Blanket Round Up 1

Although last year was a bit of a nightmare for me what with one thing and another, I still found time to crochet and as I've said before, it's kept me sane what would we do without it, I have lots of friends that don't do any handcrafts at all and that's fine everyone is different but I can't help but think that they are missing out.  Anyway last year was definitely the year of the blanket, I haven't counted how many I made but there are a few which I didn't share so I thought I would show you over the next few weeks, it may inspire you to make them too..

The first was the Last dance on the beach Blanket which I started way back here and I did manage to share a lot of the squares as I made them but not the finished blanket so here it is....

I managed to finish this just before Christmas and I gifted it to my son, I had it spread out on his bed when he arrived home. 

He loved it and said it kept him cosy and warm. He's working in Qatar now so it's adorning his bed just waiting for him for when he has a holiday at home.  I really love this blanket and the way it turned out, I enjoyed making all of the squares and loved the fact that there is a video tutorial for each just in case you get stuck.

You can find the patterns for all of the squares and links to the video tutorials here.

Felling Better At Last!

Hello all you lovely people it's so good to be back here again the last couple of weeks have been horrid.  If you can remember I mentioned that I had Laryngitis in my last post at that point I didn't feel so bad but it got worse and worse as the week progressed and it aggravated my sinus problems so I couldn't breathe, let me just say it's been rather nasty, even worse when you have workmen in your house every day, it's so embarrassing when you have a fit of coughing and it won't stop and there are strange men in your house.

The ceilings have been plastered.

The walls have been papered

The walls and ceilings have been painted...but not the skirting boards they don't do wood! I will have to do all of that. 

The floors have been measured but not yet covered, so I'm still living in my bedrooms and trying to clean up a bit of dust and rubble every day and paint a skirting board or banister or door or door frame or two.  Did I tell you I'm fed up!

Anyway up until yesterday I was feeling too ill to come on here and visit you all but I'm looking forward to seeing what you have all been up to.

I haven't felt like Knitting or crocheting but I have made these..

 I did try to post them in time for Valentines day but I was too poorly.

This is week seven for the last dance on the beach blanket a lovely easy square and so handy to have the pattern as you can use these squares as part of any blanket, you can find the pattern here

The only thing I have felt like doing these past couple of weeks is reading I have to recommend this to those of you who haven't read it..

This book has 498 pages and I read it in a day! I couldn't put it down and boy did I suffer, I had a blinding headache and my poor blocked nose just couldn't keep up with the copious tears I shed. It's a lovely bitter sweet thought provoking love story, make sure you have your box of tissues at the ready.

See all the great parties I'll be linking to over in my right side bar.😊 Have a great week everyone.

I Haven't Given Up!

Regular readers of my blog will know that I started making the Last dance on the beach blanket way back in August last year, the last square I posted was October then other things had to take precedence so it has had to wait for a while but I'm please to say I'm back in the swing of making it and enjoying it just as much as I did in the beginning.

This was the square for week 6 of the CAL and it's a lovely corner to corner which I really enjoyed making in fact I was thinking I may make a cushion cover with this pattern if I ever get the time.

I made three of these squares and used Stylecraft Special Chunky in shade emperor and used a 5.5mm hook. 

Purple is definitely my favourite colour I LOVE this shade.
Find the pattern for this square and all the information of how to make this blanket here

I hope you week is going great!
see you soon.😊

See all the great parties I will be linking to over in my right sidebar. 

Getting There Slowly

What a great response from my Do you like Housework post thank you all so much for taking the trouble to leave your comments it was really interesting to hear your views, I'm going to keep it highlighted as a featured post over there on the right so if you want to join in please do if you haven't already.  I'm so relieved to hear that not one of you so far loves housework, that's so reassuring.

Just in case you're wondering how the Last Dance on the Beach Blanket is getting on you can be reassured that I am working on it very slowly.  Here are the next three squares for the blanket...

Isn't it clever? it's called seagull stitch and the pattern was designed by Nerissa from Miss Nerriss  for week 5 of the CAL, you can click here to read all about the inspiration behind the creation of this design and you can find the pattern and the video tutorial  here

I found this a fairly easy square to make but you need to count to ensure that you get the prints in the correct place mine had a kind of staggering gait a couple of times haha concentration needed.

I used Stylecraft special chunky in shade Meadow and a 5mm crochet hook each square used 52 grams of yarn and it measures 10" square.


I'm still loving the making of  this blanket although I have been sidetracked this month because of charity requests all will be revealed later.

Linking with...

It's nearly the end of the month I would love you to link up your remaining stash busting makes for October the November party will be up and running on Sunday November 6th.

Dancing On the Waves.

Look at the waves....

I think it's amazing and so cleverly designed, when I saw this I thought there's no way I'm going to be able to do this, but I did and whats more it was fun too.

