Blanket Roundup Three

My passion for making blankets continues and over the past year or so I have made quite a few that I haven't had time to share with you, most of them have been sent on to various charities but every now and then you make a blanket that you just can't seem to part with and this is one...

I love the mixture of crochet stitches but most of all I love the colours which blend in nicely with my decor. I had so much fun making this blanket in fact I enjoyed every minute.

It's the Spicier life blanket I started making way back here , gosh doesn't the time fly! I followed the CAL and finished it quite quickly and have been using it ever since, it's soft and lovely to cuddle under in these cold evenings.

Stats...
Made with  special DK Stylecraft yarn with odd balls I had in my stash.
It took just 640 grams of yarn.  I had so much left over I was able to make another blanket which I will show you another time.
The Spicier Life Blanket pattern is still available and can be found here

See all the great parties I will be linking to in my right side-bar.

Puppets and Monsters

Last year Knit for Nowt sent out an appeal for therapy puppets and monsters which are desperately needed for children who have suffered physical and  psychological trauma.  These puppets are used by Social workers throughout the UK  to help a traumatised child to communicate through a puppet or monster.

I think it's heartbreaking to think that there is always a desperate need for these and supply can't meet demand, you can read all about Knit for Nowt here

I have never really enjoyed making fiddly things but this cause really tugged at my heart and I knew that I had to try to help in anyway that I could. 

Out came the sewing machine I had to dust off a few cobwebs I can tell you but I was determined to give this a go and this was the result....

I know they aren't great but I was quite proud that I had actually managed to produce something that could be used, the worst part for me was sewing the faces. 

I then approached my U3A Patchwork and embroidery group and asked them if they would like to make some too, I even made a couple more and do you know what, apart from the faces I really enjoyed making them, this is what we made between us....

As you know crochet is my forte and although I did enjoy sewing some I was itching to make some crocheted ones too, apparently although all types of puppets are needed and used a MOJO  monster is the most useful as several facial flaps are used one for each facial expression. I found a knitted and sewn pattern on the website but none for crochet so I fiddled about a bit and came up with a very simple pattern of my own, made a few puppets then sent photo's to Clare from Knit for nowt to see if they were acceptable......

Here they are all sat on the windowsill in my conservatory which I had just had built, my next door neighbour was having an extension built at the same time which meant that her workmen spent a great deal of time working from my garden. When I took a photo of these little guys I was actually in my pyjamas and kept moving them around darting back and forth and yes talking to myself too as I do😳 I then turned and looked out of the windows at the side only to find next doors workmen sat on the new extension roof watching me and looking very amused indeed.  To say I felt embarrassed is an understatement.😆 

Anyway I'm very pleased to say that Clare was delighted with the puppets and asked me if I would share the pattern with diagrams so that it could be added to the website.

I do hope that this will inspire some of you to make some puppets, I know that I will continue to make them whenever I can. There is loads of information on the website and patterns of all types for you to try. I have added some links below for easy access.

CROCHET MOJO WORRY MONSTER 

CROCHET TEDDY HAND PUPPET PATTERN

WORRY PUPPET AND MONSTER PATTERNS (WEBSITE)

HAND AND FINGER PUPPETS ( WEBSITE)

SEWN PUPPETS AND MONSTERS (WEBSITE)

Inspiration.

Thank you for all of your lovely comments it really is great to connect with you all again.  

January can be a bit of a depressing month I think, it's cold and dull I'm really fed up of the dreary dark days we are experiencing I feel as if I'm living my life in the twilight zone but to keep afloat we always have to think of the positives so here are some of mine..

The nights are getting lighter we may not feel it yet but every day makes a little difference.

Although Spring seems a long way away I can see life stirring in my garden with the first spring bulbs sending up their shoots.

There are some really great new KALs, SALs and CALs  to inspire us, as I have journeyed around blogland this past week I have noticed that some of you are wondering what to make for your next project. I always feel happy when I have some great project on the go there's nothing better than a 'make along' for putting  a spring in my step and crochet hook 😄 these are what I've found and have started already..

Lucy From Attic 24 has started her Sweet Pea CAL you can find part one here

Maria from Underground Crafter has started a SAL part one can be found here and her Finishing Touches KAL information here

Are you following any of these ? if so I would love to see your work and if you have news of any other follow along's I would love to hear about them too.

