Button it :)

The collection

With only a week left in the beloved caravan, (Haaaallelujah)  my brain is already rebooting into backpacker mode as I peruse the multitude of utter crap Ive collected in my stationary time and remember (with a little twinge of pain) what its like to lug around your life on your back. So the cull is on and its no surprise that I find myself with an entire bag full of leftover wool. All those little rejected balls of wool that didn't make it into anything, left behind, useless. So, I have come up with a semi-functional use for them. Button decorations!


Oh yes brother, my stubborn infatuation with creating decorative, pointless items has returned with a bang and already I find myself with a plethora of them. Not wanting to add more bulk to my already bulging backpack, I conversed with myself (quite the common occurrence) in ways to attach my little decorations to ones self without the need for buying a supply of pins. Like in the movies, I spotted my little bag of buttons and the proverbial energy saving light bulb clicked on above my head.Why not just add a little decoration to whats already there? Well, I thought it was genius. So I made these little fellows to slip on over your buttons to spruce up any old attire with a little woolen bling! :)

Good for bags too!

Now granted, this does limit their already slim use to items of clothing which actually have buttons and decorative buttons at that and also discovering that I myself had only 2 of such items in my entire backpackers wardrobe, I realised that these may well be a disciple of my egg hats in that while they're pretty to look at, they are also pretty useless! But, I wasn't to be dismayed, deterred or disheartened, clearly as I've made so many, I shall as ever continue with my staunch quest to defy the functionality of everything needing to have a practical purpose and plough on with my prettifying pomp! So, with two items to display the button festoons I intend to spruce up each one with a dabble of colour to suit the occasion or just for the craic! 

God bless buttons :)

If you are a fellow wool enthusiast and would like to join me in displaying some woolen bling then you can find some of my stuff here > 
http://www.etsy.com/shop/Woolenitbelovely
Why not? :)

Production by Destruction!

A whole week! Oh, how have I survived 7, no, 8 days without crocheting, or even more astonishingly without divulging it all to the world!. To say nothing of how you, my most dedicated readers, have managed to struggle through life without hearing of my deep, woolen reflections! :)
I must attribute my delightful return to writing such long winded nonsense about my crocheting endeavors to my decision to quite literally throw Cervantes' Don Quixote out the bloody window and pray that he and his suit of rusty armour may disintegrate as quickly as the Norwegian summer did! I tried, for 198 pages to stubbornly persevere and have my imagination captured, or even just my mind occupied, but to no avail. My lack of wool was leaving me with little alternatives, so instead of taking up that wedge of absurd chivalry, I sewed every item of clothing that had even a hint of a hole, leaving me looking on whole, like a relation of the artful dodger!

The bomber hat

While I was during the week in such dire straits, I simply had to crochet something and production by destruction was the only method remaining to me. To my loyal followers the news of my first creation is known, a wooly hat as a birthday present for my shivering boyfriend way back in March. While the hat was perfect in every way, of course, the recipients head was, well quite frankly too large for it! It has since, after the ooh's and aah's of initial admiration quite akin to my egg warmers, been sitting idly in some corner, protecting only the floor from gathering dust than any head from any elements. So, a decision had to be made between Don Quixote and pulling apart my embryonic article, three guesses which one I pounced on with cat like reflexes, resulting in my newest item, the bomber hat!
I had seen some pictures of this style of hat and thought it lived up quite well to its name, being the bomb! I dived with relish at the challenge of coming up with my own pattern, as there was absolutely no way I was going to pay 6 dollars for one! The pattern that is, because of course we'd all pay much more for a hat!!!!! ;)  
Taking more care and paying more attention this time to the proportions of my beau's crown, I vigorously, with tongue protruding in that terribly unattractive manner, proceeded in making a wearable hat, though I do think it took me longer to unravel the first one than it did to make the second!
Needless to say I am much more pleased, as is Matej having his second usable item of clothing, with this bomber hat than its predecessor, indeed he is in great danger at this rate of being completely bedecked in wool before we leave Norway. The hat is getting good use already as entering the caravan in the mornings is similar to stepping into central Siberia, ice included! I'm sure he's feeling more upbeat about the white frosting in the mornings now that his noggin has a bit more protection. Though getting him to pose for photos was the greater of all the aforementioned tasks combined!

Matej, my rather reluctant model

Thankfully, with enough wool to clothe a small elephant and a stack of new books, today being my weekly respite from the rural confinement, I shall be merrily entertained and blissfully ignorant of any more acts of chivalry and can refrain from eying up anything that is sitting idle for too long...but all those egg warmers are already transforming in my minds eye. Is this not the best reuse and recycle scheme possible? I shall have to dub it the Green Bomber hat in light of my environmentally friendly methods. Here's to taking apart everything in sight and making it anew! :) 


 

Obsessed much?????

