finished!

The baby blanket is finished! WOOHOO! and the baby I made it for is only 14 weeks old (oops). I was planning on getting it to his mum before he was born, but then he came early (three weeks early) and bang went that idea.

Still it is finished!

It is the first time I have acutally placed my squares in a pattern, rather than randomly, and I think it really works with these squares. And I did a really simple edging - spiraled like the squares, complete with an uneven finish.


Love love love it!

Now I just have to block it, in the hope it will help straighten up those edges (something I have never bothered to do to any of my blankets before) and pass it onto its owner. Ah, it's Friday night and I am off to block a baby blanket - we're livin' the high life 'round here!

a question...

I was asked this question the other day, and I've been pondering my answer ever since:

"why do you crochet your friend's bubs stuff?"

It came after spending time with my lovely sister (the very talented Sayraphim), and showing her my current baby blanket project:

Here it is, nearly finished - photo credit to Sayraphim

The answer I've decided on is simply that I do it out of love. I make stuff for my friend's bubs because I love my friends. And I want to show that love in the form of some cleverly tangled wool. I want to demonstrate love to this new little one who has come into the world. I love to give welcome gifts to these little bubs and I love that those gifts can be made by my hands. I love to crochet (and to be honest, there is also a little bit of me that loves to be able to give away the stuff I make so I don't just end up with piles of crocheted things strewn around the house!)

How about you -

why do you make stuff that you give away?

wordless wednesday

ahh, finally some time...

I can finally snatch a few moments this morning. The house is quiet, the bathroom clean, breakfast cleaned up and the teething little-miss-e is still sleeping. Teething is such a challenge, hey...  Still, she sleeps now and so lets just enjoy the silence.

Ahh...

In other news, I've been pottering along. See I thought I'd made enough squares for my current baby blanket project. But a few weeks ago I laid it out alongside little-miss-e's blanket and realised it was too small and I had to make another 25 squares. 25... So I've been trundling along making more squares, but I'm only up to 11 extras. And my friend is due in 4 weeks. I am getting the feeling this is one of those projects that will be a little late...

I'd love to chat some more, but I hear stirrings... I'll pop 'round and visit your blog, really I will, I miss hanging out with you. Maybe if these teeth ever arrive!

wordless wednesday

(sorry that I still don't have time for words, gosh we are so busy busy busy round here!)

wordless wednesday

the race is on...

14 days til we head home...15 squares to do...

Do you think I'll make it?

Hello!

So much to do and say and tell, but with little Miss E stirring in the background, we may have to make do with a photo and the words:

 "exciting new project"

Seriously, how cool is this granny square! Its a test run for my new project (and no, I haven't quite finished my mobile, more on that later - if she stays asleep). See, my good friend is having another baby, and seeing I made her first this rug, I thought I'd make something for this bub as well. But what to make for a March baby? My usual rug or booties seemed too hot for a babe born in early Autumn. But then I found this pattern, and decided why not! A rug is always useful! Now to pick some colours and get going.

And, well, I also thought why not - gratuitous photo of the now awake litte Miss E, gotta fly...

baby blanket postscript

so, i thought i'd do a little post-script on the baby blanket i had been making for so so long. as you know i gave it to the parents-to-be a few weeks before their baby was actually due. and well, i was glad i did, as their little girl decided to come early. all good and healthy, just teeny tiny. 

anyway, i went to visit them in hospital, and was blown away by the fact that the first time i met her, she was wrapped in the blanket i had made. not yet 24 hrs old, and covered in something that i had made for her. it made me really happy. 

then a few days later i got a txt from her mum that said 

"i just wanted to say your blanket has been the best thing ever.
she's had it on constantly since she was born.
it's a perfect size and weight and just so cheerful to cuddle up with.
thanks so much."

i hesitated a little while before posting about this. at first it seemed gratuitous and all self-congratulatory. but i've been thinking about it, and for me, this is what craft is about. making stuff, be it craft or sewing or making food, is about showing love. for me, its practical love, love embodied in this thing i give to you. something helpful. something to nourish your body or your soul, that nourishes my soul as i give it. and its kinda nice when the person you give it to gets that as well.

my creative space...

... feels empty. see, its no longer filled with the baby blanket i have been crocheting. (and here it is, before i packed it up and gave it away to the parents-to-be:

 

)
i'm really happy with the way it turned out, the yellows and the grays. i loved making it and the parents-to-be loved it, but now i feel slightly at a loss. 

see, i can't quite believe its done. i realised i have been making this blanket for the last six months. and its a weird feeling - giving away something that represents six months of your life. squares and plans made and finished, movies watched, conversations, travels. over making this blanket, i have connected with a turkish woman who used to teach traditional turkish crochet, and helped some somali women change the thread on their sewing machines. i've chatted with south africans. taught a chinese woman and a lebenese kiwi to make granny squares. connected with and been advised by lots of lovely bloggers, on colours and how to join squares. i've drunk red-wine and crocheted with the fabulous sayraphim. listened, talked, laughed and loved. and this blanket is all of those things. its now that its done done done and given away, i am not quite sure what to do with myself. 

i am yet to find a new project to fill its space.

