Christmas Stocking Blanket!

Last week I hunted out my WIP bag. I had a few projects in there that needed very little to complete and it has been bothering. Although not enough to do anything about until now. One of them is this lap blanket. All I actually needed to do was sew in the ends which I finally did. Actually didn't take long at all. I just hate sewing in ends. Most boring part of any craft.

This blanket was actually started at Christmas. You might remember that I purchased two yarn advent calendars. One of those was by For the Love of Yarn. Lisa provided a shawl pattern but I quite fancied the idea of a small blanket. Perfect for over the lap while working on a project.

I love the fact that I didn't know what the next colour was going to be. Despite my lack of will power I was actually very good and didn't open them in advance. Not like me at all. As I wanted to make the blanket slightly bigger I used leftover sock yarn. I chose a slightly thicker sock yarn for the edging to give it a nice drape and used my favourite fan pattern.

It's sitting in my living room for now but I might eventually move it to my little book nook. Can't wait for next years calendar.

Hearts Baby Blanket

Just a quick post to show you that I have actually finished a WIP. A good friend of mine became a proud aunt. She has been through a lot and it was nice to see her so excited about something. She dotes on her new little nephew and I wanted to make something for him. He is not so new now (maybe 5 months old) as I took so long to finish this. Thankfully it is so big that he will still get good use out of it.

I used WI DK yarn which I have used for this pattern before. It has that cotton feel to it although it's acrylic. Lovely and soft. I picked out green and white as I thought it would be spring like (It was winter when I started this).

This will be the fourth time I have used this pattern. I barely glanced at it as a result. I think next time I will have to try something new. I think part of what took me so long wasn't just because I was so buys but because I was bored with it. Hopefully my friends sister will like it though. All the details of this pattern are on the post I did of the first of these blankets back in 2014.

Happy New Year!

The plan was to post all of this years knitted socks as my last post of 2016. My next post would then be about some of my plans for 2017. Last night though I had a chat with my sister about a project and got too excited not to share it. So my planned posts went right out the window.

As you know I treated myself to two advent calendars. Yarny advent calendars. The one from Lisa of For the Love of Yarn I used to crochet up a granny square lap blanket or  lapghan.

My sister has been loving watching the blanket. She loves colour and loves unusual combinations. Including combinations that has me questioning her tastes. I think she is just more playful and open to colour than I am and that's probably helpful considering what she does for a living. So she has been enjoying this blanket as I work on it. I have too I confess. It's given me the opportunity to let go of my controlling nature or rather need for order.

I gave my sister a choice last night. I offered her this blanket once finished or the chance to have her own but done in a granny stripe. I warned her that this would take a while as I have other things I want to do so it was up to her. She opted for the striped blanket. I pulled out all of my mini skeins from Lisa's mini skein club which I have yet to use for anything other than admiring. I thought she would want to pick out random colours much like the laphan. She started with a beautiful turquoise and went from there. The results are that first image of blues and purples. I can't wait to get started on it. I think it's going to make a beautiful blanket. Any mini skeins I receive in the future which will fit in I will automatically add to the pile. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

In the mean time, I picked out left over yarn from my socks and have added them to the blanket. I am almost finished the pink and have just one left after that. It's made a fairly decent sized lapblanket. Not looking forward to sewing in all the ends but I am looking forward to seeing it finished.

I haven't forgotten the socks I have been knitting with my Bluebell yarns advent calendar. I may finish those this weekend.

Meanwhile, I hope that you all have a lovely Hogmanay and that 2017 is a yarntastic year for you.

November WIP

It has been quite a while since I did a work in progress post. Mainly due to the fact that recently I've been doing the sensible thing and working on only one thing at a time. I'm back to multiple projects now that I am able to manage my time. This might seem like a boring image to start with but I love it. I love the crisp cleanness of it. This is the Heritage Cascade sock yarn I showed you in my last post. As I mentioned then it is being used for the final images for my birthday diamonds pattern. I love how it is knitting up. I very rarely knit with white on it's on but it's lovely to work with. This is the cuff completed and I am about to start on the pattern.