Unfortunately because of my tennis elbow or  lateral epicondylitis (which sounds much more serious and more worthy of sympathy😂)  I'm still finding it hard to do much, I am doing stretches (thank you for your kind and expert advice Meredith) but I fear it's going to take some time. 

I am plodding on with the sweater the front is done and I've started to work on the second sleeve as I told you in my last post I have started making a crochet one too. This is a very simple design which I'm just really making up as I go, I took the size from a sweater which I have already and I'm hoping it will be wearable once I'm finished.

I went to my favourite yarn store to spend some birthday money which my brother had given me.  There was so much sale yarn I nearly swooned! but I was so good I only bought enough to make the sweater this is what's left out of 10 balls so I'm making good progress.

 It crochets up beautifully and has a lovely soft texture, I'm hoping that the lovely variegated colours of the yarn will make up for the simplicity of the design.

I have also some great news for those who used to follow Love Made My Home Amy is back! it was so lovely to see her blog post earlier this week. I'm looking forward to reading more of her posts in the future. 

Something for me.

Hello all you lovely people I can't tell you just how much I have missed my blog but finding the time to actually write a blog post totally eluded me for the best part of last year there seemed to be so much going on.  
I have noticed with sadness that many of our blogging friends have stopped blogging altogether but that is a sign of the times I fear as our lives get busier with the ever increasing demands on our time. 
I am going to try to write more on here this year I have so much to share with you but please forgive me if the posts come in fits and starts.  I would like to thank those of you who have asked after me and have said that you have missed my posts it means a lot. xx

So lets start with what I'm making right now, as you know most of the things I make are made for charity but recently I have been making some things for myself too.  I started knitting a sweater a few months ago but discovered that knitting was hurting my elbow😒 I have had problems in the past with aching joints all related to overindulging in my passion for crafting.  Can you imagine a life without knitting or crochet I'm afraid I can't and will battle on until I can't manage to crochet or knit another stitch. Anyway back to the sweater I decided that moderation is key and so restrict myself to short knitting sessions I'm sure that it will get finished one day.

November 2015 issue 139

I don't know if you guys are like me but I love a craft book or magazine and have collected quite a number of them over the years and I can't bring myself to throw them away, every now and then I look through them and promise myself that I will make something out of them and that's how the making of the jumper came about...

I have been wanting to make this for quite a while as you can tell by the issue date but have always managed to talk myself out of it like, I'll never get it finished or I'll probably hate it when it's finished or I should really be making things for charity, but this time I just jumped in and ordered the yarn motivated by the fact that I can never find anything I like in the shops, either I hate the colours or the style, nothing seems to look right of course that could be because I have an ever expanding stomach and I swear I'm not eating anymore than I used to do, I'm putting it down to age and a slower metabolism. 😂

I love the colour of this soft squishy yarn and now I have it I can't let it go to waste and must finish the sweater, luckily this is a basic style that never goes out of date. I have managed to finish a sleeve, the back and am halfway up the front, it's such an easy pattern that I can knit quite easily while watching TV in the evenings I allow myself an hour a day.

Luckily crochet doesn't seem to affect my joints as much as knitting does and I have made all sorts over the past year which I hope to show you, but would you believe I'm now making a crochet sweater for myself talk about overindulgence two sweaters for me! I'll tell you all about that one later.

What are you starting or carrying over into 2019?

Happy New Year!

Just popping in to say hi,  I can't believe it's so long since I wrote a blog post there just never seems to be the time to actually sit and write, life is very hectic but in a good way, since leaving work I have involved myself in all sorts of groups and activities and am enjoying every moment of it, however my passion will always be crochet and I have given myself plenty of time to indulge in my favourite activity.  

I hope to show you some of the things I have made in the New Year and to catch up with you all.  In the meantime I'm wishing you and your families a very Happy New Year 😃

Baby Blankets Galore

Thank you for all your lovely comments about my granny sampler blanket and of course thank you for all your good wishes and congratulations for the birth of my lovey little grandson Mikey.  

I have more good news to share with you...

