Out of the Mouths of Babes

In helping out a friend, I recently had the pleasure of taking a very bright 3 year old to Kindy.  Upon arrival, I asked him to show me what we needed to do.  First was to find his name and phone number on the board, I then asked him what came next and he led me to the sign in table.  What next I asked?  He showed me where the lunch boxes were stored and so as we headed towards the row of hooks I stupidly asked - where do you hang up your bag, to which he replied - You know, I said I didn't (cause I really wasn't sure if he had his own special hook or anything). He sighed, looked up at me and said "Oh Carolann, use your eyes!"  Well hey, why didn't I think of that?

Despite my obvious lack of brain power earlier in the morning, I remembered how to get back to the Kindy to pick him up and we had a great afternoon! Thanks Buddy!

Crochet Flowers

I wanted to learn how to make crochet flowers.  I started with YouTube and whilst it got me started, my first two attempts were hilarious.  The first one looks nothing like a flower - in fact, it's square in shape.  The second one had more of a flower shape, but some pretty strange petals.  I thought about my grandmother, who was fantastic at crochet when she was alive and wished I had developed an interest 15-20 years ago when she perhaps could have shown me the art.  I still have some of her pieces in my linen cupboard and one in the studio (that I use to make impressions onto clay).  Anyway, I persevered on my own.  The third one wasn't too bad for a beginner and the 4th one even had a second layer of petals.  After that, I had my lovely friend (and design team member) Glenna show me how she makes hers (after she stopped laughing at my first two flowers).  Although she uses wool and a larger hook, the principle is the same and so after a couple of fairly OK flowers, I got the hang of it.  As you will see below, I'm well into the swing of it now and have made over 40 of them, hoping to have a good little stock of them to sell at Craft Out West in July.

 Once I had been making those for a few days, it was time to try something else.  First was the heart, but I haven't quite got the top middle of the heart right yet, so might have to practice a bit more on that.

 Then came the rose - which is relatively easy.  Just like making a large open flower, then rolling it up. Then onto leaves.  I haven't quite got the shape right yet, so might have to look for some sort of pattern, but loving the possibilities and ability to experiment to create new things.  No doubt one of my upcoming scrapbook layouts will feature some crochet embellishments.

My aunt Pat recently told me she has some of my grandmother's old crochet hooks.  I think I might see if I can borrow one of the hooks and try some real fine work.  How awesome will that be to be crocheting with the same hook my grandmother used to use years ago?  

Wet, wet, wet

We recently had a heat pump installed.  The team were very professional and did a great job of the insulation, but... in the process of installing the wiring, they move a roof tile and forgot to replace it.  We then had 2 days of full on rain and our roof cavity and walls filled up with water, which then flowed down through the walls, out onto the chipboard floor, soaking the carpet.  The wallpaper also started peeling off the walls.  We had to have a commercial blower under the carpet with a commercial dehumidifier going in the lounge.  These were both exceptionally noisey and sucked up the power too.   We are still in the process of dealing with the insurance company over the necessary repairs.  Here are the photos to date.