Current crafting!

My first blog post with pictures!  And the uploading process was easy!   Whoop!  Here goes . . .

I've been breastfeeding Little B through a chilly and gloomy winter, and when I got the chance to treat myself a couple of weeks ago (during a rare baby-free visit to the shops), I picked up a couple of balls of something pretty, and I knew just what I wanted.  Something to keep my neck warm!

So this is what I'm working on at the moment - it's a shawl based on motif 38 from Beyond the Square Crochet Motifs by Edie Eckman - I mapped out a plan for a fat crescent-ish shape made out of hexagons and am joining as I go in the ch3s and the picots in each corner, see?

 The yarn is rico creative reflection yarn in pastel, and I'm using a 5mm hook.  Isn't it lovely!  It has a lurex strand running through it, and has a lovely soft halo.  I'm finding it a little splitty, and the lurex seems determined to catch against the plastic crochet hook I'm using (I'll maybe use a wooden hook next time), but I think the results are worth it. 

I took these photos a couple of days ago when I still had a full ball of yarn to show how it looks in the ball vs in the garment - the first photo has one ball's worth of hexies already made.  I'm halfway around the last row of motifs now, another 6 hexies to go, and then I suspect the whole thing will benefit from a stern blocking to flatten out all the little points around the outside and open up those lovely oval-shaped holes in the negative space between the motifs.  I'm going to need a LOT of pins!

The dolls house I'm working on with Madam is still in it's infancy.  The largest box, which will be the main body of the house, has been divided into six rooms.  We've used kids shoe-boxes (from the local scrapstore, we didn't go on a shoe shopping spree!), and a couple of food packaging boxes to make the divisions, and to reinforce the whole structure.  We've been cutting spare corrugated cardboard to size and packing out the floors so we've got a flat surface to put the actual floor coverings on (that's what's being held down with the bulldog clips in the photo whilst the glue drys), and we'll do the same with the side walls soon.

Then I guess we'll have to have a think about doors, stairs, windows, wallpaper . . . not to mention the attic, garage, and stables which Madam is planning on adding on to the outside of this box.  I'm trying not to be too "in control" of this project.  Madam has a lot of her own ideas, and whilst I'd be happy to be noodling about with chintsy scrapbook papers and fancy shabby-chic style stuff (and it'd definitely end up looking lovely), that's not really the point of making stuff with your kids!  If we end up with orange furry walls, so be it!