One A Day Update

Hello lovelies, I hope you've all had a productive week and your all getting on well with your projects.  I'll be coming to have a nosey later on.  I want to say a big thank you for all your lovely and encouraging comments so far.  I've not really got any like minded friends, so it's nice to be part of this online community to gee me along. 

I'm still making steady progress and have managed to get the seven blocks and stripes done on both blankets despite feeling a bit rough after catching the obligatory September School Cold that Bella Bee kindly bought home from school.  Lets get straight to the money shots.

The Bella Bee Ripple Blanket

A gorgeous sea of ripples.

And the Summer Garden Granny Blanket

Now, I must dash, I'm currently inhabiting an anti house that requires an inhuman amount of work to make it an actual house again. 

Feel free to check out the other projects at Gingerbread Girl.

Peace Out x

One A Day Update - Week 2

This is week two for the Summer Garden Granny Square Blanket, and week one for the Bella Bee Ripple Blanket.  Steady progress has been made on both.  I had a little catching up to do with the squares so haven't got round to sewing in the ends on the last few.  I feel I still need to work on the colours a bit more on this blanket.  I'm not happy with some of the combinations, and I'm going to stop using the Lavender, it just doesn't seem to be 'gelling' with the others.  The colour palette is a bit too limited.  I'd like a few extra colours to play with so will be looking at getting a few more this week and see how they work out.  Once I'm happy with the colour combinations I can start sewing blocks of squares together so it's not such a big daunting job at the end.  At least with the slow growth it gives me time to work on the colours so I'll be truely happy with it when it's finished.

The ripple though, Oh My, I'm in love!  I'm skippingly happy with it.  I have yet to do today's row as I did initially include yellow, but wasn't satisfied with the result so I ripped it back and it set me back a couple of rows. 

I'm glad I've got both blankets on the go.  The ripple will provide a quicker result and keep me satisfied while I plug away at the other.  And only doing one a day still gives me time to do a little knitting occasionally, because I still need to knit!

I'm off to get rippling.

Please check out the other projects at Gingerbread Girl.

Peace Out x

One A Day Update

Just a brief post to give my update for the One A Day project.  Not the largest of impacts, but I've literally stuck to the one a day since my initial 4 practice squares. I've not yet worked out how many squares I'm going to need for a king size blanket and to be honest I don't think I want to right now.  But being realistic, I don't think I'll be able to use this blanket until next winter!

I'm loving the colour palette I'm using, especially the green!  It's definitely my favourite.  I'm still experimenting with all the different colour combinations and I'm looking at adding a few extra colours.  I had originally picked the majority of the colours for a ripple blanket I plan to make for my daughter for Christmas.  So knowing I need to make a start on that soon if it's going to be anywhere near ready in time I have decided to add it to the One A Day too.  So here's the beginnings of a blanket that will be able to be used this year! 

The pattern I've used is from this Jan Eaton book.  I presume it is very similar to the one Lucy from Attic24 used as inspiration to form her own from this book.  It has the three trebles in between the increases and decreases instead of the four in Lucy's pattern.  I don't think the Jan Eaton one is on Ravelry so I may just put it under the Attic24 pattern anyway.

And finally a thank you for all the lovely comments and compliments on my first One A Day post.  Will make a concerted effort to visit as many of you and your lovely projects this week.

Peace out x

Finally Finished!

I've had these little beauts waiting to be finished off for far too long.  I made my crochet debut in about January and these were pretty much the first things I started to make.  I seem to remember them actually being finished and my wearing them on the school run and being ever so proud and hoping people would notice them, comment on them and me being able to proudly tell them 'I made them myself don't you know' and them being amazed, inspired and simply agog at my creative wonderfullness, well, because I sure was.  Well it didn't quite work out that way, I think what actually happened was after a distinct lack of notice I shoved them under my playground companions noses, forcing them to notice them, whilst informing them I'd made them, which was followed by some polite comments.  But I did receive the best compliment from Bella Bee with a request for a pair of her own, which were dutily made.  Afterwards, for some reason, which at the moment escapes me as to why, my pair were dismantled, and had remained so since.  Well it was jolly time this was remedied.

And so Ta-Dah...

And in background a sneaky peak at my latest knitty project!

Today I sat myself down and made myself finish them.  As many will recognise, they are the Striped Wristlets Pattern from the ever so clever Lucy.  I am very pleased they are Finally Finished.  Again.  Lets hope this time they don't mysteriously disassemble themselves again!  And so on to the next long unfinished crochet project.

Peace Out x

One A Day, A Day Late!

Back to it!  Bella Bee went back to school today.  She was supposed to go back Monday, which I found out Sunday after thinking for 6 weeks she was back on Wednesday!  Panic!  Then Sunday night there was a bit a bleughing and that put paid to any thought of school for a couple of extra days, making her start day Wednesday after all.  I missed not having her around today, but it's also nice as it frees me up a little.  So here I am, back on the blogging train. 

Being as organised as ever and even though Bella Bee went back to school a couple of days later than expected I was too busy ironing uniform and sorting school things to blog last night.  I've decided to join the One A Day CAL/KAL hosted by Gingerbread Girl and Crochet with Raymond over at Ravelry.  So here is my project, just a day late!  I'd been thinking about wanting a large blanket for my bed and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to break such a large project into small manageable chunks.  I've decided to make a Summer Garden Granny Square Blanket.  I've got my colours just about sorted and I spent yesterday making up a few squares to test out slight variations of the pattern to fit my preferences.  So here are my first few squares.

