FO: Little Hug Blanket (includes pattern for squares)

Last week my husband had to work in London for a couple of days. Luckily for me, it was Thursday and Friday. Both girls are in school all day on those two days and they were fairly tired afterwards, particularly Orla. It meant both were in bed asleep by 7pm so I got two extra evenings of peaceful, free time. I managed to finish off the 20 squares I was making from leftover yarn, join them together and add a simple border.

These squares are so easy to do and give a more solid look to a blanket than a traditional granny square. So here's some (basic) instructions using US terms (brits can just substitute every dc for a UK tr):

Make ring:
ch4, sl st into first stitch to form ring

Round 1:
ch3 (counts as first dc), 3dc, *ch2, 4dc*, Repeat from * to * two more times, ch2, sl st into top of ch3 to join

Round 2 and each round thereafter:
ch3 (counts as first dc), *dc in each stitch across, in corner space make 2dc, ch2, 2dc*,  Repeat between * and * all the way round, join with sl st to top of ch3
Note: You will not end in a corner space - the number of stitches after the corner space will depend on which round you are on.

When square reaches desired size tie off and weave in ends.

I used 5 colours and made four 6" squares in each. I arranged them randomly and joined them using the slip stitch method (put them right sides together and slip stitch through the back loops i.e. the loop closest to you and the loop furthest away).

For the border I did a simple US sc in each stitch around and 3 in each corner.

Excuse the feet in the picture!

FO: Blanket No 2

Well I managed to get the blanket finished the other day. We were having a party on Sunday evening and it was the push I needed to get on with sewing the ends in and doing the border so that it could go out of the way. In the end I decided to do a fairly plain border, mainly because the other blanket has no border and I didn't want one to look lots fancier than the other.

So here it is:

I used a crab stitch (also called reverse single crochet) for the edge

I also managed to make lots of cakes for the party. I did some Apricot & Banana Muffins and some Vanilla Cupcakes:

And we carved the pumpkins to sit on the table:

WIP: Blanket 2 & More Bunting

Sorry for the late WIP post this week. I've not managed to get anything finished this week so there's no FO Friday post. Still, I hope you enjoy seeing what I'm working on. First up is the second kid's blanket. I still haven't decided which child is getting which blanket. At the moment I'm thinking of wrapping each of them in a gift bag and letting Alan write the name on the bag so it's a surprise on Christmas Day.

I'm now up to 60 stripes. another 10 to go and then a border to go on.

60 Stripes done, 10 to go!

I'm really loving the Halloween bunting I made and decided that really I should have some bunting in the same place when it's not Halloween. I had a little search around in my fabric stash and was sooooo happy when the little scrap pack of 4 fabrics I bought at the Festival of Quilts were big enough to get two front pieces from. That was enough for the 8 flags and I just backed them in some leftover off-white I had from another project.

I bought these fabrics with the idea of making 'something' for the kitchen but I didn't know what. I think they're perfect for bunting. It's just one line of sewing left to do (to join them to the binding) and it'll be finished but it's such a small job that I've not managed to convince myself to drag the sewing machine out for that one line!

Also this week I treated myself to two new craft books as I got a £20 Amazon voucher.

First up is this crochet book I've had my eye on for a while: Around The Corner Crochet Borders by Edie Eckman. I make a lot of crochet blankets so I'm looking forward to trying out a few more borders for them.

Secondly, Country Cottage Quilting by Lynette Anderson. There's a lovely little purse and needlebook if you look through the preview that I'm looking forward to making.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed they arrive early next week so that I can add a different border to the granny stripe blanket above. My other two granny stripes use the border that Lucy used on hers.

FO Friday: Blanket 1

I'm now over halfway on the second of the kids' blankets and I have finished the first one. It's been a bit hectic this last week because I had a 3 hour exam on Wednesday afternoon so had LOADS of revision to do. I was massively behind with the reading for this course...it ran from the end of January so hit two half-term holidays, the Easter holidays and the big 6 week summer holidays. I also had toothache and tonsillitus and, in case that wasn't enough, Orla pretty much dropped her afternoon nap. All that meant I lost many planned hours of studying. The books were also very 'wordy' so required hours of quiet concentration unlike my previous courses which could be read in 5 minute chunks when the kids were playing nicely.

