The End Is In Sight!

 We are approaching the last leg of the Queen CAL already can you believe it! I can't begin to tell you what a huge satisfaction it gave me as I crossed each row off the chart, there were six charts in all. 

This morning I knotted and trimmed the edges and as I write this I have just had an email telling me that the last part of the pattern is published yay! that's the double border. 

The double border will take me a while as it is what is says a double border one at the front and one at the back, the two are then joined together to seal in the ends, hopefully the big reveal will be in the next couple of weeks, that will take me nicely up to November and then I can decide what my November projects are going to be. 

I can't believe how quickly the days are flying past, I was reflecting on this time last year when everything was normal can you even remember normal? Anyway a friend was going to a Halloween party and he asked me to make him a crochet scarf to complete his Halloween outfit at very short notice,  you know it's amazing how quickly you can knock something up when you can crochet.....

Easy Peasy Halloween Scarf...

I made this in a couple of evenings, I had the yarn in my stash, a huge ball of Poundstretcher Aran,  just goes to prove you always need a stash of  yarn because you never know when you need to make something at short notice like this.

An easy peasy halloween scarf  made in htr (UK) hdc(US)  

I scouted around the internet for some scary skull and spider patterns and found the skull pattern here and the spider pattern here 

I left the fringe raggy on purpose for effect you don't need neat for Halloween. 

My friend was delighted and it raised some favourable comments apparently. All he needs to do now is remove the motifs trim the fringe and he'll have a nice warm scarf to wear whenever he needs it. 

I forced myself to go out for a walk the other day you know how it is when you're sitting cosy inside with your crochet on your lap, cup of coffee and biscuit ( more about those later) at your side, who wants to go out! 

Once I made the effort I was so glad that I had, the weather was quite mild and it was perfect for a beach walk...

Interesting caves to explore too. 

I really enjoyed the walk and went further than I intended, just getting back before the tide cut me off further along the beach.

Those biscuits 

I had been tidying my kitchen cupboards and found a jar of peanut butter and a jar of honey that were almost empty so I decided to use them to make more room in my cupboard....

Honey and Peanut Cookies...

2 cups SR flour

1cup oats

125 grams butter

100 grams light brown sugar

100 grams honey

2 tablespoons peanut butter

Place honey, butter, peanut butter and sugar in a saucepan and stir until completely melted, add the mixture to the dry ingredients combine and then roll mixture into balls, place on a baking tray and slightly flatten with a fork.  Bake for 10 minutes until golden brown on gas mark 180C or 350F

So quick and easy to make and they tasted so good! in fact they are nearly gone already so I'm now thinking about what to make next.🤔

Bargain Buy!

My daughter and I like to visit the local garden centre for a coffee on Sundays and last week they were selling these Chrysanths off for just £1....

When the flowers die off I can plant them in my garden and hopefully they will flower again next year.😊

I hope you all have a great weekend! 😘

Click here to see all the great Parties I will be linking to this week.

Something for the weekend.

Simple Long Skinny Scarf

Sometimes you need a scarf to compliment a plain sweater or dress, this simple skinny scarf is just the thing and can be made in no time at at all.  You could use an odd ball of yarn that you have lying in your stash just keep crocheting until it runs out.    

I used 60 grams Dk yarn 
4.50 mm crochet hook

Stitches used 
sc single crochet or UK double crochet.
dc double crochet or UK treble.
crossed double crochet or UK crossed treble.

See how to make the crossed dc here, or YouTube video here

close up of stitches...

Chain 13
Row 1 - sc in second chain and each chain to end = 12sts, 3ch turn

Row 2 - 1dc in first st, skip next st then work 5 crossed dc across remaining sts, work 1dc in last st, 1ch turn.

Row 3- 1 sc in each st to end, 3ch turn.

Repeat rows 2 and 3 until you have the scarf the length you want it finishing with row 3, 1ch turn, 1sc in first st, chain 3 miss one st, 1 sc in next st, repeat to end of row, Fasten off and tie in ends, repeat at the other end of the scarf.

You could finish it off the way you prefer of course maybe a fringe, tassel or picot edging all would look good. 

 

Have a great weekend. 😊

A Huge Donation and Lots of Inspiration.

A few weeks ago I was contacted by a lady who wanted to donate some yarn to our Loving Hands group.  She had found it while clearing out her parents home, one of the members collected it and passed it on to me last week, I wish I had taken a photo of it when it was stashed into my car, it filled the boot and the passenger seat, here is just some of it placed on my window sill...

I gave up counting after I got to 100 hundred cones. There is a mix of 1 ply and 4 ply in cotton, acrylic, wool and wool mix.  A few members of  the NELH group met at my home on Tuesday and took some and I'm sure more will shared when the rest of the group can get to see it.

Of course working with such fine yarn is a pain for me, as you all know I like quick and easy which means I will have to use several strands at once when I'm working with it and to do that a lot of winding action will need to take place.  The obvious conclusion was of course I needed to buy a wool winder ...

I'm having so much fun using this I love the lovely neat little yarn cakes it makes.....

As you can imagine coming into so much yarny goodness is like winning the yarn lottery for a stashaholic like me and idea's of how to use it spin around my head like crazy, I can picture a lot of lovely blankets, hats, scarves and other yummy makes spinning off my hook in the future and now everything I'm seeing online is a distinct possibility.  This is what has inspired me today...

A lovely Lapghan made by Olga from Lacy Crochet the new pattern is now available for purchase.

