tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86194103979746943212024-03-12T17:01:22.137-07:00Selkie's Crochetselkiecrochethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06322559381153909676noreply@blogger.comBlogger339125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8619410397974694321.post-40586710066301985932019-02-10T12:49:00.001-08:002019-02-10T12:49:50.214-08:00Winter Colour<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I thought I'd write a small post about my houseplants and the winter colour in our conservatory. It's traditional to bring in a sign of Spring into the house on St. Brigid's Day (1st Feb).<br />
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I had just bought a new orchid - but sadly managed to break off one of the flower stems when I was unpacking the plant. Luckily they make great cut flowers and are still going strong after over a week.<br />
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I bought four amaryllis from Marks and Spencers this year- so far three of them have flowered -- two different types of red and a pink!<br />
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The flowers are so over the top and full of colour. I can't remember what the 4th one is so it'll be a surprise :) <br />
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My first ever bromeliad - hopefully I will be able to keep it alive! <br />
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...and then there are my lovely orchids....<br />
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The yellow one is a new one this year - I always try to keep an eye out for orchids (and other houseplants) in the reduced section in Tesco or Marks and Spencer.<br />
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<br />selkiecrochethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06322559381153909676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8619410397974694321.post-23360866602000689052019-02-07T09:17:00.002-08:002019-02-07T09:17:54.143-08:00January <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Out of curiosity I've decided to keep all the labels from whatever wool I work with each month - the above was the month of January! I think it's quite impressive really - it was one hat, one shower puff and 9 pairs of wrist warmers. February is proving to be a slower month so far as I am using sock yarn and a 3mm hook and it is much much slower to work with, but I guess it will average out over the whole year.<br />
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One rainy day last month I decided to do my big sort through all my yarns - so the above photo is just about everything that I own! I cleared out a big bagful of stuff that I wasn't ever going to use and will pass it on to a fellow crafter for their projects.<br />
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Embarrassingly, I found several lovely yarns that I'd totally forgotten ever having bought!!<br />
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For quite a while now I've been quite firm on my 'yarn ban' -- I try to only buy yarns for custom orders (or if I'm on holiday!!) so I don't have quite AS much as I used to but it's still an awful lot.<br />
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Having sorted through it all though, it's given me inspiration to use up lots of it - mostly in wristwarmers (these really are my most favourite things to make)<br />
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<br />selkiecrochethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06322559381153909676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8619410397974694321.post-2849479718961997182019-02-07T09:06:00.003-08:002019-02-07T09:06:47.254-08:00Keeping Going<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Apologies for not keeping this updated yet again - Peter was terribly sick with vertigo and that kind of took over for a while. Fortunately he is 100% again but it was a hard week or so.<br />
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As you can hopefully see, I'm keeping busy - I want to try and get my Etsy shop running properly again; I only have less than 15 listings there at the moment and need to get proper photos taken of the other wrist warmers that I have, and to get them listed too.<br />
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<br />selkiecrochethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06322559381153909676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8619410397974694321.post-43634843981795662782019-01-16T13:39:00.000-08:002019-01-16T13:39:20.070-08:00Starting Over AgainWell, it's the middle of January already and the last time I posted in here was way back in August. A LOT has happened - we lost four cats last year and it's hit me SO hard. James and Bertie to kidney failure, Oscar to lymphoma and we had little Bear with us for just a few months before she was killed on the road.<br />
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It was an incredibly tough year; Oscar and Bears' deaths hit me especially hard and to be honest I've really struggled with my depression in the last few months.<br />
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We've decided not to take in any more cats - unless they turn up in our garden - as it just hurts so much when we lose them. Maybe in the future we will foster kittens/cats for Klaws (our local animal rescue centre) but right now we have Pearl, Dinah and Ivy and hopefully they will be with us for a long time.<br />
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I just haven't really been coping too well with all the loss so I've let my Etsy shop slide - I'm still crocheting away (it can feel sometimes like the only thing that keeps me sane sometimes) - I just haven't been photographing and listing it online.<br />
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My Christmas markets were quite successful - which is great as I'd nothing going on Etsy last winter; I went to three -- Caherdaniel, then Cahirciveen and Waterville was last. Waterville has always been my best one - it wasn't this time round but I think it's probably because it was my last one and I didn't have SO much to choose from. The most important thing was that I was able to raise the funds to continue the sponsorship of my two girls through ActionAid Ireland.<br />
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Airmid soaps asked me to make more of the soap savers and scrubbies for them towards the end of the year (this also helped boost my sponsorship funds) --- you can buy them here … https://airmidsoap.com/collections/accessories they've been so great to work with - I'm really proud to be one of their suppliers.<br />
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<br />selkiecrochethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06322559381153909676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8619410397974694321.post-10792703004467538942018-08-03T14:36:00.002-07:002018-08-03T14:36:57.713-07:00Hats for Artists 2018<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I *think* that this is the sixth year that Barbara Lively has asked me to make wool hats for the artists who come over to Valentia for her retreat...I need to check back to see how many years it's been...<br />
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Anyway, this is this year's colour - a lovely cornflower blue with tweedy dark and light blue flecks running through it.<br />