My plan after the exam was to spend yesterday just sitting and relaxing but it didn't quite happen! I did a bit of tidying/cleaning the kitchen and a bit of laundry, then wrapped some Christmas presents but I did find sme time to sit and crochet. I've now done 4 of the 7 colour repeats on the second blanket (so about halfway as there'll be a border to go on).

On the first blanket I sewed the ends in and started to add a border but I decided it didn't really look right so pulled it back out again and have left it without a border.

You'll have to imagine it's finished as I forgot to take another pic!

I've wrapped it ready for Xmas. Unfortunately I asked the kids which blanket they liked best and they BOTH said the other one. I was quite surprised tbh as I think this is much brighter and more interesting.

FO: Blanket & Halloween Wallhanging

I was really lucky to receive the cream yarn I needed to finish a blanket for the WoollyHugs project very quickly. As I was also waiting on yarn for most of my other projects I cracked on with the little blanket. I did a couple fo rounds of cream and then did a pretty border. This was based on one from the Attic24 blog (click here for Lucy's tutorial) but I used more stitches per chain 5 space. Basically into each chain 5 space I did (US terms!) sc, hdc, dc, tr, dc, hdc, sc. I also didn't do the slip stitch.

Here's the finished blanket:

Close up of edging: 

On Saturday morning my husband took the kids to gymnastics and gave me chance to get on with sewing. I've been getting a little stressed about how many projects I have on the go and really wanted to get on and finish something. It seemed obvious to finish the one that had the earliest "deadline" so I started working on the Halloween wallhanging. I say "deadline" because it doesn't really matter if it's not done until next year, after all, I started it before last Halloween!

Anyway after a bit of frustration finding suitable beads/buttons etc. and discovering the binding I had wasn't quite long enough (honestly it would have been about half an inch short!), I finally managed to get it finished. In the end I decided to stitch it right sides together and turn it through rather than bind it.

I just love the owl peeking on one of the hanging loops

Here's a close up of each of the pictures:

Frankenstein

Witch

Cat

Ghost

WIP Weds: Yarn FAIL

When I first started making granny squares with my leftover Stylecraft Special I hadn't quite decided what I was going to do with them. Then I decided I'd edge them all with white and join them. The original plan was to make two blankets from the leftovers so I only bought one ball of white to see how it looked. Anyway, I changed my mind about doing two blankets from them as I found I didn't have enough bright, colourful leftovers to give a reasonable balance in both blankets. I decided on a granny stripe for the other as my Aunty's Xmas present had worked up pretty quickly and thought that by alternating every colour with white it would tie in a bit with the granny square blanket (the kids share a room). This meant I used up the white much quicker than expected, so I picked up another ball on Saturday. Well, I did in fact use that one up by Sunday evening. So I picked up another ball while at sewing class on Monday evening thinking it would be enough to finish the granny square blanket and then I could do a batch order for the granny stripe as I'm going to need some of the other colours too.

It wasn't enough. I've run out on the final horizontal join and still have the vertical joins to do. So here it is after I ran out a little after midnight - I was trying to get the squares joined so that I didn't end up joining them in the wrong place!

I might head over to Knit & Natter on Friday and pick up another ball of white while I'm there, though I should be revising really.

Until then I shall have to get on with sewing instead. I have plenty of sewing projects on the go and first up is a Halloween project I started last year. Not a lot left to do on it but it's the fiddly bits that are left.

I've gone round most of the edges and mainly have the features to add (eyes & hair). Hopefully I'll have it finished before this Halloween!!!

More WIP post at Tami's blog and at Frontier Dreams.

Grannies Galore!

First of all an apology for missing FO Friday last week. I'd planned to write my blog post after picking the kids up from school but my 3 year old decided she was really tired yet didn't want to sleep. That meant I didn't get a chance to write my post. Then I was a little silly at the weekend and managed to wrap the Mario coaster I made before I got a photo of it, so I guess you'll all have to wait until Xmas!!!

I have finished a few other things this week. First up is a "Giant" granny square blanket. I use the term giant quite loosely as it's for seriously ill children/babies and is only 18" square. As I was changing colour every rounds I turned my work too to prevent getting a wonky centre.

