Back on it! The shawl...

You have probably noticed that I've been lacking in crafting motivation this past year or so.  Aside from my regular silversmithing class and the various workshops I've taken, I've hardly crafted at all.  Suddenly, that all changed!  In the past 8 days I've completed 6 projects, mostly old ones.  I was feeling ill and took a few days off work and just felt like sewing and crocheting and making.  So, I have a load of blog posts to write!  I'll space them out though, just in case I lose my mojo again (please, please, please don't let that happen).  

So, the second finish was a project I started in December last year, you can see the post here if you like.

This is the Sunny Day Shawl (free pattern) which I hooked up in Stylecraft DK yarn.  I used grey, turquoise and green though I don't know how I came to this conclusion as the pattern actually calls for 6 colours!

In these photos it hasn't been blocked, and, to be honest, I'm not sure I'll bother!  I'm sure it would look amazing - especially the picots on the last 2 rows, but I'm lazy.  By the way, I took the photos on my craft room floor, what a fab background!

Due to the way it's designed, the rows get longer and longer and loooooooonger as you progress.  It was taking me a couple of hours per row by the end.  I did enjoy it though.

I love the pattern and the way it changes part way down the grey.

and look at those curly ends!  It's been wrapped around my shoulders already thanks to the chilly weather that's descended on the UK.  I may need to make a shawl pin to hold it in place as it did dip in the washing up at one point!

I have really missed making stuff.  So happy to be back at it.

Continuing the shawl

I've been making the Sunny Day Shawl for aaaaaaaaaaages.  I bought some grey Stylecraft Special DK for the main body, and a ball of turquoise and green for the accents.  I misread the pattern and should have had more colours than that!  Ah well.

I'm on the last but one row, then there's some blocking to do before it's FINALLY finished.  Just in time for autumn though.  I went camping at the end of August (don't ask, and no, I'm not convinced I'd do it again) and wanted a small project to take with me.  I also, as usual, thought I'd get LOADS done.  Of course I didn't.

It's going to be this amazing Persian Tiles blanket.  It will be identical to the one in the link as I bought the kiut.

As the kit comes with lots of balls, I thought I'd better do some winding, so I got my winder out.  It's pretty good, except the metal guide falls down so you have to hold it up, that's a bit annoying.  

These are 100g balls.  I think the winder makes cakes for 50g balls.  The cream one at the back was a whole ball wound!  I learnt my lesson after that and the others are half a ball, or approximately half a ball as you can see they vary!

After I've finished the shawl, I'll get going on this one.  So expect to see the finished blanket approximately 2029.

lazy crafting

So, I have a new friend 😳.  He likes sloths.  Perusing Pinterest for absolutely no reason at all (probably procrastinating the housework), I came across this free pattern at The Twisted Crocheter for the cutest little sloth you've ever seen.  Go and have a look.  Seriously, mine doesn't look anything like that one!

I found the pattern at lunchtime, printed it out and that night crocheted all the pieces whilst gossiping with a friend.  I used some yarn I had to hand and I think perhaps it was too chunky - sort of an aran weight.  I didn't think it would be a problem as I used the size hook recommended in the pattern.  It turned out huge!

I spent part of the next two lunchtimes sewing him up and adding the embroidery.  His legs and arms don't stick out to the front as I think they should!

Nor does he wrap round my thumb as he does on the photos on the blog post and pattern.  I cut a thin slice of velcro and sewed the hook part to one of his arms so he will cling on.

I'm pretty sure my new friend thinks I'm a weirdo, but he didn't say that to me!  He seemed to be quite pleased with it and he hasn't ditched me yet!

crochet shawl - a new start

Hello!  I've dropped by to show you the shawl I have started crocheting.  I took the photos last night and I'm now typing away on my work laptop... and I realise I have neither a link to the pattern nor the details of the yarn used!  I will let you know on the next post about this shawl!

Whilst I was struggling with my broken shoulder, a friend lent me a shawl to put around my shoulders when I was cold as putting on a jumper was difficult.  I loved that shawl.  I did, reluctantly, give it back to her when I could take my arm out of my sling, and I immediately started crocheting one of my own.

