More pottering

What a busy bank holiday I am having, well I say busy, I have spent the weekend pottering around the house as been confined to quarters due to the rain, great excuse to do not a lot! Today the sun has been shining though so I have been doing a much needed tidy up of the garden and generally enjoying being outside.

Corchet-wise I am really struggling at the moment. I don't want to start anything big and new until I have a few more of my WIPs finished but as they mainly entail sewing it is very slow progress. As I am trying to get some things finished I have dragged out my flower shawl and been busy making more flowers for that.

My main problem with this is that I'm not sure when to say it is finished. I orignally wanted to do a triangle type shape but I think it will be more usable if I make it more of an oblong. As this yarn was fairly pricey (for me) I can't afford to buy a whole new set to make it too much bigger but I have enough left to do a bit more. It is great fun making something so pretty, I think that could be why it is taking me so long to finish, I don't want it to end!

After finishing my doily bag I still have a fair bit of the DMC cotton that I used left over. I do love the colours but as it is cotton it has zero give and makes my hands hurt keeping the tension for too long, it is also annoyingly splitty. Before I packed it away for a while I knocked up a quick mandala for my mantle.

Now the garden is more presentable I might crack on with some decorating. I have the OK from Mr M to completly chintz-ify our bedroom! Oh yes, it is going to be pretty, flowery, wooly, bright and cheerful. I have been having a bit of an experiment with some shelf edging ideas, not quite right but a good start.

I do hope you are all having a happy start to May with lots of sunshine and long summery days ahead :)

XXX

Doily Bag Ta-Dah! (at last)

This bag seems to have been a work-in-progress for so long I can't remember why I even wanted to make it now. Don't get me wrong, I am extremely happy with how it turned out and very pleased that I did make it, but this last week or so has felt like a chore and not a pleasure, especially with all that sewing in of ends, so many ends!

I had the main bag bit made and thought it wouldn't take long to sort the rest of it out, all it needed was some slight assembly: sewing in the ends of the yarn, a strap and lining... oh yes and a zip. The previous bag I made like this didn't have a zip, in fact the shape and assembly was altogether much simpler:

But this was going to be a bright and colourful bag that I wanted to be able to use as a handbag so a zip really was the only way to go.

So yes, they were made and tidied up nicely. The rest of the putting-together took some thinking about. Instead of the bag just being like a flat envelope it has a base, to give it a bit of shape. I therefore didn't want to just put the zip in at the top and join both sides together; I wanted it to have a bit more structure to match the bottom, so i made two flaps to attach the zip to.

This was my first attempt at ever putting a zip into anything (well properly anyway) and it worked! OK, not quite perfectly, one end was a bit uneven so I made a little square of crochet and sewed it over the top of the offending end (can you see in the picture above?). Sorted.

Choosing the lining was a very simple task, basically I have very little fabric so my choices were limited.

As they are all thin cotton fabrics the pattern is visible on the reverse, which is the bit you can see through the outside of the bag, between all the lacy gaps, the teal-ish unpatterned fabric it was then!

Looking good! The making of the lining was less straight forward; my sewing machine pedal had absolutely vanished. It took several hours, three rooms being torn apart, a couple of frustrated-stompy sulks and it miraculously appeared exactly where it was supposed to be. Weird how that happens :)

My bag linings can sometimes be a bit hit and miss. My usual philosophy with making things is that if something is worth making it is worth making as well as you can but I do tend to rush these bits of sewing and the results vary. I tried extra-double hard with this lining though, I measured twice and cut once and all that, I even did french seams! (ooh lala)

Oh the strap, I nearly forgot!

I thought it would add a bit more structure and be more usable if I gave this bag a solid, fairly stiff shoulder strap. This would give added structure to the sides of the bag and hopefully not get tatty through use. Stripes? Why not. A simple and (I think) effective strap. But oh all that sewing in :(

So that is the story of the finishing of my bag. Oh and Ta-Dah!

I love it, I just wished it had not taken quite so long to make, I am itching to finish other things and start even more!

XXX

Happy Happy Holiday

Hello everyone, I'm back! We've been on a lovely holiday down to our usual haunt in Cornwall and it was just what we both needed, a relaxing break away from it all.

