A Whole Lot of Hankies

One of my favorite things to crochet is hankie edges. They don't take very long and I get to try out some of the many hundreds of edge patterns I've collected over the years. Best of all the finished product makes a really good gift.

These are some of the edgings I've done over the years:

Alice Brooks Design 7283

You'll have to excuse the names. Sometimes if there are only a few edgings the each have a descriptive name, but mostly they just come with a number. Still the design is nice. I like the way it makes four pointed stars. Plus it is really quick to make.

Edging No. 2 Paragon 126 Learn to Crochet

This edging looks good, but it is really annoying to make. You have to get exactly the right number of loops to get the pattern to turn out right. (An odd number on each side for those of you stubborn enough to try.) This particular hankie took 2 years to make. Every time I messed it up it went back into the work basket for about 6 months.

Hankie Edging Crochet Fashion

Another common name for a hankie edging. This one is also good to make. I've made it a few times as is, and adapted it once for my brother's wedding.

Mystery Edging No. 1

This edging I copied from the internet, and I'm not sure which site I got it from. That's what happens when you're sneaking a look at the internet during work time. I think I've lost the pattern too. Which is a pity because I really like the way this one turned out.

Mystery Edging No. 2

This pattern is somewhere in my collection, I'm just not sure where. It was also one of the first hankies I crocheted. From memory it was fairly easy, but that was a long time ago.

Edging No. 2 Australian Home Journal

This one came out a little tight for my likeing. Still it is a simple edge to work and it looks okay from a distance.

Shell Hankie Edging Crochet to Treasure

Another nice flowery edging. Again it's really easy to work.

Shamrock Edging New Idea Book #1

All these shamrocks take a while to work. But then once their done, that's it the hankie is finished. I'm hoping that this hankie will be lucky for someone.

The Squirrel Edging

This one I made for my sister. She loves squirrels. It's a bit much for an hankie, so she may use it as a doiley.

Just in case you think that all this lace is a bit old fashioned. Here is something a bit more contemporary.

Lace Invaders

That's right - Space Invaders now comes in hankie form.

More Knitting

Although crochet is my first love, sometimes (usually right around Autumn) I just have to knit. Fortunatly my best friend had her son in June. This means that every year his Birthday comes around just as the weather gets really cold. Which also means that just as I feel the urge to knit, I have to start planning a Birthday present. How lucky is that? This year the little lad is turning two and I though a hoodie would be something he would appreciate.

Not just any hoodie would do. The little guy loves dinosaurs, (and so do I), so I though a dinosaur hoodie would be perfect. After I knitted the jacket and hood, all I needed to do is add a row of crochet spines along the top of the hood and down the back.

The pattern for the hoodie is "Child Hood" from Knitty.com. Then I added crochet spines from a Crochet World Pattern.

My favorite part of the pattern is the stripy edge detail. It was a bit tricky to work as I had to knit it separately, but the instructions were pretty clear and it all turned out well in the end.

I gave the hoodie to the Birthday boy today and he loved it. He put it on as soon as he'd ripped open the wrapping paper - instant dinosaur. I only wish I got a better photo. It was a bit warm inside so he didn't wear it for long. Still I think he will have many hours of fun wearing it.

Keep Calm

Every time I go into a home wares store I come across posters, mugs, carry bags, etc, emblazoned with "Keep Calm and Carry On."

stefansargent.com

It seems to be quite popular at the moment. I was curious and got on line to find out what all the fuss was about. Turns out it's a really popular meme and there are hundreds of different parodies. Then I found this version:

allthefunofthefair.bigcartel.com

I thought this was amusing, but something wasn't quite right. Why wasn't it actually knitted? The only thing to be done was get out the sticks.

I'm not great at knitting in two colours, but I think it turned out okay. Here's a close up just to prove it's actually knitted and not just done with photoshop.

I might make some changes to the pattern before knitting this again. I think a cushion covered in this would go great in my front room.

Zeke and Alice

A couple of years a go I worked on an animated TV series called Dogstar. It is a futuristic tale of space, plucky kids, ruthless bad-guys and a lost ship full of dogs. I still can't believe how lucky I was to get a job animating a science fiction cartoon. It actually had spaceships in it, and robots! Two of my favorite things. Once I even got to animate one of the characters knitting.

I wish I could show you some of the stuff I did, but alas, the second series has not been shown on TV yet. So all the footage is under wraps until Channel 9 finds a gap in their schedule. You can check out Series 1 (I think it's on DVD), I didn't work on that one though. What I can show you is my crochet versions of the characters. Here are Zeke and Alice the robot pilots of the missing Dogstar.

One of my favorite characters to work with was Zeke. He is convinced he is a human, not a robot, which means he gets to do a heap of fun stuff. I made this doll to take along to the Christmas Party. We were supposed to dress up as our favorite character, but I don't really like dressing up.

Alice is the other pilot of the Dogstar. She is much more sensible and constantly tries to keep Zeke in line. I have to say working with Alice was a lot of fun too.

If you want to find out more about the show visit the official Dogstar site. You should also check out Scott Vanden Bosch's blog. He designed all the characters for Dogstar, as well as directing the series.