Let's catch up!

 Happy Friday, Lovelies!🌸

Before anything else...! I finally got my first Pfizer jab! It doesn't seem like such a big thing but for someone who has High anxiety ( with a capital "H" ) I had to overcome an international Gymkhana's worth of anxiety generated hurdles. If you're in the same basket of over-thinkers as I am, you'll know exactly what I mean. Endless spiralling, repetitive thoughts ( the OCD part of anxiety ), all the bells and whistles, trumpets and foghorns of imagination, on full blast. It's exhausting, right? Actually, I got sick and tired of my own fearfulness. Also, my youngest son insisted on accompanying me on this vax journey, even standing outside the window of the vaccination room ( only the vaxee and vaxer allowed ), pulling faces and waving to keep my morale from flagging. Also, this gentleman sitting next to me with a classic Scandinavian knitted beanie, exactly the day after I received my copy of 150 Scandinavian Knitting Designs by Mary Jane Mucklestone. A welcome sign of sorts?😆

Mr Hooks'nTales is really inspired when it comes to pampering...so afterwards there were chocolates, dinner in bed, a happy movie as well as a tiny cute plush bunny, as a reward you know? Mind you...I didn't feel so great...a REALLY sore arm and tiredness for about 24hrs, so it's not like I was taking advantage or anything, right? My second jab is coming up in August and I have my eye on an adorable vintage teddy bear.😂

The weather has kept us all indoors most days but when the Sun peeps out for a few hours we head to the greenbelt for walks. or the beach! If you turn your sound up you can hear the wind whistling through the window gaps in my little studio! These days I'm a bit nervous about walking in the forest when there are high winds, especially after a falling branch missed me by inches a few weeks ago! 

So far, on our daily walk, we've been caught out with a random shower each time and ended up soaked through! The Dogs couldn't care less about rain. They LOVE the water...rivers, streams, ponds, the ocean...it's all a playground to those two. Because Mr Hooks'nTales and I are both working from home ( seeing as we're back to Level 4 Lockdown restrictions ) AND because walking in mud and pouring rain isn't our most favourite activity, we hired a dog-walker for the worst days. Makes us sound posh but no...we found an unbeatable "winter special". The dog walker, Carl, has a dog called Paul Anka...and our Girls are IN LOVE. Carl takes the three of them on a madcap trail 2 x a week ( he sends short video clips to the Dog moms and dads ). When he drops the Girls back home...they run after his car a little way! So much for loyalty towards the hands that feed them!

Ok, let's chat crochet! 😁

I'm working on a brand new Throw design! It's all pretty much between me and the yarn at the moment but I'm hoping to have Part 1 ( The Block ) ready sometime in August! It's the most exciting thing ever, beginning a new design. It's really the only time I feel completely myself ...as if I have returned home. Everything in-between feels like a waiting room. Do you know what I mean? After Chrysalis, for a few days, I wondered where inspiration would come from for another Throw. Not in a worried way but more a curiosity. I never really plan things out. Between loading the washing machine, and preparing a meal I'll just suddenly sit down and begin. The process seems random but I was thinking that it's a bit like being a Surfer, I imagine? The way they sit on the beach, gazing out over the ocean towards the horizon, or on their board bobbing on the water, waiting, waiting, waiting patiently...and suddenly...SURF'S UP! 

The divine chaos

On our most recent visit to our favourite little beach, there was this. It did feel a bit like a sign to begin a new design. I mean, it was as if the Universe was sending me a colourway? 😆 I'm one of those people who see signs everywhere.

As always, I like to end things off on a party note! Yep, another GIVEAWAY! So don't forget to leave your Ravelry name if you do decide to comment. You could be one of 5 Lovelies ( bi-monthly and randomly generated ), so please do check your notifications to see if you are a lucky recipient of our last GIVEAWAY? For the next draw, 5 Lovelies will get a copy of my latest block pattern ( it might not be exactly in two weeks time, but very close! ). I DO have a name for it, but for now, it's still under yarny wraps. 😉

Wishing you a marvellous and magical Friday and Weekend with lots of self-care, a happy yarn basket and fun projects to hook. THANK YOU as always for all your lovely comments ( I read them all! ) as well as your ongoing kindness, encouragement and support.

Take care, please stay safe!

HUGS,

💗 Jen

The paths less travelled!

