African Flowers on a Dull Grey Day......

It's funny that I finished this blanket on such a grey, slightly rainy and overcast day.....the first day that I can really feel that Autumn is on the way.....and I for one am glad to see the end of Summer.....it really was the long hot Summer!!

Anyway the blanket is done....I blocked this like there was no tomorrow, because after completion in the early hours of this morning, it sort of looked twisted, tight and sort of mangled, if I can use that term for a woolly blanket....anyway this blanket I had to wet first before I could even get some give out of it to lay it flat for blocking.....the fibres were sooooooo tight.

Anyway it's now beautiful, soft, drapey and the patterns in the flowers have spread....the seams of the joins have all flattened out.....and now it's the perfect blanket for a baby girl that is coming soon.

Well for now it's back to the knitting.

Have a good week. Vx

Saturday......

Well the 2nd blanket is well underway.  I'm more than half way but I'll save any final photos for early next week.....and the blanket as it is, is in pieces on the floor in the lounge room, and the light is bad in there....and truth be told I just haven't got the energy to pick it all up and move it to photograph it....but I did take one shot this morning before I got stuck into crocheting like a woman possessed.

My sleep pattern is way out of kilter now because of the 3am finish the other day....I've managed to get through today without a 'nana nap' so hopefully an early night tonight might see my sleep or lack thereof get back to normal!

I've managed to get 2 rows completed and photographed.  I'm using this pattern here.  Not only is it free, but it also fits in well with my love of straight edges.....most of you who have been around here for a while, know I hate uneven edging, so I knew I had to find an African Flower pattern in a square.....and this one fit the bill and it's incredibly easy to follow and really well written and the other bonus is there is no half flowers to do!!

I'm joining them together with the right sides facing out so picking up the two inner rows and slip stitching them together, although that has caused a few issues as it means I can't join all the squares together in the other direction in one continuous line. I'll have to join those edges individually.....I'll show you what I mean when I'm done....I did look at this join as you go edging here, and as much as I liked it, for my taste it was too fussy with all the patterning of the flowers, although it is a perfect joining method for a solid square in my opinion....so I unpulled it and went pack to the original join.  If you look here at Epipa's blog I got the idea for my join from hers on this gorgeous blanket she has made.  For mine, I'd rather have a simple join for the squares and something more fancy for the border like the images show.

Anyway the pictures shows, 2 rows, I'm at 4 rows, and I have 3 more to do....it's a 5 x 7 baby blanket, and with a large border it will be a small cot, large pram size.

Anyway off out for a stroll before it starts to get dark.....stretch the legs and get some fresh air.

Cheerio. Vx

Back to the Blankets.......

For some reason it seems like an age since I posted about a blanket....I've been back on the knit sticks for a while and the hook has been put away for a little time.  I have 2 blanket orders to complete, both being for friends so I have a little bit more freedom with these.....in the sense that my judgement is trusted in colour work to get these right......so one got finished last night.....and oh what a late night it was.  I started this blanket yesterday at lunchtime so at around 12pm, noon.  I worked right through with only a few tea breaks, and a phone call and blocked it at around 2.50am this morning....I was in bed according to the clock at 3.06am!! So a baby blanket has taken me around 15 hrs, give or take 30 minutes.  Yes I am tired this morning and have a crazy sore neck.

This one is using my favourite organic merino wool from here.  Oh how I love this yarn....I often talk about it.  The company is back up and running after being taken over by a new owner.  Very happy I was about that. I used my own Squircle pattern, link on the side of this page.  I used all the colours in the organic range except the dark green....I don't know why I didn't use it,  just didn't think it fit in at all....every circle has pink in it, and I also have a touch of navy blue in there, that I had left over before the colour was deleted from the range......the colours in this yarn all just work so beautifully together.....I guess you may have gathered the blanket is for a baby girl, but you'll notice I didn't exclude, blues, browns or grey.....they all blend in so well.

Ok, I'm finished here....I'll be back with the second one when it's done.....little bit excited about that one!

Cheerio!

Vx

The Squircle Ends.....

Such a silly name for a blanket, but it's stuck now!!

Anyway it's completed, blocked and put away for possibly a gift with all the other woolly bits and bobs, who knows.  I bordered and blocked the blanket last night.  For the border as per the post on the tutorial, I changed to a 3.5mm hook and just continued going around the blanket with double stitch clusters, the dinky stitch you use on a granny square....you can see my strength does not lie in crochet, not even sure of the stitch names!!  I did 7 rows of this.

