Hot Water Bottle Cover

Isn't earache a stinker? Fortunately (as I tap wood reassuringly) I've not suffered with it for many a year, but during the last couple of days of the school holidays, eldest daughter began to complain of it!!!

Now, I remember as a child that when I got ear ache, I used to love to lay my head on a hot water bottle and hey presto, it used to take the worst of the pain away!  Alas, we didn't have a hot water bottle or anything else that might provide some warming assistance other than a warm flannel but that soon went cold. 

Anyway after a fretful night, I managed to get my daughter a doctors appointment early next morning and once we were sorted with a course of antibiotics for a now diagnosed ear infection, our next stop was the local supermarket and of course my reason was to try and find that all elusive hot water bottle.

Now, I haven't bought one in years, if ever, but if I have ever spied one for sale, they are usually quite a fancy affair, usually coming in it's own beautiful cozy with lovely designs etc and I did wonder if my local supermarket would cater for something so elaborate! Well, it did, only it only had on offer the bog standard rubber hot water bottle, no cute cosy accompaniment! So that meant one thing, I would just have to make one myself (or as my grandma used to do in the day when we visited and stopped over, wrap it in a hand towel - as if!!!!)

So, taking a brief break from rustling up triangles for my latest blanket, I took hold of my trusted bowl of left over balls of yarn and set about making a cosy. A cup of tea and a slice of date and walnut cake to set me up and off I set.

Now if you like the look of this cover, I'm going to make up a pattern on how I made it. But in the mean time, I am reliably informed my daughter, now very much on the mend, that the new hot water bottle is a resounding hit. Ear ache, now very much a thing of the past, the hot water bottle is now entrusted in keeping her tootsies warm at night, and there was me thinking that I might get my hands on it and warm my toes as I am reputed in having the coldest feet ever!!! 

So it looks like it's back to the shops for me to buy another hot water bottle for myself but in the meantime I'll set about editing all the photos I've taken of this one and piece together a pattern for it.

Will be back soon with that pattern!

xx

Granny Squares

What a difference a week makes, I think I blinked and Summer was over. I sure sign colder weather is on the way is when I finally relented and switch the heating on. I've also had to dig out some fluffy socks to keep my feet warm and the slow cooker has even made a few appearances in this last couple of weeks!

One thing I did think was fast disappearing was night feeds, but it would appear that after sleeping through from about 9 weeks, my daughter has suddenly decided that she wants to wake for a feed not once but twice in the night.  I am quite literally feeling like I could fall asleep standing up. I suppose my smug smile needed wiping off my face for all the times I happily told anyone and everyone that I was getting a full nights sleep and what an easy baby I have. Now, don't get me wrong, an easy, wonderful and happy baby she is and she's probably just going through a growth spurt and hopefully (with fingers crossed) she will soon start sleeping through again!

A result of feeling a little dozy these last few nights has meant that hook and yarn have rarely seen the light of day.  My stack of granny squares has not been greatly increased and they sit there looking hopeful at me from the bureau. 

In a bid to try and cast out the 'dead on my feet' feeling, I have been donning the baby papoose and setting out with baby and dog for some lovely long walks. The sky is looking a lot more grey and gloomy these days and rain showers can be seen in small pockets moving across the hills, it's often a race to get back indoors before being soaked to the skin with these passing downpours!

I have found a little energy to try and continue with my own challenge of making something from 'The Great British Bake Off" programme. I am such a huge fan of this series and admire the contestants for putting themselves through the pressure of baking such amazing cakes, breads and biscuits etc all the time being filmed while also being under the intense scrutiny of Paul and Mary. I love to bake, I spend a huge amount of time in the kitchen looking for things I can make. I love to read food blogs and enjoy looking at a recipe book as much as I do reading a good novel. However, I could never imagine having the amount of bravery it must take to appear on that show, quite simply, I would break under the pressure, especially with Paul Hollywood's steely blue eyes staring critically at anything I managed to cook!!

So, in moderately less pressurised surrounding, (my own kitchen) I set about making something from this weeks show and tried my hands at Macron's!! I searched the Internet and found this recipe which didn't look too tricky to follow. I must admit that I tried unsuccessfully on 2 occasions before I made a batch I was happy with. They were lovely, if maybe a little on the big side, more Grande Four then Petit Four! My hubby and eldest daughter demolished them in no time. I imagine they would make a lovely present all boxed up and tied with ribbon, must make a note of that for Christmas maybe (oh, how even more depressing thinking of the C word already!!!)

