McPhee

McPhee is all joined up!  More pictures over at fraise, and she and I will be looking forward to a new term of Hookery, which we will probably spend edging...

A Pattern!

Over the holidays I propose Show and Tell so that we don't miss Hookery too much! Above is McPhee as she was two nights ago. Not sure that I will have her finished By Easter Sunday, but I'll be giving it my very best shot. Especially given the fact that we are now a homework-free zone for a while!

And speaking of the end of term, for boys' teachers I stole the crochet cupcake base, the icing wavy bit, made it bigger and improvised a handle.  I am going to give you the pattern at the end of this post, so chuffed with myself am I!! You should also make colourful little flowers and things to attach to the sides, but I forgot about that in my McPhee obsession!

This is a little teaser from Niqi. She came to our Bun Fun afternoon today, where we raised £145 for Allergy NI, and brought her hooky. You see what we resort to when Hookery is on hold?

Easter baskets- in US Hookish unashamedly tweeked from here.

R1  Ch2, 6sc in 2nd chain from hook
R2  2sc in each sc around (12 sts)
R3  *1sc, 2sc in next st* x6 (18 sts)
R4  *2sc, 2sc in next sc* x6 (24 sts)
R5 *3sc, 2sc in next st* x6 (30 sts)
R6  *4sc, 2sc in next sc* x6 (36 sts)
R7  *5sc, 2 sc in next sc* x6 (42 sts)
R8 through back loops only *5sc, dec 1* x6 (36 sts)
R9  *5sc, 2sc in next sc* x6 (42 sts)
R10 *6 sc, 2 sc in next sc* x6 (48 sts)
R11 - 15 sc 48

Wavy edging  *3hdc in next st, sk 1sc, sl st in next st* rep to end x16

Chain appropriate handle length- 24 ch. Attach to basket with sl st, sc in adjoining st on basket.  Sc back along chain. Sc into adjoining st on basket. Sl st to basket. Finish off. Add flowers etc and fill with chocolate - Happy Easter xxxx

Eight excited ladies and eggs

Oh what a night!  That's almost the title of a song.  

Eight ladies got together tonight including Helena who came along for the first time.  Eggs, chicks, bunnies, food and glorious Easter colours - what more could one ask for?

Miniature chicks and mini eggs

Beautiful hyacinths and tulips

Our very own bunny girls?

Our bunny girls are reported to have gone out today in search of wool and returned with Easter decorations and the ears!  Not much wonder they had idle crochet hands tonight.  Unlike Niqi who has been crocheting at a fantastic rate since Friday and is half way through not only one but two of her own Nanny McPhee blankets.  Well done Niqi!  Niqi also brought enough yarn with her tonight to yarn bomb the whole of the church hall complex.

Fairytale blanket

Bunnies, chicks and Princess Slippers

To prove that we did have some crochet to show case here are Ann's Princess Slippers which match her fairytale blanket .

And Heather Boss's shawl (which does look a whole lot better when worn) with the Glen Gallery wooden buttons purchased at Christmas

There was lots of talk about wool suppliers, wool types and yarn comparisons.  We have discovered that some of the pound-type shops are starting to stock some very unusual wools ....

Another field trip was mooted.  Unfortunately we weren't able to come up with a suitable day over the holidays so later in the season is a more probable time for the diary.
 And a piece of good news - Sheila was crocheting a blue blanket for an expectant mum (see blog 28 Feb 2013) whose new baby boy was born this evening and has been called Robin.  Mum and baby doing well.

No Hookery for the next two weeks as next week will be Holy Week and the week after that is the Easter week itself and folks might be otherwise engaged.  See you all again on 10th April.

Springtime variations

Snowdrops in the garden, snow on the hilltops, and daffodils everywhere - it must be Spring.

A little bit of Spring sunshine

Chicks and eggs

 Birds' nests

It must be nearly Easter?

Tonight Auntie Anne and Auntie Gillian thought that we could be creative in other ways and after their very successful Forage course today at Mossley's Museum at the Mill they brought along some eggs for us to decorate and make an Easter Tree. 

Work in progress was intricate and involved.  We had been warned to come prepared 'to get messy' but we didn't know what that meant.  Everyone took turns at decorating their own egg.  The kind ladies had already 'blown' some eggs for us but provided extra for demo purposes.  Paints and paintbrushes were extricated from Auntie Annes's roof space and brought to life again by ladies in the older generation rather than the young tots who used to enjoy afternoon art play.

Some snap shots for you ...

And the very special Ta-Dah moment when our completed tree was placed in the Foyer of Saint Patrick's Church for everyone to enjoy ....

Could we say that we are now branching out into other crafts?
We also welcomed Leigh tonight and Guru Patricia came back to pay a surprise visit and make sure everyone was doing OK.

First March Meet of this year

Did anyone take photos tonight? Just in case they didn't I thought I'd nip in and reshare my moment of maternal encouragement.  At the top are the best I could Google of the war prints set that we saw at The Mac the other week. At the bottom are the spirals that reminded our house of the prints.  Happy Mummy! So it might actually be worth the grumping to keep on keeping on with the culture thing. (And The Mac really does do a very superlative Mac and cheese on their Kids' Menu!)

What I saw tonight- unbelievable toffee yoghurt cake (that was seeing and eating), knitting dishcloths that could equally become a summer cardi, the final sleeve, berries, a square from a chain, Welcome Myrtle, a Warholesque tin can kitty cressy thing- impressive Brownies again, lengthening beauteous scarf, and the Wave from the Mac. So glad to have been xx

(Niqi, I know that the spirals should have been in a different order but the camera battery has just died and I am going to bed!)

The Nanny McPhee Blanket

When you've spent fourteen months on a ripple, the blanket you need is Nanny McPhee. Or more accurately the Blair Peter Wise Craft Granny Square Sampler Afghan. I did start mine shortly after Lynne in the summer. Hers is obviously finished! It is the most entrancing way to discover the wealth of granny square variations, and to learn some fairly nifty new stitches. Cluster and popcorn were two of this week's revelations.

Over the weekend I've been a bit stumped with the spiral. But one German youtube version, and a same source tutorial on the magic ring for left-handers, seems to have sorted me out. You work with four balls of yarn fully attached and pretty much live at the same time. I have to take a break every round. Good news for the rest of the house! I may still be on track for an Easter construction. It's really my Lenten Nanny McPhee blanket. I learnt this morning that the word Lent comes from the "lengthening" of days. Here's to the lengthening of hookery!