I did quite a bit before it stalled.  I'm not sure why it's stalled... decorating probably!  This is definitely going to need blocking when I've finished!

It's a really pretty 4-row repeat which is quite easy to learn.  The pattern starts at the top and so each row gets progressively longer.  I'm going to take this in the car with me tomorrow as I'm heading down to see my brother and nephew with my dad (he's driving, not me!).  It is the first anniversary of losing my wonderful mum, I still can't quite believe it.

Spicier blanket... again

After proudly telling you about the blanket I'd started whilst broken-armed, I went home, prepared to work on it more and discovered something...

See that?  It's wavy.  Frilly even.  I have no idea how that happened, I'd been carefully checking it as I went along to make sure this didn't happen!

After ripping back a couple of rows, I realised that it starts a long way down, see the picture above...  I'm not ripping all that back, it's a blanket after all, not a work of art.  I'll try and crochet the next rows a bit tighter and use a DK yarn, maybe I can switch to my DK stash instead...

I blame old age.  I turned 40 just over a week ago.  I had the best weekend ever and I got the most fantastic present - a kiln!  Probably not the best timing as I'm also renovating the dining room where it will live, and I need to get some supplies, but hold tight for some kiln experiments coming soon!

Spicier Life blanket

Hello everyone, after a much longer break than anticipated, I'm back!  It turns out that breaking your shoulder (particularly if you do it in 3 places) is a really daft idea and takes forever to heal!  I'm not completely better, I have no strength whatsoever in my right arm (luckily I'm left-handed) and don't have a full range of movement, but I'm getting back into life again.  Going out and renovating my house have both resumed (OK, full disclosure, I went out partying several times with my arm in a sling!), and a small start has begun on crafting.

The first thing I felt up to doing was crochet.  I crochet right-handed as it was much easier to learn that way, but it does mean that unlike most crocheters, I pretty much hold the hook still in my right hand and use my left hand to wrap and pull.  Good when you've broken your right shoulder though!

On a whim, I decided to join in with the Spicier Life CAL at Cherry Heart.  I think I joined in on week 2, but all 6 parts and the border have now been released!  I don't care that I'm behind, and even with a fully-healthy arm I doubt I would have been able to keep up with schedule as there were a lot of rows each week.

This is where I am after week 1.  As you can see, I am making an effort to weave in the ends as I go otherwise it would be a daunting task - plus the ends get in the way.  I didn't buy one of the special yarn packs, I didn't buy any yarn at all.  I have tons of the stuff, full balls, partial balls, donated balls...  I had to decide which weight - DK or Aran and, thinking I had more Aran than I do, I chose that.  Unfortunately I don't have that much and so am using some DK too, it just means a bit of stitch adjustment.  I don't really care about the colour palette, my aim is to use some of this yarn up as I am drowning in it!

I'm not sure how regularly I'll be blogging just yet, I've got a horrible cold and cough, so I'm resting a lot, and renovating the house is taking priority as I lost 3 key months over summer... I should have 4 rooms finished by now!  I did attend a class (yes, with a broken shoulder!) and will blog about that soon.  

baby blanket

A lovely colleague should be having her baby boy around now.... push Carol, push!  I had to make her a present and settled on a baby blanket.  I'd bought some balls of Whisper White yarn a while ago, but never got round to using it so this seemed the ticket.  It's a lovely soft Merino yarn and is in a shade of bluish-white so seemed perfect, especially as I began it before I found out the sex of the baby!

I used a pattern from Cute and Easy Crochet by Nicki Trench.  It's a very simple ripple pattern and I enjoyed it.

These photos were taken whilst it was being blocked.  I finished it on Monday night and was blocking it around 10.30, way past my bed time!  Having to give it to her on the Friday, I knew I didn't have any other chance to get daylight pictures so I took these on the Tuesday when I had a day off (craft class - coming up!).

I started it back in November, plenty of time!  Then I didn't work on it again until February.  Unfortunately, although I remembered how much I like to crochet, and although I liked the pattern and the yarn, it hurt my hands and I could only do a couple of rows at a time so it took forever!