My house has sold and the sale has gone through! it's such a relief as I'm sure you an imagine I was holding my breath until the keys were actually handed over but thankfully it was fifth time lucky and I can now draw a line under it and move on. 😊

There are lots of things to be done to my new house which is always a pain when you have to try to find decent workmen who won't charge stupid prices but I will take it one step at a time and try not to get overwhelmed with it all. 

Craft wise I have just completed  a little blanket for Mikey....

 I did ask my son and daughter in law if they needed anything making for the baby before he was born but they said no that they had everything, can you imagine how I felt! I had been making and storing  baby things for years and placing them in my granny drawer which has spilt over to a suitcase in the loft 😄.  

When the baby was born I gave them this one which I made way back in November 2012......

you can see the post here.

A few days after the baby was born my son asked me if I would make a couple more blankets so that's why I made the Bubbles baby blanket above and I gave them this one too which I had stored in the loft..

Gosh I can't believe that it was 2011 when I made this you can see the post here I can't believe I've been blogging that long either where does the time go.

The Pattern for the Bubbles baby blanket can be found here

I'm still working on my Arizona blanket and I love how it's turning out but more about that later, the sun is shining and I'm going to take advantage before it disappears and give my lawn it's first hair cut of the season. 😊

Linking with..  
Crafty Love Link Party 
and all the other great parties listed in my right sidebar

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.😊

New Things x 2

As soon as I saw this I knew I had to make it, there was no putting it on the to do list either, I even bought yarn for it.....

Aren't those colours gorgeous it gave me a huge amount of pleasure opening the door to the postman and  having him hand me the parcel and then opening it to reveal all this yarny goodness, well it has been a long time I can't remember how long it is since I bought any new yarn.

I'm talking about the Arizona CAL of course is anyone else following it?

Here's my progress so far..

That's part one complete just in time to start part two which came out yesterday.

The second new thing is something extra special my first grandchild Mikey was born on the 8th March.😊

Have a great weekend.

Blanket Round Up Two

Last Summer back in June just before things got seriously manic for me I was donated  lots of coned yarn remember here and was looking for inspiration as to what to make with them, then I saw this Afghan designed by the lovely and very talented Olga from Lacy Crochet and knew I just had to make it.

I used three strands of coned yarn in each of the two shades and it used a very satisfying 850 grams.
It was a joy to make as rippled blankets always are and was completed in no time. 

The finished dimensions were 48 x 38 inches. 
It was donated to  Needles,Hooks,Angels and Preemies

You can find the pattern here

What are you all up to I hope that you are having a lovely week! we have beautiful sunshine I was beginning to forget what it looks like 😊

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. 😊

Heart Love

I have a thing about hearts, always I mean not just because it's Valentines Day,  I am collector of hearts and have them hanging up all over my home. 

I have had the urge to create fabric hearts for some time now, but although I do love sewing and have dabbled on and off through the years I'm not that great at it and I always end up doing battle with my sewing machine read here so these hearts were to be mostly hand sewn. I think the thing that really pushed me was Aldi were selling fabulous fat quarters for a great price.  I bought two! I have never bought a fat quarter in my life I have to say this is certainly a venture into the unknown I can see a stash of fabric gracing my home alongside the yarn stash before very long.

I even got out the embroidery threads and had fun sewing little designs on to some of them....

What do you think? I hope that you have noticed I even tried a patchwork one there 😊

These have been gifted already the pink one for a friend on her birthday and the other to a special male friend, we don't do Valentines Day but just to show him I care.

I will be gifting another one today to a friend who is recovering from an operation. Hearts can say so much don't you think? I'm just getting started I think that there will be lots more fabric hearts in my future.

Happy Valentines Day to you all! xx

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 friend 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.

Something for The Weekend.

I think that I've found a solution to the granny blanket in my last post but it means quite a bit of mindless crochet which incidentally I do love, you have to have at least one of these projects on the go for watching TV or for when friends come to visit so it's all good, I'll show you how it's progressing when I've done a bit more. So for the weekend I have decided to make another one of these....

One of the ladies from Loving Hands found this pattern and we have challenged ourselves to see how many we can make. It is knit in the round but some of the ladies have made it successfully with two needles.  I made mine a size smaller than stated just to see if I could do it and because I was using tiny scraps of yarn and I wasn't sure if I would have enough to make a larger version.

