Crochet Heaven

Well happy Easter!

As you can see, I've been a busy bee. It was lovely to visit Greenwich and see all the quirky buildings and the independent shops on the high street. Greenwich is of course steeped in history, what with the Royal Observatory, Planetarium and Cutty Sark all within spitting distance of each other. 'Cutty Sark' was once a Scottish term meaning short dress apparently, hence the scantily clad lady poised at the front of the boat. Bijou and with a village feel, I couldn't help wondering how we have allowed the rest of the UK to be blighted by chain store fever with the same coffee shops, clothes shops, pubs, restaurants and supermarkets in most of our towns and cities. Ok, so I do shop in many of these stores but I am always cheered by the sight of an indie store.

Here's my stack of crochet squares and a quick snap of the lovely colours I've chosen for the blanket I'm making. Next week I will be popping over to meet fellow blogger Anna from Anna's Creative Corner over on the other side of London. I very much look forward to catching up with her and marvelling at some of her latest luscious knitting projects.

Evolution of the Granny Square

I was going to show you my first few granny squares with these but then thought better of it; they were so misshaped it's embarrassing! I changed my mind back again and decided to put squares together for a blanket rather than spiralling round after all. I'm not sure whether these two will get used yet as they're not perfect and I would imagine I will have produced some even better ones by the time I've finished.

By rough calculation I've estimated I'll need approximately 24 squares to make a very small blanket. At the moment it takes me an hour to make one square but I believe accomplished crocheters can make them in half the time. With this in mind, hopefully I'll have a blanket finished sometime next month.

Baby Blanket Goes Under Cover

My second ever knitting project, you may have caught sight of this in my finished object coffee cosy post last week. As I created this zigzag baby blanket before I started the blog, I felt it was a shame not to give it a mention. Although due to its size it took me a while to knit, I was pretty pleased with the result at the time, so much so, I couldn't face giving it away. The purple, cream, grey and light blue colourway really works, don't you think?

Missoni Resort 2012 collection, image from thriftfab.com

I've also always been a fan of the distinctive zigzag pattern Italian fashion house Missoni so often incorporates into its range. Even as a super novice at the time, I got on ok with this pattern and would definitely knit another one.
Special thanks to Debbie Orr for providing such a lovely free knitting pattern via Ravelry. I used Debbie Bliss double knitting yarns for the blanket, the sea grass chest is from John Lewis and I picked up the cowhide rug many years ago in Sydney, Australia.

How to Crochet a Granny Square

Juggling my new job with seeing friends and all the usual stuff, I finally managed to snatch an hour yesterday to attempt some proper crochet. I really wanted to have a go at a gorgeous hexagon three round pattern I found online but couldn't find the exact same pattern as a You Tube tutorial. Instead, I had a stab at a basic crochet granny square. Using the video clip from Crochet Geek (see right), I got through the first round in just a few minutes. It's not quite right yet but I know that after a couple more attempts I will confidently have cracked it. Of course, mastering simple granny squares and crocheted hexagons will mean I can learn how to produce crocheted afghans, blankets and much more. You only have to look at my Meme Rose kaleidoscope blanket post to see just how far you can go with this simple crocheted block.  

Here's my humble first attempt at a crochet granny square

Essential Amigurumi How to - Making Arms and Legs

From time to time you come across some real gems when travelling through the twittersphere. Yesterday I spotted a tweet from Erich containing a link to their helpful blog post on making amigurumi toys. Joining limbs and other body parts to knitted or crocheted toys can be tricky the first few times; it may sound obvious to seasoned knitters and crocheters, but pinning limbs in place before stitching them on is also essential for getting that rounded shape where the limb meets the body. Rosie here (see below) was my first knitting project. I had trouble putting her legs on evenly; however, I still adore her! I intend to check Erich's blog more regularly as I found the way they pinpointed and addressed a specific crochet technique like this really handy.

At time of posting, the Roman Sock blog which I featured in my top 10 crochet sites list last week  published a useful video tutorial on amigurumi tips. Video clips are so accessible and have helped me with many techniques since I started knitting. Check it out, Brie knows what she's talking about.

