Before and After

 

Before

Several years ago, I started making a crochet blanket while sitting next to a hospital bed. It was a really unhappy time in my life. Sadness was woven into the blanket together with the yarn. Also, the colours were much too busy for the design and being a beginner at crochet, I made many, many mistakes while trying to count the rows and figure out the complicated stitches. Whenever I worked at this blanket it felt wrong but being stubborn, I continued with it off and on between other projects.

After

 

 

No, I don't have the captions the wrong way around. Over the last few weeks, I've been slowly frogging the entire thing and this is what remains. A project that won't end up as a UFO. I have a basket of yarn neatly wound into balls. Plus, I am making a different blanket that uses some of the same colours so the yarn will go directly there.

Rather than feeling guilt at my destructiveness, ripping out the stitches was therapeutic and just what I needed as I once again go through a time of extreme stress and hospital visits. I'm very concerned about Henning and what lies ahead for us this week. All I can do is believe in a positive outcome, and try not to worry about things that might never happen.

We had a lovely bike ride to the river this afternoon, probably our last for a long while. The harvest is in and wildflowers have taken over the edges of the fields. And yeah, we kept one eye on the sky all the way ;-)

C is for...

This week my mind is all over the place, so I've grouped some random thoughts under C to share with you.  C is for comfort food, crochet cat, curated collection, and Chaco.   C is also for covetous creeps who consume my time.  Those are covered under Curate.

Do you have a special comfort food?  When I'm feeling out of sorts, a slice of bread spread with peanut butter goes a long way to smoothing things out.  It's even healthy.  The cute dolly tableware is manufactured at Ceramix, where I sometimes work.  Here in South Africa we have a brand of peanut butter called Black Cat.  It's my favourite.

I haven't had time to crochet anything this year, so I made this little cross looking cat.  I found the pattern HERE.  Hitty likes cats, I think I will let her keep it.

People sometimes contact me when they want to sell their collection of teddy bears, dolls, or related items.
But is it really a collection?  If someone has a box filled with a hundred teddy bears, and the box includes mass produced synthetic Valentines, hand-me-downs with no provenance, and little bears in traditional costume they bought to remind them of their holiday in far flung places, it's a sentimental hoard, not a collection.  Unless the boyfriend forked out for a limited edition bear, or the tatty one eyed bear inherited from a great aunt turns out to be an early Steiff, probably nothing in that box has any monetary value.  In a collection, it's not quantity that counts, it's quality. 

If you want to make sure that your collection becomes worth money, here are some tips to curate it.

What is a curated collection?  It's easy.

1. Items in a collection have a unifying theme.  It can be as broad as 'teddy bears' or 'dolls' or 'dollhouse', or as specific as 'late Victorian 1/12 scale artisan made English dollhouse furniture'.  If your collection grows too large, you might consider specializing.
2. Items are organized and looked after.  Not just a jumble in a box.  Make sure every item in your collection is clean, dusted, well maintained, correctly stored or displayed.
3. Trade up.  Don't be afraid to sell or swap in order to improve the quality of your collection.  If you find a better example of an item you have, trade or sell it, and add on a little extra money to get the better one.  That way your collection will grow better without growing bigger.  Museums do it all the time.  
4. Weed your collection.  We all have the problem that our collections tend to outgrow available space.  From time to time, go through your collection and look for items that don't fit in anymore.  Maybe you found a better specimen and now you have a duplicate.  There's that piece that isn't quite the right scale.  Your taste has changed, or these days you can afford something better, or your field of interest has narrowed.  Get rid of a few things.   A small collection with good quality items is worth more than a large discordant collection.  It's also much  more pleasing to look at and display.  If your surplus items have no value, donate them to someone who's just starting a collection.  If you think you can get money for it, visit eBay or sell it at a show.  You can use the money to add a quality item to your collection.  
5. Collections are documented.  Keep a little book and write down where and when you acquired an item, how much you paid for it, who made it and when they made it, and any other information you might have.  You can even add a picture.  If some day your collection needs to be sold, or passes on to someone else as a legacy, documentation to back up the provenance and value of items will be of utmost importance.  

