Tag: winter

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.)

Seven Colour Saturday!

No, I don’t think this will become a regular feature but it seems a good title for today’s post! I don’t think I’ve miscounted, but we’ll see.

I am really enjoying the temperature projects for February. The colours are stimulating despite the chill in the air.

You may remember that as well as making a temperature blanket showing morning and later temperatures, I am also comparing this year and last year in a Spirit of February blanket

Above I’ve shown yesterday’s squares from both, but as I was joining each I put them next to each other by chance.

Below are the four squares. Some of the colours are the same, but together they are inspiring me to make another blanket at some time. The colours are Stylecraft Special DK:

  • Sherbet
  • Storm blue
  • Violet
  • Bluebell
  • Wisteria
  • Parma Violet and
  • Parchment

And yes! That’s seven!!

Five Colour Friday

There was such a good response to last week’s Five Colour Friday that I’ve decided to give you another! 😉

I have to admit that I have only recently discovered that I like working with Blues! It was a colour I avoided for a number of years, partly, in retrospect, due to the awful blue that we were forced to wear as our school uniform.

That blue was nothing like the ones included here!

Stylecraft Special DK is once again the order of the day and the colours are:

  • Clematis
  • Duck Egg
  • Storm Blue
  • Lobelia
  • Parchment – for the linking colour too. Such a useful colour.

This blanket took one ball of the first four colours and 3 of parchment. As usual they were purchased from Deramores.

This collection is related to the Spirit of January Blanket that is currently under construction. Last year I found that these ‘Spirit’ blankets were inspiration for far more than I expected. I’m sure you will see more collections that are similarly inspired.

Find all Five Colour Friday posts via this link.

 

This was the moment…

…

Working by lamplight isn’t easy, especially if you are partly distracted by an interesting tv show. (Let’s face it, there aren’t many, so this was unusual!)

The cold light of day, however, revealed that I’d picked up Sage instead of Storm Blue! Fortunately it won’t matter, I can just reverse their placement, but this is a warning …

Always read the label!

More about this very soon.

Almost there …

My first blanket of the Stashbuster series is almost finished. I just have a little more tidying up to do and that will be that. I’m going to call it the Betsy Blanket because it reminds me of someone! Here are a few glimpses, but another post will come soon with further details.

I’m really pleased with it

  1. Because it really is made entirely with stash
  2. It hasn’t taken long
  3. It’s caused the beginnings of another project!

There will be more details about the C2C in another post to come soon. In the meantime – it’s back to the Spirit of January and the temperature blanket!

Stash and Scrap!

My first stash blanket of the year is coming along nicely.

I’m also managing to incorporate some longer scraps as you can see from these joins.

Once the little ends are also woven in they will be completely invisible.

 

I know that the theory of stashbusting is that no more yarn is bought until it has been reduced, but it’s worth noting that Deramores has a really good sale until Jan 7th, with free postage for orders of only £15. There is a code on the first page of their website. Make sure you take advantage.

Happy New Year

Yesterday was not the best day of the year, but we had no snow, a little wind and a touch of rain. The sun even managed a little shining at one point, but I was too slow with the camera to catch it! Today is similarly grey at the moment. But there is a brightness that indicates the sun may yet shine – and this time I will try to be ready with the camera. I photograph the above tree every day and have done for a number of years. It’s at the bottom of our garden – and I post a picture here, just as a reminder of the passing seasons.

January 1st was a little damp last year, it’s interesting to compare sometimes.

So, my blanket for December seemed the obvious choice once the main Temperature Blanket was finished. It’s now done with the exception of the last round of the border which will happen later today.

Six squares by five which gives us 30 days for December. However, there are 31! Never fear – the last day is represented in the border.

Silver and Denim represent 2016 and Turquoise and Cloud Blue are for yesterday. I’ll be embarking on a similar exercise later for January. There were colours used last January that don’t appear here, so this will be an interesting exercise.

I’ll be running the above alongside another temperature blanket, I’m ready to go. The first square will have Storm Blue at the centre, it was 6 deg C when I got up this morning – I don’t think it will change much, maybe rise all the way to 7? A few people are joining me on Instagram, and elsewhere too. Let me know if you are. We’re using the hashtag #nuvofelttemperature2018. Want to join in? A few more details here

So, the above won’t take many daily hours of crochet. They certainly won’t satisfy the hooking urge on most days, so I’m spending the rest of my time working through my stash. I have a few projects in mind which I’ll share from time to time, but first it’s a corner to corner exercise.

I’m not halfway yet, so there is a lot of crochet ahead! Joining in? Take a look here.