I have also made a start on this months socks. The yarn is from For the Love of Yarn. It's a complete change in colourway for me and I love it. I thought it would be very autumnal but it's actually brightening up my mood as we move into winter. I am also using my favourite pattern New England from Knitting on the Road by Nancy Bush. It's knitting up fast.

Just to prove I am not just knitting or just working on socks. This is the stylecraft yarn I showed you in the last post. As mentioned then I am using it to work on a blanket for my living room. I went with the African flower pattern as it's been one that I have been wanting to try for a long time. I'm also joining as I go which will save one big headache later.

How to Use a Mini Skein

My friend Lisa has recently added mini skeins to her etsy shop. She has packs in both double knit and sock weight. In fact she is even starting a mini skein club where you get so many mini skeins each month. A fab idea that I would join if I could afford to commit to anything just now (which I can't). It did remind me though that when I listed this in my What's New post last month that I would write out some ideas for mini skeins. So here we have it (and these are just a few ideas). None of these images are mine but belong to the makers which I have linked (the image above is from Lisa's shop).

I thought I would start with the smallest project and work my way up. Which is apt since the pack of mini skeins I highlighted at the start is sock weight. So here we have some striped socks. An obvious choice for me but these stripes are a little bit different. I'm actually curious as to how it's done and I might even try this myself. Actually my first thought when I decided to post this blog was to show a plain white sock with a mini skein used for the heels and toes. This is far more creative. The pattern is called Squircle (brilliant name) and is by General Hogbuffer. It looks like General Hogbuffer has lots of lovely sock patterns that I will have to make some time to look at.

You would be correct if you recognised the pattern in these rainbow socks. It's the Broken Seed Stitch pattern which I used for Aprils socks. Blogger Pesa Puussa has done a rainbow version which are quite striking. Some mini skeins would be ideal for this. Just to remind you the original pattern is by Hannah Levaniemi.

 Cherry Heart is one of my favourite crochet bloggers. I love seeing the images from her crochet. They colours are always pretty. I am sure I have posted about her Stripy Mitts before but this seemed the perfect place to give them a revisit. The pattern is a free download but I suggest following her blog just for the inspiration. She has a lot of lovely patterns on there. These mitts I like for a lot of reasons. I like the stripes. You could use any mini skein pack colour combo that you want. I imagine the mitts would look different depending on your colour choices. I also love it for the cute little buttons running up the side of the mitts. Definitely one of my favourites.

The Hot Spot Pillow is one off my favourite ideas. It uses crochet squares with the centre round in colour and the rest in white. With a pack of mini skeins you would get a large number of squares out of them done this way. I love it for it's simplicity and yet it looks so effective. I also think that there are an infinite number of squares that you could use in this way. I am thinking a plain granny done the same way would be just as effective. You can also see from the above image that different colour combinations create a different look. The pattern is by blogger Kirsten.  Her blog is called Haakmaarraak and is definitely worth checking out. She has a lot of lovely patterns on there and I have added her blog to my craft blog list page.

 This cute baby blanket I have admired for a long time on pinterest. I love that it starts with bold blocks of colour which slowly intersperse through the white. It makes for a pretty blanket and I think it could be just as striking with one colour. However, that wouldn't utilise your mini skein's but the original design by Felted Button would. This pattern isn't free but I would consider buying this myself. Go and have a look at Felted Button's blog as she has quite a few lovely patterns for sale and rather a large number of them involve rainbow combinations.

I couldn't finish this post without a blanket from another of my favourite crochet bloggers. I have raved about Attic24 more times than I can count and I have used her granny stripe pattern many times. I thought this would be perfect for the mini skeins if you were collecting them. This way you could add to it as you collect and your blanket would take on a different look each time. I also thought it would be perfect for Lisa's mini skein club. You would be getting a surprise each time and it would be something you could work on a little each month. Just an idea. You can sign up for Lisa's club here.

There are far more ideas out there than the ones I have listed. As they say, you are limited only by your own imagination. If any of you have come up with  your own creative ways of using them I would love to see it.

Willow Square Blanket

 I am so excited about showing this off.  I started this well over a year ago. Probably two years ago but I took a year out from it. I picked it back up again three weeks ago and it is now finished. The longest part being the border.

These are the colours I plan for my bedroom when I get my new home and this blanket is in preparation for that. I can't wait to see it on my new bed. I have actually used it already, briefly. Couldn't help myself but it's now safely stowed away until it gets a new home.

I used the Willow Square from Jan Eaton's 200 Crochet Blocks. I reviewed this book previously. It's a pretty square and it's versatile. I have seen it done in just one colour or several colour combinations. It looks good each time and it looks different each time. If you are experienced at crochet it's not that difficult to do. Having said that, when I went back to it three weeks ago I had great difficulty with one of the rounds. Couldn't get it to work out at all. I had to go to my blanket and look at how I had done the squares before and use that rather than the book. After joining together a line of squares and starting to join it to the main blanket I realised I had missed out a round on all these new square. It just meant I had to undo the joining and then add the missing round. I didn't have that problem the first time. This is what I get for setting it aside so long.

I don't have an image of the yarn. I didn't think to do that when I first started this. The yarn is a 4ply by the Women's Institute which is exclusive to Hobbycraft. Even though it's an acrylic based yarn it has a silky smoothness to it and a slight shimmer. It's lovely to work with although a little bit splitty like cotton. Otherwise it's lovely to work with and worth it for those colours. I used a 4mm hook and the squares came out a decent size. The blanket is 12 by 12 squares. I probably could have gotten away with 10 by 10 but I like the size and when it comes to blankets I usually err on the side of caution.

When I worked on this initially I had a vague idea that I wanted a fairly simple border. Not my usual fan border. Possible just a few rounds of dc stitches. In that time I had picked up a book on borders. Given that I had a lot of yarn leftover it was never going to be simple and so I picked out this bobble border. It's not too lacey and so I think it highlights the willow square rather than take the attention away. I also think that it fits in with the bold colours of the blanket. The border was easy to do but it ate yarn and I worried that I would have to buy more. Turned out I just had enough. The book is called Around The Corner: Crochet Borders by Edie Eckman. I plan to do a review on it at some point so I won't say too much there.

So that's my blanket and another one of my WIP list. If you are on Instagram I highly recommend you search Willow Square to see all the different images. Or even google it.

February WIP

Unlike January, I am only going to show you what I've actually been working on. First on the list is a pair of socks I am knitting for my sister. These are for her Easter. As you probably know we have a 'make a gift' policy for Easter. The yarn is by For the Love of Yarn and the pattern is by Stephonia. I'm not going to say too much about it as I will do that when I have finished the socks.

I have the deposit for my flat and I am having a gut out before I go ahead and start hunting. I do need to get back on Project Home though. Therefore this blanket is back out. I just have one more stripe and the border to do. I plan to do that when I my sister and I have our movie nights. It's easy to transport small squares and I won't be giving surprises away.

I have also worked quite a bit on my shawl. You might notice a bit of a difference from January's image. All I have left to do is a few rows and then the border. I made a mistake with the current row and I need to frog it back otherwise I would have finished it by now. But then I probably wouldn't have got January's socks done.

Would love to see what you are working on this month.

January WIP

January's WIP post will be a little larger than previous months. Usually I will only post the projects that I have spent time on that month. Which might seem like I'm kidding myself. That's part of it but also I didn't want to re-post the same images each month since there were no changes to the projects.

January is different. January will be a WIP only month as I mentioned in my first post of the year.  It's part of my getting organised theme. It seemed fitting that I used that as an opportunity to actually get organised. So here they all are in all their glory. Well, most of them. I am sure there are more squirrelled away and completely forgotten.

First up we have the Halligarth shawl which featured in August's WIP post. This is a shawl featured by Brooklyn Tweed and designed by Gudrun Johnston. When I first saw it I instantly fell in love with the pattern. I loved knitting it. So much so I didn't mind having to start over after not tracking the pattern. Despite that it hasn't been touched since that last post. However, I did track the pattern this time. I have spent a good part of today working on it. I have fallen in love again. I am now past the small size (9 repeats of the pattern) and I am going to finish on the large (12 repeats). I have plenty of the yarn so I might as well keep going (even if there are so many stitches it takes 5 minutes to knit 1 row).

