Nasty Nasty fall

Hello everyone. How are you doing? Well, it's been a while and I figured it was time for a quick update. I have lots of time to do one as I am laid up in bed after having yet another nasty fall last night. I have torn the same ligament in my arm again along with multiple bruising on my body in other parts. I am very sore and fed up. 

So I managed to take a few pics of things I  have been making of late. Here's a quick perusal....

I have made my mum a blanket for her birthday. I decided to use Tillie Tulip's design of daisies. It looks wonderful. 

Colours used were:

cream

meadow

khaki

saffron

All from the Stylecraft Special range.

The edging was one I used from the Crochet Borders book. Very simple but I like it. 

I loved making this blanket so much that I decided I would do another one in whites and blues. This green one was 9x6 squares so 54 squares altogether. Just the right size. 

A few weeks ago I won some very pretty Tilda yarn from Annette at My Rose Valley blog. She had made some beautiful little flowers into a garland so I decided to do the same thing and hung them in my bathroom. They are very easy to do and don't take but a few minutes to make one. You can find the link to the pattern here. 

Not a great pic but you get the idea. 

Next up is a blanket inspired by Mikey's Bumble Berry blanket which you can find the pattern to here. 

I really liked the simplicity of it and the mixture of colours but the Bernat yarn was hard to find and expensive over here in the UK. I decided since Drops were having  a sale, I would try out their Big Delight in Berry Muffin shade. Now I have taken soem pictures but the light and the colours is hard to capture. There are a lot more colours in this yarn than is shown. Reds, oranges, greens, blues, purples and pinks. It is gorgeous and I am loving making it. The only difference is that I am joining them as I go instead of joining them at the end. Joining this blanket as you go is a bit different than normal as it is in a diamond pattern so you need to give a little more thought about where to place them. Anyway, here are the pics so far. 

I think  the pattern is so simple and quick that this will be finished in no time. Hopefully, we will have better weather and I will be able to take it outside to get a better look at the colours. The yarn is an aran weight and I am using a 5mm hook. I purchased the yarn from here. I love this company and recommend then most highly.

So, that's me for now. I am sorry I have been so quiet. Husband has been away for a month and comes back tomorrow and it has been a case of getting my head down and getting on with it. Tis the only way I can cope. 

Thanks for reading and I will be back soon with more pictures to share. 

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Hacked again

What a pain. Just a quick note to apologise to anyone if they had a dodgy email from me - DON'T open it. It wasn't from me. I have had a few from other people recently so no doubt it is all part of the same throng of hackers. Anyways, all sorted now.

I'll be back soon with a proper update.

xx

Eventually......

Well, hello there! It has been a while hasn't it? I am afraid life is just getting in the way of blogging right now. I'm still working and loving my new job. I feel like I am meant to be there; that the job was created just for me. It is hard work but I don't begrudge it. I have even started a little crochet group. I asked a couple of members of staff if they wanted to learn and also a year 10 girl. I figured if I could teach them first then I could invite some of the younger peeps. So all is going well and I have 8 more girls waiting to join the group after Easter and learn the craft. So, I am very happy. 

Husband is away on tour again but it is his last tour. He has resigned and will be finished with touring after May. Hoorah hoorah! So, whilst busying myself with watching Lost on Netflix (what a fab series that was), I continued with my hook to make and create so I thought I would post what I have done before yet another month passes. Unfortunately, I have little to show as far as stitching goes although I have had a couple more pictures framed. Once they are up on my "sampler wall", I will take a snap of them all. My wall is looking rather neat at the moment. I think stitching projects will be reserved for the holidays for now as I am really enjoying the relative "quick" finishes of crochet. 

Here is my finished "Blooming Flower" cushion. You can find the pattern here. I used the same colours in my CK stripe blanket minus the cream. It turned out really lovely except I had to fudge the back a bit as it trned out slightly bigger than I had anticipated although the stitch count was right. Go figure. 

