Tag: granny squares

Summer is here!

Other parts of the country have had periods of appalling weather, here, however, it’s been almost perfect. Apparently we are about to enter into a small heatwave – and that isn’t good news for crochet! The last thing that’s needed is snuggling under a blanket in hot temperatures!

It should, however, make interesting and vibrant colour combinations for the Temperature blanket, and also for the Spirit of Summer blanket which is now underway.

Here’s a glimpse of four squares, I’m hoping for some red soon 😉

If you want to follow its progress you can click the link above.

On the way to 100

Once a year there is an online challenge to make something each day for 100 days. This year it began on April 3, and is due to end early next month. I have joined in for a number of years because I actually work in elements of 100 as a personal challenge during the whole year. Previously the object of my creativity has been some form of stitching or art, but this year I’ve concentrated on crochet.

Other projects have continued, but each day I’ve made a simple granny square. So far I’ve used simple short scraps to make them, and it’s proving a wonderful way of using up those little pieces that are too long to throw away, but too short to use on a larger project. Here’s a small selection of those I’ve completed so far.

I’m looking forward to completing the 100, we are on the ‘downhill’ now! You can see a few more here. I’ll join them all with a single colour and I’m just off to order that from Deramores while the yarn is on Special Offer!

What are you all up to? Is it too hot to crochet? I’d love to know what you are doing.

Hello Summer

As far as my temperature blanket is concerned the end of May marks the end of Spring. June is the start of summer regardless of the equinox or anyone else 😉

May was a very busy month. It was partly so due to a holiday which meant little contribution to the temperature blankets until I returned home. I managed to secrete a little crochet in my packing, but also including balls of numerous colours to cover all eventualities would have been very obvious. Consequently the last couple of weeks of the month were spent doing ‘catch up’.

I didn’t make an individual blanket for May, instead I finished the Spring Blankets. Did I tell you that I was making two?

The first one concentrated on the morning temperatures

and the second displays the temperatures at their height for the day.

I’m really suprised at how easy it is to see the progression from March through April and into the heat of May. It was a surprisingly warm month, although we always do have good weather during this time – that’s why we have taken our UK holiday then for over 30 years.

These are both now on the back burner as far as the border is concerned. I have begun a Very Important Blanket which is a secret (I love secret blankets). It’s going well so far, but it’s larger than anything I’ve made before so we’ll have to see how it goes!

I’m also keeping up to date with my Scrap Busting 100 days project! There’ll be more about that another day. I have so many ideas – but so little time! I bet you are the same……

Happy crocheting.

It’s been a month!

I had no intention of not posting for so long, but sometimes Life gets in the way, and it’s a question of just running with it.

Flu turned to Bronchitis and then I was forced to go on a cruise to recover! Crochet took a little backseat but I did manage at least one square a day. Here are a few pictures of work in progress and more. Some are finished, but they are for another day.

Now I have some catching up! I also need some more yarn, a big project is about to be started, so I’m off to take advantage of some special offers.

Back soon.

First of two?

Yes, this might be the first post of two today, but I may run out of time!

Firstly, did you catch the recent post on Stashbusters Anonymous? You may like to read it, it might fill in a few gaps! The main purpose of this post, however, is to hilight a project in which you may like to get involved.

I recently spotted a request for granny squares by @purplestarmonkey on Instagram. She is making a blanket to be raffled to raise money for #sepsisawareness. Her request is relatively specific, but not difficult to fulfil, and even one square would be a help and a support.  I managed to find a few of the colour she is using and have made 10 squares. The ends need weaving in, that will be my next step, but my eyes have not been up to the task while I’ve been poorly.

All you need is a 4mm hook and some Stylecraft Special DK in one or more of the following colours: Copper, Graphite, Mustard, Spice, Lipstick, Buttermilk, Gold, Parchment, Grey.

I may get some more made, but in truth I have taken on too many projects for this month. I didn’t expect to be poorly! But then, we never do, do we?

Happy Hooking.

 

February, not quite over!

Well, the month may be over, but in truth some of the deadlines haven’t been met, crochet-wise, I’m almost there, but here’s the story.

In fact, none of the ‘deadlines’ matter, but I won’t put them to one side – I’ll carry on until they are finished. Firstly, let me tell you about the ‘Spirit of February’ blanket.

This is the one that’s really running behindhand! I miscounted the squares, and began to add the border before adding the final strip! My next step is to take out the border and add the strip before redoing the border. You may remember that this blanket is a comparison between last year and this year – it’s been interesting to see the differences in the temperatures, especially the last few days of the month. Of course, 28 days would make a strange shape, so I determined 5 x 5 blocks with the last three days in the border.

I like the border, but it will have to be redone, and that may be slow!

Inspiration strikes when it will, and it was probably inspiration for the next project that took my concentration from the above.

Have you ever wondered what winter looks like? This blanket, which I’m calling ‘Spirit of Winter’ gives an idea. The centre squares are the high later day temperatures for December, January and February. The border illustrates the morning temperatures, and there are a couple more rounds to go. I didn’t start it until 21st February, and it’s just about finished. I’ll press on and finish this first, then go back to the ‘Spirit of February’.

The temperature blanket is up to date, apart from today’s square which will be made later. Will there be a Spirit of March? Yes, and it’s already on the hook, but more of that later in the month. This is the second post today, if you missed the first you can find it here.

Oh! Calamity!

Have you missed me? I’ve been here, but….

…. my phone was full and I couldn’t move any of the photos to the computer! I managed a few photos on Instagram, but none of the other apps would work!

So frustrating, but let’s face it, hardly a real calamity! It’s suprising how much I rely on it, though, as most of my blog posts start their life on the phone when I upload the photographs to the WordPress App. It’s a really good app, and works perfectly either on it’s own or in conjunction with the computer – which is the way I prefer to blog here.

So, February ended by making it’s mark. We had snow!

This is very unusual. In the 30+ years we have lived here we have had snow less than a handful of times. I don’t enjoy it. The hatches are battened down and apart from continuing to feed the birds I didn’t go outside. True, I didn’t need too. The storecupboard was already well stocked, and I have enough yarn to sink a battleship! I must have been prepared for a bad end to winter.

On some days the sky was blue, as can be seen by this view from my ‘studio’ (aka kitchen), but there were dull, grey, snowladen skies too.

The eucalyptus, which I grow for it’s dyeing properties, didn’t enjoy the cool weather, but it’s a strong plant and won’t fare any the worse in the long run.

Other creatures ventured out. We were visited by a couple of foxes at least. I took this photo on the first morning, it wasn’t very thick then, and it was interesting to view their tracks and see their pathways. Their footmarks were very distinctive, we could see that there was more than one.

Yes, I crocheted! I think I’ll post a couple of update posts about this as there is at least one project that hasn’t been shared so far. Watch out for something else later today, and if you too had snow I hope it clears for you really quickly too. Spring is here! We just need it to make it’s appearance felt. (Edited at 16.00 as the first post is now up, you can find it here.)