As far as I'm going to go.

If you remember at the end of January I resurrected this partly finished blanket which was started back in 1012 read here I was determined to do something with it and after putting it together as best I can, I have decided  that this is as far as I can go with it.  

I have managed to include all the original squares from the CAL apart from an oblong square which I plan to use as the center for another blanket and although it's smaller than I planned it is plenty big enough for someone to use as a lapghan.  I did start to make more squares but I think that I'll use those in another blanket somewhere down the line.

I'm so pleased with how it's turned out even though it looks nothing like it should do, some of you clever people can make different sized squares into a lovely blanket but not me I'm afraid.

I cheated by making all the squares the same size and then joined them around the inner rectangle. I'm glad that I can draw a line under this and send it on to someone who can make use of it I'm hoping that all the pretty squares will give someone some cheer and warmth.

Speaking of cheer and warmth I am so sick of the cold weather, we had snow and bitterly cold winds over the weekend, in an effort to feel more Spring like I have changed my header from the previous snow scene to this one of daffodils which are flowering their pretty socks off in my garden at the moment even the snow hasn't deterred them.

Have a great week.😊

Resurrecting an Old Friend.

When trying to decide which of the crochet a longs to follow I decided to make some of the squares from the 2018 Granny Square Cal when I realised that some of them seemed familiar and little bell tinkled in the far recesses of my brain oh yes! The Granny Square Afghan Sampler! back in 2012 I followed a crochet along for this, the blog is sadly no longer in existence so I can't link you back there but it was hosted by Blair Stocker and after doing just a little bit of research I have found her on Ravelry and her new blog Wise craft can be found here along with links to this project, I remember I enjoyed making the actual squares but not the joining up because they were all different sizes, what a challenge! first we were advised to make the center of the Afghan, it took me ages to figure it out...

and then join them together...

we then had to join the rest of the squares to the blanket..

I did try, in fact I tried for ages until I got fed up with it, I wasn't convinced that it would be worth all the work it would take to put it together or big enough to make a decent sized Afghan so it got stuffed into a bag and pushed out of sight, UNTIL NOW! yes six years later I have dug it out and have looked back and traced the project, I was so pleased to find that the whole project is there along with links to all the squares.  I'm also quite ashamed to see that lots of people followed this CAL and managed to complete this Afghan with no difficulty at all and there are some lovely examples on Ravelry.

I have decided to try to put it together however, I know that it's no use me trying to put it together as it is, it would be too small to be practical and it would be so fiddly to fit this jigsaw together, so I'm going to enlarge each square to six inches and then include some of the squares from 2018 Granny Square CAL until it's the size I want, well that's the plan wish me luck.😊

You can find the project here with links to all the patterns 

The Inside Rectangle

I have fallen a bit behind with this because I have been very good as promised and have been resting my hands, but now dare I say it... they are improving, it is such a relief because I was afraid that they never would so thank you all you lovely people for your support your kind comments and best wishes kept me going through the none crocheting days.  
I have began to crochet again but very cautiously and taking it slowly, so now I'm trying to catch up.
For Week 16  of the  Afghan granny sampler we had to join squares to make the inner rectangle.  I must admit I struggled quite a lot with this.  I couldn't get it the way I wanted it and it took me ages to feel satisfied with the result, it was a bit like doing a jigsaw puzzle but without the right pieces.

Now I am trying to join the other squares to it,  I think that's going to be even harder and it could take quite a while,  I won't give up on it though and hopefully one day, I will have something resembling a blanket and if I ever get there I will show you how I did it, wish me luck!  :)

You can read how I got to this point  here

Granny Sampler Afghan More Progress

Good morning all you lovely people, I hope that your week is going well. I'm pleased to say that I am right up to date with the granny afghan sampler and still enjoying it very much.  This week is blocking week but as my motifs are made in acrylic yarn I'm going to skip this bit.  I have tried blocking acrylic in the past but have found it doesn't really work that well and once the motifs are sewn together they usually look fine anyway fingers crossed.
You can find week one and two here
Weeks three to seven here

Week Eight
The Sunburst

I tweaked the last round in this one, I love the sunny centres.

