Crochet Picnic Blanket -Ta-dah!

It would appear that if you want it to rain for a prolonged period of time, the thing to do is crochet yourself a picnic blanket!

After finally finishing said blanket, I was over the moon at the thought of being able to use it at my earliest opportunity – and then the heavens opened and every chance I get, rain beats me to it!

But alas, I did manage to find a reasonably pleasant day when the grass was dry and got a few shots of the blanket laid out in all it’s glory, unfortunately the pictures were taken in my back garden when I would have loved them to be of some sunny outing, but I’m sure when the time comes, I will seize it with both hands and plan a great day out, picnic blanket in tow!

Until I can manage to get some half decent shots of the blanket and myself the chance to write a decent round up of how it did it, I will leave you with these few simple shots, taking them was a challenge in itself with the girlies trying to get into shot every time!!! I thought I would one on just so they think they succeeded (which they always do!!!!)

Be back soon, xx

  

Nearly there!

I’ve reached that stage with my current piece of work I’m crocheting where I can finally see the end in sight, I know it will only be a few more days, a week or 2 at most and I will finally be sewing in that last end and snipping off the last thread when I can finally stop all work and say ‘I’ve finished – hurrah’

Oddly though I’m beginning to slow down and take my time, knowing that it will all be over. It’s much like when you’ve been out for a gruelling run, the journey hasn’t been easy and at times you’ve wanted to give up or questioned why you even started and then suddenly you see the finishing point and you know you’re gonna make it, that actually it was quite a ride and you begin to settle down into it and enjoy it at a leisurely pace, thoughts of all the struggles gone in a whisper.

Or when you’re reading an epic novel which took you ages to get into and understand the plot and an age to get to know the characters without having to re-read the last chapter to remind yourself and then suddenly you’ve only a few chapters to go and you realised you’re not ready to leave these people and their lives, that you want to hold on that little while longer and you begin to savour every word, well that’s how I feel right now.

This blanket has really been a while in the making, I think I actually started way back at the start of last year in fact, I can argue that life got a little bit in the way because at one point life really didn’t have much opportunity in it for me to even lift my hook, let alone finish this blanket, but it’s true what they say, time really does fly.

 Here I am, my all consuming baby girl on the brink of turning 2 and fast becoming so independent – her favourite saying right now being ‘I do it!’ to testify to this fact. Increasing my working hours from part time to full time. A house move that I thought would cause me such upheaval and months of unrest is now a distance memory and thankfully an easy transition. And finally my eldest daughter, fast becoming a young lady in front of my eyes took to the relocation, new school and friends so easily and so well that I don’t know why I ever fretted so much like I did – kids really are so very resilient!

So here I am, finally able to slip back to a way of life I enjoy so very much – gardening, reading, days out with the family, crocheting, baking and even a return to Blogland.

And much like finishing a good read or getting to the end of that long run, the excitement is always to find new books, or a new route (with maybe less hills) or beginning to dream of that next project, all good things come to an end, but when one door closes, another one opens.

So I will enjoy getting to the end of my blanket, I will dream of the day when I fold it up and take it with us on our next outing and I will quietly gloat at what I have achieved while we sit and eat our first picnic on it, any takers on who will be the first to spill juice all over it??

Granny Striped Hot Water Bottle Cosy - Free Pattern

I didn't quite believe how reminiscent it would make me feel having a hot water bottle back in my life! It's just not an object that I thought held any real memories, but it has evoked such recollections of when I was a child holidaying in Germany (where we lived at the time) and camping along the River Rhine or Mosel and my mum would pop a hot water bottle into our sleeping bags before me and my sister went to bed to warm it up.  Just the smell is enough to bring flashbacks of that time, they are very vivid!! Also of the time when I slept at my grandparents house. It was many many years ago and sadly they have both now passed, but at the time, they had no central heating except a 4 bar electric fire in the living room. Going to bed at night involved a mad dash up the stairs and into bed because it was so cold, but grandma had always remembered to add a hot water bottle, wrapped in a small towel at the bottom of the bed to keep my feet toastie. Such precious thoughts I had forgotten all about until now, so it has been a lovely experience making up these adorable, candy striped cosy's.