This sock was also featured in August.  A pattern I spotted on pinterest by Kirsten Hall called, Far Into the Forest. I actually picked this up first thinking that it could be this months socks for operation sock drawer. I remember that I had finished at the start of the heel and I had kept a note of where I was. I had put it down because it would need more concentration than I could give it at the time. Sadly, when I read the heel in the pattern it made no sense to me whatsoever. I blame night shift brain. I'll need to read the pattern over a couple of times I think.

Yet another project that last showed up in August. It's the Lucidity Shawl by Beata Jezek. The yarn is a lace weight by my friend Lisa. Thankfully, I have tracked this one too so fingers crossed I will be able to ease back into it.

This is my favourite. My blanket for my new flat. I love the willow squares and I am loving the orange and teal together. I only have two more strips and then the border and this is finished. Not long at all. AND all the ends were stitched in as I went. I might have to pick this up after the Halligarth is finished. I actually started this in 2014 and I think it was this time last year that I last touched it. I stopped to work on a baby shower gift and never went back to it.

Thankfully this blanket has been changing. It was last shown in November. If you remember this was for my gran but is now going to be donated instead. Over Christmas I finished all of the cream squares and last week I moved onto the border. I'll talk more on all of that when it's finished. What I will say is that I was a little overzealous with my choice of border and joining. As a result it has used up all of the yarn and I am going to have to order more. Oops!

Another project from 2014. I don't think it has even featured here on the blog, although the crochet border has.  This is a camper van design from Cross stitcher. There is absolutely no reason, that I can think of, why I put it down. I've been in the mood to get some stitching done. This is definitely at the top of my list to finish. Especially since it already has a frame.

Another cross stitcher design. This clock I also started last year. I am sure it was put down because of the same baby shower project as my blanket. Like my blanket, this was also part of my project new home. At the time I liked the idea of making my own clock. I've still to get the hands for it and of course the frame.

There was another cross stitch pattern which featured here too. It's almost finished which is why I haven't posted an image. All it needs is a frame. This one is for my sister and I stitched it because it was both pretty and matched my sister's living room. I will get it framed this month and get an image of it posted.

Last but not least we have my hexies. Also featured in November but not touched since. Which is a shame because I really don't have many to go. I should get the cushion finished and give it to my sister along with her finished cross stitch.

So that's my plan for the month. I'm not unrealistic. I am very aware that I won't get it all finished. I'm going to make a good attempt though. Anyone else got a WIP list they want to share?

My Crafting 2015

Let's face it 2015 has been a rubbish year for my family. I'm not going to focus on that though. Instead I am looking back at my crafts of 2015. This is after all a craft blog. I gathered all my photo's of my crafts over the last year and put them into their own folder. Unsurprisingly there weren't that many of them. I am sure it would beat 2014 though as I was trying to finish my degree back then.

What surprised me this year was how many pairs of socks I did manage to get finished. There were 8 of them. A whole 8. I was sure there would be far fewer. I give myself a pat on the back for that one. Especially since only 2 of those pairs was done in the basic sock pattern. Only 3 out of the 8 were not made with Lisa's yarn. I'm not sure I can pick a favourite. The last pair in the collage was the last pair I made for my mum so they have a soft spot. It's also one of my favourite patterns which I have used over and over again. You can see the socks more clearly here. The ones that really pop is the yellow and green which was a pair that I did for my gran. Sadly it doesn't looked like I blogged about those socks and I have no idea what pattern I used. I didn't document it anywhere (this is where those organisational posts will come in handy).

