Back on the crochet trail

Given that my mum's the one who taught me to sew and crochet, I sometimes feel a bit funny making stuff for her. For this mothers' day though, I knew exactly what I wanted to make for her. It all revolved around my latest crafty obsession - crocheted floral blocks. 

I've had a pretty non-comittal, on/off relationship with crocheting, never really getting into anything more than a scarf or a hot water bottle cover. Recently though, a few things have pushed my crocheting outputs up a notch. 

It all started with my friend Matt's birthday. I don't know about you, but I struggle with man craft. I just don't know what to make for the dudes in my life! This year, a crocheted beanie seemed like a good option for Matty. We're lucky here in the Beegs to have a crazy abundance of completely amazing fleece growers/dyers/spinners. In particular, a very lovely lady called Tabitha has been responsible for prompting me to get a little more into the fleecey crafts, mainly on account of the fact that she has a farm, where she has a ton of fleece-producing (and other) animals, which she cares for, shears, then dyes and spins the wool into all manner of beautiful yarns and related craft items. (If you watch the Australian River Cottage show, you'll probably see her). Her market stall is extremely beautiful and very exciting for the budding fleece-lover, and my crocheting output has increased of late simply because her things are so beautiful I want to buy something from her every time I see her. Matt's beanie wool came from Tabitha, and was spun specifically for him, using wool that came off a black/brown and white sheep. The wool was then over-dyed with some foresty green colours, so the whole shebang is a gorgeous, mottley affair, aptly befitting the fact that  Matt spends most of his waking hours in the bush and/or hanging around with plants. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of it before I posted it to him, so you'll have to take my word for it: it's rooly nice.

IN keeping with my explorations of crocheted man-craft, I started creating what I believe to be quite a winner (though not exclusively for the men, of course) - the crocheted stubby holder. If you believe that a special beer-loving man or lady in your life would like one of these beauties then you can contact me, and I will make you one (if you ask me nicely and give me 20 bucks).

Then there was the post on Fox's Lane about 'motifs'. Mysterious. Given that I'm a complete noobs to the crocheting world, these beauties were heretofore alien to me, but I was very enticed by the concept: cute, colourful and, above all, small, so easily completed in one go (a big plus for me... I have some attention issues).

Hand-dyed, homespun wool makes super-beautiful floral blocks for mothers' day skirts! The orange wool is dyed with Eucalyptus!!

Then (as if there weren't enough stars pointing me towards getting my crochet on) I was wandering around the library one day looking for a book on wood fired ovens (looking up the call number is just way too easy) when I discovered a book called 75 Crocheted Floral Blocks. I fell in love, and quickly became obsessed with working my

way through the book, making floral blocks, which I'd never even heard of before. One of the things I love about life, is that I can be 35 years old and still discovering craft things I've never heard of and falling in love with them. Ace.

So, that's a really long (and possibly unnecessary) explanation of my mum's Mothers' Day gift: a deep turquoise wool crepe skirt with floral blocks on it. I dig it. Mum digs it (even though she probably could have made it for herself). And sewing them onto a skirt is an excellent way to use up the floral blocks that are wafting around our place at the moment.