Next up is an idea I had whilst looking at a Rowan pattern for a blanket. It was this one that caught my eye. Now this pattern is one that I was already working on for my Drops blanket here and also is the same pattern on the front of my book 200 crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton. Weird hey. So I felt that this blanket was really calling to me. I had to decide on yarn and I wanted something quick to work up. I found that I had a ball of Stylecraft Nature's Way in chunky which is an undyed virgin 100% wool so I trialed it and really liked the fireside look it gave. I ordered more balls in a variety of shades and set to work. It didn't take long to make at all and Love the chunky, squishy feel it gives. So, here it is... My Fireside Throw...

Next up, is a quickie project that I made for dd this morning. I found this on Mikey's channel on Youtube "The Crochet Crowd" when I was browsing last night. He is he guy that taught me to crochet and he has some great patterns. DD has not taken this off all day. She says it is nice and soft and not itchy. 

I suppose all that is left is to say what awful weather we have been having here in the UK. We have been hit quite badly - hence the picture at the top of this post. That was me driving to work yesterday. Today it is even worse! So now, I will retire with one of these:

and watch "Jesus of Nazareth" with my kids - an Easter tradition I think. I wish you all a blessed Easter season. Thanks for staying with me during my busy season. 

Lots of love,

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.

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!

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Looking back...Looking forward...

2012 was an eventful year for me. Lots of bad things happened but also lots of good things. I have spent a fair bit of time going over my blog posts from this last year due to having to re-upload my photos from Webshots deleting them. It made me a little emotional. I browsed through holiday shots and crafty bits and bobs and read through posts which were deeply unhappy posts but some were cheerful and upbeat.

This last year has seen me cope with my husband leaving me and then returning. It has seen me having to cope with the aftermath of serious revelations I never thought I would have to hear. It has seen me going through the whole job application process and interview and me getting a job which I LOVE. It has seen me going away and spending time with friends and family. It has seen me completing some projects and learning new skills. 

Looking back at last year's post where I had so many great expectations about all I would accomplish, I can see I really didn't get very far with much of it. I completed a few of those Wipocalypse projects but not as many as I had hoped to. I completed Ann Tayor, Sampler au Bouquets, Here we come Wassailing and Dandelion Dreams, Morning Star as well as some crochet projects.

Next year I am going to have to cut right back on projects. I have to be realistic. I am working full time now with two young children to care for. I am exhausted which has shown in me spending the last two weeks of this holiday asleep!! So I have a bag... a very nice bag that my dear neighbour Sue gifted me with this Christmas that she made herself....

 

And in this bag are my projects for this year....

 

 

These are:

Lizzie Kate ABC of Christmas

A Most Noble Pursuit

CHS Helen Bell's Multiplication Sampler

Bygone Stitches A Quaker Christmas

Just Nan Nan's Garden

Macintosh Samplers Elisabeth Lillie

Yiota's Cross Stitch Poppies and Daisies

 

And that's my lot! My intention is to stick with these projects and when I finish one of them then I can add another into the bag. I am not holding out much hope to be honest what with life so hectic and all but it's good to have some sort of focus. Whether I stick to this plan or not, only time will tell.

 

Well I had a lovely new year spent with dear friends of ours. We're home now but then of to my sister's this afternoon. Hope you all have a wonderful and blessed 2013!

 

Michelle, Mark and Elijah!

 

Rugrats!

 

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Squeezing another one in???

Two little makes for you today. 

First up is the lovely chart Tracy gifted me with for my birthday. It is called Morning Star by Blackbird Designs. It took me a total of 3 days to stitch. It uses the called for Crescent Colours threads. It was a fab stitch. Loved it. I think I can put this as my last Wipocalypse post too!

Secondly, I had a go at making a quick cosy for dd's new tablet. Just double crochet in rounds using cotton yarn. Thankfully she likes it so it will be put to some use. 

I'll be back in the new year with a proper round up. 

Take care sweeties. 

xx