{quilt} while you're ahead

138/2011 ** Mrs P's crochet scarf **

Mrs P was No 1's teacher last year.

Great teacher.   

And a knitter.

 

When her mother died Mrs P was left with lots and lots of yarn (I think she used to make traditional Scottish lace shawls and sold them...) and because she knows I love knitting too she gave me a huge bag of it.

Just like that.

So I crochet a scarf for her using her mother's wool.  It's soft and chocolate brown...

and hopefully she'll be reminded of her mother and of how much I appreciate the work she did for No 1 last year.

Thank you Mrs P.

 

132/2011 ** wingfeather shawl **

What? two finished projects in a week?

Shocking, I know. 

Wingfeather Shawl (mine on Ravelry here)

3.5mm hook.

Yarn: one Crazy Zauberball, bought in Stockholm on a whim (when you're on holiday, the yarn diet doesn't count)

It's very similar to this 'baby' I crochet last year, and there's a reason for it: my darling mother went on and on and on about it that I had to give it to her to stop her.  

Perfect size, can be worn on the shoulders or bandana style.

The stitch pattern is based on the US treble stitch (UK double treble) which makes it very soft and airy.  It won't be too bulky around your neck.

And the colours... where do I start?

It reminds me of a Robert Frost poem, do you know what I mean?  

131/2011

Half term is moving along nicely.

We've been baking

and eating the fruits of our efforts

and then eating lots of greens to compensate

A little bit of crafting has taken place too

to match the colour explosion of the little maple tree (mutilated by a wayward rugby ball, let's not dwell on that) outside my kitchen window

And yesterday we had the most fabulous day with friends.  

We went for a walk, had a wonderful pub lunch

and walked back home to homemade cakes and steaming hot tea

Today the weather couldn't have been more different.  Grey and cold.  And the rain!! oh my the rain.  All three boys had a hockey day and were outside for 6 hours.

They were completely soaked when I got to them.

122/2011 *** Baby, it's Cowled Outside **

Typically I've finished this project in time for the biggest heatwave to hit the country in who knows how many years.  I've been living in England for 20 years and I'd never worn flip-flops and t-shirts in October till now.

It's really weird flip-flopping amongst crunchy leaves on the ground.

Now that we're back to 'normal' I can show the latest project off the crochet hook:

You can find the instructions here.

I used a 3.5mm hook and some sock yarn I had in my stash (I'm so virtuous.)

The pattern is lovely and after a few rows it's easy to memorise.  It would look good on a scarf too.

So many ideas.  So little time.

 

Could it be that I'm actually ready for Autumn?

Shocking.

(now if I could only find my 9mm circular needles...)

84/2011

Random Monday (I realised that doing a 'fixed every Friday' random post was kind of ironic so here it is today)

- the rug is finished

Could do with being a little wider but I ran out of fabric; believe it or not it's made out of two entire single beds duvet cover that a friend of mine had made for her boy.  There were faded and worn and now they've been given a new lease of life.  No 2 loves it.  The others haven't noticed.  

- I'm seriously tempted by the circular granny crochet mats on The Purl Bee.  Have you seen them?  Aren't they gorgeous?

- This was the colour of the sky yesterday

(actual photo)

It's nice to know that it's still there behind all the clouds we've been having recently.  

- It was deliciously hot too.

- We had a BBQ of course.

- And the boys went through a whole packet of water bomb baloons.

(... ah yes... the swimming goggles...)

- Have I ever shown you my moose head?

It comes from the same shop as the new curtain fabric (Hus and Hem)

and I love it.

- We have two weeks of school left. 

- Two weeks, one sports day, one swimming gala, one concert, one show left.

- I don't know if I can take all that.

- Haven't even made on teachers' present yet.

82/2011

Day 4.

My plans have been somewhat disrupted by No 3 who had to be collected earlier from school yesterday after he sprayed the content of his stomach all over his classroom. (You asked!... oh you didn't? sorry, I'm a sharing kind of person.)

