The Never-ending/Mood Blanket Reveal

At last the the big day has arrived and I'm so happy to present...ta daaa....

The Violet Meadow Blanket

Please be prepared for visual overload!

Because of the size of the blanket I could only show you the full view by laying it on the lawn with sheets underneath it of course.

I have got lots more pictures but I made myself stop here ;)

I used border number 74 from the book Around the Corner by Edie Eckman

So what do you think? do you like it as much as I do?

I started making this blanket on January 23 2012  and have continued making it on and off since then, in the main I have enjoyed making it very much and I'm feeling a little bit lost now that it's done.

Stats
The finished blanket measures 264 cm x 224 or 8ft 8ins x 7ft 4ins
It contains 754  squares
Ends..... 6034! all weaved in as I worked so when I eventually finished the blanket there were no more ends to worry about other than the two for the border.
It took around 3500 grams of yarn.

You can find the flower in a square motif pattern here.

I used the join as you go method with Robin Double Knit yarn using the colour VIOLET.
Most of the wool used for this blanket was from my stash of Robin Double knit, which I can highly recommend, in my opinion it's as good as the Stylecraft Double knit yarn and comes in a great variety of colours.

Using a colour that is not a neutral colour for such a big blanket does take courage and a lot of thought, the obvious choice is always white and white is lovely however, I know that white does not stay white for very long, it does tend to loose it's sparkle after several washes unless you have superior yarn of course.

This is a huge blanket and I know that washing it will not be easy so a darker more practical shade had to be used. 

• I want this blanket to last forever I want my great great grand children to say " this was made by crazy granny Linda way back in 2014, it took her more than two years to make it and it still looks new!" 
• I wanted a colour that would blend well with every colour in the blanket and it had to be a colour I loved.  

I know that purple is  a colour you either love or hate and I have said several times  that I LOVE all shades of purple from the most gentle lavender to the deepest purple. 

Thank's to all of you who have joined in the fun and taken a guess or three

So who guessed correctly?

We had so many colour choices the biggest choice with 10 votes was grey mentioned in all it's shades with white coming second at 8, no one guessed the exact shade so I'm going to go with the closest which was.....

Mauve 

guessed by Jacquie from Living with Ethel

Also a consolation prize goes to Daphne from Ivy Phyllis and me for a very near miss, Daphne actually chose the correct colour and then changed her mind!

Congratulations ladies please email me with your addresses.


All posts relating to the blanket.
Three a Day
So What Happened to That Blanket
Now a Mood Blanket! Motifs in Red
Blue and green
White
Pink
Grey
Purple
Shoebox Stash
Blanket Progress
Almost Done!

  The new Stash Link Party will be up and running on Thursday along with your favourite March projects and for those who are counting please don't forget to leave me your stash totals.

Have a great week everyone!

With lots of
love

Block a week Friday

Block 70 

Interlaced Cables

I enjoyed making this one and found it easy to do, making it brought back memories of cabled  sweaters I have made in the past, I used to love knitting cables and the more complicated the design the better, I remember a beautiful sweater I made for my eldest child he was only four at the time and it was a work of art a beautiful design and a lovely blue colour.  He hated it! he said it was itchy and made him feel too hot. 

 I was so upset at the time because weeks of work had gone into it, I remember making him wear it.. oh cruel mother was I! That jumper was passed down to each of my four children and none of them liked it much.  

Rating - intermediate

Curl - 2 (side curl) 2 after blocking (note to self do not block acrylic)

size - 6" x 6"
ends - 2

More examples of this block

Made by Sheri

Made by Triccia

Progress -  number of different blocks made = 18

Numbers - 14, 17, 24, 30,31,34, 40, 41, 42, 45, 52, 56, 67,70  98, 113,153, 209

(Click on the number to see the block.)

Number of blocks altogether = 21

Linking with

Have a great weekend!

How to Thread The Needle and Meeting the Challenge

I hope that you have all had a lovely Easter Break and that the Easter Bunny was good to you and brought you lots of chocolate eggs,  I must admit that I had my fair share who can resist, I wonder if there is anyone who doesn't actually like chocolate.  

Thank you for all the lovely comments about my new Bunny family and also to Una, Regula and Kate for the how to thread the sewing machine suggestions 

Which were

1. Good lighting is essential.
2. Ensure that the end of the thread is not frayed.
3. Ensure that the needle is at it's highest setting.
4. Place a white object behind the needle or dark object if using white thread.
5. Use a magnifying glass.
6. Use Polyester thread.
7. Use needle no 80.

There is also a great post here on The Art Of Manliness which explains it all, I am going to give them all a try and I will let you know what I find works best.

Or maybe we should just get one of these :)

April challenge

Just to refresh your memories I challenged you to use up some of your least favourite stash yarn and this was the yarn in question for me.

So introducing the

Candy Floss Scarf

You have feel it to believe just how soft it is.  I have to be honest I really didn't expect much of this yarn but I was pleasantly surprised.

It isn't the easiest of yarn to crochet because of it's knobbly texture.

I used a 7.00 mm hook and the simplest stitch and one of my favourites, moss stitch crochet.  It was finished in no time and will keep someone very warm I'm sure.  

But that's not all!

