A month of crochet

27th October

I love Instagram, its all about the visual, the photos, the insta post and response.  There is nothing (so far) that I do not love about it as a social media platform.  This month I have been fortunate enough to be part of an ever growing number of crochet addicts that have joined in with Ashley from the great blog lasydaisyjones, here is her post about the setting up the crochet a photo a day for a month post: A photo a day

So without further ado, grab yourself a coffee as this may take a while here is my month of photos posting all about crochet.  I will add in the extra four days not shown below,  post October 31st.   Got your beverage?  Then let's begin...

This was the post on Instagram that made me excited and want to join in...

Day 1
Say 'hi'

How to introduce oneself?  In the end I opted for a large and small hook and a simple written 'hi'.  What would you have done?  It was interesting from Day 1 to see how each person interpreted the same idea in a different way.  The rest of the month was no exception.

Day 2
Current WIP

I have several works in progress, some have been sitting there for months, umm, actually one for almost two years now...

Day 3
A colour combo

I love this blanket combo, I'm not usually a pink person, but I love these muted colours and somewhere in there is what we call in Norway, gamle rosa, which is old fashioned pink and I do so like that, a chalky pink.

Day 4
A blanket

I had several to choose from but I love reds and this was made at the beginning of the year on my first ever crochet course that I taught, this will be it's first Christmas outing and I am excited to be snuggling down under it soon.

Day 5
Chunky or lace

It had to be chunky for me as I have not yet branched out into the world of lace, but one day.  Making my own t-shirt yarn was fun, this was written as a guest post for the very talented Phil at The Twisted Yarn, T-shirt yarn, guest post

Day 6
Preferred hook

I have far too many crochet hooks, but I do seem to return to this very simple hook made in Norway which used to belong to my grandmother, then mother and now me.  I love it.  All that hooking(?!?!) that has been produced by this little hook...

Day 7
Square or circle?

These past 12 months have seen an enormous number of mandalas being made, but I still love a granny square best.

Day 8
Future project

The littlebeenz, has so many beautiful patterns and I loved making her Sunday shawl, I've bought this Monsoon stole pattern too, so sometime after Christmas this will be my go to make, can't wait.

Day 9
Fave stitch

In UK terms, I love a treble stitch, it's so fast and you can hook up something so quick with it.

Day 10
Cushion

I could not choose between these two as they were made to compliment each other.  I love these as they are only crocheted on one side and the other I used oilcloth, so they can be used outside even on damp furniture or grass and not be ruined.  We use these ALL the time outside.

Day 11
Fringe or border?

I love a good fringe me, but it's borders all the way in crocheted items that I make.

Day 12
Fave book

I do not actually have a favourite crochet book as I dip in and out of so many, but his has perhaps been the most useful for me.  I would not want to be without it.

Day 13
Scarf

As with many who crochet there have been numerous scarves made along the way, this was made a couple of years ago, but I still am in love with the colour combination of this variegated yarn.

Day 14
Fave make

Despite  being made three years ago now, this 5 metre long heart bunting line is still my favourite.  It's so colourful and jolly and is brought out on many happy occasions that just seeing it now brings a smile to my face.

Day 15
Yarn storage

I was lucky enough some years ago to acquire old staff room pigeon holes.  Using chalk paint one sunny day I created my yarn storage, see post here... Yarn storage

Day 16
Where u crochet

There is no set place where I crochet, I crochet, wherever and when ever I can...

Day 17
Fave yarn

At present my favourite yarn is a toss up between cotton yarn and the chunky Rowan alpaca, it's soooo soft.

Day 18
Christmas make

This was hard for me to choose as there are so many, but in the end I opted for my Christmas cork trees, just love their cuteness.

Day 19
Who taught you?

Originally I was taught by mamma as a child, but soon fell out of love for crochet and became more interested in sewing, spinning and weaving.  More latterly after spending a long summer with mamma, she reminded me of crochet and with her help and you tube, I have not looked back.

