Crochet and commuting

I am suffering from idea overload at the moment. This happens quite frequently and, although it’s great to have ideas, I just wish they would pop into my head at more convenient times. When I am stuck in the office for eight hours doing mind-numbingly uncreative things it is so frustrating to have a head packed with crochet projects and bag designs. I tell you the four days in the week that I have to work really get in the way of my real life – my real life being my family life, which includes of course my creative life.

I am finding it increasingly difficult to juggle the two, but juggle I must, and so the daily commute has become a time for crochet. This week I have been working on a shawl.  (Do excuse the camera phone photo!)

Do not be fooled by the empty seat opposite me, my journeys are not this luxurious usually. This picture was actually taken on Wednesday when it took me three hours to get home to Kent because of the snow (all one inch of it.)

I started this shawl to have a practice at something lacy and it is coming along nicely…

The pattern is from the Happy Hookers book, page 106 in fact, if you’re interested in having a go. It really is a very simple pattern and it works up very quickly and nicely – even with the wrong weight of yarn and a crochet hook 1mm smaller than the one recommended, but hey ho.

I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with these shells…

I love the way they have lots of height and the way they look when finished. But I hate doing them! They are made using five dtr (that’s double triple) stitches. The double-triple is one tall stitch let me tell you! And I’m struggling to maintain my tension with all those loops, though that could be because I am using the wrong size hook.  I do love the colour though , it’s called “fern”, it’s a mossy green colour, very snuggly buggly.

This week, as well as crocheting on trains, I have also discovered twitter. I have studiously avoided twitter until now as it all seemed so complicated that it scared me witless. But now I am tweeting away like I’ve been doing it all my life. So if you want to keep up with my daily twitterlations then please do click on the link above, it’s just below my “about me”, do you see it? Good! If you’re not already signed up then I can recommend it, once you’re set up it’s really rather easy and it does start to make sense very quickly. Only trouble is that it’s rather addictive.  But I only have 8 followers :(  There were 9 this morning so I have actually lost one during the course of the day!  Ouch. 

Think a bath is required to get over the pain of rejection.  Yes, bath, chocolate and a dip into my Lush stash...

Right, off I go to immerse myself in bubbles, might take my glass of wine with me :)

Happy Friday one and all x