This is made from (donated) Stylecraft Special DK in Plum, Cream and Cloud Blue. As there was loads left I started a slightly larger simple blanket, made using US dc, as a little break from granny square production! I didn't count the number of stitches when I started it, but it was slightly under 80 I think. I have used each colour in turn and done stripes of 3, 2, 1 and 1 rows. hope that makes sense to you! Basically 3 rows of colour A, then 2 of B, then 1 one C, then 1 of A, then 3 of B, then 2 of C, then 1 of A and 1 of B and so on.

It looks a little out of shape here cos it's been sat folded up!

 I then decided I might have enough for another Giant Granny Square.

 Well, as you can see I didn't have enough. I had to raid my stash and the only colour I ahd that would go was a pale grey. Unfortunately I also ran out of that!!! I'm now awaiting some cream for the final two rounds. See the centre is getting a little wonky? That's why I turned my work on the first one.

With the little scraps I had left I made a 6" granny square. Hopefully this will go with squares other people have made to make a blanket.

Hoping to post these out tomorrow and will send the unfinished one in the next batch.

I have also managed to finish the granny squares for one of the kids' Xmas present blankets. I still haven't deicided which child is getting which blanket but here's the 84 finished squares.

They just need joined together. My plan is to lay them out on the living room floor one evening when the kdis have gone to bed and play around with them until I have a layout I like, then join them all together - might be a late night :-/

If that wasn't enough I've also done a little work on the granny stripe (the other Xmas blanket)

Pretty Much Finished: Mario!!!

It's finished, apart from the last two ends to weave in. I am pondering doing a second round of the black but I quite liked it with just the one round so I'll probably think on it a bit.

It's from this pattern by Russ McAllister.

WIP Weds: Mario continues....

I'd love to say I am now relaxing because I finished all 252 granny squares needed for the mario blanket yesterday morning but unfortunatley there were lots of ends to sew in. OTOH I took a load of the squares to sewing group on Monday evening and worked on them there, which gave me the kick start I needed. I managed to get all the ends sewn in yesterday before having to pick Erin up from school.

The kids then sat and watched a film as we were having tea late (friend was visiting) so I started putting the squares together.

There are so many ways of joining granny squares but the one I use most often is to hold the squares right sides together and then slip stitch in the closest and furthest loops (i.e. the back loops only). I like this one as I can do it with my hook and it gives a neat finish to the front.

I considered the join as you go method but decided it wouldn't look quite right for a pixelated picture. I tend to stick to using join as you go for joining squares that have the same colour for the outer round as then the 'join' isn't very noticable.

I tend not to sew together at all. I find this a little strange because I sew & quilt as well as crochet. I think it's perhaps because it is so different to sewing fabric.

Anyway, the first 4 rows are done (that's 56 squares joined)

Please excuse the mess!

There's another 14 rows to go, then I need to go down all the vertical lines so still quite a lot of work. I'm then going to put a couple of rounds of black as a border.

For more WIP Weds posts check out:
Tami's Amis
Ambassador Crochet

WIP Weds: Yes, it's another blanket!

Hello, my name is Hazel and I'm a blanket-holic. I feel like I'm making loads of blankets and quilts. This one is a little bit of a love/hate project. It's incredibly dull making so many granny squares (252) in so few colours (5 colours in total and the yellow is only used for two squares!). I started it just over 8 days ago and I'm up to 130 squares. Pretty impressive for me, especially as I had an assignment due today!

130 granny squares

I have to admit I'm not loving crocheting the brown. I thoguht I would get very bored with the blue but I actually didn't. There seemed to be a 'milestone' to aim for and everytime I hit one, another wasn't far away so it was easy to keep going. The brown though is another story, so I might break it up and do a bunch of reds after I finish my current ball.

Wondering what it is? Well, it's going to be this Mario Blanket by RussMcAllister.

And I couldn't finish this post without mentioning that Orla had a settling in session at nursery today for 1 hour. She insisted on wearing her uniform, which is a little long on her!

For more WIP Weds news see Tami's Amis.

FO Friday

I've managed to finish 3 items this week. As I mentioned yesterday I finished a ballet bag for my neice that I can't show just yet.

Sorry to be the organised one (I'm not really!) but the other two finished objects are Christmas things. First up is a blanket for my aunty. I can show you this because it's very unlikely she'll see it. I know my neice won't see my blog either but her parents might and I'd quite like it to be a surprise for them too.

