Third time's a charm... I can only hope!

Not only is this my third attempt at blogging... 

I need to blog in order to de-clutter my mind.  I spend half my days thinking of great blog posts, but rarely post them anywhere.  Them I’m weighed down by the feeling that I really ought to do something about all these potential blog posts I have swirling around in my head.

I think that what’s been holding me back so much is the fear that what I write won’t be perfect.  Oh well, I’ve read quite a few other blogs that are far from perfect and they’re still online… because their owners just keep blogging.  So I’ll work on the premise that you can’t kick a goal every time, but if you keep trying, sometimes you will.

Oh my god!  I’m sounding all positive and personal growth-y (Cue fingers down the throat!)

2 Inch Christmas Bauble Cover - Version 2

Whoops - just discovered the cruel reality of accidentally deleting a new post I'd been writing... Rookie mistake I guess.

Anyhow... I have made another 2 inch diameter (6 inch circumference) Crocheted Christmas Bauble which was completely inspired by the tutorial by Pip Lincoln from Meet me at Mike's

Oh what a difference 0.5mm of a crochet hook makes!  I had no idea.  Anyway, this time I used a 3.0mm crochet hook.  I realised that the reason I used the 3.5mm last time is that it was a metal hook, whereas the only 3.0mm crochet hook that I used for this bauble cover is bamboo which I don't find to be as easy to use.  It's strange because I remember that when I first started crafting, so many knitters told me that bamboo knitting needles were the bomb and I just had to use them.  People showed me their needles that were worn down where they rubbed against one another so I simply assumed that bamboo was going to be the better material to craft with no matter what.  I guess it's all a matter of trial and error but when I tried crocheting a granny square blanket with a bamboo hook and cotton, I found it to be incredibly "sticky" and it just didn't work.  It wasn't as bad using baby Merino, but I still think that using a metal hook would have been preferable.

None the less, I started the Crocheted Christmas Bauble pattern in the same way that Pip did up until the end of Round 2.

Round 1 - just as Pip’s first round i.e. no clusters, just 15 treble crochet stitches and an initial stitch consisting of 3 chains up from the base chain.

Round 2 – just as Pip’s 2^nd round i.e. 8 clusters with no chains in between each cluster.

Round 3 – this is where I change the pattern a bit – I do 8 clusters with a single chain stitch in between.

Round 4 – I do 8 clusters with 2 chain stitches between each cluster

Round 5 – I do 8 clusters with 3 chain stitches between each cluster

Round 6 – is the same as my Round 5 (3 chains between clusters)

Round 7 – is the same as my Round 4 (2 chains between clusters)

Round 8 – is the same as my Round 3 (1 chain between clusters)

Round 9 - I slip the cover over the bauble and crochet the rest of the rounds with the bauble in place.  It is a little difficult at first, but after a while you get the hang of it.  Round 9 is the same as Round 2 (no chains between clusters)

Round 10 - because I used a slightly smaller needle I'm able to do a 10th Round and this time I do 8 clusters with no chain in between, HOWEVER, each cluster only consists of 2 treble stitches (of course, with the exception of the first cluster which is made up of a chain 3 and one treble stitch).

Again, when joining the last cluster of a round to the first cluster of that same round, thereby closing the round, I do one less chain than I have been doing between clusters in that same Round. For example on my version of Round 3, where I do a single chain between each cluster, as I’m about to close the round, after my final cluster, instead of chaining 1 and then closing with a slip stitch, I don’t do a single chain at all and simply join the last cluster to the first cluster of the round with a slip stitch. At the end of my Round 4 (where there are 2 chain stitches between clusters) I join the last cluster to the first cluster with a single chain followed by a slip stitch into the initial cluster. And so on... 

And this is the result this time:

I really like the effect of using the variegated wool on this one. 

As before I then just cut off the string that was already on the bauble and thread the end of the wool I was crocheting with through the loop on top to make the bauble’s own coloured loop to hang the bauble on the tree.

My arm is killing me and I'm back at work today, so I might just ease off on the crafting today.

