My creative space.....finished blanket tadah!!

Hi there.

How's things going for you?  Are you having a good day? Getting much done, or just mooching around like me?

I thought I'd show you what I have been up to crochet wise recently.  I have finished the star stitch uneven stripe blanket. I think I created a new record for myself, this blanket is totally complete, all threads weaved in and edge done, in around 3 weeks!  It was a nice easy crochet pattern that I had fun with, I loved seeing it change with each new colour addition.  Having a drawing of the colour changes really helped in the speed of it I think, there was a lot less procrastination over what colour to do next, I just checked my drawing and off I went!

So anyway, here are a few pictures, it is about cot size I think ( 85cm x125cm approx) and made from 8 ply (DK) 100% fine merino wool from the Colorworks range, such lovely colours, I love using these yarns.

( I am thinking of selling these yarns in my on line shop, what do you reckon?)

It is super warm and cosy, as the star stitch creates a nice dense fabric, not really a 'gappy' pattern at all.

I ended up doing a couple of rows of sc as the edge, just something nice and simlple.

I have already started another one in different colours, I enjoyed making this so much!

If you want to see how to do star stitch, there is a tutorial over here at Crochet Spot that gives you the lowdown.

Ok I think you're probably bored by this by now, so I'll see you later!

Joining in over here today if you want to see what other peeps have been up to.

Around here....

Today I have been trying to give our place a bit of a cleanup. It's well over due.

We are having a BBQ here on Wednesday for Max's birthday, it is Anzac Day, so a public holiday, and we have about 25 people coming.  The plan was to clean up today and cook tomorrow.  

Only thing is I didn't get too far with my cleaning.  I guess our friends and family know me well enough to not expect too much.  I got the lounge room looking good and decobwebbed and vacced and spruced up, and the floors washed, but that was about it.

My crafty space was on the to-do list, it's in need of a big Reorganisation, and you look right in on all my stuff from the lounge room. 

 I just had to take some pretty pictures of all my (half done) makes sitting on the shelf looking so productive, really must try and Finish Off some of these!  Side tracked much, yes that's me.

Ok here it is in need of much love and time.  My problem is that when I start to tidy up I find cool things that I just have to have a go at.

 Right. Now.  Or pretty things that need admiring and dreaming about. 

.....like this ball of sock wool (love the colours) that I want to find a nice hat pattern for, must have a bit of a forage around Ravelry and see what I can find..........

Anyhoo, that's my day today, what have you been up to?

Bye for now!

Yarn bombing in Hastings

Well, I was in town the other day and what do you know, the library had been yarn bombed!

Knitting and crochet have made it to the big time around here!

It spread out on to the footpath and into the trees too.

There was a lot of crafty action going into this project, many many hours me thinks.

There has been a bit of controversy surrounding this yarn bombing actually.  The local paper was documenting a bit of an argument between the local ladies of the Hastings Community House who planned the yarny action, and a local council member who wanted to get people from another town in to yarn bomb Hastings. I don't really know why he didn't support the locals to do their own yarn bombing.  

Needless to say, the local ladies were not impressed with this !  Westernport ladies are quite capable of doing their own crafty thing I think!

(Having said that, I hope this installation was the work of the Hastings ladies!  I'm not sure whose work it is, and am just assuming the Community House are responsible!)

I think they did a great job, it certainly brightened up this end of the main street.

I loved the grannified posts, lots of granny goodness here!

Check out this happy face, very cute!

Anyway, it was nice to see yarn bombing in my local town!  Well done ladies!

It really brightened my day and put a smile on my face (and lots of other people too!!)

Have a great day!

Autumn sun......

Hello there! 

How's life in your part of the world going?

We are having some gorgeous summery weather here, well into Autumn, so it is just lovely to get stuck into the garden and Do Stuff. 

I am doing a lot better this year with my annual resolution to grow as many of our vegies as possible, and this great weather is coinciding with a bit of a rekindling of my gardening bug. 

 Usually I start the year well and we have lots of summer veg, and then I slowly fall off the wagon as other things take my interest, and only remember to plant things in fits and starts.  

Not this year! 

 I am Mrs Consistent this year!! 

Planting something new at least twice a week.

Yesterday I finished clearing a derelict part of our front garden, weeded and smashed up the 

concrete-like soil, and added a mountain of stable manure to improve the soil structure.

Then I had some fun making teepees for my climbing things, I am planning a sweetpea teepee, a snowpea teepee, and a sugar pea teepee, so lots of peas!  I also want to put in a lot more flowers for cutting this year.  It makes me feel good to be able to pick posies from our own garden.

It really felt good to knock a few things off my list of Autumn things to do. Usually I write them all down and that's about as far as it goes. Not this year! 

I am planning another day in the garden tomorrow, before this Indian Summer leaves us for good.

It is just great to be outside, my crochet has to take a back seat at the moment, I feel a bit guilty sitting inside when there is so much life flourishing just out the door!

Do you love the 'change' seasons ?  

I do!  

Hope you are making the most of the lovely days we are having if you are in Melbourne, otherwise, I hope you are having a sunny day wherever you are!

Progressing......

Hi there.

