Wednesday, June 29, 2011

WIP Wednesday 29/06/11

More crafting goodness from the Roses' place this week. Sue graciously handed over a few more items to be photographed so there's plenty to see. Unfortunately, once again I can't upload any pics so I will resort to using Flicker.

Firstly, I'll go through Sue's crafting goodies, starting  with the cape she's making for herself. When she she was getting tired of the long knit rows she worked on this cot blanket.

Sue  also wanted to show of a couple of tartan rugs, one in Murray of Athol colours and one in Salvation Army colours. It has actually bee a while since she has done anything  with these but she thought people might like to look at them.

In the meantime, a young lady at a recent market asked me to make her a beanie. I was going to try knooking this one but was having a great deal of trouble so decided to scrap that idea and knit it instead. Here is my progress so far.

Since last Wednesday, I have also added a couple of squares to my Tunisian Crochet Blanket, added the next section of my "2 for the road" scarf, done a few more patches for my crochetnit blanket, added a few more rows to my toddlers jacket and started another jug cover.

I also completed a couple of items but you will have to wait until Friday to see those.

Richard.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Kingdom Attitude #4

The readings for today were from Luke 1:46-55 and Matthew 5:1-6 with verse 6 as the primary verse and it says "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."

The message this morning was begun with a story about a hunger artist. The story, written by Franz Kafka, was about a guy the fasted for money. His manager would only let him fast for 40 days at a time, but he wanted to fast longer. Eventually, fasting stopped being a spectator event and he ended up joining a circus where he was pretty much ignored. When the circus manager finally noticed him he was almost dead and before he died he told the people that he only fasted because he couldn't find any food that satisfied him.

Is there something that you hunger for? Is there anything that satisfies your hunger?

People hunger for many different things, fitness, money, fame, etc. Few hunger for righteousness.

We need to be so hungry for righteousness that we feel like we would die without it, but it needs to be God's righteousness, not legal or moral righteousness.

Social righteousness cares about justice, relieving suffering and oppression, and things of God.

Richard.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

The week that was 25-06-11

It has been another eventful week with Sue finally getting a date for her operation. She will be going under the knife on the 7th of July. If they keep her in hospital for the 10 days that has been indicated to her she will still be there on her birthday. I did promise her a cup cake with a candle but she didn't seem overly excited about that.

Last night we headed into town for the scouts and guides gang show. Those kids were quite talented and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Today has been a long day as we had the alarm set for 5am so that we could be in Benalla before 7:30 to set up for today's market. We didn't sell much today, which was a bit disappointing. I did sell the robot so I will have to add that to my to-do list but I won't bore you with the details of the full list today. I have almost 2 months now to try and get a few of those items off the list as we won't be doing any markets next month. Sue doesn't want me spending too much time away from home while she is recovering.

Friday, June 24, 2011

FO Friday 24-06-2011

Only a couple of jug covers for you this week.

Large White Jug Cover with teal beads

Medium Teal and White Jug Cover with Green and White Beads
I hope to have a couple more jug covers and maybe some bookmarks done for next week, but most of my WIPs won't be finished for quite a while.

Check out Tami's Amis for more FO Friday goodness.

Richard.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

WIP Wednesday 22/06/11

I have a good selection of WIPs for you this week, most of which you saw last week but with a bit more added to them, plus I've managed to get hold of a couple of Sue's projects, unfortunately, the weather wasn't particularly kind today so the photos were taken indoors with a flash and the colours aren't really what they should be and, for some reason, blogspot isn't uploading images today so I will have to upload them elsewhere and just give a link.

Sue has made quite a bit of progress on her Ladies Cape and hopes to have it ready for when she goes into hospital in a couple of weeks. She has also been working on a blanket crocheted in box stitch. This was a pattern she learnt at Friday mornings crochet class.

In the meantime, I have been working on a medium jug cover and making progress on the "2 for the road" scarf, the toddler's jacket, the crochetnit blanket, the tunisian crochet blanket and the knitted scarf.

Sorry about not posting the photos here but it's out of my control.

Richard.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Kingdon Attitude #3

The reading for today came from Matthew 5:1-5 with the key verse being verse 5 "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth"

We need to make up our own minds about what drives us. Is it a personal or a kingdom agenda?

Matthew 6:33 say "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you."

In Jesus' day, when a rabbi sat down to tell people something it meant he had something important to teach. Matthew 5:1 tells us "Now when he saw the the crowds he went up on a mountainside and sat down". If the beatitudes were important enough to Jesus that he sat down to teach them then they should also be important to us and we should pay attention to them.Blessed means far more than happiness, you are part of the kingdom of God. With every "blessed" there is a spiritual reward.