Christmas Bauble Covers

As I promised myself, I would reward my efforts today with a bit of craft. I used Pip Lincoln’s tutorial as a guide, but I’ve made a few modifications.

Firstly, I’m using about a 2 inch sized bauble (measuring about 6 inches in circumference), I’m using baby merino wool and a 3.5mm hook.

I did everything up to the end of Round 2 exactly as she has done but perhaps it is easier for me to describe my rounds in terms of clusters and chains:

Round 1 - just as Pip’s first round i.e. no clusters, just 15 treble crochet stitches and an initial stitch consisting of 3 chains up from the base chain.

Round 2 – just as Pip’s 2^nd round i.e. 8 clusters with no chains in between each cluster.

Round 3 – this is where I change the pattern a bit – I do 8 clusters with a single chain stitch in between.

Round 4 – I do 8 clusters with 2 chain stitches between each cluster

Round 5 – I do 8 clusters with 3 chain stitches between each cluster

Round 6 – is the same as my Round 5 (3 chains between clusters)

Round 7 – is the same as my Round 4 (2 chains between clusters)

Round 8 – is the same as my Round 3 (1 chain between clusters)

(At this point, I slip the cover over the bauble and I’ve realised that the last time I used this modified pattern, I was using a 3mm hook, so this is a bit looser than I’ve usually done. That’s OK – it just calls for another modification. So with the cover sitting snug(ish) over the bauble, I just work:

Round 9 – I did 8 clusters with no chains between any of them.

I should point out though that when joining the last cluster of a round to the first cluster of that same round, thereby closing the round, I do one less chain than I have been doing between clusters in that same Round. For example on my version of Round 3, where I do a single chain between each cluster, as I’m about to close the round, after my final cluster, instead of chaining 1 and then closing with a slip stitch, I don’t do a single chain at all and simply join the last cluster to the first cluster of the round with a slip stitch. At the end of my Round 4 (where there are 2 chain stitches between clusters) I join the last cluster to the first cluster with a single chain followed by a slip stitch into the initial cluster. And so on... I just find that this allows for a more even spacing of clusters, but that’s just my personal preference and it might be due to the way I crochet. I am starting to discover that there is no absolute right or wrong way to crochet, just do what works best for you.

And voila:

I then just cut off the string that was already on the bauble and thread the end of the wool I was crocheting with through the loop on top to make the bauble’s own coloured loop to hang the bauble on the tree. I might try modifying this pattern a little more as I’m unhappy that there isn’t as much bauble covered at the top. I might work on some more of those over the week and keep you posted.

Since shops are probably trying to shift Christmas decorations right now is a great time to stock up on cheap baubles so you can start crafting for Christmas 2012. I think that they make great, personalised Christmas gifts. Play around with colours and wool types. I like the randomness of using variegated yarn, but you might like to get red baubles and use green yarn over the top. The possibilities are endless.

Pip has loads more fantastic tutorials to try and here are some other great homemade Christmas gift craft ideas that she has compiled. She is such an inspiration!

Indulgent Recipe

One of the awesome gifts I received this Christmas was a Tetsuya's gift pack that had delightful foodie treats in it. One of those was a jar of Black Truffle Salsa which is too strong for me on it's own, however, I discovered the recipe on the little information booklet attached to the jar and it made for something absolutely divine:

Mix 40g of Black Truffle Salsa with 160g of softened unsalted butter and 25g of finely grated Parmesan.

That's it - all you have to do after that is butter it on bread and you're done. This is another bad thing I have to eat in order to get it out of the house so that I can really make an effort with my weight loss. I mean, it would be a crime to let it go to waste!

Not sure where to buy this as it was a gift, but probably some fancy delis or DJs Food Hall might have it. I'll let you know if I find it.

Achieving the Hell Outta Stuff

Little by little I’m going to chip away at the clutter of my life – physical and otherwise – and it has already started... with my office chair!


