Camping Crafts

For the past few years we've had a camping holiday in the UK during the summer months.  One of the things I like about camping is the chance to sit and relax, some peace and quiet without the temptation of Twitter, Facebook or crap telly sucking up all of your time (although a smartphone and wifi make all of these things totally possible).

In and amongst packing the tent and the kitchen sink, I can be found standing infront of craft supplies trying to decide what project to take.  It needs to be portable and easy enough to pick up and put down at a moments notice. 

Reading
A good book or my kindle are essential items on a camping holiday but after last years kindle disaster ...

... there's definitely a need for other pastimes too.

Quilting
I'm a big fan of patchwork and quilting but my sewing machine is less than portable and my handsewing leaves a lot to be desired, especially in low light evenings outside the tent.  I do have a tin of paper hexagons and fabric squares in my handbag for whenever I feel the need to do some english paper piecing but this is not something that will fill a week for me.

Needlefelting
Last year I took my needlefelting supplies and made Mr Blobby

which I enjoyed, however, jabbing barbed needles into wool you are holding, I think, is a hobby best kept to well lit, alcohol free areas and maybe not best suited to evenings under a camping lantern with a glass travel mug of wine or two.

Cross Stitch
Can be very portable and while dim evening light is not ideal, at least the needle is not sharp so the risk of injury is not to great.  Following a pattern though does require a fair bit of concentration, fine if you've plenty of time but there are many occasions when crafting is interrupted my children and family who want talking to, watching, feeding etc

Crochet
This is my newest craft.  I've had a fair few goes at amigurumi and made toys for friends and family (and the cat) but again this portable, finger friendly craft has a pattern that needs following.  There's counting and everything! 

I have been wanting to try traditional crochet, granny squares in fact.  Before we left I watched a few YouTube videos and had a few tries.  This is my camping craft of choice (this year lol).  I packed some small balls of yarn that came free with a magazine, a 4mm hook and my little project bag with scissors and stitch holders.  It's portable, a nice easy pattern that's easily pick up and put down able and gentle on the fingers in dim evening light.  Even better I can stick project in my handbag for use on the go without fear of jabbing my fingers when routing around.

Here is the result of my camping crafting this week.  I think I'm getting the hang of it.

The Craft of the Moment

I try my hand and many different crafts but usually only one at a time.  At the moment it is crochet.  In previous bouts of crochet I have played at amigurumi and made eggs for the cat and a giraffe for a friends baby.  I made a start on a this tooterphant but stopped only 10 rounds in in favour of something else.  Project Life I think.

As I said, it's the turn of crochet again but this time I'm trying something other than amigurumi.  I revived my Ravelry account and had a browse of patterns before settling on this Hook Monster Crochet Case.  I made two in the space of a week, mainly because they're easy and don't need me to keep count of stitches or rows, just carry on until it looks to be the right size for my hooks.

I think I started out with tensions issues as the pink case was my first and it should be an even rectangle shape, not narrower at the bottom.

Next I want to have a go at a Mobius pattern I found on Ravelry and yesterday I detoured to Texere Yarns after work to get something chunky to work with.  I came away with this:-

Two balls of something chunky, a ball of sparkly (I think I may have magpie tendencies) and a pair of 4.5mm knitting needles I don't need (I wanted an afghan crochet hook it seems, not knitting needles.  Oops).

A Google search for how to crochet with Sirdar Firefly turned up a pattern for this beautiful shawl which is now also on my to make list, I just need another couple of balls first.   Maybe another trip to Texere Yarns but more likely a browse at Purple Linda Crafts cause they do afghan hooks too.

As is usually the case with my crafts though, I seem to spend more time online reading about it, talking about it or shopping for it than I actually spend doing it.  This has been no exception and this week I have spent a good hour or more watching YouTube videos on making granny squares.  The instructions seem straightforward enough, as do the video but I've tried and frogged many attempts this week.  I'm just going to have to get a real live person to show me.#

That's enough rambling for one evening.  I might just go and pick up my hook now and start actual crafting.