 Happy Friday, from a freezing, blustery and wet Cape Town, Lovelies!😊

My favourite weather has arrived! Finally, I am in my element. I don't know about you but as soon as the temperature drops my energy levels rise. Because of this, I'm hyper-active through the Winter months...things get done! Not Throws though. I had an epiphany recently about that, realising that Mystery Make-Alongs were best reserved for the summer months when I felt lethargic and grounded. It's a conundrum really, doesn't make ANY sense at all. HOWEVER, it works out beautifully for all you Lovelies who live in the Northern climes and who want to squirrel away your snowy months with a solid crochet project to get you through the darkest, coldest days. So, in the end, we all get what we want, right? 

With all this renewed energy I decided a few weeks back to promptly get stuck into properly re-writing all of my "retired" patterns ( with additional rounds to make them all 20cm x 20cm/ 8" x 8" ) and then, make them available FOR FREE over on our sparkly new group HERE! It's a project that will see me through the Winter months seeing as I have a few extra surprises up my sleeve ( or is that...in my yarn basket? ). You probably suspect this already, but crochet designers don't often get swathes of time to make other designers patterns. In a way, rewriting these older patterns is like doing this and it's truly been relaxing and fun! If you're not into being a Groupie I have made the patterns available on Lovecraft's HERE

Remember in my last blog post I was all excited about my little weekend getaway with Mr. HooksnTales and the Girls?  I thought I'd take you along on the road trip to get there. It's a noisy, bumpy ride and the video is a bit long (10mins). Perhaps a good time to make a cup of your favourite beverage and put your feet up?😁 As always we hit the road less travelled, which doubles our travelling time but makes the weekend seem a lot longer. The fun starts immediately after we shut the front door of our city house. As soon as we arrive at "Almond Cottage" we take ourselves and the doggie girls, Roxy and Lally, for a long walk around the neighbouring vineyards which ring the small village ( we still haven't settled on a name for this off-grid abode but there are six and a half ancient Almond trees on the property... one seems to be giving up the ghost ).

Almond Cottage is set up for easy off-grid living ( thank you, Sun! ). We have all the modern conveniences there but we make a point of eating out at small local restaurants. Sadly, no thanks to Covid, some favourites have not survived. Tiny villages like this rely almost 100% on tourism so we eat all our meals in the village and shop at the quaint shops for things we absolutely don't need but feel our money is well spent if it helps to keep the doors open of a Mom and Pop store. 

The Village was unusually quiet and the weather was perfect....broody clouds, wind and rain!😆

We never miss a visit to this gorgeous Garden Center which is within walking distance from our cottage. I made a little video of the inside space ( which includes a cosy eatery ). It's all soooooo pretty!

The views are always dramatic!

We arrived back in the City late on Sunday afternoon and immediately took the Girls to the beach. They were amped for a walk after the two and a half hour trip home. And guess what we saw? On the beach! On a pink lead. Her name is iThombi.😆 I can't even begin to tell you just how absolutely confused the Girls were!

In closing:

🌸THANK YOU so so so much for all your lovely comments! I got around to replying to about half and then ran out of steam! I always, always LOVE your comments and I thank you again for sharing bits and pieces of your life with me. 💗

🌸Please check your notifications to see if you're one of our randomly chosen winners of Sandra's gorgeous Babylon Square pattern?

🌸Our next GIVEAWAY is another ( the crochet fairies made me do it! ) beautiful square, The Morocco Square, by Sandra Salas. You can view the pattern HERE. 

Don't forget to leave your Ravelry name if you comment!

The rain has set in for the weekend here in Cape Town so it's all hot chocolate, candles, Netflix and crochet for me. I finally caved and bought a brand new sewing machine ( nothing fancy, very basic )! Somehow I lost the foot pedal of my VERY old and totally dodgy Janome machine. Incredibly strange seeing as I'm a neat freak! There's a strong possibility that it was spirited away by Sewing Elves who'd had enough of me cussing every time I did some mending! I have 4m of pink owl-printed flannel cloth and my aim this weekend is to make two pairs of pyjama bottoms! I'm expecting no resistance from the Empisal. Wish me luck! 

Hope you enjoy an absolutely fab and creative weekend!

HUGS!

💗Jen

Some chit-chat!

YaY, it's the weekend, Yarnarinnas! Why am I soooo excited? 

Well, I'll tell you why. I'm * going away for the weekend *. I packed my little weekend bag on Wednesday already. That's how keen I am to escape the city for two whole days. As you well know, I LOVE Cape Town winters, but there is a downside...the hot, dry Berg wind. This is the wind that blows in from the tropical north. It heralds rain! Sometimes it's a days warning, other times, it's daaaays warning. As it has been. Boots, tights, socks and scarves get packed away, out come the sandals and T's. The air is tinder dry, and hot. The mosquitoes make an unwelcome appearance ( where DO those little buggers hide! ). Also, the air is foul...there I said it Cape Town! If it doesn't rain, smoke from wood fires burning in homes drapes itself like pale mustard gossamer over the city. It's very depressing really. 

