An Exercise in Motherly Love

I dislike naming things I've made; craft projects, blog posts, my blog name for that matter. Not my babies I hasten to add, I like their names, but then they were jointly chosen (and jointly made). However, this post title should have been "A Rainbow Zigzag Blanket" for that is exactly what this is.

This project has grown on me a little but it certainly isn't one of my favourite makes. The yarn, Stylecraft Chunky, was chosen for practicality and cost rather than any depth of colour or wool content. I quite like the colours, but I don't love them. I chose a background of cream, but wonder now if I should've gone with white but I thought that might look too shiny, too acrylic.

It is enormous, measuring 220 cm long by 180 cm wide. You know how irritated I get by too-small blankets, so I wanted this to be the size of a single duvet cover, to reach over the sides of the bed and not just perch on top. Well I think I achieved this, and then some. It's possibly too big - folding it in half involves a fair bit of wrestling and arm stretching - and it weighs a lot, plus it took months to make. I started it last Easter and have crocheted it off and on over the last six months. I can't remember how much yarn it took but I estimate two 100g balls of each colour then maybe fifteen or twenty of the cream.

But it doesn't really matter what I think of this blanket because it isn't for me. It's for Bella, my almost-nine-year-old daughter who knows her own mind and has very strong opinions on what a blanket for her bed should look like, and a lot of other things. This was an exercise in motherly love. She loves it (thank goodness, or I might have cried) and shows it off proudly to anyone who enters her room. The night I finished it and darned in the last ends, I carefully folded it and left it in the middle of the sofa downstairs and went up to bed. The next morning, Bella (who'd got up and gone down first) came running upstairs, struggling slightly under the weight of the blanket, and the expression of genuine delight and happiness on her face was one of the best things I've ever seen.

I seem to embarrass and annoy Bella a lot lately, but it was nice to be able to do something and for her to think of me - fleetingly - as a tiny bit cool. 

Golden

This half term break has been a bit of a retreat for me, a necessary withdrawal from the general hubbub of life and an opportunity to rebalance and to recover my equilibrium. It's been about family, eating, walking, sitting, reading, chatting and just being. It seems I also took a lot of photos this week, and this is often my indulgence when I have the time to wander or potter and capture things on camera. Rather than drawing me away from moments, I feel it makes me notice them more. I look harder, better, more closely, when I have my camera with me. 

My in-laws travelled down from Durham to stay with us this week and it was just wonderful to see them and show them around our new home and the area. We took a stormy, windy walk along the beach where the sea was pewter and the beach huts shut up for the winter.

Remember that village I shared with you a while ago, Bosham?  On a visit this week I was shocked at the height of the tide.

Everyone local was quite unconcerned, the cafe was full and it was business as usual. I think this must be part of life for the residents here. I do hope their homes stayed dry though. 

We've been doing all kinds of autumnal things this week. My father in law, who works with wood for a living, brought his chainsaw and axe with him and helped John tackle our unruly wood pile, and it's now neatly chopped and stacked, ready for winter. I planted 200 (yes, really) bulbs and tidied up the garden. When it rained I baked our Christmas cake, hosted playdates and the children made a superb den in the spare room after our guests had left. It kept them entertained for, quite literally, hours although I did miss my clothes airer and pegs quite a bit. I've been reading a lot, working my way through a pile of magazines that go back to the summer and am currently gripped by an Agatha Christie mini-obsession. I forgot how good they are, how sharp, how well plotted, how funny!

The highlight of our week together was a three mile walk through woods and fields yesterday afternoon with my parents. I actually feel a little bit emotional when I think about it. The light was golden and just luminous, and the air had a slightly hazy quality to it and the sun was soft and bright and warm. Rural England is so exceptionally beautiful at this time of year, don't you think, with the woodsmoke in the air and the leaves changing and falling? I felt so full of gratitude to be out walking in it, to think that we actually live here now, and to be so near my family, but mostly gratitude for just being out in the countryside, to be alive and noticing and breathing in and soaking up that autumn day. 