I'm not sure it is big enough so I'm hoping she has a little baby!

more purple squares

Slowly, slowly, very slowly I'm still crocheting squares for the rainbow sampler blanket that might never be.  I'm going to make you look at them anyway.  No!  Don't skip this post, you'll love it.  Promise.

All squares are from 200 Crochet blocks by Jan Eaton.

#173 Big Round - this one is pretty dense in the centre.  I know I'm casting aspersions on its character there, but it is.  Dense and then airy...

#62 Edged Square - this rather pants photo is courtesy of Photobucket who no longer makes photo editing possible as it flips the photo upside down, you crop where you think it should be on the correct-way-up photo and wait for it to flip the photo back and crop it.  Yeah, great gimmick Photobucket.

That's all for now.  Did you love it?  No, I lied.

Purple squares

I've been slowly working my way through 200 Crochet blocks by Jan Eaton, making squares for a possibly rainbow sampler blanket that I have in the back of my mind.  I still haven't got round to looking for the older ones I think I made a while back... I'm slowly sorting out my craft room so hopefully they'll come to light but that room is like a bottomless pit so who knows!

This is #3 Square Target, the colours are RUBBISH.  I just couldn't capture them properly and this turned out to be the last photo shoot of my camera's life so I think it was dying at this point.

#64 Sunshine Lace needs a good old block, in fact they all do, but this one is particularly curvy - tension issues?

I've still got a long way to go to work my way through the book, and then I should start on the 72 million squares that I've pinned...

crochet squares

Remember I said I was going to whip up various granny squares using my odds and ends of yarn?  I have managed to make one more, though I'm hardly the hive of production I thought I might be!

This is number #89 Spinner from 200 Crochet blocks by Jan Eaton.  I fear I will need more than 3 to make a complete sampler blanket so I really should get on with this!

A half-baked notion

The morning of my birthday, last month, I had the urge to crochet whilst waiting for Mr CA to get ready to take me to Jamie's Italian.  I was dressed and ready, just waiting for him which is always the way in our house.  I picked up 200 Crochet blocks by Jan Eaton and started working on a square.

This is no 197 - Fretwork.

As I was crocheting I came up with a half-baked notion of making a sampler blanket, using my stash of left-over oddments and this book.  A blanket made up of each square in the book, and maybe some more from other books or the internet.  

Later that week no 16 - Waterlily was born.  This is left overs from the wrist warmers I posted earlier in the week.

I'm not sure if my half-baked notion will come to fruition, but I might just keep crocheting a square as and when I feel like it and see what happens.  It will be a rainbow blanket, out of necessity, so I think if I keep the colours similar within squares (and add neutrals apparently), it should work out.  We will see.  Or not.

edited to add.  As I was adding the tag to this post, I saw there is already a tag for "granny sampler blanket".  It would appear this is not a new half-baked notion.  I have a vague memory of some other blocks from this book.... I'm off to investigate.

Wrist warmers

Guess what I made?  Yes, some wrist warmers!  When I get in my car in the winter, the steering wheel is always cold to the touch.  I could wear gloves but.... ladies and gentlemen, I know this always comes as a shock... I'm a smoker and you can't smoke in gloves.

Enter the wrist warmer...

The little holes are for my thumbs and I don't do all those buttons up every time I put them on, I just slip them on.  I used this free pattern by Sandra Paul of Cherry Heart and it worked out great.

I used the only buttons I could find a set of, which was these mismatched painted ones.  They don't match, but they do sort of go together.  I'm not sure I like them on these wrist warmers, but they're covered by my coat sleeve anyway.

I'd love to tell you what yarn I used to crochet these, but I honestly can't remember.  I do know it was superwash, so I can put them in the wash.  I make a point of never having a photo of me on my blog as I hate photos of myself, so this is all you will see of me.  Don't I have odd thumbs?


p.s. comments about how I should quit smoking are not welcome!  I am fully aware of the dangers and what it does to me, but right now, with my mental health the way it is, it's not the right time to put myself through quitting.

dish cloths

Whilst at the Manor House, I took some crocheting to do in the evenings.  I needed a couple of new dishcloths and thought I'd try some different patterns.  I started off with this free tutorial at Mellie Blossoms for a zig zag dish cloth.  Check out all the ends you end up with to weave in!

