Category Archives: My ramblings

London: Olek and the Elephant Family

23 Thursday May 2013

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I need to go to Covent Garden!!!!! According to this website, the elephants will be in 17 Floral Street, Covent Garden from 21 May to 3 June.

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Olek - London

Currently on display in London Covent Garden are two multi-coloured crocheted
elephants by NYC Street artist Olek.

The  Elephant Family  – an initiative that aims to protect Asian elephants and their
habitat –  enlisted the help of a host of leading artists, designers, photographers and creatives like Christian Lacroix, Matthew Williamson, Mario Testino, Missoni,
Fabergé, Cartier to participate in their charity event named the Animal Ball at the Lancaster House.

Artists have been tasked to create a bespoke pair of masks that reflect their
interpretation of an endangered animal, as well as bespoke elephant sculptures that
will be auctioned for charity on 9 July.  In addition, each of the 24 rooms of the
Lancaster House will be transformed into a magnificent indoor jungle, including a
crochet rainforest by Olek.

Olek - London  Olek - LondonOlek - London Olek - London     Olek - London       Olek - London     Olek - London

View the full set of pics here

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The List

23 Thursday May 2013

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The more I crochet, the more I want to crochet. Does this happen to you too? My head is filled with ideas, plans and projects that I so desperately want to get on with. Things like Pinterest and other crochet bloggers are not helping either! Inspiration overload!!! Did I mention Pinterest?

The best I can do is to enjoy & focus on whatever I’m currently making and make a list of all the things in my head. In true blogger fashion, I’m sharing my list with you:

  • Finish Nicole’s granny square blanket. Job done! See this post.
  • Make a silver-grey basket like this one for a lady I met at Boeresjiek. She already paid me R100, trusting that I will make and post it to her once I got back to the UK!   Job done! See this post
  • Finish the top on the front cover of this Japanese book. I started it before I left for Cape Town. There I realised I made a mistake early on so I had to undo everything and start again. I’m basically back to square stitch one. I really, really, really want to get on with it because it will be so beautiful when I finally finish it.
  • Use the roughly 30 balls (!!!!) of Vinnis yarn my Mom gave me as a “welcome back to Cape Town” gift, for a tunic style top from this Japanese book.
  • Crochet social media icons that I can use in the sidebar of the blog.   Job done! See this post.
  • Give life to a brooch idea I have for my Etsy shop. It’s one of those ideas that’s been brewing in my head for so long that I have it all worked out by now. I can see the finished product down to the tiniest details. Only one thing remains: I have to put hook to yarn.
  • Crochet a blanket for John. He had to look on as I crochet my Dad’s Atlantic Wave blanket, and now he’s seeing Nicole’s blanket take shape. He put himself in charge of quality control by testing the Snug Factor and carried out Does-It-Cover-My-Toes tests for both these blanket so he bonds with them, only to see them leave. Poor guy. “Everyone gets a blanky but me. I donated a kidney you know. Why can’t I have a blanky?”.  He has a point. I really have to make him his own blanky.

If the project is on this list, it will be hooked. In front of all my blog readers I solemnly swear to finish these seven items. Your blanky is coming John; because it’s on The List.

How to pick random colours for a granny square blanket

20 Monday May 2013

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Last week I asked you whether true random colour choices are really possible. After the week of intensive market research (can you tell I’ve been watching The Apprentice?) I have come to the conclusion that most crocheters like their colour choices to appear random, but we plan it that way. Thank you to everyone who commented and helped me realise that I’m not the only one who can’t do random.

Planning randomness? Is it possible or is it an urban hookers myth? Well, fellow crocheters, random colour placing can be planned for!

Our solution comes from the first comment on last week’s blogpost. The comment is made by “Boeta”. “Boeta” is an Afrikaans word for brother. My dear brother provided me, and therefore you, with the key to our success. Crochet blankets, motifs, granny square rounds, can be arranged and/or crocheted in a random way!

The secret is using the list function on the www.random.org website. Seriously people. There is a website specifically for all things random. It really is as easy as that.

I however went a bit further and added an Excel spreadsheet element to our colour choosing plan. I have been using a version of this Excel plan for Nicole’s granny square blanket, but as I told you last week it didn’t work out as randomly as I had hoped. With the help of random.org I was able to modify my plan specifically for use in creating granny squares.

