Great Granny's.

 

So I said I was working on a little something for Owen? A little something using an old stash of granny squares and lovely yarn? Well I finally finished weaving in the last few ends and decided on the nicest way to join them altogether. 

In fact the hardest part of this whole make was deciding how the squares would fit together and I ended up removing two reds and adding two blues instead. It's a little harder to settle for the right design when limited by using only stash of a particular yarn. For this make I was using only Mirasol T'ika cotton DK and as it is no longer available I only had what was in the stash - 7 skeins of red, 6 of fuchsia, 3 of royal blue and 1 of green.

I wasn't sure that the one green would be enough to complete a border row so I decided to use it to join the squares together instead. When the squares were all joined I needed to think of a way to edge it, and as this is a make for a boy boy I decided on a simple treble crochet border all the way round in alternating stripes of red, blue and fuchsia. I repeated the red and blue once more and was going to add another fuchsia but decided that the blue final row gave just the right contrast and set off the limited blue squares perfectly.

Ideally I would have liked to have another skein of the lime to work the first border row but I didn't and so that was that. I could have done with blocking the squares a little better too but  it's quite a heavy blanket anyway so it will drop into it's own shape soon enough, and Owen was too impatient to wait fr me to do much more with it.

So here we go in all it's glory:

And now back to that in between stage of deciding whether to work my way through the W.I.P.'S, or to work on a little easy finished quick fix, or to start on the next big project......although I haven't decided what that will be yet!

Old projects.

Otherwise known as "the post where I tried to save on photo's"!

The camera battery is down to two dot's now so don't think it has much life left and with no trip planned to the caravan, and therefore getting the charger, for a few more weeks yet I'm trying to save camera usage as much as possible. Just wanted to give a sneak look at what I'm up to right now though :)

Remember this? And this? Or even this? Well after coming across a lovely find at the car boot sale last week I thought I would get creative and make it even lovelier. This is very much a gift for Owen so his favourite colours in use, which just happened to be the very colours I had stashed away and already started with.

I know a few of you  fell for this Mirasol yarn in a big way and started your own little projects after clearing it from the sales and I know that someone zoomed through the Granny squares  (Shell?) but I don't remember a finished project? :) 

So not quite ready for a reveal yet but the squares for this make are all done and I've even woven in all the ends so far. Just the joining up now (the part I like the least!) and then deciding on how to finish it off. Here's a peek of the colours in use, including the extra three skeins of blue I bought recently in the end of line at Blacksheepwools:

Really enjoying making this and half wondering why it has been stashed away for so long, whilst half pleased it was as I am really liking working with the yarn again. Funny seeing how my crochet has come on too - when I started it I wasn't sure what I was doing and it looks like I worked the treble clusters into the chain on the previous round rather than into the chain space! Phew, glad I understand crochet a little better now, it looks much nicer done the proper way! But I'll be using the older squares anyway as they are a reminder to myself of all I have learnt. And I'm fairly certain Owen won't mind or even notice the "wrong" squares.

Right, enough putting it off, back to joining the squares.....

-x-

Headband and mitts.

Original title don't you think?

A request from Helen - a knitted headband with a large flower trim. Apparently they're "everywhere" just now. So we had a search through the stash and after finding the right wool I set to work. And this is the result:

Worked in Mirasol (yes you know how much I love their yarn!) Miski 100% baby llama the whole thing took just about the full 50g skein with only a few inches of wool left at the end. Lucky really as I bought only the one skein some time last year and have been waiting patiently for a fitting project ever since.

It is about an aranweight yarn and I knitted up the headband on 4.5mm DPN's.

The flower was crocheted following this pattern. I didn't feel confident enough to make this flower up as I went, especially as I was aware of how little wool I had left. 

Jen sat with me whilst everyone else went to bed and as I finished off the headband she put in a request for one too. And I'm thinking this would also be nice for a present for other girls in the family too........

Also knitted up since the last post were these mittens for Heather:

I used the Mirasol left over from the gloves I made for myself and I still have enough to knit up one more pair of mitts I think. Worked on straight needles in size 3mm for the rib and 3.5mm for the main body these mitts are just so tiny and took barely any time at all to knit up, definitely a quick knit fix!

Definitely on a roll at the moment, but I think I need to try fit some sleep in too.....

-x-

Stuff!

Needing to occupy my mind this evening I thought I would ignore the housework and do a little crafting instead.

It's turned so cold the past few days that I decided to treat myself to a nice pair of gloves:

I've had this wool in my stash for many many months but I love Mirasol wool so much that I always set it aside for a special project and then never get round to using it. These gloves only took just over one of the two 50g skeins I had so I still have enough left to knit a pair of mittens for Heather too. The wool is Mirasol Chirapa 100% merino and is just so soft and warm. The colours are pretty warming too for on the coldest of days.

