Cake and Crochet

As July moves ever closer I'm getting more and more excited about having time to indulge myself in a frenzy of quilting and embroidery. All the courses I'm involved with at work are slowly winding down either as the course ends completely or for the summer break. Today one of my student groups celebrated the end of their course. The real end is next Friday but they have a test to complete on that date so decided that a little party was needed this week, including cake.

Tracey, one of the students makes cake and she bought this delicious creation for us all to share.

The cake was a heavy vanilla sponge with a cream topping. It was delicious and didn't last very long!  

When I got home this evening I hunted out my crochet hooks and some double knitting wool. I had seen a crochet along at Sophie's Universe and decided I wanted to have a go. I haven't done any crochet for several years so it took a little time to find the crochet hooks. I found the pattern was easy to follow and completed the first 7 rounds this evening. I need to check the number of stitches I have before I carry on.

You are supposed to start the piece off using the 'magic circle' start but I found it difficult with the thick wool but I'm happy with how it looks. I have a lot of this thick wool so I'm going to continue but I think it would look great using a thinner gauge.

I'm using my phone camera for quick pictures like this one and the cake and that seems to be working out OK. My phone automatically backs up my photos to dropbox so they are ready and waiting for me when I come to write a post, which means no need to find the cable to connect the camera to the computer. I have a Nikon 1 that I usually use but it stopped working recently and I was getting an error message saying the lens wasn't attached properly even though it was. The good news is that when I phoned the Nikon repair office they told me this was a known problem and the lens would be fixed / replaced free of charge. So the lens has been sent off. I'll be pleased to get it back as I usually have it in my bag just in case a good photo shot appears. We have a Canon digital SLR but it's a bit heavy to carry around all the time.

I'm planning on getting some quilting done today but need to walk up to the sewing shop for thread supplies first. I also want some fabric so I need to spend a little time thinking about what I need before I go. I know I'll come back with something I hadn't planned on but it would be good to get all the bits that I actually need to get on with projects.

It's a very hot sunny day here so before I do anything else I'm off to slop on lots of sun screen, then a walk to the fabric shop, then who knows......? I hope your day is going well


Lyndsey