Oh that feeling when we finally get there! After such a long drive and before any unpacking of any sort we head down to the beach and just take in the big beauty of it all. Taking extra deep breaths of the fresh air coming in off the Atlantic, wonderful.

The week was a pleasent mixture of seeking out good beer, food and places to see, as well as heading back to the places that we know well and love. 

One of the things we do love is having a look around some of the amazing gardens in Cornwall. This time we went to Trengwainton, and it was aboslutely gorgeous, the sun beat down as we wandered down little paths and admired the stunning flowers.

I do love an old Vicotrian walled garden, the arched doorways showing a peek of what is  down the path are somehow really magical.

Sorry, got a bit trigger happy with taking pictures of flowers!

As you may have guessed I did take some crochet with me. The sheep blanket stayed at home as I just have mainly sewing to get on with now which I am much better doing at home where I can concetrate a bit more. I had made steady progress with it just before we went away and I am so pleased with how it is coming along.

So I left that at home and took my big ripple blanket with me to be going on with. I am very glad that I did as although the days were warm and sunny, the evenings were quite chilly and it was great to be able to pull it over my legs as I sat and beat Mr M at cards in the evening with a glass of wine or two.

Unfortunately I ran out of the one colour I needed. I have so much of this yarn, I bought a second lot as I was running out and the one colour I couldnt get was the one colour I needed. I could have pulled the whole colour repeat back and used a different colour but that would be 5 rows so I left it and have some on order ( I do hope it arrives soon!).

Today I am trying to keep that holiday buzz going by doing very little. I have been itching to get my lacy doily bag finished for ages now so I have been working a way on that. I've come to a fairly tricky bit where I need to make a flap for the zip - so far it is working but taking a lot of counting, guessing and trial and error. 

It will be so nice to get this finished! I will then have to get some lining fabric of some sort, the colour of which is going to be a tough decision. My instinct is telling me to stay away from black and white as you will see it through the lacy bits but a 'proper' colour might clash or be too much. Hmmm still need to work that one out.

I do hope you have had a good start to April. I am so close finishing off lots of things now that I really hope I can get on here more as I will actually have things to tell you about! I've also got another pattern all laid out in my head, I am going to try to get it jotted down and then made up so I can share it very soon but for my own sanity I really must get at least one of my WIPs finished before I start on anything else :)

XXX

Trying to get things finished

I have been wracking my brains for something to tell you about. I have been crocheting like the clappers for days on end but I am finding it hard to think of anything more I can tell you about the sheep blanket I am making. It is still growing, slowly, still all cream and still very cute.

But there really is only so much I can say about it until it's done, which will hopefully be very soon!

I can't pretend that I am not craving colour though so I have been having a look around and listing all the things I need/want to finish and one thing has really been bugging me for some time now. Remember this?

The boring office chair that we have the dining room that marked the walls as it was all in black. So I found a couple of peices of crochet that I had made for something else, (that didn't get finished) and sewed them together to put on the back of the chair. 

It did the job, no more nasty black marks when it rubbed against the wall and yet something else in the house that has been given the wooly treatment. The seat however is the thing that has bugged me. I had no big plans for it, just some simple granny squares fitted on nicely. Now I knew that I must have some granny squares already made up that I could use for this but where were they?

 I had a rummage and found a bag of scraps

There are allsorts of bits and peices in there, dinky squares, african flowers, some little macaroons, a sun flower, half formed amigurumi ideas...

And the granny squares!

I am sure I have more somewhere but I really don't know where. I laid them out on the chair and I nearly have enough to make a cover for the seat!

It won't take me long to make the few that I need to finish it and then sew them up, I could probably get that all done in an evening. I do fear that If I put down this sheep blanket it might stay put-down so I shall do a bit more and making this seat cover can be my reward for when I have finished it. 

XXX

Mad March Crochet

Oh how the rows are flying by with this sheep blanket! They are so much fun to crochet and I didn't think I would say that, being all in cream. The start of the blanket was hard work but now the sheep are appearing it is much more fun. Unfortunately although the rows are whizzing by it is growing very slowly. I have set myself a target of getting it over half way made by the end of the week, a tall order but do-able I think.

