Summer shrug

I have still been working away at 1 of the 3 blankets this week, but this afternoon I decided I need a little break and thought I would try a crocheted shrug for my little miss. We went to a birthday party last Saturday night and it was quite cold after the sun went down so I thought a little shrug would have been good over her sundress to keep her shoulders warmer.
To find a pattern/idea I googled and checked out pinterest (of course) and I came across a lovely idea using a shawl pattern but shorter and adding a little stitching to make 'sleeves'. The actual shawl pattern is here and I am tempted to make one for myself later on. I am using 4 ply merino wool and a 4.5mm hook. I decided I didn't want it to be too 'lacy' as I wanted it to give her some warmth, hence I chose a slightly smaller hook.

So far I have done 18 rows and I will check out the size on her tomorrow morning (half tempted to wake her now to check, but I know that would be silly!). If it's okay then it will just need some finishing off with stitching and single chains around the neck .... and maybe a shell edge to make it a little frilly! I have another ball of the same yarn and am contemplating making another for a friends daughter. Her birthday is coming up so it would make a nice gift and we are seeing them this week so I can have a little look to check if sizing will need to be similar or bigger/smaller than this one.
Hope to share some better pictures of my blankets soon!

He is VERY cute!

Something I did get finished last week!

Yes, I made him a very hungry caterpillar beanie! I used a beanie pattern I have used before (2 strands of 8ply to make it chunky and warm) and then adapted some free instructions I found online to create the eyes, nose and antennae. Lots of fun and this photo featured on his birthday invitation too. I will also be creating a few other VHC themed things in the next month, so I hope to share them too.

1st Birthday planning

Yes, I know I am 'supposed' to be keeping on with my knitting, but in the back of my mind I have been planning little one's 1st birthday party and I decided I would like a picture of him to put on his invites which means getting organised soon. We are going with a Very Hungry Caterpillar Theme - not all that original I realised after trawling Pinterest lol! - but cute and colourful and perfect for our little guy.
Anyway, getting back to what is delaying my knitting ....

Can you guess what it is? Hope to finish it on the weekend and I can share a proper photo next week :)
Other than that, I am having an open house this Saturday for my stamping customers, so I have been busy setting up for that, but I have enjoyed getting to play with new stamps and colours .... if only there were more hours in the day!!!
I have to admit to myself that I am not going to get my cowboy quilt pieced by the end of the month, but it will be top of the list for next month ... and I am getting excited about the July block in the Modern Blocks QAL!!! Lots to do in July, that's for sure!
Back soon! K x

Cute model

The little crochet top is done and here it is being modelled by my little miss ....

I am really happy with how this worked up. It is a little shorter than the pattern suggested I make it, but I was getting a little short on wool and decided it was better to do a couple of rows less than have to try and match wool I bought 2-3 years ago! Plus I was happy with it being a  bit shorter so she won't sit on it quite as much and catch it on things. As you can see, she is pretty happy with it too!

Close to finished

I am really enjoying crocheting this little top! Being worked in the round means there won't be any seams to sew up at the end, just a few yarn ends and I did some of the top ones earlier. I have about 4 more rounds to go, then sc around the armholes and it will be all done, That will make about a week to create it, not bad. I checked it out and it was a pattern I bought via Ravelry. Definitely worth it!

  

As you can see, I am working on it while tucked up under the quilt my aunt made for our wedding and the remote isn't too far away! I have been catching up on some Downton Abbey while I keep busy :)

Something new ...

With my ripple blanket, I enjoyed the fact I could sit on the lounge and work on it, or if it got cold, or I was wanting to put my feet up at night, I could also work on it in bed. Neither of those things are something I can do while sewing with my machine! lol! So, although my second UFO challenge of this month is to finish piecing the cowboy quilt top, I did want to have a crochet project on the go for when I need something to do on the couch. Now, I do admit, if I looked in the boxes and bags in my craft room, I probably could have found something half finished (please don't judge me!!!) but I decided to start something new! Plenty of time for me to work on the other UFO in the coming months!

Isn't it a cute top? I thought it would be great for my little miss over a long sleeve top during winter and if she doesn't grow too much, maybe as is in summer too. As you can see, she saw it on the table and was telling me she wanted me to make 'this one, mama!'

The yarn is again from my stash (yay!) and I will decided as I get further down whether I add the band of contrasting colour or not. I also probably have enough to make it a dress by continuing further along, but that may not be allowed if 'someone' starts demanding to wear it!

