up with all the emails?), or you have a shelf full of self-help books and magazines .

Some of those things can work, but its often short-lived (I found the Barbara Felton "messies manual" books useful).  But I have now come to realise that there a few 'foundational' principles that help me have a modicum (sp?) of control in my life.

Here are some of them.

Let me get right to the hinge of organisational tools for the domestically-challenged - get this one sorted and, no kidding, half the job is done!!

 The Organisational Folder.

...and what goes right along with that?

Glad you asked - it's the Weekly Menu Planner.

....and not to forget the daily list.

So - thats

1. Organisational folder - the 'heavy lifter' of the crew

2. The Weekly Menu Planner - the 'life-saver' of the crew

3. The daily list - the 'short-term memory helper' of the crew

The Organisational folder.....

.... is where I keep my recipes, shopping lists, menu plans, lists, routines, etc.

Now, to start with, you might not have much in the way of routines in there, but the essential thing is, to work out WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE FIRST.

In other words - the 'priority pyramid'

Now, as you can see from the 'expert's chart' above (teeheee), the you can move things around to suit your needs, but the bottom two are non-negotiable!

If you are living in utter chaos most of the time, if you only made sure there was dinner on the table at the appropriate time every night and you had clothes to wear - then I promise you, your life would improve a thousand percent.

Honest.

You don't need to conquer the world in one day.

Just one corner of it.

So, it's based on survival principles.

What can you not survive without?

No, its not crochet.  It's food.  Well, maybe you can survive on crochet, BUT your family can't.

So, to start with, your daily routine might just be, for example:

Mondays

1. Put on load of washing,

2. Put dinner in the crockpot, or prepare dinner and put in fridge till tea-time, for example

3. Hang out washing, or put in drier.

4. Put washing away when dry.

5.  Evening - take something out of freezer for tomorrow.

Tuesdays

1. Put on load of washing,

2. Put dinner in the crockpot, or prepare dinner and put in fridge till tea-time, for example

3. Hang out washing, or put in drier.

4. Go food shopping

5. Clean bathroom

6. Put washing away when dry.

7. Evening - take something out of freezer for tomorrow.

The Weekly Menu Planner and shopping lists....

.....are just as important as the organisational folder.

The biggest hindrance for me to get meals ready, is not knowing what to cook, and even if I did, I might not have the ingredients.

With the meal planners, all the thinking is done already, and the shopping lists have been written out and in the folder for each menu plan.

I like to work on about 3 weekly menu plans. 

It might take you a couple of days of sitting down and working out, BUT IT WILL SAVE YOU OODLES OF TIME AND BRAIN STRAIN.

In the morning, you would write out your amended routine for the day (as in, everything you NEED to accomplish, and realistically can achieve, that day) on to a piece of paper (Your Daily List). 

 Include the steps for making the meal, like 'prepare vegetables', make pie, or whatever.

I then cross off each item as I do it.

This is very important. Don't skip this step.

It gives you a sense of achievement.  You can build on your success.

You might also have noticed that I have put the meal preparation, dinner cooking in the a.m.  That was deliberate.  I never feel like cooking dinner at dinner-time.  Ive used up most of my energy by then.  This is the most important job, so do it when your energy level is highest.  It is much better to have a reheated meal than no meal at all.....

So, have I bored you yet?  Are any of you still here?

Good. 

This is a bit of a pictorial of yesterday's routine.

First of all, I made bread. Now, I know that making bread sounds like a lot of effort and maybe not essential if you can just buy it.  But for me, it is essential - for health reasons.  And the sort of bread I make is too expensive to buy on a regular basis for that good a quality.

So for me, it is a 'must do'.

As I live in a small village, I buy my wheat in bulk, it makes the cost of the bread sooooooo much cheaper, and I grind it in the electric grinder. 

All I do is chuck in the wheat, press the button, come back a few minutes later and its all done.  Brilliant.

This is my grinder.

Here is my dough being kneaded in the mixer.

I know it sounded like bread making was a lot of work, but not the way I do it. 
The machine grinds the wheat, I mix it with starter, salt and water, then the other machine kneads the dough.

