WIP Weds: Blankets...yes, more blankets!

On Monday I managed to finish the Mario coaster, so I'll show you all that on Friday.

The two blankets for the kids have gone on hold for a short while as I received my generously donated yarn on Friday (well, it went to the sorting office and I collected it on Friday in the rain!). I crochet for the MNWoollyHugs project and recently offered to crochet for their Little Hugs project, which is basically little blankets that get sent to a hospital for seriously ill children to use.

So here are two WIP blankets for them

In the background is a large granny square blanket. I turned the work after each round to avoid getting a wonky centre. It's pretty much finished - just those pesky ends to sew in. The second is just a basic blanket using US dc. I didn't really count the starting chain but I think there's just under 80 stitches. I'm just hoping I don't run out of yarn on this one. The good thing with this blanket though is that I can cover my ends as I go!

For more WIP posts check out Tami's blog.

FO Friday: Squares

I have been very busy making squares for memory blankets. On Monday I had the pleasure of meeting up with some other ladies to help one of them with her crochet (the other two were knitting) and drinking coffee. Orla was very well behaved, spending most of the time eating breadsticks and counting crochet hooks!

Here's some of the finished squares:

My favourite square so far, from this pattern
The only adjustments I made was to replace the final round of sc with a round of dc to make the square up to the required 6".

Yellow Puff Granny Square

I did a few basic granny squares, but will just show one here!

A shell stitch 'square'

Shell Stitch Square

An Attic24 Neat Ripple square
I edged this using different height stitches in order to square it up.

And a Flower Granny Square, from this pattern.

Crochet Hero 3KCBWDAY3

Well, what can I say. When I saw the topic for Day 3 of Knitting & Crochet Blog Week there was only one choice. I had to pick Lucy from the Attic24 Blog.

There are so many reasons why I've chosen Lucy and here are the main ones:

1. Her designs are stunning and yet so simple to make. I love that you can often start them and after the first couple of rows the pattern is so stuck in your head that you can just sit and crochet without needing bits of paper around you and it doesn't matter if your kids are asking a million questions because you're not losing your place each time you pause to answer them.

My Neat Ripple Blanket

2. The lovely bright colours she uses. They just make me smile! I love that places are now selling a "Lucy Pack" of the 17 shades of Stylecraft she used in her granny stripe blanket.

My Granny Stripe Blanket, made using a "Lucy Pack"

3. I wish I had her photography skills. It's a pleasure to read her blog just for the pictures!

4. She makes so much for her own home. This is something I didn't really do before I found the Attic24 blog. I would make things for my kids. I would make the odd thing for myself. I would perhaps make something for my house at the sewing group I go to, if we were all doing a project together. I made a quilt for the bed and planned to make some for the kids. But after finding her blog and making the granny stripe above, I just couldn't stop. I wanted that Homemade Home! I've made multiple blankets, cushion covers & jar cozys, not all from Lucy's patterns but inspired by the lovely photos she has of her home. It's like I no longer need to just make for other people.

Candle Jar Cozy

Owl Family

I think that seeing the photos of Lucy's beautiful home has made me realise that I can make things just because they're pretty, that I can dot things about the room to make it look nice, that the things I make don't have to just be practical. She's helped me turn my house into a home.