Autumn Cleaning

Thank you so much for your comments and compliments on my poncho. So kind of you! I am really glad you like it and I was so looking forward to sharing it with you as I knew you'd all get just why I enjoyed making it so much. That's the beauty of the online community, the way you find kindred spirits or people who understand why it's such fun to make things.

Ah, half term. You're here. I spent yesterday in a haze of housework and cleaning which sounds dull but was actually just what I needed. John was at work, the kids were engrossed in various activities, and I just methodically worked through room after room. I sorted through piles of clutter, cleaned out the fridge, steam cleaned the floors. My parents took the kids to the park in the afternoon and I went to the shops. I returned to that magical thing, a house just as I had left it. Still, quiet and clean. No shoes in the middle of the hall floor or dirty plates in the sink. I sat down with a cup of tea and just inhaled that peaceful, tidy house. Of course twenty four hours later, it's a different story, but that moment was amazing. I totally savoured it. 

This morning was spent at home baking and pottering, readying our home for the arrival of guests. I dragged two reluctant children to the woods after lunch, determined to sneak in a quick trip to the woods. Oh autumn, I just love it! It's such a relief to stop waiting for the good weather, as I do all summer long, and just accept whatever comes our way. In autumn, all weathers are welcome. Rain means glorious squelchy woodland walks in boots with the damp smell of fungi and rotting leaves, while sun brings those delicious crisp breath-in-the-air days when the trees seem to glow. And while we were in the woods, I asked Bella to take some photos of me wearing my poncho. (I had to pay her £1.) She is, like me, more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it, and in among about one hundred blurred shots, I found these. 

And the next two shots crack me up. Angus is doing the annoying smile he does when he's been told to look at the camera but doesn't feel like cooperating.

And here I am trying to persuade him to give me a kiss.

Happy half term to you all. 

I Made A Poncho

I know, I'm supposed to be making blankets, but they all fell by the wayside as I became obsessed with making myself a poncho. I've essentially made myself a wearable blanket, I do realise that.

The pattern was originally published in Simply Crochet Magazine some time ago and I bought the pattern from Ravelry. I had seen the pattern here and there on blogs for some time and I don't know why I suddenly had to make it. The onset of autumn maybe?

While the main body on this pattern is granny treble clusters, the cowl neck was a bit of a challenge for me. It's made up of front and back post stitches which create the ribbed effect.

Lucy's post and some Youtube videos were very helpful and, as is so often the case, it's actually very easy once you get going. The effect it creates is wonderful to crochet, so structural and chunky. It's like the crocheters version of knit one, purl one. 

After the cowl neck is complete, the fun part starts. I bought the yarn (Drops Nepal) and colours the pattern suggested, mainly because I thought they were all beautiful and just the kind of things I would've chosen anyway, but I did tinker around with the suggested order.

After the block of colour work, the pattern calls for a few more rows of the ribbed stitch, followed by some tassels. 

I think the tassels are a bit love them or hate them. I wont say I hate them but they just weren't doing it for me, so I worked ten rows of treble clusters in the same colour as the neck instead, making  it long enough to reach my elbows.

It needed a border, but nothing too big. It's a loud and busy pattern with a lot of colour, so I thought the border needed to be neat and unfussy. A row of double crochet in navy blue pulls it all together really nicely.

After a quick block, it was ready to go. I love seeing it hanging here in our bedroom, all that colour against the white wall. 

All together, it took three weeks to make. I am thinking about making a monochrome version in pale grey, with black, white and shades of grey where the colour would be, and maybe just a little deep red thrown in to stop it being too cold. What do you think? What colours would you choose? My colleague has made one in different blues and it's quite stunning, and my mum would like a very neutral version in shades of brown and cream. I think that's the beauty of the pattern, it's versatility. 

I wish I had a photo of me wearing it. Sorry. I'll get John to take some soon, hopefully while walking through the woods or collecting conkers or something equally autumnal. But I have worn it a lot this week and have received many compliments and no funny stares or jokes about panpipes, so that's good.