Catching up...

Hello there...

It's been a busy few weeks here, hence my absence from blog land. I've been posting on Instagram but just haven't been able to find the time to do a proper blog post until now, so I thought I would do a little catch up post...

Although I've been busy I've still made time to crochet...an absolute must for my sanity! I bought a copy of Inside Crochet  magazine a few weeks ago. It was a new to me magazine and I've found that I really like it. I fell in love with the pom pom slippers from issue 71 and have made several pairs! Some for me, for my mum, for a good friend and for Miss M. I'm not done with them yet either...they are so quick and addictive to make...I want to make at least another 4 pairs!! 

I also finished the little starburst baby blanket I was making. I loved making this as I adore starburst squares, they are so pretty and fun to make. I love choosing the colour combinations for each square. This was made with yarn leftover from my colourful granny squares blanket...I love it when I can make a blanket without buying more yarn! I am hoping that the little recipient of this blanket will enjoy using it.

I've got some pretty new craft supplies to use. I'm going to make a skirt for myself with the floral fabric and I'm planning a little stool cover with the pink cotton for Miss M's room. The craft ribbon was a free gift in this months issue of Simply Crochet...I love it and can't wait to use it on some crocheted gifts.

So that's my little catch up! It's set to be another busy week here but I've already scheduled in my crochet time!

Wishing you all a great week.

X

Chunky yarn ❤️

I've been enjoying crocheting with some lovely cosy, chunky yarn recently.  I think as the weather turns cooler it definitely makes you want to make cosy things doesn't it? 

I made a little heart cushion for Miss M in gorgeous Drops Andes yarn. It's really soft and cuddly and she just loves it.  I found the pattern for the heart cushion in a blog called Mon Makes Things (sorry I'm unable to provide a link, I can't seem to do links when blogging from my phone).  It's a great pattern and the cushion is fun to make.  I sort of want one for myself now!

I'm planning to make a chunky scarf or cowl for myself and have started a few different patterns but have pulled them all back, I just can't seem to find one that is right. Maybe at the weekend I'll have time to have more of a play...I hope so as it's getting chilly in the mornings and I really need a new cosy scarf or cowl to wear on the way to work!

I've stocked up on some super chunky Stylecraft Weekender as I'm planning to make some hot water bottle cosies as Christmas gifts again this year.  Last year I used a pattern from Cocorose Diaries (link to her gorgeous blog is in my side bar) and I plan to use the same pattern again as I was so pleased with how they turned out last time. They are so enjoyable to make and seem to be well received as gifts too.

Thank you for the lovely comments on my colourful granny squares blanket...that blanket is certainly getting a lot of use and actually Miss M appears to have claimed it as her own! Of course I have another couple of blankets on the go...more on those soon...and I'm enjoying planning some handmade Christmas presents.

What projects are you enjoying at the moment and have you started any Chritmas crafting yet?!

X

Colourful granny square blanket

I finished my latest blanket last night...and I really, really ❤️ it.

It's just a simple granny square blanket but it was so relaxing to work on a straight forward project in the evenings after work. This only took me a few weeks to make and I have to say that I was sad when it was finished!  

It's a good sized blanket, big enough to wrap around myself and big enough to wrap around my 8 year old daughter at least twice!  It's cosy, cheerful and colourful...can you tell that I really love it?! 

I had a little break from using my usual Stylcraft Special DK which is usually always my first choice for making blankets.  Instead I used mainly James C Brett DK, simply because when I went into my local yarn shop these were the colours I liked best.  I think it was mainly baby yarn.  It was nice yarn to work with, lovely and soft and the colours are great. 

Even better is that I have a fair bit of the yarn in each colour left so I'm planning to make another starburst blanket as I enjoyed making the starburst squares for my island blanket so much.

I don't think I will ever tire of crocheting blankets...I have a couple of baby blankets to make and G has requested that I make him a camping blanket.  So plenty to keep me going for the next few months!

Wishing you all a lovely week.

X

Things that are making me happy...

...working on my latest blanket whilst keeping cosy with the wood burner on...

...flowers always make me happy and these roses are especially pretty...

... I got a new crochet book and I completely love every project in it. It's honestly the nicest crochet book I've seen in a long time. It's called Crochet Home and is written by Emma Lamb. There are so many beautiful projects and I have plans to make several of them! I love the excitement of a new crochet book with lots of inspiration and possibilities...

... A lovely long walk with my family at the weekend. I love Autumn walks...

... I enjoyed some sewing at the weekend and made a couple of simple skirts for myself. I forget how much I enjoy other crafts like sewing as I just want to crochet all the time! It was good to do a little sewing for a change though...

So lots of happy things! What little things have made you happy lately?

Thank you for all the lovely comments lately, I really do appreciate them. I will try to be a little better at answering the questions I get asked...promise!

Wishing you all a lovely week :-)

X

September

A day late! But here's my little round up of September...

❤️  Yarn, notebooks and cosy toes

❤️  A long awaited trip to the Harry Potter studios and Harrogate

❤️  Flowers, baking and up cycling 

❤️  Lots of crochet!

Here's hoping that October will be just as good...