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This year she asked for a total of eight hats (three plain beanies for the men and five flower ones for the women) and five pairs of wrist warmers. I always buy a 2kg cone of Studio Donegal's wool from Springwools for her commission (she chooses the colour every year but this one really stood out for me this year too)<br />
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I've only just finished the hats/wrist warmers last week, I really did lose my motivation after Oscar died; but Barbara doesn't need the items until the 12th August so it all worked out ok.<br />
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I didn't take a photo of the finished hats - I'll make another one from the leftover wool though so I must remember to take a photo of that one instead. <br />
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<br />selkiecrochethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06322559381153909676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8619410397974694321.post-30489922000773154922018-08-03T14:21:00.001-07:002018-08-03T14:21:51.807-07:00Keeping Going Wow, well it's been almost two whole months since I last posted an update on here...Oscar's death has hit us both really hard.<br />
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With a small bit of hindsight now I can say that I'm so glad that he didn't have a long, lingering illness and we're especially glad that he was able to die peacefully at home (without that final trip up to the vets at the Ark) but at the same time I wish so much that he could have had a longer life before it was his time to go.<br />
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I am keeping going with my crochet - I did lose a lot of my motivation to keep going after Oscar's death but it really does help me to cope with things...it relaxes me greatly and is my favourite way to unwind.<br />
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I've made several of these ~~~ pure cotton shower puffs! They're relaxing to make as it's the same stitch over and over and over again, so they're something pretty simple for me to make.</div>
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Last month I was able to go to the market in Portmagee a couple of times and I sold one of them! The market was a bit hit or miss, as they usually are --- I only had two customers both times, but luckily both times one customer bought quite a bit.</div>
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My friend Kate has offered to sell my wristwarmers along with her amazing knitted hats and jewellery pieces at the markets when I can't be there - so far she's sold four pairs! She goes to the market in Millstreet as well as the one in Portmagee.</div>
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Earlier this Summer Lucy (from Sea Synergy) asked me to make a few beanie hats for her centre - she provided the wool for me (just acrylic made by Robin but it's quite good quality). I finally got around to starting on them last week.</div>
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The hats are in three different shades of blue (the colours of her logo); the wool is dk so I'm using all three colours at the same time and an 8mm hook to give a chunky beanie hat. I really like the effect this gives. </div>
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For the first time in AGES I brought my crochet down to the beach on my last couple of days off; it was so good, I need to do this more often when I can.</div>
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<br />selkiecrochethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06322559381153909676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8619410397974694321.post-4179585174070020112018-06-05T09:53:00.003-07:002018-06-05T09:53:56.616-07:00Trying to move onOscar died soon after I'd posted my last update on here...over a couple of weeks he'd started to deteriorate slowly, eating less and less and sleeping more and more.<br />
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We wanted to keep him at home for as long as we could and were hoping that we wouldn't have to take him to the vets to have him put to sleep; so we kept in close contact with our vet in Killarney and had doubled his dose of steroids.<br />
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On his last day he was so peaceful - just lying on top of the box he had adopted in the conservatory and gazing off into space. His breathing was slow and even. It was a lovely day so I brought him outside and he managed to sharpen his claws on his favourite piece of driftwood in the garden, have a drink of rainwater out of the watering can and licked the concrete on the patio...this was something that he started doing in the last couple of weeks. I don't know why, but it made him happy! (luckily we don't use any weedkillers etc so didn't have to worry about him picking up something bad from it)<br />
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We are so relieved that we didn't have to take him up to the vets and that he was able to pass peacefully at home in familiar surroundings. He'd spent SO much time in the vets in the last few months, including overnight stays in intensive care, being on drips etc so it was a comfort to know that we didn't have to take him there again.<br />
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The house feels very empty without him; as a kitten he had really bonded with me and over time developed that same deep relationship with Peter too. He was a really special one and I know we won't ever forget him. I still remember Peter coming home with this little whisp of a kitten and how we struggled to get him to eat and to put weight on (it turned out that he had colitis so that's why he hadn't thrived at first).<br />
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<a href="https://selkiecrochet.blogspot.com/2012/01/another-cat-related-post.html" target="_blank">https://selkiecrochet.blogspot.com/2012/01/another-cat-related-post.html</a> this was my post about him at first. I had been devastated by losing Mr Evie - a stray cat who had died at the vets and Peter brought home this little foundling to help me through it.<br />
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He really was so precious to us both, I can't quite believe that he's gone and that we'll never see him again; I will remember him as he used to be, a chirpy bouncy tigger of a cat rather than the pale shadow of himself at the end.<br />
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I don't want this to be a depressing post so here are the latest updates on my two sponsor children - Bariki in Kenya and Si in Vietnam.<br />
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I just LOVE the helicopter that Bariki drew for me! I hope so much that she can reach her dream of becoming a teacher and that she holds onto that dream. <br />
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I received a new photo of Si recently - she's grown up so much since the last photo they sent me; I can't remember how often they send out photos, maybe once a year or less?<br />
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With every update you get a drawing from the child themselves and then a written update from the field worker with the local community.<br />
