Granny stripe blanket

Last time, I said that I would share with you the details of my latest project, which I'm pretty excited with. I have 2 projects (one knitting, one crochet) that are almost finished (I'll share photos of those soon I hope!), so I thought it was ok to start something new!

I have had a large stash of Stylecraft Special yarn for about 6 months now that I haven't been sure what to do with. Then, last Sunday, I was browsing on Pinterest (one of my favourite time fillers whilst waiting for the train!) and saw a picture of this granny stripe, from Sharon at Annie's Place. I'd seen this before, having been a follower of this blog for a while, but seeing it again reminded me how visually stunning this version of the granny stripe is. On taking a closer look, I discovered that Sharon had used Stylecraft Special, and that I had most of the colours (plus a few extras) that she had used in my stash!

As you could imaging I could hardly wait for time to dig out my stash and begin. I made a start on Wednesday and it's been great fun so far:

My colour scheme has basically been inspired by Sharon's although I have changed the sequence in a couple of places as I didn't have exactly the same colours.

There's something about a rainbow colour scheme that makes me feel sort of 'safe'. I think it takes me back to the 1970s, and my childhood (which was actually in the 1980s for the early part - there, see if you can work out my age!)

I should also say that this granny stripe pattern originally came from Lucy at Attic 24.

I saw something else really sweet yesterday. S and I were in a garden square in London, and spotted these little bird houses, high up in the tree trunks.

 

Aren't they magical? Like a little village for birds!

Wishing you all a happy week!

xx xxx xx xxx xx xxx xx xxx xx xxx xx

Too hot to hook?!

Well, it nearly is! Those of you in the UK will know that we're in the middle of a heatwave, the like of which has not been seen on these shores since 2006 (according to BBC weather anyway!).

Well, I am very close to finishing my hexagon blanket - I'm at the stage where all I need to do is sew the last few motifs in place and fasten off the edges. 

As those of you who make blankets will know, this stage basically involves sitting underneath your giant woolly creation for several hours while you work on it. 

Not the most attractive proposition in 32 degree heat! So I have been forced to temporarily abandon the hexagon blanket in favour of smaller projects.

One smaller project I've been working on is a knitted cushion cover. I'm trying to design a cabled cover myself from scratch. I also plan to make some moss stitch covers. Here's the result of the swatching process:

Next time I hope I can tell you about an exciting new project.

In the meantime, stay cool, and happy hooking!

xx xxx xx xxx xx xxx xx xxx xx

Pottering

Since last week I have been pottering a bit. Most of my pottering happens at the weekend - I don't really have time to potter during the week!

I've been collecting....

 

..adding some new tea cups to my collection...someday I will actually use these to serve afternoon tea to someone!

Admiring the lavender....

....in the garden and enjoying the sunny weather.

Daydreaming....

 

...and wishing I had more time to get out and do things. I caught a glimpse of the most amazing fallow field with hundreds and hundreds of poppies growing in it from the train on the way to work this morning. Sadly this field is a little too far from my house to make it easy for me to go and photograph any time soon! I had to content myself with snapping a couple of poppies in the field around the corner from our house. Sadly that field has nothing like the profusion of colour I saw this morning.

Knitting....

...still working on the Kim Hargreaves jumper, in between bursts of granny squares for my pastel throw. Also having lots of ideas for other projects - sometimes it's torture - so many ideas buzzing around my head but not even time to realise even a quarter of them any time soon!

xx xxx xx xxx xx xxx xx xxx xx

Rules for life

Today has been a day to think about what I need to remember in order to get the best out of every day.

Maybe you will laugh at this (and I don't really mind if you do!), but I have actually started writing myself a little series of rules for this.

I thought I would share them with you - I think they are probably things that most of us struggle with at some point!

1. Eat breakfast every day (This is something I forget to do or don't have time for more often than not). 

You will thank yourself for it at 11am, and a happy stomach makes for a much happier start to the day!

2. Follow your dreams (This is something I'm usually afraid to do).

You may not succeed, but you will always wonder if you don't try.