X

Island Blanket

The Island Blanket is finished...and I'm so happy with it!  

I started this blanket whilst we were on our summer holidays to the Isle of Arran. My little family and I all absolutely adore Arran. It's such a beautiful island with so much to do, but it's relaxing at the same time.  We stayed in a lovely little cottage and I was able to make lots of the starburst circles in the evenings whilst we were there. It was so enjoyable to do this while we were all sitting together relaxing at night. 

I loved putting together a little collage of some of our holiday photos so you could see how my colour choices for the blanket were inspired by all the gorgeous colours of this island.

The pattern for the starburst squares is from Jane Brocket's book The Gentle Art of Knitting. A knitting book which also happens to have a couple of crochet patterns!

The yarn used for the circles and cream edging was all Stylecraft Special DK and the main colour was Stylecraft Life DK in mint, which happens to be my favourite yarn shade at the moment. I used a 3.mm hook and made 56 squares in total. It's not a very big blanket...more of a lap size really but that's okay, it didn't really need to be a huge blanket and I can still see this being a favourite in our house.

I think working on a new blanket every summer holiday might be a new tradition for me...I just enjoyed this so much!

Every time I look at this blanket I'm sure I'll be reminded of our holiday on Arran and that's definitely a good thing. 

Wishing you all a lovely weekend.

X

Change of seasons

It's definitely starting to feel like Autumn!  Which is good because it's my favourite season.

We have been picking apples from our tree in the garden and Miss M made an apple crumble on Sarurday night. It was so good!

I have been lighting candles in the evenings which I love to do as it makes the house feel so cosy...I love the little vanilla scented tea lights from Ikea.

The crocheted blankets are back on the beds and it was even chilly enough to use my hot water bottle one night!

I am trying to finish up my Island blanket and a few other crochet projects...all so that I can start new projects! I have a new blanket planned which will be my winter project...I can't wait.

Wishing you all a lovely week :-)

X

August on Instagram

It's been a month full of pastels, flowers, yarn, tea and lots of crochet!

X

A happy little cushion

I decided a couple of weeks ago that quite a few of our cushions in the living room were starting to look a little tired and in need of freshening up.

So, naturally, I thought that I would crochet some pretty new covers! Above is one I finished a few days ago. I love the sunny yellow colour and it really brightens up the sofa. I'm so happy with it and it's had the nod of approval from the rest of the family as well!

I made two solid 12 round granny squares for the front and back pieces and crocheted 3 sides together using double crochet. I left one side open and attached some polka dot buttons so that the cushion cover could be washed - very important in this house! I used a 3.5mm hook and 2 balls of Sirdar Snuggly DK in shade Daisy. The little roses and leaves were made using scraps of DK yarn I had.

The pattern for the solid squares can be found on the wonderful Attic24 blog (link in my side bar) and the pattern for the roses and leaves are from Cute & Easy Crochet with Flowers by Nicki Trench.

I love my new little cushion and have already started on another!

Thank you so much for the suggestions given on my last post. You have given me some fantastic ideas and I can't wait to get started...you really are a fantastic lot...thank you.

X

Recommendations needed...

...for a crochet garment for myself! 

Recently I've been thinking that I would really love to crochet something to wear. Not a scarf or wrist warmers or anything like that, but a cardigan or top.

The thing is...it has to be a simple pattern with minimal sewing up if possible as I tend to find that my sewing up of an item lets me down. I also have around 300g of the pretty pink 4ply yarn you can see in the photo above so it would be great if I could use this up, but that's not absolutely essential.

Has anyone ever made such a garment?! Does such a pattern exist?! If it is does I would be really grateful if anyone could point me in the right direction.

Thank you!

X

Quality time...

...the last few days of the school summer holidays are over and my Miss M goes back to school tomorrow.  We are both quite sad about this - we've had a really nice summer, even though the weather has very rarely been summer like! 

Our baking challenge continues! The first week was a disaster....we made 'Cake in a Jar' and it looked and tasted awful! This week we made a chocolate cake with vanilla icing (which my girl piped on, she loved doing this) which I'm glad to say was so much nicer.

We went to do some ceramic painting which is one of our favourite things to do together.  I painted the little cow you can see in the photo which Miss M has named Daisy - very original! 

We went to see the Kelpies which I loved - they are so impressive! The weather was very cloudy and grey that day but somehow it added to the experience for me and I loved the way the Kelpies looked against the moody sky. On the way home we went to Kelvingrove museum in Glasgow which is one of Miss M's favourite places to go. 

My girl was very keen to do some sewing using the sewing machine and she ended up spending an afternoon making a pile of cute little cushions to give to her friends!

I had a go at some amigurumi this week and made this little cat which Miss M had seen in my Simply Crochet magazine and loved. I have to say...amigurumi is not for me! All that counting! I didn't really enjoy making it to be honest and the poor little cat is quite wonky! But my girl likes it and that's the main thing. I'm just hoping that she won't ask for anymore amigurumi toys...blankets and cushions etc are more my thing!

So back to the usual routine for us tomorrow...but then I've told myself it won't be long until the next school holiday!

Wishing you all a lovely week.

X