Never mind that the desk is still to be tackled, or that I couldn’t really sit at the chair anyway because of all the other crap under the desk. The longest journey starts with a single step and today it was this chair. And, this gave me a great idea for a new project – I was thinking of doing a granny square cover for the cushion. After some aborted attempts at crocheting a crochet hook holder over the past week or so, I’ve realised that I just don’t enjoy straight crocheting anywhere near as much as I enjoy granny square crocheting. This has resulted in my recent Christmas bauble cover obsession. The tutorial can be found here on pretty much my favourite blog – Meet Me at Mikes. Actually, I’ve still got a few baubles left so I’ll get on to doing some more of those this afternoon.

Anyway, the clearing of the chair wasn’t my main objective. I was actually trying to find my Cleaning Roster pad, which I eventually did, along with my Meal Planner pad, Weekly Planner Pad, my (somewhat superfluous) To Do list... and this prompted me to go and fetch my Goals book. All these items are from Kikki-K. Now for someone who has all these tools of the trade, it is amazing how disorganised I am... or rather, how disorganised I think I am. I am constantly surprised by the number of people who commend me on my organisation, so I must put on a great facade. (I should point out that my husband most definitely does NOT agree with these people – and he would know!) The goal setting book was sitting on my bedside table, along with multitudes of other things I would consider tools of the organisational trade. It’s ironic really that so much of my clutter is made up of de-cluttering books, books about organisation and various other tools that are supposed to help me not be the way that I am. And I know that I don’t really need to buy those pads in order to be organised – I could just get a little creative with Excel and customise these planners and rosters to my tastes and needs. I might just do that when each of these pads runs out. Another wave of inspiration.

All in all, I’ve been both busy and productive today, and I’ve only just eaten lunch. I think I’ll do a little more weekly planning, and then reward myself with some craft. Why don’t I just finish making covers for all those baubles so I can free up some room in my very cluttered crafting stash?

New Year, New Resolutions - How Original?

So 2012 is here and I've decided that I want to make some changes. Even though 1 January passed without adopting any changes, my husband justified it all by saying that we're all given carte blanche to have a day's grace... but that may have been due to the fact that he was feeling a little worse for wear after our New Year's Eve party the night before. Regardless, whilst I currently have a 100% failure rate, I am hoping to turn that around starting today, 2 January 2012.


Degrassi's 2012 Resolutions

De-clutter - I'm trying not to be too ambitious, but I think that I can sort my house out one draw/cupboard at a time.
Renovate - on the cheap, so I'll have to learn a lot of techniques, but that will be rewarding and fulfilling.
Lose Weight - yes, I know, this is a classic New Year's Resolution, but after losing 27kgs a few years back I always swore I'd never get that way again. Whilst I'm not there yet, I'm definitely on my way. I've lost it before, so I can do it again - it just requires a bit of discipline and organisation.
Become Financially Responsible - it's like weight loss really in the sense that it just requires discipline and organisation, but I think also a bit of creativity and imagination. Earning more money has only allowed me to be more reckless and buy more stuff that I don't need, and get into greater debt, not out of it.
Become More Creative and Productive - crafting brings me a lot of joy and is productive at the same time, it's just that I want to have the confidence to try more new things and develop my own designs.
Keep on Top of Housework - when the house is a mess, I become anxious and stressed. I am an incredibly anxious person so if I can limit the number of things that make me anxious, I will lead a better quality of life. Speaking of which, I would like to seriously Limit My Coffee & Alcohol Intake for much the same reasons - both make me extremely anxious.
Be A Better Friend - I am at work for such long hours that I am either there or too exhausted, but I need to seriously re-prioritise this year.
Write More - and that's where this Blog plays a part.
Wear My Invisalign Every Night - I spent more than $10K on straightening my teeth, it would be financially irresponsible not to keep them straight!
Do My Physio Exercises Every Day - there's no point spending money on the Physio each week if I don't do the exercises. Also, I want to start doing aerobics and running again, so the sooner my knee gets better, the sooner I can do that.

I don't want to bite off more than I can chew, so I'm not going make this a daily checklist, I think that I should check in weekly to make sure that I'm not letting things slip. It's not about establishing a brand new life, just about tweaking the one I already have.

Life is Awesome!

