Granny Poncho CAL

 

 As soon as Sucrette announced this CAL I was hooked, I love her little poncho pattern and it was already on my to do list.  I have already been making poncho's with knitted squares as you all know but I haven't actually made one from scratch for a while. I do like poncho's and they have certainly made a comeback here in the UK, however I have never considered making one for myself and I intended just making some to send on to Loving Hands.

  I have already made a start on the first one. I love these colours and I think that they combine nicely together, nice and bright for a sweet little girl.

Then I came across this yarn,

it's been in my stash for ages, someone donated it to me, it has no label on it so I don't even know what kind of yarn it is.  it's like a soft snugly mohair and it's not at all scratchy, so a little thought sprang into my mind last night just as I was about to drop off to sleep, I could make a poncho for myself with this yarn, it would be lovely to wear on cool summer evenings even if I was just sitting on my patio, better than a shawl that would just slip off my shoulders, and it would leave my hands free to crochet.  So with much trepidation and quite a bit of excitement ( I have never owned a poncho before) I have begun the poncho crocheting process with great determination lol

 If you haven't joined Sucretts CAL already there is still time to join in.

Have a great weekend everyone :)

Cute Little Cape

I have just finished making this little cape and I love it. Now and then you make something really special and this little cape is special I think.  Firstly the yarn was lovely to work with, ideal for crochet and secondly it's a lovely  pattern and so easy to follow.  The yarn I used was Lidle sock yarn, I would never have thought to use sock yarn for a project like this but it was recommended in the pattern so when Lidle was selling it I bought some to try.  The pattern is from Little Crochet by Linda Permann and so far everything I have made from this book has turned out beautifully.  The yarn was finer than the recommended yarn so I went up a hook size to get the correct tension and I had to add a few rows to get the right length. 

So here it is lots of photo's I just couldn't help it.

 So cute you must admit :)

Granny Rose CAL Grand Finale

In last weeks CAL Astri showed us how to complete the final round of the squares and showed us her method of joining the squares together here.  I loved her method of joining but unfortunately I had jumped the gun a bit and had started joining mine beforehand and had used the join as you go method, so here is one side of the cushion all joined up and ready for the next stage.

 

I had intended to keep the other side of the cushion plain but I wanted to try Astris joining method so I tried that with the reverse squares, then I found some stray roses and thought they would look good sewn onto the back too.  So now I have a two sided cushion I can swap over when I like.

In this weeks CAL we were shown how to join the two sides together, make a picot edging and add buttons.

So at last here is my beautiful finished cushion

Tadaaaaaaaaaaaa

 It's very pretty I think and it blends in with my décor beautifully, however I think this cushion looks lonely by itself so I'm going to make another one to keep it company :)

This is the reverse side

A Collection of Circles

I found that I hadn't made that many circles and so I thought it was time balance things out and make only circles for a while so here is my little collection.  They are chosen randomly I find it more fun that way :)

Motif #2

Nice and easy and very pretty.

Motif #3

I liked the way this one turned out the last round finishes it off nicely.

Motif #5

Another pretty and easy motif

Motif #6

This is so lovely and cheerful  just looking at it makes me smile.  It grows quickly too just 3 rounds to make a nice sized motif

Motif  #7

 This one has always been one of my favourites, it's amazing how different these motifs look with different yarns, I have made this with a very fine crochet cotton.

Motif #15

I enjoyed making this one because it's a bit different with the front posts, I'm not sure if I got it exactly right though.

Motif #16

This was easy but it's not a favourite.

Motif #18

  An unusual motif which I found quite interesting to make.

Motif #25

I think that I should have used a different yarn for this one because I found it very hard to get the correct tension. For a neat finish all the chains (of which there are many) have to be the exactly the same.  I found that I had to add an extra chain all the way round just to keep each round separate.

I hope that you like my little collection, look out for Hexagons next. :)

Progress:-  25 made out of 100

Sweet Little Things

Angel Claire body warmer

I love making baby and preemie things because they are so quick to do and of course they are so sweet.  I have been working my way through Mayflowers patterns and here is what I've done so far.

So tiny only 6'' long

As Big as it gets cardigan

Sunday best jacket and bonnet

Springtime  cardigan

Weenie waistcoat

 Chullo and mittens

lil bit bigger jacket

Sweater set

Girly Hat and Scarf

There are still quite a few more of Mayflowers patterns to do but I'm not sure if I will have time to do them all because the Spring Challenge ends at the end of this month.  Still I'm sure that we will still beat the 1000 item target because I know lots of Loving hands members have been making her designs, the favourite is definitely the Marie Claire body warmer it's lovely to make and once you start making it making just one is not an option :) 

Granny Rose CAL progress so far

Here are the roses all waiting patiently  for their leaves.  I am only putting the roses on one side of the cushion so here are 12 of these little beauties.  This cushion will be for my sitting room and later on when I have managed to finish some of the other things I have on the go I will be making at least another one, I have the colours picked out already :)
This week Astri showed us how to make the next round or leaves, at first I wasn't sure about the dark green I have chosen but now I think that the dark green shade brings out the colour of the flowers and here they are all done and ready for the next step. 

I'm really enjoying this CAL it's fun and I can't wait to see my finished cushion at the end of it all, still two weeks to go so it's not too late to catch up if you want to join us. :)