Mum's magic teas

When friends come by to spin with Mum or just to see how she's doing, she often pops off into the back garden and comes back with a handful of different leaves and sprigs: rosemary, bay leaf, mint and sage. She'll chop everything up into small pieces, put it into a teapot and pour on boiling water. The she'll leave it to draw for several minutes and then serve au natural. Sometimes she'll grate some fresh ginger into her magic brew.

Another tea she serves is a mixture of lemon balm and freshly grated ginger.

Spinning again!

Mum's spinning again and it's going fine. She's using the handmade Swiss spinning wheel that she's had for ages. The jacket she's wearing is made from her own hand-spun wool which she hand-dyed using local plants.

She's also been asked to share some pix of her work using recycled plastic bags in the Trashion Nation group at Flickr. She's on a roll.

Tunisian crochet

Here's a mosaic of Mum's Tunisian crochet work made with the Mosaic Maker in FD's Flickr Toys. It shows a rug made of squares that are crocheted on a long crochet needle which holds all the stitches a bit like a knitting needle. But the work is done by crocheting back and forth into the stitches held on the needle. Here's a neat "how to".

Shoulder warmers

Here's a bedjacket Mum made.

She also made it in other colours to be worn as a shoulder warmer accessory.

Onwards!

After practising a bit crocheting blind, Mum has started a new item. It's based on the bottle bag but is intended as an artist's bag for my friend Sharon in Vienna to hang by her easel and stash her paintbrushes. Here's a pic of those golden fingers at work using strips of plastic bags and yarn.

Mum's fans

I've put Mum's work up at Flickr and she's getting some wonderful feedback from the creative people showcasing their work there. She's crocheting something new now.

Why plastic bags, Mum?

"My pet hate is seeing all those plastic bags flying around the countryside. The government and the public are always saying they want to do something about it, but I think plastic bags are here to stay because it's easy to take one and we're always being asked if we want a bag and we don't always have another bag with us when we go shopping. People forget, you know. Even if you just go to the baker for some sour dough rye you end up with a plastic bag.

"So I ask all my friends to give me their plastic bags and I get them in all colours and sizes. I cut them into 2cm strips and crochet colourful baskets. I also sorted some of the plastic bags by colour and cut them into 1cm strips and crocheted them together with colour coordinated yarn and wool for a more noble effect when I make handbags. Then I put in a lining that fits and the effect is quite remarkable."

I've put some of Mum's work up on Flickr and she's had some good feedback on her work. Here is a lovely handbag.