I am pretty sure the pattern came from Ravelry (I had printed it off and stuck it in a 'to do' pile), but I can't remember if I bought it or not. So far, so good though, just about to start down the front and back so that the armholes are created. Hopefully more to show soon!

Ripple Blanket finished!

Yay!!!
Remember way back in February, when Mel over at One Crafty Mumma organised a crochet blanket Ripple along? I know,it's a while ago now! I have been rather slack with keeping up with my blanket, however, I have finally finished it!

The first half went quickly, but the second half did take me a while, however I am so glad I stuck with it. The coziness of it is just lovely and it has been keeping me warm as I have been working on it!

I lay it out to measure it and my model decided to roll all over it, but it measures approx 41" wide by 46" long. A decent sized lap blanket anyway and my yarn calculations worked out really well. A little bit of the lavender left, I had to use a little of a second ball of cream which had a different batch number, but the same dye number, so that wasn't noticeable, and then I decided to add 3 rows of single crochet (with 1ch spaces) around the edge to finish it off, which used up pretty much all of that second ball. So approx 6 balls of 8ply yarn all from my yarn stash using a 5.5mm hook.
The other thing that makes this blanket special is that the yarn was added to my stash from my Nanna's stash. Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to her late last year when she passed away and it has been really hard since then to not be able to visit or pickup the phone and just talk to her. Some days I still forget that she isn't here anymore and of course, the last month or so with Mother's Day and her birthday have been a little less happy occasions this year. My grandpa began sorting out the cupboards early this year and knew that she would want me to have her knitting and wool, so I inherited a yarn stash as big as the one I already had, and working on this blanket with the yarn I know my Nanna had chosen at one time or another has helped me feel closer to her, just for that bit longer.

Thanks for the inspiration Mel and I am happy to have it ready and waiting to be gifted to the right person! Have a look here to see Mel's and some other beautiful ripple blankets!

UFO Challenge

As you would know if you read through a few of my posts, I need a bit of motivation (kick in the backside!) to get moving on some projects! I love to get going on projects, but then often find I lack the time needed to finish them off (when it gets to the fiddly bits :/) and so they sit there and sit there, waiting ....
Tonya, over at The Crafty Mummy has started up a 'Finish a UFO Challenge' to inspire those of us that need some help to get these projects finished and out on display/gift them/use them/etc instead of them gathering dust waiting for the final touches.
My first UFO Challenge is 2 part
1. Finish my Ripple-a-long blanket! I have to stitch in all the ends and then I decided to add a border too as there are a few wobbles along the sides that I would like to tidy up and I think a few rows around the edge will make it look nice and 'finished' and it won't be sitting in my basket waiting for me any longer!

2. Finish piecing my cowboy quilt top. I started piecing it a few months ago and got sidetracked and the pieces got dumped in a box! I need to get them out and put them together so I can then start on the quilting. Luckily I took the picture below so I can figure out the layout of the unpieced bits again!

 Okay, so that is my plan for June! Let me know if you are joining in too and what your plans are

Ripple update ....

Slowly, slowly ... I haven't got as much done this week as I had hoped because I've had a few busy evenings, but any progress is something I guess :) Here is a photo ....

Look at all those ends that need darning in! I should sit and do that one night instead of another row to make it look tidy ;) Loving how it's keeping me warm now too as it grows, perfect for the cooler evenings on their way! Back soon :)

Going slow :(

I started off going really well with my blanket last week, but my ezcema has fared up rather badly on my hands so I have had to stop for a bit :( not happy Jan! I think it was all the hot weather we had here (in Adelaide) and even the cream isn't helping much as it's cracked the skin, so need it to heal so I don't bleed all over the blanket!
Hoping to be able to do some on the weekend as we are heading out to the country for a christening, so if hubby will drive I am hoping for 6 hours of crocheting! LOL! Umm, I think that's probably a bit much, but even a couple of hours solid would be good!
Back soon with some photos! :)

Week 1 : Ripple-along progress

I have a couple of other projects to share pics of later this week , but tonight marks the end of the first weeks of One Crafty Mumma's Ripple-along so we are sharing pictures of our progress. Here are my first 14 'bands'!

I got to 13 1/2 by Thursday night then got caught on other things the last 2 days so got stuck back into it tonight and have now done 2 more 'bands'. As you can see, mine is not a pattern with 2 rows/1 band per colour. I was recently gifted some wool, so I decided to use colours from that stash instead of buying more. I had 3 balls of the yellow, 2 of the lavender and 1 of the cream, and after I crocheted 2 rows I weighed what I had done (I figured the foundation chain weight would just give me a little bit of leeway) and then used that weight to plan the pattern for my blanket. It remains to be seen whether it will work out correctly at the end!!! I hope to do 8 repeats of the pattern (yellow, lavender, cream, lavender) and then finish with another section of yellow. If I have enough I would love to have 9 repeats, but we shall see how it goes ....
See you again next week with a few more rows!

