So sew at handicrafts

 I may well have bought this remnant of fabric with one of you in Ikea many, many moons ago. It was either with one of you, which probably means Niqi, or else I was with my mum. If it was with mum then it was very, very ages ago, because she got sick in August 2013 and I'm fairly sure I bought it at much this time of year. I always had it mind as an Advent runner for the table when we were still in No. 28.

 So, yesterday I told Niqi that I was going to sew. I was going to stop putting off sewing and just sew. So, sew, Mags, sew. That was yesterday. Today I actually got going. This will surprise none of you, given that the two projects I have on and now off hook and needles are progressing very badly indeed!

 It has taken most of four hours. The actual sewing, bar some starting hitches with tension and the rest, was the easiest stage. It took my engineering husband to get me sorted on how to straighten very, extremely unstraight edges. It remains a source of marital hilarity, one-sided, that when I bought this sewing machine he used it first and used it ambitiously. For summers we had a red sail covering part of our back garden.

Anyway, there are lots of important things that might just be crazy enough to be true, as a university Physicist friend said in conversation this morning at Cafe Advent. Maybe, if you believe, you can do some so sew handicrafts after all. Next I'm thinking of a crochet thing to hide the tree legs...

Merry, bright magic and love

 It was another normal night at Hookery tonight. An enormous pot of tea and Catherine rattling off another pair of socks. Effortlessly.

 Heather Boss was helping the fabulous Grace with some initial crochet. Maybe she won't make initials with it.

 A close-up of fabulous Grace's fabulous jumper. I still think she should have just said yes when we asked if she had made it herself!

 Anne's stripey scarf. Stripey pattern inside stripey wool inside stripey bands. Very cheerful, very merry and bright.

 Also merry and bright are Niqi's October socks. Merry, bright and wholly uncharacteristically unfinished. My amazement at this proof that Niqi is actually human and not a crochet robot is only surpassed by my wonder at this project that Niqi has sustained effortlessly all year. The year of the socks: a pair a month, so far... There will surely be a grand documentary on The Year of the Socks coming to a blog near you soon.

Shirley's scarf summed Hookery up for me tonight. We have all been watching her work on it for weeks, but now she needed help with casting off the very tricky yarn. It was passed around the group- Auntie Margaret to Cooking Catherine and finally to Lady Gillian. (Let it be noted that Lady Gillian has two broken thumbs. Or at least she might still have two broken thumbs but she had prayers for healing last weekend, so we're not sure yet.) Wrist supports cast aside and needles clicked and scarf was done.

All together on the sofas, drinking tea and coffee, sharing whatever has come the table's way whether that be food or updates on children or a delightful festive cook book. Casting aside to cast off, or cast on, or sort out my inevitably wonky (crochet) sides. I do love Hookery.

And here is last week's sneak peek in its magical whole:

Willow, fabric, wool, lights. But when you mix it with magic and love? Merry and bright x

It's beginning to feel...

 A little peek at what has been keeping us busy lately.

 We can't blame our blog inactivity on this project alone,

 but we have been somewhat distracted by this and other Advent preparations.

 All will be revealed! In the meantime, any resemblance to Dorothy's Emerald City should be ignored.

Knitting Kitty

I'm not sure whether Flic wants to learn to knit and crochet or whether it is her stamp of approval ....

My winter waistcoat

Blanket for Tanzania

St Mungo hats for the homeless

Throw for Rachel's bed

New baby -Evie's blanket

Coast picture

New baby - Conor's blanket

My large all purpose bag

Blanket for Tanzania

And if all else fails just hide in the knitting basket!

 If I leave wool down at all she is all over it!

All good things...

 Perhaps if contextualised by the gentle art of hookery the notion of all good things coming to an end is not quite as wistful as generally thought. Here is a very good thing come to an end and off soon to a one-year old in France. He'll be cosy, and his onlookers rapt with a piece of real Irish Aran! Made by Catherine.

 Made for Catherine. A not professionally good thing that Mags has been working on for Catherine's birthday- the 2013 birthday. The Crochet pattern was ready in time, but it took a year and a month to sort the sewing. (Thanks, Dorothy, for giving up a whole evening to sort me out and Happy Two Birthdays, Catherine!)

 Made by Catherine for Rowan. Catherine's working-at-the-Edinburgh-festival-and-we-are-jealous son turned 21 recently, and Catherine made him socks. Encouragingly for tardy bag makers, one sock was ready for his birthday.

 Now they are both ready, but they just haven't quite made it to the Festival yet. We're pretty sure he will when they do.

Meet Bosco

I saw this in a copy of Let's Knit Magazine recently and just had to give it a go.

Working for the Dr...

It's not that I've been sitting around crocheting squares for the DR all weekend.

I did rush to Ikea with most of my family for something more useful than a glass jar to put spools of thread in.

I did buy a box of buns at the torrentially rained upon school fair.

And I did Very Important Business with my brother in a bank.

But I did also spend quite a few hours inside when it rained, and outside when it didn't working for the DR. "Dr Who?", I hear you ask. Aha, you'll have to come to La Table to find out!

Ice Cream Baby

A beautiful 'Ice Cream Baby' gets the seal of approval from Emily... another project from 'Cute & Easy Crochet' by Nikki Trench. (And will now be delivered to the other baby Emily for whom it was made!)

A bit of untangling...

Lots of concentration at the start of quite a few new projects...

And a couple of ongoing projects...

Tutti Frutti

At last... my squaring the circle blanket is completed. I followed the pattern as for Sunset Boulevard.

It was easy to follow. Well done Heather for converting the 'American crochet terms' I made 24 squares. 6 x 4, and added a few rows of border. Thanks also to Heather for the suggested name.

Ready to start.

The first few squares.

A few more......

 Laid out. Joining commenced...

....and continued.

And finished