Holidays and continued working from stash

Well, there hasn't been much to report craft-wise because the Cog and I had a lovely all-inclusive week away at Cala Canutell in Menorca. Despite being only a 3*, it was the kind of AI I can get on board with. Self-service juices and an amazing buffet three times a day (two cases were given over to dessert, that's all I'll say!), evening entertainments, pretty good weather, daily yoga and aqua aerobics plus various activities organised around the pool area, and a useful little shop for day three when I discovered that yet again I'd forgotten to pack any socks. The TUI organised trips didn't really work for us date-wise so we took the bus into Mahon on market day, and booked a harbour cruise ourselves, and hired a car to see a bit of the island (and no doubt saved ourselves some money). They really take siesta seriously over there, so an afternoon cruise was a good idea as when we got back to Mahon town it reminded me of COVID days - everything bar cafes shut (and yes I got asked to leave a museum, yes, siesta is that serious!). All too soon it was time to come home (and I did feel for the ladies of the Manchester contingent, who got out before the power cut cancelled all flights, sans their hold luggage, and had to wear the same swimsuit as the shop only sold the one style). The only thing portable enough was the last ball of cotton bamboo, where I crocheted a heart-shaped dishcloth - alas, not yet photographed!

A ball band dishcloth

A crochet dishcloth

More good news, the colour changer that went on a little holiday after my machine knitting event at the start of June has returned safe and sound, along with my ribber box. The boxes got mixed up by mistake at the end. I am relieved, because they command silly money on Ebay! On a less happy note, himself is still between contracts and is getting increasingly antsy about being kept in limbo. Hopefully we will have good news on that front soon.

Current mood: happy

Interlocking crochet and other adventures...

Well, there's nothing like a friend asking to borrow a book to make you open the dratted thing and actually read it. I don't remember when I picked up "Interlocking Crochet" by Tanis Galik, but it turns out to be a fascinating foray into crocheting two surfaces that interlock but don't join up with each other (until you add a border at the end, anyway). I had great fun with the technique last weekend, although it turns out some of my struggles were down to errata in the book, and so far I've only managed this one piece. I love anything reversible though!

And yes, there are some minor mistakes in this. Not bad for a first attempt though!

In other news, I treated myself to a set of Clover Amour crochet hooks, this is most of them - I think the 5mm, a fetching royal blue, is downstairs somewhere. As himself is currently between contracts, it was lucky I had a £20 Amazon voucher towards these as it'll be the last treat I can afford for a while. I thought I'd give non-inline hooks another go, seeing as my anodised metal ones are great but make my hands ache after a while.

Finally, what does one do with leftover bamboo/cotton yarn? Make it into dishcloths, of course (I've had to throw a few lately that became a bit holey)

The more I think I know about crochet, the more I realise there is to learn. Check this out for a long list of techniques, some of which I've yet to try!

In the machine knitting arena, I'm trying to inspire myself to make something with cables on it for an event later this year, and completely failing to get magic cables working, even though I have a swatch from 2016 that proves it is possible (though it was done on a Brother machine, that might make it easier). Hmmph. I will keep trying.

Current mood: happy