The Family together!

 Lord almighty whats wrong with me...Ive made more! It seems that having useless egg warmers on every flat surface in my caravan wasn't enough for me, as I now have come up with a whole new line! 

Pondering this apparent obsession with egg hats I may see the reason. Mostly my time is taken up with my Stepford wife like caravan maintenance, cooking, cleaning, washing bloody dishes, but also crocheting and reading. (you wouldn't believe I'm only 28..stressing the only part!) Regarding the latter of these amusements, I am attempting to better my book repertoire and have undertaken some classics, for example, Bram Stokes 'Dracula', which was actually a brilliant read, so, thinking myself some sort of Literary academic, I boldly checked out the infamous (at least to all those 'Ten books you must read before you die' lists) Don Quixote from the Library and now we arrive at my reason for so much crocheting. Needless to say it seems to be one of those 'can't pick it up' books rather than the opposite. Immersing myself therefore in my crocheting is my attempt to avoid reading a book which according to the cover, has 'captured the imagination of generations'...I think it skipped my one!

The scood, or snood or some very cool term!

So here I am again, this time with actual hats for eggs and not one unadorned one left  in the fridge. Though I'm not sure if its the hats I like more or the little faces? Talk about a great way to play with your food! So enough of this blabbing, I just wanted to share the latest hip fashion for eggs, they're all the rage these days.

Off to Never Never Land!

With the vibrant greens of my short lived summer ebbing, they give way to the colours and temperatures of a Norwegian Autumn. In one way it is sad to see what little sunshine we've had, be smothered in the Nimbostratus and for the relative warmth to plummet into the arctic region of the thermometer. However, there is a sliver lining on these Nimbus clouds, as this change of season allows my crocheting enterprise to bloom, as nearly everything I make, by default, is designed specifically to keep things warm, and not just eggs anymore!

While the temperature in Norway, as I might have mentioned a couple of times, rarely rises into the double figures (with anything in the 20's being unmeasurable with their instruments) I was still surprised, well maybe shocked is a better emotional reaction, to opening my door and stepping outside a few days ago, to discover that zero degrees was as warm as it was going to get on the 27th of August! Now isn't that technically still summer? Well, needless to say, something resembling a human sized egg warmer was in order. So I went surfing, virtually that is, and having trawled through the seemingly endless variety of slipper designs the world has to offer, I discovered the most fabulous design by Gabriela, (cue drum roll) the Peter Pan Slippers.

 

 Peter Pan Slippers on my stylish caravan couch!

 Now it was not easy getting my hands on this pattern, for various, convoluted and altogether uninteresting reasons, but get it I did and I dived into the project with eager fingers and frozen toes. Though the one thing about making stuff is that I rarely end up getting them for myself. My boyfriend, also with blue tinted phalanges, made the request for the slippers before I had even downloaded the pattern. So, resistance being futile, I armed myself with two balls of wool and started, with relish, my newest crocheting venture. (I can see my brothers nodding head on the other side of the world, as the words "Finally, something practical" sprout from his lips.) 

If you can, try picture this scene. A small caravan, nestled amongst trees and mountains in the back arse of beyond, with yours truly inside, wrapped in every piece of warm clothing I own, the tunes of Johann Strauss dancing around me and my crochet hook wildly spinning backwards and forwards creating what appears at first glance to be...a square! You can imagine my disappointment, thinking that I was undertaking some daring, complex pattern that would force ooh's and ahh's from my partner sitting across from me (also surfing but not for crochet patterns I'm sure) and all I ended up with was a square and a brief, utterly unimpressed grunt from said adjacent company! But, it was the assembly of this geometric shape that makes you think about clapping wildly and shouting, 'I believe in faries, I believe in faries'. So with a few adjustments for the recipients paddle sized feet (meaning another ball of wool and extra pieces added into the slipper) the end product transformed my boyfriend into one of Peter Pans lost boys, beaming like a child holding his foot up in the air...new shoe! Success :) 
One down, one to go. Easier said than done though as repeating the exact same thing you've just completed is actually quite an endeavor, and one which I failed at...twice! It took me two attempts at the second slipper to make it match perfectly its predecessor. I felt like the prince trying to fit the slipper on one of the ugly sisters, until finally, third time lucky, my Cinderella was complete with a matching pair.

So practicality has overcome my attempts at pretty and useless. But now I can understand better the feeling of having something you've created actually put into use. Matej dons his beloved attire every time he sets foot in the caravan and I can't suppress a little grin at my 28 year old boyfriend, (embracing his inner child) looking like a Walt Disney character. I think Strauss shall soon be reverberating through my caravan as I attempt to make myself a pair and be turned into Tinker Bell to match my Peter Pan. (Wendy was far to sensible for footwear like this!) Once complete, the Christmas present collection shall start! :)

Santy Egg HAts!