Meek means quiet, gentle and easily imposed on, which in modern society is generally seen as weakness, but it doesn't mean the same thing in the passage before us today. The Greek word used in the original text means power with control and is the same word they used to describe a horse controlled by a man. One meaning of this passage could be "Blessed is the one who is always angry at the right time and never angry at the wrong time".

William Barclay translated the passage to read "Blessed are they who have every instinct, every impulse and every passion under control".

This doesn't necessarily mean self control either but God control. We need to yield, surrender and submit to God's control and adopt 'true humility which banishes all pride'.

We need to accept our need to learn.

Proverbs 16:32 says "Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city."

God has called us to follow Him, to be meek, to be under His control.

Richard.

PS Thanks to Major David Godkin for giving me his power point notes to help me fill in some that I missed during the sermon. RR

Saturday, June 18, 2011

The week that was 18-06-11

This week started off with a public holiday so Sue didn't have any Aqua to attend on Monday. Instead, we went for a drive out to Hume Dam for a picnic lunch and then for a drive around the lake. I would have pics except I can't get to them at the moment due to problems with my desktop.

Tuesday afternoon we went to our LYS for an afternoon of knitting and chat. We've decided to do this on our off pay-week as we don't have our craft group that week.

Friday night we had a special get together with friends from church. We had a movie night this time and we got to watch "Wild Hogs" which we thoroughly enjoyed. We were also asked to bring our craft stall along and set it up in the tea room so that everyone could have a look after the movie. Our CO ended up buying 6 towels off us so that got the weekend sales off to a good start.

This morning the markets were on at Thurgoona and I had another good day with about $80 in sales and an order for a purple beanie. This, of course, has caused and change in my to-do list.

Things to make to replace stock for my market stall:

Purple Beanie
Medium Jug Covers
Fan Bookmarks
Large Cross Bookmarks (I didn't sell any today but discovered that I only had one left)
Small Toy
Pink Baby's Sunhat
String Bags
Set of Wine Glass Socks

Current Work In Progress:

Rose Clan Dress Tartan Rug
Tunisian Crochet Blanket
Crochetknit Blanket
2 for the road Scarf
Knitted Scarf
Toddlers Jacket

Things I'm itching to get started on:

Jumper (sweater to you Americans) for me
Doily in #40 cotton
Tunisian Crochet Dishcloth (for tutorial I want to write)
Crochetknit Cot Blanket (I want to try a method for doing rows that are longer than the hook)
Crochetknit Knee Rug (same as Cot Blanket and will also use up some of my stash of 8ply)
Something from my "99 Granny Squares" book
Something in Tunisian Crochet Lace (I'm thinking of modifying Ellen's Jacket pattern by substituting a lace stitch in the main body of the pattern)
Something from Ellen's new book.

I think that's enough for now.

Richard.

PS I all the excitement of doing well at markets and the problems with my desktop machine I forgot to tell you about Sue's problems on Thursday morning. She woke up with chest pains and ended up spending the morning in hospital. I turned out to be only muscular/skeletal but it's better to be safe than sorry when it comes to chest pains. RR

Friday, June 17, 2011

FO Friday 17/06/2011

Almost forgot to do this tonight. I have three items for you this week.

A beanie.

Knitted Beanie in Red Heart Boutique Storm Blue
I finished the knitting of this at WWKIP Day at my LYS.

I also finished a couple of large jug covers.

Large Jug Cover #3
Large Jug Cover #4

 That's it for this week. Hope others have some lovely FOs for me to look at.

Richard.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

WIP Wednesday 15/06/2011

It has been another busy week with plenty of crochet and knitting being done around here. I have a couple of item ready for FO Friday and plenty of progress on the ones that aren't ready yet.

First off, on Sue's needles is a cape that she has had several attempts at making.

Ladies Cape in Purple Wool/Alpaca blend
She started off costing on 433 stitches and is down to working with 320 now. Her first attempt was too small for her, her second seemed to have problems with the tension on the different panels so this one is being done in one piece.

I have finished the knitted beanie I was making and have now started on the scarf to go with it.

Knitted Scarf in Red Heart Boutique
I will show off the beanie on Friday.

I have added another square to the Tunisian Mitred Square Blanket.

Tunisian Crochet Mitred Square Blanket
I'm still working on jug covers.

Large Jug Cover
I have made this pattern before as a 2 colour in finer cotton but I needed more large jug covers so this is plain white #10 cotton. I finished one earlier in the week and will show it on Friday.

I have made a few more patches for my crochetknit blanket.

Patches for Crochetknit Blanket
I hope to have a few more made for next week but it will be a little while before I'm ready to start stitching it together.

I also added a couple of rows to the toddlers jacket and the "2 for the road" scarf but not enough to show up on a photo so I didn't bother photographing them.