To start, it is basically made using a Granny Stripe, you can either follow my instructions or look for a pattern you already know and love. For my own Granny Striped Blanket I used the pattern from Attic24, but any pattern will do, it's up to you. 

Here is how I did it.

You will need:

UK size 4 hook
Yarn stash (I used DK, 4ply, chunky, acrylic, wool, in fact what ever I had left over from past projects) 
Darning needle
1 Hot Water Bottle (I used a 200ml rubber one, £3 from the local supermarket)

This is all in UK terms

Begin by chaining 66 chain stitches. This fitted the hot water bottle I was using but if yours is bigger or smaller, alter the number of stitches you begin with, just make sure your number is a multiple of 3.

Row 1: 
Into the 2nd chain from the hook, work 1dc, then 1dc into each stitch back to the start again (you should now have 64 stitches in total, or 2 less than when you started if your chain stitch is different to mine)

Row 2:
Turn work & chain 3. Then do 1tr into the first stitch. Miss out the next 2 stitches, then into the 3rd stitch  do a set of 3tr, skip the next 2 stitches, then again another 3tr into the 3rd & so on to the end, EXCEPT only do 2tr into the final stitch. The row should now starts & finish with a set of 2 trebles. (The photo above is showing the first row of chain stitches, row 2 and the start of 3)

Row 3: 
Turn work & chain 3, then work 3 trebles into the first chain space (that's the space between the sets of 3 trebles from the previous row)  then 3 trebles into every chain space till the end of row & finally, do 1 last treble into the final chain space. That row is now complete.

Row 4 (time to change colour):
Draw up your new colour & chain 3. Snip off the last colour BUT leave a long tail, you'll use that later when joining your seam with each of the different colours you use.  Knot your 2 colours together to keep everything in place.  Begin doing groups of 3 trebles into the spaces like in the last row all the way along till the last space & do just 2 trebles. 

Row 5: 
Chain 3 & turn. Then back to groups of 3 trebles into each space till the end & a final 1tr into the last space. 

Row 6: 
Return to instructions at Row 4 & off you go again.  

That's a few rows explained. It's the same from here on in till the desired length, just keep checking against your hot water bottle to make sure.  I did 15 lines of colours, or 30 rows in total to get the length I needed, the last 3 colours will be the shoulders of the cover.  Just remember when joining in a new colour & snipping off the last colour, to leave a decent length of wool for later.

When at the desired length, sew up the bottom or sew in a zip or hook & eyes if you want to get the hot water bottle in & out. 

Now using the long lengths of yarn you snipped off, get a darning needle & begin sewing together the 2 edges.  Using the different threads to sew up the seam it makes it almost impossible to see the join!

Now place the hot water bottle inside and get it so all the lines are straight and it looks even. From now on, the rest of the work will be done with the hot water bottle in the cosy, a bit fiddly I know, but it helps to achieve a snugger fit.

It needs a bit of shaping round the shoulders so tuck in the excess amount and sew into place, again, taking time to use the different colour threads as required. Make sure you sew it nice and as near to the neck of the hot water bottle, keep looking to make sure you keep everything even on each side so it looks symmetrical.

Now for the neck.  

Up until now, each colour has been made up of 2 rows but for the neck I did single rows of colour, I thought it had a better balance.

Row 1 of the neck.
So stating at the side of the neck, insert your hook into 1 of the chain spaces from the top row of your last line of colour & draw up your colour & chain 3. Add 2 more trebles into the same space.  Working round the neck, do 3 trebles into each space till you reach round to where you started. Put your hook through the top of your first ch3 & draw in your new colour.