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I need to send them both some more postcards!<br />
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The sponsorships are done through ActionAid Ireland if anyone reading this is interested (??) - mine are both paid for thanks to my sales on Etsy and through craft markets. selkiecrochethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06322559381153909676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8619410397974694321.post-19508065838183507512018-05-24T08:28:00.000-07:002018-05-24T08:28:28.811-07:00Our Darling Little One <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I haven't wanted to post about Oscar as I was hoping that his illness was just a minor one but no, our darling little one is terminally ill.<br />
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He'd gone off his food so we brought him to the vets in Killarney for tests and after blood tests, hospitalisation and a lot of consulting with the laboratory in England he had his spleen removed.<br />
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We were hoping that that was the end of his illness and that he'd soon bounce back to normal but it turns out that he has a rare type of lymphoma and there is no chance of a recovery.<br />
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So he's back home with us and is on a daily dose of steroids, which are hopefully slowing down the spread of the cancer.<br />
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It's been an incredibly stressful time for all of us but we're so glad that he's home and hopefully will just 'go' in his sleep here rather than him having to go to the vets with us.<br />
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We had been keeping him indoors in case he'd pick up an infection - his immune system is rock bottom - but the weather has been lovely the last couple of days and he's asked to go outdoors so we've let him out to enjoy lying in the garden.<br />
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<br />selkiecrochethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06322559381153909676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8619410397974694321.post-4014311287469244882018-03-24T07:28:00.002-07:002018-03-24T07:28:25.229-07:00hats, hats and more hats..As a good portion of my 'stock' is now in Daly's craftshop in Valentia I've been trying to rebuild up some stock - in a couple of months Lucy's Sea Synergy Centre will be open in the village again and I need some stock for there - as well as my Etsy shop too.<br />
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A lot of the yarn that I'd bought in Poland is chunky so it's very quick to work with - so I'm making hats at the moment...lots of them! <br />
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It's been warm enough for me to take my crochet to the beach a couple of times lately - my most favourite place to crochet.<br />
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Loads of hats and I'm not finished yet... These are all made in Katia yarns - Inca and Azteca.<br />
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I made these wristwarmers with Polish wool (Olé brand) while we were on holiday -I wish so much that I'd bought more of it (I bought a navy/blue shade as well) but eventually I'm hoping to buy it online.<br />
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<br />selkiecrochethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06322559381153909676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8619410397974694321.post-39784181593620782292018-03-20T08:36:00.000-07:002018-03-20T08:36:59.339-07:00Wool Shopping in Krakow<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Sadly I am that obsessed with my yarns that one of the few things I research before we go anywhere on holiday is where I might be able to buy some new wool. <br />
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After a bit of googling it looked like there was only a choice of two in Krakow - one was in the huge shopping complex in the city (and had a reputation for being very expensive -- I guess to rent a shop in such a big shopping centre is pretty expensive so they have to charge more?) -- I didn't bother going to the one in the shopping centre as the one that we went to was great!<br />
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It's ''Pasmanteria Klebuszek on Karmelicka Street and I loved it! It's pretty small as wool shops go and the man didn't have very much English - but his English was much much better than our two words of Polish ;) <br />
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For a small shop there was a load of different yarns, threads, cross stitch patterns, buttons etc crammed in - right up to the ceiling.<br />
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I bought these big buttons! I will put them on hats :) <br />
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I didn't get a good photo of all the wool I bought together in one place - this is a fuzzy one that I took with my tablet - the only Polish wool that I bought was the sock yarn at the top right (three balls) and the cream on the far right hand side. <br />
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They had a GREAT selection of Katia yarns so I got a lot of them in different shades and some King Cole ones that were new to me.<br />
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I've started making hats with the Katia 'Azteca' already so will probably have photos of them for my next blog update - and I've already made two pairs of crocodile stitch wrist warmers with the browns and multicolour sock yarn.<br />
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Towards the end of the holiday I was hoping that we might manage another trip to this wool shop; but on our last day I had packed up our cases and there just wasn't any room left :( selkiecrochethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06322559381153909676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8619410397974694321.post-6349840875135435412018-03-20T07:24:00.002-07:002018-03-20T08:37:36.536-07:00Helter Skelter HeadbandYou might remember that I was one of the lucky five to have been chosen to have a go at the February Cygnet Yarnstars Challenge <a href="http://selkiecrochet.blogspot.ie/2018/01/helter-skelter.html" target="_blank">http://selkiecrochet.blogspot.ie/2018/01/helter-skelter.html</a><br />
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Sadly I didn't win - I wasn't expecting to anyway, even before I'd seen the other entrants work; but it was a fabulous opportunity to try a new wool and to put me outside of my comfort level for a bit.<br />
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A couple of photos -- I LOVED the colours in the wool: I'm at my happiest when I'm using either self-striping or multicoloured yarns and I really liked the contrast between the blues and reds in this particular shade...they look like they shouldn't 'go' together but they do!<br />
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It's a 100% acrylic, chunky yarn and was really good quality - no squeaky or scratchy acrylic. <br />
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I decided to make a headband in double 'rib' - it was very quick to make up and used virtually all of the 100g ball of yarn.<br />