Rowan Laze Knitting Pattern

Oh my god! The Rowan 'Laze' pattern is so long; even my mother groans and leaves the room when I ask her to look at it for me.

"It’s a 25 row pattern!" she cries. However, it is certainly worth persevering as I really love the dogtooth check pattern and contemporary shape of this two colour knitted cardigan. The Rowan Studio 20 booklet also contains a whole raft of other patterns for young fashionistas – the diamond patterned 'Sun' dress has a certain ikat look about it and is a firm favourite. There's also 'Shine', a chic summer shift dress with a twisted cut out back detail that is both elegant and understated. Pictured top to bottom: Laze, Sun and Shine Rowan knitting patterns.

Back in the Game

Earlier in the week I was offered a new contract starting next month: "That should keep the wolves from the door!" she cried. I have a really good feeling about this year, I just know it's going to be fabulous.

Being a lady of leisure today I have been pondering about what to make new arrival, my friend's little girl, Ella Maggie. I'm having a break from making toys at the mo so perhaps in a couple of months I'll make her some clothes or a baby mobile, we shall see!

I'm really looking forward to adding some more flowers to my tea cosy tomorrow, here's what I've made so far...

Step by Step

The pouffe is coming along lovely! I'm delighted by it's chunkiness and the texture reminds me of wattle and daub or something medieval. What do you think?

Put your feet up

This week I spotted textured knitted cushions in both John Lewis and Laura Ashley, but of course I enjoy the challenge of making my own unique pieces.

Here's an update on my latest project... I've finally made a start on my foot stool and have included images below of the newly dyed yarn and my first few rows: 35 stitches in garter stitch on circular needles. As you can see, it's very dense and chunky so will hopefully be really thick and hard wearing when it's finished. I can't remember whether I included a link to the pattern previously, but here it is just in case. The pattern suggests stuffing it with duvets but I plan to use two pillows instead, depending on how large it is.

Well, I'm off to a Christmas pub lunch now. Enjoy your day!

Cold on the outside, warm on the inside

Isn't it lovely when someone else's good fortune brightens up your day? I can at last report that baby Willson has been born. A healthy baby boy! Bonnet and mittens will shortly be in the post to 'mum', a good pal since my teens.

My beige yarn is now ready to be transformed into a pouffe and I spent this evening crocheting another navy DK bow to match the one I made.

Thanks to the festive season and the quick witted folk I've met at work, I'm feeling pretty cheery this week. Friendly banter... surely one of the simplest pleasures in life?

Manic Monday

Busily blogging before I start work! The two hanks of yarn I dyed yesterday came out beige but that's ok as it will still be more practical than the natural ecru tone that it was before. To get a strong colour I will have to use two or three packets of dye in future. It's quite exciting dying wool, I think I will be doing a whole lot more of this! Crochet with Raymond gives some fab examples of what can be achieved with a little patience and elbow grease. My yarn is still drying in the bathroom so I won't be able to start knitting the pouffe until later in the week now.

In terms of 'paper work', I also stumbled upon some free origami patterns on the web yesterday so will endeavour to make some hanging Christmas decorations when I get the chance. Hopefully I can squeeze this in between making mince pies and writing out Christmas cards, phew! I'm so looking forward to having a few days at Christmas to work through some projects, mum also plans to  make something on Boxing Day so we'll have a little production line going on.

Counting sheep

Greetings! I haven't had a chance to blog for days as I started a new contract this week. However, I wanted to tell you I finally received my little gift from Morocco: a huge amount of extra chunky weight wool hand spun by the local artisans. The yarn isn't quite as refined as something you'd purchase in a regular UK haberdashery but it gets a definite 'thumbs up' from me as I find its rustic charm rather appealing. In fact, I'm amazed by just how much there is, when I pile it all up together, there's almost enough to clothe a sheep! My only regret is that I wasn't able to scour the North African streets myself to investigate the variety of wools available. Toying with the idea of dying it a more practical colour, I'm planning to use the natural coloured fibre to make some furnishings before the New Year.

Also, earlier in the week, news of this quirky Paris art exhibition caught my eye, knitting certainly seems to increasingly be on people's radars.

Enjoy your weekend folks, more from me again soon.