I'm back, with installation number 2. This blogging business is more work than I realised, also, I am understanding that I am essentially preaching to the choir here, or rather my fabulous family and friends who no matter what gibberish I put up here will read it none the less. So thank you to my somewhat dedicated readers and apologies for annoying you yet again with my crocheting musings! :) Though a slight functionality has crept unbeknownst to my hats.


With new colours at my finger tips and as always, quite the amount of time on my idle hands I decided that Christmas is approaching fast (now before you raise your eyebrows in disbelief at that statement hear me out. I realise it is still August, but this ultimate rural living and my new found love of crocheting has left me with a eye that desperately searches for any excuse to buy new wool and keep both my hands and brain busy, so please forgive my over eagerness of 3 months or so on this occasion.) Now, where was I, oh yes, I thought that petits cadeaux are in order and I though to myself, well, why not a seasonal theme in my creations? 

So, refusing to bow down to my brothers functionality just yet, though I know it an inevitability, I have taken a festive direction on my little egg hats and have brought Santa Clause to the kitchen table or at least the window sill. Either way, these little hats should bring that splash of colour to Christmas breakfast.

Reflecting on aforementioned meal I see a fatal flaw in my design, alas, we have fried eggs for breakfast! Well, Im sure another excuse could be used, you could tie a string around it and wear as an actual hat? Or put them over the dogs ears? Or...just leave them on the window sill. I am realising that boiled eggs are not the number one state in which eggs are consumed, well, outside of Norway that is. Does this mean that I have to admit that my brother was right? Pish posh, never! I'll persevere and maybe I can raise the poorly status of the humble boiled egg to a higher rank, all in the name of cuteness and art of course, after all, what better reason is there?

which egg is cuter?

So, if useless but pretty is your view on such matters or more importantly, you don't want me to have to bow down to my brothers functionality (a sour grape so swallow) or if your looking for a little present for someone special at Christmas then why not a set of Santy Egg Hats? Beats another pair of socks or a tie at any rate! :) 


Orders now being taken, not that I envisage any sort of rush, but for those of you who like to get a (rather lengthy) head start on the seasonal shopping, I'm with you on that one. 
Here's to being over prepared with pretty, useless things!

Play with your food!

Some like it...HOT!

With so much time on my hands (currently living in a Father Ted like caravan in the mountains of Norway) I decided to use my time, of which I have an abundance, to learn something new, seen as how the normal excuse of 'I just don't have time' has clearly gone out the window and been carried, quite swiftly, away in the Norwegian winds. 

While wwoofing (Volunteer farm work) with a German family in Norway, my boyfriends birthday was rapidly approaching and with the nearest big town being about, oh, 4 hours away, I was forced to use my Goddess given talents to create a home made present. Natalia, my one and only teacher, (not counting the blessed you tube) taught me the simple slip stitch and coached me in the making of a true Norwegian necessity, a hat! 

Said hat, was completed on time and duly wrapped up for the big day and was really quite the success, except for the small matter of his head being to big (note: the hat was not too small). 

So with my new found knowledge and left over yarn I dithered, doodled and dabbled and using the hat technique, developed my first round of Egg Warmers. Not to blow my own trumpet too loudly but I was pretty chuffed with them and discovered that they fitted perfectly over my breakfast and were just down right adorable! I have to admit here and now that the actual concept is a Norwegian one, apparently they love their little egg warmers, but my design is my own, discovered completely by accident and so essentially, I've made hats for eggs! :) 

Of course once I discovered the delight of making these I couldn't stop and I am now slowly getting smothered in Egg Warmers and have sent off quite a few to family members as little tokens... (mostly to remind them that I'm alive and well and to ensure they don't forget me). These little warmers have become quite the globe trotters, making it home to Ireland in numbers and even down under in pairs!

My brother in his usual, horizontally laid back way, showed his support by pointing out that these were a completely useless item and couldn't fathom why I even bothered, stating that when you do boil your egg in the morning you normally need it to cool down before tucking in. To which I cannot completely disagree, but where is the style and art and fun in breakfast then O Brother? Surely we are allowed to play with our food a little? I dare suggest that even my Mother would condone this act, providing it stopped with the Egg warmers and that all other elements of decorum and good manners were properly adhered to when actually tucking in to the meal.

So, while the charm and cuteness of my first crocheting venture hasn't warmed my terribly functional brother, I am glad to say that the girly side of my family have been much more easily taken in with these decorative little creations and placed orders for their own. Though I do believe that so far the Egg Warmers have been living up to my brothers expectations by sitting idly on the kitchen window sill, but still, they look good up there and after all isn't that as good a reason as any to use them? 

As for me, I will struggle on in my attempt to prove my brother wrong and have these Egg warmers live up to their name and function. Care to join me? :)