Ziggy Lace Scarf

I just finished hooking this beautiful Ziggy Lace scarf for myself!  Don't you just love it? 

Hooksize: 4

Yarn: Vinnis Nikkim in Midnight (What else! After straying with two other types of yarn, I am back to hooking in Vinnis, my favourite cotton and bamboo yarn.

Cheers!  Have a great weekend.

xxxxx

New Additions to the household!

Neechee and Tuna,  two Maine Coon-British Short Hair kittens, are the new fluff-ball additions to the Pigtails Palace!

Neechee is a boy (ermm I am 90% convinced, but the vet will confirm later this week) and belongs to the Girl Teen.  

Tuna is 100% female, a busy one too and I struggle to take pics of her Royal Highness as she is always on the move. She belongs to the Boy Tween and together they are having a lot of fun, already climbing the big avocado trees in the back yard together.

Neechee was named by the Girl Teen after a character in Emily the Strange.

Pic from the Emily blog

A diversity of experiences, a varied life

Do you live life to the fullest, enjoying and making the most of every minute of every day? 

I do! As much as I love hooking, it is but a tiny part of my interests. 

If you are familiar with the Flipboard app, you might want to take a look at 18%GREY, our Street Photography and Photojournalism magazine. We feature some of the best photographers around, to contribute not only "pure" street photography, but also work in street portraiture-, travel-, documentary-, urban landscape and creative street-based projects that lean towards "fine art" street work.

If you are interested in education, media and technology you will enjoy quib.ly, a community that aims to help parents give their kids a head start in a connected, fast changing, global world. I have just joined the team as an expert and deals with all matter media, technology, e-learning, education and development. 

Uhm, these in addition to hooking are but a drop in the ocean of what keeps me busy every day. Until next time, Cheers!

Snood

Crochet Ribbed Snood still in the making

The snood will be more than double this width once finished. I love the simplicity of the ribbed pattern which is hooked in hdc.  Visit Jenn Ozkan for the pattern and adapt it to your needs!

Off to the shops now to buy either yellow feathers or fur to trim the snood. Oh yeah, it is time to open the glamour taps for a change! This will go fab with a silvery grey outfit or a minty skirt or something in tangerine - anything to warm up the winter mood here!

xxxx

Source: Pinterest

Off the hooks!

 Off the hooks: Red Cross Throw, Throw nr 3

9 Red granny squares, 11 rounds each with 5.5 hook

4 Black ranny squares, 22 rounds each with 5.5 hook

Red border in single crochet

I have few words today.  I wanted a beautiful throw that I would feel proud about since it will be going to an Aids Orphan.  (See also my paper "Cry the beloved Children" discussing HIV Aids as a humanitarian crisis. I rarely talk about my work in the realm of sexual trafficking and human development since it is highly sensitive, challenging work but you might also read my posting titled Human Trafficking, Hookers, Hope)

The final colour combination of this throw however, is so meh that I basically hooked it with my eyes closed, eyes fixed on the TV, making eyes at the husband, eyeing the contents of the fridge . . .  This is all due to the yarn store being out of stock on the cream aran (photo below).  I did not want a red and black throw, I mean it is like wearing a pair of black shoes with a red frock, a look that is terribly crass and outdated. Red is paired with nude (or brown or orange or purple for heaven's sake!)

Yarn:

Elle Marco is marketed as a "Touch the Countryside" and consists of 32% cotton, 11% tweed, 10% wool, 44% acrylic, 3% nylon. It is a yarn with great possibilities but as with any design, one should be in love with the colour combinations. Oh, how I mourn not getting hold of the cream aran.

It is Wonderful Wednesday here at Palace Pigtails, meaning we go out to do something nice as determined by the kids.  It looks like we are off to the skate-park today. Cheers!

Coffee, gardening and hooking

Coffee time!

Litchi Decor and Lifestyle, Groenkloof

 Cacti and Succulents

It is great living in a house with a huge yard.  I collected no less than 36 empty clay pots throughout the garden that just begged to be planted with new succulents and cacti!  With some rigorous composting over the past few weeks, we were able to fill the pots with fantastic soil and new plants the kids and I picked up from Kambroo/Gariep this week. One would think it is spring and not autumn here - I am clearly in denial.  I hate winter unless I am somewhere skiing and drinking gluhwein, eating raclette or cheese fondue . . . 

Lastly - see this?

Well the 13 year old Teen just hooked a scarf in linen/woven stitch and I had this idea that she will enjoy being a guest blogger here on Pigtails, but nope, she blogged her own hooky tales on Hibiscus-Crush. Her old blog, Twitchy Thing and a Tenth was and still is most enjoyable if you want to see some more of her hooky tales and computer drawings. She is most eager for your recognition ;-)

Cheers, off to do some hooking and hopefully finish one throw by tomorrow.  Never again do I work on more than one WIP at a time, I must just plan better so that I don't run out of yarn again. 

I have learned through the years that the ability to focus on one project, see it through (and in the case of crocheting refrain from stashing any yarn) is all down to an acquired skill and personal discipline - and not as we all choose to believe down to personality type. Oooo I can hear how many crafters are now disagreeing, but think about it - it is an interesting view and I love to challenge established views!!!  

A different yarn!

Hello, Bonjour, Hej, Asalaama Alaikum, Namaste, Dumela! Well, will you believe it but this is a glimpse of a project in planning to be hooked in something other than my beloved Vinnis yarn.  This is a yarn made up of 32% cotton, 11% tweed, 10% wool, 44% acrylic and 3% nylon. A test run told me that it is easy to fall out of love with this yarn if one chooses a metal hook and finicky pattern. My bamboo hook is doing a great job though and because I chose the simplest of simple patterns for the project, I am doing just fine with the yarn...  

  

Even though the two pictures of the shed below is in black and white - the rest were shot in full colour.  The yarn is black and white with a small spot here and there in a rusty colour. 

Meanwhile I am trying my best to rid the shed my work space of odours stemming from the previous home owners storing plant fertilisers and all sort of chemicals in it for many years. It was easy to simply occupy the space - neither the husband nor the Tween or Teen took up on my offer to turn it into a craft room or artists den for any of them.  I moved my belongings in early one morning as soon as the husband left for work and the kids were still asleep without telling a soul.  It is located underneath a huge avocado tree and I can either cosy up inside or grab a chair and camp out under the tree with my supplies an arm length away.

We have a huge garden with various fruit and nut trees, a veggie patch, hordes of birds (we border a bird sanctuary) and other outbuildings. I am off plant shopping now. I am an avid collector of succulents and cacti and need to build up a collection again (as this is what one does every time one moves country). Cheers, have a great week!

Do you know about the Crafty Bloggers Link-Up, a directory for Craft bloggers?

Scarf!

Don't you just love this awesome scarf I hooked last week?!  It looks fabulous worn with a soft grey knitted dress and drool worthy pair of Caterpillar boots I picked up recently. I had a teeny bit of Vinnis Nikkim, Serina and Bambi yarn in cotton, bamboo and cotton-bamboo twist left over from the awesome throw that I will be showing you soon.  I decided to hook up a scarf for myself since we are gearing up for winter here in the Southern Hemisphere and all my scarves are lightweight summery ones I collected whilst living in the Middle East. 

I used the pretty Polka Dot Square pattern by Little Woolly.  Head on over to her blog for inspiration and patterns.