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"For my part I know nothing with any certainty- but the sight of the stars makes me dream." - Vincent Van Gogh, a stitch in time, And now for something completely different, crafty, crochet, crotchety, Hooked captain, nimble fingers, Ooga-Chaka Ooga-Ooga Ooga-Chaka Ooga-Ooga - I'm hooked on a feeling high on believing, Wool
Perhaps not nimble, but certainly fingers rather than claws or potatoes.
Along with the concentrated editing going on, I’ve been crocheting. I started last winter specifically to distract from the darkness and didn’t expect to get as ‘hooked’ (bows) as I have.
I give you . . . my Vincent Sunflower Throw!
No, I don’t give it to you, I let you see it. Let’s not go mad. It has a long blue fringe at either end but that’s hidden by the grass.
The flowers are 3d.
Also, there’s a patchwork affair I’ve made for a lovely lady in her nineties who likes to sit in her garden but gets cold very easily, it should liven the autumn and winter up for her. (And yes, of course I’m a saint, whoever questioned it?! gets her little black book out to write names down just in case.)
This is something called ‘Sophie’s Universe’ a pattern I found whilst mooching online,
Now, enough of that, come and have a dance with me – esme gets down and back up again several times doing her thang
Esme's Cloud 
Looks very colourful! Must’ve been a heck of a job to do?
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Tis the stuff of madness my friend, bedlam level. Yet . . . it’s also incredibly similar to meditation, in its own way, you can disappear, but also watch tv at the same time, and at the end, you have something to show from it all rather than being erked at how crap you are at meditating (not you specifically, more ‘they/us/all/wise old women in the woods) beams
Thanks for the visit m’dear.
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Well that’s very good. In the olden days many had all these hobbies which had a meditative effect on oneself. Now a fair few of us are consumed or absorbed by screens and social media. I’m glad there’s still some wise old women in the woods or on the cloud that are creative in an old school way.
And you are very welcome friendly funny friend ☺️
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Aw, hahahahaha, yes, I think the older I get the more I want to lean away from social media, tech, screens, barring The Cloud and my wonderful crew here of course. Creation is good for the soul, especially when it’s for the love of it rather than for cash.
(Cash is great though if anyone wants to give me any) beams and pegs it laughing
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Hah! 😄
(begins plucking the sunflower pedals when Esmeralda isn’t looking…) 🌻
She loves me, (pop) she loves me not. (pop)
She loves me, (pop) she loves me not. (pop)
She wants me, (pop) she wants me not. (pop)
She must have me, (pop) she haves me down on the floor! (popping has ceased; smacking our chops begins)
🤩🥰
I must say Madame. I LOVE YOUR VAN GOGH STYLE! Hubba hubba!!! 💕
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Thank you Professor.
Hahahahahahahaha.
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😆😆
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Stunning Esme! I daresay high quality enough to enter into the Minnesota State Fair Creative Arts quilt competition. (This is quite a big deal). ⭐️
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Thank you Kris! I like that you dare say it too. Hahahahaha, I’m very pleased you think it so good, I’m thinking of making some lined with fleece eventually for extra warmth. I don’t think I know of any crochet/quilt competitions in these parts of the world, which when you think about it is quite a shame. Patchworks quilts are beautiful.
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I live in Kansas and that sunflower throw would sell here for sure! How much time did you invest in that? Loved the walk down memory lane with that song too. 🙂
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That’s very kind of you to say Susi, I’m chuffed to bits. curtsies and bobs about Hmm, it took me . . . I crochet only in the evenings, so a rough guesstimate would be 60 hours over three weeks. But I made mistakes and had to undo some. I’m getting better as I go along, I fancy doing some crochet mandalas next. beams
I love that song as well, glad you enjoyed it, it’s a belter for dancing to.
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LOL Yes, I can see it! I’m totally a dancing machine to the right music. 🙂
You are very welcome, Esme. It is beautifully done. Wow, I didn’t realize it takes that long to construct. Well, definitely a labor of love. It shows! 🙂
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Oh I love it!!
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You Excell at making beautiful things and are kind hearted xxx
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That’s a lovely thing to say Mantha, it is also quite true of yourself, I hold that wee crocheted Rosie you made me very dear.
