A Calm Blanket

I have crocheted a baby blanket for my friend and colleague Lucy, who has just had her first baby, such a special time. A few months ago, I showed her lots of photos of different kinds of blanket (granny square, ripple, zigzag, stripe) in varying styles (vintage, colourful, modern, colour block etc) and this was the one she loved the most, and I really love it too. 

The pattern is the Reese Blanket by Lakeside Loops. It's a great design in that it's one large repeated area of pattern, so it can be adapted easily. It gives instructions for Baby, Small, Medium and Large, and you can also make it into a scarf. Really clever. I chose to make the "small" size, which was a mistake as it was much bigger than I thought it would be and took ages - I started this at the end of October and have been working on it steadily ever since. I should have chosen the "baby" size which would have been perfect for a pram or crib, but never mind. The pattern is all trebles with chain stitches to create gaps, so while easy it does require careful counting. 

I especially like the border at the top and bottom. It is just rows of half trebles but crocheted into the back loop, to create a ribbed effect, like a cuff. I really like the contrast of the crisp while against the grey.

I like the way the absence of colour makes the pattern stand out more, and think I'd quite like to crochet one of these for myself. You may have noticed a certain photo bomber in these photos, a grey and white whippet who likes to snooze on the bed in the sun during the day when the door is left open...

I used Stylecraft Special Aran yarn in Silver and White with a 5 mm hook. I think it's the calmest blanket I've ever crocheted - here's hoping some of that calm rubs off onto the new baby.

Colour Block Baby Blanket

I recently finished this baby blanket for a friend at work who's soon to have her second child. When I say recently, I mean that I was darning in the ends on Thursday night ready to give it to her yesterday, on her last day. I am nothing if not motivated by a deadline...it was the same when I was a student, always writing my essays the day before they were due in and leaving things until the last possible moment. 

This blanket was a dream to crochet, providing that elusive balance between being easy enough to work on without much concentration, but with enough colour changes to not be too boring. My friend was equally easy going, not minding what the colours were so long as it was neutral and with a preference for grey. (Some have expressed consternation about the presence of pink in a blanket that might potentially be for a boy and I'm afraid I have no time for this. Are we really still doing all pink for baby girls and all blue for baby boys in 2018?) So I was able to choose my favourite palate of colours; light and dark grey, white, blush pink and mustard yellow. 

I worked the blanket in double crochet (UK terms) all the way through as I just love the subtle texture it creates, and the border is two simple rows of the same stitch

I worked this is cotton yarn which has quite a weight to it, so I didn't need to block this blanket. It has a lovely drape already and folds pleasingly. I'm hoping it be useful for baby to lie on in the summer months, and be wrapped up in as the weather gets colder. And being cotton, it's machine washable and can go in the dryer - very important!

The overall size is 70cm x 100cm. I worked a foundation chain of 100 stitches and then 36 rows in each colour, which was about two and a half balls of each. I used a 4mm hook and Drops Paris cotton DK yarn in the following colours: 16 White, 23 Light Grey, 24 Dark Grey, 41 Mustard, 59 Light Old Pink.

And yesterday I sort agreed to crochet two blankets for two more colleagues who are leaving and moving away at the end of term. Yes, two blankets in four weeks. It can be done, yes? I'm thinking throw size, chunky yarn, big hook. Stripes or ripples, but something without too many ends to darn in. Wish me luck. 

Winter Project: The Simplest of Granny Square Blankets

A few months ago, my pregnant friend at school was admiring my poncho and we got chatting about crochet. She said how much she'd like a crocheted blanket for her baby. She wasn't hinting, she just mentioned it. I smiled and said something like, if I didn't work all week I'd love to make you one.

I went away and kept thinking about my friend and her soon-to-arrive-baby and how much I love to crochet. About how good it feels to make things for people and give them away as gifts, about how (hopefully) pleased she'd be if I offered to make her something. And so I just started crocheting this blanket one night, working through a bag of acrylic DK scraps in random colours on a 4 mm hook, not really thinking about it too much, just enjoying crocheting the simplest of granny squares, something I hadn't done in a really long time.

I reckoned on about 48 squares being big enough for a baby blanket, ie. big enough to use on a car seat or pram. I love how the colours are soothed and harmonised by the addition of the white border. I used the join as you go method and blocked it before adding a border.

I think I made the whole thing in a couple of weeks. It probably took as long to darn in the ends as it did to crochet. And now my friend has had her baby (a girl, named Luciana, isn't that pretty?) and once she's had time to catch her breath I'll go round with this blanket and hopefully receive some new-baby snuggles in exchange.

Joining in with the lovely Jennifer's Winter Project Link Party.

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So, Christmas Cake. Gosh, so many great comments and suggestions! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with me, and making me giggle too. 

It seems like a lot of us make it because it's part of our Christmas tradition, rather than for the love of eating it, and we are stuck with lots of leftover cake. I think I need a different tradition and a different cake. 