As for crochet, I think this has mainly been a year for it. I managed to crochet two blankets. One for a baby shower and another for my mum (funnily enough it's the red one). I also crocheted a couple of squares which contributed to a blanket being given to someone as a leaving gift. There are another three blankets in that montage all of which are unfinished. The first image shows a blanket I started for myself. It's for when I buy my new home (next year people). It's almost finished but I haven't touched it in a long time. As you know the brown and beige squares were originally going to become a blanket for my gran. I am now donating it to someone else who is in the same situation my gran would have been in had she still been with us. The last, is of course the blanket club. I have loved taking part in that. Since my mum worked on some of those squares too it feels like it's a project we have done together, which was why we originally joined up.  The other good thing about this blanket is that I have learned a lot of crochet skills from it and so felt comfortable enough to sign up for the Acer crochet along. I thoroughly enjoyed that and hope to take part in others.

The end of the year has been when I have been at my most productive. I got quite a few things finished and as a result both my sister and I ended up with a set of winter woollies. I quite enjoyed working on this. I plan on doing a set for my sister each year. I want to use different patterns so will have to get searching for next year. The hat will have to have a pom pom though as my sister will insist on it.

Sadly, I have done very little in the way of sewing. I embroidered a bag for Lisa's little boy which was a gift from my mum and I. I stitched a few magazine freebies. I started a clock. And I started a hexie cushion. That's it. I have dozens of other unfinished sewing projects from previous years. I don't think I should start any more until at least one or two are finished.

It doesn't seem like I have had a particularly productive year. I spent most of my focus during the spring and summer on my mum's garden. Most of the work was hers though and I can't take the credit for it. I very much enjoyed photographing the results though.

I was busy with the blog itself. It's had the most traffic this year than any other and I have been trying to evolve the blog into something that people can use as a tool whether it's to try a new idea or to get some inspiration from others. My favourite post is probably the most boring which is the one with tips on blogging. I hope that other people will find it useful and I hope that it will also encourage some of you talented lot to get writing. I've added pages to the top of my blog which I hope that people will find useful and that I hope to continue to add to.

So that's pretty much my 2015. Looking forward to 2016. Please look out for my post at the end of the week. I hope to post about my plans for next year. Oh, and remember, if you would like to be a guest blogger next year let me know.

Blanket Club Month 11

A four day week and a training day included has meant that I am behind in all the things I have planned. That includes blog posts. It turns out you can't do it all (especially after a Christmas night out on top of that). Next week I have a whole week off but I plan on spending it with my family. It's my sister's birthday and I want to make sure she is thoroughly spoiled. So for that reason I am moving back to two posts a week. For the next couple of weeks anyway.

So November has been and with it everyone in the blanket club received their final square. I am 100% in love with this colour. I love blue, any shade of blue but this one is a firm favourite. I'm glad that it was saved for last. I also love the buttons that Lisa made to go with the box. She posted these buttons on her facebook page a while back and I greatly admired them. So happy to be a proud owner of two. Will have to think of something special for them.

As for the square. I love it. Although, I'm not sure if I am doing it right and I have a feeling that I might have to be frugal with the yarn to get all 26. I like it though and it measures up to the same size of the other squares so I'm not going to worry too much if it's right. Sadly I have only got two squares done. Just not enough time in the world at the moment.

Month 12 will be a little different and that post will be a little late in coming. Month 12 we get our joining yarn. We have the option of picking the colour for that one. I picked cream as I want the colours of the squares to pop. Cream is always my go to colour for joining. I will need to decide the order of the squares and my joining method. I keep changing my mind on that one. Feel free to send me links to some ideas/tutorials.

Lisa has also announced next years blanket club. It's a graph based pattern. Each month you are sent a graph and the yarn to make a large square. Lisa had pattern testers try the first square and it truly is lovely. Not for me though. Next year I have other projects that I need to concentrate on and so I have to be strong willed when it comes to signing up for things.

She also has a blended ombre club next year which works the same way as the blanket club. Each month you are sent the yarn and at the end you are left with a beautiful stole. Go to her facebook page at For the Love of Yarn if you fancy signing up.

Blanket Club Month 10

Last week October's blanket club box arrived from the lovely Lisa. I was immediately taken by this lovely green. It's so festive which is fitting since all the shops are preparing for it now AND I have even seen my first Christmas tree. Too soon even for me. Anyway, I loved the green and the deepness of the colour will contrast well with the other squares. The freebie this month was these lovely polka dot scissors. I love them and they'll come in handy since I'm always losing mine.