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Thank you love. The best things I made are my babies xxx
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Gobsmacked! Both of your creations are gorgeous, and I have no idea how you made them. I mean, I was taught how to crochet as a kid but that was like plain/pearl in knitting, so basic. The 3D sunflowers just blew me away. Btw my Aunt used to do lace-like crochet, back when doilies were a thing. Not sure what made me think of that. Oh well. Bravo, Esme. 😀
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https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/751b7411-aa61-4ad0-9b85-344583bb1e5c/d3k69xn-51a8105d-5172-436f-b0ac-1e214f10bca0.gif?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzc1MWI3NDExLWFhNjEtNGFkMC05Yjg1LTM0NDU4M2JiMWU1Y1wvZDNrNjl4bi01MWE4MTA1ZC01MTcyLTQzNmYtYjBhYy0xZTIxNGYxMGJjYTAuZ2lmIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.4h5KlcCQ3NQg2eV23EfiCCqhkA6Q_2_LY09Su8FJvo0
Thank you! I smacked your gob, but in the best way and you’ve made my day by telling me so. I used to look at crochet work and think it looked like a whole world of intricate specific knots and wasn’t sure why people spent so much time on it, especially doilies. It turns out I was right, it is a whole world of intricate specific knots, that’s about the size of it. Hahahahahaha. But I know why they do it now. Being a painter helps, I know colour, so I can make up my own pallets and patterns rather than follow other people’s. I used to knit, years ago but it isn’t anything like as exciting as crochet can be (reaches for the Jack Daniels as she reads back what she’s just written). I bod about with the arts: fine prints, painting, jewellery (sculpture briefly), every few years I something new turns up, or I go back and pick up previous projects. Illustrating the book is a biggy and taking up lots of my time but I can watch tv whilst I crochet (no idea how, but absolutely true). My intentions were to just get through last winter sane by learning something incredibly complicated, and then I started giving pieces away because I like doing that, and now maybe, with all this encouragement I might. Might make some pieces to put in the shop at Christmas. Depends. Selling isn’t my forte, creating is, and I do love giving things I’ve made away as presents.
A bravo! curtsies, bobs about, falls over, bows, cartwheels backwards and looks very chuffed indeed
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-giggles- enough with the doilies! I’m totally covered. 😉
Seriously, I know what you mean about doing things to save your sanity. When the Offspring was tiny, I started making dollshouses. Why? Because I looked at a box of matches and realised that by sliding the ‘tray’ part between two striker parts I could create…bricks! So I did. I built a HUGE house made almost entirely out of match boxes. Please do not ask how many millions of matches died to… -cough-
You are one of a very small handful of people who now know of my matchbox obsession. Please don’t make me kill you. -smiles sweetly-
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Kill me…I want to live in it. It sounds magnificent and such a clever idea! I really like matchbox art, like this
Do you have any photos of it? It’s clear proof as to you being a genuine dyed-in-the-wool Cloudster!
This is a good thing of course ~ blows a kiss
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I don’t have any photos, but I’ll definitely take some…after I give it a good spring clean. 😀
Unfortunately couldn’t access that link. Caused an error.
-hugs from Downunder, being the exact opposite of ‘pon Cloud-
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All sorted, have a gander. I fancy my hand at it but then I’ll have to make something with all the matches.
I’m so impressed you still have the house, yes, take photos!
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I made a few but only kept two, the first and the last. Putting photos on to do list! Yes Ma’am. 😀
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Impressive work indeed, and arrestingly colorful. I would never have the patience.
Your sainthood is safe indeed, despite the momentary re-enbollockment of professor T.
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Thank you Infidel! I’ve been working on my impatience for a few years as I know it gets worse with age and eventually blinking and breathing becomes annoying. It feels a tad masochistic in some respects (dreads Prof Taboo reading this), but ends up being quite the opposite beams.
‘The Re-enbollockment of Professor T’ – A book impatient to be written. I’ll leave that one with you.
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Wow!! Your talent never ends Esme 😍Being wrapped up in those Vincent sunflowers in winter would be wonderful 💝
Thinks …. Will Esme by on Etsy?
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Thank you my dear Val! I already have an Etsy shop, it’s just covered in dust sheets, I have one on Folksy too doing the same. I used to make jewellery, and sold a goodly amount but my eyes and fingers fell out and I truly am awful at selling myself, however…I might go for it again. I’m certainly planning on selling some limited edition hand-printed linocut illustrations from the book when the time comes. I should crochet a cloud throw! That’s just come to me hahahaha. I think I’d be likely to only advertise on here mind you. Advertising always feels like begging to me, on here, maybe not so much nods. ❤
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You had me at “a cloud throw” 💕
I appreciate when someone lets me know what they are creating. I completely forgot about your Etsy enterprise. 🙃
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I forget about it myself, to be straight, I forget what my feet are half the time, ha! You’ve inspired me, I’ll think on something cloudy, it makes absolute sense. I quite fancy doing a lightning bolt one too, possibly in Ziggy S colours, but I do a lot of fanciful floating. Time will tell, and then I’ll tell you.