Even my spider collection is curated and well documented.  Each tarantula has a fact sheet where I write down when I bought/traded it, their size, sex, date last molted etc.

Meet Ms Chaco.  She's big as a house, ha ha.  That's a 1/144 scale dollhouse made by my friend Frieda la Grange in 2017.  Ms Chaco is a Grammostola pulchripes aka Chaco golden knee tarantula.  Chacos are native to Argentina, this one was captive bred.  She's 12cm (4 1/2 inches) long.  This young lady will grow to 22cm (8 1/2 inches) over her lifetime of about 15 years.  Because of poor record keeping by her previous owner, I don't know her exact age or how many times she has molted, but we think she's about four years old.  She was a rescue purchase from an owner who had lost interest and sold her entire 'collection'.  When Chaco came to us she was badly dehydrated and looking very sorry for herself.  The first day, she sat with her face in her water bowl for hours.  It made me cry.  Over the next few days she ate voraciously, then went into premolt and just rested and didn't move around much for several weeks.  She moulted two weeks ago.  I took her out of her terrarium today to give it a good clean.  Her new exoskeleton is beautiful and sleek, none of the bald patches and scars she had before.  Now that she's settled in, she's a very calm and docile girl.  Because of their hardiness and friendly nature, Chacos are recommended tarantulas for beginner collectors.

Birthday Tiger

It's a birthday tiger, and it's mine!  This little cutie amigurumi tiger with his birthday cake was made by Tania.  Isn't he just gorgeous?

 

Spring Birthday Lizard

Remember the lizard I was trying to crochet a few months ago?  I made the pattern and designed his parts as I went along.  Then life happened, the friend that I was making him for got better and didn't need a get well present anymore, and I gave up on the legs.

Well, last week the friend had a birthday.  So the lizard became a birthday lizard instead!  Spring is fully under way now that we've had the first rain, I managed to get some quick snaps of the lizard in the garden before I delivered him on Saturday.  See how well he's camouflaged?!

I'm pleased with the way it turned out, I might just try my hand at another one some time.

How to Crochet Dungarees for a Teddy Bear - Free Tutorial

Teddy bears are much like humans—they come in every size and shape.  Add to that the many varieties of yarn and crochet hooks to choose from, and making a standard pattern seems impossible.  In addition to that I’m a lazy crotchetier who doesn’t like to count stitches and rows.  So, in this tutorial I’m not giving you a pattern, but the work method to crochet dungarees for any teddy bear or doll, with any type of yarn.  We will make it fit as we go along.

Basic knowledge of crochet is necessary if you want to attempt this project.  If you need to sharpen up on your skills, HERE is a helpful website. 

You will need:  Yarn or thread of your choice, a crochet hook, big eye needle to sew thread ends away, and one willing teddy bear or doll to be the model.  Also have some stitch markers handy.  If you don’t have stitch markers, paperclips or safety pins work well.

Start by making a chain row to fit around teddy’s waist.  It should be loose enough to pull down over his hips.  

Join in the first chain stitch to make a circle.  Mark your first stitch with a stitch marker.

Work a few rounds of single crochet, until you get to the top of the bear’s hips.

Divide your work into six equal parts, and mark the stitches with stitch markers.  If you are making dungarees for a large bear, you might like to use more markers. We need the dungarees to start flaring out, so that they will fit over the bear’s ample stomach and generous hips.   In the next few rounds, increase a stitch every time you get to a stitch marker.

The dungarees are coming along nicely.  Make sure you have a nice loose fit at this stage.

Continue in the same manner with more rows until the dungarees start looking like a skirt.

When you can pinch the ‘skirt’ together between the bear’s legs, it is long enough.  Sew together a few stitches to form the gusset of the dungarees.  Not too many, the leg holes should be nice and roomy.

Work single crochet around each leg hole to make the legs of the dungaree.  Here it is a good idea to count the number of rows you work, the second leg should have the same length :-)

Fit the dungarees on the bear to check the length as you work.  I made my trouser legs extra long and crocheted a few rows of post stitch ribbing on the end of each trouser leg so that I could make a turn-up. 

This is what the bear looks like when dressed in the bottom half of the dungarees.

Here are the dungarees, with the cuff at the bottom turned up.

