miss marie's miscellany

Hooking Japanese style

Japanese crochet patterns, a recent  and happy discovery. One might think this is problematic, because of the language in which these are written. But the patterns are written in chart form ie there are symbols for each stitch to make a diagram of the finished article. If your Japanese is non-existent like mine, these chart patterns are great, there's no language barrier to understanding them. I first encountered charts in the book  100 Flowers to Knit and Crochet by Lesley Stanfield which everyone seemed to be buying a while back when I began crocheting. Many of the patterns in this are written in both chart and more traditional worded pattern form, (interesting to see the two versions side-by-side) and there is a glossary explaining the symbols used. I've dipped into this book a bit, but to be honest, as I was a novice when I bought this, I felt a little daunted by its intricacies; there was much looking but not much doing. 

Fast forward. to earlier this year, with much hooking under my belt, I feel able to cope with something a bit more challenging. I found a fantastic site called Rakuten, well worth a look, as there are some really lovely patterns to download - I think there must be hundreds of them, from simple motifs to delicate lacy cardigans, and even better, they're free. This is what you get, all nice and simple, a page with a chart and pic of the finished article.

 

A few people have enquired about the pattern for my mum's flower scarf, and I found that at this site - click here for the link to it.  

 

So the next natural progression was to buy a Japanese  book. I've seen some beautiful ones at various blogs I like reading, and had a tremendous attack of the 'wanties'! I did some clicking and purchasing on Ebay a couple of weeks ago (at this lovely Ebay store)  and a few days ago a parcel plopped on the doormat containing this.

 
 

The demon wanties have been calmed! What a treat inside, it's beautifully photographed and 'styled' as they say, and there are some very appealing designs, with lots of food for thought.

I particularly liked this design

 

Here's my version.

 

 
 
Cushion or blanket, I'm not sure yet, watch this space!

 

It really has added another dimension to my crochet knowledge finding these patterns and learning to read charts. The fact that they are totally visual has improved my ability to look at a picture of something crocheted, work out what stitches were used and try to devise a pattern myself.  And when using a chart, it's great to think it's possible to translate the characters and symbols into something pretty and colourful. A whole new world of projects to make and enjoy!

Weekend bits and pieces

The weather has taken an upward turn, the temperature has risen, so happy days. Friday evening started with this amazing sunset sky

  

Then I went off to hear one of my literary heroes, William Boyd, at the Aye Write festival here in Glasgow at the Mitchell Library

 

WB is an engaging and warm orator, natural, warm and witty, and totally at home in front of an audience. It was a fascinating evening with a description into how his novels are conceived, researched and crafted, some readings from his latest book Ordinary Thunderstorms and a Q&A; one of the questions posed was about the particular difficulties of transferring a long novel to the small screen, especially one's own work, and WB told us that his novel (and my favourite of his books) Any Human Heart is just about to start filming in a TV adaptation, to be shown this autumn. I, for one, can't wait to see how such an epic novel of a long and full life will translate to the screen. All wonderfully interesting and entertaining -  I'm so glad I was there.

Saturday, I put on my crafty hat and went to the Creative Stitches show at the SECC. I enjoyed much of the exhibits, and there were some lovely wools. But it was a bit of an effort to get round as there was lots of pushing and shoving - if anyone is familiar with the comedy show The Mighty Boosh, there's an episode called Nanageddon, when all the elderly ladies in the vicinity become possessed by an evil demon and go on the rampage, and I was reminded of this with increasing regularity as it got busier and wool-frenzy took hold.  I left before it got really nasty! However, I didn't come away empty-handed (of course not!) I bought some lovely wool from the New Lanark Organic wool shop

 and a pack of 10 balls of Rowan Alpaca in beautiful purple 

 

and this lovely book

 

I think I'll be making something purple from this book soon, so watch this space!

Today brought an invitation from my sister to go the cinema, so off we duly went, armed with our 3D specs to see Alice in Wonderland. The plot of the film is an amalgam of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass and Jabberwocky, so if you are a purist, you may not like it. But I did, it looked so beautiful, wonderful sets and costumes, and the sombre, slightly spooky mood and sense of unease suited the reworking of the story.  I liked Anne Hathaway's White Queen (like a crazed Nigella Lawson) and Stephen Fry's voice for the Cheshire Cat, all persuasive plummy purring! Well worth seeing if you like your films with a dark twist.

