Glad to post the addition of three more patterns - Fingerless Mittens, Baby Booties (with Strap) and Baby Hat (Sun)  and I also took this opportunity to improve the look of some of my pages.

Taking a well deserved break from the web page designing and going to relax with a bit of crochet..........

Enjoy the patterns and if there are any comments, suggestions or queries please do not hesitate to contact me, I am always happy to help and listen.........

May you always be happy,

Cheers Barb

Yes, I admit I promised to deliver a number of patterns by end of January and here it is February - and I am behind with my delivery - I am blaming it on the weather all that snow and cold and  .............

Honestly, I have been writing down my patterns and now before I release them just need to do the final check - which of course means actually making the item from the pattern and not my head.

Currently working on fingerless mittens and baby booties, with all things being equal, will have then done by end of this week.

Please check back after February 5 for new patterns on MYO page

Cheers, Barbara

Keep those brilliant sun rays out of those big beautiful eyes with a very simple crochet sun hat made in comfortable soft cotton or bamboo.

This pattern involves four basic and simple crochet stitches; you can use 4ply or 8ply yarn and you will need 3 different hook sizes.

The pattern is very easy to adapt to different head sizes; ranging from 3 months to 4 year olds.  Be creative - have fun and play with this pattern. 

My pattern is now available via the MYO page or the SHOP page.

My pattern for baby hat (pixie) is now available - so you can now MYO (make your own) little baby pixie hat or make them for your toddler or your young ones - they are fun to make and very adaptable to all yarn and hook sizes - play with the colours and create your own pixie hat ! 

New free MYO patterns will be available before end January 2010.

This will include :

• Crochet Baby Hat (Sun)
• Crochet Baby Booties
• Crochet Baby Hat (Pixie)  AND

• Crochet Fingerless Mittens (Adult)

  

Keep checking the website for new uploads.

Send me your comments and questions .........

I am always happy to help..........

Planning for 2010 just now is a bit mind boggling..... where has 2009 gone? 

My plans for 2010, so far, are: 

• MYO (make your own) page - upload the MYO patterns promised so far.
• Blog at least fortnightly - re yarns, patterns, new projects and crochet news.
• Research local and regional talent re handcrafts.
• Attend 'Stitch & Knit' show in March.
• Exercise and meditate daily.
• Laugh out aloud daily.
• Give and receive a minimum of 3 hugs a day.
• Keep in touch with family weekly.
• Start reading something other than pattern books, cook books; self-help, health and well-being books, etc.
• Entertain friends and/or family once a month.
• Explore local and regional historical sites.
• Travel to somewhere in Europe we have never been before.
• and..............

December is here and it is always a time of hustle and bustle - everyone seems to be very busy getting ready for Christmas - buying presents, stock-piling food, catching up with friends and family they have not seen or spoken to for months, and generally time is flying fast!

I know how it feels - I am doing the same !  No time for crochet except the odd moments caught here and there and then there is always something else needs doing which is more urgent and more important!

So if anyone is waiting for my next few patterns promised on MYO ...... I am afraid you will have to wait till the New Year - my time is totally consumed with everything else for now!

May you all have a jolly Christmas with lots of happy moments with family and friends and may the New Year bring you lots of surprises !

Cheers, Barbara

WHERE DOES IT COME FROM?  SILK.....

Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles.

The best-known type of silk is obtained from cocoons made by the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity (sericulture).
The shimmering appearance of silk is due to the triangular prism-like structure of the silk fiber which allows silk cloth to refract incoming light at different angles thus producing different colors.

Silks are produced by several other insects, but only the silk of moth caterpillars has been used for textile manufacture. There has been some research into other silks, which differ at the molecular level.

Silks are mainly produced by the larvae of insects that complete metamorphosis, but also by some adult insects such as webspinners.

Silk production is especially common in the Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants), and is sometimes used in nest construction. Other types of arthropod produce silk, most notably various arachnids such as spiders (see spider silk).

Silk has lustre, drape and strength. There are three grades of silk, each a product of the three different stages of silk processing.

The unwound filament makes the finest quality silk, and is referred to as reeled silk. It is satiny smooth and pure white.

Remaining silk from the reeling process becomes the raw material for carded or combed, spun silk yarn.

The short fibres left behind after the carding or combing process are used to make noil yarn, a richly textured nubbly silk.

HISTORY OF SILK

Silk fabric was first developed in ancient China, possibly as early as 6000 BC and definitely by 3000 BC.
Legend gives credit for developing silk to a Chinese empress, Lei Zu (Hsi-Ling-Shih, Lei-Tzu).
Silks were originally reserved for the Kings of China for their own use and gifts to others, but spread gradually through Chinese culture and trade both geographically and socially, and then to many regions of Asia.
Silk rapidly became a popular luxury fabric in the many areas accessible to Chinese merchants because of its texture and luster.
Silk was in great demand, and became a staple of pre-industrial international trade.

In July 2007, archeologists discovered intricately woven and dyed silk textiles in a tomb in Jiangxi province, are dated to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, roughly 2,500 years ago. Although historians have suspected a long history of a formative textile industry in ancient China, this find of silk textiles employing "complicated techniques" of weaving and dyeing provides direct and concrete evidence for silks dating before the Mawangdui-discovery and other silks dating to the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD).

The first evidence of the silk trade is the finding of silk in the hair of an Egyptian mummy of the 21st dynasty, c.1070 BC. 
Ultimately the silk trade reached as far as the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, Europe, and North Africa. This trade was so extensive that the major set of trade routes between Europe and Asia has become known as the Silk Road.

The Emperors of China strove to keep knowledge of sericulture secret to maintain the Chinese monopoly. Nonetheless sericulture reached Korea around 200 BC, about the first half of the 1st century AD had reached ancient Khotan, and by AD 300 the practice had been established in India.
(extracted from Wikipedia and http://www.binhaitimes.com)

To everyone out there - after many months of lower back pain and incapacitation - Barbara Summers is now taking a Sabbatical. 

This means no new crochet or knitted items will be added to the online shop until further notice!

The online shop will remain open with the current items for sale.

Barbara Summers is contactable by email for all enquiries and comments.

This pattern is now available under MYO

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!  I have been lying around on my back since returning from my trip to Perth in late November 2008. My lower back is only now slowly responding to the treament I have been receiving.  Not being able to sit for 6 weeks has been a challenge.  However it did give me a break from my crocheting and gave me a lot of things to think about - and setting up a blog page on my web page was one of them.  I am only just starting to sit for short periods again (average of 30mins - 1hr) so the crocheting is slowly, VERY slowly proceeding, and emailing and all those essential business chores can now be attempted.

So here is my first blog entry and I invite all and sundry to participate.

I am planning to post some free crochet patterns and also some patterns (my own designs) which you will be able to purchase.  This is only in the planning stage - so please be patient.

Cheers

Barbara