Coasters galore

Now that I'm back crocheting again I find it almost impossible to stop!

Following the whole doily thing I was driven to make some coasters . . . 

. . . then some more . . . 

. . . and then some more . . .

. . . and then even more.

Cute and practical!

Blade sharpener review

I bought my rotary blade sharpener from Amazon (here). It arrived promptly but I had to wait a few days before I was able to use it and try out my newly sharpened blade.

Sharpener unpacked and ready to go!

Cutter dismantled and blade exposed 

Blade slotted onto one half of the holder and ready to be screwed into place

Blade in place for sharpening (the sharpening edge/circle is in the background) 

Once inserted in the sharpening circle, place on light side first and turn 12 times,
turn over the blade and do the same again for that side.
Turn over the sharpener and do the same on the dark side.

The sharpener works very well and I was quickly able to sharpen my blade, reinsert it into my handle and cut plenty more bias.

Positives:
– pretty inexpensive when you take into account the cost of new blades
– small and easy to stow
– easy to use (with lots of care)

Negatives:
– cutter has to be dismantled and blade fully exposed to use
– the blade and holder need to be turned over (which needs to be done with a lot of care)
– the holder and blade just sit in the sharpening circle and are not 'locked' in
– there is no safety guard on the sharpener

Conclusion:
With due care this is a really nifty little addition to my toolbox. However it does need to be used with a great degree of care.

A word of warning: a blade sharp enough to cut fabric is more than sharp enough to cut human.

I don't have full pics of the process, I'm afraid, because I got a little casual with the sharpener and cut myself. Cue bleeding and steri-strips for a week. My accident did spotlight the safety aspects quite nicely!

(For both work and crafting I've used cutters and scalpels for many years but was obviously a bit TOO relaxed when using this. It hasn't put me off. Lesson learned.)

Pretty posy

 

I'm supposed to be working flat out for a craft market/late summer fair next Saturday but couldn't resist the temptation to make a nice flowery crochet necklace.

The stem/chain was made a bit more substantial by running a line of chain and then slip stitching back along it. The flowers are made up of five clusters of chain and double treble crochet and the centres are stitched. Very pretty, I think.

Blunt blades and curses galore

My cutting mat and metal rule mock me

Having blunted my rotary cutter on my metal rule I needed to cut quite a lot of bias binding using scissors – I already have a few blades, all blunted in the same way! Cue much muttering and not inconsiderable carpel tunnel niggles.

I've been putting off investing in a sharpener but no more! Here it is.

Review to follow . . . 

Progress

Latest progress on the lacy, flowery scarf. This is much more what I want to achieve.

When worn the weight pulls the chain straight and makes the pattern considerably more linear but, while I suspect I will work on some ideas to make it even more open, I think this is very pretty.

The lovely slatey blue yarn is a blend of cotton, silk and cashmere. It has a nasty tendency to split if not treated with care while being worked but I think it is worth the extra effort as it is wonderfully soft to the touch.

To doily or not to doily

My earliest adventures in crochet were due to a kind gift from an elderly neighbour of my gran's. She presented me with an ancient chocolate box filled with mercerised cottons and a tiny steel hook. What a thrill!

My gran's house was adorned with doilies, complete with 3D flowers, which cushioned many family photographs. Most of these were created by my aunt, who was a definitely a dab hand with a hook and although she wasn't involved in my lessons her work was always around to inspire. My gran could do the basic stitches and so taught me what she could and set me on my way.

I spent many hours with this magical box, thinking of what wonders I would create.

The reality is that I bore quickly with shop-bought patterns – preferring to work things out as I go – and doilies with #40 crochet cotton, multi-coloured pansies and a 1mm hook were just never going to happen. I did manage a couple of doilies before I moved on to wool and hooks I don't have to strain my eyes to see but I still have the box and I still love looking through it. Good memories I guess.

And so to my current dilemma . . .

I want to create an open, lacy, crochet scarf (doily-ish). I have a pattern (Patons Crochet Booklet 3244)  but although it's not quite what I want it makes me think a lacy scarf will not be too difficult.

I was thinking loose and lacy and flowery all at the same time so played around with hook sizes, flower sizes and lengths of chain.

First attempts

There are a few niggling problems so, to help me figure out where I was going wrong, I decided to make up a sample from the pattern in the book.

The Patons lacy wrap

The Patons pattern worked out surprisingly solid so I'll definitely persevere with my own version but it was a pretty informative exercise all the same.

Seeing the samples together confirmed that I want this to be loose and lacy

The pretty box lid

Sunshine at Aberlady

Sunshine, miles of golden sand and a submarine – a fantastic day in East Lothian!

My PEEDIE messenger bag makes an appearance at the beach.
This black and cream version is the well-tested prototype for the ones in my shop.