Crochet continuation

April 22nd  

I am in my element, somehow I misunderstood and the crochet photo a day challenge was not just for the first half of April, but for the whole month!!  I cannot tell you how happy that has made me feel.  The first whiff of this news came when I saw Ashley's post...

It's never to late to join Lazy Daisy Jones

Day 16:  CROCHET TOY

As I have not made a toy, I included International Ted's
string vest that he commissioned me to make for
him whilst on a Mediterrean cruise

Day 17: STITCH COMBO

This is my favourite, yet unfinished blanket,
I love all the stitch combinations

Day 18: GRANNY SQUARE

I love a good granny square, shown here with a
photo of mamma as a little girl, she is still
my inspiration and go to person if I am stuck

Day 19:  MANDALA

My first ever mandala, post all about it   here  and
what a mandala actually is!

 

 

Day 20:  HOOK HOLD

 

 

I look very awkward in this shot but holding my
hook is so comfortable that I was shocked at how it looked!

 

 

In case you want to see the previous 15 photos that I entered for the

photo challenge,  they can be found Week 1 Week 2  Week 3

 

 

Joining in with Amy at http://lovemademyhome.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/five-on-friday_22.html?m=1 sharing my five photos from this week, hope you have

enjoyed them, pop over and see what other's are sharing.

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

 

 

 

 

A British classic with a twist

A few of my March makes

1st April


So March has gone and we enter a new quarter.  I must be becoming older as I feel the days, weeks and months are moving faster and faster along.  Looking back at March, it was a great creative month and I had a lot of fun.


In our family we have many favourite meals, dinners, nibbles, puddings and cakes  and we think about food a lot.  We love food and it has always been one of our forms of entertainment.  At weekends when there is slightly more time to be creative and have fun, we decide on what to cook together as a family and we all muck in.  Sometimes by all of us helping out throughout the creative process or by someone taking the lead and the others helping, or by each of us having responsibility for a dish.  When the children have friends over too, they are expected to join in as well.  We hope by doing this that our love for good food is passed to the children and help make them more independent and interested and interesting.

Last time I shared a cake recipe with you, it was Jack's banana cake, see link here: http://eclectichomelife.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/baking-family-favourite-cake.html  and this time, I share with you a cake that my daughter aways makes, so far, touch wood, it has been a fail safe, go to cake, when we have been in a hurry but want to impress; it is based on the British classic Bakewell tart, but is actually a Bakewell cake. 

Bakewell is a market town in north England where the tart originated, although there is some dispute as to who started it and when; it was either invented in 1820 or 1860 according to various versions, but what is consistent is that the tart was a mistake and the important ingredient, jam, was put at the bottom by the pastry, rather than on top and was served up without realising the mistake.  It is now an incredibly popular tea time treat here in the UK.  Our version is actually not a tart, but a cake and the jam is not near the bottom but in the middle.  Apart from that, the ingredients are the same, the cake is moist and tastes and looks great to us.  A real tea time favourite.  In our house, to add to any confusion, we call it...Ella's tart!



Ella's Bakewell tart

Ella's tart     



You will need:  Pre heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius

For the cake:
♥200g softened butter
♥200g caster sugar
♥100g ground almonds
♥100g self raising flour
♥1 tsp baking powder
♥1/2 tsp almond essence ~ optional, Ella prefers it without!
♥4 large eggs
For the filling:
♥1/2 jar of morello cherry jam
♥175g icing sugar
♥5-6 tbsp lemon juice ~ you can use water
♥1 tbsp lightly toasted almond flakes

Mixture divided equally between tins and ready for the oven

Grease and line two round tins of 20cm diameter   

Beat all the ingredients together until smooth

Divide mixture equally between two tins, levelling them  

Bake in oven for approximately 30 minutes or until golden.  DO NOT open oven before 25 minutes

Cool on wire rack

The jam will seep through the cake
making it even more moist

When cold, spoon jam onto one half of the cake bases

Place other cake on top, smooth side upper most.

 

Make up the icing with the lemon juice and spread carefully over the cake

 

Sprinkle with the toasted flaked almonds   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All ready to eat and enjoy!






♥
 

 

 

 

This recipe was originally from the BCC Good Food website and can be found here: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/9074/cherry-bakewell-cake



 

 

 

Below are a selcetion of my photos from the first quarter of 2014, hope you enjoy them as much as I do! I'll let them do the talking...

 

 

Finally this is my Mood Blanket 2014 after the first quarter, only 9 more months thill it is finished.  Already it is heavy and keeps my legs warm as I crochet.  Each row takes approximately 20 mins, luckily for me, I am still in love with the colours and patterns, and I am going strong so far...