Autumnal Scarf 2016

Since learning how to crochet it's become a bit of a tradition to make an Autumnal cowl (you can see 2015 here and 2014 here) . This year the tradition has been extended to a scarf, and it's particularly cosy.

The yarn I used was Jarol Shetland Mist which is acrylic with a dmall wool percentage - it's nice and warm and soft to touch.

Looking forward to some crisp cold weather to wear it in!

A Blanket for Laura

Laura is my friend I went to Venice with. She's one of my best friends and has been a key part of my life for years now, bridesmaid when I got married and one of the few people I know that if I ever needed her she would help me, no matter what. I hope she knows that is entirely reciprocated.

So for a special birthday I wanted to make her something special. In my books a crochet blanket is pretty special, this is only the third one I've ever actually completed! I chose the colours before I chose the pattern, I just went crazy for bright and bold colours and once I looked at what I'd chosen I thought solid block granny squares would be the best option.

I love the final result, and she seemed to too, which made me super happy. Giving gifts is one of the best feelings. Although, I have to confess, at one point I realllllly wanted to keep it ;) I may make a similar one for myself ;) Once I've finished some other blankets I've started and abandoned that is....

Baby Blanket Number 2

C's brother and his wife welcomed another daughter into the world last month, little niece is now a proud big sister. Unlike my failed attempts to make little niece something I was determined I'd manage a little handmade gift for littlest niece, and I decided on a crochet blanket.

They knew they were having a girl, but I wanted to try and make something reasonably 'gender neutral', something just bright and happy.

A big granny square always fits that remit I think :)

A simple half double crochet border has become my favourite blanket border. I should probably get a bit more adventurous at some point but I really like to keep it simple.

Ta Dah!

Peaks Revisited and Summer Crochet

My amazing talented wonderful husband fixed my laptop! So here I am again back in my bloggy space, oh how I've missed it.

We've been quite busy the last few weeks, some camper trips, seeing friends - all nice summer activities. I've even been managing to do a fair bit of crafting which didn't seem to be the case last summer! At the end of June we headed back to the peak district, to the same campsite (ever creatures of habit) for one night, and managed a nice long walk in what is possibly my favourite place to walk. I used to find walking challenging, and I'm not good at heights, so managing to climbing some peaks has felt like an achievement and I can't wait to explore more of the area.

It was not the best of weather, a bit drizzly and overcast, but that was actually quite nice to walk in. We headed up to Mam Tor and the ridge, and this time made it across and up to Back Tor and Loose Hill, it was really lovely with the lower clouds and weather front moving in.

Good old Bonnie was waiting for us when we got back, always a sight for sore eyes and weary legs. This trip the weather was bad enough in the evening for us to have to cook in the van - a cramped experience but an adventure!

And here is my favourite summer crochet accessory so far - another cowl, but more lightweight than usual!

I wear it for work a lot, it's super comfy and goes with most of my clothes! Pattern from here.

My First Baby Blanket

The first of our friends to travel the path to parenthood happily announced the birth of their son a couple of weeks ago. Now these friends live in Australia, so we wanted to send out a few gifts to greet the new baby, and I actually managed to make a crochet blanket! Said blanket was finally posted last week so is hopefully not too far away from its recipient.

The yarn was all cygnet chunky, which I hope will wash well and be nice and warm for the Australian 'winter' (I've been assured that without central heating it can actually get a bit chilly!)

I used Bunny Mummy's 'Sunburst Square' pattern, which I would highly recommend, it can be found here. It didn't take me too long to make and I loved selecting the colours - they didn't find out the sex and I chose gender neutral colours, which to be honest I think I would have done anyway.

So with husband's brother and wife expecting another baby I've decided I shall venture back to baby crochet. Just don't mention that cross stitch picture I still haven't finished for the baby's two year old sister!!!

Giant Granny Square Blanket

I finished my scrappy Aran giant granny square blanket! Although I nearly gave up photographing it earlier as the light was really rather awful and doesn't do it justice at all. This was a comfort project, which I picked up at intervals towards the end of writing the thesis. I used almost entirely yarn from my stash of all different brands, and the colours were chosen randomly and based on whether I thought I would get an entire round - I always lose at yarn chicken!

Here is a close-up which does it marginally more justice. It's surprisingly warm and has already featured in slobbing out sessions in front of Netflix.

I kept the border simple, two rounds of single crochet in the colours I had the most wool left in. I always tend to err on the side of simple with borders - I think by the end point I just want it to be over!

Again, awful lighting (our sofa is a nice deep purple not grey) but here it is laid out inside. I'm really mean and keep the cats off it so I don't have it out during the day - our cats seem to catch everything they possibly can with their claws (including several favourite jumpers) and also shed a ridiculous amount, and I have been rather precious with finished crochet items. Am I being really mean? Other people post pictures of cats and crochet, maybe I should overcome my inner aversion!

Thanks for all the lovely comments on my last post, we are setting the ball in motion, or trying to so watch this space!

