More Crochet food an ode to summer

The pattern is from Mollie Makes issue 29 . both cones came to Brighton for the day, before they ended up where all my other crochet food goes...

Crochet food

I love food. I love crochet. So when I found the book Tasty Crochet  I was in crochet-food heaven. I had an idea to make some play-food for my niece's birthday at the end of January. Eggs were the first thing on the menu and were actually quite easy to make.  Look how perfect my sunny-side-up is?

While I was photographing the finished results it reminded of other food inspired creations. 

Western Spaghetti (the video below) and the oscar nominated Fresh Guacamole by Pes , my hero.
It makes me want to animate my crochet food. It's calling out to move on screen...

But for now it remains animated only by my niece, when we have the biggest slice of chocolate cake for breakfast in bed. Perfect. 

Back to crochet....

The circle of makers is back! 

A wee gathering of us finally managed to meet after major transport issues, armed with hooks and wool. 

I was demonstrating by trying to crochet right handed, more difficult than I imagined. It's amazing how easy it is to forget what it's like to learn something from the very beginning. Nothing like trying to use the 'other' hand and figure it all out from scratch; anti-clockwise.

So, to the astonishment of those who have never crocheted before, completed flowers were made from scratch and I was very impressed with how quickly they were all created. 

Someone even invented their own crochet stitch! But that's all part of the process and we had time in between many cups of tea and cookies to make two flowers each. 

I'm sure the flower creations will soon be adorning coats and bags, and if anyone asks -  'yes, I made that'. 

Now the trick is to remember that pattern...

Check out the facebook page for updates on more workshops through autumn.  

Sheep, llamas and wool in Patagonia

I’m posting after the event, which is probably a sin when it comes to blogging etiquette, but we (the one in the woolly hat) and myself travelled around South America without any electronic devices and with the bare essentials, meaning one medium sized backpack each. We had to rely on slow Internet connections so I became very happy being away from computers, hence why I’m doing this now.

We travelled in Patagonia from the end of January to the first two weeks of February. The place blew my mind. It was a hikers dream. But before getting swept away (almost quite literally) by it all we had to stock up on provisions and make sure that we were going to be warm enough. The wind even in the summer months is extreme. It would cut through you or almost knock you over, and the sound... Luckily there was wool everywhere to insulate against the cold air. 


There is long history of sheep trade dating from the late 1800’s in Punta Arenas. It’s not as prosperous as it used to be thanks to the Panama Canal. But we still passed rolling fields full of sheep, and catching a glimpse of the gauchos herd up hundreds of the beasts made it all the more real.

The hardest part about travelling light was not being able to buy small things like Patagonia wool, and to knit and crochet along the way, because I didn’t have anywhere to put it! So the closest I could get was seeing the ladies in the town square market making hats, scarves and all other woolly things. One of their hats coming in very handy over the next few months… 

Crochetoholic

I started crocheting these hexagon shapes three years almost to the day and I've only recently started sewing them together, hence my excitement. I think there is a case for using your hands to make something as a way of not going mad, well especially if you are waiting for a delayed Ryanair flight.

There has been much more of a debate surrounding this, especially with the publication of Matthew Crawford’s The Case for Working with Your Hands: Or Why Office Work is Bad for Us and Fixing Things Feels Good. This is pretty much the ethos of Frizzle Circle and why it exists in the first place.

I've crocheted the hexagons on the tube, train, and at any time when I’ve started to feel manic, or when I’ve been on the computer too long. So the hexagon shapes are all different tensions depending on how I’m feeling. It’s a great conversation starter; I’ve had old ladies telling me their crochet life stories and people ogle my hands maybe because I crochet left-handed. There is no pressure to finish it either so roll on another 3 years!

It's a pattern by Erika Knight from her book Essential Crochet . I’m using a cotton acrylic mix (Kool Kotton) and a slightly larger 4mm hook. My sister helped me figure out the not very straightforward instructions and I think I can now make a hexagon blindfolded anywhere. My aunties who taught me how to crochet all those years ago would probably be amazed that I’ve stuck at it this long…