Oh happy day......

It's very nearly farewell February and hello March. Today felt much more spring like, I think I may have gotten a decent dose of Vitamin D whilst out pootling around this afternoon. It was surprisingly warm in the sunshine. Well I say warm, truth be told it's probably at most 7 degrees but it feels quite considerably milder than recent days.  

I finally managed to book in a much needed hair appointment too which was nice, I feel human again. So after being pampered a while, I thought I'd take a little wander round the shops, stopping off at my local Barnardo's charity shop for a nosey. I love having a browse in charity shops, you never know what you might find, and if I do spend anything I feel good about it as I know it's going to a good cause.

I also picked up a bunch of mixed Chrysanthemums. It was the lovely vibrant green that drew me to them, so I just had to take some home with me. 

I thought you might like a peek at what's currently on my hook. I decided to pick out all the pastels in my Catania Cotton collection to crochet up some mini squares. I'm pretty certain (at this point) that they'll become a cushion cover. The inspiration came from the Pin Stripes pattern (37) page 52 in the Jan Eaton book 200 Crochet blocks. Referring only to the first 4 rounds, as I wanted to achieve a small solid square. I'm pretty pleased with how they've turned out so far.

One last thing, don't forget it's Mothering Sunday on the 10th March this year. Earlier than usual, so thought I'd give you a heads up. I mentioned it to my hairdresser today and she didn't have a clue it was so soon, so was grateful that I reminded her. It happens to be my Mum's birthday on the same day, so I guess it's only right she's doubly spoilt.

x x x x x x x x x 

Crafty crochet quickie

Hi folks, Monday again *yawn*. I'm so so pleased you all seem to like the progress I'm making on the This 'n' That blanket. It really is a joy to work on, so thank you for the lovely comments, it's been great to hear from you x x x x  

Now; where did the weekend go? I think I missed it! Maybe that's because I was immersed in a little cutesy craft project I spontaneously decided to have a go at.

I was having a good old nose around on pinterest, ooohing and aaahing at all the wonderful hand made goodies. I get such itchy fingers looking at all the fantastic crafty ideas floating about on the web. I just want to jump right in and have a go at EVERYTHING! Alas, I have not the time nor the skill to do that. However, I did take the opportunity to try something quick and easy to satisfy my crafty urges.

You may remember my very first project of the year, where I recycled some old store cupboard jars into yarn covered tea light holders. Well, as I've accumulated so many empty jars this past couple of months I thought I'd do something in a similar vein, but this time using crochet. So I grabbed some of my organic cotton and started to improvise, making wee jackets for my empty jars. 

I started by making a chain long enough to wrap comfortably around the jar, (it was around 40 for these small Dolmio sauce jars) securing it with a slip stitch at the end, then crocheted row upon row of lovely half treble (UK) stitches, round and around, till I reached the required size. I was finished in no time. I then set about tidying up the couple of loose ends, before moving on to the embellishments. A button, a bit of ribbon, and some twine were all I needed to give them my own unique stamp.

Smaller jars make perfect tea light holders, but larger jars would be great as storage for all your knitting needles and crochet hooks. I know a lot of you will have tried this already, but if you haven't why not give it a go!

x x x x x x x x x

This 'n' That Granny Fest

Once again I am here to administer your crochet colour injection for the day! Seeing as I only gave you a quick teaser recently of the hooky happenings going on around my This 'n' That blanket, I thought it only right to give you a bigger dose. 

It's slowly taking shape block by block, 

creating the riot of colour that I'd hoped for.

The light wasn't great today, but I think you get the idea?

Hope it's just what the doctor ordered........!?! x x x

A more muted palette

The weekend has been awash with sunshine, aahhhhhhhh what a welcome sight. Today, I awoke with a spring in my step, ready for a day of doing nothing much at all, apart from taking full advantage of the natural light, camera in hand. On days like this I get the urge to declutter, to simplify, to get rid of mess. I feel full of enthusiasm, and optimism!! 

Once again I have something new to show you. A wee project that was born from my recent reacquaintance with using organic cotton for my snuggly mitts. Some time ago I bought some Sublime Yarns Organic Cotton DK in a selection of gorgeous pastel shades. 

I bought them with no project in mind. The colour & texture was the greatest pull. But after much deliberation I decided to crochet up a cushion cover.

The colours lend themselves perfectly to a country cottage setting don't they? I suppose it was my way of bringing a little of that into my 1930's semi. I would love to have a little rural idyll somewhere, all cosy in the winter but full of light and charm in the summer. With a veggie patch out back. 

Despite being a colour fiend, I do like to work in pastel shades. I love all the bubblegum and cotton candy  coloured yarns available too. So I decided a good way of using up all the leftovers of the Sublime and Debbie Bliss cottons I had, would be to create another granny patchwork. 

Not sure whether I'll have enough for a blanket mind, but I should definitely have enough for another cushion. 'Bout time I had a Country Cottage Cushion version 2! What do you think?

One day (hopefully) my Country Cottage Dreams will come true..........

Lots of love x

Winter warmers

Source

Being as it's Shrove Tuesday here in the UK, I think I've found the perfect excuse to indulge in some big fat sweet pancakes don't you? How many of you shall be partaking in this tradition today?  Plain with just a sprinkling of sugar and a squeeze of lemon perhaps? or how about a few scoops of vanilla ice-cream & a drizzle of maple syrup? Whichever way you have them they're sure to be yummy!!