It's another Granny Stripe by the Attic24 pattern. It's pretty quick to work up, though this version was more repetative than the previous one because I only used 5 colours this time (last time I used 17) and I repeated the colours in order this time (last time I did random stripes).

It's a lap sized blanket. It took 2 balls each of Stylecraft Special DK in Cloud Blue, Silver, Teal, Aspen, Turquoise (there was a bit leftover from the two balls even after the border was added).

I changed the colour order for the border, mainly because I didn't want the first border colour to be the same as either end of the blanket. Order of colours for the border: Teal, Cloud Blue, Aspen, Silver, Turquoise.

I'm really pleased with it. I love the colours and I hope my aunty does too.

I've also finished the Christmas wallhanging.

WIP Weds: Yes, I realise it's only July

so huge apologies for mentioning the C word ;-)

Yes, I have officially started getting ready for Christmas! On Monday evening I basted a quilt panel ready to start quilting as soon as I have time to sit and do some sewing. I bought it ages ago. I thought it was 2 years ago but actually it might only be about 18 months - it was massively reduced so am guessing it was getting close to Christmas when I bought it. I've never got round to making it but I'm determined to have it finished for this Christmas!

The other project I've started is a present for my Aunty. Last year I made her a scarf and she loved it so this year I'm making a granny stripe blanket. I just love this pattern by Lucy of Attic24 as it's so simple and I can do it while watching tv as it doesn't require much concentration.

I'm making it in Stylecraft Special DK, which is just a cheap acylic yarn but so lovely to work with, far better than most acylics. My Aunty loves teal so I'm using Cloud Blue, Silver, Teal, Aspen and Turquoise, in that order.

Granny Stripe blanket in progress

The colours are a bit more vivid in real life. I'm into the third colour repeat and am hoping to need 60 stripes in total. I'll then add a border.

I started the blanket with foundation single crochet rather than a chain and the a row of sc and I started with 142 stitches (it has to be a multiple of 3 plus 1). I'm hoping to have a lap sized blanket at the end of it and it seems to be working out so far.

FO: Hexagon Blanket, Granny Square & Spotty Cushion Covers

So I finally finished the Hexagon Blanket. I don't have accurate amounts for the yarn used because I started with leftovers from the granny ripple blanket. Basically I finished the leftovers and used 1 more ball of each colour, plus maybe half a ball to finish the border rounds.

The first 6 rounds of the hexagons were made in various combinations of lipstick, teal, grey & graphite Stylecraft Special DK. There are no repeated hexagons. Then each of the 39 hexagons had a final seventh round added in parchment, joining each as I went along. I then added the first border round in parchment. I couldn't quite decide what colour to use for the second border round but decided that the first parchement round didn't really look like a border, so I added the second border round in parchment too. I did then ponder adding a third round but decided against it, or rather my husband did.

So, we changed the cover on the sofa so that I could display the blanket nicely:

This gave me an idea of leaving it on the sofa. Of course it needed cushions...luckily I'd finished the granny square cushion cover by sewing three buttons on (that's been waiting a while because it's one of those 5 minute jobs you just never get round to).

And then I dashed into the kitchen to whizz up a couple of spotty cushion covers with the sewing machine. These only took about 20 minutes. They're made with Cath Kidston fabric that I've had for ages. I bought it when visiting the in-laws a few years ago. It had 25% off and I planned to make a bag with it but never got round to it. I am so glad I didn't because I think the cushions look fab! What do you think?

WIP: Hexagon Blanket

Do you remember this big pile of hexagons?

Well, on Monday I put Orla down for a nap and half an hour later she walked through the living room door. Yes, it appears she's on the verge of dropping her nap. So yesterday when she asked to go to bed I sat watching tv for a bit to make sure she'd gone to sleep before starting studying (good plan it was too, she was up 20 minutes later). That big pile was sat there taunting me ;-) so I started the long, boring task of weaving the ends in.

Do you know, virtually all those hexagons have 12 ends to weave in EACH???!!!??? There's 39 hexagons and I think I figured out there were 438 ends. By the time I went to bed last night I'd weaved in the ends on 35 of the hexagons, Alan had done the other 4.

I also started joining them together and have now got 14 of them joined. I decided to use the Join As You Go method for a couple of reasons:

First, and probably the most important one, I was totally sick of weaving in ends and the thought of adding another round to each of those damn hexagons and having another 76 ends to weave in before starting to join them filled me with dread!