Day 20
Vintage pattern

I did not have anything for this, but turned to mamma's crochet and this cardigan brings back many memories.  Mamma crocheted this sitting at her mother's hospital bedside...

Day 21
Pastel or brights

I love the feel of pastels but I am always drawn to brights.  

Day 22
Amigurumi
 

This was my commissioned piece for a large UK company to help them in their environmental week.  Meet Eric the Green Champion.

Day 23
A crochet blog

To choose just one?  This was so hard.  In the end I opted for the great blog of Annette, whose Nordic shawl I have made and love to wear.

Day 24
Flowers

Most who crochet will eventually crochet flowers but what to do with them all?  I hit upon the solution of making some into rings, here is a small selection.  See post here... Crochet rings

Day 25
Yarn stash

As well as having a great yarn storage, current WIP's are often stored in bags all over the house in each room, so should I have a spare minute or two, I can just pick up and squirrel away a few minutes or hours...

Day 26
A gift idea

I was supposed to wait until December to reveal any gift ideas, so here is a sneak view of one completed gift.  I find men not only hard to buy for but very hard to make for too.  There are only so many hat, scarves and mittens one can wear!  So a mittened ice scraper it will be this year...

And finally today...

Day 27
Stitch markers

I tend to use whatever is to hand from safety pins, paper clips, odd pieces of yarn in a contrasting colour to that which I am working on, the odd homemade stitch marker and I have a few bought ones too.  Never next to me when I need one though!!


We still have four days left of the month and you can see the themes in the top photo from Lazy Daisy Jones.  I shall not spoil the surprise and add them in now, but will come back to this post, post Oct 31st and add them in.

Hope you have enjoyed my journey of my crochet life through these photographs, it sure was fun putting them together.

  ♥  What's your month been like?  ♥

Scandinavian influenced Attic 24 Cosy cal COLOURS

November 11th

I would like to say a huge thank you for the over whelming response to yesterday's post about  my CAL blanket with Lucy at Attic 24.  If you missed the post, you can find it here

Also as it is Remembrance day, I have popped my poppy ring in the corner.  should you wish to make your own follow the link here

I love colour and have been adding as much as I dare to our home before the family tell me it is enough.  But even I needed a colour break and so when my son switched bedrooms with the spare room a couple of weeks ago, before I moved all the spare room furniture back in I decided some redecorating was in order and do you know what?  I didn't choose gorgeous vibrant happy and cheerful colours.  Instead I opted for a Scandinavian influence of calm and natural.  I painted the blue wooden floorboards an off white cream colour and will be slowly adding more and more neutrals into the room.  So Lucy's CAL Cosy blanket came just at the right time for me to add a little personal touch into the bedroom, so it had to be calming and neutral. Not my normal choice!



Lucy recommended using Stylecraft Special DK and having used it before myself was keen to do the same.  I hopped over to one of my favourite wool websites, follow link here , searched through the vast array of colours, finding it very difficult I might add, not putting in beautiful autumnal colours in my basket.  But I held off and stayed focused. 

 

The colours that I finally decided on were: 
Stone, 1710, Parchment 1218, Cream 1005, White 1001
and Silver 1203.

Colours influenced by Scandinavia and nature

So for the first 15 colours the random choices for my CAL with Lucy are as follows:

1  Parchment rows 1 & 2
2  Cream rows 3 & 4
3  Silver rows  5 & 6
4  Parchment rows 7 & 8
5  Stone rows 9 & 10
6 Silver rows 11 & 12
7  White rows 13 & 14
8  Cream rows 15 & 16
9 Parchment row 17 & 18
10  Silver rows 19 & 20
11 Cream rows 21 & 22
12 Stone rows 23 & 24
13 White rows 25 & 26
14  Parchment rows 27 & 28
15 Silver rows 29 & 30


...and it should look something like this!