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I'll write up the pattern in case anyone else would like to try - any questions please leave me a comment below and I'll try to help!<br />
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Join with a slip stitch at the end of every round. <br />
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<li>Using a 5.5mm hook chain 80.</li>
<li>Join carefully with a slip stitch to form a loop (without twisting the chain)</li>
<li>Work 1 double crochet into each stitch</li>
<li>Ch. 3 then treble all round - you should have 80 trebles </li>
<li>Ch. 3, work 2 front-post trebles then 2 ordinary trebles all round to create a 'double rib' effect</li>
<li>make 6 more rounds in the 'rib' pattern</li>
<li>finish with a round of double crochet again</li>
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make edging (see photo above) by working double crochet into the row below the last row at the top and bottom of the headband. You don't have to do this but it gives a neat edge. </div>
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For the flower embellishment I chose a chrysanthemum as I love the crazy texture! </div>
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<li>Use a 4.5mm hook.</li>
<li>Chain 5 and join with a slip stitch, forming a ring.</li>
<li>Ch 1, work 10 double crochet (dc) into the ring (join with sl st) </li>
<li>work the front loops of the ring *ch 6, sl st into next chain from the hook, dc into the next 3 ch and sl st into last chain - making a short petal. Sl st into the next front loop and repeat from * all around the stitches in the ring.</li>
<li>working in the back loops of the ring *ch 8, sl st into next chain from the hook, dc into the next 5 ch and sl st into last chain - making a longer petal. Sl st into the next back loop in the ring and repeat from * all around the remaining stitches. Break off yarn. </li>
<li> For the second layer of petals: chain 8 and join with a sl st, forming a ring</li>
<li>Ch 3, and work 19 trebles into the ring (join with a sl st)</li>
<li>Using the front loops only *ch 10, sl st into next ch from the hook, dc into next 7 ch and then sl st into last chain - making a longer petal. Repeat from * as you did for the petals in the other layer</li>
<li>working into the back loops as before *ch 12, sl st into next chain from the hook, dc into the next 9 ch and then sl st into the last ch - making an even longer petal!</li>
<li>break off leaving a long end for sewing in. </li>
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To complete the headband: </div>
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<li> Sew in the loose ends on the headband (at the start finish and from the edging)</li>
<li>Sew the two layers of petals together to give a nicely textured flower with twisty petals</li>
<li>Securely attach the flower to the headband, positioning it over the start/end of the edging so that it looks neat.</li>
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selkiecrochethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06322559381153909676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8619410397974694321.post-28154365865712823422018-03-20T07:08:00.001-07:002018-03-20T07:08:15.184-07:00March! Oh boy, it's the middle of March and it's almost exactly a whole month since I last update this blog ...<br />
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Things have been kind of busy lately - first with minding Donal and Rosie's shop on Valentia for 18 days, and then towards the end of February we headed off on our own holiday - to Krakow in Poland!<br />
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Peter and I alternate between us as to who gets to choose the holiday destination - and this time it was my choice. I chose Krakow as it was somewhere we could fly to directly (leaving from Shannon airport) and it looked like it had a LOT of history. It turned out to be a great choice - the old buildings are so beautiful in their faded elegance and there is history around just about every street corner.<br />
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We had 11 days there and it was just about the right length of time - by the end we thought we'd seen everything that we'd wanted to and were ready to go home (though I've just found out today that there is a stained glass museum, which I never knew was there & would have loved to have visited)<br />
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We arrived in the middle of the 'Beast from the East' - a snow storm with freezing temperatures -- even on our holiday in Iceland a few years ago we hadn't experienced this level of cold. Minus 10 to minus 13 in the daytime!!<br />
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But we just wrapped up warmly and got out and went sightseeing. We were lucky that we were going to stay for such a relatively long period of time and we knew that the weather was set to improve after 4 or 5 days - it was so cold that I didn't take many photos in the first few days as it was too much 'work' to take off my big mittens and wrist warmers, open my bag, open my camera case and take photos; you know it must be bad when I can't be bothered to take photos! <br />
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But it did look beautiful and I feel lucky that we did get to see the snow - in the second half of our holiday it had warmed up considerably (up to +10 degrees C) so all the snow had faded away.<br />
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The same park at the beginning and at the end of our holiday!! </div>
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<br />selkiecrochethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06322559381153909676noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8619410397974694321.post-497319249918035882018-02-21T08:34:00.001-08:002018-02-21T08:34:50.019-08:00Recent ...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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These are the wrist warmers that I've made for Mary Ruth -- I made them a *slightly* smaller size than normal and have added thumbs as per her request. Thumbs are so fiddly to make and even more so in a very fine yarn. This was lovely 'mini mochi' -- I can't even remember when or where I got it from now but it has been on the middle shelf of my wool cupboard for a while!<br />
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I've been making yet more wrist warmers - these will all be going into the craft shop on Valentia Island (at Daly's Icecream Parlour) -- I need to get my 'shop' box out and sort out some stock for them as Caroline said that they are hoping to be open for Patrick's weekend. </div>
<br />selkiecrochethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06322559381153909676noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8619410397974694321.post-82307188335364136392018-02-09T08:37:00.000-08:002018-02-09T08:39:41.241-08:00Back to Crochet<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Back to another of my comfort zones - my crochet of course! I had a message from a lady on facebook about another order - she wanted four pairs of wrist warmers and a cotton shower mitt -- so I got them all done and photographed and sent off -- but then she sent me a photo of all the pairs she's already bought from me (see below). Isn't that amazing??! I don't know anyone who has nine pairs of my wrist warmers, apart from myself. <br />