And it gets cut in half and popped into tins.

Now, did I mention above that on the weekly menu planner I have written what needs to be done for each meal, like soaking things the day before.  I just need to glance at my folder and I know what I need to do, without working it all out.

Tomorrow I am having chicken curry.

That means today I put a whole chicken in the crockpot (I didn't have to remember that, it was on my list).  I'll use the meat of it for curry, and a chicken salad the next day.  I'll put the bones back in and make stock.

Again, brilliant!

I sometimes like to add in a bit of astragalus root to the stock - very good for the immune system.

.....some onion and garlic

..... some sea salt

..... some celery and some water.

The added bonus of having the crockpot on, is that I can put the bread tins next to it to rise.

Check that the bed is made.... check.

Take a quick photo of the chair cover on the way past.

Back to the kitchen to make tonights dinner - vegetarian shepherd's pie.

A sudden whim to photograph the cake stand my sister gave me for my birthday.....

Washing machine is on.

Time for my reward.

A cup of tea and some almond biscuits......

..... and some time for creative freedom.

A bit of 'hooky' time, working on the edging (yes the edging, so very nearly finished) of my stripey blanket.

Eventually, I will do a part two to this post, and tell you about the Barbara Felton concept (borrowed from George Washington) called 'Mt. Vernon-ising'. 

cheers

Fi

Happy Birthday Nate

I saw your true colours, shining through -

beautiful - like a rainbow,

Love Mum

xxx

8/2/1983 - 7/3/2007

A Morning of Folk Painting

Even though my head has still been suffering from January-itis, I ventured into the studio (just a fancy word for the room at the end of the shed) to try and get the creative juices flowing.

I did the best thing I know to whet the appetite - a frolick through the pages of my folk painting books, collected over many years.  Although I have quite a few of these books, there used to be many more, but I ruthlessly culled through them some time ago, only keeping the ones that were my favourites.  One day I'll do a post and show you the ones I kept. 
Of course, most of these are by my favourite folk painter, Jo Sonja Jansen. 


Anyway, this is the book I picked to doodle out of - the 'Painted Tin' book.

I like the naive-ish/rusticky (don't you just love making up words!) style of these tin pieces, so I played around with some of the ideas to put on mini canvases.

Can you see the red jug on the top left?

I used that piece to paint this one first.

It made me so happy to just sit and paint and create this little birdy.

There hasn't been a lot of time lately to do things like this. 

I am now the carer for my sick mother, who we have just moved from Victoria to NSW to be near us.  That was 3 days after Christmas.  We had my sister's wedding with lots of visitors before that, etc. etc. etc.

So, to just sit and doodle with a brush, was, to say the least, refreshing.

I know I managed to crochet my afri-bag, but crochet is different.  You can just sit down at night and do it without much thinking.  Painting is different.  My husband doesn't appreciate paint splatters on the sofa.....

Anyway, after doing the first one, I decided to paint two more, but different.

A pale background, with the bird facing the other way and a few other little changes.

And a purple one, which looked like this half-way through -

And progressed to this -

And finally this -

Here are my 3 little birds in a row.

Cheers

Fi

Afri-Flower Bag Unveiling

I did mean to finish off kitty first.

Honest.

But, it was taking FOREVER to crochet those arms and legs, and after eating junk at Christmas, my head is not playing patient, soooooooo.........

The African Flower Bag!  (which saw here on ravelry)

I did my joining differently, choosing to have a visible ridge between blocks.

The side views.

I also chose to line mine, which the ravelry version wasn't.

I cut out the fabric to be roughly a centimetre wider than the crochet shape.

Then I pinned.

Then I clipped the inside corners.

Then  I turned the lining under and stiched to the crochet with sewing thread (cotton).  I made sure to stitch the lining underneath the top row of crochet, as that would need to be free to finish joining the bag.

Now it gets crocheted together to form sides.

I crocheted the handles on and the edging around the top of the bag.

Maybe next post will be the finished kitty cat - but I'm not promising anything......

cheers

Fi