One week to Christmas

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I've been so terrible at posting. Weeks are just flying by. The Christmas crafting is going well. Detailed posts will follow but here's a little summary.

3 Scarfs, 1 cafetiere cosy, 3 tea cosies and 4 stockings completed. I have a bean bag cover left to sew, a tea cosy and a few more stockings left to finish.

I hope everyone's Christmas crafting is going well. Looking forward to checking out all my favorite bloggers to see what crafty goodness they've come up with this year.

Until next time, happy crocheting x

Zig zag tea cosy

Hello there,

I just finished a second zig zag/ripple tea cosy, same pattern as previous post(just jenn designs). I used a flower on top to decorate and can't decide to put a button in the center or not. Any feedback greatly appreciated.

I'm now in full christmas crafting mode, 3 tea cosies complete. I've 3 more to do, 1 cafetiere cosy, 2 scarfs, a couple of assorted felt decorations and probably more to do once I've those finished. Whether there'll be enough hours in the day to do all this remains to be seen, watch this space.

Hope your all having a lovely weekend. Happy Crocheting, x

Tuesday tallies

Hi everyone,

its been awhile since I last posted but I have finally managed to get my granny stripe blanket finished. It's nice to have a snuggle blanket for the winter. It took approx 3 x 100g balls of each of the 17 shades. I bought the yarn in packs from deramore website. It's the stylecraft special DK pack. The finished size of the blanket fits a double bed.

I also finished the zigzag tea cosy I started way back in my last post.

Looking forward to catching up with everyone's progress on gingerbread girls blog.

Until next time,
Happy crocheting x

One a day update

Hi Everyone,

Well I'm a week and a bit behind in posting. I'd noticed everyone was being struck down by nasty bugs and flu's but thought I was escaping. I didn't. Hubby got sick first, then little dude and finally me. What a rotten dose.

Most importantly though one a day is going well. I have 83 rows done now and i'm onto the third rotation of colours. I really love this blanket because it requires no concentration and i can pick it up and do a few stitches whenever i have a minute.

I had to buy another 2 packs of the stylecraft yarn to keep the project going as i was going to run out of some colours, shock horror. Luckily I had a discount code for 15% off so that took a bit of a sting out of the purchase. Hubby very kindly purchased it for me too. I know he was feeling sorry for me in my sick state, plus i burnt my arm over the steamer when i was cooking dinner and then had a picture fall on my other arm when cleaning the bookcase. I may have informed him of all these ailments more than once. Of course I wasn't complaining though :)

Here's a pic of my progress. Sorry the photo isn't great. My phone is a stone age nokia and thats the only camera I had access too.

 

I have to finish the zigzag tea cosy this week too. I just needed some buttons, which is where my mom comes in. My mom works in my grandparents shop. It used to have a very large haberdashery department but when granny retired that department retired too. Recently we've been trying to build it back up again. Anyway there is a massive stand of buttons and some are old, very old, older than me. We'll use the term vintage. Mom very kindly packed up a bag of them and sent them down to me. She sees them as a bit of a thorn in her side but i was so excited when i opened the package. I love them and have picked a few that will go perfectly on the tea cosy so no more excuses, tea cosy you will get finished.

I hope everyone elses progress is going well.  

Until next time, 

Happy Crocheting, x

Tuesday Tallies - On Wednesday, oopsie

Hi Everyone,

I started my new one a day project. Its a granny stripe blanket using Stylecraft DK, colour combination and pattern from Lucy at Attic 24. Progress is going well. I needed to pick a project that I had the yarn for and that wouldn't require huge amounts of concentration. Time is precious so I needed to have a project that could be picked up without ten minutes figuring out where I was when I last put it down. This is perfect for that. I have all the yarn bands numbered in their order so its just a case of reach into the stash, grab the colour change and continue. That's as complicated as it gets.

I started last Wednesday so i'm exactly a week at it. I started with 240ch and I plan to continue in length until it is roughly a square. I have each colour done once and there's 17 colours in all, 2 rows in each stripe so that's a total of 34 rows this week. I know each week won't be as good as this but i'm hoping that i'll get a colour a day(2rows) done.

I hope everyone else is getting on well. I don't think Gingerbread Girl has posted this week so if she hasn't everyone's progress can be checked out on the groups Ravelry page.

