Monday, February 18, 2013

A perfectly delightful Saturday

We broke up for half term holibobs on Friday and a welcome relief it was too. I decided that on Saturday I wouldn't do very much at all. I would stay in bed and do a little crochet or whatever took my fancy and just RELAX as relaxation was very much needed. Children were quite happy to watch films on Netflix in their den, which they built themselves, I might add. So this is what I did and because I am still off, I thought it might be nice to spend a leisurely Monday morning in bed, catching up on blogging too. 

I began with this....


Little "Saturday morning project", I call it. You know, the ones that are easy, no brainers. This was destined to be a cowl/snood type thing and I found the pattern from here. Yvestown's shop. She sells the wool and has the pattern for free underneath. Well, I remembered I had some similar looking cottons in one of my many yarn bags. James Brett dk cotton I think it was. And so, the project began. Such an easy, hooky project. Just round and round in doubles. The colours just seemed to work. I followed the pattern in that I chose a colour and worked 4 rows then 2 rows, 2 rows, 2 rows and then 4 rows. I just kept to this and it resembled something similar to the one in the shop. This was the finished outcome after I hooked all day till the midnight hours!



Taking this opportunity, I thought I would show you my other new hooky project. You might remember my last Elmer blanket project from last year. I made it for my friend's new baby boy. I wanted to do one with the special Stylecraft pack of 17 colours which I made my Granny Stripe out of. I was inspired by this one and this one and just really wanted to make a big one. I originally asked daughter if she would like to design it on squared paper and she agreed but then couldn't be bothered so I am doing it ad-lib. This is where I am up to with it now.



It is growing so quickly, I can tell you. Such a pleasure to create this colourful blanket of fun. 

So, back to Saturday. There I was, hooking away quite pleasurably, kids in their den:



.... when there was a knock on the door. The postlady!!! What should she deliver but my very recent order of Drops Delight. Must tell you.... it is on sale at the moment... only till end of Feb. My order came from Wool Warehouse who I cannot compliment enough. They have a superb service. Things get delivered very quickly and they have a great range of wools in stock. They also sent me some very useful wool needles - how did they know??? Thanks so much Wool Warehouse. 

Anyway, onto the Drops. This is what came...



...and this is what I am going to make with it....

This hat.

These wristwarmers.

This blanket. 
Both are free patterns which you can get from the Garnstudio website.
I can't tell you how happy this made me. My Saturday was going well. Even the sun started to peep out the clouds.

So, I decided to take a break from hooking my cowl and march the kids up the hill behind my house. We took a flask of hot chocolate, some juice and snacks which son carried up in his backpack.It's not a big walk but I was breathless by the time I got to the top. I am so unfit! This was our view:


Happy day. Hope yours was too.

Tuesday, February 05, 2013

Long overdue post!

We're well into the month of February and I realised I haven't posted since the 1st January! I have been super busy with work and the kids and Church stuff. Things have been going great. A real turn around finally! 


So, today has been declared a Snow Day. I set out this morning with the kids in the car, skidding all over the road and then suddenly came to a halt as all the traffic was well and truly at a standstill. A quick phone call to the Head told me that many other staff members had been stuck and so he was declaring a snow day. Hence, the long, overdue post from yours truly. 

A couple of nights ago, I finally got around to finishing the Cath Kidston style stripe blanket. I had ran out of white wool but my lovely neighbour, Sue, came to the rescue. Thank you Sue. You can find Sue's blog here. It's good to have a stitching/crocheting neighbour! 

So here are some of the pics of the finished blanket. The pattern was lovely to work. You can find the pattern here. I used Stylecraft Special DK in the following colours:

Lipstick
Cream
Fondant
Cloud Blue
Lemon
Meadow 
White





I tried to get similar colours to CK as I could and think I have just about cracked it. I did four rounds of granny edging and then I began my border. I couldn't find quite what I was looking for so I decided to make up my own border and this is it. 



I did 3 chain rounds, twice and then I did a 4 or a 5 chain around that. Then I began to do my triangles. So into one chain space I did: single, half dble, dble, treb. At the top of the treb I did 3 chains and then hooked it back into the top of the treble to make a point. Then I did a double, half dble, single to finish the triangle. Into the next chain I made 2 singles and then just repeated this all the way around. 

With the remainder of the wool, I am making a Blooming Flower Cushion. This is how far I have got with it. I need to go get a cushion pad so I know how big to do it. You can find the pattern here. I think it will match the blanket perfectly and it has been a sweet little project to work on this winter.



My next project is the granny Patchwork. It is similar to the Elmer blanket I did for the new baby last year except I will just be doing 3 rounds and using the Special pack of Stylecraft. I do love the Stylecraft but part of me is now hankering for something more heavy and cotton like. 

I will try my very very best to keep this blog updated and I appreciate every one of you stopping by to check up on me. Hope you are all keeping warm today!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx