Big Heart Blanket - Tadah!

Hello!  How is your week going, good I hope!  

I have been to a funeral today, which always leaves me feeling rather flat and emotionally drained, so I am here to share some bright and colourful pictures as a little antidote to the sads. 

I hope you are all not too sick of seeing this blanket, it is finally all together and totally complete! Yay!   

I think this was one of my most enjoyable make of recent times, I love using this cotton and the colours just seemed to work together so nicely, it was a really fun crochet time. 

I am thinking of making another one in  cool pastels of mauves, lilacs, pinks and mints, I think that would be lovely too! 

And the sewing together went quite smoothly which was good, I was worried it would look messy, but I think it has gone together quite neatly! 

....a few people were wondering what the back looks like, so here is a picture of the front (above) and the back (below), as you can see there is not a lot of difference, just the seam is a little more noticeable on the back. :)  You've gotta love tapestry crochet for that, it makes a great reversible fabric! 

So that is a wrap for the Big Heart Blanket!  Thanks for all the nice comments you have left recently, I really do appreciate all the kind support I receive over here on the blog and also on Instagram, everyone is so super nice!!! :) 

One other thing, I have actually written up this pattern and finished loading it onto my Ravelry store, so I now have a grand total of 2 patterns for sale over there! lol.  

Here is the link to Ravelry if you are interested to have a go at one of these yourself! I don't think it is available to the UK at the moment, I have to have a look at how to do that with the new tax laws over there.

Talk soon! 

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Crochet Harlequin Blanket #4

Hello.

I seem to be on a bit of a roll recently and have a finished blanket to show for it!  This is another Harlequin blanket in a lovely cool colours.  I like how this one turned out.  I think these diamond blankets would make good cot blankets and have tried to make them around that size, although I don't have a cot in the house anymore to test them out!

This one was made using the tapestry crochet technique again, I really love crocheting this way! 

So heres a little bit of info if anyone is interested,  the yarn I used and the colours:

Loyal DK:

Spearmint 915

Mid green 928

Teal green 936

Duck egg blue 945

Pale blue green 932

Aqua 931

Mid blue 924

dark grey 905 

Colorworks:

Lime 408

BabyWool 8ply:

Light aqua 456

Some colours I used for one row and some I repeated for a bit of balance.

( These are some of the wools I stock in my shop)

Anyway, on to the next thing now.  I think I'd like to make another skinny stripe blanket, I have some colours picked out that I think would look great all striped together.  We'll see.  Or these blues and greens would be good for a skinny stripe too.  Hmmmm......

Have you finished anything recently?

What are you making now?

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New blanket progress

The 'Wheels within Wheels' blanket is going along quite well, I have finished the background grey on all of the centres that I have made so far and I am really liking how it is looking!

Here they are, all laid out, I like how it is still a colourful blanket, but the grey seems to make it look the colours look more interesting, little pops of colour in a big expanse of neutral.

I want to make the blanket to cover this single bed, (our new 'day' bed in the family room), the big squares are making this happen fairly quickly!

Hope to have quite a few more completed this weekend, we are in for a cold, stormy couple of days, so plenty of time to hunker down and crochet away quite happily!

I am tossing up whether to go up to the Sheep and Wool Show on this weekend in Bendigo, I really want to go, it is about 2.5 hours from here but if it is not too stormy I think I will make the effort.

What are you up to this weekend? Something fun?

How are your WIP going? Making some inroads? or starting something new?

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PS.  Pattern for this blanket is here

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!

yarn along

Hellooo....

How are you all?  

I'm good, holiday mode is in full swing, the boys are sleeping in till late morning,  lots of time for some quiet crochet before the heat of the day sets in.  We are heading for a scorcher tomorrow, so will probably look for a swim at some stage.  Lots of icy drinks and lazing about in the shade,  holiday time really does suit me, I think I have a lazy streak that is able to indulged at this time of year!   haha..

Anyhoo, I am joining in with Ginny and the yarn along gang today,  I have been reading lots of lovely crochet, crafty type books recently, getting all inspired and full of ideas.  This one, 'Simple Crochet' is a lovely looking book with some very nice projects in it, and the photos are beautiful. I went a bit crazy before Christmas and bought a heap of new books, and am enjoying browsing through them now when things are more leisurely and relaxed. 

I have started working on another star stitch blanket this week.  It is quite exciting, a lovely reader emailed me and asked if she could order a blanket from me, of course I said yes!  So here I am with an actual crochet commission!  Who would have thought!  Anyway, I am quite chuffed and it is growing at a respectable rate, so hopefully will be finished before too long.

I hope you are all having a good week, and stay cool and safe in the heat, or stay warm and cosy in the cold to all the Northern Hemisphere ladies....

Talk soon  xx

New Years Day round here.....

Well hello there!

Happy New Year to you all!  How exciting, a brand new year to contemplate and fill with lots of interesting living!  Bring on 2013, it's going to be great!

Last night we went to a party at a friends home and saw the new year in with lots of lovely food, way too much champagne, a few very potent, delicious cocktails, late night disco dancing, and some great company and conversation.....we had a great time!  

