Currently Creating - 18 March 2015

One of our cats has the nickname "screenkitty".  Screenkitty just came up and patted at the screen and turned on capslock.  He wants to help with the blogging.

An update on my crochet: The following is what I wrote on the Champagne and Socks Ravelry group last night:-

I’m on the third last border round of the Jabyblanket, and In what I can only assume is a fit of nerves relating either to whether I will run out of yarn, or a dislike of the large gauge and the current look of the border, I have rationalised setting that project aside for another repeat of the same pattern for a baby who is in fact due before the Jade Baby. This will probably be the final time I do this pattern for a while, but it works up very quickly and takes very little concentration, which is a benefit when one realises that there is a baby due around Easter, while the one whose blanket is finished is not due until June. Prioritisation, I suck at it.

This morning, while I was taking photos of yarn (I'm trying to put my stash into Ravelry as well as clearing up my craft room etc), I was looking at the photos of the Elphieblanket and realised that the problem with the Jabyblanket is that I've missed a treble in each group.  Sigh.

(Photo is of the stuff up of the border.)

On the other hand, it explains why I thought the border looked odd - it *was* odd.  And I'm glad I put it down because it means there's less to pull out.

Having sorted that out, I may in fact pick it back up tonight and frog back the mistake and get into fixing this, despite realising that I've been making up these blankets in the wrong 'birth order', so to speak.

So then there's the new project: yet again the same pattern, this time with a ply and hook in between the very small Elphieblanket and the very large Jabyblanket.  Currently using a very cheap hook, because I'm not sure where my tin of good quality hooks has gone (somewhere in the craft room, no doubt.)  Doesn't look like much at the moment, but it will grow rapidly, I'm sure.

Finally - one of the additional reasons why this may be the last time for a while I work on this pattern?  The pattern itself got attacked by the kittyboys last night and has a couple of rips in important places.  Oops.

Currently creating - 25th February

Wow - how did it get to the 25th of February already!

So - my weekly contribution to the Champagne and Socks virtual craft circle - this time with actual photos!

This week I intend to finally send the finished Elphieblanket on its way.  I really love the yarn I used for this one - Patons Rainbow in "Rainforest".  I bought some more of it while it was on sale, in a different colourway - I'll have to find an appropriate project for that.

On the Jabyblanket, I've so far kept to my intention to complete at least one repeat of the pattern per day, and I'm up to 19 of 27.

Our cat Bard insisted on being included in my photo of progress so far.

In other types of creativity - after many tries, and *just* before they officially discontinued the set (damn you, LEGO), we finally got our hands on the Research Institute set - this being the three female scientists set that was voted for by the public and was made in such ludicrously low numbers for such things... but anyway...

We finally got our Research Institute and had great fun building it.  Have a LEGO dinosaur.

Kaisercraft Advent Calender - finished!

I first saw the Kaisercraft Advent calendar a few years ago, and I loved it at first sight.  I didn't buy it, though, until after I'd started back up with scrapbooking thanks to Project Life.  Early this year I bought the calender, and a couple of paper packs ('St Nick' is what I used most).

The last month or so I've been working on putting the calendar together, and today it's finally done.  I used Washi Tape for the boxes, and the gorgeous little balsa wood Christmas tree numbers that I love.

So: photos...

Starting the project with Kaisercraft "St Nick"

Making boxes with washi tape

Morgan & Finch Enchanted Forest balsa wood numbers

Gluing in the dividers

And.... the finished calendar!

We'll use the boxes for each day of the Lego Advent Calendar that we choose to use this year (we have City, Kingdoms and Star Wars... the idea is to rotate each year, although the last couple of years we've used two so that we each have one to put together.  :-)

Currently Creating - 18th September 2014

I really didn't mean for my Currently Creative posts to die in August.  I really did mean to keep them up.  But...

Anyway, we're back, so I'd like to get going from here on in: and I'll warn you now that gardening is being included as creative.

 I think this is the only piece of crochet I've properly finished in the past couple of months.  I also have a purple neckwarmer scarf for me, but I still need to put the buttons on that for it to be finished.

This is a Swans bobble scarf made for my Swans-fan GF.  

I was quite proud of the creativity used in this PL card for my August wrap-up layout.

We got this potting table from ALDI and build it with a minimum of drama (sadly the drawer will not open).  I also started some seedlings, and some cat grass for the kitty boys.  We've also got a bunch of vegetable seedlings planted, including lots of basil.  I'll try to document the garden properly NEXT week.