(but it must be said that i'm pretty sure i will, in fact i have the beginnings of a plan - spawned (in a good way) from one of the fabulous clutterpunk's ideas). 

so hopefully my creative space won't be empty for long...
(and for other much fuller creative spaces as ever see kirsty)

done done done (and edging)

so, guess what!

the baby blanket i have been making for oh-so-long is finally done done done!

 woo hoo! and the baby is still 5 weeks away (or so, you can never be precise with these things). i'll post the finished pics later this week, once i have given it to the parents-to-be.

so for now, i thought i talk about edging. see this is my first baby blanket. my first real one (there was this one, but it was really a practice go). so once i had put it all together, i spent some time last week, trying to figure out how to edge it. 

i looked in my crochet books, i trawled round the net. and in the end, i went back to the lovely attic24 (who helped me with the joining plan) and borrowed her pattern for edging. sort of. well, the start of it at least.

basically, i chained 5, then slip stitched into each hole. and repeated. a lot. 

once i had done the whole way round. i did it again. this time slip stitching into the little loopy things of the 5 chain i had made the round before.  

that is it. i like its simplicity, and i think it finishes the blanket off nicely. 

i'll post a finished pic later this week!

crocheting crafternoons

ahh, don't you just love crafternoons. craft, coffee, food - what's not to love!
 
some friends and i had another one of our semi-regular crafternoons yesterday. it was really lovely. curried pumpkin and parnip soup. double chocolate muffins, freshly brewed coffee and the star attraction - crochet. 

i was finishing off the baby blanket (more on that another time), and a couple of my friends wanted to learn crochet. so a-crochet-teaching-i-will-go i thought to myself. 

despite claims that it looked too hard, and would be impossible to remember how to do. by the end of the crafternoon, there were squares being produced around the room, and i even had to leave my spare crochet hook on loan... 

 (and i did warn them about this crochet thing being addictive - it really should come with a warning label!)

ends

the ends of the ends. finally done (and i have to repeat my earlier statement. i will never again wait until i have finished the blanket to thread in the ends).

now i just have to figure out how to edge the blanket, and i'm done! (and the baby is still 6 weeks away)

my creative space this week...

 ...is full this week of ends. 

 and the threading in of ends. 

and i hereby swear a solemn oath: i will never again put down a granny square until i have threaded in the end. i will never again wait until i have put together the whole of the blanket to thread in the ends.

this threading in of ends is tedious to the extreme...  

hopefully your creative space is much more fun!

crochet baby...

ok, so its a little embarrassing really. i took my crochet half-way round the world, had five glorious weeks on holiday, and yet managed to do very little hooking. oops... i did join a few squares together of the baby blanket. but really...

the worst of it is, since i was home alone all of last weekend, and it was cold and quiet, i spent the weekend hooking. and so, lookie here: i got more done in th last few days than the whole time away. still, at least it is coming together. it might even be finished before the baby is (ten weeks to go).

and the winner is...

so i have finally made a decision. thanks to everyone for you help and suggestions (including thanks to the mum of the baby the blanket is for). 

and the winner is: 

carina's way. 

i went out and got some more wool on the weekend, so i will have plenty to be able to join it all her way. 

my only concern is that last time i joined things carina's way, i had some significant issues with the corners matching up: 

still, practice makes perfect, right?

turning 70 and joining grannies

how exciting!  i have decided i am have enough squares for my baby blanket (70 is the magic number!).

now for the next step. joining my grannies. i've done some research and there are three different ways i am thinking of doing it:

pip's way: 

carina's way:

attic24's way:
 

 

(back view)

so really, there are big decisions to be made. i really like the finish from attic24, but one of the big problems i have is tension (and ply) related: 

and i am just not sure if attic24's way would be able to cope with this. i love carina's way, and i think it would help the tension/size issue, but i can see it would use quite a lot of wool, and extend the size of the blanket too. pip's way is more of a middle ground...

ooh, decisions decisions...

 

2am crochet

this crochet caper is definitely very addictive. 

i found myself awake at 2am the other morning, staring at this jug cover (which i use to cover my glass of water beside my bed - we have kamikaze moths). 

see, i have been inspired often by the fabulous M* and her amazing jug covers. so 2am saw me staring and staring bleerie eyed and trying to work out how this one was done and thinking about whether or not i could copy the pattern and make it into a square.


 
so, this afternoon i thought i would give it a try... 

 

my first attempt was fairly unsuccessful. but unfazed, i tried again - and here you have it, one jug cover inspired granny square. 

it turned out a bit small, so given its a two-toned square baby blanket, i popped a double crochet edge on it. its not exactly square, but still, i'm pretty happy with it...

turning 50

 

if only i knew how many more to go...

a day of half finished projects

so, i am trying out my new crochet book, and it seems i am less good at following patterns than i thought. the first square i tried was, well, to start off with - not square. so i tried again, the pattern seemed simple enough...  

i'm halfway through this "square" and things are not going well. (in yellow of course for my current baby blanket project)

so i thought i would stop and make something else.

like a wheat bag. see, the request was for a wheat bag with a cover, that can be taken off and washed, like a wheatbag-case. so i made it out of a pillowcase (no surprise there). the base wheatbag is the slightly shorter one. and the wheatbag-case has the lengthways stripe.

however, to finish it, i am in need of some wheat... (and, now that i look at the photo, i think i am also in need of an iron)