My 2 younger boys came with us, and they and their friends spent the night swimming and playing in the pool and generally running amok!

It was a very late night for everyone, and the whole house was very sluggish this morning! (Jesse was out with his friends at a local party and didn't get home till 4.45am, so they didn't surface till lunchtime)

Needless to say I have spent a fair amount of time today slothing on the couch with the tennis on (tennis on the TV makes me feel very summery!) and my stripey mixed stitch blanket on my knee, happily hooking away.  

I was feeling a tiny bit seedy this morning, so thought a nice bowl of healthful strawberries might offset the result of a big party night.... it nearly worked, I feel healthier anyway!

We are lucky to have a strawberry farm fairly local to us, so these berries were delicious, so much more flavoursome than the supermarket ones.  I am getting the odd handful out of our garden too, if I can beat the birds to them that is!

Hope you had a great New Years whatever you are doing, and I'm looking forward to sharing another year of creativity, colour and life with you all in 2013 !  

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Crochet along Update #5 and sad times...

Hello. 

How is your weekend going?

I have to say this last few weeks have been a bit of a write off for me. Life has taken a turn for the sad, with my lovely father-in-law, who had been recently diagnosed with lung cancer, dying last night.  My husband has been spending as much time with his as possible, but it still feels like a very rapid ending to a great and interesting life. It doesn't feel quite real yet, I know the next few weeks will be tough for the whole family, but they are strong, and I am sure Jack will be given a great send off and we will all try and focus on the wonderful life he had and the great family he created, so many happy memories to reflect on when we feel down and miss his presence.

I thought I would try and cheer myself up a bit with a shot of colourful crochet, I have had a fair bit of crochet time in the driving to and fro the hospital, so have managed to get a few more rows of the mixed stripy blanket done.  

I don't think I have done a progress post for this blanket for a while (mainly because there hasn't been much progress!), so here are a few pictures of it's growth. Slowly getting bigger!

Maybe 25% done? 30%?

Anyway, I hope you all have a lovely weekend and give your loves a extra special hug. 

I know I will be hugging mine.

PS. I have updated the crochet along page with the details of the next few rows that I have completed. You can find the page link on my side bar.

Yarn Along.....

 Hello!

I'm joining in with Ginny and the other lovely crafters over at Small Things today.

So here is what I am hoping to work on tonight, I need to get a few more rows completed so I can do another update for the crochet along.  It seems silly to to an update with only 2 new rows, but I think I may have made this blanket a little bit too wide, each row is taking such along time! 

 Not to mention a heap of wool!!  Oh well, it will be an epic when I finish it, somewhere far off in the future! haha...

I have started reading a quick thriller called Fatherland byRobert Harris.  It is basically a crime thriller set in 1960's Germany in a world where Hitler did not lose WW2.  I am about 1/3 the way through, and so far it is an easy read.

What are you making today?

New knitty love.....

Hello.

Last night I started a new little project that I came across while doing a bit of blog browsing.  It's a hexagon blanket, and I am smitten!  

Firstly I came across the lovely blog Thornton and her hexie blankie really caught my eye, and following the linking trail, I found the pattern on Ravelry, and 10 minutes later it was downloaded  and printed ready for me to try! 

Gotta love the internet!!

Have a look at Bobby's Garden, a pattern by Megan Rogers, it's really lovely and I can see a nice big knitty, patchworky blanket somewhere (a long way off) in my future!

So this is my first hexagon.  I was hoping to do a few more last night, but I forgot how tedious challenging I find it using double pointed needles, so there where a couple of false starts while I ironed out a few teething problems.  But I got there in the end, and tonight I am ready to add 1 or 2 if I am lucky onto this first one.  

It is supposed to be done in Noro (totally gorgeous by the way), but I am using sock yarn, as the only double pointed needles I had are that size, so my blanket is going to be much smaller than the pattern says, but that's ok.  I have a heap of 3ply soft baby merino that I think will work ok for it too, so hopefully this will be a stash busting blanket too, bonus!

Ok, better go and get clicky clacking,  the stripey blanket can have a rest tonight I think, I have new shiny things to play with!

Have a great day.

Crochet along Update #3

Hello.

How are you going today?

I have got the next bit of the crochet along for you today, so here what I've done:

After the aqua and red outlined cluster pattern, and the 1 row of blue hdc, 

I turned the work and went back with another row of blue hdc.

Next was a row of pale pink hdc, then turn the work and go back, so you end up with a double row of pale pink hdc.

Next is a 4 row pattern called Catherine Wheel.

Special Abbreviation CL (Cluster) : work [yo, insert hook, yo, draw loop through, yo, draw through 2 loops] over the number of sts indicated, yo, draw through all loops on hook.

Row 1(wrong side) : In red, join and make 1ch in first st (counts as first st), 1sc in next st, * skip 3sts, 7dc into next st, skip 3 sts, 1sc into each of next 3sts; rep from * to lats 4 sts, skip 3sts, 4dc into last st,  turn.

Row 2 (right side) : In pink, join to first st and  make 1ch, 1sc into first st, 1sc into next st, *3ch, 1CL over next 7sts, 3ch, 1sc into each of next 3 sts; rep from * to last 4 sts, 3ch, !cl over last 4 sts, skip tch, turn.

