Crochet Society

Anyone who crafts will know about the little problem of storage. Tools and machines, materials, samples, paperwork, books and magazines - they all take up so much space! But it's not only that, it's also about being able to lay your hands on a specific item when you need it, too. So every crafter of every denomination dreams of owning a room, dedicated to this cause.

My own spare room, once the mini domain of a mini Zubairy, - and still bearing the stars - had, in more recent times, been in active service hosting lodgers. But now, new year, new beginnings an’ all that, I'm biting the bullet, accepting the income drop, and spreading my stash!

Only a crafter understands the deep pleasure of creating a well ordered work and storeroom. Where to put the UFOs? How to categorise the yarns? Are we going for plastic boxes or something more decorative, natural? And as for all those tiny notions...The needles and stitch markers, cable holders and row counters, the tape measures and hook size gauges, spare project bags, pattern leaflets, business cards, buttons and snap fasteners, hooks and eyes, elastic, twine, labels both fabric and card….
It's a big job, and it will never be finished!


When I'm not in Spare Oom, it seems I'm in a cafe! This Saturday my relationship with cafe society reached a new intensity...I had to get an MOT, so while waiting, I took advantage of the time away from washing and cleaning and ordering the clutter, just to crochet. Two and a half hours on a Saturday morning drinking coffee and properly finishing a project. Bliss! Result - this hot water bottle cover.

Two balls of expensive Japanese yarn, (Genmou) picked up on last year's Great London Yarn Crawl, from Loop in Islington. I even sewed on one of my recently acquired Designer Labels.

 The pattern is from a newly published ‘bookazine’ for Beginners.

The car passed its MOT

and I motored on to my next cafe to meet family for lunch. Without a break thereafter, I joined crocheting pals in Beckenham for an afternoon out of the rain, talking yarns and projects and deciding how to finish Bridget the Elephant's yummy jummy.

From a pattern by Kerry Lord, in her book 'Edward's Menagerie'