Vintage Throw in Bamboo Cotton

LIGHTWEIGHT VINTAGE THROW IN PROGRESS

Don't you just love this?! Pattern from here and here - please do not hesitate to point me towards the origin of the pattern. I do not want to land in copyright prison where punishment is having to hook endless grannies with containers full of squeaky acrylics in garish colours . . .

THROW HOOKED IN SIZE 4

This is a set of high quality carbonised bamboo hooks I bought whilst we were living in Malaysia. I have realised that quality of bamboo hooks can differ tremendously between different manufacturers. I bought three bamboo hooks (in a very light colour)  from a well known manufacturer in South Africa and I disliked hooking with it intensely. It is not nearly as smooth as these in the photo and fights against the yarn in stead of having a close, very close, relationship with it.  It's gone straight to the bin. Ooops.

YARN

King Cole Bamboo Cotton DK in color Glacier. 

This is a very soft yarn in a slight sheen in 100% natural fibers.

THE YARN SHOP

Yarn in Doha is available from the one and only shop that sells a few skeins of yarn, the Singer Shop! Needless to say they sell and repair Singer sewing machines but also stock a limited selection of yarn, crochet hooks, knitting needles and embroidery thread. The Singer shop is located next to Badie Music Studio and Stores in Al Muthaf Rd for those using Google Maps. There is no organised system of street names and postal addresses in Qatar. We explain directions via landmarks and not street signs e.g.  . . . across the road from the Pink Mosque next to the Iranian Cafe with the big tree near TV roundabout  . . .  We are used to this, it was the same in Dubai and a quirk of Middle Eastern living!  

THANK YOU!

A big Thank You to Kathryn from Crochet Concupiscence for  including my Star Shaped pillow in her 20 Best 2014 Crochet Patterns for the Home!  It has not gone unnoticed and it is a great honor!

AFRICAN INSPIRED THROW

Curious to see a sneak peek of the finished African Inspired Throw?  Be sure to pop over to HelloHart!  I will do a blog posting about the blanket soon, but first I need to distance myself from it. Rows one and two were hooked together during a time when someone close to our family became critically ill and even though it remains the African Inspired Blanket, those two rows have been renamed Picking up the Pieces.

INSTAGRAM
You can now find me on Instagram!

Have a nice weekend! 

Working with embroidery thread

I recently blogged about the French knitting (also known as spool knitting) place mats my dad made as a kid some 60 years ago. I have long since harbored an idea to knit meters and meters in a fine thread in order to make an interesting neck piece to wear with anyone of my grey silk or linen dresses. After coming across his knitting, I grabbed my money and legged it to the nearest haberdashery in South Africa to buy a knitting spool and hook to slip into my luggage destined for Qatar.

I visited the Singer shop in Doha over the weekend and fell in love with Hungarian pearl cotton embroidery thread available in the most beautiful colours. I chose 6 colours and am aware that it is probably going to take me forever to knit up meters and meters as the thread is barely thicker than sewing cotton!  I specifically wanted the lacy effect to enhance both the fragility as well as the strength of the cord and am pleased with how it is turning out.

Apart from discovering all the amazing embroidery threads in Doha, I have also discovered that  sleeping in pajamas is compulsory when one lives in a glass box!  We are currently hauled up in a serviced hotel apartment in the diplomatic area of Doha and our corner apartment boasts floor to ceiling windows in the bedrooms and lounge. The working day starts early here - between 6:30 and 7:00 in the morning and The Husband opens the blackout curtains before leaving for work. 

One morning I was greeted by the window washer and I still don't know whether I was more shocked by his mere presence or actually by his precarious balancing act of sitting on a swing, washing windows! I managed to sneak out of the bed for a photo as soon as he made his way down to the floor below ours.