C2C complete!

At last….. My least favourite project is done. I have to be honest, I really haven’t enjoyed most of this blanket. It wasn’t for me but for my step-daughter, she chose the yarn. I really struggled with what to do with it. I started off last summer intending to make a load of granny squares with it. Only to get completely bored and uninspired after a short while. I hate waste so rather than undo my hard work, I turned it into this….which will now be donated to our local community shop as a dolls blanket. I’m sure that some little girl will love it to keep her baby warm.

I had so much yarn left, that I had to do something with it. I’d seen and heard that the corner to corner (C2C) stitch was easy and fast to work up. I decided to give it a go.

Do you remember where I started it here?

And I last posted about it here?

Well the next step was to change colour from the purple to the pink. I must admit, as simple as this blanket actually is, I took me a little while to adjust to the decreasing side of it.

Once I’d got my head round it I got quite excited knowing that with each row it would become that bit shorter and that much closer to finishing. After a few rows, the excitement wore off and I just wanted this done, finished and gone. It seemed to take forever.

I have to say, it’d got to the size where it was keeping me quite warm and toastie on the chilliest of evenings.

I was adamant it WOULD be finished this week.

I even managed some nightime, fireside, alfresco hooky time. I rather enjoyed that!

I sat outside in the sunshine on bank holiday Monday with no plans other than to be done with this project. It was close to the finish and I thought I’d run out of yarn!!
Luckily, I found some scraps in my stash left over from the first attempt. I got cracking with the last few rows. I decided not to bother with a border on this as I don’t think it really needs it.

And done!! I literally felt a huge weight lifting from my shoulders. It was such a relief.

I hate to be negative or say this but I’m being truly honest. Quite a lot of loathing and not a lot of love went into this blanket. I enjoyed the therapeutic, repetitiveness of it, the actual act of crocheting, but that’s it. I didn’t love the yarn, the colours, the design. But it wasn’t for me and it wasn’t my choice. It’s done now and as soon as the photo shoot had taken place, it was rapidly passed to its new owner. Like a heavy load removed from my never ending list of to-do’s.

Here is the best it’ll ever look…

I do think it looks very neat up close and I may well use the C2C stitch again. If I’ve learnt anything from this, it’s that I should only create things I love and am passionate about. It’s a far more enjoyable experience!

Now, onto woolly pastures new…..

Vicki xxx

P.S. Just a little note while we’re talking crochet. A few weeks ago I decided to call it a day for my little crochet group. The numbers were up and down, mainly down and there seemed very little point in keeping it going for just me and one or two others. One week I ended up sitting there all on my own crocheting in the corner of a busy pub feeling rather silly. If the interest is there then I’m happy to start it up again.  It’s a shame especially as we were lucky to have a very experienced member to call upon for any advice. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

The crochet club

  

Hello everyone, happy weekend! I hope you’re all well?

 I thought I’d let you know how my little crochet club is going. I’m so pleased I started it. Numbers have been up and down, but this week we had 9 lovely ladies, what a great turnout! The week before there was just 2 but that was fine as we got to have a really good chat and cover some crochet basics.

We’re very lucky to have a multi-talented lady in our group who works at our local craft/fabric shop. She’s an expert in knitting, crochet and sewing so we can pick her brains about pretty much anything.

Some of the ladies are very new to crochet and some have been hooking for years. Some are just knitters but all are very welcome. It’s really nice to get to meet new people with similar interests and get inspired by their projects. Once some of our newcomers have found their feet a little more, I’d like to introduce the odd group project that we can all work on together. Just something simple that we could complete in an evening.

There’s an awful lot of chatting going on which I love, but it means we don’t get much crochet done! It’s just good to get out of the house without a single child in tow. This is my social, grown up time which is much needed. Apart from the monthly date night with my hubby and the very rare girls night out with some of my mummy friends, this is the only time I leave the house at night. I’m really enjoying it so am determined to keep it going. What could be nicer than some crafty crochet, cheery chat and wine on a Wednesday?

Now I just need to think of a catchy name for our little group. I think there would be a few raised eyebrows at ‘The Oxton Hookers’ don’t you?! 

Thanks for stopping by, Vicki X

Big boy blanket beginnings

Hello everyone, are you well? After the mad rush of getting the cushions finished for Mother’s Day, I decided to take a little crochet break. Two whole days! By Wednesday morning I had a toddler full of cold so instead of going to tots, we had a day indoors in the warm. The perfect excuse to get the yarn out for the next project. Now, I feel I should warn you, I did not pick these colours, this is going to be a blanket for my eldest son so he chose  them.

  

 

See what I mean? Not Vicki colours are they? Anyway, I’ve been looking forward to starting this as I do love making blankets and haven’t done one since before Christmas. It’ll be a nice, gentle, easy one as it’s made up completely of trebles, that’s it! It looks far more complicated but it’s so simple. Perfect. And it’ll be keeping me nice and warm once it grows a bit.

This is my first blanket that’s not made up of squares, so I needed to start it with a foundation chain. A very long one. It needed to be as wide as the blanket will be. I was quite dreading this bit actually.

  
I needn’t have worried, it literally took minutes and was so easy. I took the advice of a friend and made the chain with a 5mm hook then dropped down to a 4.5mm for the actual blanket.

  
And so it begins….

The pattern is from Lucy at Attic 24, the Queen of crocheted blankets. It’s called the cosy stripe blanket and is made up of  2 rows of each colour.

  
It feels like it’s growing quite quick.

 
This is all four colours together. That last green is hurting my eyes a little but I must admit, the colour combo is growing on me. 

  
So this is what it looks like 24 hours after I began with that foundation chain. 8 rows, 4 stripes, not bad hey? I have no idea how long this will take me but there’s no deadline so no pressure. Although I am finding it hard to put down so it might not be too long! It’s going to be a perfect project to take along to my crochet group, one that doesn’t require too much attention so I can hook happily while chatting too.

That’s all for today, must get back to my blanket 😉

Vicki xxx

Lavender bags

A couple of months ago I happened on the idea of making crocheted lavender bags. I had an idea in my head of what I wanted them to look like. I couldn’t find a pattern anywhere so I decided to make one up as I went. The tulip stitch here is from a you tube tutorial by the brilliant Bella Coco.  
    

I did a couple of rows of the flowers, I could’ve easily carried on though, I love doing these. They look so pretty. I finished with a scalloped top.

Once I’d blocked it, I sewed it together and was desperate to see it complete with a ribbon through it. Even if it wasn’t the right shade of purple!   

  
  

I think these colours go so well together.

Next job was to make some little lavender pouches to go inside. Accompanied by a glass of vino and a roaring fire, it was very relaxing indeed. Especially with the strong aroma of the lavender flowers!

  
  

So, here’s the finished product, with a better colour of ribbon!

  
 

I’ve decided to try and sell a few over on my Facebook page, just in time for Mother’s Day.

While we’re talking crochet, I’ve decided to start up my own crochet group. The first one is this Wednesday, eek! It’s going to be very relaxed and a chance to sit and have a drink and hook away the evening with likeminded crafters. If any of you local ladies would like to join me, it’s in The Shrewsbury Arms in Oxton Village, Wirral from 8pm. It’d be lovely to see you, I’ll bring my crochet books for inspiration and I’m happy to show you the basics. Just bring a hook and some yarn. I’m slightly worried that I’ll end up sitting there on my own looking a bit silly!