Too wet for snow

It is chucking it down outside. Typical Bank Holiday weather. Don't let the little sun in the corner fool you - no sun to be seen here!

But fear not - despite the title, I have got a snowflake. In fact, it's the ~winning~ snowflake in the first simplysnowflakes Homepage Contest. Woohoo!

Ok, in the interest of full disclosure I feel I have to mention that, although several people expressed an interest in taking up the challenge, in the end there was only one other entry.

But I won.

Here's the real snowflake we had to "copy". How did I do?








I will be posting the pattern for this flake soon as. Mind you, it took me a month to post my granny square pattern, so I wouldn't hold my breath.


Last but not least, here's my simplysnowflakes Snowflake Signup (SSSS) #4. I know where this one came from but in order to get a pattern you have to complete the previous one and there are some in the group who haven't gotten this far yet, so I'm not tellin'.

I'm It!

Good Lord, I've been tagged.

And while my tagger was "totally excited" about having been tagged, my immediate reaction was panic. What if I have to answer some really embarrassing question/s? What if I can't think of anything? How long is this going to take? Oh, the pressure! I was relieved when I saw that it was the "7 Random Facts" meme but then Wave of Panic #2 - I don't think I know 7 bloggers to tag... All of which probably says something really sad about my personality {sigh}.

Anyway, I've had some chocolate to settle my nerves - deep breath, here goes:

The Meme

Those tagged must list 7 random facts about themselves. They also need to write in their blogs the rules of the game, which are pretty simple--you list your 7 facts, then list 7 people you are tagging. Then you leave them comments letting them know they've been tagged.

Here are my 7 random facts:

1) I can wiggle my eyes. Jiggle them back and forth really fast. Looks like I'm having a seizure. I've only met one other person who can do this (or, at least, only one other person who's admitted to it).

2) I've had one broken bone and two cuts that required stitches.

3) I don't like being with more than one person at a time.

4) I can count to 10 in 13 different languages.

5) I've been married 3 times. Third time's the charm - I've been with DH longer than all my other relationships put together.

6) I inherited the ability to tell fortunes from my maternal grandmother. I use tarot cards but she used ordinary playing cards (and read coffee grounds).

7) *** Censored ***

7) I have a tendency to be too forthcoming with personal information.

The seven people I am tagging are:

Ah.

Sus? She tagged me!
Tina? She's currently "between blogs".
Scott? He's in the middle of a major move.
Umm...
{sigh}

Little and Large

Today's Snowflake Monday offering is the #3 signup flake from simplysnowflakes. I don't know where the pattern is from so if you want it you'll have to join!

This doily...

is from a German bi-monthly magazine called Häkel-Träume, which I think translates as Dream Crochet (US/CD subscription info here - can't find any for the UK). My aunt sent it to me a while back and I sent her this as a thankyou.

1 of 3

I made three snowflakes this past week but I can only show you one.

This is simplysnowflakes' Snowflake Signup #2. The pattern can be found online here.








The other two were worked up for a contest at simplysnowflakes. We were given a photograph of a real snowflake and asked to design a matching crocheted flake. The winner gets their SF posted on the group's homepage. All the entries have to be in by next Monday so hopefully I'll be able to post the pictures (and a pattern!) the following week.

Super Seraphina

I've just completed my first Seraphina Shawl. I love this pattern! It was a bit confusing at first but the pictures are a great help. Once I got my head around the repeats I was away.

This one is for my aunt. I inherited my mum's stash and decided to use some of it (there's tons!) to make something for each member of the family. The problem is that there's mostly only one or two balls of each yarn, so I've been making scarves. I had six 50g balls of this yarn so I thought I could get away with a shawl. Well, it was just barely enough - it seemed to be worsted weight but it worked up like chunky and I had to use a K hook. In the end, one ball did only two rows. Thank goodness for blocking, which added a few inches.

The very next morning I started this one:

I found the mohair at a charity shop in Rickmansworth - £1.99/$3.94 for about 400g. Yes!

When that one is done I'm going to make one with this ball of Sirdar YoYo. Can't wait to see the colour changes.

Another bargain - the 400g balls sell for about £16.50/$32.69 but I got this one off of eBay for £10.50/$20.80 delivered. Like I need more yarn, yeah.

Flake and Faith

I've signed up for simplysnowflakes' Snowflake Signup (try saying that quickly five times). You have to make and post a picture of each flake before you are sent the pattern for the next - this is SF#1.

I didn't think I'd like it all that much when I first saw the picture that accompanied the pattern but now that I've made my own I think it's really quite cute and it's certainly easy to make.

Right, that's the flake, now the faith. You have been warned.

If you've been with me a while you'll know that one of my favourite bloggers is the man formerly known as "Preacher Boy". I've linked to several of his posts in the past, basically with the injunction Read.This.Or.Else.

Backtrack a moment - the other day I visited Beliefnet and on the home page was a brief survey, "Which is more important: having faith or doing good?" I chose doing good and fully expected to see that I was not in the majority. But I was quite surprised to see just how not in the majority I was. At the time doing good scored only 33%. I huffed a bit and then moved on.

So today I visited PB's new blog A Place to Be Yourself and came across this gem (I just love when these connection things* happen). Now, I am a firm believer in the power and necessity of prayer, but faith without works just isn't going to cut it when you've got someone in your face who's suffering. And PB so beautifully and honestly points out why. His "Uncle Jerry" post ties into the same theme.

If you want/need a Spiritual Slap-Upside-The-Head I suggest you read his blog regularly. Catch him while you can - he's moving on. I just pray he'll keep on blogging!

*Coincidence is just another name for God.

Off-Kilter Granny

At last! The pattern you've all been waiting for. This is my first (and quite probably only) original design. I hope the instructions make sense. If you do find any mistakes please email me.

Off-Kilter Granny
(American notation)

Update 23/6/07 - corrected DK hook size and added mm sizes

WW / H-5mm hook = approx. 7",
DK / G-4.25mm hook = approx. 6"

Special stitch - htr (half-treble):
YO twice, insert hook in stitch indicated. YO, draw through two loops. YO, draw through remaining
3 loops.

(You'll be working a standard granny square for the first 3 rounds, with ch1 btw the 3dc shells and ch3 in the corners.)

Ch5, join w slst to form ring.

Rnd 1 - ch3, 2dc in ring, ch3, [3dc in ring, ch3] x3, ending slst to 3rd ch of beg 3ch.

Rnd 2 - slst in ch3 sp, ch3, [2dc, ch3, 3dc] in same sp, ch1, *[3dc, ch3, 3dc] in nxt ch3 sp, ch1, repeat from * around, ending slst to 3rd ch of beg 3ch.

Rnd 3 - slst in ch3 sp, ch3, [2dc, ch3, 3dc] in same sp, ch1, 3dc in nxt ch1 sp, ch1, *[3dc, ch3, 3dc] in nxt ch3 sp, ch1, 3dc in nxt ch1 sp, ch1, repeat from * around, ending slst to 3rd ch of beg 3ch.

Rnd 4 - slst to centre ch of corner 3ch, ch5, tr in same ch, *ch4, htr in nxt ch1 sp, ch4, dc in nxt ch1 sp, ch4, [hdc, ch3, tr] in centre ch of corner 3ch, repeat from * around, ending slst in 2nd ch of beg 5ch.

Rnd 5 - ch3, [3dc, ch2, 2dc] in ch3 sp (corner made), *[dc in nxt st, 4dc in ch4 sp] x3, dc in nxt st, work corner, repeat from * around, ending slst in 3rd ch of beg 3ch. Finish off.
Copyright © 2007, Judy M Kerr. All Rights Reserved.