Cuddly Bunny

This is knitted and I must admit with this yarn it was very hard to keep the tension even so it's not perfect but I love it because it's soft and cuddly so I'm sure a little one will love it too.

You can find the pattern here

So all in all I haven't done too badly even if I haven't managed to bust it all, can you believe there's still this much left.......

Any Suggestions ?

Linking with 

April is nearly over so link up all you April stash projects before the end of the month.
How is your stash-busting going ?

Also there is still time to 

With lots of 
love

An Easter Bunny Story.

I have been sewing! it's ages since I've had my sewing machine out and I'm not really much of a sewer but I've wanted one of these bunnies for ages. So out came the machine from under the stairs, I dusted it off and then the hard part... threading the needle! it takes me ages, I know what you are saying, why not use a needle threader, well I did but it takes me ages to thread that through the needle too, honestly the actual threading of the needle is the part I hate the most about the whole sewing process, if there is any advise from you sewing experts apart from a new set of eyes of course, it would be most appreciated...isn't it sad to think it can only get worse :(

Anyway I would like you to....
Meet Becky

This was Becky when I first made her, complete with hat, but she cried and went on something terrible, she absolutely hated her hat and so, just to quieten her down the hat had to be removed.

 She was so much happier when I took it off, she asked me to tie a ribbon in her hair instead, she also said that she would like a bracelet to match the flowers on her dress so of course I had to comply and I made her one.  

Now Becky was very happy...at least for a while, and then she said she was bored, so....

I sat her in the bay window where she could watch the comings and goings in the street and that kept her happy for a long while but then she started complaining again, I began to think that this bunny of mine was going to be a bit of a handful, I tried all sorts to pacify her but nothing worked, I soon began to realise that poor Becky was lonely so...

Meet the twins Betsy and Bernard 

Now I have to say, apart from in the beginning when he was first created, Bernard hasn't been a bit of bother, at first he kept crying for ice cream, now how a bunny would even know about ice-cream when he hadn't even seen any before was way beyond me but you should have heard the racket he made so as you can see I have embroidered him his own personal ice cream cone and I haven't had a peep out of him since. 

As for Betsy she didn't want to know about ice cream, "I have to look after my figure" she said, which I thought was very strange coming from one so young, all she wanted... and she did ask very politely, was for a small bunch of flowers on her dress and a ribbon in her hair to match Becky's.

Now I'm pleased to say that everyone is very happy, Becky is delighted with her new family and plays with them all the time, I can see that Bernard is feeling just a little bit uncomfortable with all this hugging malarkey...typical male! 

Materials
I used a linen table cloth donated from a friend to make the actual bunnies.
Becky's dress was made from a pair of curtains which someone had attempted to make but never quite completed.
The twins clothes were made out of a denim dress which I bought for myself years ago, I wore it once and decided it just wasn't me, I'm so glad it has been put to good use. 

I have to thank Shari from The Stitch Pattern for the bunny inspiration, from the moment I saw her bunnies I fell in love and have wanted one ever since.  I made the bunnies from this book.

I love this book there all sorts of cute things to make in it.

Also a big thank you to Joy from Joyjinks creations who has inspired me with her beautiful embroidery, I know I just embroidered a small ice cream cone but I was ridiculously proud of it and it reminded me of how much I used to love to embroider, I made many pictures in the past  but have forgotten the how to so, I ordered a book and it has just arrived while I was writing this.  

Can you believe it? now you know what I will be doing this weekend.

I had so much fun making these bunnies apart from the threading of the needle of course, the house has been more of a mess than it usually is with bits of material and thread all over the floor mixed with the usual bits of wool...is anyone else as messy as me? 

I'm pleased to say I  have tidied it all up for Easter, the machine has reluctantly been put away but you know, I have a feeling that my bunny family is going to grow. :)


Have a Great Easter Everyone !

With lots of love

One to Love

The Nola Granny Shawl

I made this shawl a while back but haven't had time to show you until now. I really enjoyed making this and lets face it who wouldn't love making a granny shawl, so easy and cosy to do, no thinking required just let your hands yield the hook while your mind drifts to far off places, warm beaches and sunshine far away from the cold winds and rain of the North East of England ;)

Made totally with stash yarn, I used a strand of double knitting together with a strand of 4 ply in green and Aran weight in navy keeping my fingers crossed that the navy wouldn't run out.... there was just enough!

I found the shawl here and wanted to make it right away, I loved the edging which Pammy Sue used for her shawl but I knew I wouldn't have enough yarn to make it so I used the edging from here ( you can find links to other shawls and poncho's there too.)

The Nola shawl is named thus, because the sound of the name Nola makes you feel warm and cosy and the name actually means fair shoulder, sounds very apt don't you think?  If you think I'm a little crazy (or a lot) that's ok too ;)

This shawl will be joining the gentle ripple and the Luana, eventually to be sent to SIBOL

This shawl used 362 grams of yarn
linking with..

Thank you to those who have joined in the fun and have tried to guess the joining colour of my blanket which is now finished yay!!! I'm just waiting for some good lighting so that I can take some decent photo's.

There is still plenty of time to guess, the last guess to be in by midnight 27th April. 

With lots of love.