Another thing to fill me with delight today is the completion of a pair of snuggly mittens (or as I like to call them, wrist warmers). I managed to snatch a few minutes here and there this past week, to work on them. It's my very first attempt at making something like this, and I've actually really enjoyed crocheting up something completely new & different, using only one ball of yarn at a time. No colour changes necessary, just easy! 

I plumped for using some Debbie Bliss Eco Baby Organic Cotton, #14019 French Navy. Quite a departure for me as I don't generally work in dark block colours. The pattern suggested using Rowan Baby Alpaca DK, but I couldn't wait to use the new cotton I'd acquired. 

My inspiration came from a book I purchased recently entitled Crochet Workshop by Erika Knight. Visually it's a lovely book, lots of fantastic photographs and easy to follow tutorials. Perfect for a beginner as it covers everything from choosing yarns & hooks, through learning all the different basic stitches. I think it's been put together extremely well. In fact, when I was just starting out on my crocheting journey a couple of years ago, I'd have relished having such a fabulous resource. It's RRP is £16.99, but you can purchase your very own copy for a steal through the Book People here. 

There is a pattern for fingerless mittens on page 80 that I was immediately taken with, and as it looked like something I could realistically achieve I decided to have a go. I'm still not 100% confident reading stitch diagrams, so I was glad that there was a very detailed set of written instructions to follow as well. I didn't follow the pattern to the letter as I only wanted some short mittens, so I modified it to suit. As you can see from the pics above they're quite long and loose. 

As I worked my way through the pattern I began to realise that there wasn't going to be a lot of stretch in the cotton I was working with, so I improvised a bit by adding a few rows of dc stitches to each side of the mitten to give an extra bit of width, before stitching the side seams. Had I used a lighter yarn, such as the Rowan Alpaca, I'm sure that wouldn't have been necessary.  To finish them off I added 4 little white buttons as an embellishment.

All in all I'm pretty pleased with my little mitts, 

and shall enjoy wearing them with pride......

Granny Square Sneaky Peek

Happy Friday everyone, hope all is well with you?! Another week has zoomed past, and I really wanted to do a more detailed post, but as time is not on my side today I thought I'd just pop my head in and post a couple of sneaky peek pics of what I've been working on. My 'This & That' Granny Square blanket is well and truly out of hibernation now, so here's a wee taster to wet your appetite. 

It's been really exciting choosing colour combinations for each 5 round & 10 round Granny, and I love seeing it all come together. It's going to be just one big colour explosion! 

Oh how I love the simplicity of this pattern.

Please forgive my flitting between projects, but as you get to know me a bit better you'll come to realise that I find it very difficult to dedicate long periods to one thing. Underscoring my parent's observation as a child that I could never sit still for 5 minutes. Not that I like to prove them right or anything, lol?!?! Hence patience isn't my strong point, therefore you're likely to see wips popping up all over the place. I hope you don't mind?  

Till next time......x x x 

You are cordially invited to....

At Annie's Place

What a busy weekend it's been here, so many new visitors, so many wonderful messages of support & encouragement. It's been quite overwhelming, and that's due in no small part to the lovely Barbara over at Made in K-Town. She very kindly invited me to contribute a guest post, and I'm pleased as punch to say it was published yesterday. Being so new around these parts I was really surprised to be considered, so you can imagine how chuffed I was to be asked!?! 

'Meet in K-Town' is Barbara's fantastic idea to introduce like-minded bloggers to one another, and she hopes to create a page choc full of fantastic posts, capturing the essence of each individual and adding a little insight into their reasons for blogging. Why not hop on over there for a little look?!

Meanwhile, I've been busily trying something brand new on the crochet front. After a heads up on Ravelry, I made my very first visit to All Stitches, a lovely local yarn supplier situated a hop, skip & jump from where I live. Yes it's often cheaper and more convenient to shop online, but there's nothing quite like that feeling you get when you walk into a shop full to the rafters with yummy yarn and crafty bits & bobs. The opportunity to have a good browse, and a good squeeze of all the merchandise, seeing the colours and textures first hand before you make your purchase. Buying online can never compare to that!

After a lovely hour of perusing the shelves, and chit chatting with the very helpful owner Helen, I bagged myself some Debbie Bliss Ecobaby 100% Organic Cotton that was on offer, a couple of new hooks and a lovely book (more about that in my next post). I left there with a big smile on my face, knowing I'd found a real gem of a place. Somewhere I'm sure I'll be visiting again soon.

At home, I've been trying out some recipes from my Vintage Teatime book. First up had to be some Chocolate Brownies. I just knew they would go down a storm, so I set to the task. I pretty much had everything in the store cupboard, except some plain chocolate (70% cocoa solids), but I substituted that with some Galaxy Ripple instead. Can't say anyone complained! The whole lot was snaffled up in no time, some drizzled with double cream, some with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream, oh so scrummy........

I really wish I could have each and every one of you round for a cuppa and a slice of homemade cake. To thank you all for your generosity of spirit. 

What a fabulous way to start the month...............xxxx