Little 'Nanna' Blanket

I'm still hard at work on the sweetie squares and I have some more to show but it's been quite dark here with the snow and not really photograph-taking weather!

We've had a goodly amount of snow here recently-most of it on Friday night and the heating has been working overtime to keep us nice and snug.  Our beds are piled high with the winter duvets and extra blankets and Myf of course has two hot water bottles (one for her feet bless!).

Myf and I were talking about how very cold weather affects different people-mainly the very young and the elderly.  Her Great-Grandmother (on her father's side) is in her early 90's now and has always been very active but naturally, these past few years she's been slowing down.  Myf worries that she gets cold, especially in the evening when she knits so I asked her whether she would like me to make her Nanna a little lap blanket.

So Myf picked the colours (we kept it simple) and I came up with a basic layout.  Apologies for the photo quality, we didn't want to wait for a brighter photo day as we want to post it ASAP!

The central square is a 'Sunburst Square' from this page and Myf made the chain stitch pieces that spell out 'Nanna' across the top (I asked whether that was how she spells it and apparently they use 3 N's)  She's getting the knack of chain stitching now, soon I'll have her making squares!

The squares surrounding the central square are from this pattern here.  It's called a 'Wagon Wheel' square but Myf has decided it should be called a 'Cartwheel' square that I think sounds much better!
Around the outside are 'Granny Flower Squares' designed by the amazing Debi Y and the pattern is here on her amazing blog.  She designs wonderful patterns and the instructions are so easy to follow-I've used many of her square patterns, they're fantastic!

For the border, Myf decided a pale lemon/yellow would be nice and I added the beige/brown.  I've tried something a bit different with the border-I'm not sure if you can see it in the photo but I've attempted a zig-zag effect with 2dc, ch2, 2dc, ch1 in each space and 2dc, ch2, 2dc, ch3, 2dc, ch2, 2dc, ch1 in the corners.  I couldn't find the actual pattern or tutorial that I'm positive was here on this blog (this blog is wonderful!) but I'm fairly sure this is close to that pattern.

I made a little care label and made a flower to attach it with from the fabulous 'Crochet 'Bouquet' book-

Myf wrote a little letter for her Nanna and I slipped a little card in too-I'm posting the package tomorrow, hopefully it'll arrive over the weekend!

Sweet Dreams Blanket

My first main project for this year is, of course, a blanket!  It feels like ages since I've really been able to have fun with colours.  I'm about a third of the way through the squares and I am having an absolute blast!

There's a lady who used to run the local bookshop-they had to downsize but now her husband runs a large book stall in the indoor market and she runs the sweet shop opposite.  I've known her for nearly 8 years and she's a fantastic lady.  She listens to my unhappy rants and has always been so kind to Myf and myself and this year I wanted to make her a thank you gift.

So I'm inspired by sweets for this blanket-which of course means I need to do 'research' :-)

So, I'm using mostly pale colours for background and then playing with crochet to form the sweets-

Not all the squares will have sweet-shapes on them.  I'm alternating with squares that are colour-inspired by sweets:

I'm not using a lot of dark colours in this blanket-it's going to be bright and beautiful :-)

Outside Kathy's sweet stall, she has two pillars that are pale pink and pale green candy stripe so I'm using that as inspiration for the long sides of the blanket.  I love diagonal squares!

I'm really excited for this blanket-Myf is loving the theme so much she wants a smaller one for herself too :-) She's been suggesting ideas as well so it's a great collaboration!

I'll try to take photos as I go-it'd be nice to show the process of making a blanket as I really have a lot of fun doing it :-)

Crafty plans for 2013

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I'm feeling very optimistic about this year-there's so many projects I want to do and gifts I want to make so I figure I need to make a list!  So here it is-my 2013 to-do list :-)

The sofas we have have been scratched up a lot by the cat and the cushion covers are falling apart so they need some work-

Arm rest covers (4)
Cushion covers (4)

I'm going to be seeding some herbs in the spring but the pots tend to look messy

Crochet plant pot covers

Myf has a lot of pencils and pens that I keep 'tidying' into jars

Jam jar covers!

Christmas 2012 was completely handcrafted giftwise and I'm hoping to do the same again for Christmas 2013!  Hopefully, I can start a little earlier this year :-)

HANDCRAFTED CHRISTMAS!


I have some ideas for Pagan crochet projects-which I want to start exploring this year

Tarot bags
Elemental candle holders
Goddess/God dolls


I'm working on a donation for the amazing SIBOL project and I'm looking for more crochet causes to donate to-I love making blankets and I'm going to donate at least one to SIBOL this year and at least one to another charity.  Any suggestions for UK based charities that accept blankets?  I'd like to be able to donate to the US and other places but frankly with the cost of postage, I can't manage it!

It's not a very big list but I may add more as I think of them!  So excited already :-)

2012 In Crafting and Crochet (lots of photos)

Last year I did only a handful of posts-most of which were blankets :-)  This year has been so crafty for me-there's been blankets-

There's been a new camera so much better pictures of more blankets!

There's been an attempt at an amigurumi bear

Crochet cosiness in the form of hats, scarves and hot water bottle covers

 Ponchos too!

There's been a little bit of pyrography

A few banners :-)

Games and gifts :-)

I wonder if I can top this in 2013!  It's going to be fun finding out :-)

Bits and bobs baskets

Myf has been away with her dad for Christmas and should be back in about an hour :-)  I've missed her terribly-she's not been very well either so I can't wait to have her home and wrap her up in cuddles.

The items I made for the sisters exchange were little baskets for keeping useful odds and ends in.  I know that to crochet baskets, you really should use a thick, sturdy yarn and crochet tightly but I wanted to see what would happen if you reinforced it with wire as you crochet.

It's a bit fiddly-I suppose it's like using a padding yarn or crocheting over an end: you give the wire a basic shape (in this case, circular) and hold it on the top and crochet over it.  The worst part is trying to make sure there are no sharp edge poking out.  Plus there's the difficulty of keeping a decent shape.

Thea's:

There's a little one inside the bigger one :-)

Jessica's:

We are using a practise one here to keep Myf's inhalers in-but I think I'll try to make another using a stiff twine and see what kind of results I can get :-)


It's been a really crafty year for me!  I've started another blanket-simply because I love them so much and I have a really fun idea I want to try out :-)

If I don't manage to be crafty again before the New Year, may the end of 2012 take your regrets with it and may the start of 2013 herald a new beginning for us all!

Cushions and covers :-)

My sisters and I were planning to do a gift exchange in September/October but we all had a lot going on, especially in the run up to Christmas!  So Thea suggested adding them to the Yule presents-which was a relief as I'd had trouble thinking of useful things to make (Useful household things was the theme I think)
The main items I made were cushion covers-yet another excuse to play with granny squares but how can I refuse when there's so much a granny square can do?
Thea's cushion cover:

Side 1

Side 2

I've been having fun playing with diagonal squares

Not sure what to call it when you change colour along the diagonal?  I like the different combinations and effects you can make with them :-)

For Jess

Side 1

Side 2

Side 2 is completely diagonal squares arranged to form a pattern that reminds me of an American Patchwork Quilt:-)

I'm no good with zips so I used buttons for closing

Hope they liked them!