I mentioned yesterday that I'm giving my All About Granny Blanket to my aunt. She's been very good to us and i'm glad its going to a good home. I hope she'll get the use out of it. Here she is all wrapped up and ready to go.

Until next time,

Happy Crocheting, x

Surprise Parcels

Hi Everyone,

Its official, I have the best husband in the world ever. I am so so so lucky. This morning the postman arrived with not one but two surprise parcels. One was a beautiful pair of stud earrings. I had recently lost one of my studs and had been switching my remaining stud between ears to stop them closing up.

The second parcel though is the one I am most excited about. It is the All Sewn Up book by Chloe Owens. I saw a review of it recently and I had shown a photo of the owl cushion to my husband. It looked like a beautiful book and got a great review so I put the reference in my Amazon wishlist and thought no more off it till this morning when I opened my second parcel.

I thought I would burst with excitement when I started going through the book. It is absolutely stunning and inspiring. I could not put it down. From the first pattern to the last, they are all patterns I would try. I think I'm going to start with the Springtime Showers Mobile. I'm also going to do the Customised Lampshade Covers because I have three plain cream lampshades around the house and it would be nice to have a burst of colour on them. Not too mention trying the Owl Cushion. I have the kid in a candy store feeling where I don't really know what to do first.

All this reading is making me neglect my granny stripe blanket but I have the 7 rows done for the week so I'm happy. More on that tomorrow on Tuesday Tallies. Oh and I decided I'm going to give my All about Granny blanket to my Aunt as a present. She's always very good to us and I know she'll like it. I want it to go to a good home where it will get use and I'm sure it will there.

Hope you all had a good weekend. See you tomorrow for One a Day.

Happy Crafting, x

Horray for Friday

Hi Everyone,

Hope you all had a good week. Things are good here. Enjoying time with my little man so not getting much done. Sorry I didn't post for the one a day. I was trying to pick my next project. I made myself a promise that everything I make this year has to be able to be entered into the agricultural shows crafts section during the summer. Having that said though I always have an overwhelming urge to make blankets, which I could enter but they rarely win. So I decided the heart must win out over the head. Therefore I've began another blanket for the one a day. I picked Lucy's Granny Stripe Blanket from Attic24 because I had the yarn and it was a pattern that I could remember easily.

I began it on Wednesday and I love it already. It's easy to follow and I don't have to spend 10 minutes trying to remember where I was when I pick it up. Just what I need at the moment.

I do have a little confession though. I justified picking this pattern because I had the yarn but I had been using some of the yarn for other projects so I may have to buy more, oops :)

I will definitely do the hexagon blanket after this one, I just needed something that didn't require alot of concentration now.

I'm still working on the tea cosy I started 2 weeks ago. I worked up both sides in a day, I just have buttons to finish it off so its sitting WIP pile. Oh and it still needs to be blocked.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Happy Crocheting, x

Ta-Dah - Finaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyy

Hi Everyone,

All about Granny is finally finished. Well it would have been finished months ago if I hadn't been so slow, picked a regular join and had calculated yarn amounts correctly. Anyway its finished now and i'm relieved.

I did a granny stripe around the edge and then a final row to edge it. For that I did a 6tr together in a chain space (like a scallop) then 1ch and a slip stitch in the next ch sp and repeated it around. (6tr, 1ch, sl st, 1ch, rep to end).

It's very snug but very droopy if that makes sense. The yarn was a wool blend and very soft so I probably should have used a smaller hook if I wanted a tighter stitch and more rigid finish. The main thing is though is that its snug and warm which is what is needed on a cold winters night.

So now its time to decide on the next project. I started a tea cosy Friday which I'll finish while I decide what to do next. Maybe some cushions would be nice.

How are you all getting on? I'm looking forward to checking out everyone's progress over at Gingerbread Girl.

Have a good week.

Happy Crocheting, x

Happy Friday Everyone

Hi Everyone,

Happy Friday. I hope you have had a lovely week. Recently I've had a busy time, like so many of you out there, with lots of worries. I really try to be positive. Its so refreshing to enter blog land and find so many inspirational and talented people that very kindly share all their work with us. It definitely brightens up my day.

I was a little fed up with sewing in ends this morning so I decided to look up tea cosies. I found a beautiful pattern and blog from Jenny in Australia. Her blog is called JustJen - Knits & Stitches, link here.

