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....

A serial unfinisher

Now I really think that to unfinish should be a word, fail to finish, inability to finish, they're just too lengthy. Unfinished is an actual word, so surely the transformation from adjective to verb must be a legitimate one :) I am a serial unfinisher - I procrastinate in every possible way imaginable as soon as I have something to do. I will stop drying up half way through to take out the rubbish, in the middle of hanging up the washing I'll decide I really need to feed the cats, and so on and so forth. It's really rather a problem sometimes! As soon as I have a deadline of course whatever it is will be done, but without limitation or boundary I procrastinate the day away.

And now I move on to my point.... My crafting habits of late have taken on the characteristics of an unfinisher. I love the fact that I can refer to my unfinished craft projects as 'works in progress' :) I have 3 long-term projects on the go, one of which I really wanted to try and finish before too long but I've realised the finish line is a bit further than I thought. I'm talking about my blanket for Bonnie, our campervan. It's been seeming so big and nearly complete as I sit on the sofa at night, but I took it upstairs to try it on the bed and it looked so.... small!

I don't necessarily want it to be as big as a double bed, but at least wide enough to drape over the bottom during the winter. I've decided I'm just going to use up all of the wool that I have left and see how big it gets, fingers crossed it will be fairly sizeable. But my decision means that it will be a WIP for a wee while longer unfortunately!

My favourite WIP, and one that there is no pressure to finish (maybe making it my favourite...) is my hexagonalong, here are the 31 hexies for January!

And finally for today here's a little card I made for my wonderful Dad, who's a little under the weather at the moment with a chest infection. I hope the cheeky dolphin makes him smile :)

Thank you for the such lovely wishes regarding my unfinished thesis, I really really appreciate all the lovely comments. Having moaned that my life was full of thesis it is now on the back burner again as I've just been offered some temping at the University of Leicester again until next Tuesday. I'm working on the thesis in the evenings and weekends but a little anxious about having so much time away from it. Nevertheless it's a nice change and I enjoy the routine.

Have a lovely week where ever you are

Until next time.....

Cosy Toes and Back to Normality?

Normality approaching :) Hubby's home, I made some cosy slippers, all is well!

I found the really simple pattern here. The colour is more like the top photo: I don't know what happened with the second! They took me rather longer than an hour (about two evenings in total) but they were simple and relaxing to make.

The only problem....

They're too big!! I made one and was too stubborn to unravel it when I realised my mistake. I used Sirdar Super Soft Aran (lovely yarn by the way) and a 6 mm hook. If I make them again I would use a 5mm hook, and reduce length. I might try and fashion some straps, I might find a friend with slightly bigger feet... I'm just getting over the disappointment at the moment ;)

Hubby had a good trip to the US, he came back clutching a Disney bag much to my astonishment (I am a huge Disney fan and he is.... not so much) and inside was Yoda! (the bag then made sense :)) We are currently watching all the Star Wars films, I've never seen them before. We have just watched Episode 5 so I finally saw Yoda in action. I have a bit of a soft-toy collection going now (should I grow out of that?!) so Yoda has some company already.

We had a scrummy lunch yesterday to celebrate being back together, my favourite type of lunch - lots of cheese! and my homemade soup and some homemade bread. Happy days!

I have got my camper blanket out again - 5 rows and counting! I'm going to try and keep the momentum up. There are a ton of ends to sew in, but I'm going to save those for a rainy day and just focus on getting the blanket together!

Tonight we are having a BBQ with our lovely neighbours, the last one of the year I fear. I hope everyone has had a wonderful relaxing weekend, here's to a bit of normality :)

WIP Wednesday - Blanket Tales Part Two

It's been a long time since my last WIP Wednesday post, so I though this week I would share my longest WIP.... The Camper Blanket...

It has been a journey of ups and downs, I first blogged about my addiction to squares here back in March. The aim is to create a blanket to go in our camper, Bonnie. As we both love the sea and coast I decided on a colour scheme of blues and greens and after a few mishaps settled on the wool. (Mostly Hayfield Bonus Chunky - the turquoise is from C's Mum's stash).

There have been many squares since then, frustratingly none seem to be the same size! And they have been squished in a bag at the bottom of the wardrobe. I took a sizeable break over the wedding period, and managed to lose both my 6mm hooks so progress faltered somewhat. I ordered what I thought were hooks off Ebay and got knitting needles, a sign perhaps?! I eventually found both of the hooks in my hook jar...

The other day curiosity got the better of me so I emptied my WIP onto the bed.