Our weekend getaway is, as usual, home away from home to our little off-grid cottage in the hamlet of Riebeek-Kasteel. Mr HooksnTales has very diligently made the 2hr trip every second weekend to keep the place in ship-shape condition. He takes Roxy and Lally too ( plus enough tools to stock a small hardware store ) which leaves me and the Girls ( Miss Augusta and Princess Nisha ) to our own devices...meaning, crochet, coffee, Netflix, chocolate, dressing gown, slippers and catnaps. I WISH!! Realistically, I am usually catching up on Admin work, writing up a pattern, all this between thoroughly vacuuming every nook and cranny of our "doggy" house ( oh. the. fur ), mopping floors, washing dog bedding, sorting out the recycling for Monday and myriad " I'll catch up on the weekend " tasks that I never "catched" up on! In short....I desperately NEED this little break, to remind myself that beyond the malodorous pall of the city, there is pure, sweet, fresh air. Pity I can't bottle that stuff and bring it home. The doggie Girls will come with us and the kitty Girls will stay behind under the care and loving protection of my youngest son and his GF, who live next door. 

As always, there are silver linings and my back garden is one of them. Everything continues to burst forth blossoms and green leaf buds, bringing droves of Bees and Bumblebees. Birds are nesting and squirrels are squirrelling. The Golden Orb Spiders, who usually make a sudden disappearing act after the first rains, are sitting smugly in their webs. I'm not so happy about that. They are Bee trappers! The weekends are filled with the constant whirring of lawnmowers as grass springs back to life. Our rain storage tanks are bursting at the seams. Split pea vegetable soup with dumplings is back on the menu.

There's also been a lot of just sitting on the steps, or hanging out at Fishy Pond.

Our early Sunday morning fresh-baked croissants and coffee run to Olympia Bakery is now a ritual we genuinely look forward to. Especially in Winter! Nothing like a crisp morning to make you appreciate the good things in life. The doggies get a run ( more like a mad scampering ) on the beach too if the weather plays along. Lally has completely lost her fear of waves! We are so proud of her.

Now...to business!😁

THANK YOU so much for all your lovely, lovely comments on the previous blog post. I did try my best to answer them all but it's been a very busy two weeks setting up the new Group. I'm thrilled to report that the change-over has been absolutely problem-free, the Group is filling up fast, the Members are as always AB FAB! Our * Lucky 13 * Moderator Team are everything I could wish for. I can't thank them enough for everything they have done. Believe me, over and above their pay grade! 💗 For those of you not on the Group HERE but maybe thinking of joining us...we're running an 8-week pattern Freebie. And after that expires, I have something else hidden up my sleeve. But you know how I love surprises so mums the word!😇

Anyhow, I have a weekend away to get to so I'll say....happy weekend to you all, please stay safe, protect your creative spirit, set healthy boundaries, make self-care a priority and may your yarn basket always be full.

💗Jen

🌷PS: I've sent off our previous GIVEAWAY to 5 randomly selected Lovelies, so please do remember to check your Ravelry inbox and/or your email for notification about that!

🌷PPS: our GIVEAWAY today is the Babylon Square by Sandra Salas! Don't forget to add your Ravelry name to your comment.

🌷PPPS: I feel personally called out by my Black-Eyed Susan who is emulating an Alpaca? 😂

A little bit of this and that!

 Happy Friday, Lovelies!

Last things first:

1. If you commented on the last blog post you already know that you stood a chance of winning a sweet pattern? Please check your email notifications and/or your Ravelry Library to see if you're one of the 5 recipients?

2. I'm so sorry I have not managed to answer all of your lovely comments! I have read through them all, as I often say, keep them coming! I absolutely love reading about snippets of your lives. It's always interesting to me and makes me feel that when I make my videos we are sitting together chatting over a cuppa and crocheting.

3. Many of you are probably aware that there was a wee bit of trouble over in my patch of Crochetland? Sometimes what looks good on the outside is a bit rotten at the core, and it's not visible to everyone which makes it so much harder to put a stop to sooner. Long story short. I have set up a brand new sparkly Group with a Lucky 13 band of Moderators, who have been doing an amazing job of making the transition from old to new seamless. The new Group will remain so much smaller and thus we are capping Membership. We all feel that a smaller group is a lot more fun, we can give everyone far more attention. The Moderators will have an easier time of Moderating and zapping Trolls ( you'd be amazed ) with their super Troll Zapping eyes. All is well! You can join our new group HERE, we'd love to see you there! On a personal note, I honestly feel like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Unfortunately, there was backlash toward me in the form of very hateful emails, super nasty private FB messages and the like, which I was expecting! Luckily, I live by this Paul Coelho quote.😂

 

In other news...finally, Chrysalis is complete, corners and all! It's been an amazing journey in 3D crochet and I can't wait to begin another Throw! I went ahead and bought all the yarn I think I might want for the new project. 38 x 100g balls of Stylecraft Special DK. Maybe went a little overboard? Lol!! I keep going back to this premium acrylic yarn because it's absolutely fab to work with and doesn't cost the earth. So that was the first phase done and dusted.

