Look what I found.

I hadn't completely forgotten about these pretty little squares but it must be a year since I made them and put them away to start something else.  I counted them and there was enough to make this little baby blanket

I am hoping that one day I will have a little grandchild to pass this blanket on to.  

Its amazing how many colour combinations you can make with just four colours I had a lot of fun finding all the possible colour ways, then putting the blanket together making sure each square was different to it's neighbour.
The finished blanket measures about 28" square and I got the motif inspiration from here

Spring Challenge 2011

Ready to be packed away.

Well they have just collected my box for the spring challenges.  I always feel sad when I say goodbye to the box that has taken me three months to fill  but at least I have lots of photo's to remind me of the things I have made and the knowledge that they will be put to good use.  It would be lovely to see where everything ended up I hope that everything will benefit someone somewhere and will easing someone's suffering in some small way.

These just made it.

   This climbed in right at the very end lol                                            

In The Garden

I have made a very slow start in the garden this year.  When I first began with my garden passion I was never out of the garden come rain or shine, now however many years later I have become a fair weather gardener, and a very lazy one at that.  I do love my garden but not with the passion I once did, as I'm getting older I'm finding it quite hard to keep on top of the constant weeding and hedge trimming.  Of course as the garden matures the hedges and tree's grow ever higher and more difficult to maintain.

This Easter Holiday I am glad to say I have managed to tackle the long border and do some work out in the front garden, even cut the grass front and back.  There is still an awful lot of work to do and I intend to do this slowly a bit at a time,  the shed and summer house need a lick of paint too somewhere along the way. Because of the cold spell back in December many shrubs and perennials have died which is a shame, I enjoy watching my old friends bloom each year,  I fear a trip to the garden centre and some serious parting of cash may be in order.

This morning my lovely Pixie Clematis and  beautiful Auricula  shouted out to me and I couldn't resist taking their picture.

Larger Sweater

The wool for this sweater was donated from Ellen a client at work, it had been her daughters wool but sadly her daughter died recently and Ellen has the sad job of clearing her belongings,  On an even sadder note Ellen's son died shortly afterwards so my heart goes out to this poor lady.

I always feel for the older kids who are in need of our items because most of the work done is for babies preemy's, and toddlers.  Items for this younger age group are fast and easier to do and of course look cute.  I love doing them too and delight in the finished product soo sweet, but what about the older kids, somehow whatever I make for them never turns out as nice as I'd like.  I wanted to do something special with this wool, it was a good wool mix brand too.  The sweater I have made will probably fit a 12 year old boy and it doesn't look as good as I wanted it too, it took me two weeks to finish because I was making the Purple suns blanket at the same time.  It was a very easy able to watch the TV at the same time type of sweater.  I am always on the look out for the perfect sweater pattern for the older age group, my search continues and in the meantime I hope that this sweater will be warn and loved by some child in need.

Purple Suns Blanket

This blanket was so easy to make and has turned out very striking. I love the bright cheerfulness of it and as this is going to a charity, I'm hoping someone somewhere will be cheered and warmed when using it.  

The motif was taken from my Melody Griffiths crochet motif book so I am getting some good use out of it after all.  I did adapt the motif so that it was quicker to make and the finished product looks nearly the same as the original so I saved a lot of time I think.  

Deciding the colours is always a big part of the blanket making process, it can be fun but also very frustrating if you don't have enough of the colour you wish to use.  This time I was ok for the large motif but deciding the colour of the small motif took a while.  

It went from light teal, to orange and then finally I decided on yellow which I think was the right decision in the end.  The purple colour for the fourth round of the motif was wool donated from a lady at work, it came in hanks and I got a some of the ladies at work to help me wind them, Mary C, Mary B and Ellen.  They were all delighted with the finished product because they had a hand in making it in a way.

It took 49 large motifs and 42 small. As always the sewing up was the worst part.

I

 An idea is forming for next blanket but other things are taking precedence at the moment, I can say that it involves lots of flowers so watch this space :)

Motif Pattern

I used a 4.5mm hook and Dk wool on the thicker side. The finished blanket was 3'x3'.

Of course any colours can be used, the ladies at work named my blanket for me, you can be creative with names and colours.

Octagon Motif

Colours ABCD

Using A make adjustable ring

1st round :- 3ch, 15 tr into ring. Fasten off

 

Join B in same place as ss

2nd round :- 4ch, (1tr in next tr, 1ch) 15 times. Fasten off

Join C in next 1ch space

3rd round :- 3ch  Bobble Stitch using two trebles for first bobble then 3trbobble, 15 times making 16. altogether.  ss in 3ch. fasten off.

Join D in any 3ch sp

4th round :- 3ch, 3tr in same sp, 4tr in next sp, 2ch, (4tr in each of next 3ch spaces, 2ch) 7 times, ss in 2nd chain. Fasten off

Finished motif   

The filler squares are simple treble squares. You can find a great tutorial here  (you only need to work  two rounds for this blanket)

This idea for this blanket is from Melody Griffiths 201 crochet motifs, blocks, projects and ideas.  I adapted the pattern to make it easier for me, but the finished result is just as nice. 

Babys green knitted jumper.

I would have made this quite quickly if it hadn't been for the pattern on the bodice, as usual I had to really concentrate and still I made lots of mistakes, so after much pulling out and re knitting I finally finished it.  It took me a week because I kept putting off sewing it up.  I do like it, it was taken from the woman's weekly knitting magazine.  That magazine was such good value I have made so much out of it.  This little top should fit a child 12 months.  Small things are sooo cute.