As most of you are probably well aware, the light is absolutely awful for photos at the moment, but it gives you a general idea.  I remade the squares I'd practiced with so they were all uniformally made (yes I am a perfectionist).  The third one across came out ever so slightly bigger than the others for some reason, so I may have to redo that one (yes, I am a perfectionist to the nth degree).  I think I've decided to sew them together rather than join as you go as it is a neater finish and will hopefully not seem as big a job if I join in fours or in rows.  My favourite colour combination so far is this one.

Plan on starting a ripple blanket for Bella Bee in these same colours soon.

Have a fair few more makes completed, so will be back soon to show you those.

Peace out x

Cast Adrift

I feel like Peter Pan, I'm missing my shadow.  I've had an appendage removed and have phantom limb syndrome.  My sole purpose for the last six years has disappeared.  I feel lost and lonely.  I wander around the house not quite sure of what I'm supposed to be doing.    Bella Bee has gone on holiday with her Dad.  To Italy.  For 12 days.  I well up just thinking about it.  12 WHOLE days.  What do I do without my little mini me?  She stays at her dads' for weekends regularly and I appreciate the break.  She's even stayed there for a week a couple of times, but I'd still see her every couple of days.  Never for this long, and never in a whole different country.  I feel happy and excited for her getting to have her first 'proper' holiday.  Her first ride on a plane.  A lot of exciting adventures and experiences in a foreign country.  But she's doing it all without me and that makes me feel incredibly sad.  So while waiting for my daily evening calls from my little Italian bambino, which I treasure so much, but for her are an inconvenience, keeping her from important play, I try not to mope, I try to keep busy, doing something productive.  Trying to appreciate this child free time I've been given, making the most of it. 

So lets move on, to a Ta-dah.  I've finally finished my first circular needles knit.  The Honey Cowl pattern from Ravelry.

This took a little longer than I would of liked to knit up.  It's basically taken 3 weeks.  It was my only project on the go, I wasn't intensively knitting but I was doing it every day.  I had a couple of false starts and the finishing off took a couple of attempts.  So that added time, plus as a beginner I'm not the speediest of knitters.  I made a few mistakes, but I guess it's all part of the learning curve.  The perfectionist in me isn't completely satisfied, but I'm getting better at making allowances for being a beginner (for now).  It is a very easy pattern to knit, and ideal for a first circular project.  Over all I'm happy.

How hard is it to take pictures of yourself!  Trying to do that AND smiling? Out of the question!  And please ignore the decor.  It's horrendous.  Maybe picking up a paintbrush during this free time wouldn't go amiss!

I would have liked it a little looser when it's doubled over, but it keeps it nice and snug and very warm.  The colour is a little murky, but it'll be a good autumn shade, and as I got it in a sale there weren't many options.

Details:
Yarn used: Sirdar Click (30% wool) in Fern. 
Cost: On sale for £1.49 (50g) with just over 2 balls used is approx £3.50 total.

I already have another cowl cast on.  A different pattern.  It seems to be a much quicker knit as I'm already half way through.  I'm still not happy with the join in the first round though, it's too obviously the join to me.  I tried adding an extra stitch then knitting that and slipping the next over it, but I didn't like that one.  For this one I simply kept it tight when joining, but the first stitch has made, in my eyes, an obvious loop in the bottom ring.  Ideally I'd like it not to be noticeable at all.  Am I being too picky?  Is this possible?  Any tips or links to a good tutorial?

I'm going to tackle DPNs next and make a pair of fingerless gloves to match next.

With all this free time I'm sure it won't be as long to my next post as it was to this one.

Peace out x

I Need To Knit. Now!

I was watching TV Saturday night and had a sudden realisation, I want to knit, and I want to knit now!  (Very rock and roll!)  I didn't want to do just any type of knitting, but knitting in the round using circular needles.  I'm a beginner and haven't tackled anything like that, but suddenly I was ready, and had to do it right that minute.  What a very new and surprising sensation!  I certainly wasn't expecting that.  Only trouble was I had no circular needles.  It's 7pm on a Saturday night, but in our 24 hour society I didn't think that would be a problem.  Shops are often open till late, especially the bigger stores that you'd find in the retail parks.  So I thought.  Evidently not.  I came home disappointed.  I just needed to find something else to do till they opened on the Sunday.  I very half heartily started a lovely striped cushion cover with some Cotton DK I already had.  I was just biding my time though. 

Sunday came and I had the loveliest morning.  As it was a gorgeous sunny morning, instead of running straight to the yarn shop, I wandered round the local car boot first, and picked up some fantastic bargains, mainly clothes and books for Bella Bee, but managed to pick up that great bag in the last post.  Then on the way home I casually sauntered (practically ran) into the local large chain craft store.  I know, I know, and I usually avoid the massively overpriced, mass produced, charmless chain horror, but it was Sunday, it's local, I had the knitting itches and there was a sale on.  Humph.  So, I grabbed much wanted needles, and browsed yarn on sale, and grabbed a couple of bargains.  A bargain is bargain after all, no matter where it comes from.  I'm half way through and hope to finish quicker than I know I will.
 

About quarter of the way through here


So hopefully a FO coming here soon.  And for a bit of colour, if I get a wiggle on and do the very final finishing touches to the below, I should have another even sooner than that.

Peace out x