WOYWW 820 Stoke

Hi all, I’m scheduling this as I’m in Stoke visiting my aunt in hospital. I brought a bit of crochet with me: 

This is a paid pattern for a hat made of strips of leaves:

You make 5 or 6 of these and sew them into a circle. It may work, I’ll let you know. 

It’s a bit hard to predict what I’m doing as my aunt is a bit up and down. (Sorry, Sarah, I’ve not had chance to come over to Trentham; I’m staying at the Hilton in Shelton. Yay it has functional WiFi so far!).

It’s half term so no art class. Next week is the start of a 3 week project doing an ink and wash painting of a canal boat. I found this one, which will be fun when doing the tree reflections:

Bella’s at home looking after Brian but I’m sure she sends you all purrs. She did a good job supervising my crochet:

And finally:

Take care all and happy WOYWW. 

Hugs

Lynnecrafts xx

WOYWW 819 Crochet, shirts and ink

Hi all, I’m back for our weekly bloghop courtesy of Sarah’s craft shed. 

Thanks for your good wishes last week. My knee is now improving, thanks, and I’m rebooking to go to see my aunt in hospital next week. Next week I may not be able to post or comment- it depends on how the WiFi is. 

Still, here’s my desk.

It’s all a bit pale as my shirt is, too. I’ve found a wonderful watercolour by Winsor &Newton called ultramarine ash. It’s a transparent, granulating colour and mixes beautifully with copper blue to provide my shade. 

I’ve also finished the crochet slipover for myself. 

B says it looks military with the right shoulder buttons, but I like it. 

Bella helped me of course. 😻 She sends you all purrs

I had some great happy post today. Firstly a crochet bag that our LLJ made for me. 

I love it!

I also had a pen arrive from Tom’s studio with some gorgeous sea shades of ink. It’s a felt tip, brush tip, writing tip pen that’s refillable and comes with two pen heads and eleven different tips. 

It’s not cheap and I had a few niggles but I love how it writes and draws and that it’s not a throwaway pen. 

The second head is hidden in the middle and reverses for use. You’d struggle to write with both tips exposed as it only comes with one cap. I’ve just ordered a second one. 

Also you can buy ink sample bottles but the shade label is on the cardboard, not on the bottle so I’ve just added labels. 

And finally…

An oldie but goodie 😻

I’ll be round to visit after class and lunch. 

Take care, all, and happy WOYWW 

Hugs

Lynnecrafts xx

WOYWW 818 hobbling and Hobbii

Hi all,

I’m so sorry I didn’t visit any blogs last week. I got back from art class to a call saying my aunt is ill in hospital, in Stoke. I spent all Wednesday and Thursday rushing round to organise things and stupidly put my knee out, turning at the bottom of the stairs. Our neighbours gave us a lift to Brian’s birthday do ( which we all enjoyed) and I then dosed myself up with painkillers and ice. I’ve been really groggy ever since. Finally, today, Tuesday, I’m starting to walk without my walking stick. I’ve done it before and it gets better with rest. Getting anywhere like hospital would have been so complicated now it’s only me who drives. 

I’ll do better this week at blog visiting, when I get back from art class. 

Here’s my desk at art class last week and some of our group’s bug paintings. We’re now doing a picture of a shirt. 

This week we’re going on to painting, being very careful about gradations of colour. My shirt is an old, linen shirt I bought when Travelsmiths had a UK shop. I wish I’d bought more as it’s proven virtually indestructible.

Last week was just drawing and the review of our bugs. I’m pleased I received good comments on mine; they’re all excellent. 

Bella supervises my crochet as ever, and sends you all purrs. I’m making myself a slipover from one colour of Hobbii winter glow (shade 22) which graduates from teal to darker blue and purple, with a bit of a rusty shade here and there. 

I’m thinking of a row of buttons coming down from the right shoulder and down a left-hand pocket with these pretty enamel buttons I bought from Amazon. 

And finally…

Take care, all, and happy WOYWW!

Hugs

Lynnecrafts xx

WOYWW 817 Whooshing

Hi all, I’m back for our mid-week desk share care of Sarah’s Craftshed. Here’s my art class desktop. After painting our bugs, we then had to doodle below them in the style of the artist Carne Griffiths. 