Row 2 of the neck.
Chain 3 (snip off your old colour and remember to tie the old & new colour together at the back of your work to keep everything in place) work 2 more trebles into the chain space,  then 3tr into every space, all the way round to the start, inserting hook into top of the ch3.

Row 3-5 of the neck
Draw up the next colour and ch3 plus 2tr into the space and continue to work groups of 3tr into the spaces as in the previous rounds.  I did 5 rows round the neck, this covered it just to the brim, again, your neck might be longer or shorter, so amend as required. 

After you have reached your desired length, join with a slip stitch to the top of the ch3 and sew in the end. There, completed!!!

I threaded a ribbon through the central row on the neck, this makes it look decorative as well as keeping it all in place.

And ta-dah, one hot water bottle cosy!

I didn't bother making an opening to mine so that the bottle could be removed, I figured that if it ever needed cleaning, it was ok for the bottle to remain inside, it is water proof after all. 

In the interest of making sure my instructions worked, I followed the pattern to check for mistakes and in the process, made myself my very own cosy too!!

But if anyone does decide to make themselves one and uses my pattern and finds a mistake, please let me know, I will amend it accordingly.

Apart from that, I would be crazy pleased to see any that anyone does, I really would, or even drop me a comment if you can.

Many thanks for stopping by.

xx

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

Triangular Crochet Blanket Update

It would seem that at the moment, all that is consuming me, crochet wise, is this latest blanket. I've really taken to it so thought I would do a quick up date on its development.

At first I was unsure of the yarn I was using, its Drops Cotton Light and is a 50% cotton, 50% polyester mix.  I've not used cottons a lot before and certainly never for anything so big, but with a little more concentration with the hook to make sure I gather up all of the thread and not stick the hook through the middle, I can get along with it just fine. 

One thing that has struck me is how vivid the colours are. As the blanket gets bigger and the triangles begin to build up, its lovely to see how they all work well together. I can imagine it will be an eye catcher once completed, I can't wait to see the end results.

I hope that I have used the yarn to the best of its advantage and choosing triangles was a worthy idea. I had originally played around with other thoughts such as different sized squares, but I've done all that before and wanted to try something new. These squares did look tempting though!!!

No matter where I am in the house or out and about,  I can gather up my bag and take it with me and if I get chance, quickly add a triangle or two. I really am in love with it at the moment. These cold wet dreary days certainly make me want to get finished sooner, it's great to be tucked under it as I work away on it but to be honest, I don't know what I will eventually use the blanket for. 

Hope to have a reveal for you soon.

Take care xx 

Back in the Land of Yarn!!

Well I say back in the land, more a fleeting visit, a brief excursion, the smallest of stops back into a place I love and enjoy! Of course the reason for my short visit comes in the shape of daughter number 2, who, like her sister before her is apt at fighting this thing I once called sleep!! Now sleep is something I visit even less frequently than I do an afternoon with hook & yarn but, dare I say it, even whisper it, I think we've turned a corner, shhhhhh!!!

At the tender age of only 7 months, daughter number 2 has scaled down her nightly wake ups from a staggering 6+ to a more manageable 1!!!! This, after only these few short months feels like a mini miracle, I literally skip into her bedroom when she wakes for a feed sometime around 4am, telling myself I feel as fresh as a daisy for having the pleasure of sleeping a whole 5 hours uninterrupted and if I can get her fed & back to sleep in half an hour, I might even get another 2, that's 7 hours in total, like a normal person!

Now because I feel slightly more 'with it' and can manage a conversation with my husband past the hour of 8pm that doesn't include the words 'is it bedtime yet', I have started back enjoying a few hours of crocheting - YAY!!!

I've started a project that can be done a little at a time, a blanket made up of triangles! I got the idea from a blog called Get Hooked on Crochet and I intend to make a least one triangle a day. I am using the join as you go method and until I get a few rows under my belt, following how to do this involves a lot of concentration from me!! 

For a change, I'm using a cotton yarn.

