Foundation Stitches - got it!

I am still learning my craft and I have tried on a few occasions to follow video tutorials which aim to teach me  how to make foundation stitches instead of starting with chains. I have failed abysmally until today when I found these easy to follow videos on the Crochet for Cancer site. So I am feeling very pleased with myself for mastering these techniques:

• Foundation double crochet (sc in US)
• Foundation half treble (half dc in US)
• Foundation treble (dc in US) 

 In particular, I liked the fact that the presenter took her time and also some of the tutorials were in slow motion for slow learners like me. Great!

Foundation stitches give a stretchier edge to the beginning of a piece of work than working with a simple chain stitch, so are useful when you want some 'give' along the starting edge of a garment.

You can also follow Crochet for Cancer on Facebook. The flower in this post is their emblem.

Do any of you out there crochet for any charities?

Finished at last!

Ah-ha! I've finished the bag I was crocheting for a friend's birthday with two days to spare. Here's a picture of it...

I'm pleased with the result, especially as it is my own design both for the bag and flower. I have posted the pattern on Ravelry and Craftsy.

Now to move onto something else. Mm.mm.mm.mm... but what?

I was wondering whether to keep this for myself...

 A few nights ago I crocheted a grey wrist cuff - quite simply in trebles (double crochet in US terms) and attached a large rich red flower to it. Two red buttons to match and it was complete.

I was pondering on whether to put it on my Folksy shop or keep it for myself - and veering towards the latter - when a friend called round. 'Ooh, I like that,' she said. Now I was definitely pleased by her words until she asked how much I was selling it for. Well, what could I do? She's a friend! So off she went with it on her wrist. Free, with the proviso that if anyone admires it she must tell them I'll make one for them for a fiver!

I might just have to make another one for myself now - or even two then one can go on Folksy, after all.

Side-tracked again!

I really must try not to get side-tracked. The tale of my string bag is becoming quite boring because it is dragging on for so long. But I keep seeing wonderful things on Facebook and want to try them. Does anyone else suffer from this disease?

Here are a couple of the goodies I found today...


Hyperbolic Crochet:

http://craftsy.me/1l43csp

Baby Hats:
http://www.mooglyblog.com/baby-hats-annastasia-cruz-review-giveaway/ 

I love the first of these - very vintage and modern!

Picot-Picot Flower

It's bucketing down with rain outside, so I need no further excuse to get out the hook and yarn. Onward and upward with the string bag!

Yesterday I posted a pattern of my Picot-Picot Flower on Craftsy. It is made up of loads of picots - some of them picots on top of picots - and it also involves some crocheting around posts if you want to try your hand at that. I got a little bored with the string bag chains and took some time off to design this so that I can stitch it to the bag when it is complete.

Source: Picot-Picot Flower via Kath Williamson on Craftsy

String bags, string bags, string bags...

I'm currently on my fourth string bag! The first was a knitted string bag to a pattern by Hannah Ingalls which she named an Ilene Bag.
I sometimes wonder who Ilene is/was.

I love the shape of this bag but as the body of the bag is knit in the round with a lace stitch, it did take a while to complete. I am not a fast knitter! So I decided to try my hand at designing a bag with a similar shape but using crochet.

My first attempt was a rather lovely coral coloured bag but of the wrong shape. However, I had learned a lot. So I tried again and this time was more successful. Below is a picture of the first successful bag I made to this pattern - it is a birthday gift for a friend. I'm rather pleased with it and am now making another one for yet another friend's birthday.

At the same time as working on the fourth bag I am also writing up the pattern and will publish it when finished.

So who am I? And why By Hook or By Crook?

I'm a retired IT consultant who has gone back to my first love of knitting and crochet - well, mostly crochet, really. And that's what this blog is about. Crochet, and how I'm growing with it and it's growing with me.

The crook bit? Ah, now, that's something different. As well as being a retired IT consultant I am also a retired clergywoman in the Church of England. So it seemed appropriate. You know, shepherds and sheep and all that!

Playing about with yarn

What am I working on at the moment? Well, I'm currently experimenting with different yarns and hooks but also, at the same time, I'm in the process of crocheting a string bag for a friend's birthday.  Not just any string bag, of course! A purple string bag in a boat shape. I'll be writing the pattern up as I go and posting it later on the three places I frequent - Ravelry, Folksy and Craftsy. Oh, and here now, of course.

So back to the experimenting...