To make the bib, put the dungarees on the teddy bear, and mark with two stitch markers where the bib should start and end. 

Work rows in single crochet until the bib is long enough.  The bib can be square.  My bear has a very small chest and narrow shoulders.  On the dungarees I started with enough stitches to make the bib as wide as the bear’s armholes.  As I worked rows to the top, I decreased a stitch at the beginning of every row, so that the bib became narrower to fit between the shoulders.

This is what the bib looks like when finished.

And this is the ideal fit on the bear.

With the dungarees on the bear, mark the placing of the braces with two stitch markers at the back.  I put mine in line with the armholes of the bear.

Crochet the first strap.   Make a chain that is the right length, counting your stitches so that you can make the second one the same length.  Then work rows of single crochet,   I made mine extra long so that I can cross them over on the back of the bear.  Make a buttonhole on the end of the strap if you want one.  The braces can also be fastened with a press stud.

Repeat for the second brace.

Attach two small buttons on the bib, and viola, the dungarees are finished! 

The model for this tutorial is Schnozzel.  You will find more information about him HERE.  The pattern for the teddy bear is also for sale in my Etsy shop.

The start of a week

And so it goes.  The start of a new week and it seems that all the fun is over.  T's visit was much too short, but we crammed in an incredible amount of jaw-wagging, sitting on the floor reading books, and activities that involve needles, crochet hooks and scissors.  We also ate and slept, of course.
Here are T's early morning impressions of Irish Cottage, where she was staying.

And a leisurely breakfast in Cape Cottage.

This week I am working on three things.  One involves an umbrella, another uses a tomato paste tin, and the third is a project that I abandoned last year.

No, it's not a skirt.  This was meant to be a dungaree but I battled with it so, I gave up.  I think sometimes I try to re-invent the wheel.  I could have found a pattern a long time ago to help me figure it out.  Today I am going to do just that.  The little bear is Schnozzel from CAZ bears.  I am busy updating and rewriting the pattern instructions.  It will be available as a kit and pattern again soon.  I will let you know how it all comes together.

Colourful Week

We had a colourful and productive week in the studio.
I finally sorted out that tangle of embroidery floss, and made some real progress on the bunny.  If he would just stop messing with the floss, I might get a bit more work done!

Chairs for teddy bears and dolls arrived.  They are made by Fred of Cloth Characters, and Nerina made the adorable little matching cushions.  A chair with cushion costs R 50.  The chairs are are about 32cm tall, 15cm from the ground to the seat, and would be suitable for teddies and dolls in many sizes.  Hurry up and order while stocks last!

And this is how far I got with the lizard.  I'm real pleased with my progress.  Now I just need to figure out the legs, and it wants real eye catching eyes...

Lucky Lizard

One of the joys of my life is browsing the internet for creative inspiration.  This is best done very early in the morning, with a cup of tea.  Sometimes I get sucked into the 'other world' to such an extent that time melts away and reality becomes a bit fuzzy around the edges.  So I didn't really jump with fright this morning when I picked up my teacup to drain the last dregs and a little voice sounding like it came from the bottom of a well shouted "Nooooo, don't drink me!" 
The little rascal must have sneaked in there when the cup was cooling down, or he would have scalded his toes.

I dumped him in the garden where he promptly disappeared without a thank you or goodbye. 

See how well he is camouflaged?  Would never have spotted him if I didn't find him in a teacup!  I'm taking his magical visit as a good lizardly omen.

 This is how far I've got with the crochet drizard. 
I'm almost ready to start the head, and then I just have to figure out how the legs work!

Crochet Dragon

A dear friend is very ill :-( 
I know that she will appreciate flowers, and that she likes chocolate, but I'm not too sure whether chocolate is prescribed by the doctor. 
Something else I know will brighten her day is something green, something crochet, and especially something that looks like a lizard.  I've decided to throw together all the ingredients and try my hand at making a cameleondragon. 
The tail was easy, and after a bit I figured out the tummy gusset, but now I'm stuck!

This is where I'm at right now.  The dragon will have to sleep a while though, I am preparing for weekend workshops, and have family matters to attend to.  Will update you on itsprogress as soon as I've made a few more stitches.