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I love my customers :) I'd a message from Mary Ruth (hello if you're reading this!) about making some wristwarmers for her too, once we sort out the colour and hopefully Airmid will be wanting me to make them something else in cotton for their handmade soaps etc.<br />
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Hopefully this hat will be sold locally to Colette, I'm waiting to see if she's happy with it :) I adore this yarn, 'Mille Colori' by Lang in aran weight yarn (50/50 wool and acrylic) -- it's been discontinued though so the only place I can really get hold of it has been Springwools in Dublin. Luckily they have a really speedy mail-order service. <br />
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I had bought four balls of the wool so I decided to make wrist warmers in the 'spare' pair...I love how they turned out!<br />
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I bought the same yarn in a different shade and had enough to make another hat and wrist warmer set. I wouldn't be too keen on these colours myself but I have to remind myself often that a lot of what I make isn't for myself! <br />
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...and I've made these wrist warmers again - wrist warmers in this wool have been such a good seller for me :) </div>
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...and the last hat in this yarn! I must have sold at least four of these ones now but this is practically the end of the wool. There might be just about enough for a headband but that would be the very very end of it then! I've decided to try and keep my blonde model's hair in plaits - not sure how that will work out but I thought I'd give it a try. Her wig is very long and when she comes back from modelling my hats all Summer in the Sea Synergy Centre in the village, her hair is very matted. I'm not convinced if it will stay in place like this but I thought I'd test it out in the meantime. <br />
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Next time I must post photos of the wrist warmers that are sitting in my work basket - just waiting to have the loose ends sewn in. I always have something on the go...selkiecrochethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06322559381153909676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8619410397974694321.post-37122934741001268832018-02-09T08:19:00.001-08:002018-02-09T08:19:53.542-08:00FebruaryWell January went pretty quickly this year (I always tend to find it the longest month of the whole year) and now we're already 1/3 of the way through February....<br />
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It's a busy month for us as our friends are away on holiday so we are taking care of their little grocery shop. It's exhausting! -- but it means that they get to go away for a well earned rest so we kind of grit our teeth and get through it. It's hardest on Peter as he is working for 18 days in a row, with no break :( We aren't used to that crazy, full-time, leave-the-house-in-the-dark-get-home-in-the-dark kind of life (though it isn't REALLY dark when he goes to work) - it's always a bit of a culture shock for us and strange to not have so much time together. BUT, at the end of it, we have our own holiday to look forward to: this year we are going to Krakow in Poland.<br />
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As my last post on here was about my beach cleaning I thought I'd better post a couple of recent photos in this update.<br />
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In the last week I've actually had help with my beach cleaning TWICE!!! Usually I just plod on on my own, muttering under my breath about the human race and how badly we treat the planet...but it is so much more pleasant an experience if you have company!<br />
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In just over an hour eight of us collected all this rubbish from Lohar beach - and we came back in the afternoon and 'finished' off the rest of the beach :) The rubbish is all bagged up and ready to go up to the roadside but I am hopeful that I might get help with that....unless you ask for help people won't know that you need it!<br />
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Look - we found treasures on the beach -- the white one was at Lohar beach and then on the same day we all went over to St. Finan's bay as there was a dead dolphin I needed to record for the IWDG database and Eleanor found the black horse! What are the chances??!<br />
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And then yesterday I had three helpers on the little beach that's next to Lohar! We got the whole beach done AND got it all up to the top of the cliff. The council workers should have collected it all yesterday afternoon or sometime today hopefully...I don't like leaving bags of rubbish by the road in case it encourages people to dump their own rubbish there too. <br />
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I am having a day of rest today to recouperate!! I don't actually feel as awful as I thought I would do but I can feel the 'strain' in the backs of my legs.<br />
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It's amazing to think of this small stretch of beach being practically clear of marine litter (til the next storm!) selkiecrochethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06322559381153909676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8619410397974694321.post-59633855354189819602018-01-30T09:08:00.002-08:002018-02-09T08:02:42.585-08:00I often intend to write in here about life outside of my crochet but I usually get distracted or forget - but yes, there is more to me than just crochet and lovely wool.<br />
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So here's a post about my beach combing/beach cleaning efforts! I first started beach cleaning when I was sixteen or seventeen - it's kind of strange, nearly thirty years later to be still trying to keep the same beaches clean -- if anything, things are worse now than ever before. We live in such a throw-away society...<br />
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These are photos from my latest trip to try and 'do my bit' - it's a little tiny beach near Scarriff that I only get to go to a few times a year as it's down a really bendy road and is quite far from our house -- there is so much rubbish on the more local beaches so I try to concentrate on them rather than spread myself too thinly. <br />
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As you can see, it's a really scenic spot - every time I go I tell myself that I will stay longer the next time - and that Peter and I should go there with a picnic some day in the Summer (if we ever have picnic weather)<br />
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But the flip-side of the beauty is the ugliness of the rubbish that washes in on the tide -- I am always dismayed whenever I find syringes washing in; but I am glad that I am able to remove them at least. This one still had the needle attached (sheathed in the orange plastic section) <br />
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I only had one rubbish bag with me so I filled it up with just two types of rubbish - I find it easier to sometimes just pick up, say, polystyrene and rope, when there's a load of rubbish - that way I feel like I'm making SOME impact instead of just scratching the surface.<br />
