Mini granny square blanket finished !!

Hello.  It was a beautiful morning here today, the sun was shining and it was a little bit hazy in that Autumn kind of way, it was chilly and crisp, a perfect start to the day.

The morning sun shines brightly on my clothesline, showing my washing in all it's glory, so I thought I'd take as few photos of my mini granny square blanket that I finished last week.  It looks so cheery in the sun.  I ended up doing a random colour placement  for the squares, it was getting too hard to try and organise a random pattern, so I just tried not to have the same colours right next to each other, although I can see I failed in a few spots. 

I am so glad I darned the ends in as I went, it made sewing the squares together much easier, and once it was sewn up it was finished, without a heap of ends to tidy up.

Sooooo...... a few blanket facts for you, 

* 14 rows of 11 squares =151 squares all together!

* Simple 2 round granny square pattern with a 3 round of sc to each square. 4mm hook.

*Colours used : 12 colours, Heirloom Colorworks 8ply and Baby wool 8ply, 

1-2 balls of each colour

cream

pale pink

flamingo

dark pink

watermelon

bright red

pale blue 

mid blue

aqua

light aqua

lime 

celery

extra red for the border ( 3 rows of sc, very simple)

* Not a very big blanket (sorry, I haven't measured it!), maybe cot sized, or a knee rug.

Ummm...that's all I can think of at the moment!

I am very happy with this little blanket, it makes me smile, and the fact that it is actually completed is an added bonus!  (Finally something to tick off my to do list!)

Hope you have a nice sunny day where you are too!

Craft Fest weekending......

Yesterday I had a stall at the Western Port Craft Festival in Hastings, we were lucky with the weather although it was very windy and the tent  nearly blew away on a few occasions!

I was sharing the big Bendigo Bank tent with another lady who did quilting and made other fabric things,

 I thought I'd show you some pictures of my half of the tent, even though it feels a bit dumb and self promoting.   

I took lots of bits and pieces that I thought might inspire people to give crochet a go, several half finished pieces of crochet and my toys and some scarves and baby things and a big pile of my wool.  I also brought some of my crochet books  for people to look at and get ideas, I wish I had a few to sell as people liked the books!

I have to say that my stall did look colourful, even with the red tent giving everything a rosy glow! There were many comments on the lovely colours of my Heirloom wool, I can't believe how many people find it hard to find good coloured yarn and weren't aware of this yarn, it is Australian too!

I was a bit disappointed in the lack of interesting colour in the other stalls, I don't thing colour gets enough consideration in a lot of crafts, I felt that many people were just using up whatever materials they had on hand and it is such a shame that all this work goes into a piece that is kind of ugly ( in my humble opinion) because of drab colours or really bizarre combinations!   I think I must be a colour snob!  :)  Of course I realise not everyone has the same taste as me, and I have been told my colour choices are a bit 'out there', so I might be the one with the strange ideas!  

Anyway, it was a very pleasant day spent chatting to lovely ladies who were all very complimentary and kind about my stuff and I even had a few sales!  

I also felt quite young!  Most of the people there were older than me and in a lot of cases much older than me!  Is craft something that is not interesting to younger people (say 30 - 45 year old) ?  I must be a bit weird, but it seems that the online crafting community has a wider age range and more people 'having a go' than our local community.  Another reason why blogging is great!  But a bit sad really for our local crafters.  

I put a sheet of paper out and took email addresses for people who might be interested in learning to crochet and knit, and I am happy to say there were some takers, so I am going to offer some classes or workshops from home and spread the crochet love!  Our local area is going to become super crafty whether it likes it or not!  :)  On the off chance that there are local Hastings/ Western Port area people reading this, if you'd like to join in and learn to crochet or knit, drop me an email and I'll add you to the list!

There were a few things that I got finished in time for this stall, mainly my mini granny square blanket, so I will show you all the tadah moment soon....

So how has your week end been going?

Having a fun one or just chilling out?

Talk soon, bye!

Cute shopping scores.......

Hello.

This week is flying by, I am getting lots of thing finished off for my stall at the Craft Festival, but haven't got any pictures yet, soon hopefully. 

Today I thought I'd show you my cute scores from the Robert Gordon Sale that mum and I went to the other day.

( For those not in the know, Robert Gordon is a company that makes ceramics and imports lots of cute bits and pieces of homeward type things here in Victoria, they have a factory outlet about an hour away from here.)

Anyway, here's a taste of what I bought.........for starters the very cute Belle and Boo tins in the photo above, I am a sucker for little tins, they are very handy to put stuff in, and are a super cute way to store little bits and pieces that would otherwise be cluttering up my work space.