Sweet!
As well as this blanket I haven't forgotten about the ever growing list of other things that I have on the go. My ripple blanket (so close to being finished), my lacy bag (just needs a zip and a strap making), my flower shawl (I really will get it finished this year, and soon!) and other things I have probably forgotten about. Before I get on with anything else though I had a birthday present to make. Nothing big or too fancy so I settled on a pretty flower brooch and knocked that up last night.

Just the finishing touches to put on this morning, press and starch the leaves and add a backing to make it more solid..

... not a bad sewing job for a bleary eyed me at 7 o'clock this morning!

This is a pattern by Lucy at Attic24, triple layered flower. I decided on this rather than making up my own pattern, it seems pointless when there are thousands of beautiful flower patterns out there already and I chose Lucy's as it really lends itself to being multi-coloured, so I didn't have to pick one colour for a single rose or daisy or such. I am so pleased with how it turned out and I think the birthday girl was too!

Along with all this other crochet I taught a beginners workshop on Saturday. Alas I didn't take any pictures but the ladies all managed to make their first granny squares, absolutely nailed holding their hooks and yarn to get a good tension and can chain and treble along now with the best of them. So proud :)

XXX

Baaa

Hello! Thought I had better pop by to say hi and tell you about the new thing I am making.

A lady who goes to the wool shop I frequent has asked that someone make a blanket up for her, I was intrigued by the pattern and it looked simple enough so said I would. I thought I would do a few rows to see how long it would take and oh my word were they tedious! 2250 stitches of double crochet to be precise and even worse, in CREAM!! 

 But then look what happened...

...some legs and a tummy started to appear, and then...

... a sheep! Oh how I love these sheep! They are so ruffly and cute, the pattern says to embroider little sheepy faces on them but as usual I will probably leave all the sewing stuff until last when I can put it off for no longer.

I have no idea how long this is going to take, the rows seem to be flying by but as it is in DCs it is a very slow grower. I'm nearly a quarter of the way there now and although parts of it are on the tedious side (crocheting all in cream for one) I really want to finish it, I just love the sheep!

In all this spring-like sheepy blanketing I haven't forgotten about the bag I am making. I had to stop on Friday when I got to the top while I decided on how to carry on with it. The first one I made all in white, I just edged the top with a ribbon and put two straps on it, tote bag style. This one I would really like to be able to use more often than a tote bag so the plan I have come up with is to put a stiff peice of card in the bottom so it has a flat base, this will then define the sides a bit. At the top I am going to make a long shoulder strap and put a zip in to do it up. 

While I work out the finer details of exactly how I am going to do this I am carrying on with these sheep. I is nice to know that I have something bright and colourful to turn to if all this cream gets too much. 

Busy week of hooking ahead for me! 

XXX

Neat and tidy-ish

This weekend I retreated into my own little world of crochet and spent most of Saturday and Sunday adding to my doily bag.

With all the doily bits made I had the job of attaching them together and then working out the rest of the bag. As I couldn't really remember exactly how I had done it on my last doily bag I improvised a bit and I am pleased with the results

As this bag is multi-coloured I am having to treat it slightly differently to the white one, in that I am having to be much more careful of how I am joining so that there aren't wrong coloured threads here and there. Yes I still have the job of sewing in lots of the ends but it is really coming along now.

The weekend job was getting the base of the bag made and then that yellow strip of DCs around the top of the doilies. To give the bag structure and make it hold its shape I tightened up my already bit-on-the-tight-side tension. Wow did that hurt my hand, holding that kind of tension for hours on end while I plugged away at making rows of neat and tidy DCs, I could barely move my fingers when I put it down (I really should remember to take breaks!) but it was worth it, it is so satisfying seeing all those stitches in neat and tidy rows.

With those bits done I can now concentrate on the chevrons for the top portion of the bag. I have decided on a random colour scheme for these but as some of the colours that I have to work with are quite muted I am trying to make sure that the brighter colours are evenly placed, random is quite a difficult thing to do!

I haven't yet finished with the endless DCing as I will be putting a band around the top and then there are the straps to make too, I may try to use a slightly looser tension for those bits as I'm not sure that I want claw like hands forevermore! 

XXX