I did  think about not putting a little sweet scalloped edging around it, but I thought it needed something to off set the circles.  To do the border it was a simple, single crochet into the gap left between the last row of granny stitches, then 3 chains then a single crochet, then 3 chains....right around the blanket.  At each corner I did a single crochet then 1 chain and then another single crochet into the same corner...this just stops the border from pulling.

The scalloping was just working in the 3 chains and it was a single crochet stitch, then a HDC stitch, then 2 x double crochet stitches, back to a HDC stitch then a single crochet stitch.  You then just move onto the next 3 chains space....you don't do a chain in between or anything just straight into your single crochet stitch, then a HDC, then 2 x double, back to a HDC, a single crochet.....you get the picture.

I've put The Squircle up on Ravelry right here. Again it's got a link to my tute.

Anyway it's Monday and it's movie night, so I'm going to get some lunch have a little rest and get ready.

Enjoy your week.

Vx

The Squircle....

You know Brangelina, Kimye, Bennifer....and yes there was TomKat.....now here is the Squircle......a crochet blanket, circle within a square.

I've done a tutorial....you'll find it here or over on the right hand side of my blog under the "This is how we do it" heading.  In actual fact I went so far as to show you how to join as you go....so it's a mammoth post, and there are lots and lots of images.

Hope it's helpful, and I'll be back tomorrow with the finished article.


I'm off for a large drink....of the G&T variety.


Enjoy Vx

Summer.......

Summer......what can I say.  It's been incredibly hot here in Melbourne, well Australia all over for that matter.  We broke another weather record here in Melbourne last week....4 consecutive days over 41c.  I can't begin to tell you how awful it was.  Normally we get one 40+ day and then we drop down in temperature and we may get another one a month or so later....maybe 4 over the course of the whole Summer, not 4 in a row......this felt relentless. 

 Hopefully the remainder of the Summer will just stay balmy, sunny with the odd thunder storm and a little bit of rain, that would be nice....and maybe just moderate temperatures.

I've been doing some baby blankets again.  I don't know what it is that inspires me to crochet in hot weather.....I think it has something to do with the wool moving a little more quickly through my hands than what knitting would, therefore I don't feel it sticks as much.....sticky wool, sticky hands, not one of my favourite combinations.

Anyway I've just been moving through the days, back at work, walking, catching up with friends, seeing a few movies, going to the tennis and generally just being a little lazy.....oh and I had my hair cut off, that was a momentous moment, all 25cm of it.....I think the hot weather played a big part in that!

Anyway I'm going to sneak back and do another hour or so of crochet time, before I head out for the afternoon.

Warmest wishes,

Vx

Oddments, I have a few.......

What do you do with your oddments, scraps, bits of balls......you know what I mean.  I have a lot.  A real lot.....All this below is Baby Cashmerino leftovers.

Well most of it is. There is a couple of new balls in one bag that I have added to the stash for virtually a scrap stashing project that I came across yesterday by accident really!   I found this picture on Pinterest.

I loved it, I loved the colour, the gaps in the crochet, which is not something I generally like in crochet, I'm a bit more of a full compact square or hexagon person....anyway I pinned it to my board and moved on.

Yesterday I was leaving work and I had to nick into the newsagent, I'm not a big magazine buyer or browser, but the crochet and knit magazines just happened to be glaring back at me from the cartridge paper section.....I had a few minutes spare, so I started browsing.....and this magazine and its contents caught my eye.  Inside Crochet, Issue 47, Christmas 2013......The blanket, look at it, a perfect stash buster for Baby Cashmerino....the blanket and pattern recommend 4ply yarn and a 3.5mm hook....BC is 5ply, bingo!!

I'm sorry the picture is not the clearest, but the picture of this amazing blanket were not that big.....but last night.....late last night, I had a bit of a play around......I blocked these flowery circles before I went to bed, because they were very scrunchy, and this morning....beautiful, flat, soft and drapey.  What do you think?

I love it because it is a join as you go as well, so that is always a bonus. I guess the only downside if there is one, will be the amount of ends to sew in.....I did all of them last night apart from the outer edge.  Sew as you go....I can never stand the thought of tidying up the ends after finishing!!  Anyway this project is a biggin'  21 x 25 circles, and a lot of half ones to go around the edging.


I still haven't finished my other crochet projects.....but officially I'm dedicating the whole month of February to finishing WIP crochet blankets.....and I'm really looking forward to it.  Maybe wipe off one or two of those NY resolutions, the one about buying yarn and finishing woolly works in progress!!

Anyway I have a day off work today, a few more hats to finish and a cake to make, so better get going.


Enjoy your day and thinking of all of those with the awful wild weather in the Northern Hemisphere.




