Friday, February 13, 2009

Australian Inferno

My state of Victoria burns and I sit back and feel helpless.
What can I do? I am but one. I am not trained in this expert field of fire fighting, so I would just be in their way.
The one thing I can do is crochet.
So I will crochet for the victims. The victims need so many things, they have lost it all.
My small gesture to begin with is to crochet more face cloths, I have sourced quite a bit of personal deodorant and soap. The face cloth, soap and deodorant will go hand in hand, for just a little bit of personal care.
I will not go to the market this winter and every thing I would usually make for the market to sell will be given to the fire victims. They as we, will need to keep warm on cooler nights and in the winter. We must not forget the fire victims! As a Nation we are all banding together. Whilst the top of our country floods the bottom of our beloved country burns. The flood victims are giving their flood relief funds over to the fire victims! I am proud of our Nation a generous and kind Nation who stick together when times are so tough!
Thank You to those who are helping me in my small adventure here, my American, Australian and Dutch friends who are contributing to my small effort.


Just one of our hero's at the front of a fire.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Not Crochet, It's Little Rev!

I recorded little Rev in action for all to see how happy he makes me and how funny he is.

Rev was the last of 5 puppies to be born, he was the runt of the litter and it was obvious he had problems from the beginning. He was quite cold for the first 24 hours of his beginning. He struggled to feed, I weighed him 3 times a day to ensure he was gaining weight. When he began to walk, he walked backwards, this is why I named him Rev, Rev being short for reverse. I took him to the vet and it was obvious he was starved of some oxygen at birth. But he began to improve and he walked forward. It was not until he was seperated from his mother that we realised he is deaf. His sense of smell is incredible though. I have many visual stimulants and I am teaching him sign language, just simple hand movements for now. I am assuming I will need 2 people to teach him to sit, but I will wait until he is a little older and is used to the simple sign language I am teaching him now.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Crochet A Face Cloth

To crochet a face cloth you really need a nice soft cotton. I have used a soft cotton in all of the face cloths below. I buy lot's of left overs from other peoples stashes and I never knew up until recently what I was going to use this cotton stuff for. I am learning all of the time about different fibres and what they are better used for, the latest lessons have been about dish cloths and face cloths.
I know quite a bit about the different stitch patterns that are around and I just had to have a little think and do some research to find a st that I would like to use.
The latest st I have tried is the woven stitch and it is easy on the eye and also a soft grain for the face as a face cloth.
The first 2 face cloths which are made with the woven stitch and an 8 ply cotton, worked up very quick.

Woven stitch face cloth.

Woven stitch face cloth.

Mitired square face cloth.

Griddle/ Up and Down stitch face cloth.

Griddle/ Up and Down stitch face cloth.

The griddle stitch (up and down st) is an old favourite of mine, but I do prefer the woven stitch pattern in the first 2 face cloths. I found a couple of Illustrations on line that may help with the stitch patterns for you.



Thursday, February 5, 2009

Crochet And Feel Good

Once I had finished this small duo, I did feel good!
A plea came from a crochet friend to help a 3 year old little boy named Aaron, who has cancer. We were told of his favourite colours, which were green and yellow, we were also asked for a 12 inch square to go into the making of an afghan for Aaron. Of course this was all voluntary. I had been wanting to make a mitered square and I also find this type of square eye catching. I also thought if he likes green, he probably likes frogs, so I made him a frog hat too. I used my pattern for the floppy brimmed boys army hat, I did not have a size 3. Using the size 2 as a guide, I just went up a half a hook size and added an extra round of increase. I left off the brim and made a band around the hat that can be folded or unfolded, I thought this would cover any difference in sizing, not knowing the size of Aarons head.
Once I had completed this little project for Aaron, I did feel good about myself knowing this was going to a good cause.