So this morning a part from half-changing the beds (sheets off, not yet back on) and filling the dishwasher I played dominoes, and Pictureka and instead of hoovering I sank some ships;

 

It's was actually very nice to have my 'little' one at home.  I told him that he can stay home from school tomorrow too and he looked horrified, "but mum I like school!".  Weird child.

Going back to UFOs I discovered a good way of getting rid of them: you frog them.  There was a barely started scarf under my desk... gone.  Mr M's half knitted sock full of mistakes and a massive ladder... gone.  Frogged and ready to be started again which technically makes them not UFO anymore.

Right?

And now a part from the items on the list that haven't even been commenced yet (teachers' presents, new camera strap to name but two) all I have left are BIG projects;

this:

(a shawl? a scarf? an airy blanket?)

and this:

(a rug for the boys' bathroom that was began more than 3 years ago - the oldest UFO)

There's also a plethora of BIGGER projects... but I'm not going into that, cleaning up vomit is depressing enough.

67/2011

u.f.o. (un-finished object)

(one of the many)

n.y.s.os. (not yet started objects)

(purchased at the Malvern Quilt Show last week)

Sigh.

12/2011 ** hexagon blanket **

I thought about calling it 'sock blanket' but it didn't have the same ring.

You see, every hexagon has been crochet in sock yarn: those tiny balls that are inevitably left and that the pathological hoarder in me refuses to throw away.

I have to point out however, that I haven't knitted THAT many pairs of socks.  Most of the yarn comes from my mother and some even from kind blog friends who sent them to me after I first posted about this project. Months and months ago. The exact day has been lost in the fog of time.

It would have been a ridiculous amount of socks and someone should have told me to stop.

I used a 3.5.. crochet to keep it quite loose and I didn't square off the sides with half hexagons.  I like the wavy edge as it is.  I simply crochet three rows with the same yarn I joined the hexagons with to give it a little more stability.

And then I spent three hours weaving in ends.  THAT wasn't a nice job.  At all.  Every silver lining has its cloud ... :)

But now it's done.  (I can't believe I started two sentences with 'and' and 'but'.  My English teacher would have had a fit by now.  Apologies to all grammar-sensitive people out there) and I'm both relieved of not having such a big ufo laying around in my study and stupidly happy about how it turned out.

Even Mr M likes it.  High praise indeed.

* 117 * ** Sea Shell Wrap **

Oh my oh my.

I frogged a knitted vest from last year (the one that was too wide and I was thinking about felting?) and I had few balls of Noro yarn (Kureyon? probably) in gorgeous Autumn colours I didn't know what to do with.

I surfed ravelry (god bless the place) for a while.

I stalled.

I played around with the gauge for an evening.

I crochet a few rows here, a few there.

I didn't give it much thought.

Until the last stitch was done.

And I blocked it.

And then I jumped up and down in delight.

It's a shawl,

but because it's a very shallow triangle you can use it as a scarf too

And it's mine.

All mine.  And I'm going twirling in it...

The pattern is free from Lion Brand Yarn Company and it's on Ravelry too.  I used a 5.5 hook and less yarn that it took to knit the Noro vest... (yeah, 'details' is not my middle name)

Happy.

* 91 * ** Ivy **

I haven't made many crochet wearable items.  Yes, scarfs and hats in crochet are great...blankets? gorgeous... but I am not often taken by the look of crochet garments.  By the nature of the fabric you create they're either too 'lacey' or too 'granny' or too 'bulky' and stiff.

When I glanced through the latest Patons brochure (Summer Breeze) I surprised myself and before I knew it I had a hook in my hand and was crochet(ing) away:

 

Simple and stilish.  Me thinks...

 

The suggested yarn is Patons 100% cotton 4 ply but I wasn't to taken by the colours available at the time so I used Rowan purelife organic cotton in Oak Bark... which is actually a fabulous warm grey.

Hook 2.5mm. 6 balls.

 

I love the simple shell pattern and the dc edging around the neck and the armhole

 

and the picot at the bottom is soooo cute..

Now all I need is a bit of warm weather to wear it!