One of my classmates looked at that and said ‘Whoosh!’  so that’s what my dragonfly painting is called. 😻

Brian’s slipover was finally finished, as he models it below. 

I fell in love again with shade 22 of Hobbii winter glow when doing this crochet so I’m making myself a top from this shade. Bella’s supervising and sends you all purrs. 

I lost my 4mm crochet hook this week. I was chatting online with Noel Bryson of Henryetta’s Hooks, who’s making me another. When I told him it had slipped its leash and gone into a black hole he suggested there must be an alien somewhere, knitting itself a nice scarf. 

Hence Tiny Clanger!

The leash for my hooks is a glasses chain. 

I’m just watching Inside the Factory on BBC1 which shows how Clays, who printed my book, are printing a new edition of 20,000 copies of Pride and Prejudice. I guess mine was printed in the blink of an eye! I see the paper book of my ‘A Sense for Silver’ is only £2.51 now on Amazon so if you’re looking for a present…

A Sense for Silver: 1 (The Ellyn Boswell Paris silversmith series)
https://amzn.eu/d/6H4EBi5

On Thursday, as well as celebrating Brian’s 70th birthday, we’ll also be raising a glass to our dear friend Elie Colnat, who died in November. I’ve been organising this do, which has local friends and ex-colleagues. It’s a bit like herding cats! Brian always describes Elie as a pint-sized Pavarotti 😻

And finally …

I always liked Wile E. Coyote and have a motto from him: ‘Don’t look down!’

I’ll be back to visit after my class. 

Happy WOYWW 

Hugs

Lynnecrafts xx

WOYWW 816, dragonflies, crochet and logs

Hi all,

In contrast with last week where I didn’t show any dragonflies, here are two versions! This one was my original but I overworked the body and the wings. 

I tried to sort it out but it wasn’t working. So I started again. 

I think this one needs a teensiest bit of detail on the wings. Claire suggested I print it with net but I’m not having much luck with that so I’ll ask her at class tomorrow. 

Brian’s slipover is nearly finished. It’s already keeping Bella warm. 😻 She sends you all purrs. 

She’s a bit disgruntled today as we locked her in for our log delivery. 

All that (3 cubic metres) is now either in the log pile or in another pile out of the way of the car. 

And finally…

I’ll  be round to visit your desks care of Sarah’s craftshed when I get back from art class and lunch. 

Take care and happy WOYWW

Hugs

Lynnecrafts xx

WOYWW 815 crochet and dragonflies

Hi all, I’m back for our weekly bloghop care of Sarahscraftshed.co.uk. 

I forgot to photograph our Wednesday art class desk last week, but we were mainly doing splashy underpainting, and discussing’what next?’ 

We know all our councils are short of cash but Kent Adult Education is only interested in vocational classes now, and no repeat classes. Pensioners are not of interest at all, even though we pay for our classes. All the staff, managers and tutors, are having to reapply for their own jobs or apply for redundancy so I think we’ll be in an independent class next year. The way it’s being managed is less than ideal. 

 My dragonfly will be more interesting after this Wednesday’s class!  This is my reference photo, which I’ll be doing without the branch. 

My crochet is progressing and I’m determined to complete this without buying more balls of Winter Glow. I love doing this in Herringbone stitch. More details here, if you like: Herringbone stitch pattern

I’ve finished the back and have started on the front. I have my trusty supervisor as ever. 

Bella sends you all purrs. 

I’m doing all blue tones this time. 

And finally…

This was just a picture of a Mongolian girl that made me smile. 

(Not really 😀 we’ve had hardly any snow here. We are keeping our bird feeders full though. Does anyone know where all the birds go on the weekend of the Great British Birdwatch? I can guarantee lots of interesting birds visiting our garden every other day!)

I’ll be back to visit after my art class. 

Take care all and happy WOYWW

Hugs

Lynnecrafts xx

Herringbone stitch

Here are the details of the Herringbone half-treble stitch I’m using. 

This is the pattern. It’s written in US terms (our half-treble is a half-double in US terms).

I find it’s a quick and easy stitch but it’s harder to keep the edges straight. Because of that, I put in a stitch marker on the turning stitch at each end and move hem up as I go. 

I hope that’s helpful!

Hugs

Lynnecrafts 😙