Pom Pom hat a free pattern from  Yarnspirations

Crossing Paths scarf a free pattern from the crochet crowd

I'm thinking that anything is possible with this yarn all I need to do is use as many strands I need to get the correct tension, it will be a bit hit and miss but the beauty of making things for charity is whatever the size, there will be a home for it somewhere. 

Before I move onto something new I must finish what I'm working on now it's a blanket and I'm using these colours...

It's a riot of colour, sunglasses will definitely be needed at the big reveal.

You can see the all great projects the NELH group have made here

Have a great weekend. 😊

One More to Go!

Well it's been quite a week, it's that time of year when everything seems to accelerate and you don't seem to have the time to fit everything in.  It was my Birthday last Friday and that took me away from my crocheting/knitting in a very nice way of course while family and friends came to celebrate with me.

I'm also having to work extra shifts at work because my colleague is on holiday however I have still managed to make set number three....

This time made in crochet, I chose this pattern because I have used it before and I could remember how quickly it worked up and how easy it was. You can find the pattern here.

The mittens are knitted and I used Marianna's pattern here

I love crochet because it's fast but I prefer the finish of knitted hats and mittens, they stretch and give a nice cosy fit.

Only one more week to go before I need to get these sent to knit for nowt and I still have one more girly set to make and then I will have made two of each.

I doesn't end there either because knit for nowt has sent out yet another appeal they are asking for cardigans or jumpers for little girls, if possible in time for Christmas but because my box is going off at the end of next week I would have to make something before then, so do you think it's possible for me to make..
one hat
one pair of mittens
one scarf
one cardigan
before next Thursday? of course thats on top of going to work and the other million things that need doing Christmas is coming after all.  

I will try!!:)

I'm so sorry I haven't had time to visit your blogs but thank you so much for all the lovely comments and words of encouragement, I will be around to see you all as soon as I can, I hope that you are all well and have a great week! :) xxx

A Set for the girls

It looks as though the making of these little sets is going to take me longer than I thought it would, it's definitely the scarves that take up the time the hat and mittens take no time at all.

This time a little girl set made with stash Aran yarn in pink, white and grey. Again I used Marianna's Skye pattern which can be found here

 I knitted the scarf too and it took me far longer than I wanted it to, made in a very easy garter stitch. Using the same colour sequence and then bordered in crochet with reversed dc/sc in pink to hide all the yarn changes and to neaten it off.

Next time it will be crochet just because it's quicker, I'm hoping to get four sets done before the end of the month so that they can be sent to knit for nowt.

Two down

                                                                                                 and two to go

Can I do it?

 I hope that you are all having a great week :)

Linking with

Sometimes you just don't have the time and an easy peasy scarf pattern.

A Pattern for those  for those who want to make a super quick scarf, it took me 2 hours.

Age 3 to 5 years
Length approximately 4ft 2 inches
Aran or worsted weight yarn 100 grams but much less if you aren't adding pom poms mine weighed in at 20 grams each.
5.5mm hook
English Terms (US Terms below)
Using colour A
chain 144
htr in 3rd ch from hook and in each ch to end change to colour B with a 1ch turn
*dc in all sts to end change to colour A and 2ch turn
htr to end change to colour B and 1 ch turn
dc to end  change to colour A 2 ch turn*
work three rows htr with A (or more if you want it wider but make sure its an uneven number so that the contrasting stripes start on the same side.)
repeat from * to *
work one row htr and then ss along the length of the scarf on final row only.

Add tassels or a pompom or just leave plain.

I just love pom poms

US Terms
chain 144
hdc in 3rd ch from hook and in each ch to end change to colour B with a 1ch turn
*sc in all sts to end change to colour A and 2ch turn
hdc to end change to colour B and 1 ch turn
sc to end  change to colour A 2 ch turn*
work three rows hdc with A (or more if you want it wider but make sure its an uneven number so that the contrasting stripes start on the same side.)
repeat from * to *
work one row hdc and then ss along the length of the scarf on final row only.

Add tassels or a pompom or just leave plain.

Copyright © 2015 Linda Solaiman. All Rights Reserved

Find a print friendly version here

My Favourite Cowl Pattern

Many of you have made this cowl before and I have too, many times but I always keep coming back to it. 

Please be prepared for picture overload, not one of the pictures really shows the beauty of these cowls or round scarf as it's named in the tutorial....

Cowl One

Made with Dk yarn which was gifted to me by my daughter this Christmas, she knows these are my favourite colours.  This is the ten rounds version.

Cowl Two

 I think that this is the closest to the true colour

 I so desperately needed a model 

but Mr Bear was the only one that volunteered
This particular cowl was made with Poundstretcher Fireside Chunky and I love it, I love the colour and the softness of the yarn and it doesn't irritate my neck which is great, I wear it a lot.

Cowl Three
Twenty rounds version

 Again no model but when Dudley doggy saw me resorting to using the chair

he agreed to model it for me (and I think he was a little jealous of Mr Bear)

This is made with King Cole twist Aran in shade Raspberry.

I had this particular yarn in my stash for years just waiting for the right project and this fitted the bill perfectly.  The twenty round version is so cosy and it can be lifted up at the back onto your head for extra warmth. I do love it but this larger version is too bulky for my taste but many of the people I have made it for love it.

So why do I like this particular cowl?
It's easy to make, it works with any type of yarn, it works up really quickly honestly I have made some in a couple of hours, it's a great portable project, I love the texture of the stitch and it looks great.

You can find the tutorial here, I love this lady she is so bubbly and she explains how to make it really well.

If you want to see more of them Ana loves them too.