I can see by my choice of crochet projects that my thoughts are turning to Spring. And indeed it is March so it is officially Spring! Although there was a brief moment of snow this morning as I ran out to get some milk.
These little crocheted bunting flags are making me very happy. The colours, the simplicity of it all - what more could you want?
They consist of three rounds of your basic granny square and then edged with a chain stitch border and a couple of loops in the corners. All strung together with a bit more crochet - although I am tempted to try a bit of ribbon here as an alternative.
I seem to be making lots of bunting lately and I think it has taken over my tea cosy obsession. Maybe tea cosies are a winter project and bunting is for spring? I did see a nice tea cosy on 'Call the Midwife' last night (which I have to say was deeply traumatic - I thought Sunday night drama was meant to be nice and cosy and gentle not a whole hour of me saying "Oh my God!").
I found the greatest Apple Flapjack recipe. It is quick, simple, few ingredients and tastes AMAZING! I made 2 batches in quick succession and they all went! I convinced myself that because they contained mainly oats and 2 apples that they must indeed be healthy and I chose to ignore the whole pack of butter and the huge amount of sugar and syrup.
I love those recipes where you have to melt butter and sugar and syrup in a pan - it's like some kind of magic going on in there! It's a great recipe for children to make too as it's so quick and there's not a lot of messing around.
I've also been making a lot of teacosies! (I'm never sure if it's one word or two). I just can't seem to stop. I've hit upon this pattern which I invented and which I now love and have to keep making in as many colour combinations as possible.
I found this pile of granny squares in a bag the other day. They were the first things I worked on when I returned to crochet and I had just wanted something easy and pretty. I had then obviously just stuffed them in the bag at the end - not being able to face all those ends and the trouble of turning them into an actual blanket.
I was never very good at finishing things but I am working on that!
I'm going to border it in navy blue. I'm not so keen on the classic black granny square blankets and I think the navy will make all the colours I have used so far really 'pop'.
I've also been working on a new tea cosy pattern and some different colour choices.
Ron, meanwhile, has mainly been working on eating my magazines!
The nights are slowly slowly drawing out - I just about see the signs. I am completely ready for this. It has felt like a long winter. I know it's not over yet and we're still due some very cold weather. But that's good because I haven't finished my Alpaca scarf yet (which is quite slow going) and now I don't know if I'll have enough wool and all those other things that happen when you're making things and you're not sure where they are going.
I am reading The Letter for the King which came up on my radar a little while ago but I didn't buy it. I have this thing where I like to put off reading books. I do it particularly with very popular books that everyone is reading and raving about. I deliberately won't buy them because I decide that I am different and I just won't like it and it won't be as good as everyone says. Then years later I will read it and find out it was brilliant and wished I had read it at the time. Anyway, this book wasn't like that. It's been around for ages anyway but I somehow came across it in the bookshop months ago. Then I made myself wait. When it was my birthday I went back into the bookshop and decided that if I were to come across it I would buy it but I could not search it out. Anyway - there it was, just sat on the table and it even had a different cover (this apparently is the Winter Edition?) to when I had first seen it. So I took this as a sign and bought it.
I think The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton is going to be a book I will resist. No, in fact I know I'm doing it already. I saw it a while ago, nearly bought it (it's always the same routine) then resisted it because I knew people would love it and that annoys me. Now people are talking about it and I want to read it (kind of) but at the same time I want to feel I am different and seek out books people have never heard of, little gems that are mind-blowingly wonderful and stay with you for a lifetime.
The thing is nobody knows I am playing this stupid game so I should probably just do myself a favour and buy it.
This week has been soft and slow as we have succumbed to feeling poorly with days off school. It has enforced its own pace upon us which has been reminiscent of the pre-school days when you could just snuggle up for no reason in the mid afternoon and read books - complete with funny voices. I know when you are in those days they seem endless and sometimes frustrating. But when they are gone they are gone forever and school life takes over in such a powerful way. Everyone's life becomes about school not just those who have to go. Your working day, week and year is dictated by the school routine, the costumes they need, the trips to be paid for, the homework to be completed, the when and where of holidays. Knowing the next time you will get a cheap holiday is when they have left home!
I think we will be seeing the week out at home as little improvement has been made on the health front. There will be more stories, more baking - cheese scones just cannot be beaten! And the newly discovered but non-photogenic butterscotch pudding - who knew, what a texture, it's just so puddingy!
I decided on a project for my dusty pink alpaca - a chevron lace scarf. I am finding it slow going and the wool is tricky with the 2.5 mm hook but I am very happy with the look of it and the slow and soft nature of it suits my week entirely.
I have been making this shawl for the last few weeks. It is in Simply Crochet Magazine No 26. I had wanted it in time for the cold weather and I have just made it - it was so cold last night!
Of course I didn't make it quite the same as they did. They advised to join the hexagons as you went along but I am not keen on that method and I found it left a messy join so I decided to make them individually and join them at the end. So I laid them all out and took time to arrange them beautifully ready for the joining. But then...
I turned my back for 2 minutes and when I came back there was Maude. Why do they always sit on your projects? There's a whole house to be sitting around in. Sofas, chairs, blankets, dark corners, airing cupboards, you name it - we have options here. But no. Bang in the middle of it too! I decided to remain calm and carried on...
I was glad I did because I am really pleased with it. I am particularly pleased with the colours which are different to the pattern suggestion.
