Advent Calender

December 1st

Hand sewn advent calendar

I make no apologies for my postings on this blog this month.  I love Christmas and I love all the old and new traditions that we embrace in our household.

This blog started out one year  and one day ago, the eve of December 2013.  It began as a personal record for my children all the things that they have grown up with so they have a reference for when they are older and from all my postings last year this blog has grown and has become an integrated part of my life.

Last year  I set myself the challenge to post every day in December and several people looked out for the posts each morning and sat and had a coffee with me, here my virtual acquaintances grew in number and new friendships began.  I hope to do the same this year and look forward to lingering over coffee with you and the traditional Norwegian bakes we make.  Stay with me a while and pop back often this month, there will be lots to read and do! 

Last years posting also began with advent but is quite different to this years, should you wish to see click
here


This year I knew I wanted to make another Advent calendar but this time for my sister who has emigrated to America, I wanted her to have a little bit of home.  Advent has always been a big thing in our house and I wanted to make sure she continued this across the pond, so to speak.  I usually join in with an online crafting group on a Monday who make something to cheer up the beginning of the week and knew that this would be a challenge to complete in one day, but why not give it a go.  I cheated a little by cutting out all the pieces on the Sunday night, but no actual construction began until the Monday.  I have written about Allison and her great #makeitsewical group before, see link here

 

Sunday night and getting ready
to make the Advent calendar

 

All fabric was cut out and ready the night before

 

It was exciting to watch the Advent calendar come to life with each stitch

 

Although the back of the calendar was neat, see in montage below, I felt it needed to be more sturdy to be able to hold the small chocolates in the pockets without ruining the look.  I  therefore choose a Christmas material that I had in house, full of robins.  I forgot to take a photograph of that before the calendar flew across to America, but if you look closely at the sewn in interfacing photograph you can just make out the material. As I did not have any iron on interfacing I just sewed a few lines across the interfacing and backing robin fabric to ensure it held together and then, obviously, right sides together along with the advent calendar itself sewed around all the edges, cutting across the corners and also leaving a gap of about 10 cm to allow me to turn the whole thing the right way round.  I then sewed this seam up after wards.

 

 

This still left me the dilemma of how to hang the advent calendar and here I was stumped.  A couple of coffees later and I decided to add a further piece of fabric to the top of the advent calendar and bring it around the back.  Thus leaving a carrier for a piece of doweling, curtain hook or some other such sturdy rod to hang with.

 

My coffee brain wave idea, how to hang the calendar

Star material used as the 'tubing'
to hold the rod for hanging the calendar

 

Just in case anyone is interested I am posting all 24 felt pockets below to see the eclectic mix of stitches and ideas.  I made this all in one day as a bit of a challenge and to join in as I said with a great online group.  So if I were giving this more time, it might have turned out a little bit more polished, but I'm pleased with it as it is...

 

 

 

It is not too late to make an advent calendar for this year, or why not take your time and make one for next year?

 

Happy advent everyone, I would love to hear how you celebrate.  Do you have advent calendars in your house? What do they look like, would love to know...

 

♥ Christmas countdown really begins now ♥

Cosy cal with Lucy from Attic 24

November 16th

Loving the look of the stripes

I am loving this CAL with Lucy from Attic 24.  It is the easiest blanket and project ever, I am able to be with the family and fully interact in conversations and yet crochet too, just one stitch.  Genius.  Thank you Lucy !  Also thank you for featuring my blanket on your gallery too.

So how is it coming along this week, as said, I couldn't help but pick it up at odd times and whilst it is still relatively small has made a few outings with me, but that may have to stop soon as it grows...

 

Crocheting whilst out having coffee this week

I even crocheted at the hairdressers!

It now covers my legs, yeah, it is growing

I am really enjoying the CAL and I must confess to being delighted and surprised by the gracious comments people are making about my colour choices.  I had hoped to post the next 15 colours, but am only posting 14, apologies...

So the next colour stripes are:

16  Parchment rows 31 & 32

17  Cream rows 33 & 34

18  Silver rows 35 & 36

19  Stone rows 37 & 38

20  White rows 39 & 40

21  Stone rows 41 & 42

22  Cream rows 43 & 44

23  Parchment rows 45 & 46

24  Silver rows 47 & 48

25  White rows 49 & 50

26  Stone rows 51 & 52

27  Parchment rows 53 & 54

28  White rows 55 & 56

29  Cream rows 57 & 58

 

and colour stripe 30 will be Silver will be rows 59 & 60

 

To see the previous colour stripes list follow link  here

 

 

So what does the blanket look like so far, here are a few snaps taken

outside my house this fine Sunday morning.

 

 

 

♥ Do let me know what you think

and share your photos of your blankets too ♥

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