Vicki x


ps  This beautiful blanket pattern didn't have a Ravelry page so I've set one up....You'll find it here

Colourful Week

I've had a colourful week to say the least....colourful in clothing, work, emotion, woolly goodness....and I'm afraid to say language.  An emotional roller coaster is the only way I can describe it.

I'm sure something good will come out of it eventually....Don't you have to sift through the s**t to find the good stuff?

Anyway, I put away the hat orders last night for some lovely calming crochet....something else that's colourful.  A new baby blanket commission.  African flowers.  It doesn't have to be ready till next March, but it was just nice to come home from work yesterday and just let my brain wander with colour and creativity....sometimes you just need that sort of stuff.

I've put my first couple of squares up on Ravelry.  I'll keep you updated with its progress.

Hope your week has been better than mine.

Time.....

I never had the intention of being away for so long, but time has just gotten away.  So to condense down what could be a long post, here's a little of what I've been up to since I've been away.....Knitting orders (nothing new there!!), lost 4.7 kilos in weight, celebrated my 46th birthday, got a small promotion at work, successfully grown chives, mint and parsley whilst still avoiding those pesky possums.  Purchased all the goodies to start a balcony vegetable garden.  Saw a few movies, About time...worst movie I've ever seen, Diana, second worst movie I've ever seen, Captain Phillips and Prisoner, two of the better movies I've seen. Also went to Gold Class cinema for the first time. Internet shopping from The Fat Quarter Shop, buying pre-cut squares for Christmas break quilting time.   Planning another blanket even though I haven't finished the one I'm crocheting now and just spending some time reacquainting myself with the outdoors and embracing the beautiful Melbourne sunshine.

Hope you're all well,

Two Rows in Two Months.

I finally finished my second row of my block coloured hexie yesterday.   We had the most horrendous winds blowing last night that damaged a lot of houses, saw the power go out to over 50,000 homes, closed the airport etc etc.....I can't knit when it's stormy for some reason, I find crochet more of a comfort.   So with the TV on loud to block out the noise of the rattling windows and the crashing waves of the bay, I crocheted lots of hexies.

I'm setting myself a Christmas target for this blanket, so 20 more rows in 12 weeks.  Achievable, what do you think?

Cheers,

Quilts and Woolly Blankets.....

There really is something quite comforting about a pile of quilts and blankets.  The organic merino hexie is on its way to its new owner in Adelaide.

One day I'll have a big stash of woolly blankets to call my own.

Just When You Thought......

I bet you were all thinking.....she hasn't done another blanket.  Well I have!!  Still unblocked, hexie with straight edging, and a custom order.

As I type this blanket is on the blocking board.  I was a bit iffy about the border on this one.  Unlike the two other hexie blankets I've done with my invented straight border, here and here.  I decided I didn't want little flecks of colour in the border so I had to be a bit inventive again....In the end I went with a HDC border with a little wavy edging.  Once it's all stretched out, a little relaxed and all soft and drapey I might be a bit happier with it.....but it's bright and colourful and that is the main thing.

I'll pop up some more images when I'm done.

Hope you're all well.

Going To The Show......

Its been many years since I've been to the Royal Melbourne Show.  Originally an agricultural show, but over the years commercialism has taken over and now it's more about the rides and the show bags, and less about the animals, farm produce and craft.  Every time I go back to the show, I still get that nostalgia hit from memories of traipsing around the showgrounds with Mum, my sister and my brother during the September school holidays around 40 years ago.

My aim is to always spend most of the time looking at the awards for knitting, crochet, sewing and all the other craft and hobby competitions.....I'm going to be honest and say I sometimes wonder what the judges look at when awarding prizes for wool and fabric based competitions.  Some of the decisions rendered me speechless, and not always in a good way, but who am I to judge, the amount of work on all pieces is really priceless and unfortunately prize less in a lot of cases.

I also love looking at the awards for baking....cakes, scones, slices, biscuits then the making of preserves and sauces, always a lot of fun.....and then the cake decorating, it's all there to be viewed.  

No trip to the show in my mind isn't complete without a visit to the Country Women's Association as well as a look at the animals, my favourite bit of the show.  The dog competitions, with shades of "Best in Show", the absolute precision cutting of sheep fleece for judging.....the absolute boredom on the faces of most of the cattle, and the swishing tale of a rag tail cat, who was just getting a bit fed up with the constant petting.  The overfed, lambs and goats wandering around the nursery animal shed, all these things along with the colour and the spectacle of the show, make it an enjoyable day......but I will say,  I'm done for at least another 5 or so years!!

 


Enjoy,