I made the mistake of heaping all luggage, laundry for drying and shoes into the guest room, out of sight I thought!
Unfortunately I forgot about my friend from Switzerland being in the country, and that before the wedding I'd invited them to stay over when they'd be around. So yesterday I got the phone call to say they'd be here this evening and we quickly had to do lots of tidying up, move all that laundry to the study, set up the 2nd guest bed, hoover and hide lots of bric-a-brac under the beds... and generally give the house a dusting...
The garden will just look the way it looks, after 4 weeks of not mowing the lawn and rain every day it's quite wild, and it's still too wet to mow!
So much for impressing friends from college...
While in Portugal I noticed there are still many women doing crochet and embroidery of every day items, like tea towels, towels, tablecloths and napkins, the shops sell fine cotton thread that is used to make lacey edges around these towels, they used the tiniest crochet hooks. Of course i couldn't resist and bought a few balls in great colours and the teensy crochet hooks, unfortunately they didn't sell any patterns. One shop had a folder of photocopies of actual lace edges, but no diagrams or instructions, my phrase book Portuguese was just about enough to figure out that these photocopies are all the average Portuguese crocheter needs as a pattern...
I also saw some cute crochet flowers, so on one of the occasions when i was soaking up the evening sun (can't do it before 4pm, am to fair!) i decided to give it a go and came up with this little flower! I was extremely pleased with myself, no pattern, and it's the 1st flower I've made, ever!
We were in Coimbra and there was a Folklore Festival on, with craft on sale and (the most delicious!) sardines on the BBQ, rice pudding for desert, and elderly ladies dancing in the street in broad daylight, while waiting for the main event to start on stage. We just came across it in a Square and decided to linger!
And this little gem was bought there for me by my husband, it's a love poem (or so we've been told) in Portuguese and had a crochet edge. We're going to frame it! What background shoud i use?
When we got home I felt like doing something crafty in the evening, and so repaired my favourite PJs with this little hear patch, (I also had to a split seam in the hip area! what's that telling me!?) while watching 'the illusionist'.
And finally, 2 photographs from the Bucaco Forest
I love how having guests helps me to clean. And kudos on your marriage--best of luck to you.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos!
Hi, I LOVE your flower. Was it easy to make?
ReplyDeleteRe: your comment on my blog. I am living in San Francisco, and Blueprint (which has gotten much better) and Domino are both US Mags. Can't you get them there?
Congratulations on your marriage!
Thanks for congratulations and well wishes!
ReplyDeletewexfordgirl, yes, the flower was easy to make, i had no pattern, just the intention of making some kind of flower.
I don't have it in front of me but I started with a ring (ch5?), then going into the ring with dc (I think), and possibly doing a round of sc afterwards, possibly twice into each stitch. The petals I started by chaining a few before going into the 2nd(or 3rd)next stitch (spacing them evenly). Then i went into these spaces starting with a low stitch, then 3 slightly higher ones, then a low one, to get a curve. this left me with a little 2D flower. to make it 3D i used the same technique on the row below, (creating spaces with chains, then crocheting into these spaces) which gave me the inner round of petals. For the orange centre star i used what i think are slip stitches, it was a bit like decreasing, i went into six stitches and then pulled the hook through all of them once, it might be called 6tog?
Sorry, this doesn't make much sense, does it!
if you like i'll have a look at the flower and try to write a proper instruction (with 'ch5, ss to join, 12dc into the ring' etc.)?
you are a lady of many talents...I like all your creations.
ReplyDeletethanks, diane!
ReplyDeleteit's a blessed relief when all that holiday laundry is done isn't it?
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment about the 'day in the park backpack tote'. All the pattern pieces are a little daunting but they are all nice simple shapes so it doesn't take too long to cut out and they all fit together logically. Go on make the bag!