There are mistakes but I don't care I'm not a perfectionist and the person that this blanket is destined for won't notice any slight imperfections

This square  was designed by Atty from Atty's and it's the fourth square for the Last Dance on the Beach CAL 

I used poundstretcher Aran yarn in a petrol blue shade it looks much brighter in the photographs because they are basking in the sun. This yarn is labelled as Aran but works up like chunky. I used a 5mm hook and it took 160 grams for the three squares.
You can find the pattern and the video tutorial here

Have a great weekend! 

Look out for the The October Stash party it will be up and running tomorrow. 

Thirsty Birdies

Linking with..

Jennifers winter project link party....yes it's back!
Cooking and crafting with J&J
Link and share Wednesday
Hookin on Hump Day

Cabling is Fun!

I have to admit that when I'm following a crochet along I don't always follow it to the letter, if there's a stitch or square I don't like then I'll substitute it for something else which is what I was going to do with this one for week three of the Last Dance On The Beach CAL. 

It's not that I didn't like it I think it's lovely but I thought that it would be too difficult or should I say too time consuming for me to get right.  I'm a bit slow when learning something new and I don't always have the time to put my full concentration to the task of trying something a bit more challenging. However I needn't have worried because it wasn't that hard at all...

I can't brag and say that I was able to follow it right away I did need to look at the video and I made lots of mistakes but by the time I got to the second square I knew what I was doing and the other two were pretty straight forward, they aren't perfect but certainly passable, a great learning experience I'd say.

This square is called Sunset in the waves and was was designed by Tatsiana at LillaBjorn's Crochet World and you can find the pattern and video tutorial here

I used Stylecraft Chunky in Cloud Blue. It took just less than 200 gram to make three squares.


You can see my other squares for this CAL here

linking with...

Star Stitch Success!

I love star stitch but never managed to get it quite right but at last I've succeeded while making the second square of The Last Dance On The Beach CAL.  The great thing about this whole process is the video tutorial by Esther for each one of the squares...

I managed to turn out a perfect square, however getting the sizing right wasn't as simple because one of the downfalls of using stash yarn is two different brands of the same thickness yarn will not come out the same size. As I mentioned before I'm usuing Aran yarn which is working up like a chunky, however the yarn I used for this square is labelled Aran and works up like an Aran so I had to increase my hook size considerably to get a ten inch square.

This square was designed by Kirsten from Haahmaarraak.nl and I love it.  I'm really regretting not following this CAL as it was unfolding but at least all the patterns for each square are still there for us to follow as and when we like.
You can find the pattern for this square along with the video tutorial here 

This CAL has quite taken over my life I'm enjoying it so much because a square works up quickly and as I'm only making three of each  I'm not getting bored and can't wait to start on the next one.

It's been fun seeing your finished blankets too and I'm so glad Ive inspired some of you to join me, I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's squares as they unfold

A note to self for future reference and for anyone living in or visiting the UK ...
Poundstretcher Aran yarn works up like chunky, Aldi Aran yarn works up like Aran.

Thank you for the great response from my last post you are all lovely for taking the time to give me your advice about choosing a camera.  I will look into all the camera's you have suggested before I make my decision.  

Have a great week.

Last Dance On The Beach.

As regular readers of my blog will know I'm a great fan of crochet/knit alongs, you will have noticed however that I haven't followed one for a while in fact I think the last one I did was the Cheerful Child Blanket which I finished back in February.  I've had other things to occupy me challenges to be met, requests from various charities for things in need but throughout all this I have been keeping my eye out for the perfect man blanket for a friend and have given all CALs no more than a glance until now.

This one in particular has touched my heart because it was the last design from our dear blogging friend Wink from A Creative Being.  I knew that she had been working on this before she passed and her blog friends came together to complete this beautiful Last Dance On The Beach CAL in her memory and I think that they have done her proud.  

The CAL is now over and the finished blankets are appearing en masse on Facebook and they are beautiful. I have decided to make one for my friends birthday because this will be a lovely blanket for anyone, every single block is special. I have until February to complete this so there's no rush.

here is the square from week one ....

This was designed by Esther from Happy In Red and it's a lovely easy block, I'm making two of these.

I have several balls of Poundstretcher yarn in my stash  it's labelled as Aran but it works up like chunky and I have added a few balls of stylecraft special chunky to the mix, I have to play around with hook sizes to get the correct size but it is working so far. 
This one was made with poundstretcher yarn in olive green and I used a 5.50 mm hook and it's turned out at ten inches square.

You can find all the information and all the patterns here

Has anyone else done this CAL I would love to see your blanket ot squares and would anyone like to join me? I plan on making a set of three squares each week.  It would make a great Christmas gift.

Dailier's from my garden.