Temperature temptations, tribulations and trebles

I hope everyone had a quiet Christmas and that Santa was good.  Happy New Year to you all.

The ladies of the group all seem to have read the same Facebook and blog posts around the turn of 2017 into 2018 and the theme of a piece of temperature work has come up.  Enthusiastically last week we discussed the prospect of doing these and about six of us have got the ball rolling.   This is going to be a sort of CAL within the group but we will all progress at our own pace and at our own skill level. 

There are many blogs and Facebook posts about temperature work and Pinterest is chock full of photos for example The Crochet Crowd, Lion Brand, Simple Knitting, Sleepy Eyes, and photos on Facebook and Pinterest.  I have no affiliation to any of these sites but a good Google search will elicit myriad results to aid you in your research and give you lots of (too many!) ideas to get you started.

The idea is soooo simple …   Isn’t It?  The idea is that you work a set number of rows  per day of an item in a colour that co-ordinates with the temperature. You can pre-decide a colour range/chart using perhaps eight to ten different colors depending on your climate and as you work your piece, you will get a beautiful variation of colour throughout the year. Depending on the climate where you live, each color will probably correspond to between three and seven degrees.  If like me you live in Northern Ireland then temperatures will mostly vary between -5 to about 35 degrees.  However, you may live in a country where a temperature range of -20 to +40 is normal.  Choose your colours wisely.

And they’re off ...  

 

Or perhaps not …

Will I knit or crochet?

Will it be a scarf, a blanket or a tube scarf, a baby blanket? A cat? 

Straight lines or zigzag? Hexagons or circles?  Corner-to-corner?  Granny square?  Ribbed?

A straightforward temperature chart or a ‘mood’ chart, a weather type chart e.g. stormy, windy, wet, hot and sunny?

At what time each day should I take the temperature?  Max temperature, or at a set time?  What if I go on holiday, should still I record and use the temperature at home or the temperature wherever I am?  Do I use the highest temperature each day AND the lowest temperature?

How many colours each day?  Just one or two for the highest and lowest temperatures?  A granny square with three rows using white always as the middle row and the other colour as per the daily temperature?

Shades of the same colour such as a blue theme or a rainbow of colours?

DK, chunky or aran?  Use up my stash or buy new yarn?

Get myself organised?

Which stitch?  Doubles, trebles … Use the same stitch Monday to Friday and change for each weekend?  Use a different stitch each month?

Getting started was not as easy as first thought for many of us.  Two of us have frogged out the first 10 days and started over again.  One has taken a dramatic turn and halved the number of daily rows as her scarf was going to end up measuring over 3 metres/10 feet and another has planned a new colour scheme.  One other person has a spreadsheet to assist her with colours and moods together. 

One of our number, who lives at a great distance from the group but calls in with us when she can, will be working along with us and sharing lots of pics on Facebook.  Hopefully she'll get to visit us often throughout the year.

It’s so nice to see that we are all working differently, interpreting the challenge on a very personal skill level and colour preference.  Most of us are keeping diaries and I hope to update this blog monthly with pics of our work.  It's going to be very exciting watching all the pieces develop.

I thought I had made my mind up but time to cut the ties, I think, and start again …

(All pics courtesy of Pinterest and Google except for those depicting the work of ladies in the group.

Twin set and purrs

I have been working on two colour co-ordinated throws for a room with twin beds.  The colours are the same in both throws but the patterns are very different.

One of the occupants really likes cats so I was asked to make her a cat blanket.  Thanks to Guru Paricia for showing me how to crochet a cat pattern :-)

The cat throw is still a work in progress and will eventually be the same size as the granny square throw.

It might also need a little bit of blocking to get the shape just right .......  I don't think the cat has got the right idea about how I want to straighten the piece out!

Lots of other crochet has been progressing while we have been having a little hookey holiday.

Queen Niqi's shawl

Helena's warm winter jumper

A flimsy frilly fashion scarf

Guru Patricia's baby blanket

Anne's mini hat

Rosemary's Sammy Sheep

These two little characters have been knitted by Rosemary and Anne to go on mini Innocent bottles sold in Sainsburys in aid of Age Concern.

Autumn term begins for Hookery

After the brief (but welcome) warmth of last week Autumn has arrived and the new term begins. For the time being we are still following alternate Wednesdays at Heather's and The Dock, but we need to come up with a revised plan if founding members are going to be able to attend this side of Christmas. Bring your diaries next week.

This week was quite quiet, but a lot of work taking place.

Knit one

Purl one

Fancy one

New project - cat blanket is complete

Another new project

Progress on another Patchwork Bag

Ripple above and more beautiful samples below

Mum's Christmas present - thanks to Lynne for winding a ball from my skein

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.

Ta-Da moment, not quite like Attic 24

Mags would like to celebrate the fact that she has finished a project. I'll just let that sink in; I know it's a lot to take on board.

First completed task from set text, although admittedly not the first started task from set text. Niqi marched me to fabric yesterday, so there may be light at the end of that tunnel...

Item will form part of a mystery birthday giveaway soon on fraise. So let's say no more about it!

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.

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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.