I also finished off the cardigan I have been working on over the past week for Heather:

Yet another purple one, she looks so lovely in all things purple. This was knitted up on Paton's Diploma gold DK and used 3 50g balls. It's in a simple garter stitch with a crochet edging rather than the usual rib. I really like the added interest a crochet edging gives. And it's so much quicker too ;-) Actually this looks so much better on Heather than it looks in the photo. Will have to try get her to model....

Felting too has been taken it's turn, although this was an accidental make. Remember this? Well it somehow ended up in the washing machine on a towels wash and when I realised it had already shrunk to newborn size. It was too stiffly felted to be of any use to a teeny baby so I decided to turn it into something else rather than throw it away:

I used the back section of the cardigan to make this purse/zippered bag and added needle felted flowers and edging to add a bit of colour. Not sure what I'm going to do with it now I've made it but I think it's very cute and almost worth felting a piece of clothing for. And I still have the rest of the felted cardigan and the buttons looking to be used on a new project. Now I just need to think what to do with the extra large mum and baby covering cardigan that also got felted in the same wash.........

New favourite shops.

I finally found somewhere that sells this:



The Paton's Shadow Tweed I needed to finish my cardigan.
Blacksheepwools is a great website for bargain wools and I think I may have mentioned it before. Well I knew it wasn't too far from where we lived and today I finally got the chance to visit the real life store. I was going to order the ball I needed online but John suggested we drive out there as he needed to go up that way anyway. He thought it would save on postage costs for just the one ball of yarn. All I can say is that he must be ever so slightly deluded! So we went off to find the place and it was even closer than I thought, barely 20 minutes drive away. Oh and it is a lovely shop. Rows and rows of beautiful yarns as soon as I stepped through the door. And further into the shop a huge selection of needlework supplies, embroidery cottons, cross stitch kits and charts and such wonderful things. But so tempting too! I really had to orce myself to scan the rows as quickly as I could and seek out the yarn I had gone for. I finally found it at the far end of the rows of yarn and so I grabbed a ball and headed towards the pay desk. But I knew I would have to take a closer look at some of the yarns on the way out so thought maybe I should pay after I had admired, just to avoid any confusion you understand..........
Well I just happened to spot some gorgeoulsly soft Mirasol Sulka at only £1.99 per hank. I made a couple of hats from this yarn early on in the year and I remembered how lovely and soft and warm they were. So I picked up a hank.....and a second..........and a third.


And as I wandered around I spotted this amazingly coloured Araucania Limari, £4.45 I think per hank. I only picked up the one hak just to admire the colours and imagine what a beautiful little hat it would make, but then I forgot to put it back down.........how forgetful of me.


I knitted the little pumpkin hat for Heather from Paton's colour 4 me pure wool and I really liked the feel of it and the richness of the colours. So when I saw a shelf of the same wool in some fantastic pinks I just had to take a closer look. And at only £1.30 a ball then I just had to pick up a couple of balls with the thought of making something for our little girl. Well when I say a couple of balls I meant of each colour obviously, and 4 of each is only just over a couple isn't it?


And with that being more than enough wool to add to my stash I headed for the cash desk once more. But I happened to get waylaid at the very last minute by some stunning Rico sock yarn. And we all know how useful and multi purpose sock yarn is don't we? Self striping so the design doesn't need thinking about, light and soft so can be used to knit anything really, and 4 ply so great for baby trousers, socks and hats.


All in all a great days shopping and a new favourite place to visit. I have a feeling John is going to become very used to those country lanes..........

Well it wasn't my fault!

John really should have known better!
Why what did he do?
Well we were in Liverpool and he said that I should pop into Abakhan to see if they sold the Patons shadow tweed I needed to finish my cardigan. I only need one ball. Well they didn't have it. In fact they don't appear to have any Patons yarns. But they did have this:


And it is very soft and beautiful colours. Just right for a warm, snuggly winter hat and scarf.
So I bought 6 balls.
But it was a bargain at only £1.99 per ball.
Well would you have resisted?
I think I had definitely better search online for the elusive ball of shadow tweed.
And I better whisper this..........I went to our local yarn shop for the same reason and didn't come away emptyhanded. I just happened to need a couple of skeins from there too. Really. They just shouldn't be so appealing. Patons colour 4 me pure wool in fantastic shades:


And another thing, they're always worth getting if they are in danger of becoming homeless aren't they? So a couple of skeins of Mirasol T'ika have come my way courtesy of a GP mama:


The same mama has some lovely Araucania she is hoping to rehome too and I am imagining the lovely warm woolies I could make for my boys with that. But which shade to go for? I will get back to that question tomorrow as I am sure she is fed up of waiting for my reply. Trying desperately to restrain myself from asking for both!!!


