Preemie Ripple Poncho.

I love this sweet poncho, it's made with 4 ply yarn and it's for a preemie baby, I am going to try it with thicker yarn and hook next time I make it and hopefully it will fit a newborn baby.  You can find the pattern here

and little booties

Find a newborn version
here

New Hooks

There are so many clever people out there in blog land it amazes me sometimes when I see the beautiful work that has been created,  the trouble is, it inspires and encourages me to try something new and I drop what I'm doing and start something else. I must have more discipline and  finish what I am doing before I start a new piece of work.  I'm sure that there are many like me.  I am obsessed with crochet at the moment my every spare moment is spent with hook in hand, even when I should really be doing something else.  I even bought  some lovely new clover soft touch crochet hooks, I know I have every conceivable size  hook already but I really love these hooks.  They aren't the most beautiful but they are certainly the most comfortable I have ever used and I know that they will be with me forever so surely that must justify the cost, I keep looking at them picking them up stroking them and now I need to make a case to put them into, I'm off to look for crochet hook case inspiration, but I will finish what I am making first :)

Sweater Set

I found the pattern for this set  here and I love it, another easy pattern that makes up so quickly, made from the top down and then the sleeves are crocheted in.  As you may have gathered  I am always trawling the web for new patterns trouble is a whole morning can go by without me realising lol. I used the last of the James Brent wool I got from Bury market back in February.  It's lovely and soft and I like the speckle of colours.  Of course I had to make a Little Ted to go with it and he wanted sweater made in the same colours  lol.

Bubbles Baby Blanket

If you only ever make one blanket I would highly recommend this one.  It's finished almost before you start, it lays flat, does not need a border and it looks lovely when its done.  I made this in the slightest shade of lemon , it doesn't really show up that well in the picture.  The pattern is done with several strands of wool worked together and a thick hook.  I made mine with just one strand of DK wool and a starting chain of  86 and it made a blanket 20'' square.   Pattern link

Tiny Hearts Preemie Blanket and Booties

This blanket didn't take long to make but because I had to concentrate on the pattern I made so many mistakes it had to be pulled back lots of times so it took a bit longer than it should have done.   It was worth it though because it is pretty and lovely and soft to wrap around a little baby.  I made some little booties with the remaining yarn they were fun to do and a bit of change from the Teds.

Pattern link to blanket.

Booties Pattern

Lavender Blanket

One of the lovely ladies on Loving hands posted this pattern, she called hers a Snow Blanket it was beautiful and when I saw it I just had to have a go.  Its crocheted in a soft baby yarn and the pictures don't really give a good likeness of the colour, it's a lovely shade of lavender.  I did have some difficulty with the border which is crocheted at the same time as the main blanket and I had to pull it back a few times.  Finished result is not perfect but it's ok and will do the job of keeping a tiny baby warm. :)

Pattern link

Preemie Tops and Teds

This colour yarn reminds me of candy floss.  The top was worked from the top down then the sleeves crocheted in last.  It's a lovely pattern but make sure the yarn you use for this is soft as the pattern is quite bulky for a preemie. I made the Teds to finish off the yarn and satisfy my Ted making passion :)                  
Link to pattern
Link to Teds

This top was made in 4ply yarn and I finished it in a day, simple and straightforward, makes me wish I had lots of different pastel shades of 4ply so I can make it in many colours, but.... I must not buy more wool until my stash has gone down.                               

Link to pattern

Gibside

The weather forecast warned of heavy showers last Saturday, nothing really new there  but my friend and I had planned to go walking on that day.  It's not easy for us to get together these days what with work and family commitments so we had put that day aside in our diaries and prayed for a nice day.  Despite the weather forecast we decided to go to Gibside which is not too far from where we live and promised beautiful walks which is what wanted after all.  The sky was heavy and laden with dark clouds which we tried to ignore, my friend found the place without mishap, I was impressed because I would have gotten us lost lol.  We parked the car and were delighted to find a farmers market with all kinds of lovely goodies all thoughts of a walk pushed to the background as we made our way around the stalls filled with lovely food, I couldn't resist, Game pie for my brother, mince and onion for my son and I had to have the luscious looking cheese and onion pasty after all it was shouting, eat me, eat me, lol. Then there were lovely little quiches I had to have two of those and the cakes so nicely decorated, how can you resist, a lemon cake somehow found it's way into my bag too.  The craft stalls were amazing so much talent, beautiful ceramics, jewellery, and woolly made things.  Two lovely ladies were sitting knitting away I felt like getting my crochet hook out and joining them, such friendly people eager to show their work and explain how it was made.  I had to buy this little  mouse it is so cuteWe had to have coffee and a biscuit at the start to give us some energy to walk to the stables, it's quite a long walk but worth it and after all that's what we went for.  

  

The Palladian chapel

Gibside Hall now just a shell of it's former glory

This fella was waiting for us at the stables.

 Beautiful Views

                We had lunch in the little snack bar once we got there then walked back.  There was so much more to explore and although we had been lucky with the weather so far the black clouds were looming.  To finish off we had a look around the walled garden which housed small plots which the local schools had cultivated, there were all sorts of vegetables, beautiful runner beans, big lusciuous rasberries and I must admit I did pick a few I couldn't bear to think of them going to waste and they were delicious on my cerial the next morning. We just got into the car when the heavens opened so we had timed it exacly right.  It's a beautiful place to visit and I will definately be going back again.