currently loving ...

... working on this 

another northbound knitting pattern and THAT yarn!

the idea of this crochet retreat in Marrakech that I found out about at Crochet Concupiscence

A creative event in Jeddah!

this bag

this clever idea - Tashkeil is a local organisation and this infographic highlights how they help independent designers. You do have to have some knowledge of the Arabic script and the vowel system to fully appreciate the concept. To give you an idea, the red icon at the top is "fat-ha" which, in Arabic, gives the vowel sound similar to the "a" in "apple", obtained by the opening of the jaws. Here it is used to depict the opening of minds!

The seven habits of calmness

and cleaning out my inboxes! 

What are you in to these days?

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13. risk

... of not having enough yarn to finish a project 

... of not putting in to use something that I've made

... of not having it turn out the way I want it to

... of not having the motivation to finish a project

... of sharing something and nobody caring ... lol!

I'll take the risk!

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small crochet

I've been crocheting with a 1.5 mm hook for a lifetime (it seems). I will persevere and see this project to the end in sha Allah! Then, I will grab a hook in the range of 4 to 6 mm and crochet with a skip and a jump! I may pick up one of the two blankets I'd started on. I might even hook up a Ribbon Accent bag! 

Or even knit something like this Amari shawl!

It makes me ponder a little more about the issue of making money out of a hobby. Do you still enjoy what you do once you have looming deadlines over your head and customers negotiating prices? If you do sell your handmade goods, is it better to make and sell (for example, on Etsy) than to take orders for customised items? What's your take on this? 

Speaking of the smaller hook size, remember the bangle motif? Elena over at ArtEC has just made a video tutorial for it (she has made it in to earrings though, which is great!) ... in Italian! Isn't that just ... bellissimo?

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my creative space - an old wip

The last time I had mojo issues, I started crocheting up some squares. So this time, I decided to do something about them!

I did think of making 11 squares work somehow as that's the number I had sitting in my wip bag. But no, you can't do much with 11 squares and have a functional finished item.

something pretty square

So I added a square. And that one square made all the difference. 

I ended up with this whimsical, too-pastel-for-me, quite summery bag.

No lining necessary, because that's how I like it. The cotton is pretty tough and the fabric is strong. It makes me think of going to the market! And it looks like usual Jeddah weather is BACK!


Here are some beautiful and more sophisticated looking projects using the same square.  

1. Maude and Me 2. Words and Needles 3. plus3 crochet 4.ChickieDees

This one is not a square but a hexagon made using a similar method.

5. colour in a simple life

I'm quite sure at this moment in time, that I will not use this bag for myself and that someone else in my household will take ownership of it. I have to get used to that when there are three of us girls in the house! There is an up side though. On Tuesday, they teamed up and produced a batch of chocolate chip cookies for the very.first.time with NO supervision and then yesterday the eldest (she's 12 now) cooked a tuna pasta bake for lunch, again no supervision. I think they did a superb job of feeding the family Ma sha Allah! 


More creative spaces here.


Ok, on second thoughts ... maybe I will use the bag. It seems to be growing on me!

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my creative space - cleaning up

Today is officially the first day of summer holidays for the kids. So to kick-start it, we've been cleaning up! Oh yes. I'm trying to get organised because we have a few things planned. But oh what a chore, to clean and sort and re-arrange ... and to always have to stop and smile at an old photo or hand-written note! 

Somehow, I've been doing a little hooking too.

Finally trying out some Japanese flowers.

And some baby boy-ish hexagons.

And once upon a time, I taught someone a couple of crochet stitches and sent her on her way. She's hooked up blankets and hats and a bunch of other things, including this lovely bag for me! Ma sha Allah and jazah Allahu khayra!

As always, lots more creative spaces here.
Oh again! The giveaway ends today!

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fixing up the hex bag

The task at hand was to fix dd8's Hex Bag that had horrible holes  in it ... and keep it that way!  

But first a little disclaimer of sorts:  The hexagon pattern I used for the bag is the Attic24 Hexagon How-To.  It's the same one I've used for the Hex blanket-that-might-not-continue-to-be-a-blanket, in the previous post and here.  The pattern is a good one, especially as it's of the join-as-you-go variety.  So, why did it fall apart?  I LoVe to crochet.  Oops, I've said that before!  But I'm not so passionate about sewing.  Plus, I didn't even have a sewing machine when I crocheted this bag (I still don't.  I'm STILL borrowing one.)  Anyway, many of us are really in to one craft (like crochet) and and not in to another (like knitting!) and just can't manage others (like sewing).  BUT, crocheting a bag in any stitch bigger than a single crochet (US term) and then giving it to an 8 year old, who then goes on to stuff it silly with things that are larger than the bag itself (because it's nice and stretchy) means only one thing ...

... it needs a LINING.  

So first of all, the stitches had to be undone up to the damaged section and re-crocheted.

Then, a lining was stitched up.

With french seams incase they can be seen through the spaces between the hexagon stitches.  [I don't own a sewing machine so of course I didn't know what a French seam was let alone how to sew one!  Great tutorial here.]

Finally, the lining was hand-sewn in to the inside of the crocheted bag with the aid of another brilliant tutorial.

I just thought it might be worth mentioning that I started off pinning the lining to the bag with the pins lying horizontally.  It was quite painful!  Then I decided to pin them vertically and didn't have any pin pricks at all.

 

Et voila!  A Hex bag that she can no longer over-stuff or over-stretch but hopefully over-use in sha Allah! 

So you see, being able to sew just means you can do MORE with your crochet projects!

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backpacking

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Yesterday, this ...

became this ...

and then this...
A mini backpack for dd9 to take on a school trip.

Then, this ...

became ...

and then ...


and finally...


Another mini backpack but this time for dd7!

I loved crocheting the hexagons. I used Lucy's pattern and really enjoyed it. I made the half hexes up myself to get the rectangular shape. Putting the bag together was a little fiddly but I couldn't stop stroking the hexagons and thinking, "What a lovely blanket these would make!" A fair bit of weaving in was needed with this one.


I HATE weaving in ends! Both bags have drawstring handles so they have eyelet rows at the tops. And both girls are happy with their bags. Now the question is: Should the next big project be grannies or hexagons?

But first, I need to go and get some goodies together for a bake sale.

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