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Well, what can I say? January has been hectic. It started with me having to do an assignment for M257 due on January 5th. Of course I ended up leaving it until the last minute because of Christmas and New Year. Luckily it didn't take long! My books arrived for M359 so I've started reading Block 1. It's a lot more wordy than previous courses, which have been more practical, so I've definitely noticed the step up from Level 2 to Level 3 but it is a good course so far.

Then it was my husband's birthday. This meant a meal out with my parents, then they babysat one night so we could have a night out with friends. This involved curry, drinking and dancing. A rare treat for us as we live so far from family.

I did order some yarn just before New Year for a couple more blankets.I'm hoping to do a Vintage Vertical Stripe but before that, I've started a Granny Ripple. A few people have mentioned the foundation chain count being wrong and I too found this problem. I also wasn't keen on how the chain looked as I was doing the first row so I added in a row of (US) single crochet (UK double crochet), which has given it a neater edge. I am hoping that I won't need to put a border on.

I've done the first 16 stripes. The pattern calls for 6 repeats of 9 stripes so 54 stripes in total. I'm not doing this quickly though as I'm just picking it up every now and again to do a stripe in between other projects. I do like to have a blanket on the go.

If you're looking for a nice quick afternoon project, I can recommend these V-stitch Fingerless Gloves. I whipped these up in a couple of hours. I decided to start them using foundation single crochet rather than a foundation chain as I was using Debbie Bliss Pure Cotton DK and a 4mm hook and wanted to make sure I got the size right. I needed to add an extra repeat but wouldn't have bothered if I'd been using a yarn with more give in it. I also added an extra row of ribbing. I had to start a new ball of yarn for the final row of sc & the thumb on the second glove so if I hadn't added the extra row of ribbing 50g would have been enough.

The photo above shows a close up of the lovely stitch pattern. Very simple but very effective. I wore them on the school run this afternoon and I think my 4 year old was rather impressed with them :-)

I'm also working on a sampler quilt. I picked up a copy of Lynne Edwards' book at a market for £4 and started it ages ago but I was always quick to pick up my hook and yarn in front of the tv so the hand sewing got left abandoned. Then I needed something to take to sewing group one Monday and it gave me the push I needed to get on with it. So here it is...

It still needs the papers taken out and then I have to sew it onto the background fabric for the block. This is my long term quilt project.