From top to bottom rows 1-30

All folded and ready for me to pick it up again this evening

Hope this helps those that wanted to know the colour choice of my CAL with Lucy and the order in which I am crocheting.  I do think that I will end up making a second one and it will be in her vibrant autumnal colours, I just cannot resist!  Lucy has kindly said she likes these colours herself and finds them calming and may add them to her CAL gallery on Sunday!!!  Link to Lucy's wonderfully easy and perfect for wintery evenings pattern can be found here .

♥ Have a great week and thank you for all your comments and support ♥

Knitted blankets, crocheted blankets, mood blankets, and Attic 24 CAL blankets

November 10th 



1. crocheted granny squares
2. knitted showing a variety of stitches
3. knitted using various Fair Isle patterns

Blankets, blanket, blankets.  I just cannot get enough of them and at last count we had 21 in our house, yes, you read that right, 21.  AND that does not include picnic rugs/blankets.  I love them and cannot get enough of them, want to make me happy, make or buy me a blanket ♥



My mother has always surrounded our home with blankets, they bring back memories of snuggling up on the sofa and of good times.  But my patience is not such that I can sit and knit or crochet without having a finished project quickly, but at the beginning of the year, I felt I had found my blanket, the Mood blanket 2014.  And so I began and was quite enthusiastic and very pleased with myself on my colour choices, I did not fall out of love with nor did I become bored with it.  But I have stopped and have not been able to look at it for several months, why, I hear you ask, I will explain.  Recently I have been feeling guilty about abandoning my blanket and slowly my mind it coming round to picking it up again.  I was so happy with the mood blanket, see post here that I rushed and did not take my time and so therefore did not notice my edges!! Not a problem, I hear you cry, crochet a border around it and the uneven edges will be hidden.  But alas, my mistake was too great and I had committed the worst sin, I had on both sides of the blanket, by using different stitches, inadvertently reduced the blanket width by one third.  There was nothing for it but to frog over 40 rows.  It was heart breaking I tell you.  All those new stitches learnt, all that enthusiasm and happiness just ripped out row by row.  I couldn't bear to see it and in the bottom of my very messy wardrobe it was relegated. And there it has sat alone and almost forgotten.  I had so wanted to prove to myself that I can sustain a long project but at this point it was looking unlikely.

 

 

So happy with the colours, but you can even see here
the different stitches produce a different tension.

 

 

 

So it was with trepidation that I saw that one of my favourite crocheters and designers, Lucy from Attic 24 was about to start her very own CAL, (crochet-a-long) called the Cosy Blanket.  Her ability to play and put brilliant colours together is second to none and I thought, ok, I CAN DO THIS! Unlike Lucy, I decided not to choose vibrant happy autumnal colours, but to have a focus and a plan for my blanket.  It was to be for the bed in the spare room of which I had just painted the floor and am trying to create a calm Scandinavian white/cream feel in the room.  So off to the online shop Woolware house and 15 balls of Scandinavian influenced colours and three days later they arrived on my door step.  Lucy posts her progress on a Sunday and several people are following her colours row by row.  Me, I am just hoping to complete this project.  I am not sure yet whether it will be a full sized single bed  or if I will just make it as a bottom bed runner, so a little smaller.  Time will tell. 

 

 What do you think so far? 

 

I decided to CAL with Lucy because she mentioned that the only stitch would be a treble crochet (UK) stitch and that it would be easy to do with your eyes closed and she is not wrong.  I can crochet this whilst chatting with friends, watching the occasional TV and not have to concentrate on it, unlike the mood blanket where each row was a different stitch and tension.  I think I will manage this and I hope to be finished before Christmas and that it may give me my crojo back to pick up the mood blanket in those dull days after Christmas.  Wish me luck on both counts, I think I am going to need it!  If you fancy joining in on Lucy's CAL, it's never too late, the link top her patter is
here

 

♥Wish me luck on my blanket!♥

There has been a lot of interest on this blanket.  For a list of colours used, please follow this link:

 

 here

 

For pattern colour order follow the next two links:

 

 http://eclectichomelife.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/cosy-cal-with-lucy-from-attic-24.html

 

http://eclectichomelife.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/attic-24-cosy-cal-part-3-scandinavian.html