The last 24 hours have just been awesome! Yes, I am probably at the more upbeat pole of a bi-polar mood, but I'm just going to ride this wave whilst it lasts.

It all started with my first visit to a Brown Owls meet in Sydney (which was the second ever in our city). Now, thanks to possibly the most patient woman in the world, Louise, I can now crochet and have taken to it like an OCD sufferer... On the way home in the car this evening, I told my hubby-to-be that if I didn't crochet, I would die! My slightly misshapen 5-colour Granny Square is now about 15cm across and into its 8 "row"... I'm not too familiar with crochet terminology yet...

I just can't tell you how happy I am to have found this group, and a creative crafty outlet again. It's great to learn a new skill, but even better, I seem to have found people who are into craft that aren't just into knitting technically brilliant (but completely unwearable by anyone who has the capacity to dress themselves or at least make it clear through language or violent kicking motions that they really don't want to be seen in public in them) jumpers..., or do cross stitch or tapestries of wattle or federation houses.... or those freaky androgynous clowns that have a single teardrop painted on their face... like hardcore prisoners... I don't think I've mentioned how much I hate clowns... but that's a rant for another day, because I'm not going to let anything, not even a freaky clown, spoil the awesomeness of the last day!

So yeah, the ladies at this craft club are all lovely and many of them baked up a tasty storm... I have to admit that I felt a little ashamed coming empty handed! And they were all so talented and knew so much about all the crafty stuff that's out there. I feel as if I've finally tapped into the craft world that has eluded me for so long. There's so many people out there doing such amazingly cool craft stuff... Gush, gush, gush... I'm just a rambling incoherent torrent... because it's all making me feel as if I've found what I've been hoping would fall into my lap for so long... and now I look down (and just next to the laptop) is my Granny Square which is limited only by my yarn supply!

But there's more too it than just finding like-minded, talented people from whom I can learn all the crafty things I've been wanting to learn for so long. Just talking to them about craft (amongst other things) made me realise something. One thing a woman said really stuck with me and I am going to use it as my new mantra. There I was, staring at my tiny (at that stage) Granny Square, lamenting that it wasn't perfect... Yes, my very first attempt at crochet... EVER... wasn't completely perfect. My god, I don't deserve to live! Then one of the ladies said "Well, you don't want it to look perfect, because then it doesn't look home made." And you know what, she's right! Looking at it again today, I realised that I'd completely missed a stitch 5 rows back... I can imagine that if she hadn't said what she had to me, I probably would have torn it all up and started again. But, I've taken it in my stride - it is my first attempt after all. I can't help but think of the number of shelved craft projects I have because I've made a mistake that probably only I can see but don't know how to rectify... My perfectionist attitude certainly doesn't do me any favours sometimes.

Perhaps this new found love of craft will be therapeutic in other areas of my life. I'm determined to be more confident about my crafting abilities. So what if I'm not perfect at something the first go? Will the world end? No! Will people think less of me? Probably not, and if they do, who cares? At another point in the evening I was likening craft to cooking... You know how some people can just put a saucepan on the cook top and start adding things randomly from the pantry and fridge long after a haphazardly chopped onion has been sweating away... I, on the other hand, studiously observe a recipe and rarely turn anything on until I've prepared all the ingredients ready to have on-hand as required as if I'm a celebrity chef presenting a TV show. Another of the ladies I met last night just starts craft projects and sees what they evolve into... I, on the other hand, have generally limited myself to patterns or kits... and I ensure that I have more than enough yarn than I need (my contingency plan) Oh, and all colours have to be from the same dye lot... To think of all the fun I'm missing out on with my stifling "parameters"... I've gotta stop being so uptight... I think I'm unravelling (in a good way!) just every so slightly with each new stitch...

Now, the awesomeness does continue... But to be honest, I really, REALLY want to get back to crocheting (or I may die!) so I'll have to tell you about the awesome run and not 1, not 2, but 3 Eastenders episodes I watched in succession... And they weren't just any episodes, they were the Christmas Eve and Double Christmas episodes.... And best of all, I got to watch them whilst crocheting!