Autumn Happenings

Well, Autumn suddenly seems upon us, and I hate cold weather. I hate jumpers and coats, and having to try and find new ones to buy. However, this year I am particularly excited about crocheting myself, and my daughter, some lovely cosy warm things, hats and scarves! In fact, I have already started on a scarf for myself, a simple stripy one... I have only just started it really but here's a piccy of the progress so far...

It's a pattern I found on Ravelry, called Fall Country House Scarf. I'm using Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk Aran yarn, in 3 colours, Seashore, Sprout and Vanilla. I'm loving this yarn, lovely and soft, and not itchy at all, a problem I normally find with scarves! It's lovely to work with, I'm using a 6mm hook as I don't want the stitches too tight, but nice and airy.

Back to other news.... I am plodding along with my mum's rainbow granny stripe blanket. Something was niggling me about the first row, I wasn't a huge fan of the colour 'Camel' and didn't think it blended with the others, but more importantly, the chain turned out to be too tight and caused the edge to ripple up and make the blanket all wonky. I really didn't think I could do anything about this, as it was the first colour with the foundation chain, apart from pulling the whole thing apart, which after countless hours of grannying away, I was not prepared to do. But then I had a thought. Could I possibly crochet a chain along the bottom of the next colour, ensuring I connected all the stitches, before ripping off the first Camel-ly colour? The answer was, yes I could. I wasn't sure how well it was going to turn out until I took the leap and removed the first colour, but it actually worked really well, and I think the blanket looks so much better now. It's straight and parallel, and it hasn't got that camel colour standing out on the end.

How it looked all wrinkly with camel...



and without the camel and a new foundation chain...

Much happier. I'm also liking how the colours are coming along, now I'm getting to the greens and blues.

It does look rather cheery, especially on dreary wintry evenings. Only trouble is, I think it's going to work out a lot thinner than expected, despite my calculations! The rainbow will be complete and it will be more the shape of a hallway runner than a big rectangle blanket, so I may have to repeat some of it.... will tackle that when I get to it!

My other main project recently was a gift for a friend's daughter, who had her 1st birthday. She loved her stripy elephant I had made earlier in the year, so thought I'd make her something else too. This time I wanted to make something I hadn't made before, so I scoured Ravelry and found the prefect thing... the KISS Series Lion by K4TT. I have wanted to find the perfect Lion, and this was it! I love his mane and how floppy he is. He is truly awesome. I had to pay a little bit for the pattern, but really don't mind when it's this amazing. I used my trusted King Cole Bamboo Cotton DK and a bit of Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo with a size 3.5mm hook. He was fun to make, and definitely what I was after. I didn't want to part with him in the end, and nor did my little P, so I may have to make another one! Here is the Lion in question...

 

 

Finally, I have made something for my little P. Some bunting. It was going to be for her cot, but I got carried away and made it bigger so it hangs on the wall. I used Pink Milk's Simple Crochet Bunting Tutorial to get me started, but added a few touches of my own, including a contrasting edge. I also cut out letters and flower shapes to sew on to give it a personal touch. Yes, I had to sew. I'm not overly hot on that, but learnt how to blanket stitch and used that method, though I think for the future I may invest in invisible thread so you can't see how bad my sewing is! I used Rico Design Creative Cotton Aran and a 5mm hook (which I have also fimo'd a handle for...another post sometime soon). Sorry about the quality of the pictures, but they were taken in the bedroom, which was dark and dingy due to the rubbish weather!

 

 



It's lovely and colourful and brightens the wall up loads. Little P loves it too, except she keeps pointing at it rather than go to sleep!

I have also made a few other things....guess I haven't posted for a while! A basket, some coaster/placemat things for my parents and a couple of amigurumi strawberries (pattern here) for the little P. I plan to make her a whole load of crochet play food, one day!

So now I will continue with my scarf. Or maybe the stripy blanket. Looking outside, I think I need both! Until next time my friends...

Mummy Time

Yes, this week I have not had a lot of time to crochet, as I've been extremely busy with my primary (and favourite) role, as a mummy!
The weather has been relatively good, so we've been outside lots. Little P has developed a love of digging up soil and filling up buckets, she's really quite good at it for 16 months old! She's in full flow on her feet now, and swiftly gets about the garden, no time to turn your back or she's away! We also took her for her first proper beach experience. Needless to say, she loved it, the sand, the water, everything! Only thing is, I don't go much on sand. The first half hour was OK, then when water started to get involved, I just couldn't handle it! I hate that feeling of sand everywhere! But, little P loved it and that's what's important, right?
Considering how energetic she is, and the fact she never stops and sits still, she doesn't seem to need much sleep either. In fact, the afternoon nap is often non-existent now. And that was prime crochet time! So I have had very little hooky time in the last week, just a bit in the evenings, when little P finally gives in to sleep.
I am continuing with my mum's rainbow stripe blanket, I've added only a handful of rows though since the last report.....more of that this afternoon! But I did manage to finish the ripple cushion cover for little P's cotbed.
I have blogged about it on it's own page (see 'My Creations' section, top right of page. But incase you don't, here it is...

I love the bright colorful ripples, and it's cotton too so it's super-soft! I thought I'd pose it in amongst a fern to show off those ripples!

Until next time, when I hope to have made more rainbow stripe progress....

Stripin' Away Again

So yes, I'm in the process of another lovely granny stripe blanket, this time as a present for my Mum's birthday, as she reaches a milestone later this year. It's quite different from the last one (I used chunky yarn so the blanket got bigger quicker!) as I'm using Stylecraft Special DK, in about 32 colours. The aim is for it to be a graduated rainbow.... so lets see how it turns out. I'm currently on colour number 6, 'Shrimp' as so far it is looking quite nice if I do say so myself. Here it is.... 4 rows of each colour (Camel, Copper, Rosehip, Lipstick, Matador, Shrimp)

As you know, I can't just have one project on the go at one time, so I'm also currently rippling away (yes, another Lucy pattern!). It's going to be a cushion cover for my little P's cotbed to make it more cozy, as it's a bit prison cell-like at the moment! For this I'm using Rico Creative Cotton Aran, which has to be one of my favourite yarns - it is a splitty yarn, but the colours are so bright and cheery and it feels so soft and non-itchy, which is very important to me!

 
So hopefully this will turn into a cushion cover.... watch this space! I have another cushion too, but am yet to decide on it's outcome! Stripe? Square? Hexagons? Who knows...

I also have been making another one of my own design cows, as a present for my niece's 2nd birthday.... now she has recieved it, I can post a picture. It was interesting following my own scruffily scrawled pattern to see if it worked, and in most parts it did, just a couple of errors here and there. I'm going to get my friend to road-test it for me when I write it up neater. Now she's getting pretty good with the old crochet hook, I suppose she deserves a little mention. She asked me if I would teach her to crochet, not so long ago, I couldn't refuse as my life wouldn't be worth living! So I took some supplies round to her house, where she'd already mastered the chain stitch and tried to teach her the basics. It was actually quite tricky to explain, but it obviously worked. I think actually seeing someone else do it is really helpful. She's left-handed too which made it more tricky, but by the end of the little session she had made a rather charming oddly shaped ball. But she was pleased, and so was I! It was great passing on what I had taught myself and being able to share a hobby with a friend! So glad she has got into crochet, and she really has.... she is knocking out amazing blankets, baskets and toys already. In fact I'm slightly concerned the apprentice will overtake the master....
So back to the cow (the stuffed toy, not my friend), here is version #2, made with Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo... total yarn snobbery!

So that's what I've been up to lately.... until next time....