Granny Stripe Update

I admit it, I am a terrible blogger but now I finally have something to write about. I've been making good progress on my granny stripe blanket and I'm just about half way through. My starting chain was 130 and I've found it to be a little on the small side so with the help of some lovely peeps at Ravelry I've been given some ideas on how to make it a little wider. I am so so loving it thought, I can't wait to finally finish something - I'm still waiting on some blue wool to arrive to finish my granny square blanket.

Granny Stripes

I know I shouldn't be starting a new project, what with my granny squares blanket still not complete, but I just can't help it! I recently added to my wool stash recently with a lovely order or Drops Paris after another blogger Corn Poppy Girl put some pictures up of the lovely colours. I have to confess I bought the exact same colours but they are just so fab!

So a little bit about Drops Paris then. I'd heard about it being quite splitty, you know where it all starts to unravel and your hook ends up putting it apart? Well it's not as bad as the Kool Kotton I've used before and I think I've gotten used to it so I can't complain at all really. It's a very thick wool so would make for good winter blankets. But what to do with the new stash :o

I've been following the blogs of Lucy in the Attic of 24 (as I'm sure you already know) and tried my hand at her ripple blanket, which went very well in the test (pictures later) but I just wasn't sure I wanted my own ripple blanket. As it happens she has been working on a wonderful new (ish) idea; Granny Stripes!

I say new-ish, I was sure this must have been done before due to it being such a simple idea, however it's actually really difficult impossible to find other people doing it! So perhaps this is a brand new thing, who knows, what I do know is I love it!

What do you think? It's a little on the small side I admit, after the granny squares blanket I think I need to keep things simple. This should make a nice little sofa blanket however, or a throw or something like that, we'll have to see I guess!

P.S Thank god for autosave as I just closed this by mistake. Eeeek!

When the sun is shining

I do love it when the sun is shining, I can't believe there is anyone in the world who doesn't! It allows me to spend some time out on my balcony, water my plants and potter around. I love pottering! I tried to grow a variety of seeds this year but only the nasturtiums have grown and everything else either didn't grow or grew a little bit and died!

I got a lovely thyme plant from Ikea recently, it's looking nice here but it's a bit bedraggled at the moment (I think it needs a bit more watering!)



This was a great find from a car boot sale which had a little plant stand, I think it cost me 99p including a pot! It should grow nice tomatoe cherries but sadly they're not good for eating. I was happily surprised when it began to sprout tiny white flowers, how pretty.



These I think are snap dragons although they have died down now :( Hopefully being bulbs they will come back next year to provide more colour and fun.


Lastly is one of my favourite plants, Saxifrage. I had a "Four Winds" variety last year but I think I over watered it and it died off! Apparantly being an alpine they like good drained soil. A lesson learnt might just save this little one

Lovely bunting

It's been a busy time here but nothing gets in the way in a bit of crochet goodness! The Granny Square blanket I've been working on for the last year is so nearly finished now and it's been getting some good responses so I am really really pleased.



I've also had a go at some more sewing and decided to make some more bunting :-) I do love bunting, I really do! This was made up of a mixture of old clothes, Ikea fabric and ends from Leon's Fabric Superstore in Chorlton. Love love love it!

Happy Bank Holiday :-)

I've got lots of little crochet projects to show you (very exciting!) which I've been working on over the last couple of weeks and have only just got round to uploading to my Flickr account. I've wanted some bunting for aaaaageeees and I've seen various tutorials on how to make hearts but my favourites were the ones on Lucy's blog / flickr (Attic 24) although the tutorial is from Bella Dia .

I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with them (and only really started after buying a stash of pink wool) but they've ended up becoming bunting (surprising!) and I'm very chuffed! Have a go, they are very easy to make (if I can, ANYONE can)

I haven't totally given up on my monster blanket, in fact I think I've got less than 20 squares left to make, and these are the middles needed. I'm out of the green and purple wool so relying on my friend having some left over or it will be an unfortunate* trip to Abakhans.

*By unfortunate I mean really really good!

Last but not least I thought I'd better get round to showing you my mittens, even though it's May now and becoming quite warm! I'm really please with them although to be honest I could have picked a better colour choice. They will do for now :-) They are loosely hugely inspired by Attic 24 again although I actually made them in the same way the jar cosies were made, just starting the next round a few crochets later for the thumb holes and finishing earlier, this means there's no seam down the side :-)

Happy erm... Late Easter!

Ok so I know it's been and gone but I took loads of Easter photos with the best intentions of blogging and simply haven't had the chance to even think about it! A trip to my parents house in Kent was just what was needed and while I was there I found out I'd been accepted for a job I applied for! Good times :)

My mum has such lovely things and I always like admiring her garden and it's different phases each time I visit. I found some daffodils and tulips growing under some trees which I liberated to the front of the garden which I was quite excited by actually! We usually decorate for Easter with eggs and bunnys and now I have a few things of my own to put in our flat next year :)

These are the vanilla biscuits I baked as Easter presents for my nan and with my mum's catalogue of crafting equipment we also made this cute little box!

Now onto the good stuff...! A few weeks ago I took a delivery of something sooooo amazing I couldn't help keep looking at it. Ok it's only wool (no it's not only wool it's pure bliss) but I love it! Look at the colours, aren't they fabulous? I actually had no idea what to do with it, only knew it looked lovely and it was on offer. Yes on offer! It came from this lovely site called Hejhog and was in the sale which for Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino is very very good indeed. Sooooo soft. Soooo lovely. Mmmmmm...

Hello! Sorry where was I! Oh yes, wool. Lucy in the Attic of 24 has once again inspired me to make something pretty and quite practical! I have loads of pasta and jam jars full of pennies (and some with bigger coins!) but I've always hidden them away for they don't look very nice do they? Well following this tutorial did the trick and now look! Lovely jars, in lovely jackets, filling with lovely money for a lovely holiday. One day :)

Friday

Yesterday was a very sad day, I had to take our hamster Harry to the vet's to be put down :-( She was an old lady (I know, Harry's a boys name) and was looking a bit poorly but we've had her 2 and a half years which for a hamster is a pretty long time! This is Harry just after she'd had her three babies, Hugh, Little Ham and Baby Ham (that's how we found out she was a girl!) Only Hugh is left now, we're not sure why Little & Baby Ham died before their mum but I guess that's how things go.

In order to cheer myself up I decided to partake in a little bit of baking last night, which I've not done in absolutely ages, since I baked 4 huge cakes for a charity day at work (after which I decided I never wanted to bake again).

First up Kitten Fairy Cakes. Ok they don't look anything like Kittens but it's the recipe name, I think you're supposed to decorate them to look like cats but I think stars are just as lovely! The recipe is from an old cook book my mum has and it has never failed me.

Ta dah!

I also made some ginger bread stars although I'm not much a fan of ginger, but this was less of a following-a-recipe and more of a putting-pre-mixed-ingredients-into-a-bowl! Unintentionally they look quite festive but they were from a Christmas present so maybe this was inevitable!

Tulips

I almost always buy what my mum calls pinks at the supermarket but on this occasion I was inspired by Lucy at Attic 24 and went with pink tulips. They've just started to open out and they're so beautiful aren't they? A definite future purchase!





Onto more crafty stuff now, I finished my friends cushion I'd been making on and off for a few weeks and here it is!




Lovely flowery buttons :-)