One down ...

Yay! The blanket I started on 2nd January is done!

I used a pattern called 'Rainbow Blanket' (found here) but as you can see I chose to used variegated yarn instead of using various colours. I was making the blanket to do some stashbusting so I had 2 1/2 balls of this bright multicoloured yarn and thought it would still look nice with the lovely bobble texture of the pattern. For the border I used a chunky soft white wool as a contrast to all the bright colours. So excited to have one finished! I had planned to make it for A2 but with the size it ended up I asked if she would mind if we give it to a friend who is having a baby (providing it's a girl!) as I think it would be a lovely size for a bassinette blanket and she as quite happy with that :)

In mentioning size and being not the size I expected I have learned a few tips in the last few days (see, blog surfing does have it's positives! lol!)
1. Do a test piece (even if you unpick it) to plan the size before you start the real thing
2. Don't be afraid to unpick the first couple of rows if you think it's too wide or not wide enough
3. if you are trying to figure out the finished size after a couple of rows, WEIGH the completed part and then weigh your completed wool. That should give you an approximate indication of what your finished size might be.
4. see 2!!!! if the dimensions aren't going to be right, change it THEN, don't regret it later!

Haha! so as you can see, I really need to be less lazy when planning my projects, but at least I have learned from this and will definitely use that to help in future
..... speaking of the future, I have already begun my next crochet blanket! I follow 'One Crafty Mumma' on facebook and saw that she was hosting a 'Ripple-along' where followers can create and share a ripple blanket over the same time period. I had been wanting to try a Ripple Blanket and had already print the one from Attic 24 that Melissa had followed when she created her first one, so I rummaged through my stash (I have been given a lot of yarn lately, so I wanted to use what I had) and found some lovely buttercup yellow, lavender and cream. My order and colour band width are going to be different to the original, but they will make the most of the yarn I have.

I have finished 4 rows of my first colour and am about to begin my second colour....... and so I will say goodbye now and get hooking!

Busy, busy

Back again after a few days off blogging. I managed to get quite a bit of crafting done in the last week or so, amazing what you can do if you leave the computer off!
I am pleased to say I got 2 beanies finished off as well as making 2 new ones! One of the ones I finished was the gorgeous 'Shell Stitch Beanie' by the Dainty Daisy. And then because I finished it while we were driving in the car (well, I was a passenger!) I decided to start another one and even finished it that night! very pleased with myself although I took the photo below before I had cut and darned the ends! I haven't added a flower yet as I need to look up that pattern, but A2 has already claimed the first one and it looks pretty even without the flower.

I also finished a Granny Stripe bag similar to this one by Tangled Happy. I have made a few of these now for little girl birthday gifts and so I adapt each a little so they are slightly individual. I used 2 strands of hot pink for the main part and then one strand each of lime green and white for the top part. I love those colours together, nice and bright and 'springy'.

I will leave it at that for now and share some other pics of completed projects with you soon.

Making progress ...

Yay! I have finished A3's rag quilt! I have finished the snipping and washed it once already (I followed advice I had read on a blog and put it into a pillowcase which I tacked shut before washing) and will wash it again before taking it to a laundromat and making use of their dryer. However, I have also made another raggy quilt already! I had some pink princess, polkadot and plain flannelette so I decide to make a strip one for A2. Unfortunately the print flannelette was not as wide as the others, but with the offcuts I was able to put together a little quilt for her doll so they will have matching blankets :) Those 2 have also been washed once and I will wash them again before drying them in the drier too.
All in all a productive start to February! I have also cut the pieces for A1's cowboy quilt and they are laid out on the lounge room floor at the moment, waiting to be pieced. Silly me stuffed up one of the cuts and had to go buy another fat quarter just for a 5 1/4" x 9 1/2" piece :( annoying! However, with the leftover piece of the fabric I had to buy yardage of, I should be able to use both with some backing fabric to make a pillowcase, so at least I can use it.
This evening I also did a bit of a tidy up of my yarn stash (well, most of it!) and packaged up the yarns in bags of matching balls. I'm hoping this will make it easy for me to see how much of each I have and choose appropriate patterns. I also found 1 beanie that needs 3 more crocheted rows, 2 beanies that need the ends woven in and a christmas stocking that needs stitching up. There is also a bag that I need to finish for a friends daughters birthday next weekend and a couple of blankets that are half done (1 knit and 1 crochet). I hope to get these things finished off in the next couple of weeks so they can go to their new owners instead of being in my yarn cupboard :) for fun and to use up some scraps I also arm knitted a scarf for A2 using 2 different chunky pinks. I just have to stitch the ends to make it an infinity scarf and I know she'll love it.
Ok, that's it for now, need some sleep so I have energy for all these projects!