I added the round bit so I can hang it off my tap as I love this feature in my existing dishcloths.  I have no idea why it turned out diamond shape and not square!

As you can see, it's a one-sided pattern, but hey, it's a dishcloth, who cares if it's got a back!

Next I moved onto this tartan washcloth tutorial at Happy Berry.  I used cotton yarn for both dishcloths as it dries quite quickly and I can throw them in the washing machine at 60 degrees with my towels and socks.

I love the way this turned out but it's huge!  I should have scaled it down to make a dishcloth.  Again, I added the circle bit to hang it up.

The pattern is created by slip stitching into the front of the cloth when it's finished, that was a new technique for me and very effective.  I'm not sure what it's called, slip stitch crochet?  Tapestry crochet?  I'm not sure.

This photo shows how it looks from the back - not so neat.

Right, I'm off to wash the rabbit bowls out with one of my new dishcloths!  (No, it doesn't make the job any more interesting... but they're pretty!)

bunny 27

Yep, I've been making more bunnies.  This time I made ballerina bunny from   (that's an affiliate link, if you click over and buy something, I get a few pence towards a voucher.  I am not affiliated with the author or the book, I just own a copy (which I bought)).

I have a real knack of making dorky looking amigurumi!  I think I need to get some of the plain black safety eyes as these googly ones are a bit too comical.

Ballerina bunny didn't want me to show you her bum, but I wanted to show you that she doesn't have a tail.  There wasn't one in the pattern and as I messed up baby bunny's tail, I left it off.

She's bigger than her brother, which makes sense as he's Baby Bunny and she must be older as babies don't do ballet.

Aaaaah, sibling love.

Related posts

bunnies 1, 2 and 3
bunny 4
bunnies 5, 6, 7 and 8
bunny 9
bunny 10
bunny 11
bunny 12
bunny 13
bunnies 14 and 15
bunny 16
bunny 17
bunny 18
bunny 19
bunny 20
bunnies 21 and 22
bunny 23
bunnies 24 and 25
bunny 26


Craft Book Sew along

What have I been up to?

Not blogging, that's for sure!  I'm struggling to get back in the rhythm of it, bear with me...

There has been some craft going on though.

A bit of this:

A smattering of this:

A dose of this:

A handful of this:

A smidgin of this:

A soupçon of this:

And a LOT of this:

You know me, attention span of a gnat... maybe my word for '14 should be "focus"!

Secret Santa

It's Saturday, I've finished all my Christmas shopping and all my obligational makes.  So I'm free.  I decided to do some sewing.  I went up to my sewing room.  An hour later I came downstairs having had a right good tidy up and rearrange!  Now I'm failing to make anything again!

I don't have much to show you.  I'd got tons to show you and in my wisdom was posting every day, I really shouldn't have as now I've run out of stuff!

There's just this...

This is very hard to make out as it's crocheted in black yarn.  It's a bear hat.  An adult bear hat.  For a man.  We had our team's Secret Santa on Wednesday and I picked out the name of one of the loveliest blokes on the planet.  He's a really good sport and every year everyone eagerly awaits his Christmas jumpers, hand appliqued by his wife!  Clearly I needed an item of clothing to make him look daft!  I didn't use a pattern, just crocheted an adult sized hat and added ears.

I couldn't leave it there though.  He had to have a Christmassy hat.  Ta dah!  I really hope you know what this is... everyone in the office did.  He was delighted and put it on straight away, then wore it on and off all afternoon. Sadly our office is about as hot as hell, so he couldn't wear it all the time.

I made the pattern up, alternating between white and brown yarn to make the cream pouring down the sides.  The berry is a pompom and the leaves are crocheted following a free pattern by Lucy at Attic24.  

I think I'm in love.  Is it possible to be in love with a Christmas pudding hat?

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