Freezing it in pieces is a good idea, although I think I'd find it two years later and unwrap it, wondering what on earth it was. (Does anyone else play dinner-lottery with the frozen leftovers that they forgot to label? Chilli? Bolognese sauce? Curry? Let's defrost it and find out!) 

A few of you said just throw it out, and I get that, but I just can't bring myself to chuck away perfectly good food, and I already have an attack of middle class guilt every time I put a manky broccoli head in the bin. You have to have time to tackle leftovers. Time and inclination. Any leftover cake now will be given to the (lucky) birds. 

A few of you asked what's in a Christmas cake: well, it's just what we call a fruit cake, which is a fairly plain cake absolutely filled with dried fruits and sometimes nuts too, baked slowly in a moderate oven or the top burns. A lot of people add alcohol in to keep it moist and for the flavour, which adds to the rich, slightly decadent feel of the cake. Traditionally it's covered in marzipan/almond paste and iced with royal icing (so it looks like snow) but I don't bother with that part. For those who want to make one for the first time and are unfamiliar, then yes, google Christmas Cake and go to someone like Delia Smith for a truly authentic cake. I was thinking that no-one would be wanting to make a fruit cake at this time of year but then Easter is approaching, and I know many people like to bake a Simnel Cake for Easter, so perhaps you will.

Gosh, this cake talk is exhausting. Who knew we all had so much to say on the subject! I declare it closed until next October when I will no doubt be making another Christmas cake, but a very small one, just for me. 

A Rainbow Baby Blanket

I really did enjoy making this little blanket - choosing the yarn, watching the piles of squares add up, crocheting them together - but not as much as I enjoyed seeing it wrapped around a delicious, smiley twelve week old baby girl. What I like about making gifts is how much I think about the person it is intended for while I'm making it. And it saves money too - after all, my passion for crafting was born when I stopped work and we were suddenly on an extremely tight budget.

I used the Summer Garden Granny Square pattern from Lucy's Attic24 blog. It really is the most joyful blog - colourful, happy and full of an impressive array of inspiring patterns and clear tutorials. I joined my squares "on the go" which I find much quicker than sewing or crocheting them together, and you can find a tutorial here. 

Here is the blanket before the border...

and after.

I crocheted one row all the way round of treble stitch clusters, as you would in a granny square, but followed Jacquie's method of decreasing stitches for a non-ripply border, details of which can be found here. Jacquie's blog is also a wonderful place, packed full of her love of crochet and craft and enjoying the outdoors. Isn't blogland just the most fantastic resource of information and advice? Anyway, the border...I then worked another round of granny square clusters, followed by a round of triple stitches crocheted into the top of each stitch, and finished with a little row of double stitches in pink cotton. I think my favourite part is the neat (ish) row of pale pink stitches around the edge. I wanted a simple border because it's a busy pattern, and I am happy with how it turned out.

But the border was an experiment and not without it's mistakes...I wasn't sure how by much to increase the stitches in each corner, so just added a couple more in the corner points where I though they were needed. It is still a little rippled but after I took this photo I blocked it and it looked a whole lot neater after that. 

It measures 50 cm or 20 inches by 60 cm or 24 inches, so it is small. It is quite lightweight and weighs just under 200g, and it is all made from cotton yarn.

While I was fretting over the border, John said "Gill, it's a baby blanket, it will soon be covered in sick", and bless him for his blunt Northern perspective, for he is totally right. It is a blanket to be used everyday, to go in and out of the washing machine and tumble dryer, to be pegged on the washing line and blown about by the wind, to be thrown over car seats, prams and cots, to be dragged in and out of the house and tossed into the boot of the car.

And, judging by the photos I snapped on my phone, baby seemed happy with it.

I hope you are all well. We are currently staying with my parents on the South coast. We've been having a rather lovely time, catching up with friends and family, eating, walking on the beach, flying kites and relaxing by the woodburning stove in the evening. Thanks as always for dropping by and a big, warm hello there to my new followers - it's good to have you here.

Rainbows

It's snowing. Again. I very nearly got stuck in the car this afternoon and was late picking up Bella from school. I don't know about you but I am desperate for some colour and light and warmth. And I thought a colourful post might be just what we all need right now. It is bitterly cold, the temperature hardly seems to get above freezing and the skies are so grey. You know what I really, really want to do? I want to open all the windows really wide and prop open the kitchen door and feel a warm breeze wafting through the house. I want to smell cut grass and flowers and hear the buzz of bees...spring, come soon, please.

Such a nice thing happened a couple of weeks ago and I completely forgot to tell you about. I admired a skirt I saw on an blog, and my blogging friend Mel from Coal Valley View happened to see my comment. She sent me a lovely email out of the blue saying her daughter had outgrown that very same skirt and, as she had no use for it, she would be happy to send it to me. How lovely! I said yes please and a week later a beautiful rainbow skirt came all the way from Tazmania for Bella. It's long and swishy and perfect for summer. Mel, thank you so much. One of the many reasons I love blogging so much is the way you can connect and form friendships with people on the other side of the world who you would otherwise never meet.