My baby girl is getting a little older now (a whole 14 weeks now) and she enjoys spending short periods of time sat in her bouncy chair playing with her toys. At this stage she loves looking at black and white objects and can literally shake with excitement at her Lamaze toy. It's amazing how something so small can have so many things. Our front room is fast looking like an aisle of Toys R Us. As much as tripping over brightly coloured toys all day fights with my urge to have it all tidied away, I do love to watch her giddy with pleasure over all these things, it's worth all the sleepless night and messy house - honest xx

Wishing you all a hooky full, sunshiny warm, relaxingly chilled week. 

Granny Stripe Blanket Ta-Dah!

The Final Reveal!!

Now this blanket started with a rather odd beginning. I had been returning home from a hospital antenatal appointment and was exiting the motorway slip road, when to my horror and amazement, was met with the sight of another motorist coming down the slip road in the opposite direction towards me. Panic ensued and after much headlight flashing and sufficient thumping of the horn, the other driver slammed on his brakes and managed to avoid a collision, he also made a hasty U turn and quickly made his escape, leaving me all of a flutter and quite shaken. 

So what did this have to do with the start of this blanket? Well, I obviously needed to calm my shattered nerves and that came in the form of buying wool, lots of wool, then going home and taking some relaxing hours deciding what to do with it all, and hey presto, the start of my Granny Striped Blanket began.

The blanket was intended for my daughter and I choose the colours quite randomly but with a mind to her favourite colours. Fortunately she's not a 'everything must be PINK' type of girl but loves her colours of the Rainbow, so I predominately choose red, orange, green, blue, indigo and violet shades and their closest corresponding colour.

So off I started and firstly I have to admit that my daughters bed is only a single, but as can quite clearly be seen, I 'slightly' over estimated my foundation chain and the blanket began to become the epic bedspread it now is!!

I had absolutely no desire to unravel and start again, a cardinal sin when crocheting is concerned, it absolutely breaks my heart when I have to pull my work out again and I wasn't about to do that now, I just ploughed ahead and let be what would be!! 

Row after row began to form in an array of beautiful colours. I must add that this blanket began its journey on the 24/02/2013. At this time the weather was awful and cold, chilly, frosty and all too often snowy, so each evening as the cold weather closed in, it was lovely to have this blanket over my knees and keeping me warm while I worked away on it. 

Till eventually I came to a length I was happy with and which covered my daughters bed. Then of course came the next task of choosing a border. 

Not long ago I bought this book from Amazon. It has an eye watering amount of different borders to use so I wasn't about to find myself short of idea's. 

I chose this design but the 2 rows of long stitches that can be seen in the picture were called Bullion Stitch and involved the yarn being wrapped round the hook 4 times before pulling up a loop, yarn over and then pulling through all 6 loops on the hook at once. Now I admit it gives a lovely finish, but it was tricky to do and quite time consuming and after only a very short time, I admitted defeat, and started again, supplementing the Bullion stitch for a double row of Treble's instead.

The final round was a simple Reverse Single Crochet, which involved working from left to right, inserting the hook into the next stitch and pulling up a loop, then yarn over, pull through both loops on hook, then again into the next stitch to the right. Again, a bit fiddly to start but I got the hang of this quicker and make a hasty progress. 

I like the effect it gives and finished the blanket beautifully.

The book also covers how to accommodate for corners and how many extra stitches are needed. All in all, a very informative book that I'm sure I will use again and again. 

And, the final challenge complete, the border done and the blanket remained flat - PHEW!!

I really do love this simple border, I think it frames this blanket beautifully. 

And so, for it's grand reveal and in its place of honour, my daughters bed, drum roll please..............

TA-DAH!!!!

It looks wonderful and already has a great admirer apart from my daughter and me. This is one of our 2 cats, and she loves loves loves this blanket, in fact I think from her expression alone, she seems to be implying that this is in fact 'her' blanket!!! 

So, just for the benefit of seeing the entire blanket it all its glory, I took a picture of it on the floor to give you an idea of it's overall size - in one word, BIG seems to cover it!!

I'm sure in time it will go on to adorn more and more beds as my daughter grows and choses new bedroom furniture and regardless of size of bed, I can be assured that this blanket will fit!

And with the left over yarn, the cats will be pleased to know I am making them a smaller blanket all of their own, now I can't say fairer then that.