Rag rug crocheted with t-shirt yarn

A few years ago I started making a braided rug with t-shirt yarn. At some point the rug began to curl - I couldn't get it to lay flat and discarded it. However, I held on to the balls of t-shirt yarn I made at the time, and with my new-found crochet skills they suddenly proved to be very useful!



I used up all the balls I had to make this rug. I had mainly dark colours, so asked hubby if he had an old white shirt I could cut up - and he did! (check out my tutorial on how to make continuous t-shirt yarn here)



With a 10mm hook the rug grew quickly, but it was pretty hard on my hands. However, I'm very happy with the result. I hope there will be a good spot for it in our next house, because we don't really have one at the moment!

Crochet-covered stone

A few years ago I wanted to learn to crochet so I could make a crochet-covered stone. A colleague at the time taught me the basics, but I didn't really get it, and in the end I bought a lovely stone from Monicaj on Etsy. I still have it, it's gorgeous. But now of course I finally have the skills to make a crochet-covered stone myself!

I thought I'd start with a large one and some 8ply cotton (left over from the Sea Colours blanket). I asked my youngest son to find me one on the local beach, and he brought this flat, almost hand-sized stone back. Here is a photo with an apple for size:



I used this free Ravelry pattern (in Dutch, but it's also available in English) and made the eye cover. I love the result! I'll ask my son to find some smaller stones and try to make covers with a thinner thread.

I think I'll use this stone as a paperweight. It will be a lovely memory of Collaroy Beach when we are back in Queensland next year.

Yes, you read that correctly - we are moving back to Queensland! Not to Brisbane, but to the Gold Coast, where my husband has accepted a job at Griffith University. We will move in the first week of January 2018. I am very happy - Sydney is a beautiful city, but I do not find it very livable. One of our sons shares my feelings and is also very happy to go back to Queensland; the other two have mixed feelings - they will miss their friends here, but are glad they'll be much closer to their friends in Brisbane (the Gold Coast is about an hour's drive from Brisbane).

I am not looking forward to moving house again (the 4th time in less than 2.5 years...), but it looks like this time all the packing and unpacking will be done for us, which definitely makes it easier! And on the Gold Coast we'll have a lot more house for our money - that's also something to look forward to!

Sea Colours blanket

It's finished! So happy with my very first crocheted blanket!



Yesterday I added the border, then rushed out to get some foam mats from the local hardware store before they closed. I blocked the blanket last night:



And this morning had a photo shoot in the garden!



Since these are the first granny squares I've made since I learned to crochet in July, there is room for improvement. Some squares were larger than others (so some serious stretching was done), some squares have gaping holes where I started a new row, some have colour changes that could have been done more subtly... But I've learned a lot while making this project, and I just adore the fresh colours, so warts and all, I love this blanket!



The details:
Sea Colours blanket
Pattern: Baby blanket by Jeanet Jaffari
Yarn: 4 Seasons Flinders Cotton 8 ply
Hook: 4.0 mm

Crocheting and knitting...

Last week I bought this nifty blocking board on Etsy and blocked all remaining squares for my Sea Colours blanket at once! Now I'm sewing them together, which isn't as much fun as making them was..



I've also made some progress on the 2017 Sydney Temperature Scarf. The first 8 months of the year are done, and the scarf now measures 119 cm:



I'm still a bit obsessed with crochet, and looking for crochet bloggers to follow. I would like to do a CAL (crochet along) - if you know of any that are about to start please leave a comment!

Road trip to Brisbane

Last week, when the boys had school holidays, we drove down to Brisbane. We met up with old friends and visited our favourite places, such as New Farm Park (photo above), where the jacarandas were blooming. It was so good to be back!



In New Farm I took a few pics of some gorgeous art deco buildings (more pics on my photo blog):



We also spent some time in South Bank. I love the bougainvillea there:



A typical Queensland thunderstorm rolled in while we walked past the Streets Beach. I'm very pleased with this photo!



I did a lot of crocheting both in the car and in our B&B at night...



... and came home with this pile of granny squares. Only a few more to go and then I can start to assemble the Sea Colours blanket!