Some progress!

I've spent a little time on a couple of my works in progress this long weekend ....
The crocheted blanket is still slowly coming along. I did take it in the car with me when we all went out for lunch on Sunday, but we had to go into the hills and for the first time in ages I started feeling a bit travelsick so I decided safest not to keep going! I have managed a few rows while watching Masterchef though ;)
My flannel raggy quilt, however, is in the process of being 'snipped'! I finished the binding and am now doing all the snipping to make it raggy. I think it will take me a few more nights to finish that part because my hand gets sore after an hour using the scissors! I'm pleased with myself though, because I made a matching pillowcase cover out of the leftover squares and binding .... I am definitely trying hard to clear out some of my stash and not hang onto scraps this year! The quilt looks good so far, of course the stitching isn't perfect, but I don't think my bubba will mind and I am looking forward to seeing how it fluffs up after washing and drying.
That's it for this update ..... wonder if I'll get more done this week with A1 heading back to school? lol, not likely I imagine!

Crafty beginnings

I like to craft ... a LOT! I have a lot of supplies, and ideas too, but what I lack is the time and motivation to start and finish them all! This year I want to get stuck into some of the UFOs in my craft room and also start AND finish some of the projects I have ready to go (eg kits and fabrics/yarns I have bought with patterns in mind). Plus, I would like to create more things for family and friends, especially my 3 kids. It would be nice for them to be able to say 'my mum made this' (or at least I think it would be nice lol!).
So far this January I have

• started a crocheted popcorn blanket for A2 - it's bright and multicoloured and I plan to add a white border after I finish the main section. I started on the 2nd Jan and so far I have used 1 1/2 balls and am onto the last full ball I have of that wool (well unless I check my stash and find more in there!) so hopefully I will finish it within the next month. I have been taking it in the car when we go on longer drives and that has knocked a bit of it over .... need to think of further places to visit to get more crochet time lol!

• finished a pillowcase dress for A2 - very pretty Riley Blake fabric with butterflies in light blue, turquoise, mustard and chocolate. I have enough left over for something else so I'm toying with either a matching dress for one of her dolls or a skirt. The dress is a bit big for her right now (although she has already worn it) but I made it hoping it will last until next year, and she can add leggings under it too.

• pieced a quilt top (lap size) and matching cushion front. I bought the material and pattern for the fronts at a craft fair last June and decided to get going on it. Amazingly enough I had enough of similar colours in my stash to add a border around the pieced squares and for the backing, (yay! more stash-busting!) so I have them basted and waiting to be hand-quilted at the moment ..... I will need to purchase some fabric for the binding though. Looking forward to finishing it and having it on my couch ready for winter, fingers crossed!

• arm knitted a scarf! yes, that's right, I knitted it with my arms! I just grabbed some random chunky multicoloured wool I had in my stash and made it into an infinity scarf, but it looks quite good and once I perfect my casting on and off so it looks neater, I will be making more of these for gifts, maybe even for the Mother's Day stall at A1s school. 

• pieced a flannel raggy cot quilt for A3. I had some cute flannel material I had picked up a while ago in plain and print and then I picked up some extra the other week as it was only $3.99/m so I used that instead of batting which meant I didn't have to cut different sized squares. All the squares were cut to 6" x 6" and then I joined the pieces with 1/2" seams. I am going to bind it instead of having raggy edges as I know A3 will chew on the edges (he's teething, poor boy) and I don't really want him to have a mouthful of fluff. So all that's left on that project is the binding, snipping and then the washing and drying to make it fluffy!

Okay, so that is what I have finished and started this month! Not a bad start to the year! I hope to share some pictures of the finished products in the weeks/months to come.
I have also made several cards for friends birthdays and hope to spend another afternoon doing some more of that soon. In fact I need to make some cards for a swap I'm in, so that will force me to sit and stamp .... such a shame ;)
The other thing I need to do is cook up some food for the freezer. We have an abundance of zucchinis at the moment so I have been 'pinning' zucchini based recipes to try and especially ones that will be good for the school lunch box. Maybe Monday will be my cooking day .....