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