Festive frolics

Ladies (and our brave coffee dock men),

It's that time of year again and another excuse for a party.  We'll be having some food and mulled wine next Wednesday night so please come and join us

 



Party hats, Christmas jumpers, tinsel, flashing jewellery and reindeer antlers are optional but to be encouraged ......

 
Be warned - the camera will be there too and photos will appear on the blog.
See you there.

Preparing for Advent

I thought that this year instead of bringing out all of the old and tired Christmas decorations that I would have a go at making some new ones.

 I've made wreaths

 And robins

 And two cute little gingerbread men

Now, what's next .....

Hombolo hookery

Just wait to you see these pictures.

The blankets and teddies were all packed up and made their way with Grace, Matt and Ricky to Tanzania, to the village of Samaria on the outskirts of Hombolo.  Vacu-bags are a wonderful invention!

The ladies were thoroughly delighted with their gifts.

 


One Hookit donated knitting needles and wool which were also taken.  The photos show Grace teaching the ladies and children how to knit, without many words of English passing between them.  Isn't that just amazing?

The menfolk also took to knitting and apparently one man, Thomas on the right, was knitting away whilst chatting and looking round him but still producing quite a creation.

 


Here is a little child just getting so much enjoyment from looking at the colourful pictures without being able to understand a single word.

Here are some of the pillowcase dresses before they were packed to go and one picture with the little girl who will be wearing it.

Thanks once again to all who contributed.

Pumpkin party

After a little Hocus Pocus look what the Hookits turned into for Hallowe'en ....

Who told them that the theme was fancy dress?

Hombolo Handover

The 'Hookery Three'

Hombolo team and honorary ' MC' Mags

Tonight's Hookery saw the handover of various creations to Ricky, Grace & Matthew, who will be bringing them out to Hombolo on Saturday 19th October.

Comments had been made that in previous years the male residents of the village had benefitted greatly from the visit, and perhaps it would be nice to do something more for the ladies. Well Angela started the whole thing off with a beautiful crocheted blanket and followed this up with patchwork bags from her sewing group.  Other ladies provided blanket - Helena, Heather Boss and Queen Niqi.  Then some baby hats and teddies were provided too.  Leigh came along with some 'pillowcase dresses' for young girls which were so beautifully made.

Grace, Matthew and Ricky were very surprised by the huge amount of handmade garments we have gathered for their trip.   They also remarked on the amount of detailed work that had gone into each piece of work.

Bon voyage to our three travellers but also to the whole group of 12 from Northern Ireland who have gone out.

And teddy went too

At a location near you?

Yarn-bomb surprise for one Hookit

Thank you ladies, it was much appreciated.

Watch this space...

We have a little surprise for you, Hookettes! One of you may be more surprised than the rest...

Blanket coverage

Well, the time has finally arrived.  My son, Matt, and two other friends will be heading out to Hombolo in Tanzania NEXT Saturday!  The time has come around VERY quickly.  This will be Matt's second visit with the Northern Ireland Leprosy Mission to build houses for the villagers.

Way earlier in the year I asked my hookery friends if they would knit/crochet a blanket each for him to take out and give to the ladies of the village to use as bedding or to wrap sick children in.  WOW!  so far I have 12 blankets in all sizes and colours.  A massive thank you goes to all the ladies who have so far provided these.  I have also been given 4 baby hats and 8 wonderful patchwork bags for the girls in the village.  Thanks to Angela in Leicestershire for these.

Last weekend I also hosted a fund-raising coffee morning for the Hombolo team and I raised £600.  Thank you to all those who came or donated.  This money is to buy a GPS to map out the village and also to start funds off to sink a new well.

On Wednesday 16th October the hookit's will officially hand over their blankets to Grace, Matt and Ricky.  Photos will appear here soon.

Lots of us have also been making different blankets for ourselves and these too will be on show next Wednesday - Oceania, Mania, Pebbles and Lemony Snicket have all been crocheted from the same pattern but made using different colours and wools.  This was a very interesting experiment.  Watch this space for photos.

End of Summer...

We barely need an excuse for delicious food to appear at Hookery, so the End of Summer Pot Luck Party took place last Weds.

Take my word everything was delicious.

 Leigh's ribs

 Heather's Malaysian Curry

Catherine's Waffleberry Pie

 

We even had a Mexican turn up with a Chili!

Who ate all the pie?

We also had a Show of Work