I have a new plan and I’m sharing it with you. Here’s how to plan a colour scheme made up of randomly chosen colours:

1. Go to www.random.org/lists and type in the names of all the yarn colours you want to use in your granny squares. I have 17 colours:

List generator

2. Create an Excel document made up of a column for each round of your granny square. In my case I’m making 5-round granny squares. As you’ve already typed up the list of colours for step 1, you may as well copy that list as the colours for the first 17 (or however many colours you have) round 1’s of your granny squares:

Random list in Excel

3. Go back to your list on random.org and hit the “Randomize” button, which will sort your list of colours randomly!

Random1

4. Copy the random list and paste it in your Excel spreadsheet underneath the first list.

Step03

5. Keep on going back to http://www.random.org and clicking on “Randomize” until you reach however many granny squares you have to make. I’m making 70 granny squares, so I will keep on pasting the list from www.random.org under Row 1 until I get to 70.

6. Continue pasting the random colours in the Row 2, Row 3, Row 4, Row 5 etc. columns. And that’s it. Just keep filling in the columns with the list of colours from random.org!! Easy peasy!!

Of course, it can happen that you get two colours next to each other, but if you do, just pick your own colour to replace the duplication (be random the old-fashioned way). There shouldn’t be a lot of duplication, but to make sure, I have two tips:

Tip 1: Look at your collection of yarn and find the colour that really stands out. The one that catches your eye first. In my selection of 17 colours, it was the red. I don’t want red to appear too many times, or as the last round of too many of my granny squares as it would overpower the overall look. To get around this in the planning stages, fill the cell where your stand-out colour appears, with that colour. To be on the safe side, I filled the yellow and red cells. It looks evenly spread out enough for me, so I’m sticking with this.

highlighted cells

Tip 2: Check that the colour next to your stand-out colour is not the same colour every time. In row 64 and 71 there is a lilac next to the red, but I’m okay with that as the other colours for that granny square are so different, you probably won’t even notice it amongst the 68 other granny squares.

Another tip is to crochet the colours in reverse order. In the photo below you can see that I have the exact same colours, I just worked the five colours from my Excel sheet from left to right and then from right to left. This means that each row in your Excel sheet, can be used for two granny squares!

20130519-120307.jpg

Having all your granny squares planned out in advance like this is very, very, handy. On a big granny square blanket project, you may not need to plan like this because duplications will get lost in the overall look, but for smaller projects, I think planning your granny square colour sequence in advance will be very helpful. We don’t want a repeat of the Pink Situation like I had with my first granny square cushion!

Use this method for any crocheted items made up of rounds (like granny squares, hexagons or African Flowers). For arranging single colour squares in a blanket, think of each cell as a completed square and you have the colour layout of your whole blanket done and dusted! If you are crocheting stripes, use the random stripe generator.

To make things super easy, I’ve created an 2010 Excel document with a tab for Granny Squares and a tab for Blankets that you can use. You just have to paste in your own colours. Here is the Excel document: Colour selector for granny squares and blankets

I hope you find this way of planning your random colour choices helpful.

Eric Hoffer said

Creativity is the ability to introduce order into the randomness of nature

Are you a randomness planner? You go girl – you’re one creative crocheter!

Is there such a thing as truly random colour choices?

14 Tuesday May 2013

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What do you think? Can you really make random colour choices? I can’t. I certainly try, but when I look back on my crochet project I usually see that I actually gave preference to a certain colour, or a combination of colours.

The first time I realised that I can’t trust myself to make truly random colour choices was with my very first granny square project. In this interview I speak of the green granny square that I incorporated into a cushion. It was my very first piece of crochet, my first cushion, the project where I fell in love with granny squares, and the project that showed me that I’m unable to choose colours randomly. Have a look. Do you see all the dusky pink? Out of the 32 squares, I used dusky pink in 23! (Maybe this cushion is the reason why I now don’t. do. pink.)

granny square cushion

You see, when I choose my colours I act on what feels right. I have a specific taste, I like to put a warm colour next to a cold colour, I like a bit (okay a lot) of contrast. So every time I started a new square I chose what felt right for that square, in that moment, forgetting the big picture and certainly not choosing the colours outside my “colour comfort zone”.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with choosing colours based on what feels right to you, but when you’re trying to achieve randomness, that’s not going to fly.

So, how do you achieve random colour combinations?

For stripes, the Biscuits and Jam random stripe generator is the answer to your prayers. A true godsent. I used it for the stripes in the Identity Crisis blanket. And let me tell you, not having to think of what colour to choose for the next (millionth) row, was a great help and sped things up in a huge way! I could not have done the I.C.B. without the random stripe generator.

But what do you do when you have motifs or granny squares that you have to create or join randomly?

Sarah London says in her book Granny Square Love, that she picks up whatever colour is closest to her. That could work I suppose, but not for me. I crochet in a small space so I have a very small pile near me and every time I put something back, it’s just going to lie on top which means I’ll just reach for it again.