So here is the state of my stripey star stitch blanket today.  Getting there.  Probably 2/3 done, I had a frustrating pause over the Easter break when I ran out of dark blue, pale blue and lime, I had to wait a few days for the shops to open so I could get some more.  I nearly succumbed and used a slightly different shade that I had at home, but I thought I would end up regretting not being patient, and waited for the right wool.

It is surprisingly thick and very warm, great for hooking up on these chillier nights.

What are you up to today?

Got any crafty action going on or is other stuff filling your time?

I'd love to know! 

See you soon! :)

PS.  I have just realised I've cracked the 1K of lovely readers, whoever would have thought!! 

Thank you so much for stopping by all you new guys ( and the ones that have been around a bit longer too!)  I am so glad you can take something vaguely interesting out of all my ramblings and makings!

  I apologise for the short posts recently, the boys are on the computer a lot and I seem to have to grab little scraps of time to blog. This doesn't lend itself to long thoughtful posting, with 'are you finished yet?'  in my ear every 5 minutes!

I'm planning a bit of a giveaway to thank you for the support, encouragement and inspiration I get from you all, you guys just get the making thing so well!   I think it is great that a common interest can unite so many people from all over the place, the world doesn't feel quite so big anymore!  You fantastic bloggy people!

Even though I am not a very good/active member of the blog community, am slack at comments and questions, I really appreciate your time and interest in my stuff!  So stay tuned!

Bye for real now!

Yarning on....

Hello there!

How are the holiday's going for you?

The weather has turned decidedly cold here, just right for some cosy crochet on the couch! 

(Lazy days around here at the moment)

Max has been taking some photos with the camera, and wanted me to put them on here, so pictures are courtesy of Max today! ( He seems to like all the colour round here too!)

............waiting for their turn to shine....

......I'm getting on with my star stitch blanket, nearly finished!.........

...here I am the other night, all alone, happy in my crochet world, don't even have the TV on!

............I'm off to go and do a bit more right now and watch the new Game of Thrones.  

( I loved these books, and the TV series is good too!)

Have a great day!

See you later!

Happy Easter!

Hello!

Are you scoffing your weight in chocolate yet?  

The Easter bunny has been here and there is plenty of choccy for breakfast today!

Yesterday we got into the spirit of all things eggy and made some gingerbread eggs and then did a bit of decorating with the piping bags. It was fun! (for me anyway!)

 They are all gone now, very yummy too!

Hope you all have a lovely Easter, we have had some brilliant weather for the holidays, so have been having a great break.

I have been cracking on with my star stitch blanket and it is not far off finished. Just run nout of a couple of colours, so will have to wait till shops open to get some more. Grrrrr.

Anyhoo, hope you enjoy your day!  

  Eyeing off the icing bowls.....sugar overload on it's way!

Starring the Star Stitch

Hello!

Just a quick post today with a bit of info regarding the new blanket pattern I am making.  It seems a few  of you lovely readers liked the little flowery starry pattern just like I did!

The pattern came from a crochet book I have called 'Baby Crochet - easy projects volume 2 in 4ply'  it is produced by Cleckheaton.  They call it a 'loop cluster' stitch,  I am not so keen on reproducing the pattern here as there may be copyright issues, but I have had a look around Googleland and found a tutorial and pattern that is the same!  This stitch is also called Star Stitch 

and there is a pattern here at Crochet Spot with instructions that seem nice and clear.  

I am sure you could do this in any weight yarn too.

So I hope this helps all you ladies!

I really like how this stitch forms nice clear rows, and it has a bit of a vintage feel to it, I am sure it has been around for a long time! I am making a little range of retro/vintage inspired cot blankets, and it is giving me just the look I was after!

Have a great hooky day!

Working on something new.....

Hello.

Today marks the first day of the school holidays here, so we have 2 weeks with the boys at home, with Easter in the middle, should be a nice break.  We don't have much planned, as usual we are a bit tight on funds at the moment (getting paid monthly, the second fortnight is always a bit of a long stretch), so will probably dag around here at home a fair bit.  The boys are fine with that, and I am sure we will catch up with friends and family as well.

Being at home so much means I can have some big crafty ambitions for this fortnight, which is great!

I have even cracked out the coloured pencils and done a bit of planning and playing around with colour schemes.

 I like these greens together..........

.......and these are as close as I could find in my pencils for a colour scheme that I think will be very pretty, the wool colours look great together......now to work out stripe placements....

............or maybe I'll go for a rainbow of colours, a bit of a carnival, circus feel. 

It is so much fun playing with colour, I love working out pleasing (to me) combos, and I think it will speed up my crochet, as I do spend a fair bit of time trying to decide what colour to use next in my current random approach to colour work.

Anyway, here's the start of my new blanket, I like the pattern, nice and solid and cosy, (I am not really into gappy patterns) and it is easy to do.  I am going to use the one pattern for the whole of this blanket, I like the stripes definition.  And I have several colour combinations I'd like to make, so these are going to be cot size blankies, it will be interesting to see how much I can get done on the holidays.

I still have the other sock to make yet too!  Must keep that in mind before I am of on another tangent!

Have a great day!