Row 3 (wrong side) : still with pink, 3ch, 3dc into first st, * skip 3ch, 1sc into each of the next 3scs, skip 3ch, 7dcs into the loop that closed next CL; rep from *to end, finishing with skip 3ch, 1sc into each of last 2sc, skip tch, turn

Row 4 (right side) :In red, join and 3ch (counts as 1dc), skip first st, 1CL over next 3 sts, * 3ch, isc into each of next 3 sts, 3ch, 1CL over next 7sts; rep from* finishing with 3ch, 1sc into next st,1sc into top of tch, turn.

This pattern can be a bit tricky at the start and end of rows, depending on how many stitches are in your blanket, so here is the graphic pattern to help you work out your ends and starts.  Just adjust your ends and starts to keep your sides straight, according to where you are in the pattern repeat.

(sorry it's a bit blurry, it's getting late here!)

Of course you can do this pattern in whatever colours you like!

Catherine Wheel Stitch Pattern, from Basic Crochet Stitches , edited by Erika Knight.

Next is a chunk of sc rows.

Row 1 : (Right side) Lime green, sc across the row, doing 10sc evenly across each pattern repeat of the Catherine Wheel row below to ensure the stitch count stays the same. Turn.

Row 2 : (Wrong side) 1ch, skip first st, sc in each st across row.

Row 3 : (RS) Mid green, Sc in each st across row, turn.

Row 4 : (WS) 1ch, skip first st, sc in eachst across row.

Rows 5 -11 : Sc across the row, doing one row of each colour, working all on the right side.  

Colour sequence that I used :

Light blue, 

red, 

dark blue,

red, 

dark blue, 

red,

 light blue.

Next is a chunk of Granny stripe pattern  (see earlier pattern notes) in watermelon, spearmint green, and mid blue.  You can add more or less granny stripes if you would like.  I think I will add a couple more to this chunk, but I haven't quite got to that yet. 

Ok that's all I have for you at the moment, school holidays are coming up next week, so I might have a bit more time to devote to this while the boys have their holiday sleep ins, so there hopefully won't be quite as big a wait for the next instalment!  Sorry for my slowness, but this is a huge blanket and each row is taking ages!

Just a note on the yarns I am using, I am using quite a few different Australian brands, (to get a good colour range), mainly Heirloom Colorworks 8ply and Cleckheaton Country 8ply, with some stash bits and pieces as well.  I think they are DK equivalent.  They are probably hard to find overseas (although Cleckheaton is very common here), so you can use any dk weight yarn that takes your fancy, I like to work with wool, but I am sure it would be just as nice in any yarn you choose.

Have a great day!

Joining in with The Creative Spaces over here.

Crochet Along Update #2.....

Hello!

So here is the next bit of the crochet along!

I think last time I had finished the chevron stripe pattern, so after that section I have added rows of sc in 3 colours. 

Starting with the right side facing, I have done 1row of sc in dark blue, then turned and gone back, so ending up with a double row of sc. Then I've repeated this in pale pink, and mid blue.

4dc cluster pattern

Next, I have done a row of 4dc clusters, with 3 sts skipped between them (this keeps the stitch count even overall).  The first cluster is made of 3chs and 1dc, then the rest are 4dcs.

Next, a row of sc in lime.

Next, another row of 4dc clusters in blue.

Next, a double row of sc in green ( 1 row, turn, second row)

Bobble Pattern

Next I am setting up for my bobble row with 1 row of dcs in pale blue.

The middle row of the bobble section is where you do the bobbles . 

There is a great tutorial over at Tales from Cuckoo Land here that shows you exactly how to do the bobbles in another colour, which is how I learnt how to do it, have a look over there to find out how to do this part.

Then I did another row of dcs in pale blue to finish off this bit.

Next another double row of sc in green.

(I am going to call this next 3 rows Outlined Cluster Pattern in future)

Next, one row of sc in red.

Next, one row of 4tr clusters in turquoise, made the same way as the 4dc clusters, but with trs instead.

Next row, ch1(counts as 1st st), 1sc in next stitch, then 2trtog into centre skipped st of the first row of sc in red, *then 3sc across top of cluster sts, then 2trtog into centre skipped st of first row of sc in red*, and repeat to end of row. (hope that's not too confusing!)

Next, I row of hdc in blue.

Okay that's where I'm up to at the moment, I am pretty happy with how it is working out, I have decided not to use any white in this blanket, so I hope the colours keep looking good together.

I am going to try and work a bit of Catherine Wheel pattern in soon, so hope that works out ok, then it might be time for some repeating of the chevron stripe and granny stripes, I'll have to wait and see!

How are you going with this blanket? 

Still having fun?

Getting frustrated with my slow posting? (Sorry!)

Are you doing your own bit of winging it crochet?

Have a great day, and happy hooking!

quick bit of crochet....

I thought I'd just add a quick crochet update.  

 This is what I am up to with my big blanket, it is slow going, each row is very long!  

I've added a few more rows, some cluster rows and a bobble row.

Pattern notes and tutorial next post!

Have a great day!