That's all I had time for! 

 

 

New books

Quite a few lovely books have come my way recently, 2 lovely crochet pattern books and 2 books to sit and enjoy reading. 

 I thought this would be useful, a collection of edgings and trims which I hope to be able to put to good use in all my crochet creations this year. It's a Harmony guide; I have several of these and find them invaluable, in fact they probably helped me learn to crochet more than any other reference book I used.

I haven't made any garments other than mittens and scarves as yet, but there are a few things in this book which I'd like to try

 

although probably not the socks on the right of the cover! I fancy this jumper though

 Crochet Me is a great site for any crocheters with patterns, links to blogs, forums and tips and advice. Well worth a look if you're into a bit of hooking.

 

After my last read (for book group) turned out to be a big disappointment and hard going, I needed the next book I read to be witty, charming and a little different; my choice was Howard's End is on the Landing by Susan Hill and is proving to have all of those wished for qualities. It tells of the author's endeavours to only read books already in her home, read and unread. As well as discussing the books, there are memories of family and home, thoughts about authors and well loved classic books along with anecdotes from Ms Hill's life as an author and publisher.  Very enjoyable so far!

I picked up this anthology, Modern Delight in Waterstones this weekend. It's a collection of essays by writers, TV and radio personalities, actors and musicians of what makes them happy, what brings delight to their lives. Very happy to see amongst those writing are William Boyd, Jo Brand and the cellist Steven Isserlis. A varied and humourous miscellany which looks like it will prove entertaining, and half the proceeds go to the Dyslexia Trust too.

 

2009 - Review of the year

Another year is almost over, and what have I done? 

I visited all these interesting and beautiful places

 

I've grown all these flowers and enjoyed their colour and beauty

 

I taught myself to crochet and started a new obsession! And I made all these,

 

I have read all the books in this list.

I took 3863 photographs!

And I watched the changing of the seasons

  Starting to write this blog was a big step for me, and it's been quite a journey, gaining the confidence to write and show my photos here. I wouldn't have missed it for anything! Many thanks to everyone who has visited and commented over the year. I really do appreciate you stopping by and all your encouraging words. I hope you'll be back to see what 2010 will bring. Happy New Year to you all :-)

 
 

  

20th

I recently re-read 'A Christmas Carol' with my book group as our Christmas book, and enjoyed it thoroughly. Such a good story and so well-written, the language is so chatty and modern even, and vividly descriptive of characters and places. We all read it from different editions and one of my fellow readers had a lovely book with the original illustrations by John Leech, which I really liked. Here are 2 of them;

Marley's ghost

 

Mr Fezziwig's ball

Aren't they charming?!  
 

Weekend links

 A collection of random links today;  things that I've been reading and looking at in spare moments this weekend.

 

 A funny story about how the composer Elgar was not quite the accomplished trombonist he claimed to be!

I want to decorate the living room.......for the first time in my life, I'm going to paint a room  all-white, so it's bright and fresh.......with this material for curtains?

I've just taken delivery of these trainers, to compliment my winter fitness regime and get me out of my couch potato state. They are so comfortable!

Something for my Christmas list.........or yours , maybe??!

Looking forward to watching my latest DVD rental, The Duchess. I read the Amanda Foreman biography a couple of years ago, and enjoyed it very much;  it will be interesting to see how it translates to film.

If you can't afford those Manolo Blahniks, how about all these shoes instead? 

Hope your weekend was fun!

 

New book

I had time at my lunch break to pop into Waterstones and browse. My main objective was to get my hands on the latest William Boyd novel, Ordinary Thunderstorms.

 I am a big fan of this wonderful writer and have read almost all his books. I was totally gripped by Restless, his taut espionage thriller, which I read last year when on holiday, and Any Human Heart, his novel told in autobiographical form, is one of my all time favourite books; wonderfully crafted stories which keeps you enthralled from cover to cover. His collection of non-fiction writing,  Bamboo,  is an Aladdin's cave of glittering jewels to dip in and out of, essays,reviews and pieces of journalism on a fascinating  and diverse range of subjects. I can't recommend his books highly enough!  A few weeks ago I watched Mark Lawson interview William Boyd on BBC4, and enjoyed hearing his  thoughts and reflections on life as a writer, screenwriter and director, and listening to WB read from his books. (No longer available on BBC iPlayer, but if it's repeated,  it's well worth viewing).  William Boyd has his own website which is well worth a look, for a comprehensive overview of his books and films. I'm looking forward to getting lost in the pages of this new book, although strangely, I can't bring myself to start reading it yet, as once I do that, I'll have to finish it, and I don't want to! I love the feeling of great expectation, when you know you're really going to enjoy reading a book, and it will stay with you for ages. I'm going to prolong the suspense for a little while longer and then I'd better get reading! 