Secondly, I rarely use the join as you go method with granny squares as I prefer to slip stitch in the back loops so it was a good excuse to use a different method.

So here's my progress so far:

I've left a few ends to weave in at the end so that I know which side I started with. I chose the position of the hexagons before starting to join by laying them out on the living room floor and moving them around until I was happy with the look. I've now got them in piles for each column in order from top to bottom so it's important to join them in the right place. It's fine when it's uneven (as above) but when you have a symmetrical piece it's hard to know which way is which.

And this is what Orla has been doing:

The pumpkin bowl is her hat!

Another WIP: Vintage Vertical Stripe Blanket

I've started yet another blanket. This time it's the Vintage Vertical Stripe. I've been wanting to make one of these for a while now because I love the look of it. It's a very simple pattern, made of US dc (UK tr) but with the stitches made into the spaces between the previous rows stitches rather than under the loops of the stitch and with two dc in the final space to keep the number of stitches correct.

I've chosen to make this in deep, warm, earthy tones in Stylecraft Special DK. Here's my progress so far:

WIP Weds: Hexagon Blanket & Granny Square Cushion

Ok, so the Hexagon blanket is a little addictive. Perhaps because it's appealing to the mathematician in me to come up with colour combinations. You see, it's not THAT simple. The pattern calls for 39 hexagons, each consisting of 7 rounds. Now the final round of each is going to be in parchment. That leaves me needing to create 39 hexagons of 6 rounds from 4 colours, so if I exhaust colour combinations there's no way of getting an odd number.

On the other hand the pattern does assume you sew them together as a row of 6 then a row of 5, then 6, then 5, and so on ending on a 6. So I have the option of sewing them all in 6's, which would change the outline of the blanket slightly but in a way that I think would work fine.

The other option would be for me to miss some of the grey combinations as I have two shades of grey in it. I'll carry on with the current combinations and see how I feel when I lay them out to get a better idea of the look.

Since it was pancake day yesterday I just had to take a picture of them like a stack of pancakes! I'm up to 26 but all the ends are still to weave in.

As well as the hexagons i just couldn't resist starting a granny square cushion. This yarn was sent to me in a Christmas Swap on Ravelry and I just couldn't decide what to make with it. It's Rowan Handknit Cotton dk and I'd have probably made lots of little things if I'd bought it myself but as it was a gift I wanted to show it off a bit more. Luckily the colours go really well with the new colour in the living room so a cushion seemed perfect. I'm a little worried I might run out of yarn before it gets big enough to cover the cushion pads I had though so I may have an excuse to buy some more.

WIP: New Blanket

What can I say? I've got the crocheted blanket bug.

There was a lot of yarn leftover from the Granny Ripple as not only did I guess at how many balls I'd need, I also made the total number of balls I ordered the most I could get in the same postage bracket. So, I thought I'd make another blanket from the spare yarn. I didn't want to make another matching ripple though; I like variety. Off I went to trawl patterns on Ravelry and I settled on this one on the Novamade blog. I'd tried playing around with making hexagons earlier today following the normal granny square method but with 6 sections but of course this gave me too many stitches (duh!) and so a wavy mess went in the bin. I really love the way this simple rework of the usual granny square method works out perfectly.

I've done 3 hexagons so far, except the final 7th round as I'm still pondering whether to join as I go or use my preferred slip stitch in the back loops joining method.

I know they don't look it, but they are the same size. It's just my bad photography

FO: Granny Ripple Blanket

Well, I've finished the Granny Ripple blanket after managing to fit in 11 stripes yesterday and 4 this morning. I then had 110 ends to weave in!

So here it is, 55 stripes of Stylecraft Special DK in parchment, grey, lipstick, teal and graphite. I used 2 balls each of grey, lipstick & teal, a single ball of graphite and a little over a ball of parchment.

I slightly altered the start of the pattern as I found that (a) the stitch count seemed wrong and (b) it looked a little messy just working into every 3rd stitch of the foundation chain so I worked a row of US single crochet first. I also haven't put a border on.

This is a bit longer than I would have made it because I wanted it slightly longer than 5 colour repeats so had to do 6 repeats, it could have done with being 5 1/2 really but it'll just be more snuggly.