Two new kids made bracelets and a collage. Florence made a yarn bag, and began another for great grandma. Did you make your yarn bag yet? Two children began the beastie brooch featured in my first book. One turned into Alex the bear and the other turned into a basket…yeah! Another young lady made a hat for her bat! It had a bullion bobble!

We had 5 lovely students today. Florence brought the teddy which she made at home. She is making the yarn bag. ( do post yours if you haven’t already) One young man made another mixed media garden picture with gnome, ladybird and flowers. Another young lady made a party headband and started making bridges. Another is making her three colour garland.

However these super squared tops that I spotted on Pinterest are so pretty, I have decided to to use up some cotton yarn in my stash. Photos of progress to come, the pic I am posting is from Pinterest. I have completed quite a few Squares including some new open weave stitches which are so Easy to do!

I bought a sponge yesterday It is so easy to push a knitting needle in to make holes….chains and cords Can be threaded anywhere. I put 4 on her forehead to crochet hair on top Fun fun fun!

I am interested in crochet projects, especially when the word explore comes up. For more than a decade I have been rethinking crochet. How we teach it and we learn it. As part of my profession as a teacher I am well aware of how we need to adapt our teaching methods to be inline with the student we teach. When we pick up a book on how to crochet, there is a long tradition about how this is done. I discovered that it is possible to use a latch hook to crochet. It enables the learner to create experimental stitches which are easy to work with this hook. In my first book I called it “picking up stitches”. At the time, until I began teaching it, I didn’t realise how significant this is! I was already a freeformer, so I knew how helpful the latch hook was when making a bullion stitch. Over time I began to show beginners how to turn the”foundation chain legnth” into a flower, using a latch hook. Also how to hook in anywhere and create a Beastie brooch or a bracelet that young students could wear. I have created a list of over 50 beginners projects , which can be kept as treasures. Some of which can be used in collage garden pictures. No frogs in these flower beds!