Sunny Friday

It was a  lovely day in Glasgow yesterday.  There's been a distinctly autumnal air here recently, but an Indian summer is with us just now. It's lovely to feel the sun again. I spent the afternoon in the garden doing some tidying up, planting salad leaves and digging over the veg plots. I found these potatoes (I always miss a couple)

I have some cracking tomatoes growing too. I have to confess that I stuck 2 plants in the greenhouse (ie plastic covered shelving) and apart from watering them have done absolutely nothing nurturing to them. I think that's because of the last 2 summers of lavish care and attention for pathetic tomato yield; my expectations were low. But this is the result of my chronic neglect

There are about 8 or 9 plum tomatoes! Hopefully these will turn red, especially now they may get some TLC. 

I also enjoyed lunch outside in the sunshine, - do you like my new IKEA tray?!

A thumb through this library book whilst eating

to give me some inspiration  to make something for my friend who has just had a baby boy. She's a brightly coloured kind of person, so I decided to crochet a granny square blanket

I like the bold colours, and the fact it will turn out a bit more funky than the average baby blanket. I think my friend will like it too!

Veg with your cake

Not such a strange idea; carrot cake is a staple of most cafes, so why not try using other vegetables in cake making? This is the premise of this book.

You may have seen this in the list of books I'm reading, and it's proving to be a big hit with me (and my sister and mum). The recipes use butternut squash, beetroot, courgettes, carrots and parsnips, to name a few,  and these ingredients replace any butter/margarine/shortening, so they are lower in calories and fat than usual. Positively good for you!!? (I've also tried using light sugar and Splenda, for a diabetic friend, which work well too.)

The photography is beautiful, and the cakes look quite nice too! It's a girly book, some of the text is rather flowery for me. But I applaud the reasoning behind  it -  and the proof of the pudding etc etc, is how these cakes taste. The first recipe I chose to make was the Apricot and Almond Sunken cake and it was absolutely delicious; one would never guess it contained butternut squash. 

I've also tried the American Vanilla cupcakes, super low fat;  Beach and Blanket fruitcake; Almond Honey cake with Apricot and Vanilla, all yummy, tasting just as good if not better than a full-fat version;  and these are my latest bake, Chocolate and Cherry Brandy muffins- I tasted them

a) in the interests of quality control,

 and 

b) so I can tell you, dear readers, that they are to die for!

Crochet books acquired!

I bought 2 new books to expand my knowledge and jazz up my crochet repertoire.

 The first is this one, 200 crochet blocks by Jan Eaton.

 It's a crochet reference book. It contains an amazing array of different patterns, granny squares, blocks of colour, textured patterns.......just about everything you could imagine. There are lots of ideas and examples for matching different patterns together to make one's one design, so this book would be good if you don't want to stick rigidly to a pattern or like making your own up.  I've wanted a compendium of squares and blocks since I started enjoying crochet and I'm looking forward to trying some of them out in new projects.

The second book is one I have seen mentioned on quite a few crochet-loving blogs; it's 100 Flowers to knit & crochet by Lesley Stanfield.

Firstly I just sat and oohed and aaahed at the beautiful flowers; what a wonderful array. If you have read this blog for a while, you'll know by now I love flowers! I couldn't resist trying to re-create what I see and love  in the garden in crochet or knitting. I attempted the Lazy Daisy; it's not perfect by any means, but I felt a little daunted by the patterns, so I'm pleased that I could make something, anything, from this book. 

It's definitely weighted in favour of knitting, which perhaps makes it an expensive buy for those exclusively into crochet.  But I think it demonstrates beautifully the possibilities of how delicate the results of working with wool can be.

There will definitely be some summer holiday crocheting going on here!

I'd be interested in hearing anyone else's views on these books. Did you find them helpful/informative and have the patterns been successful in your projects?