The pattern suggests Sylecraft Senses Lace which is a 4ply and then you were to double it up and use a 5mm hook. I decided to keep things simple and went for the Stylecraft Special Aran which does not need doubling up and uses a 5mm hook.
For the main hexagon colour I chose Silver - 3 balls - as you can see that is all I have left of it after joining etc so it was a good use of the yarn. Then Meadow (green) for the centre of each flower. The flower colours I chose were: Cloud Blue, Aspen, Plum, Pomegranate and Fondant. I hadn't seen the colours in the flesh and just ordered them online but I wasn't disappointed and I think they work really well together.
I am not one of life's great finishers so to complete this leaves me with a great feeling of satisfaction - and hopefully warmth! I shall wear it in bed like a little old lady, reading my book with a cup of tea!
I thought I would take a look at my current wips. There aren't as many as I thought. I think it's because the other million and a half are still in my head! This (above) is some teacosies which I am still enjoying making. Ahh the colours - the joy, the possibilities!
This is the shawl from Simply Crochet magazine which is all complete and ends tied in and everything - just need to join the hexagons. It did say to join as you go but I find that method messy and unsatisfying so I'm doing it my own way!
I want to get on with this one a bit more and get it finished but it still needs a lot of work. Thankfully the weekend beckons - plenty of time for crochet!
So there I was the other day, just sat there having my daily cry when there was a knock at the door - of course! I hurriedly wiped away my tears - although it still looked as though some awful thing had befallen me - and answered the door.
And there it was. The parcel I had been waiting for.
I had ordered it at the very last minute on New Years Eve just before their special offer expired. I mean I had been coveting it for weeks but for some reason I just had to eek it out until the final minutes of expiry.
I was NOT disappointed! I haven't ordered wool online before because I do like to see what I'm getting - I like to touch it see it in the flesh and I just love all that wool stacked up in a wool shop. I love it as much as I love haberdashery.
This was the main reason for the order. The Drops Alpaca was on offer and a friend of mine had received the most beautiful Alpaca scarf for Christmas and this got me thinking that maybe I should make myself one. I haven't settled on a pattern yet and I've no idea if this is enough but I loved the colour and was excited to see it in the flesh. Plus who could resist that happy Alpaca on the wrapper?
I also bought this - just as a random purchase really and to avoid having to pay postage I thought I may as well spend it on some yarn. I have absolutely no ideas for this yet but again I love the colour and the feel and I'm glad I was a bit adventurous. Any ideas for what to make with this?
The rest of the order is some Stylecraft Aran to make a shawl with but more on that another time.
All of this excitement had taken my mind off my daily cry. I love that - one minute you are sitting alone quietly sobbing and the next you have your own wool shop laid out before you. To top it all, when I turned around this was happening in the corner...
The New Year is well and truly here. Today both of the children are back at school and it feels as if January is definately underway. It was so dark and damp here this morning that I feel in need of sharing my recently made Snowdrop inspired garland.
Having seen the first signs of Snowdrops on our Stourhead walk it made me yearn for a little of that fresh spring green colour, that first glimmer of hope that we are moving forward into the year. Also, it was a great use of my ribbon which I have had for ages (I think from Hobbycraft) but couldn't find the right thing to do with it.
So here is the pattern:
The large flower
Round 1
Ch 4, join with a sl st to form a ring.
3ch (counts as a tr), 11tr into the ring. Join with a sl st to top of beginning 3ch. 12 tr.
Fasten off.
Round 2
Join new colour in any st.
3ch (counts as a tr) 1tr in same sp.
1ch, 3tr in each st around.
Sl st to join the round.
Round 3
Join new colour in any 1ch sp.
3ch (counts as tr), 2tr in same sp.
1ch, 3tr in each 1ch sp around.
Sl st to join the round.
Fasten off.
Round 4
Join new colour in any 1ch sp.
4ch, sl st to next 1 ch sp around.
Sl st to join the round.
Do not fasten off.
Round 5
5ch, sl st to first sl st around.
Sl st to join the round.
Fasten off and sew in the ends.
The colours I am using are Stylecraft Special DK in Parchment and the aptly named Spring Green. I am also using a white which is not Stylecraft but something I already had lying around.
So now the smaller flower:
Round 1
Ch 8. Sl st to join the ring.
Ch3 (counts as a tr), 17 tr into the ring.
Sl st to top of ch3 to join.
Fasten off. 18 tr.
Round 2
Join new colour in any tr.
Ch3 (counts as tr), 1tr in the same st, ch2, skip 1tr.
2tr in next st, ch2, skip 1 tr around.
Sl st in the first tr to join.
Fasten off.
Round 3
Join new colour in any ch2 sp.
Ch1 (does not count as a st),
1dc, 3tr, 1dc in each ch2 sp around.
Sl st in the first dc to join.
Fasten off and sew in the ends.
I then threaded mine onto ribbon which I love the effect of but of course you could crochet a chain to attach the flowers to.
I hope that all makes sense. It is such a contrast to be looking at these simple colours after all the vibrancy of Christmas. It's like a clean slate.
Of couse no photo opportunity is complete without one of the animals sneaking in there for a bit of attention. If I'm looking at something, Crumble likes to make sure that it's him!
I've done it again! I've made another tea cosy. Well they are such joyful things to make and the colours! Well the posibilities are endless. I think this is the best one yet.
This one is a gift but I like it so much I'm going to make another one for myself. This time last month I'd never owned a tea cosy in my life but always liked the idea of them, now I have three. I guess that's life.