 I like trying different types, my favourite to date has been using the Rooster wool I used for making my first baby blanket but a cheaper alternative that I find easy to use and comes in a great range of colours is Stylecraft DK which I used for my eldest daughter blanket.

Rooster Wool

Stylecraft DK

Fortunately, this cotton yarn was very reasonable, in fact, it was given to me by someone who just couldn't get on with it. It is made up of several strands and it has a tendency to split apart easily so very often the hook doesn't pick it all up and your work can develop loops of missed strands if you are not careful. 

Apart from that, I love the colours and fancied making up this blanket to see how it turns out.

I'm only a couple of rows in but still managing to make more than one triangle a night.  The intention is to make the blanket over the course of a year so I will report back regularly on its progress. 

The beauty of knowing that I can take my time with this project is that I can fit in doing other pieces as well. I've so many ideas in my head right now of things I want to get started on that I don't know where to begin!!! 

I shall be back soon with an update on my blanket & other stuff too.

xx

Yarndale 2013

Yarndale, what can I say other than I loved it loved it loved it! At the sight of all the long queues to get there, I knew it was going to be great. In fact, when I finally got to the front of the line of traffic I was met with an exhausted car park attendant who looked fraught to say the least. Sadly he informed me that the car park was now full and I would have to find an alternative parking place!  Anyway, apart from the slow start, I finally arrived and it was worth the parking hassle. There was colour everywhere, a complete transformation from the usual Cattle Market. Strings of crochet bunting strung from everywhere, it was crazy!!!

An absolute riot of colour and yarn everywhere you looked! It was on the walls, hanging from the ceilings, in every conceivable nook and cranny, crochet, wool, pompoms, tassels, beads, buttons, flowers, the lot! And of course, the lovely Betty the Sheep, the mascot for Yarndale itself. 

Each stall was an Aladdin's Cave filled to bursting with such incredible displays of colourful skeins of yarn, I just wanted to touch them all, they were all sooooo soft. Row after row of stalls all offering something different. Everyone had put so much though and effort into their displays and everyone was so helpful and happy to spend time chatting about their products. 

I spotted these Attic24 crocheted houses and thought they were lovely. They were created by the talented 'hooker' at Little Tin Bird.  Her blog goes into detail about how she created these houses, I think they would be great as wall art, I know my daughter would love it in her bedroom.

Aside from all the lovely wool for sale, there was also the kind donators of some of this wool, including angora rabbits (soooo adorable and surprisingly MASSIVE!!) and also very cute alpaca's 

My daughter even managed to get her mitts on one of the baby bunnies, it was so soft and really snuggly, well, so she tells me, she wasn't letting go and so I didn't get to hold it for myself!

The alpaca's were incredibly gorgeous!

And the buttons, wow, I love buttons and there was a huge assortment of different types. I especially loved the ceramic ones and the bone ones. 

Right in the heart of all the stalls was the Knit & Natter Lounge, this is based on the cafe Lucy at Attic24 visits to drink frothy coffee's and crochet with like minded friends, I think every town should have one!!

Inside it was adorned with all the wonderful and colourful pieces created by Lucy at Attic24 and the lampshade from one of her recent posts was also there. I couldn't help feeling that her house must really be feeling a little less colourful without all her pieces of hooky magic brightening the place up!

Such inspiration everywhere I looked. These 3 blankets had to be some of my favourites, I couldn't even begin to imagine the length of time it must have taken to finish each piece. 

Aren't they incredible?

I wish I had the skill and patience to complete such a mammoth blanket, one day maybe!

I loved loved loved the colours, very close to nature I thought, almost autumnal don't you think?

All in all, it was a lovely day. There were so many people there and so many things to look at and try. My daughter enjoyed the kiddies corner and made herself a pompom monster! The hall with all the bunting looked amazing and the 'market stalls' with it's crocheted wares were brilliant, there are some really talented people out there. I can't wait for next year and hope it is blessed with such lovely weather as well. One thing I will remember to do though, will be to take the train!!