In other rainbow news, the blanket continues:

I had a bit of a nightmare with the green yarn. I ordered all the cotton yarn ages ago and was a bit unsure of the shades of green I'd chosen but didn't have the energy to keep searching. It'll be fine, I thought. Then the yarn arrived, and I was even more unsure of my selection - they were too bright, too khaki. Horrid. Stupidly, I made up my little granny squares anyway and thought to myself once they are all together it will look fine. But it looked worse. I ordered some more cotton yarn in different shades of green from another website. The post office are "unable to locate" that parcel. So on Saturday morning I drove over to my nearest yarn shop and prayed that they would have some acceptable green cotton yarn that I could use. Luckily they did. I made more squares with the new shades of green. Such a difference. I am happy. The "wrong" greens are in the left hand picture and the "right" shades are the right hand picture above. It's still not perfect but a it's big improvement. The moral is - if you think the colour is horrible when you buy the yarn, the colour will still be horrible when you've crocheted it.

All the squares are now joined together and the ends woven in and the next step is to crochet a nice border. A simple one I think, as the blanket has quite a busy, colourful pattern. 

And now I have to tackle this particular rainbow pile...

A Very, Very Simple Knitted Cushion

I feel slightly shy about showing you this cushion as a finished knitting project. I see so much really beautiful knitting by talented and inspiring knitters on other blogs (typically red, knitsofacto and Mags Creative Meanderings in particular) that I feel a little embarrassed by the starter level simplicity of this cushion. Also, my mother-in-law is an outstanding knitter, although sadly arthritis makes knitting difficult for her now.

First, some context...when I was pregnant with Bella, I bought this book and I made the garter stitch blanket while I was on maternity leave. 

While rummaging for my knitting stuff in the loft recently, I found a bag containing 29 pink knitted squares. I think I had intended to make a border for the blanket.

When I made the blanket we didn't know whether Bella was a boy or girl, so I tried to use a palette suitable for either sex, while avoiding the ubiquitous pastel baby shades. Now, Bella is  five and I have no need for a baby blanket, but I couldn't bring myself to throw out the squares. Such a waste of time, effort and yarn!

So I decided to make a cushion using 50 squares altogether, 25 on each side. I had some yarn leftover and bought a little more. I don't really know what type of yarn it is, sorry. But here is a label:

The squares are 14 stitches wide and 24 rows long, knitted on 5mm/US 8 needles. I found the repetition of these little squares so soothing, so relaxing, each one a little mini task. So easy to pick up and put down. Little concentration required. In fact, an excellent project to gently ease me back into knitting.

Knitting, where have you been for the last five years? Can we be friends again? I promise I will learn to read a pattern, increase and decrease, so that I can make things other than blankets, cushions and scarves.

This is the back of the cushion. I think my Mum knitted some of the squares as I found some were much smaller than mine - we must have very different tension. I actually like the higgledy piggledy patchwork effect!

I sewed only three side together as I needed the cushion cover to be removable (small people = spills), so I made little bows along the bottom with lengths of yarn.

A simple garter stitch patchwork, with the squares sew together at alternate angles, to avoid stretching.

And tassells were added, just for fun. I rather like it. It sits in the little IKEA tub chair in Bella's bedroom for the time being. What do you think? Can anyone recommend some easy knitting projects...? 

Baby Mobile # 2

I've just finished another bird mobile, for a girl this time. My friend Rose had a daughter two weeks ago and I promised I would make her a mobile. It was such fun to use some of my new fabrics and use lots of pinks and make it very girly.

I used the same method as last time:

• sew two birds templates together
• turn the right way out 
• sew on the wings
• stuff with wadding
• stitch closed
• attach the buttons for eyes
• hang from an embroidery hoop

I'd like to do one in bold rainbow colours now I think, bright and cheerful. I will use this beautiful cloud mobile for inspiration . I just need someone I know to have another baby now...

Baby Mobile

Good morning. I didn't intend to write another sewing post so soon, but I seem to be in the middle of a sewing frenzy.

My friend Clarissa had a baby boy on Saturday and I have made this mobile as a present for baby Spencer. I am going to meet him this morning. I was hoping for new baby cuddles but I will admire him from afar as I have a horrible cold.

I started the mobile on Sunday. It took a couple of hours to cut out and machine sew the birds, then two evenings in front of the tv to sew on the wings, stuff them and attach the buttons for eyes. It cost £2.50 for the embroidery hoop plus the tiny and difficult to quantify cost of fabric scraps, thread, buttons and stuffing. So the whole mobile probably cost around £5 in total.

The bird template is from the Cath Kidston Sew book. I altered it slightly and made the wings from crafting felt so that they didn't need hemming, and hung the birds from an embroidery hoop, something I've seen done in many crafting books. I quite like it.

I saw another very pregnant friend earlier this week (we are having a bit of a baby boom round here at the moment) who is due next week and knows that she is having a girl, so now it looks as though I will be making one in pink. Which pleases me no end I as I have some lovely new fabric in different shades of pink which hasn't been used yet and I'm dying to get crafty with it.