Week Nine
Three Dimensional Granny Square Flower

I love this one it's lovely and neat and I found it easy to make.

(Week 10 was catch up week)

Week 11
Popcorn Flower Granny Square

I was a little bit worried at the start of these because I always find Popcorns difficult but I overcame my fears and once I got the hang of it they were easy enough.

Week Twelve
Granny Square Spiral

I love the way these have turned out, I think they are very effective, but I did get myself in a bit of a tangle using four colours at once.

Week Thirteen
The Whirlygig Granny

I enjoyed making these but keeping your tension even for the top round is a must or it can look a mess.

Week 14
A Rectangular Granny

I like these and of course you could just go on and on and make a big rectangular blanket if you wanted .

So there you are that's where we are at the moment,  it's fun trying out new stitches and squares especially as you know they will be used in an afghan.   As you can see my squares aren't perfect so I am hoping they will look ok once they are sewn up, I think we will start some sewing next week.

My favourite? well each one has a special something but I think it has to be week nine because I love flowers, which one is yours?

If you want to join in with this CAL just click on the link below you can find all the instructions for each square on Blairs lovely blog Wise Craft

Granny Afghan Sampler progress.

First let me begin by thanking you all for the great response I got from the previous scraps post and thank you all so much for trying to find the link for me.  I am happy to say I HAVE FOUND IT! yey!!  More about that soon I promise all will be revealed and I have to say it is as mad as I thought it was.

Week eight of the Afghan granny square sampler crochet-a-long  starts today and I can't wait to see what Blair has in store for us this week.  I am really enjoying this cal, in fact I have to say I do love cals in general so if I have missed one please draw my attention to it.  This one is so perfect because you make different types of squares each week you can't get bored with it, also there are only a few to do each time which leaves you with plenty of time to get on with other projects and of course it's fun to see how others are getting on with their squares too.   

So to recap the first couple of weeks I showed you here

Week three
Variation granny square

Week Four

 "The V"

Week Five
Circle within a square granny's

Week six
Sunburst Variation Square

Week Seven
Granny Square African Somalia Flower

If I have to pick a favorite I have to say it's the Somalia Flower which is a variation on the African flower motif. I do love them all though and I think they are gong to make a great blanket.  There is still time to catch up if you want to join in. just click on the little afghan picture on the right or the link at the beginning of this post and it will take you straight to the instructions.

Granny Square Sampler Afghan

I don't know about you guys but unless I have a few things on the go at once I'm not happy and I mean that, I get grouchy and out of sorts.  I have been making a blanket and a shawl for ages but now I just can't pick them up, I have fallen out of love with them, and then I have been through a phase of starting something new but haven't liked it or it hasn't turned out right and I have had to pull the whole thing back and try again, I did this a few time's with a little crochet sleeveless top, it looked so simple to do but I couldn't get the neck shaping right, I gave up in the end and it's now in a bag pushed under the bed.
So you can imagine how fed up I was feeling  until Casey at  plus3crochet blogged about this CAL over at Wise Craft.

  It's just up my street, lovely granny squares and someone to guide me week by week so I don't have to think too much and I know I will do it because there is no pressure to do too much and it's always fun to see the other participants progress too, very motivational so a big thank you to Casey for drawing my attention to this. I can even look at that other blanket and shawl again, I know I will be able to do a bit of each and I have found a lovely crib pattern too so that's a lovely portable project to take with me when I'm on the go.  

This is what I've done so far for the CAL, It's just week 2 so plenty of time to join in if you want to have a go.

Here are the colours I have chosen just 12 random balls out of my stash.

There they all are snuggling in my work bag.

These are for the first week, just three granny's one with seven rounds and two with 5 rounds and for week two, ten to fourteen small granny's with three rounds.

This is what I've done so far.

I can't wait for Friday to see what's next.

Now perhaps you would like a stroll through my end of May garden.

Lots of blossom on the blueberry tree I hope that means lots of yummy blueberries, I had a very poor crop last year.

 Lovely Clematis

 Foxgloves nearly ready to bloom  

 I have three cherry tree's but I never have many cherries the birds always get there first!

The jungle at the bottom of my garden :)