 

The second phase in all this " preparation for new design " was sorting out the workspace. There's a company close by that make stunning, rustic furniture using recycled wooden pallets, so I sketched up a basic design which Mr Hooks'nTales modelled out on his computer ( he's a designer in marine engineering equipment so this was a piece of cake for him ) and we sent it off to the carpenter. Tadaaa! I'm pleased as punch! I also bought a pure wool woven matt. It was either that or rip out and replace the 50-years-old wall to wall carpeting ( I'll eventually get around to doing that ).

About the weather, because what's anything I say worth if I don't include a weather report? 😂 Cool and rainy with a generous sprinkle of snow wafted in by gentle winds. All made more enjoyable next to a crackling fire accompanied by hot chocolate, popcorn, a good Netflix series and of course, crochet! I'm in my element.

All is well! 💙

There's a lot more I could prattle on about, but I'm sure you're not here to read a novella! Please be aware that due to the recent hacking ( yes, I was hacked and bombarded with spam and all sorts of other mischievous Gremlins ), I have had to adjust the comments section. Now, or at least until the "haters" recede back to the dark holes they emerged from, I will have to moderate all comments before they are published. Which I will diligently do!

Don't forget to leave your Ravelry name next to your comment ( I'd love to hear from you! ) to stand a chance of being one ( of 5 ) recipients of this fun and gorgeous mosaic pattern HERE by Marissa Tetmyer.

Until next time, Lovelies!

Wishing you a peaceful, happy, creative and fun weekend.

Take care, stay safe!

💗Jen 

PS: I caught Miss Augusta having a deeply profound philosophical experience. 😆

Time flies when you're having fun.

Good grief, this month is really galloping along at breakneck speed! I cannot keep up! When Mr Hooks'nTales said he'd be home at 1pm today, I was genuinely confused, staring at him while blinking like a dungeon dweller who'd just seen the light of day! Why? I asked. It's FRIDAY, he said, looking at me as if I'd left my brains in the 'fridge. 

Hello, Lovelies!

Let me say this first: SORRY!! PART 6 of the Chrysalis is not quite finished yet! To be precise, it is finished but not ready to meet the public. The pattern is about to be sent off to my wonderful eagle-eyed Testers for a thorough going over. They are super speedy... so not long now! I was hoping to make a SUPER GRAND ANNOUNCEMENT today. I can reveal, though...I think you are going to love, love, love the corners. I do and it's not often that I like what I make. You know how it is when you're a Perfectionist with a capital "P"? You always think you can improve. Which is great news for you Lovelies because it means I'll always be chasing that mythical "perfect" design.

All I can offer today are a few images that I hastily captured during the ( busy ) week. Believe me when I say I do not in any way glorify busyness. I'm FAN #1 of Slow Living. It's everyone else's busyness that pulls me into the vortex of never-ending to-do lists. I rebel, but next thing I know, I'm bowling along, head over you-know-what, with the rest. I always thought that when I reached my 40's things would slow down, by 50 and beyond I'd be as chilled as an ice-cold Margarita, for sure...but NO. If you know how to slow time right down, give me a shout?

Miss Augusta was definitely sending me subtle messages: nap. smell the roses, get out into nature!

Next on the agenda. Lol!

Our GIVEAWAY WINNERS: I don't like to make a public announcement about this because I feel bad then for the not-winners. Thus...if you commented on last Friday's post and left your Ravelry name then please do check your Ravelry today to see if you have received a lovely surprise pattern? Also, if you're not a Member of our FAB workshop group over on FB you might not know that we are running a fun competition there called " MAKE AN ALIEN FLOWER ". You still have time to join, submit your entry and stand a chance to win a cash prize! Hope to see you there!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Keep those hooks warm!

Stay safe, take care and big hugs,

💗 Jen

PS: If you'd like to win a copy of Noelene's latest tassel design ( to be released next week, so my lips are sealed... but Noelene shared a sneak peek with me so I can tell you it's absolutely amazingly beautiful ), then don't forget to leave your Ravelry name with your comment.