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-

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!

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 ;-)