Hexes Against Bullies

A couple of weeks ago I heard a terrible thing in the news.

An Australian girl committed suicide due to relentless online bullying.

I was shocked and horrified. So sad.


http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/police-investigation-under-way-ahead-of-dollys-funeral/news-story/ebcbee59a67306acf292ed05a150577e

Sticks and stones can break my bones

But names can never hurt me

This is so not true. I've always known this personally. Words CAN hurt!  And VERY much



Then I was asked to join a facebook group of crocheters to create a hexagon, and have it joined to many other people's hexagons to create a lovely blanket to give to their family.

I thought it was such a lovely gesture. I was honoured to help



Then there was another story that shocked me to the core.


A teenage girl was assaulted viciously, she was tortured for 2 and a half hours while it was filmed.


http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/disabled-teenager-bashed-and-tortured-by-three-girls-after-being-lured-into-a-park-20180117-p4yyl0.html



This affected me so much because, while I know what it's like to be bullied, it was never physical.

This beaten girl was disabled. I know many disabled people, and used to work with them

This happened at Moe, a town in Victoria, Australia. The same town where I grew up

The girls doing the attack were 12 and 15!


I know these things have been happening since time began. But usually they happen when no-one else is around, and we don't get to see it.  We see the poor kid who was beaten up at school, he is black and blue with bruises. And we think, "poor boy, that is terrible"  Or they get told "Just ignore them"

This time it was there for us to see. And it was awful!



I decided I wanted to do something.

I decided I would also create a facebook group, where many people would come together and make hexagons. The hexagons would then be sent to me, where I would join them together into the blanket. Hexagons are a great shape to join together. And so much nicer than squares

The group started as Crochet for Kim. Then we made another blanket, with squares, for her sister. After that we decided to keep the group open to all crafters. It's now called Crochet and Crafts

Then I decided I may as well create the pattern for it too.

Of course I get carried away with patterns, and made it pretty fancy. So I decided I need to make an easier version too.




This worked perfectly. It would balance the fancy version, and the beginners can make it easily

And then I think I better create a chart too, for the visual learners. I find these tricky, but I did it. Then for lots of photos.

I have never created a pattern so quickly before. And I have never organised anything like this before.

A little overwhelming, but I have got a few helpers now. So far, so good

I can't wait to see it finished and Kim snuggled up in it. I hope it gives her comfort

Finally she received the blanket, and loved it

You can find the patterns here

Weeks 3, 4 and 5 of CAL

I've been having a lot of fun doing the Dada Neon CAL. This is a crochet-a-long for freeform crochet. Each week there is another piece to be added to the blanket.

If you're interested in joining, here is the first week:  http://dadacrochet.blogspot.de/2014/05/your-personal-freeform-cal-week-1.html

Week 1 was an abstract shape, week 2 was a hand.

Week 3 was a flower garden:  Here's mine:

Next came Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Starry Night"
Here's my version of that:

Week 5 was favourite pet. This is very difficult for me, because I'm not really good at art, as such. Also how do I crochet every animal in the world?  They're all my favourites. I decided to go with a cat. It looks a bit like one of mine.

I decided rather than crocheting around it, I would do a netted background. Once it was joined on, I felt it needed something else, so I made a swirled ruffle in the corner. I will probably still need more, but I'll see as the blanket grows.


So this is what it looks like after week 5.

I'd gradually "loosened up"  while going through the weeks, and I started to "play" a bit more.