Hehe yes we even have a camper themed duvet cover... not obsessed or anything!

I thought it was time to bring order to my jumble of squares, so I've decided I'm going to start assembling the blanket while I'm still crocheting, just to try and keep the project moving and clear some space.

For some reason, even though it's the same brand of wool and I use the same needle, the squares really do vary in size.

I've decided I'm going to use them all anyway, it's my first blanket and it doesn't matter to me whether it's perfection - it just needs to be warm and pretty :)

I blocked them, which helped to some extent...

... and a semblance of order began to take hold. I began sewing the first row and was pleasantly surprised...

The photos don't really do the colours justice, but I hope you get the idea. I don't know whether I should not have used the Chunky weight yarn - has anyone else ever made blankets with Chunky yarn? Is it better in DK? I just wanted something warm, as it does get a bit cold sometimes! Time will tell I guess ;)

So onwards and upwards I guess! We have a bet going as to when it might be finished, I'm aiming for October but C thinks November, I have no idea whether either is possible! I hope to have another two rows done before I leave for Berlin though.

In other news, we had a lovely weekend visiting our friends down in Cirencester - what a beautiful town! Gorgeous shops, I found two sewing shops and a wool shop - bliss! The boys weren't really in a shopping mood so we ducked and dived in where we could. I found a wool holder for just £2.50 in a charity shop - I've wanted one for ages!

And I bought some buttons to make up some more camera cases as requested...

Next time we shall have to be more resourceful in occupying the men! Thanks for the lovely comments on my coasters, they went down really well - my friend kept telling me I should try selling some! I really don't know, there are already lots of wonderful things on etsy, but maybe something to keep in mind for the inbetween period when I'm looking for a job after my thesis is handed in.

What is everyone working on? Are any of those WIPs nearly a FO?!

Helen

Linking with Tami's Amis

Catching up again

After the last week we are now fully back into the realm of reality and day to day life. It's been lovely coming back and enjoying our nice decluttered home, full of new things. I'm back into the swing of PhD life, reading away and I've even managed to start writing again which is nice. All in all a nice week getting back to normal and catching up. Catching up with friends, family, work, all the usual :) I changed my name after the wedding (although keeping the maiden one professionally) so am getting used to that, it's really rather odd!

Normally we are quite green fingered but what with one thing and another this year we have had to let our garden do its own thing. Nevertheless we have still being enjoying some of the results (the weeds, thistles and bolting herbs are not on that list!).

We have some champion strawberry plants which seem to just grow no matter what, so we have been gobbling up some lovely homegrown strawberries. I haven't quite managed to make meringue yet, but will have to before long - it's C's absolute favourite!

We also have two large Lavender bushes, which I love but C hates (a bit of an ongoing argument there). I've recycled some of the jars I made for the wedding (see here) and am using them to put some flowers from the garden in, I think they look quite pretty, and hope C will forgive me for the lavender smell ;)

Without having to make lots of decorations any more I am enjoying being able to crochet whatever I like. I am making progress with the granny blanket, which is now a quarter of the way there (excluding the edging)

I'm loving all the colour, and whilst some of them don't completely match I love the bright happy vibe. I'm also getting some ideas of colour combos for future projects :)

It is however time to step away from the granny (sigh). C is hankering for the camper blanket which I promised him, more on that next time, and I want to make some coasters for birthday and Fathers' Day gifts.

Have a lovely weekend! (I shall be watching footie and crocheting, come on England ;) although, I actually tend to support Germany which makes me terribly unpopular!)

And so it begins... Blanket Tales Part I

Help! I've been caught up in an addictive frenzy of square crocheting, determined to finish a blanket for a camping trip this year. Any spare moment, in work breaks, watching TV, on the train...

I've had a bit of yarn drama in that I ordered some off the internet thinking it would match the stuff I already had, but when it came it was not the same thickness at all! I guess 'chunky' isn't a one size fits all affair? Oh well, 8 more balls of wool for my stash :) (I already have a project in mind so am quite happy!)

And over the weekend (which was fairly busy) I managed 13 squares. Waiting for some more colours to arrive (this time I ordered the same brand, which would probably have been an amazing idea first time round!) so just two at the moment, but I'm so excited!

Just realised how many camper van themed drinking vessels we seem to have.... maybe a bit overly obsessed?!

I'm going to have to tear myself away from my squares however as today marks the 2 month count down to the *Big Day* so wedding crochet will have to take priority...

Have a lovely week everyone,

Helen x