It's much easier than it looks and there are other pattern variations too, you can find the free pattern here.

Can you remember me mentioning that I was going to make Daphne's 
Olive oil and lemon cake weekend before last, well I did but I only made half the amount stated in the recipe just in case it didn't turn out right for me but it did and it was yummy, I thought that you would be able to taste the olive oil but you couldn't it was light as can be.  I did mean to take a photo but it was eaten before I had time to get my camera out. 😄

Have a great weekend whatever you are doing. 😊 x

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 

Something for the Weekend.

I hope that all you lovely people have had a great week! it's time to choose my weekend project again and this time it's something I need and not something for charity.  Back in September a lady from Loving Hands asked for help with a pattern, fortunately I was able to help her by making the item myself and going through it bit by bit with her and I loved how it turned out....

I loved the colours of the yarn and I really enjoyed knitting it too.  Now this particular hat was sent to a charity but I want to make another one for myself.  If I don't suit it then it will go to charity too and to be honest it may end up in the charity box because I don't usually suit hats but I'll give it a try. 

It took 132 grams of Aran yarn and you can find the free pattern here

I will also be trying a new cake recipe which has just come to my attention, Daphne's Olive Oil Cake, I know what you're are thinking, olive oil in a cake! well Daphne says it's yummy and that's good enough for me because I have tried lots of her recipe's and have enjoyed everything I've made so far.
You can find the recipe here 

What have you planned for this weekend? whatever it is I hope that you have a good one.😊

A Bit Of Confusion.

Regular readers of my blog will know that I love following CALs, the confusion lies in which one to follow because there are so many happening right now. Those that I'm interested in are

1. The Woodland Blanket CAL

I love Lucy's blankets because they are always nice and easy to make and this one is no exception. Of course there is no way that I would be buying the woodland blanket pack because as you all know I need to use my stash, I was thinking about using my coned yarn for this using three strands which should make it Aran weight. In these colours maybe..

I think I would probably have to add more colours to the mix because there may not be enough, it's fun pondering and trying to decide, it's also a bit of a challenge when you have just teeny amounts of some colours and more of others, they will all have to be used somehow or the blanket won't be big enough.

    2. The Harmony Blanket Knit-Along

Now this is a bit of a change, a knit along rather than crochet it's been a while since I knit a blanket and this one consists of six inch squares, one a week  I'm sure that I could manage that don't you? I already have some yarn in mind....

I would just make squares until the yarn runs out.

    3. 2018 Granny Squares CAL

I only found this one last week on Facebook and they have over 3000 members already, they are quite a way into it, it's a granny square a day so I would have some catching up to do.  If I did do this one I would only make the squares that appeal to me anyway. I was thinking of using random Dk stash yarn for this maybe multicoloured squares alternated with a plain square. 

All of these are a couple of weeks in already so if I want to join in with them I need to start now.  the question is do you think I could do all three if not which do I choose? 

Has anyone else joined in with any of these I would love to see your progress if you have.😊

Something For The Weekend.

I always find it's a good idea to make a few small things in between a bigger project, once the excitement of starting a new project wears off I soon get bored with it and sometimes find it a chore to actually finish it. That's where the making of small projects is such a big hit for me, I put my larger project to one side at the weekend and make something small and easy, I get quite excited at the thought of starting this teeny project knowing I'll have a finish quite soon. It could be anything that catches my eye during the week or something that I've had on my to do list for a while. 

Hats feature quite strongly on my teeny project list because they are quick to make and are always useful. A couple of weeks ago Marianna from Lazy Daisy Days had a mystery knit and I joined in, such fun to knit something and not know what it is you are knitting of course you do guess as you go along but you don't know what it's going to turn out like until it's completely done. It was this cute little hat...

Marianna has since named this the Marty hat and has also added a cute little mitten pattern too.  So that's what I'll be making this weekend another of these little hats with a matching pair of mittens.
You can find the pattern for both here

I also fancy making this stir fry I think it sounds yummy.

What will you be up to this weekend? whatever it is I hope that it's a good one.😊