That's what's been on the Roses' hooks and needles this week. What's been happening at your place?

Richard.



Sunday, June 12, 2011

Happy are the unhappy!

Today is Pentecost Sunday.

I can't remember what the reading was for this morning and it isn't written on the meeting lead, but the sermon continued on with th beatitudes.

The beatitudes are the opposite of what the world teaches. Jesus tips things upside down.

We should mourn our own sins and the sins of others but we can't do this unless we are filled with the holy spirit.

The three stages of Jesus' life are Bethlehem, which represents God with us, Calvary, which represents God for us, and Pentecost, which represents God in us. Christians often get stuck between Calvary and Pentecost, we accept the atonement but not the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

We need to be out of our depth in God's love, leaning on His strength, putting our focus on Him.

Richard.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

The week that was 11/06/2011

This week has been a bit of a roller-coaster. Apart from the usual stuff like gym, craft group, chatting with El and the gang, band practice and crochet class (for new readers, I'm there to teach, but I'm also open to learn new stuff) I had computer problems and WWKIP day.

I have been having some issues with computers for a while, with my laptop deciding that it didn't want to stay booted up for long periods (I think leaving it powered up through the heat of summer may have had an adverse affect on it) and an aging desktop with only 512Mb of RAM (you need at least 1G to be able to use a browser for any length of time) being somewhat slow. On Thursday we had an electrician come in to replace a dodgy power point in the kitchen and he needed to shut the power off to do it, so I powered down the desktop for the duration. When I powered it back up the computer failed during the post and required pressing a key on the keyboard. Normally this wouldn't be a problem but I have a USB keyboard and mouse and, while this would be quite OK for modern machines, older machines don't recognise these until the OS boots up, and I didn't have a PS2 keyboard available (or so I thought), so I decided that I needed to find one, and while I was at it, find some more memory and get my wife a USB extension. None of the cheap keyboards come with a PS2 adapter these days so I had to go to a more expensive model and, because this is such an old machine, the memory was quite expensive ($105 for 1G). When I got home and started plugging everything in I noticed the keyboard sitting on a shelf above my desk with a PS2 plug on the end of the cable (d'oh).

I now have a machine with 1.5G of RAM which  runs more or less OK and we have no money left for the rest of the fortnight (we have even spent the craft money we collected a fortnight ago), especially since we had spent quite a bit on printer cartridges earlier in the week. Ah well, I'm sure we'll manage somehow, I just hope we have enough petrol in the car to get us through.

There are a couple of brighter notes to the week, today we spent most of the day at our local LYS in honour of World Wide Knit In Public Day and had a great time chatting with other knitters and crocheters and showing off our work. The other good thing that has happened this week is that I'm getting a lot more comments on my blog thanks to being listed on Tami's amis (http://tamisamis.blogspot.com/) list of WIP Wednesday and FO Friday blogs and I would like to thank all those that have commented. If you ask any questions I will try to answer them, but otherwise don't expect a response as I may be busy reading other peoples blogs, including yours.

That about wraps up my week here, hope you all have had a good one.

Richard.

Friday, June 10, 2011

FO Friday 10/06/2011

I think this week has been quite productive, although I only managed to complete 3 items.

I finished 2 jug covers using patterns that I've had for a while but never actually made before.

Large Round Jug Cover with Pink Beads

Large Square Jug Cover with Assorted Colour Beads
I didn't have enough beads of one colour to do the square one so I used all colours of the rainbow on each side.

I also completed a pair of booties.

Mauve Booties
These complete a jacket, bonnet and booties ensemble. I just wish I had a model to wear them to show them off properly.

I will have more jug covers completed for next Friday as they only take a couple of days to make, but the rest of my projects are quite large so it will be a while before they're featured here.

Richard.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

WIP Wednesday 08/06/2011

This week has been another busy week. I spent some time at my local Spotlight and chiro waiting room, as well as the usual crochet classes and craft group, so there has been plenty of progress going on.

First off the rank today is an item I'm making while watching TV.

Jug Cover with Floral Centre
This is the second of a series of jug covers that I'm making to replenish stocks. The first was finished earlier in the week so will be featured on Friday. With any luck, this might also be complete by then. I did try to get a close-up of the centre but my camera wasn't really up to the task.

A somewhat blurry close-up of the centre.
I might try and make another one of these sometime but with a pink rose.

I still need to complete the Baby's Ensemble and I have almost finished the last item.

Booties to complete the ensemble
I have already made the jacket and bonnet to go with these.

When I get the booties finished I will replace them in the bag with the Toddlers Jacket that I have already started.