The square this month is called a Victorian granny and I love it. I love the pinwheel design in the centre. It looked more complicated than what it was and surprised myself with it turning out first time.

I've now almost completed the first skein. Sadly, I don't think I am going to have enough yarn for all 26 squares. That's okay though as I have kept all the leftover yarn from the other squares and I should squeeze out a few more with those.

After this there will be just one more square before we receive thee joining yarn. I couldn't resist taking a photo of the first 9 months all together. Loving the bright colours. I have been having a rethink about my joining. I'm in two minds as to whether or not to make one large blanket. Going to have to have a think about that.

Meanwhile our Lisa is planning next years blanket club and although I told myself I wasn't going to be joining that one I'm now thinking about it. You know it's probably going to happen!

Christmas Countdown Week 2 - blankets

I had planned on doing something else today and to post the blankets further down the line. However, if you want a blanket all ready for Christmas you should probably start now. You might not have much time for anything else mind you. Most of these blankets are crochet and you will find that they will grow much more quickly than the knitted. Unless of course you are just learning to crochet.

This first blanket is called a Snowflake Afghan and is by Lois Olson. You can find her pattern on ravelry.  I would probably do this in pale blue rather than dark. But that's the beauty of something like this. You can choose the colours to suit. I have seen this on ravelry done in green, red and even variegated yarn. You could even have more than one colour in there. This is done in aran which would work up more quickly but again you could do it in a finer yarn for a smaller hexagon. You would just need to do more of them. Of course if you are really clever you could do your own matching cushion.

This pattern is a little more complicated but still crochet. It's called the Yule Tree Throw and even comes with a matching cushion cover. This pattern is available on Red Heart which is an American yarn brand.  A friend of mine made a lovely blanket with this yarn. Lovely and soft and she was able to get a good deal by ordering it in bulk. Again with this pattern you could change the colour to suit yourself. Although the green does go with the tree motif. This is one of those aran style crochet blankets which I have admired but never attempted.

This blanket is a little bit more special than the others in that it was part of a crochet along. The panels were revealed one at a time giving people the chance to crochet alongside others and making the final piece a surprise. You can find the entire pattern on Repeat After Me. This is a fab crochet blog which has lots of patterns and well worth the read. This is again a complex (to me) crochet pattern which involves colour changes and a type of crochet that is all the rage just now and that's the corner to corner (or c2c) blanket. The author of this pattern links a few tutorials on how to do this.

This is the odd one out in that it is quilted and not crochet. This lovely quilted piece is actually a wall hanging but could be made larger to use as a blanket. The pattern for this can be found on Purl Soho which is one of my favourite crafting pages. I love this page for it's simple clean lines. If you visit the website often enough you'll know what I mean. All their makes seem to follow this even if they come from various designers. I think you can always tell a Purl Soho pattern.  It's listed under the yarn section of my blog list as Purl Bee. As I said you could always make this larger and you could change the colours to suit such as pale blues and purples.

You have seen this before. This is my mum showing off her Christmas blanket. She was so proud of it and every year it would come out and hang over the sofa. I show you this not to be nostalgic or bring the mood down but to show you that you don't have to have a complex pattern or a specific Christmas pattern to make it a Christmas blanket. You just need to change the colours. In this case my mum was learning both how to crochet and to crochet a granny square. She decided to use that learning experience to make this Christmas blanket. So if you know how to do a granny square you can make a blanket by choosing Christmas colours. You don't even have to have lots of colour changes. So here is a link to a tutorial on how to do a granny square. This was created by Heather of Little Tin Bird which is a lovely blog filled with gorgeous photography and some crochet in there too.

Next week I may have a guest post for you to look forward to. It's from someone that I have unashamedly shouted out about over and over again for being extremely talented. I am also hoping to have a WIP post for October (since it's almost finished) and of course a Christmas post which I have changed the theme of twice now.