 ........these lovely copper cookie cutters......

....a few more milk bottle vases for my collection, ( can't have too many of these as far as I am concerned).........

.....more paper muffin holders, I use these up pretty quickly...... also the little basket (bought 2 of these), just right for a small knitting project or a heap of granny squares.

There were also a few plates and some cute russian doll cups, but I forgot to take pictures of them, so you will have to look out for them sneaking into crochet photos!

And here is what I have inside my tins at the moment, little sets of mini diamonds waiting to be sewn into stars, hope to show you those soon!

It was nice to have a bit of retail therapy, not something that happens all the time, but fun every now and again!  

Well, I am off to finish a bit of sewing and then watch the next episode of The Following, I am really enjoying this series, they are so evil, and Kevin Bacon is brilliant! 

Have a good night!

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16/52 year of happy

Four things from my week that made me happy.

1. I was given late acceptance in a little craft festival at the end of last week, it is on next Saturday, so I have a week to get some finished things together!  I have decided to make a few chunky scarfs, they are fun to knit and can be finished in a day or two.  This week I am going to be crafting up a storm!!  Hopefully I'll have a few tadah moments to share here.  I think I work well with a deadline, very motivating!

2. Gary and I went for a drive into the hills to a bulb farm and I bought some lovely bulbs for my Spring garden. I am giving tulips a go this year, so gorgeous, and also a heap of new freesias and ranunculus and some pink daffodils, looking forward to Spring already!

3. It is sale time at the big fabric/wool/craft supply shops at the minute, and I couldn't resist getting some new wool at heavy discounts.  I'll show you the rest of my haul later! 

4. Knitting in the car, it just feels like very productive time!  I hate just sitting there with nothing to keep my hands busy.  (I end up just falling asleep!)

I had lots of other things I could have added here today, the weather has been beautiful and Autumnal, leading to many happy moments just pottering about in the garden, or sitting outside with a cool drink.

It is going to be a busy week around here, I hope I can get everything done in time!

  

How has your week been? 

Lots of happy moments I hope!

Talk soon!

xxxxxx

Crochet Along Progress and Update #7

Hello.

I thought it was about time for another crochet along post. 

 I have just seen that my last one was back in January, so this is well over due! 

Sorry about that!  So on the off chance that anyone is still interested in this project, I will post some progress. :)

First up though, I thought you might like to see how my blanket is looking all up, I think it is getting to a reasonable size, about half way through now, and is quite a heavy piece of fabric!

...it stretches out for miles!!

Look at the lovely neat folded edge, and then the horrible, scary loose thread edge below, I think I will be using my cheats edge to deal with all those threads, don't think I could face all that darning.

...It is hard to take a picture of it all laid out, it has gotten quite large, there is a lot of wool used in this blanket already.  I think my colour selection may have gone a bit off course here and there, but I guess this is such a big blanket that I might get away with it.

Are you getting on with this project?  I am trying to concentrate a bit more on this blanket, but I keep finding side projects that get in the way!

So here is the new bit I have made since the last update:

UPDATE #7

After the pink and light aqua outline cluster pattern, 

in mint, starting on right side, 2 rows sc (up and back), then

in light blue 1 row 4dc cluster pattern, then

in dark blue 2 rows sc (up and back), then

a section of chevron stripe in red and light pink, then

in pale blue 2 rows sc, then

a section of bobbles in green and mid blue, then

4 x 2rows of sc in pale blue, celery,red and light aqua, then

3 rows of granny stripes in flamingo, pale pink and flamingo again.

So that is where I am up to at the moment!

 I have also managed (I hope) to add a linky thing to this post, so if you'd like to share a link to your mixed stitch blanket I'm sure everyone would love to visit and admire them!

Thank you to all the lovely ladies who have sent me emails with picture of your blankets, I love to see what you come up with from this crochet along!  Most of you are miles ahead of me, so it gives me some incentive to get cracking with my blanket. 

Have a great day, and I hope the linky thing works!

15/52 Year of happy

 Four things that made me happy this week....

1.Seeing the seeds I sowed all taking off, always an exciting time, makes me want to get out in the garden.

2. I planted a batch of snowpeas seedlings that I've grown from seed, so nice to get them into the ground before they get too root bound ( something that happens a bit round here I'll admit, it is easy to keep putting little jobs like this off until it is too late!)

3. It was the last week of the school holidays, and Max loves a family board game, so I found myself roped into several games of Monopoly and Risk.  This one is more about making Max happy than me, but it is nice to see your children enjoying something and wanting to do something with you even if it's not your favourite thing!