Toddlers Jacket in Tunisian Crochet
I have moved onto the next phase with this which is the main body of the jacket. I was starting to get worried that the cable I had bought for this job wasn't going to be long enough, but I have stopped increasing now and have lost the stitches for the arms so there is plenty of room now. Once this has been transferred to my main travel bag I should get a bit more time to work on it.

My knitted beanie has also reached the next stage.

Knitted Beanie
I'm now ready to start decreasing to shape the top.

The tunisian crochet afghan is also progressing.

Tunisian Crochet Mitred Square Afghan.
I have now completed the first panel and have started the first square of the second panel.

And the crochetknit blanket is also progressing well.

Crochetknit Patchwork Blanket

I've decided to make 3 patches of each colour to get it to the size I would like. I think I'm going to have trouble laying out all the patches to photograph from here on. Maybe I should just give you an update on what's been completed until I'm ready to join everything together.

There hasn't been any more progress on the tartan rug or the "2 for the road" scarf this week. I will try to add another section to the scarf for next week, but the rug will have to wait until I have restocked my market stall.

On another note, my wife has been trying to make a cape for when she goes into hospital but has been having a little difficulty getting all the panels the right size, so she rewrote the pattern so that she could do it one piece. Yesterday she cast on 433 stitches onto a 1.5 metre circular needle. I don't have any photos of it yet but I will try to get some soon and definitely once it is complete.

That's it for this week.

Richard.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Whose Hands?

The reading this morning came from John 10:7-16

No matter what happens in this world we know we have a God that loves and cares for us, and ew have a saviour who will be our shepherd.

If we know where we stand with God we can trust Him to look after us. We are in His hands!

Saturday, June 4, 2011

The week that was 04/06/2011

This week has been another fun week with plenty of knitting and crochet getting done. I managed to finish 10 hand towels and a baby's bonnet as well as making a dent in a few other projects.

Since we didn't have craft group this week we decided to join the ladies at our LYS for there knitting group on Tuesday afternoon. The group was quite a bit smaller than usual as some of the ladies were off at some show, but we still enjoyed ourselves and plan on going back on Tuesday week (we have our own craft group to look after this week).

We didn't have any markets today and my 2 on-line shops have yet to attract any sales so there is anything to be added to my to-do list this week, although I think I may have left something off it last week. This afternoon was spent at Spotlight where a knitting party had been organised but Sue and I were the only ones that turned up, so that was a little disappointing.

Other than the usual gym and crochet class that's our week in a nutshell.

See you next time.

Richard.

Friday, June 3, 2011

FO Friday 03/06/2011

I have been quite busy trying to finish things to replace those that I have sold at the markets and items that I've been carry around for a while. First item are to replenish my stocks and add a bit of colour to one section of my stall that has been lacking a bit lately.

10 Hand Towels
I think these will fit the bill nicely.

The only other item that I have managed to finish is a bonnet.

Mauve Baby's Bonnet
This is to match the jacket that I finished last week. I just have the booties to finish and I will have completed the set.

That's it for this week. I hope to have a few jug cover to show off next week, including a couple of patterns that I have never tried before. I do hope they turn out well.

Richard.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

WIP Wednesday 01/06/2011

I have had another busy week with hooks and pointy sticks. I think every project I have going had some work done on it.

Crochetknit Blanket
The first ten patches are now complete. The pattern calls for 12 but I think that will be too small so I might just keep going until I can make it a decent size.

"Two for the road" Scarf
I'm almost back to where I was before I frogged most of it. The pattern calls for 3 repeats of the different stitches but I'm going to keep going until I'm just about out of wool.

A mauve bootie
This is the first of a pair that will go with the jacket (finished last week) and bonnet (almost finished). I have done this a little different as I noticed something as I was making the robot last week. When working in rounds, only using the back loop of double crochet (US single crochet) the seam stays straight whereas the normal method is tends to slope causing the bootie to twist a bit. I think I'm going to have to use this method on all my booties from now on.

A mauve bonnet
Just need to be stitched up and have the ribbon added. I should be able to get this done before Friday. It's a pity I don't have a head to display it on.

Knitted Beanie
Another inch and I will be onto the shaping section.

Toddlers Jacket
I'm starting to think that I should have bought a longer cable for this hook. I still have 2 more increase rows to do and there isn't much room left on this one.

Tunisian Crochet Mitred Square Blanket
Another 2 squares where added to this this week. I should be started the second panel later this week.

Rose Clan Dress Tartan Rug
Still a lot of work to be done on this before it starts looking like a tartan but I think I may not have enough red to finish it. I'm almost finished the first ball of red and I'm just over half way through making the mesh.

I have been working on some hand towels (the first of many items on my to-do list for the market stall) but didn't take any photos of them today as I'm saving them for FO Friday.

See you on Friday