I found her ripple tea cosy pattern, this is Jenny's picture above of her finished cosy. It is just beautiful, I LOVE it.

I've eagerly dug into the stash and pulled out some nice bright stylecraft yarn. I'm very excited to get it started and its definitely brightened up my day. Hopefully I'll have some more tea cosy goodness to share very soon :)

Have a great weekend.

Happy Crocheting, x

Tea Cosy Love

Hi Everyone,

I hope your all having a good week. I was delighted to be awarded the Versatile Blogger Award by two more lovely bloggers, Judy at Vintage Homespun and Jill at Stocki. Thank you very much to both of you, I really enjoy reading your blogs and i'm delighted that you both enjoy my blog. Its been a hectic week so far with hospital appointments for Ben but i'll try before long to think up some more random bits about myself and pass on the award to some more favourite blogs.

Once again I missed Tuesday Tallies on the One a Day. I'm still sewing in those pesky ends but i'm sooooooooooooo close to being finished.

I did finally finish a tea cosy I was making from the book Cute and Easy Crochet so I'm delighted to have a little ta-dah moment for the week. I love tea cosies, tea just tastes so much better from a tea cosy snuggled tea pot :)

This is the second tea cosy i've crocheted. I also crocheted a tea cosy from Crochet with Raymonds blog. I love both of them and I found both of them easy to make so would definitely recommend them. The tutorial for Crochet with Raymond is here.

This week was my husbands birthday so I made his favourite Lemon tart and Chocolate cake. I'll leave with a picture of the chocolate, it was yummy.

Have a great week. Until next time,
Happy Crocheting, x

Versatile Blogger Award

Hi Everyone,

I hope your all having a lovely weekend. I was recently given the Versatile Blogger Award from Kashi at Kashi's Corner. I am delighted to get this award and even more delighted that Kashi and others enjoy reading my blog. I am relatively new to blogging and I love getting to know people with the same interests as me, its an inspiration and really great fun. Thank you Kashi for the award, it means alot to me and I am grateful :)

The rules of the award are:

1. Add the award to your blog;

2. Thank the blogger who gave it to you;

3. Mention 7 random things about yourself;

4. List the rules;

5. Award to 15 bloggers; and 

6. Inform each of those 15 by leaving a comment on their blog.

Hmmmmmm, 7 random things about me, well lets see:

1. I have a phobia of tomato ketchup. I hate it and I can't even touch a plate if its on it, how weird is that :)

2. I burned 2 fingers on my right hand when I was a toddler, I put my hand over a candle and didn't think to take it out, oooopsie

3. I have an honours degree in Chemistry and a Masters Degree in Environmental Science

4. I met my husband when I was 17

5. I really am addicted to books, I just love books especially craft and cook books

6. I LOVE Christmas

7. I love a hot cup of tea first thing in the morning, it sets me up for the day

Now to pick 15 bloggers to give the award too, this will be tough because I love Kashi's blog and her list, alot of them are my favourites too. :  

1. Rose & Dahlia

2. Little Woolie

3. Sew On and Sew On

4. Unravelled

5. Lori Makes

6. Bunny Mummy

7. Coco Rose Diaries

8. Country Rose

9. Crea in the City

10. Ali G Knits

11. Sweet Birdy Love

12. Tales from Cuckoo Land

13. Sew I See

14. Off the Hook on the East Coast

15. Knitspiring Odyssey

I didn't like to overlap my choices so the following blogs are the ones Kashi nominated but I also really enjoy them. They're really worth checking out:

All4Meggymoo, Faith, Hilly Town Blue, Stocki, Vintage Homespun, Little Things Made with Love 

I hope you all have a lovely weekend. 

Happy Crocheting, x

One a Day - I'm baaaaaack

Hi Everyone,

I'm baaaaaack, finally. Sorry its taken me so long to get back on the one a day wagon. I must start with a confession I didn't do one a day. I finally picked up where I left off all those weeks ago when I ran out of cream yarn on Sunday. I finished joining the final line, did a row of cream dc around all the rows and then began a row of granny stripe around that.

