Some snowflakes were crocheted last night when I had an hour ''off'' with white cotton DK and a 3.5 mm hook, adapted from the 100 Snowflakes book by Caitlin Saino:
from amazon thus:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/100-Snowflakes-Crochet-Snowdrift-Keeps/dp/1844488055/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385081420&sr=1-1&keywords=100+snowflakes+to+crochet
Then of course when I'd sewn in the ends at tea break time today I needed to block them...
They're on a cut plastic bag because I am going to stiffen as well as block them?
Pin out carefully with non-rusting pins and adjust all the loops to your satisfaction....
I think I prefer this lower one? Then grab a mug and some PVA glue?
pour a dollop into the - old and chipped- mug see? I 've just covered the bottom of the mug.
Then add water : it should be about 50:50 or 60:40 with PVA being the higher %.
See? All frothy with the water added and plenty of stirring.
Then you stab the glue/H2O mixture onto the snowflakes, making sure you properly soak the cotton.
I use a stabbing motion, jabbing / dabbing away at the motifs.
There they are on my home-made gingham blocking board.
It's really just a piece of plywood, with a thick pad of foam from the market glued on and then the gingham cotton cover stapled over the top. About 2'' thick.
Here are my very slowly growing collection of Christmassy elements: holly leaves and Poinsettias.
I like this Poinsettia best, I've added knotted cords to resemble the stamens and buds they always have.
Cut a few 20-40 cm loops in pale green or yellow.
Make an overhand double knot very near the end.
Gather up the crocheted poinsettia and sew on all those knotted ends! That's my own variation to make them more realistic...
I added 5 of them.
I played with a lot of variations of holly leaf: 2 thick yarns and a big hook...
2 thin yarns and a medium hook?
Mixing in some tweedy yarn... doubled or single?
And being home and resting I baked a proper mac 'n cheese with strips of ham inn the base and a topping of tomato....!!! This is the before shot because when it came out of the oven it looked and smelled sooo good it was gone before I could think: PHOTO!
It's from Nigella's EXPRESS book: page 179....
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nigella-Express-Lawson/dp/0701181850/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385082709&sr=1-1&keywords=nigella+express+cookbook
And these are her banana and butterscotch muffins from the same book BUT I had no butterscotch chunks in my larder so it was large chunks of chocolate instead! Recycled from a chocolate fountain party...
As you can see there was this little ''elf'' who nipped in and stole a few as soon as they were out of the oven?
What a fine way to use those browning and ''past it?'' bananas!!!
A great reward as I have been reading all day, research papers.....
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