In addition to all this, the Write Around the Murray writing festival last weekend had its annual effect of at least temporarily kicking me in the butt re: my writing.  I'm trying very hard at the moment to put in at least 30 minutes of writing per day (not counting blog posts).

Currently creative - 6th August

It's Currently Creative linkup time again.

I'm afraid I haven't been all that creative this past week, although I've made more than a few poppies, from a few different patterns.  In fact I think that I've found my go-to quick poppy pattern: the first three rounds of Heidi Bears' African Violet pattern.  I've done nine of these poppies since... Monday, I think? This week's poppy pattern review was already set and half written, but I think I'm changing it up (depending on whether I can get myself organised in time, of course.)


I've also signed up for September's 30 Days of Lists, for which I blame RUKristin.  (As she's an ambassador for 30 Days of Lists, I suspect she'd be rather pleased, actually.)  I'm beginning to investigate ideas for how I plan to set out my lists - do I incorporate them into PL; do I have a separate notebook... (Pinterest board here).  I've got a month (or most of one) to make that decision, thankfully.

Finally, I've given in to washi tape.  We've had a couple fabulous new books at work with all sorts of ideas for how to use washi tape, and it's not like I don't have lots of the stuff.  So I'm beginning to use it more in my personal bullet journal (and on my bullet journal) and I'll probably use it more on other things, too.

Currently Creative - July 30

It's time for another linkup from Kellie Winnell's blog!

The main thing I've been working on this week has been a Kobo cover for M.  I'm using the same yarn and same basic pattern as for the one I made for myself last year, but with a larger hook and the original ribbed cuff from the pattern instead of the flap I did for mine. The ribbing is a challenge, and I had to rip it out once completely, but although it's not perfect this time, I'm okay-ish with it. I still plan to do some glasses cases for a couple of friends for Christmas presents this year.

In poppy-making news, I tried my own pattern with bobbles!

Currently creative - 23 July

It's Currently Creative linkup time again! 

Last week I finally began to work on poppies.  I've been working on the Poppy Project at work since we first found about it.  But this is the first time I've actually started working on my own contribution to the project.  

I've also been working on the Project life blog posts, and consequently on my PL layouts. Like my HtTyD2 cards :-). During the first week of the school holidays we went to see it, and then the GF found the dioramas at - would you believe - McDonald's. But I had a great time turning them into PL cards: almost as much fun as I had watching the movie.

Monday night was the first day in more than a week that I didn't work on poppies: I got back into working on writing!  I've begun to develop a new idea for a middle grades novel, have opened a new file on Scrivener for the research on it (the amount of information available via the Australian National Archives is kind of amazing), and although my 'voice' just isn't right yet (far too sophisticated), I've even written some scraps that - because of their over-sophistication, just won't be usable.

Of course, I still have some other writing projects I should be working on. 

Currently Creative/Finished object: the Elphieblanket

 It’s that time of week again!

Last night I finished the Elphieblanket, and I’m really pleased with it.

It still needs to be blocked, but that won’t change the look of it all that much, other than the edging. This is the quickest baby blanket I’ve ever made, but also the smallest. The pattern turns out beautifully, and I think this will be something of a go-to pattern for babies I get around to crocheting for before they arrive.

What I’ve learned

I’ve gotten much better at the straight edge thing, as I expected after my discoveries with the Cat Mat. However, I should have read the pattern more closely in the first few rounds of the border: I made a couple of mistakes at the corners that had implications on the outer rounds, although they’re not really obvious to the untrained eye.

  

It’s been a rough re-entry at work this week, but one of the things that has done is motivate me to refocus on my writing (fiction, rather than blog posts). I need to take a good look at my routines and activities in order to find a way of spending some time every single day on either writing or, in the longer term promoting my writing. Writing is one of the ways I’ve been creative for the majority of my life, and it’s something I want to get back to properly.

Currently creating - 3 July

It's time for another Currently Creative link up!

I'm on holidays this week, so I've been trying to do a lot of creating.

I'm still working on the Elphieblanket, but I've finished the purple headband from my UFOs list.  We had a small friend over to meet the cats while I was finishing the headband, and she requested one in TARDIS blue, so I'm just about finished with that one.  These headbands are so super-easy that it takes longer to set up project entries on Ravelry for them and blog about them than it does to make the headband itself (I might be exaggerating, but only a little.)

...and look, finished!

  

I've gotten a LOT of Project Life done in the last few days, and I'm pretty much all caught up to the end of May. I've also done my July goals spread, something I didn't do in June, and felt rather sad about, really.

And finally, last night I made mulled wine!  It was a trial run for our housewarming party Saturday week, and I was really pleased with it.