Guess what though????? I'm over half way around and don't think i'll have enough cream, AGAIN. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, I knew in my heart when I began the row it'd be a long shot to get it finished and now I've realised it was a silly ambition. Not too worry though I can just rip it out and finish off the blanket with the green and red yarn I have left over. Red and green just happen to be the Mayo colours, which is the county i'm from so i'm very happy to be finishing in those colours.

Hopefully by next week i'll have some good progress to show. For the time being though I will spend my time pondering that age old question, Why, Oh Why did I not sew in ends as I was going along. What was I thinking? I hate sewing in ends. I promised myself i'd be good and keep on top of it but of course I let it go :(

I hope everyone's progress is going well. I'm really looking forward to catching up with everyone over on Gingerbread Girls blog.

Until next time,
Happy Crocheting, x

Beautiful Blogger Blanket 2012

Hi Everyone,

I had a lovely wake up call yesterday morning. The post man arrived with a packet from Deramores. It was the Debbie Bliss Cotton DK yarn I'd ordered so I could enter the Beautiful Blogger Blanket 2012 on Stocki's blog. I think its a brilliant idea and i'm really looking forward to seeing everyone's squares. Check out her blog for information on this project.

I'm using Debbie Bliss Cotton DK, its a 100% cotton. I used colours 13049, 13058, 13055 and 13057. I was delighted when I opened the packet. The colours were yummy, way nicer than I expected. I wish I could buy enough to make a blanket.

I made 6 squares, all granny squares because I love granny squares. The photo of the finished squares below was taken late so the light makes the pink look red. The squares look a lot nicer than the photo shows.

The closing date for finished squares to be in is 31st January. I hope lots of people enter because its a great idea and Jill has put a lot of work into organising this competition. 

Hope everyone's having a happy Tuesday.

Until next time,

Happy Crocheting, x

Happy 2012 everyone

Hi Everyone,

Happy New Year to you all. I'd planned to post last week but it was a busy week with some slight injury. I fell down the stairs with Ben in my arms. Thankfully my back and arm took the force of the fall. Main thing is Ben was ok. My nerves were in bits after, as was my arm. Luckily with some ice packs it returned to its normal size by the weekend and I even managed some crochet over the weekend.

I rarely do new year resolutions. It's my birthday so I never find that starting a diet or the likes with birthday cake and treats all around works and usually by the 2nd any novelty of resolutions have worn off, so I don't make them. This year though I've felt the need for change. I insisted that all the decorations were taken down on the 6th(I have never taken our decorations down on time, one year it was march and last year it was the earliest at the end of january). Its been very mild here and yesterday Ben and I were out for a walk. The birds were singing and it was a beautiful day. I decided that my new years resolution was going to be that I'm not going to be so afraid all the time. Now don't get me wrong I don't live my life cowering in fear but I do care way too much about pleasing others and what others think of me. Crazy isn't it??? So this year I'm not going to bend over backwards to please others, especially ones that constantly let me down, and i'm going to concentrate on my son, my husband and myself and making our life a happy and relaxed one.

Now to crochet, I love it so I plan to do lots more of it. As always I have a queue of projects. I'm really looking forward to getting back to the one a day. 100% cotton yarn arrived this morning so i'm going to get working on that today and enter the beautiful blogger blanket 2012 make it together project on Stocki's blog. This year I want to enter some craft competitions at the local agricultural shows over the summer so i'm trying to plan projects that I can enter.

I also have some finished bits and pieces to show you. I gave some candles as Christmas gifts and so to personalise them I made some doily's for under them. The first was a lavender candle in a triangle shape glass so I made a triangle shaped coaster/doily for underneath using motif #62 from Edie Eckman's book Beyond the Square Crochet Motifs. I added an extra round so it was the right size for the candle. Unfortunately our cat Mr Man(AKA The Destroyer) took offence at the present and knocked it off the table when we were wrapping it and the glass broke so we had to keep it for ourselves.

This is Mr Man, the glass breaking culprit. He likes to help in everything we do as you can see in this photo of him helping me felting.

I also made two doily's for two yankee candles. I made both the same. I used the Granny Mandala tutorial from Crochet with Raymond. I used less rounds and I changed the edging to a row of dc's with a 3ch picot over the chain spaces from the previous round. 

I used Stylecraft Special DK yarn for the doily's.

I hope everyone's new year is off to a great start and I'm looking forward to catching up with all your projects.

Until next time,

Happy Crocheting, x