OK who's interested in setting up a yarnbuyers anonymous? I fear my addiction is becoming out of control!

Hello.........

Well as you all know I have been otherwise occupied just lately with my beautiful little girl and so not much chance for crafting. Not to say I haven't thought about it though ;-)
So first a few bargains:

Sale here (fab bargains - check them out, fast delivery too!)and I couldn't resist this lot.......and all for under £25. You know I can't say no to Mirasol, especially if it's on offer! And the bamboo I thought might make a nice top for me when I return to a more normal size. I have plenty of time to get to that size though as I don't think I'll be knitting much for the near future. Although sleepless nights and slings are a way round that......... As for the sock wool......well it's sock wool and it was on sale, what more can I say, especially as i was very restrained and bought only two balls!

And then there was dearest husbands visit to the car boot sale last Saturday. The phone rang and it was himself to tell me that there was a woman there who had lots of wool for sale. After getting him to read the various labels to me and find out prices I decided that the Paton's Shadow Tweed sounded reasonable, especially for £5 for the full 600g. Do I have the maddest husband around then? Oh the Robins Rhythm are 50g balls of pure wool and only 25p a ball at the local charity shop. I really wanted to buy the lot but for one thing had decided to definitely buy no more yarn until I get time to use it, and for another thing, I have no idea what to make with it! There was lots more assorted wools there too so had to drag myself away.

And onto makes. Well there hasn't been many since my last post. A little more work on the latch hook rug before Heather arrived and nothing since. Well until last night. All the hats I made Heather were a little big (remember I usually have much bigger babies....) and she really needs a sunhat so with her happily wrapped and sleeping against me I managed to crochet this little hat:

I used this 4 ply cotton (near the bottom) and a pattern from this book and it took a couple of hours and is very lightweight and an almost perfect fit. And of course one last picture because I can't resist, Heather Rose modelling her new hat:

Well begun is almost done........

.......I hope!

First sock of the three pairs I have to have made within the next two weeks:

Really easy pattern which was gifted to me by Lucie several months ago and used often since. Anyone wants a copy then let me know. Yarn used is Regia self striping sock yarn, you didn't think I knitted all those stripes in did you?
And as a break in the monotony of going round and round on DPN's a couple more quick crochet granny squares to add to the throw. Was hoping it would be a nice cover up for snuggling on the sofa with a newborn but think the completed throw might take some time yet ;-)

Inspiration..........or otherwise!

Found some lovely cotton fabric in the local haberdashery shop last week, these two remnants of fabric, just on one metre each, for only £1 a piece.

Not sure what to do with the pirate fabric yet but the pink has been turned into these:

Pj's for Sophie for when she stays over with us.

And inspired by Shell and the idea of a lovely crochet throw for wrapping up with baby on cool summer evenings, I have learned to make granny squares! The yarn I'm using is the Mirasol T'ika mentioned recently. Not sure how big the throw will end up, I'm getting six squares to each skein and have seven skeins each of red and fuchsia. Maybe I'll have to add some squares in another colour if there isn't enough, but at the moment I'm just happy to keep going and see where I end up.
The first squares, not perfect but a memory in the making:


And now for the disaster:

I knew right from the beginning that this wasn't right, so why did I continue? I suppose it was just seeing the colours coming through and wanting not to admit defeat. Mmm, note to self, trust your instincts. So now it is pulled down and ready to be made into something else. Hopefully with more success.

Guilty!

Yes the parcel was my Getknitted order. Five lovely skeins of scarlet Mirasol T'ika and five of the same yarn but in Fuchsia. Not quite what I expected as I was told Fuchsia was out of stock and so expected Lime and Scarlet but nevermind, it's still lovely and I'm sure I'll think of something to make with it all. Also I had some Regia sock yarn to make another pair of socks for dearest husbands upcoming trip to the TT. So one pair on the needles, and enough yarn now for a further three pairs. Have to hurry though as the trip is only 5 weeks away!

Now is this a bad thing to admit to? When I opened the parcel above I just had to go check what was left in the Mirasol sale and seeing as there was only 2 skeins of both Fuchsia and Scarlet left I thought I might as well have those too. Well no point in leaving them there on their own is there? And I'd hate to not quite have enough and then be unable to find more........ So order placed Thrsday afternoon at 4pm, and look what arrived in the post this morning:

Well best find somewhere to stash this lot away ;-)