4. Got stuck into a bit of baking the other day, the kitchen smelt great!

Another thing that made me happy was the lovely response and comments to the start of my diamond blanket, you guys are so great, thank you so much for coming here and reading my stuff and just getting the crochet, crafty love!!!    It did put a big smile on my face reading all the comments, I love sharing my makes with you all, you are always so kind and supportive, blogging is the best!

So what's makng you smile today?  

Diamond crochet progress...

Hello!

Today I thought I'd show you how my diamonds are looking all sewn together.  Remember I had lots of piles of colourful diamonds all over the place?  They are quite addictive and quick to make.

Well. I have been very good and working consistently to sew all the diamonds that I've made so far into one big diamond piece of blanket.  Today I sewed the last one I've completed into the big blanket, and it felt great!  Like I was actually achieving something.  Now I am giving myself permission to go ahead and made another heap of diamonds for the next bit of this blanket.

So anyway, here is what I've been up to the last few days or so........

.......pinning and stitching, I'm so glad I left long tails at the start and finish of each diamond, I am using them to stitch it all together so I hope there won't be too many ends to weave in......

....this is what it looks like all laid out, cute, no?

...lots of fun colour play has gone into the lay out of the diamonds, I could have kept playing around with combinations forever, but no, I Knuckled Down and now it is partway finished, yay!

 I really like the way this is shaping up, colours, patchworkyness, solid and stripes pattern, nice chunky thickness and crochet and sewing all together, a great variety of crafty niceness. I think this will be a square blanket, so lots more diamonds are needed, all in good time!

 ...So, I am pleased to have something solid that I've made progress on these holidays, we have really not done much at all, so at least things are looking up on the crafty front.  I have even done a few rows on the mixed stitch blanket and hope to have the next update very soon! 

Think I might join in over at Our Creative Space today, have a look what the others are up to if you want a bit of crafty inspiration.

14/52 year of happy

Four things from my week that made me happy.

1. Late dahlias made a lovely bright addition to the kitchen table, happiness in a jar.

2. The leaves are changing, autumn is with us, long live the still, clear autumn days.

3. I think this salvia is my favourite, salvia 'limelight' really stands out in the garden this week.

4. Getting my new order of wool, and sending some of it straight out again! Thank you lovely ladies who ordered from Little Woollie Makes Yarn Store, it did make me smile!  (Though I need to find a better storage place than on the pool table!)  Happy crafting :)

Have a happy week yourselves. 

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Shop news on the weekend.....

'colour collection' blue and reds

Hello!

We are having some glorious Indian Summer weather the last few days, still, sunny and warm, very idyllic!  I have been enthused be the nice weather to get stuck into the garden and start preparing it for some Autumn planting.  I have sown new seeds in the hot house and they have germinated already, so looking good there.

Also I have picked up my new order of yarn, and put some new colours and some 'colour collections' into my shop.  It is really a lot of fun making up lovely colour combinations and making little samples of things to see how they look together,  I'd love a full time job like that!

The Little Woollie Yarn Store is slowly starting to fill up. Although I have seen lots of gorgeous yarn I'd like to stock one day, I have to be patient!  I think this shop will be something that grows quite organically, so I will be adding new things as funds allow, hopefully often!

I have been using the diamond pattern to make little colour samples, and am hoping to sew some together this weekend.  I am quite hooked on making diamonds (pardon the pun)and I think this is going to be a gorgeous blanket.  I think I will make it quite small, maybe cot sized, just so I can get it finished a bit quicker.  I can't wait to see how they will look all sewn together.

 .

............this is the colour collection I have called 'pretty pastels', fairly self explanatory!

.........this little collection is the colour combination I used for my star stitch blanket, but I think they look just as nice made up in granny squares or diamonds! :)

.....and these are a few new colours I have added to the shop for some lovely Autumn crafting...

I have had a great couple of days playing with all of these beautiful yarns, I have so many ideas for things to make, but I am trying to finish some current makes before I start anything new, it is taking some self discipline!

So anyway, I am off to get dinner and then kick back with the crochet hook in front of the football, such a hectic life I lead!  :)

Have a lovely weekend!

13/52 year of happy

Four things from my week that made me smile.

1. Spending time with the family at the beach at Point Leo, I do love an Autumn beach walk.

2. Finding interesting things on the beach while on Autumn walks.

3. We made hot cross buns the other day, a long enjoyable process.

4. My piles of diamonds are growing, I like how the stripes look all stacked up like this, time to sew             them together I think.

What's been making you smile this week?

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PS. Thanks for all your lovely comments from my last post, much appreciated around here! xxx