One thing leads to another

Well, I managed to change the banner on my blog page, and I'm fairly pleased with the result of my new look blog. I'll leave it for a few days and see if I still like it!

Today has been a pleasant one - I had an impromptu visit from a really good friend and we sat and chatted for ages about life, the universe and everything. It's so lovely when you connect with someone you don't have to watch what you say with, someone who loves you warts and all!

My show and tell for today is the crocheted bag I mentioned yesterday. It's made out of garden twine, with stripes of cotton yarn and yarn made from strips of cotton fabric. Now I have another way to use my stash of fabric. It's funny how long you can have fabric in your stash and not realize; how it marks time - and what memories it brings up! The fabric that I used to line the bag and to make the fabric strips for crocheting was actually bought 19 years ago when I was still living in Devon! It was to make an apron and oven gloves for a friend who was getting married on the Isle of Wight - I was her bridesmaid. In the end I bought her something else (can't remember the reason why) and was left with the fabric. Incidentally I ended up living on the Isle of Wight for nearly 10 years, and still have very fond memories of my life there. I only lined the bag because I thought it would be lovely to hold my yarn and knitting projects and ended up going down Memory Lane because of it. Great fun! Anyway, the project is one of many from a fantastic book called 'Quick Crochet, Huge Hooks' by Sally Harding. Go and borrow a copy from the library as I did and you'll be able to whip up a bag or scarf by the time you have to take it back. You might also be persuaded to buy a copy so you can finish the rest! I actually used a smaller crochet hook (10 mm)as I only used one strand of twine - the pattern calls for 2 strands but it's quite rough to work with and I didn't like the feel of it against my skin! I'm a softie and like soft yarns!! Ahh ...

I read somewhere yesterday that doing crafts such as crochet, knitting and other forms of creativity helps you to keep you memory as you grow older, kind of a brain exercise I suppose. Sounds good to me ... now ... where did I put that crochet hook ...