granny squares

I have been doing crochet for a lady called Wendy who sells blankets. I am nearly finished now, only 12 more squares to go!! I've figured out I can make 1 square per trip into work and then usually 2 at work if I'm onto it. Getting pretty sick of these colours though. damn. This is why I have started listening to podcasts.. hasn't become too tedious that way

I guess just for reference, the pattern I'm using is

chain 4, slip stitch into a ring

chain 3, treble crochet 2 into ring, 2 chain, (3 treble crochet, 2 chain) x 3, slip stitch to join row

change colour, start this row in a corner. chain 3, 2 tc, 2 chain, 3 tc. then 3 tc, 2 chain,  3 tc in each corner around. 

change colour, start in corner. chain 3, 2 tc, 2 chain, 3 tc. 3 tc in the space. then 3 tc, 2 chain, 3 tc in each corner around

4th row is the same but with an extra space

I was going to make some crochet tutorials last year and I might come good on that promise, but for now, easily the best place to learn (and the place I learnt) are the granny square tutorials on meet me at mike's. 

overload

A few weeks ago I went to Southside Brown Owls. I was really interested to see how everybody acted when they were meeting in real life. Southside was a good group to pick because they have only met a few times - I went to their third meeting. It is run by Shannon Rowe and Katrina Higham. Katrina owns the Windsor Deli, which is where the meeting was. She writes a food/craft blog. Shannon doesn't write a blog but she seems like an avid tweeter which is just as important these days. At the meeting chatting about online craft things I got the sense that twitter was the way of the future just because it's less involved. Speaking from experience, trying to write this blog, I concur: you can easily get 'snowballed' with all the stuff out there. Too much information for one gal.

One of the things that I've wanted to do for a while was to write about the craft-ish blogs and sites that I read/have read.

Whipup.net

My favourite thing about this website is the 'roundups' of patterns they do. It's an excellent aggregate of cool/fun patterns, recipes, craft books or websites. Their crochet one is particularly good.

Sarah McNeil
Illustrations, sweet things. Pretty.

Camila Galaz
Camila draws illustrations of pigeons in greylead, which I find really endearing.

Mrs Robertson Presents
There are a lot of blogs out there, it is true. But when one stumbles upon a blog that is actually well written - that my friends, is a keeper. Recipes and anecdotes from nearly-country Victoria from the inimitable Mrs Robertson.

Purl Bee
Purl Bee is useful for finding patterns, much moreso than whip up is. I believe they have a bunch of tutorials.

Kootoyoo
I used to read this blog religiously because it had beautiful pictures and interesting projects that recycled old things into awesome new stuff. Not so much any more, but at a glance it seems to be continuing on in the same fashion. I also dug this blog because it wasn't overwritten with cheeriness.

Ravelry
This website is essentially an index of patterns, free or for a small price, online. You can add your own (I assume, I haven't tried) and favourite the ones you find, use and like. Quite a good resource.

Northern Craft Bonanza
NCB is another craft group that meets in Melbourne. I have tentative plans to go to a meet when I get myself organised - it's closer to my place than any of the Brown Owls groups.

Brown Owls
Orchestrated by Pip Lincolne, this is a really excellent resource for anybody with the slightest interest in craft anywhere in Australia. The idea is that anybody, anywhere can begin a group under the name 'Brown Owls' and use the website to organise it. On the blog there is a calendar of the forthcoming meets. There are 3 or 4 different groups around Melbourne, a bunch in Sydney and elsewhere in Aus, and some all over the world! Sew exciting.

Sew much 2 read.