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All of these bottles have come across from Canada or America on the tide - the Coke can is marked as coming from a factory in Nigeria...but the others are mostly Gatorade/Powerade bottles. I think it must be the most popular drink in Northern America?? There's also a bottle of suncream from Walgreen's (US pharmacy) and a little bottle of 'Advil' from Canada. <br />
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Marine litter is truly a global issue :( <br />
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The other main kind of rubbish that I filled my bag with are these foam strips -- they are used in longline fishing and wash up so frequently here. They would originally be studded with hooks (you can make out the little holes in the foam pieces) but I've yet to find one that still has the hooks attached. <br />
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I decided at the start of the year that I would keep a record of all the balloons that I find on my beach trips - so this is what I've collected so far this year. It's too many! I love balloons but hate to see them being released...they end up as lethal litter to many different kinds of wildlife. <br />
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I thought I'd try to finish this update on a positive note....I'm so delighted that more people locally here in Waterville are doing their bit too...I went on a walk along my most local beach recently and only managed to pick up half a bag's worth of rubbish along a long stretch of the beach!<br />
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This is how it SHOULD be!! <br />
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The bonus of beach cleaning for me is sometimes those little finds that make you smile - like this <3 bladder...="" br="" seaweed="" shaped=""></3><br />
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...or a different type of heart: and real beach combing treasure! A seed from a tropical vine in Central/Southern America - this is called a sea heart and is very special. </div>
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...or a piece of coral which I found on a bigger piece of polystyrene! This has come in on the tide but originated from somewhere along the American coast (between Mexico and Rhode Island) and is something really special. It's only the second specimen ever to have been recorded as found in NW Europe (the other was found on a beach in Holland) I've sent it off to the Natural History Museum in Dublin...I like to think that there is a little corner or drawer up there that is filled with treasures that I've donated (various shells, sea beans etc that I've found here that have drifted across the Atlantic) :) </div>
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<br />selkiecrochethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06322559381153909676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8619410397974694321.post-16043639428332848822018-01-27T09:06:00.000-08:002018-01-27T09:06:41.189-08:00Helter Skelter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So this is the wool I was sent by Cygnet yarns - every month they are running a competition on facebook, where the selected knitters/crocheters get sent wool and have to come up with a project with just one ball of it.<br />
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I was selected for next month's competition and was kind of hoping that I'd be sent sock yarn or something relatively fine - but I got chunky! I do tend to prefer thinner yarns so this was a step outside my real comfort zone...but sometimes that can be a good thing.<br />
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Each ball is just 100g so it didn't give me THAT much to work with -- crochet uses up more wool than knitting (so they say) so I opted for making a ribbed headband with a funky applique flower added.<br />
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This is me trying to work out a design that would work - I managed to make my headband with just a smidge of the yarn left; I made two of them (they sent me two balls of the yarn) and I had wool leftover in both cases.<br />
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I have so many 'yarn books' now and whenever I try and new yarn (like this one!) I write down the details in one of my books, including what hook I used, what shade etc. It makes things LOTS easier in the future, if I'm trying to track down a yarn that I used for a specific pair of wristwarmers or whatever.<br />
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This is one of my most favourite flowers to make but it uses up a TONNE of yarn! It gives a really lovely texture to a hat or headband though. I make it in two layers and then you sew the layers together to 'stack' the flower up.<br />
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And here's the finished headband :)<br />
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I'm not expecting to win the vote in the competition (you win 10 balls of your choice from Cygnet's range -- I'd LOVE to win) but I'm quite happy with how my headband turned out. <br />
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<br />selkiecrochethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06322559381153909676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8619410397974694321.post-90410974742004579792018-01-27T08:53:00.000-08:002018-01-27T08:53:21.421-08:00Wool Orders and Nice Post <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I always feel like I really should apologise when I buy more wool: I have SO much already in my boxes and cupboard, but invariably whenever someone asks me to make them something in a specific colour or yarn it's the one that I don't have 'in stock' so I go online in search of it....<br />
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A lady on facebook was in touch with me about making a few pairs of wrist warmers for her again and a shower mitt too - of course when I need to get several different yarns it can be hard to find a single website that sells them all. But I was able to buy this King Cole 'Drifter' and this Cygnet 'Boho Spirit' from the one site - my first time buying from Sconch.</div>
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I had to buy the cotton from another site - Love Knitting - as it's been discontinued now and is getting more and more difficult to get hold of. I did a bit of a stock up on this cotton as I'd had an email from Jaye (my lovely repeat customer in the UK) asking about maybe making shower puffs in this cotton. <br />
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and then finally, I bought these lovely Langs from Springwools - again, it's a discontinued yarn but they seem to have a large stock of it as I've been able to order it twice in the last year or so. Colette wanted a hat to co-ordinate with her wrist warmers (also made in Lang) so I ordered in enough for a couple of hats...and then I wasn't sure of the exact shade # that I'd used (the Springwools site isn't great really for showing swatches of the different shades) so I ordered a couple of different shades. <br />