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Just right for cooler days and laughing all snuggled up 💕
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It blows my mind that humans can do things like that. Lock me away with knitting needles for a hundred years and I still wouldn’t begin to know what to do with my balls of coloured wool.
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Just keep tapping them back and forth between your claws as usual.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
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Your work is spectacular! How long did that sunflower blanket take?
It’s so funny I came across this post because I recently started crocheting too, though I’m limiting myself to a blanket with nothing but rows of single stitches (it’s called double there, isn’t it?) For me, it happened by accident, a result of going down the rabbit hole. I was brushing Geordie one day and as I was picking his downy fur out of the brush, I thought it such a shame to throw such softness away. Long story short, after spending many hours on YouTube I ended up making a very ugly drop spindle out of clay, an earring finding, and a chopstick, then I spun his fur into yarn. Then I realized I had no idea how to do anything with this lovely ball of yarn, so I started to learn how to knit. Then I realized I needed something more on the instant gratification side of the spectrum, something without sharp needles and slow pokey-ness. Next, crochet. Bingo! I made a little bracelet out of my Geordie yarn, and I incorporated some in a little granny shawl for his girlfriend (a very old balding chihuahua). I still have a small ball left, which I’m saving until I figure out what project to use it in.
Anyway, I can’t imagine taking on the projects you’ve done here. Way out of my league. Seriously nice work. I betcha that woman will be moved to tears when you give her that patchwork blanket.
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You’re too kind! I like too kind though, it’s much better than too evil – beams. Hmm, how long, I think I worked it out to be . . . I’m terrible with time. The fringe is very time-consuming. I think I said 60 hours to someone else but now I’m thinking more like fifteen. This shows how appalling I am with numbers – hides in the bushes. But once you know how to make one square you know how to do it all really. I use US stitch names because the first videos I watched used them and I can’t swap to UK now, and actually, single crochet is a great stitch, I used it for the border with nothing else fancy, it’s nice and strong. My favourite stitch is a Half Double Crochet, I don’t know why. You could crochet another Georgie! I’m looking at making a mole with a digging hat on, a 3d one I mean, but I’ve no idea if I’ll b able to read the pattern properly because pattern reading makes my brain hurt. That’s why my sunflowers aren’t from one pattern, but from three with my own ideas thrown in, I’m much the same with cooking, I can never follow a recipe. Crochet is a million times higher on the gratification scale, I absolutely agree, hahaha. I think she’ll like it a lot, but she’s so far gone with dementia she isn’t going to be able to remember I made it and will likely drive her husband mad asking. She’ll enjoy it though and that’s the main thing. Do persevere with it all, and if you want any help throw me a comment and I’ll see if I’m of use. Thanks, dearie x
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Amazing that you made up your own pattern! Congratulations! Every time I try doing the same, I end up with a knotty mess. And I’m afraid to look at a pattern, so I just stick with my simple single crochet. But who knows, maybe someday I’ll branch out.
I’m sure your gift will bring a smile to her face every time, even if she doesn’t remember who made it. All those gorgeous colors would make anyone happy!
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It’s easier than following one, really. I used to think crochet was just lots of knots and now I know it’s true. You toob videos are your friend Tina, that’s how I manage anything at all mostly; all you need to do is the exact same thing as the person with the stick and wool onscreen, it’s absolutely that simple, you can pause and rewind if needed and it’s a thousand times easier than reading patterns.
https://www.youtube.com/c/HookedbyRobin/playlists
That lady is great beams
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Thanks for the link! I’d never heard of icord before. Or “yarn bombing.” It’s a big world out there!
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These are all absolutely brilliant. They made my eyes happy.
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Oh, well that’s a lovely way to put it! Thank you for the visit Taswegian, and the kind words.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/unGU_cOdibBvk_P9axy4iiKqfl9njfoRW6EiWTYvm4Bt14OHXXCwJW4Z1eJ1tjiLdgyAa4oiFHkstaMPQFbR9cWWys7u
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