Even though I want something to look random, I’m not a random kind of person. I’m a planner. A list maker. A “know what comes next” kind of person. So I need to cheat randomness. For Nicole’s granny square blanket that I’m working on now, I devised a plan to make my granny square colour combination appear random. Planning randomness is a great contradiction in terms for a reason; about half way through I realised that it wasn’t working. I kept on getting the same combination of three colours next to each other. I had to modify my plan, but I’m still sticking to a plan. Me needs me my plans!

What do you say? Are you able to make true random colour choices? If you do, how do you do it?

You can answer by leaving a comment. I’ll do the follow-up blogpost on Monday the 20th of May, so you have until the 19th of May to let me have your comments and tips. I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

Cubes make for pretty and practical yarn art

11 Thursday Apr 2013

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Yarn storage. The age-old question for any crocheter or knitter. Do you display your yarn or hide it? Do you arrange it according to colour, weight or fibre? So many choices! A lot depends on the space available. In my case, I have a cupboard in the spare room with a canvas shoe organiser like this one, a couple of tote bags hanging from hangers in the same cupboard and the cardboard box that my Anchor crochet thread winnings arrived in. I thought I had a good enough system as everything is hidden away yet easily accessible.

Until…

John saw my Yarn Pinterest board with beautiful yarn storage ideas.

“Wow, that wall of yarn looks cool.”

“I know, right?! One day when we have a big house we could do the same.”

“Why wait? I want to get rid of those three Ikea prints in the spare room anyway. We can display your yarn on that wall.”

“Seriously? You wouldn’t mind?”

“No, I’d like it. And it would make you happy, so I’ll be happy.”

“Aaaaaaah! Honey!!!”

“That’s how I roll.”

Not only that, he was the one who found the perfect yarn storage solution: three wooden wall cubes at a discounted price with Wowcher. Like the man says: that’s how he rolls.

20130410-064208.jpg

We both love this Wall Of Yarn Art – it changes all the time as I use yarn and buy more. Never a dull moment. Literally.

Of course I still have the shoe organiser and tote bags, but they now only hold acrylics and other odds and ends.

20130410-064224.jpg

I’ve reserved my wall cubes for cotton only. Most of my cotton yarn is Rowan Handknit which comes in 50g balls and fit perfectly into the cubes. I just love the huge spectrum of colours. It truely is inspirational to see such a colourful selection right there on the wall. My creative juices flow as soon as I walk into the spare room.

20130410-064307.jpg

Did you notice the empty space in the biggest cube? The one with the blues and greens? I certainly noticed and aim to rectify this soon. All in the name of art yarn.

This is why I closed my Facebook account

05 Friday Apr 2013

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Sunday 24 March 2013 I closed my Facebook account. Here are my reasons for exiting the Book Of Face:

  1. I’ve been thinking of closing Facebook for almost a year now. The only thing that prevented me from doing so was the CrocheTime page. I had 1000 likes on the page, but due to Facebook’s algorithms, less than 200 people actually viewed the updates I posted on the Page. My blog gets more hits per day (around 400), so what’s the point of having the Page? As soon as I figured this out, I realised there was no reason to keep my Facebook account.
  2. Facebook was turning me into a nosey, stalker type person. I don’t want to be that kind of person.
  3. I had people in my Friend list that I barely know in person, and some I have never even met, yet they were filling my newsfeed with things I’m really not interested in.
  4. I’m a big believer in the notion that people come into our lives with a purpose, and when that purpose is fulfilled they leave. We all feel a bond with people at a certain time in your life, but as you grow older, you change and they change and then you naturally go your separate ways. I’m not talking of only man-woman relationships, but friendships, colleagues and neighbours too. Facebook was keeping people in my life that I have moved on from.
  5. The amount of advertising, suggested posts, suggested pages and just general rubbish I couldn’t hide from my newsfeed, was getting more and more, and more and more irritating;
  6. I was judging people based on their activities/photos/friends on Facebook. I don’t want to be that kind of person.
  7. My Facebook visits weren’t making me happy or inspiring me. In fact it became irritating and draining, yet I felt compelled to go back. Again and again just in case I missed something.  I don’t want to be that kind of person.
  8. I was spending too much time thinking “Ooh, how can I word this situation/conversation so that it would be a good status update” and taking photos of things so that I could post it on Facebook, in stead of actually enjoying that situation/conversation and appreciating the scenery.
  9. WordPress Reader, Pinterest and Instagram are filled with like-minded individuals so I would like to spend more time on these websites.
  10. There are other ways of keeping in touch with friends. Ways that don’t include strangers and the people in no. 4, knowing what I get up to.

Sorry Facebook, this isn’t working any more. It’s time for me to move on.

Bicycle quote