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But look! I didn't order this wool!!! I joined the facebook 'Cygnet Yarnstars' group recently and was selected for their monthly competition for next month...they send you some wool and you get to come up with a pattern using just one ball of it. They send you two balls so that you can have a practice one to start with and then make up the proper item you want to use for the competition. <br />
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I'd never seen vacuum packed wool before! It is so clever - it comes flat, like a letter; the only down side is the use of plastic in the packaging I guess, but I will reuse the bag.<br />
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I'll do a separate blog post about what I made out of the wool so watch this space....<br />
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And finally...some more lovely post! I ordered this hand-painted plate just before Christmas and it arrived recently :) I have quite a big collection of mermaid art, but it's difficult to get hold of selkies! I think it's beautiful; Peter has hung it up on the wall in our conservatory. <br /><br />selkiecrochethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06322559381153909676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8619410397974694321.post-76047769511315792112018-01-20T06:18:00.000-08:002018-01-20T06:18:43.302-08:00Wool Hats <br />
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I've finished up using my little stock of Lopi! </div>
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I'm going to keep this one for myself as I love purple and am keen on that shade of blue too - I don't actually own many hats (this will be my third one) but I do find them handy for when I'm beach combing or working on the ferry.<br />
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The two below are up for sale - I must get them listed in my Etsy shop presently.<br />
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They are great warm winter hats so I hope they will find a good home :) I feel a bit sad now that my lopi is all gone - it had been living on the top shelf of my wool cupboard since we got back from our holiday (almost two years ago now!) but I'm glad I've made the decision to keep one of these hats myself :) <br /><br />
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<br />selkiecrochethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06322559381153909676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8619410397974694321.post-81859548196391864222018-01-15T08:05:00.000-08:002018-01-15T08:05:21.732-08:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I just placed a repeat order with Moo for more of my little business cards - I don't actually really hand them out as business cards but I do attach them to pretty much everything that I sell. They had a special offer where you get free postage, so I took advantage of that and purchased 200 of these little cards. It's a lot of cards but I will get through them over time...<br />
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I'd a message from a friend about making a replacement hat for them (people seem to lose hats a lot - I know even I did - I still haven't forgiven myself for leaving my favourite one on a bus in Iceland) so I was rummaging through my wool cupboard. Of course I don't have the 'right' wool so I'll be making a small order soon but I did rediscover my Lopi wool from Iceland!<br />
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I'd only bought a few shades of it - it comes in every colour under the rainbow - and of course now I'm looking back and wishing I'd bought lots more. You can see more of the colours here... <a href="https://selkiecrochet.blogspot.ie/2016/03/wool-shopping-in-iceland-part-two.html" target="_blank">buying wool in Iceland</a><br />
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So anyway, I made this slouchy hat last night and really do like how it turned out. A friend is going to buy it from me already so at least I don't have to worry about taking all the photos for Etsy and having to write up a listing :) <br />
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Once I finished that one I started on this one straight away...<br />
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The blue is actually the thinner version of the Lopi wool so I'm using two strands of it at the same time - it seems to be slower to work up than the white and grey version, I guess because it's easier to see where the stitches are in a lighter shade? <br />
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The grey/white hat used up nearly 200g of wool so I will still have enough Icelandic wool left for a third hat once I've finished this one as I'd bought a paler shade of blue as well (see in my work basket below). There *might* be enough of all/some of the colours left to make a 4th hat out of the left overs - maybe a beanie one rather than a slouchy one but we'll see how it goes. <br />
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Oh and look at the little late Christmas present Peter had bought for me! A tiny little package from China came in the post the other day and P said that it was for me :) I've always wanted one of these pretty 'stork' scissors - and now I have my own pair! <br />
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<br />selkiecrochethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06322559381153909676noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8619410397974694321.post-70849580140798704362018-01-15T07:44:00.000-08:002018-01-15T07:44:12.022-08:00Pink and Grey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A few photos of what I've been making since the start of the New Year - I'm always making wrist warmers (years on and they still are my most favourite things to make)<br />
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and some plain grey tweedy ones... <br />
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I've started working through the pink 'Freedom Spirit' dk wool - this pair was bought by one of my sisters (thank you Barbara) so I made another pair and I have sold those ones too (just today, to a lady on facebook) <br />
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I've started using some of the Tivoli yarn too - these always sold pretty well for me when I used to buy the wool before so I'm hopeful that they will be good 'sellers' again.<br />
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..I haven't made the hat in silvery grey and black just yet.<br />
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I'm thinking about putting pompoms on the hats to kind of finish them off; so if I go ahead with that I'll have to rephotograph them again. selkiecrochethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06322559381153909676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8619410397974694321.post-80413978305004738342018-01-02T07:02:00.000-08:002018-01-02T07:02:06.908-08:00New Beginnings and Old Favourites<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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HAPPY NEW YEAR! Last year was the first year since I started my selkiecrochet hobby where I've kept proper records of the money that I had earned and the money that I'd spent on all this. I'm happy to say that I ended the year with a profit - but it certainly isn't enough to live on so I think it is destined, for the time being, to continue to be a 'hobby'. My main priority is to be able to continue with both of my child sponsorships through ActionAid Ireland - I've been able to pay them both with a lump sum again this year.<br />
