Hats for Artists 2018

 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...

Anyway, this is this year's colour - a lovely cornflower blue with tweedy dark and light blue flecks running through it.

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)

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.

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.

Keeping 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

 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.

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. 

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.