School Holiday!

School Holidays

Well, that week past swiftly and here I am, Sunday evening, sorting out uniforms and school bags, preparing for school and work in the morning, where did the week go?

I feel the hols were a triumph, it contained just the right amount of outdoor activities, indoor playing, visiting friends, completing jobs, accomplishing tasks and eating, drinking and merriment. 

The weather was a mixed bag and it started surprisingly warm but soon reverted back to colder temperatures. I kept a steady flow of daffodils in various states of flowering to keep a cheery reminder that Spring is only round the corner.

Following on from an earlier post, I found a bit of spare time to make Miss Owl a sibling and is now completed and christened Junior! It was my intention to make 'it' a 'him' but realised at the 'final finishes' stage that it was quite difficult to complete his look to make him look more masculine than feminine. I crocheted a bow intending it to be a dicky-bow but it didn't look right under his beak and after some talks with my chief design consultant, otherwise known as my daughter and she who must be obeyed when she has an 'IDEA' we agreed to place it where it now sits, so be it a boy or a girl, it is a lovely younger companion to Miss O!

They are both very cute and I have finally used up all my left over yarn, they match the blanket very well I feel. 

The weekend ended on a high, my husband and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary and with daughter safely packed off to the grandparents for the night, we enjoyed a lovely meal out with my brother in law and wife in a local Indian restaurant. But oh!!!!, the lie in in the morning was heavenly, the peace, the giving myself time to rouse at my own pace, the pleasure of seeing that the time didn't start with the number 6.....ha ha, it was weird not having the ball of endless energy in the shape of our daughter come charging into our bedroom at her usual unearthly hour to begin her constant stream of dialogue about everything and anything, I'm sure if someone could harness and bottle the enthusiasm of your average 5 year old, they could sell it for a pretty penny. Anyway, we soon collected her and our usual weekend routine resumed, the dog was taken for a good walk,

Mugs of tea was drank with more freshly baked lemon drizzle cake and I got to sew the last little car onto my recently finished ripple blanket. That then meant I had completed my second baby blanket, although this one was destined to be a present for a friend who knew she is expecting a boy. 

For this blanket, I used 4ply wool as I wanted to experiment with using a lighter wool. As much as I truly love my Sunburst Granny Square blanket, I realised that it is a hefty piece of work and wanted to try making something not as weighty. 

This is my first ripple blanket and the first time I have done a 'ripple'. I once again looked about for a suitable pattern and chose Attic 24's neat ripple pattern as Lucy also beautifully illustrated this pattern with a handy photo tutorial, perfect for this first timer. 

As for the design, my eye was drawn to a lovely blanket I saw on Etsy, a picture of this blanket can be found here. This particular blanket was for sale and wasn't, unfortunately, a pattern, so I decided to try recreate my own version. Using Sirdar 4ply wool (colour soapstone), I began rippling away till I had used 3 x 50g balls. Then using the same wool but in silver cloud, I rippled 4 rows, with a row of double crochet in white in-between, thus giving the illusion of a road.  I then used another ball of blue wool to complete the blanket. 

Lastly I made 3 cars in lovely bright colours, these wools were all 4ply as well and were left over yarns from past projects but were all by Stylecraft. The pattern I used was this.

Instead of crocheting the wheels, I used black buttons and sewed them on to within an inch of their life, well,  considering it was going to be used as a baby blanket, and boy, do babies enjoy having a good chew on anything they get their tiny mits on, I thought it best to play it safe!

And here we have it!!!

I'm really pleased with how it turned out and it is certainly a lot lighter than my own baby blanket. I'm now considering making myself one for my own 'bump' but need to think of a design that it more unisex. Any suggestions greatly received?

Now I suppose I need to head towards bed and get a good nights sleep in preparation for tomorrow mornings school / work run.

Hoping you all had a lovely weekend and I hope to be back soon xx.