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Hopefully this year will be a better year for me as I will be selling locally in two locations - Lucy's sea synergy centre in the village again, and Daly's ice cream parlour on Valentia. Daly's were only open for a few weeks last year so hopefully I will have a longer season there this year and more sales.<br />
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I'm starting the new year with the intention to spend a little more time reading books and a little less time online - Facebook is an awful drain on my time sometimes, it's so easy to spend time keeping up with everyone else. I was lucky enough to get some new books for Christmas - and Dad has passed a couple that he liked on to me too - so I will start off with them and see where that takes me. I have so many books that I intend to re-read also.<br />
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One of my other intentions is the same old chestnut .... BUY LESS WOOL!!! It's funny then that all this turned up in the post this afternoon.<br />
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I'd already bought some of this 'Freedom Spirit' last year from a seller on Facebook - I think she used to own a wool shop and is working her way through the old stock and selling it off at very reasonable prices.</div>
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She only had this shade left - it wouldn't be my favourite but it looks really nice when it's worked up into wristwarmers so I bought up what she had left of it and will use it for that.</div>
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She posted on facebook in December that she had Tivoli's 'colour blend' aran up for sale too - this was one that I always liked for wrist warmers and hats and like the 'freedom spirit' it's been discontinued so I splashed out and bought all her stock of it. I'm not sure where I will put it all - I need to sort through my wool cupboard and boxes one of these days to fit it all in.</div>
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It's going to take me quite a while to work through it all but I know I will do eventually! It's a yarn that I used to use for both hats and wrist warmers so it'll be nice to be able to offer people 'matching sets'.</div>
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She only had three shades left in stock - they used to make it in black with red/navy blue/green and turquoise as well but I'm happy enough with what I've got :) </div>
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Hopefully this will be the last time that I buy wool - unless I need it for a specific order - until we are on holiday in Poland in March!</div>
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selkiecrochethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06322559381153909676noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8619410397974694321.post-38296295101803239342017-12-23T03:58:00.001-08:002017-12-23T03:58:09.131-08:00Bits and Pieces<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Look! I have my own spinning wheel!! A friend of my Mum's is clearing out their attic and rediscovered this. I bought it from her for €60, which seems very reasonable and it is in full working order (if only I knew what to do with it!!)<br />
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Learning to spin is something that was on my long-term list but I didn't think I'd get a spinning wheel so soon. My friend Jeanette spins so she will teach me :) Watch this space for updates in the New Year! <br />
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Talking about updates - I just received the latest update from one of my sponsor children - Bariki in Kenya. I just love the fish and mango tree that she has drawn!!<br />
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It's only thanks to everyone who buys my crochet bits and pieces (or sea glass and cards) that I can afford to sponsor two children - so thank YOU! <br />
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And here are some ceramic Christmas decorations that I made at a workshop with a local potter :)<br />
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More Christmassy posting! I'd taken this photo above to show my old penpal friend in Germany some of the little decorations that she had sent me over the years -- but it turns out that the fireplace on in the centre must have been given to me by someone else as she has no memory of it! So all these years, I've been thinking about Michaela and Tom when I light the tea light in the fireplace, and it is nothing to do with them! </div>
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Our conservatory is finally finally almost finished - all we need to do is to fix in a couple of loose wires and then give it a lick of paint where needed.</div>
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After a lot of nagging the electrician came to finish our lights last month - up until then we had just had wires hanging from the walls with bare bulbs -- we'd waited over a year like this! I know it isn't really that big an issue in the big scheme of things (first world problems) but I am so relieved that the job is done and we've finally had his bill. </div>
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Now that the light fittings are in situ we could start to hang up our paintings and pictures on the wall - something that I've been waiting for for so long! <br />
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There are still a few more bits and pieces to go up in there but it feels like a proper room now.<br />
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<br />selkiecrochethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06322559381153909676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8619410397974694321.post-71196423096729835682017-12-19T06:54:00.001-08:002017-12-19T06:54:55.262-08:00Nearly Christmas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I've been busy decorating the conservatory, ready for Christmas :) I love this time of year - taking down the boxes of decorations and lights and then putting them up on the tree. So many of our decorations have lovely memories attached to them and while I decorate the tree and room I remember the 'story' behind each one - whether it was a gift from a friend or family member, or if it is one that we bought ourselves, where we were when we bought it.<br />
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We got a lovely big tree this year! It's slightly wonky and definitely has a 'good' side but that's part of the charm of a natural tree I think...it's never going to be perfect.<br />
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I've got some new decorations this year - we bought this wreath when we were over in England - and I added the bow at the top and the felted snowman (I bought him in Marks and Spencers last week)<br />
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..the little mouse and polar bear are from M&S also..if they have any left on sale after Christmas I will buy a few more as they are so cute and would be nice on the tree...<br />
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<br />selkiecrochethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06322559381153909676noreply@blogger.com0