Stocki

Tuesday, 30 October 2012

Shall we have another go?

Life is on the up here in Stocki Land....

My parents are regaining their independence

little by little every day and I am about to

reopen my little online yarn shop

Stockton Crafts

I am also going to start selling some

of the things I have been making this

summer on Folksy... or Etsy...

.....not sure which yet!

How best to launch this new beginning then?

Do you remember this....

At about this time last year we embarked
on the 'Beautiful Blogger Blanket of 2012'...

It went so well that your crochet entries

came in from 11 countries:

Australia,England,Germany,Holland,
Ireland, Italy, Lebanon, New Zealand,
South Africa, USA and Wales! .

Our blanket grew and grew....

Eventually in spring of this year,

the blanket was complete..

Lucky, lucky Barbina of

'Little Things Made With Love'

was the lucky winner and the

blanket went to it's new home

in Germany.

That was all in April / May time...

Since then I have rarely blogged -

my life has been busy with caring...

So what do you think?

Shall we have another go?

I'm ready if you are!

(details to follow)

Wednesday, 19 September 2012

Hello! Remember me? Blimey it's been a while since I last posted....late May I think it was... I had just been inspired by the lovely Sarah at Annaboo's House to plunge into another crochet project... my enthusiasm was fired and I was off...

Pride DOES come before falls you know... Sadly it wasn't my fall.. but my parents failing health that hit me and my family full force in the beginning of June. First Mum (a fiercely independent 88 year old), then Dad (89 and a proud half years old), and then Mum again... the whole late spring and summer have disappeared for my family under hospital visits, admissions and an incredible list of horrible happenings....

Dad is now regaining his health and Mum is coming home from her latest hospital admission tonight... there is light at the end of the tunnel! However, at 88 and 89 they need LOTS of support... so my 2 sisters and I are staying with them in turns.

I have had to close Stockton Crafts for a while... my little fantasy wool shop corner of the internet...hopefully only for a little while.

In amongst all this 'caring' my sanity has been preserved by 3 things:
1. Lurking on other everyone's blogs... seeing the wonderful things you have all been doing over the summer...
2. My crochet...always my crochet... it calms me, distracts me, keeps my nervous fingers busy... and creates many a conversation in hospital waiting rooms with complete strangers!
3. My lovely supportive hubby... who in June was expecting to spend a summer in Suffolk with me.. and who ended up spending it mostly on his own! The photo above is of us exactly 4 years ago on our honeymoon in Italy.. look how relaxed and happy we look... we are going to go back to that olive grove one day......

So to those of you who have been lovely enough to wonder... I am still here... I will be back soon (God willing)...

Tuesday, 22 May 2012

Thank you Annaboo! I'm addicted!

I lost it again you know... you may have noticed a rather long gap in bloggy posts...
I just lost my bloggy / crochet mojo...

I spent hours on Pinterest looking for it... but it was nowhere to be found. Then one day I happened upon Sarah's CAL over at Annaboo's House... and that was it...

I'M OFF AGAIN! MEET MOJO!

Mojo's first smile

It was one of those times when you start a little something just before you go to bed, feeling a bit lack-lustre, but you think you had better give it a go...

and within 30 minutes that was me addicted!

I was only meant to ~~blow the bloody doors off~~ crochet the head...

but by 2am I had a head with a body and 2 legs attached.....

Mojo learns to sit up alone

I think this counts as Amigurumi doesn't it? I have been wanting to tick that off of my list for a while...and now that I have started... oh my goodness I love to see little legs forming under my hook...

So a big THANKYOU to the lovely Sarah of Annaboo's House...

Sarah has long been a favourite blogger of mine... so it is apt that she

helped my find my mojo...

Mojo enjoys her first sunshine

It isn't too late to join Annaboo's CAL... you can go straight to the first link here. If you would like to see what other joiner-inners are doing, pop over to the group on Flickr here...

Now, what can I do before next weekend when Sarah will give us the pattern for arms and things? Hmmm.....

My 24 year old son came into the room and saw Mojo... he loves her, but for another reason than the wonderful accomplishment I had achieved...

he says Mojo looks like STITCHPUNK

Cover your ears Mojo! I had never heard of Stitchpunk...and if you haven't either... have a look here... but be prepared to be scared...and please don't come back and tell Mojo what you saw!

PS: On a sorry...sorry...sorry note... it appears that I left our the name and bloggyland address of one of the contributors to the Beautiful Blogger Blanket of 2012! What a wally I am! So sorry Charlotte.... so please everyone pop over to Charlottes Web Page to see what lovely things are going on there.. and tell her Stocki sent you xxx

Tuesday, 24 April 2012

My first baby blanket...

For some reason I have never made a baby blanket.
None for my own children, none for gifts... nada!
I don't know why... I must have made most things in
my crochet career.

So when I saw this one on Pinterest I

just couldn't resist... and along came a new

nephew for my future Son-In-Law...so off I went....

The pattern comes from a lovely blog called,
"One Little Rayndrop".

It is easy... a huge block of trebles into the back
loop only (called double crochet on the blog because
the writer used American terminology), then a
sweet little border.

I used Debbie Bliss Eco Baby Cotton
in pale cream (shade 14016). It's a gorgeous
softcotton and splits are rare.

The original pattern specified 4 ply cotton
yarn and a 6mm crochet hook, but I used a
3.50mm hook. Because of that slight change
I had to make minor adjustments to the border
to get it balanced.

By the way, the Beautiful Blogger Blanket 2012 arrived safely at

Barbina's (Little Things Made With Love)... and she loves it!

Tuesday, 17 April 2012

The Second Spray Blocking Tutorial - Sewing together HUGE projects....

This second tutorial is the result of sewing....unsewing....resewing the Beautiful Blogger Blanket of 2012.

The blanket turned out to be the size of a single bed and after my first attempt at sewing it all together it was fan shaped and wouldn't lay flat!

On my second attempt I found the way to create a symmetrical piece with parallel sides ... it even laid flat on a bed! This tutorial should help you if you ever attempt a big project...and it will remind me next year!

REMEMBER TO PIN YOUR SHAPES TO YOUR BOARD

FACE DOWN, READY TO BE SEWN TOGETHER!

Hope it helps!

This tutorial will stay on my blog in the 'Tutorials and Projects'

section at the top right of the home page x

Monday, 16 April 2012

Spray Blocking Crochet ... A Couple of Little Tutorials...

Since the little problems (!) I had wrestling the Beautiful Blogger Blanket 2012 into shape I have made a couple of wee tutorials for you all... it is also to remind me next year... Part one is a simple 'Spray Blocking Crochet'.

I will post it today and then it will be in my new TUTORIALS section in the column on the right.... hope it helps...