A few things that I have made this year

So, it seems that I am as rubbish as ever at keeping this up to date. I guess blogging just isn't really my thing. I used to write in a journal almost every day and since I stopped doing that I think that I've just got out of the habit.
I have made a few bits and bobs this year that I wanted to show. This isn't everything, of course, but just some of the things that I'm most pleased with, or are the most unusual.

Firstly, this is a Chanson en Crochet capelet (pattern available free on Ravelry)
I found the pattern a little tricky because of the errata, which are freely available, but flicking back and forth between the two was challenging. It's made with about half a 400g cone of aran acrylic. I added an extra row before the border, which in retrospect I didn't need. I made another one in mint green acrylic for a friend but I can't find a photo of that one.

Next up is a teal Coral Capelet from Edie Eckman's book. I found this really difficult, but mainly because I didn't read the pattern properly! It's made from a teal/petrol smoothie acrylic.

I also made myself a hat and mittens set based on Wonder Woman's costume! I'm really pleased with these. They're made from acrylic dk.

Next up is a cowl I made from bamboo/cotton mix dk. It's not as long as I'd like as I only had one skein of it, but I'm pleased with the way the stitch pattern turned out.

Chris asked me to make him some gloves like CM Punk's. I think they turned out okay. I used surface crochet for the crosses, which is a technique I've not tried before, but I followed a tutorial online. (I can't remember where I found it, just google)

Last is a red hooded cape that I have been working on for months and months! I finally finished it on halloween, which is quite apt although it's not actually intended as a costume! I couldn't find a pattern that was exactly what I was looking for so I ended up just making it up as I went along, which involved an awful lot of frogging! I think in the end I started it seven or eight times, got halfway through and then pulled it back. I put it down for a few months and then went back to it. It's made with 400g of aran acrylic with literally nothing left over. I even had to redo the last row in a tighter tension to have enough yarn to finish it! I am really happy with it, though. In the last picture the part of the wolf is played by Colin.;D

Update (long time coming)

Well, what a year it's been. I have spent a long long time trying to work out what to do with this blog and how to start anew. In the end I have decided that what does it matter? It's a blog. It can be whatever I want it to be; I don't have to follow rules. I don't even think there are rules.

So, as mentioned in a previous post, I had been a vegetarian for over 20 years. During the last maybe ten years I had become lazier and lazier about it. I never ate anything that wasn't vegetarian, or anything like that, but I had started wearing leather shoes again and had become lax about checking for non-tested cosmetics. Then around three years ago, I started to develop an intolerance to milk and made the switch to soya milk, but still ate other dairy products. But as time went on I looked into veganism more and more and started to think about it as something I could work towards. I began a couple of years ago by having two days a week when I would avoid all dairy products and eggs as well as continuing to be vegetarian. As of January 2011 I have been eating 100% vegan all the time.
I spent the first year getting rid of all my 'pre-gan' shoes, bags and toiletries. I also thought long and hard about wool. For anyone who doesn't know, vegans don't eat or use ANY products that come from or are produced by animals. I wasn't sure what to do about my stash. Like most crocheters, I have built up a ... well, 'massive stash' sounds bad, but that's kinda what it is. Having spent a lot of time, not to mention money on various types of yarn including wool and wool mix ones, I wasn't immediately sure if I could just get rid of it all. Since becoming vegan I have not bought any yarn containing any wool, but I decided not to get rid of all of my stash yarns that contain wool straight away. I went back and forth a lot, in my mind trying to establish my own line about what I would and wouldn't do. In the end I have given away almost all of my wool/mix yarns to various charitable causes - the organisation where I work has a weavery and much of it went there. Other yarns I have used to make items and they have been given away to various non-vegan friends, family and charities. Some are still to be found homes, but they will eventually all go.

So, having a shop selling wool items and a blog showing wool items doesn't really fit with my new lifestyle. I wasn't sure what to do about this blog. I wanted to start a food blog about all the new stuff I am cooking and eating but also, I still crochet a lot and make other bits and bobs so I wanted to still have somewhere to talk about that. I thought about shutting this blog down and just starting another one, but since I have been so lax about making entries here I thought starting again would be too hard. So for now, this is it. Sometimes I might write about crochet, sometimes I might write about food, and sometimes I might leave it empty for months at a time.

I've been working on a few patterns to share, so my aim is to get one of them up in the next month. I've also been playing with felt (polyester of course!) and have made a couple of things that I'll show another time.

Take care.