Autumnal Cowl 2015

I think I shall establish a tradition of making an autumn cowl each summer to be worn over the forthcoming autumn and winter. Last year I made this cowl here, using yarn bought on honeymoon in Austria and I wore it continuously last autumn and winter. This year I have used some yarn bought from a little wool shop in Amroth and this wonderful pattern from The Little Room of Rachell. It's been finished a while but one sunny morning in Wales last week I decided to indulge in a little photo shoot on the decking of my parents' caravan.

The yarn was from the West Yorkshire Spinners, a blend of wool and nylon in their Aire Valley Aran Fusion range, most appropriately entitled 'Autumn Mix'. I'm very much in love! Now the weather seems to be turning I think this will be a permanent fixture around my neck.

And just because, here is the view from the front of my parents' caravan. You can just make the see out between the trees. Take me back!

Have a great week :)

Some Wedding Gifts

We're just back from the beautiful wedding of two good friends in Cirencester. Absolutely exhausted but lots of happy memories, and their wedding day was sunny and bright - heavy rain the day before and day after so they were super lucky! I was honoured to be bridesmaid and wanted to make them some handmade gifts to go with their main present. Being last minute I finished some of them off in the car on the way there, so the only photos I have are in the hotel in bad light the day before the wedding. Oh well.

First up are a set of facecloths, my first excursion with Rico Creative Cotton. I liked the texture, which was thick and durable but it could have been a bit softer!

2. Then I thought this heart doily was very well suited to a wedding present. I tried to match it to their colour scheme. I really like this pattern, it's simple and works up quickly and I think it's really effective. It's free and can be found here.

3. Finally a cross-stitch wedding sample in some terribly blurry photos. I'm really pleased with how this came out :)

Now to finish off some long-standing WIPs. Have you ever made wedding gifts? I have some more weddings coming up and thought I might keep up the habit :)

My First Cushion Ta Dah

I finished my first cushion! A simple granny square affair using 'join as you go' I used the yarn I bought in Berlin last July, so it's a nice souvenir.

Sadly C isn't convinced still, but it's found its way onto the sofa and he doesn't seem to object too much ;) My next goal is to keep it away from cat claws...

The only thing I'm not happy with is the button arrangement. I just used an assortment of odd buttons and as you can see they're not very evenly spaced. My only excuse is that I was exhausted and couldn't be bothered to rectify the situation! Maybe one day in the future.

So I feel some cushion mania coming on, it's a very satisfying project! They might have to be gifts for now though...

My proudest Ta Dah: The Bonnie Blanket

How is it June already? I'm not quite sure what's going on with the time at the moment but it seems to be permanently on fast forward, I'd very much like it to slow down a bit so I can catch up!

Thank you for the lovely well wishes on the last post, I have comments from one supervisor now and it's mostly tweaking, and adding bits to the thesis here and there, nothing fundamentally wrong which is a relief! So while I await the other comments I'm having a bit of a ploddy along type week, trying to get back into it all but being rather distracted by the sun...

Today I wanted to share with you my finally finished blanket for our camper van Bonnie. Sadly as I wrote here, Bonnie attempted to self destruct two months ago so until she has her visit to camper van hospital won't be taking us anywhere. She's a very awkward van as you can probably guess!

The sun is out for once so I'm not going to complain about it being too bright for my photo shoot ;) I think my neighbours thought I was slightly mad marching up and down the washing line clutching the blanket. It's pretty heavy so it didn't really drape properly!

No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get a decent picture of the edging without it looking warped. I just did one row of double crochet in a dark navy to finish. I'm pleased with its simplicity.

I used mostly Hayfield Bonus Chunky and some yarn donated by my MIL. It's pretty heavy due to the yarn weight but I wanted something nice and warm for chillier nights in the van. In the winter it will live on our bed as a cover. I really like the chunky yarn in a blanket actually, I might make another one for the spare bed one day. But in the meantime I have a gazillion WIPs to crack on with...

Don't mention the 'D' word....

I've mentioned a few times that C does not like doilies, I think he has a secret fear I'm going to cover the house in them or something. Having said that there are currently three in use in the living room and he only knows about one of them :) What he doesn't know can't hurt him I guess (I'll have to hope he doesn't read this blog post!)

Needless to say he was not best pleased when I started crocheting two 'doilies' last week. Technically one of them is of course a mandala, but he doesn't seem to appreciate the difference! Luckily for him these are my Mother's Day present for this year - my Mum does have a doily appreciation.

The green one is made using this wonderful pattern, the Heart's Desire Doily from Red Heart. I wondered whether the lovely Lil from House with Hearts had come across it! It was a very enjoyable make, I'm going to make one for me in pink and hide place it tactically somewhere in the living room. The other pattern is from the very talented Zooty Owl, the Happy Days Mandala. I didn't block them as they were posted, my dear Mum ran away to Pembrokeshire for the week so I didn't see her on Mother's Day itself (I don't blame her!).