Busy, busy, busy ...

Tonight we had a very busy and full house (9 of us in total) and by far the biggest gathering since our party night in June.  We also had a busy, bustling conversation crossing back and forth across the coffee table covering weddings, cruises in The Med, our next party night, a creative spiritual day out to Corrymeela, book club, pot luck suppers, Victor Hugo's Les Mis, and village fairs.

Lots of busy crochet was going on as well:
Rosemary and Anne continue to churn out Innocent hats

Welcome back Karen, long time no see.  But Karen has been busy and has made this beautiful needle case in doubles

And is progressing into trebles for her next project ably guided by Guru Patricia who has been once again drawing her tried and tested pattern of 'woolly sheep'

Leigh assures us that this tangle will become a tea cosy by the end of the night

Ta dah!

Helena has been travelling far and wide in search of new wool and found this one in Dublin last weekend

Helena is also busy with two jumpers on needles, two throws at various stages of completion and a blanket for Hombolo - there's some more 'busy'

Cooking Catherine continues to kit her boys out in aran sweaters

 

Anne and Rosemary produced the ideal picture for Queen Niqi's next major project which will certainly keep her busy!  Apparently the pattern will be produced next week ....  Just in case you can't see it very well, it is a yarn-bombed train!

   

Apparently there has been some yarn-bombing of statues at the front of Belfast City Hall .....  And it wasn't us!

Thank you ....

09 November 2012
Dear Hookery in the Bookery,
A Big Thank You from St Mungo's
Thank you so much for showing your support for St Mungo's Woolly Hat Day by responding to our call to knit hats. We had an amazing response from knitters all over the UK (and a few from abroad!) making our Woolly Hat Day a huge success.
At the Woolly Hat Day bus in Broadgate Circle, Liverpool Street we sold an incredible 250 of your hats to the very appreciative general public in one day (luckily enough it was the first very cold day of winter!). We have also sold a number of hats on eBay alongside our celebrity hat auction and the hats continue to be sold on eBay up until Christmas - perfect as an additional stocking filler.
We will ensure that any hats left over are given to our outreach teams to offer to people who are sleeping rough.
The money that is raised through hat sales allows us to do so much more than just provide a roof. Our specialist healthcare, training and employment teams are dedicated to helping homeless people recover from their experiences and really turn their lives around for good. Last year our Skills and Employment team supported over 1,000 people to find work, training, further education or take part in a range of other activities. We also supported just under 2,000 people with their mental health and substance use problems.
Thank you so much for helping us bring hope to homeless men and women.
Best wishes
Alice
Alice Eastwood
Community and Events

Orange-aid

No, your eyes are not misleading you.  This blog does comes with a colour warning.

For those of you who are averse to orange, tangerine, or jaffa please log out now, all others may proceed to read and admire.

Many of you will have been following the progress of our orange 'charity' hats over the past few weeks.  I'm delighted to announce that a marvelous 10 hats have been knitted for the St Mungo woolly hat appeal.  They are all shades and sizes as you can see.

A hookery member has been persuaded to don her hats and do some modelling.  Just how many hats can you wear at once?

Queen Niqi knitted the highest number of hats (4) using a variety of methods and yarns - chunky, double strand DK, circular needles and two needles.  Well done.

No animals were hurt in the taking of this next photo.  The black cat 'wearing' the hat (kntted by Niqi) is about 6 inches tall so you can imagine the size of the mini hat, knitted on a circular needle no less!

 

Even the table had an orange arrangement - the best a sodden garden could provide.

If you are ever in London and see a bright orange hat it is most probably being worn by someone who has been living/sleeping on the streets and who has been given a hat by staff at St Mungo's and it will most probably have been knitted by women like us all over the country.

Hats all ready to be posted off.  We will miss them.

Now - what can we do with all of the left over orange wool?  Ideas on a postcard please. 

P.S.  The blog will return to a normal colour scheme next week.
Mags - I beat the midnight deadline  :-)

Absent friends

We were very small in number last night.  A few of our friends were missing - some for happy reasons and some for sad, but we missed them one and all.

As you can see the St Mungo charity bobble hat knit-in is progressing well.

Five hats have now been completed, although one is still minus its bobble, and Partricia has started another one with double strands of DK wool to make it nice and cosy.

Niqi and Heather have said that they could be persuaded to knit another one each ....  We will definitely exceed our pledged number of 6 hats.  Watch out over the next few weeks for the photo shoot of the hookery team wearing their creations :-)

Lottie has moved onto another project having completed last week's doll's outfit of dungarees, jumper and hat - photo will appear next week.  Lottie is showing an interest in re-learning crochet and trying her hand at the rosy posy tea cosy.

Shy Sheila is progresing well with her stitches and tension but resists attempts to photograph her work!  Countdown of 20 weeks until this baby blanket is required.

Lindsay was on a crochet go-slow last night but, along with Patricia, was designing (from scratch) a paw print square for a blanket.

Lindsay also brought along a craft book from the 70s.  Lindsay herself was not the owner of the book in the 70s.

We had great fun flicking through the pages looking at the styles and the colours and boy was it dated in some respects.  However, so many of the styles are back in fashion and Niqi has her eye on a beautiful winter wrap/jacket ....

The book has also prompted Sheila to think about taking up macrame again.  Our crochet group is certainly widening its yarn boundaries but that's OK - it's all about friendship and learning new skills.

Niqi who has almost completed her bag was instructing Heather how to professionally join the squares and after lots of tangled squares and strands of wool (thanks to Patricia who lent an extra pair of hands just at the right time) here is the finished first side.

Niqi's mum bought her our official course textbook for her birthday and Niqi has now completed a marvellous 6 projects from the book.  Niqi hopes to take the book and projects to show her mum on her next holiday.  Maybe her mum will place an order for a hat or scarf?

Niqi has mastered a most unusual technique of staying warm while crocheting - wear the scarf and then you always know when you have got the length just right.

See you next week at St Pat's.

Summer School One: Meeting Seven

The much requested holiday hookery photos didn't materialise so, unfortunately, I don't have any winners to show off as yet but one lives in hope for next week ..... Much chastened, the ladies went home last night tasked with creating some eye-catching photos of their crochet and knitting and many ideas and possibilities were discussed during the evening.

However, we were busy beavers last night. Eight of us squashed into my house and contentedly spread colourful and textured wools, past and current creations, hooks and needles all over the place all while drinking tea and coffee dispensed from a newly clothed cafetiere and teapot.

We have also democratically decided to go ahead and create some bright orange bobble hats, either knitted or crocheted, for the St Mungo homeless charity hat appeal mentioned in the bobble hat post below. We are aiming for 6 but if we achieve more then that will be great - watch this space. I gave notice of our intention and the name of our group to the charity and the admin asst thought Hookery in the Bookery was a fantastic name and very imaginative - thanks Mags.

So now for the photographic evidence:

All set for a new project . . . .

Niqi's hat and scarf. Scarf no 2 is currently being created in the same wool as the beanie in the picture.

Niqi's bag which made it's first appearance last week.

.

Cooking Catherine continues to knit and is progressing at a full 'pattern' each week.

This is the hand grenade which first appeared on week one. It comes complete with a removable pin .....

He may be our newest member .....

Mags has begun a new project - the shell scarf from the required text ....

Lindsay is progressing with her squares and has made a wonderful job of joining the squares with the same stitch as the squares so that the join is almost seamless.

Lorna (our newest member) shows off her very delicate throw.

Bobble hats

Guys check out this link for St Mungo's and their woolly hat appeal. I think we could do something for this at Hookery?

Have you read Slugs?

Great hat in a great post- click to see!