When she learned to crochet, she first watched me and then made long chains, undid them and then made more lengths of chain, until I left her with one of my crochet magazines opened to the 'how to crochet' tutorial pages towards the back of the magazine when I went off to work and by the time I got home, she'd made a decent-sized square of crochet! Since then, she's made several dishcloths and washcloths, some of which she's given away to people she likes at school. In the last week or so, she's moved on to making scarves; quite narrow and not too long, but it's a step forward, especially as the first scarf she made was for one of her friends at college whose birthday it was.
A few weeks ago at knitting group, we were talking about Christmas crafts and someone mentioned rag wreaths, which interested me, so I looked them up on the internet, bought some fat quarters of Christmassy fabric from a local store and then went to Home Bargains and Poundland to buy cheap, small-sized decorations. Hubby ordered some wreath frames/rings for me from Amazon (he has Prime; I don't) and I spent a couple of hours one Saturday morning cutting the fabric into strips approximately 10cm x 2.5cm with my pinking shears, showed her how to tie them onto the wreath frame and that kept her occupied for several hours over the course of two or three days. The result?
I hadn't planned on her using quite so many baubles on the wreath (and had thought I might move some of them around once she'd gone to college) but posted a photo of it on Facebook and was told by a friend that I should leave it as it is, so I did!
As hubby had bought a pack of 10 rings and we had at least half the fabric strips left, I asked if she'd like to make one for Granny and she said she would, so another few hours of tying fabric strips ensued and some baubles added (not as many as on the first wreath though), finished off with one of the red bows and we'll be taking it round to Granny and Grandad's house when we visit them later in the week:
I gave one of the wreath frames to a friend so she could have a go, which still leaves us with 7, so I'm hoping there will be Christmas fabric on sale in January so I can stock up for next year.
I wasn't sure how these would turn out, to be honest, but they're very effective and make a change from tinsel, blingy wreaths. The rings are 8" in diameter and, once finished, just fit inside the large-sized square Dunelm freezer bags I've got (which press together to close) so if I squish out as much air as I can, the wreath should be able to be stored for next year.
If you fancy making one, then just search for rag wreaths on the Internet for ideas.
Craft-wise from me, there's not much going on at the moment. Our Christmas tree and decorations were put up a couple of weeks ago which means my weaving loom has been packed up and put away (there's no room for it in the lounge!) and my spinning wheel's been relocated in the dining room, so all I've got on the go at the moment is a pair of plain socks.
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, I'll 'see' you in January.