3. Be positive

There will always be worries in life, but focusing on them won't improve the situation. Find something positive in each day and concentrate on that instead.

4. Talk about your feelings (Something I really need to learn how to do!)

When you are stressed, anxious or depressed talk to someone who knows you - and then let it go. Don't bottle things up.

5. Don't worry about things you can't control

Do what you can about the situation and then move on and forget about it. Do something practical to take your mind off it if you need to.

So bearing this in mind, I wanted to share some of the things that have made me happy today. I've stopped to take pictures of them to make myself stop and think about them!

My orchid- still surviving after 7 months, even though it was only supposed to last for 2!

My blanket stack - all the blankets I have made in the last year.

Sunshine in my knitting. This is a Kim Hargreaves pattern from her new book Spirit. I started it about a month ago and have made shamefully little progress so far, but I know I will pick it up again soon. I just love yellow - the colour is so cheerful.

My vintage style beaded handbag. I made this myself a couple of years ago, before I started blogging. I've only ever used it once, even though I love it. I really need to find more reasons to get it out and use it!

Pastel colour combinations in the project I'm working on at the moment. Soft, soothing colours that I love: lilac, steel blue, duck egg and pale, putty pink.

I'd love to know what you all find joy in - what are the little things that get you through the day?

xx xxx xx xxx xx xxx xx xxx xx

Hello July!

It's now technically what I think of as 'high summer' here in the UK. Wimbledon is on, we're all eating strawberries and cream (yes really, it's not just a cliche!) and the sun is (gasp) actually shining!

I am really going to try for a more positive, one-day-at-a-time approach to life from now on. The last couple of months have not been easy for me. I often feel bad for any complaints I make about my life on here, realising that I really am so lucky on the whole. However, recently I have been dealing with what I can only describe as buried problems which are of many (many) years standing. Although they aren't of anywhere near the magnitude of troubles that I know some of the lovely people reading this have faced and do face in life, they have been difficult for me to deal with.

The last few weeks I have really started to feel that I can conquer these things though. Thank you to those of you who responded to my recent post here. I'm still trying to push forward with these ideals in my life, and it's lovely to know that some of this strikes a chord with other people too.

I think its good to focus on appreciating what you have in life and look at the beauty in small every day things. The roses in the pictures above are an example I guess. They were taken in Hampton Court Palace rose garden on my recent holiday. Like any flower, they bloom for a while, but don't last forever. You have to take the time to stop and see how wonderful these things are in the moment, because those moments will never come again, and you may not realise how wonderful they actually were until they have passed you by and are gone forever.

xx xxx xx xx xxx xx

So, enough introspection and on to the main purpose of this post, which is actually an update on one of my major crochet projects of the moment.

This is my progress so far on the Erika Knight Patchwork throw which I started in the middle of May (it feels like ages ago now!)

I'm really pleased with the way it's coming along, and although it's a big woolly blanket, and far too warm for this time of year, the colours just scream summer to me.

It's been a joy to make. However, I think I may have to set it aside for now as I'm really about to run out of yarn.

I'd like to make this a really big blanket in the end, so I think I will wait a few more weeks until I can get some more yarn, and then carry on with it, rather than doing my usual process of making it as big as I can with what I have and then finishing off. I have a lot of single bed size blankets, and I'd really like a nice generous double bed size blanket! So, I'm going to try and make this that blanket!

xx xxx xx xxx xx xxx xx xxx xx xxx xx

Communication breakdown

Annoyingly my internet connection is temporarily out of action while our service provider "upgrades" our broadband.  Not sure why upgrade should necessitate broadband outage for nearly a week! Seems counterintuitive to me - surely upgrade should result in improved service rather than no service! 

Well anyway,  the lack of connection is the reason for my lack of blogging this week.  I'm posting this from my phone so please excuse typos! 

I had a nice time visiting London's Loop yesterday and bought some skeins of Madeleine Tosh sock yarn.

I'm working on turning some of this into a lovely scarf ready for autumn

Well that's all for now, I'll be back when my internet connection permits!

♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥♡♥

Lonely tree shawl

Hello everyone! I'm back from a lovely week of holiday with S. We were lucky with the weather and had some lovely days out. What more could you ask for from a holiday in England in the summer!

Well, I'm not going to share my holiday snaps just yet. Instead I wanted to tell you about the fun I have had making the lovely Lonely Tree Shawl, a pattern for a triangular shawl by SoftSweater, aka Silvia Bo Bilvia. The pattern is available from SoftSweater's Ravely store for those of you who are interested.

This was my first triangular shawl, well my first attempt to knit any kind of shawl actually!

I really enjoyed the process of knitting this - in fact I think it has me hooked on shawl knitting! I've discovered that there are many gorgeous knitted shawl patterns available online, so I already have my next pattern lined up - all I need is the yarn (and oh, it's such a hardship for me to go and buy yarn!!).

The shawl came out a little smaller than intended in the pattern I think - the pattern calls for worsted weight yarn, and I used a sport weight (Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca Silk). I worked a few extra rows, and I'm pretty happy with the size my shawl finished up at. It's not massive, but it still goes comfortably round my neck and will make a sweet summer accesory to keep the chill off!

If you like the look of this lovely pattern, you might be interested to check out some other shawl patterns - I've been trawling the web all week looking for the prettiest that I can find. I've collected them on Pinterest - stop by and have a look if you have time, there are some lovely patterns out there!

Next time I'll try and post a catch up on my various crochet projects...also maybe a post with some holiday snaps soon!

Take care until then.

xx xxx xx xxx xx xxx xx xxx xx xxx xx

Yellow roses

Hello world and fellow bloggers and crafters, I am back. It has been another busy couple of weeks, resulting in my not having the time or energy to post (some evenings, I haven't even had energy to craft).

Well, I'm heading off for a week's holiday next week, so this is a quick catch up post before I go. I don't have a great deal to report on the craft front - just that I have been enjoying making the Rowan T shirt pattern 'Kos' from this month's Simply Crochet.

It's a long time since I have attempted to crochet a garment, but this time I think I have got the hang of it!

xx xxx xx xx xxx

In general in life, I am realising lately that you can not control every situation you are in - sometimes things will happen and you just have to figure out what to do as you go along. You can never plan for every eventuality, and you should never hold back from trying to realise your dreams just because you are afraid that things won't work out.

To anyone reading this, wherever you are, whatever you're doing I hope you have the courage to chase you dreams, and find happiness!

So hears to making dreams come true and going for what you want in life!

xx xxx xx xx xxx xx xxx xx xxx xx

Lazy Sunday

I think I may have developed a split personality when it comes to crochet. I love making things in bright colours and using lots of different colours together, but I also love a more restrained colour palette and choice and the more vintage vibe that you seem to get when working with one colour, but in a more complex stitch.

 I spent my crochet time yesterday working on the Erika Knight hexagon blanket I'm making, and spent today playing working on another pastel toned blanket!

I started working on this blanket at the start of May, but have only worked on it sporadically since then, so progress has been slow.

Do you remember my Cathedral Blanket? Well this project is going to be a pastel version of that, with pale cream seaming instead of black.

I'm using far fewer colours (about 8 different shades) and I think I will arrange the colours at random rather than having them in order like I did for the Cathedral Blanket.

Whilst working on this I've also been daydreaming about making more pastel coloured cushion covers with mother of pearl button fastenings - hence my not being able to resist getting out my button collection and playing in these pictures!

I was also tempted this afternoon to try out a starburst stitch. I haven't tried this kind of stitch for a while because the last time I tried, a few years ago, I couldn't seem to get the hang of it.

This piece is at a very early stage - its quite time consuming to do, but I love the result - it looks beautiful in the ivory yarn, and has such as lovely vintage feel to it. I think its the sort of thing a Victorian or Edwardian lady would use! I'm not sure quite what this piece will be yet, but it's only quite a small sample, so it will probably end up being a jewellery case or similar. 

Happy Sunday everyone!

xx xxx xx xxx xx xxx xx xxx xx xxx xx