A house warming present

It's nearly finished. All I have to do is wash and block it.

 It's called a Safe at Home blanket by Margaret Holzman (2020) and I purchased it off Ravelry. (Ravelry.com) The design is done in Tunisian crochet and all the yarn used was from my stash! 

(For a nice tutorial on Tunisian crochet see: https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/tunisian-crochet-stitches-979408)

I have only one hint. Pick your colours and then put each colour in a labelled bag. It's makes the colour you want easy to find, lessens tangles and you can easily add more yarn by just adding to the appropriate bag. This made life a lot easier!

It's a gift to some young friends of ours who have just purchased their first home. They're in Architecture and Heritage and it should be suitably appropriate. I started back in July and here I am in the middle of August and it's finished. 

And, in case, anyone is wondering, I'm going to start trying to blog more regularly. The reason I wanted to do this blog, originally, was to just write. For some reason I've always liked the idea of writing, but I'm not a good writer and I thought a blog might be the way to do it. 

I was inspired by a podcast I listen to. It's the 'Creative Pep Talk' by Andy J. Pizza. He's a little over the top but has alot of ideas and loves to share them. Episode 328 was 'If you only listen to One Episode of this show Make it This One'. In it he talked about the idea of creating a habit. Just do it, don't worry about how good it is, just get in the habit. So that's what I'm doing.

We'll see if it lasts!

TSB textile July Newsletter

Ok, so it's August, but here is my current newsletter

                                                              

     

TSB textile opening hours:

                Tuesday 12pm till 6pm

                Wednesday 10am till 5pm

                Thursday 10am till 5pm      

                Saturday 11am till 4pm  

77  Grimshaw St,     Greensborough

tsbtextile@yahoo.com.au

               

TSB textile newsletter – July 2014

I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be offering spinning classes, the first commencing in August. Starting on the 23^rd August, the course will last five weeks, with a break in the middle. We’ll cover spinning on a drop spindle in the first two weeks and then work on spinning wheels for the next three weeks. This is a basic course focusing on getting you to spin your yarn. The class will be small, all materials and equipment will be provided.

Learn to Spin.

Saturday, 23^rd and 30^th August, 13^th, 20^th and 27^th September

2-4pm at TSB textile in Greensborough

Cost: $150 all inclusive.

Bookings: 0413054075

Saturdays we’ll still have activities when the spinning classes aren’t running.

                2^nd August – CLOSED – at Experimental Spinning at the Handweavers and Spinners Guild of Victoria

                9^th August – Come have a go at Tunisian crochet. One of Knit Picks dishcloths is Tunisian crochet. So try your hand at making your own facewasher or dishcloth. I have Tunisian crochet hooks to spare and yarn too.

                16^th August – To commemorate Anzac Day in 2015 Poppies are being crocheted and knit. I’ll be making some, and will get them to a delivery spot. Come and join me in this amazing project. For more information see 5000poppies.wordpress.com.

Unfortunately, for August, I won’t be opening on Friday nights….it’s cold! Hopefully back in September….it will be SPRING!

If you’re interested in some interesting exhibitions there are the following:

Bendigo Art Gallery – ‘Undressed – 350 years of underwear fashion’ from 19^th July to 26^th October 2014

                                                ‘The Body beautiful in Ancient Greece’ from 2^nd August to 9^th November 2014

                What a great pair of exhibitions around the body. This wonderful gallery is well worth a visit. Bendigo is a great place for a weekend getaway, even in Winter! More information at http://www.bendigoartgallery.com.au

Craft Cubed is Craft Victoria’s annual festival in August. Lots of different events and exhibitions. For information: http://www.craft.org.au/see/craft-cubed/

Remember to drop in sometime and see me at TSB textile. I’m always working. 

Cheers, Teresa

How to embarass yourself on a train

Firstly, take a Tunisian crochet hook. Yep, the scarf I sold on Saturday was the only Tunisian crochet I have.

Secondly, decide that you have to have a project on the train going to orientation for the Diploma of Visual Arts at the CAE in town. Yes, I decided to commit to four years part-time of drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking and attendant theory work. I'm still more nervous, excitement hasn't sunk through yet.

Thirdly, start said work sitting up in bed working out what you want to do......in bad light....my eyes aren't what they used to be.

There I am set to go. I catch the train, which isn't particularly crowded and pull out my Tunisian crochet and start work. Halfway, I count the stitches.................wrong.......I'll just add another, it won't show...........there's the hole......it does show.

You know frogging on a train is just plain embarrassing and then you have the race to redo the whole lot because you don't want to wind it up. Don't look up and see if anyone was watching.

The trip home was more productive.

Just a little side track

Ever get that feeling that you don't know what you're doing? That's me this week. So I decided to have a play with Tunisian crochet.

I learnt this intriguing cross between knitting and crochet only a few months ago. I really like it, however, the fabric can be quite firm. Great for a blanket...I've seen one that another SnBer made for their little one, however, I felt it could be limiting.

As usual when you think that there's a limit, you either have to reassess your ideas, or, someone else reminds you that there are no rules or spinning (read tunisian knitting) police.

I had this lovely fluffy yarn and a 12.5mm beautiful Lewis Harper tunisian crochet hook. (Lewis Harper, wonderful woodturner, often seen at Bendigo and other woolly meeting places) They combined beautifully, and I managed to produce a lovely scarf, which requires a little blocking and some sort of finishing.

The pattern for this was the basic 2 row 'base row' of Tunisian crochet. I started with this and then went on to the pattern I had selected, but returned to the base row and continued it. Love the fabric....feeling better.

Guild meeting bliss

Attending HWSG monthly meetings isn't always an event which inspires enthusiasm. As I give my group reports, I'm sort of obliged to go. However, having said that, I'm always eager to go for the many gifts I receive, some anticipated, some complete surprises.

The gift of friendship is the most important. Good friends and guild friends, people I only see at these meetings, all are a delight. Fun, laughter and, of course, communing about all things fibre related. I'm not sure people realise how much this is appreciated and lifts my spirits. Yesterday was no exception.

The gift of learning. There is always a small workshop/gathering, and this month we were offered the delight of learning Tunisian crochet. Having never attempted this before, I purchased my needle, a cross between a crochet hook and knitting needle, from Lorraine at Woolybutt. Arriving a little late, I eventually go so caught up in this lovely, addictive craft, I spent the formal part of the meeting, starting over again and getting it right. Well, almost right, I kept forgetting to chain 3 at the beginning of the return row, so the sample is slightly lopsided.

My 'Complete Encyclopedia of Needlework' by Th. de Dillmont (always a wealth of knowledge on all the ancient arts!) says of Tunisian crochet that it 'has more resemblance to knitting than any other kind of crochet"......"stitches are all worked on the right side, and produce a soft and elastic fabric". It give a couple of stitches and patterns. I'm intrigued by it all.

The last gift was an actual gift from Peter. He's always at guild meetings, spinning away. (He's also part of the legendary mailout team for the guild). Anyway, he's give me this gorgeous and very sturdy small picnic basket filled with a little coloured fleece and a very big bag of what we think is cashmere. These all belonged to his sister who can no longer make use of them. So, very generously, he's given them to me.

The basket is gorgeous and I'll use it as a travel bag, with spinning goodies in it. The fibre has to be spun up, but what about all that cashmere. Peter is so generous with his spinning and knitting, he gives away most of what he does, that I feel the need to do something special. It will need thinking and suggestions......

However, for the moment, I'm frantically busy...well not quite.......yet.....making various pieces for our Sheep and Wool show entry. What a mystery it all is.....what fun!