Almost Spring

Welcome back everyone and an especial welcome to my new followers. I'm so pleased that you all liked my crocheted Granny stripe blanket. Your comments were so kind.

Although we are having some really horrible weather these days, it is undeniable that it is almost Spring. In between the howling wind and lashing rain (like today!) we get some beautiful sunshine and calm lulls.

The garden is also proof that Spring has just about sprung. I took a walk round the garden the other day to take some photos.

Can you see the honey bee in this crocus? This is a close up of some of the flowers in the bed above. The whole bed seemed to be humming because there were so many bees in the crocuses. Honey bees love crocuses; especially the purples ones, it seems.

There's another bee among the yellow crocuses.

Ha!! A bee coming into land! Can you see it?

This hellebore is the latest addition to our garden. We bought it recently in the market in Banbridge. I love the colour of it.

Lots more daffodils still to bloom. I can't wait for them all to come into full flower.

So many of the Spring flowers are yellow, aren't they?

Well I hope you enjoyed that quick look round the garden. No doubt I'll be back some time with lots more flower pictures.

My Aran coat is coming on well. I'm surprised at how well, given the number of times I've left it to the side to work on something else! The back, a front and both sleeves are finished. That just leaves the other front and the collar to do. And the putting together, of course. I was worried about having enough yarn so, after finishing the first sleeve, I did a calculation. No worries. There will be plenty to finish my coat. All you knitters and crocheters know that what I really mean is that there will be plenty left over to use for something else! I have some other colours in this same type of yarn and quite a lot in a very similar yarn. Maybe another blanket?

How's it Going?

I hope you are all keeping well and enjoying the fact that we're now into February. I have a few projects to show you, in case you were thinking I haven't been doing anything. Here's the scarf I crocheted for my sister. She liked the hat I made her so much that she asked for a matching scarf.

It is made using James C Brett marble DK and an 8mm hook, working trebles into the back loop only. (UK treble or US double crochet stitches). It turned out lovely and soft and squishy, long enough to wrap round twice.

Do you remember my crocheted chillis? I had a bit of a problem with how to display them. Some of your comments suggested joining them together to make a ristra. I tried that - had tried even before I posted about the chillis. There's only one way to describe what the chillis looked like. A cow's udder. Enough said.

Another solution had to be found for the chillis and I favoured a crocheted bowl. It has taken me all this time to finally get round to it. The yarn has been sitting in my bag all these months just waiting to be made into this useful little bowl. It's made using Stylecraft Special DK in Denim. I used a strand of Claret to work a little running stitch 

round the top of the bowl. I'm extremely pleased with the result!

Another project that I'm working on is my Aran coat, started back here. It keeps being left to one side to get something else done; like my crocheted socks. But, even with all the interruptions, the coat is progressing quite well. One of the fronts is finished.

And the back is now up to the waist. When I get the back finished I want to check that I am going to have enough wool to finish. I'm using wool from New Lanark Mill - well, it's 90% wool and 10% silk.

I'm pleasantly surprised at how quickly the coat is making up. Though I'm sure by the time it's finished it will be too warm to wear it!

Let me know what you think of my makes. I love to read your comments. Bye!

Armchair Throw

Hello everyone and welcome back again. A special welcome to my new followers. Thank you all for reading and for your lovely comments. It takes time to leave a comment so I really appreciate them all.

In my last post I promised you an update on my crocheting. Well, here is my armchair throw and it is finito. I took it outside for some photos to get the best possible light.

It's not a full blanket size but just the right size for leaving over the armchair. The yarn is Stylecraft Special DK, a really nice acrylic yarn. I used burgundy, claret, petrol and mocha. I love it when they give the colours a name; especially when the name conveys a good indication of what the colour is like.

Rather than making a Granny square, I decided to try my hand at a Granny rectangle. This ws actually more tricky than it sounds! Quite a bit of maths was required to get it started at the length needed so that when the number of rounds were done to make it the right width, it ended up also being the right length. I think it turned out very well, though I don't know that Granny rectangles as set to really catch on.

Here it is draped over the back of the armchair.

A good match, I think. I've also crocheted a cushion cover with some of the leftover yarn. I just need to get a suitable cushion pad to fill it and then I'll let you see what it's like.

My sister has asked me to crochet a scarf for her to match the hat I did. It's almost finished now. Then I will be able to get back to my knitted Aran coat. So far I have finished one of the fronts and probably a third of the back. I'm really pleased with how it is turning out and can't wait to see it finished.

All the best for now. It's hard to believe we're almost half way though January already! Which reminds me; I must let you see the latest additions to our garden. Next time!

Homegrown Christmas Tree

First of all I'd like to say thanks to you all for your lovely comments and Christmas wishes. I really appreciate them and love reading them all.

 

We planted these conifers in our garden a few years ago. They started off as potted Christmas trees and we used them both inside and outside the house decorated with lights and so on. We planned to cut the trees, once big enough, to use as our main Christmas tree inside. Then replace with a new baby tree, keeping the cycle going. But we never actually did it. It seemed such a drastic thing to do!

 

This year we looked for a tree to use with my handmade decorations but couldn't find any that we liked. So we came home and the husband cut this one - the one right in the middle of the picture - and brought it inside. It's just as well for, although it doesn't look particularly big growing in the garden, we wouldn't want it any bigger for the house.

 

And here it is - decorated with all my handmade decorations. You can look back at them in more detail here and here.

Here is the finished tree topper.

This is my second attempt at a robin (again based on Jacquie's owl pattern) and I really, really love it. Robins have a lighter coloured underbelly so I just wasn't completely happy with my first robin that had only a red belly.

My hedgehog family have come to live below the tree. They're very happy there; it's warm and dry and they can find tasty morsels of mince pie and shortbread crumbs when we've gone to bed.

We have another real tree (that sounds a bit strange as all trees are real - by real I mean not artificial) in the sunroom. It is decorated with a variety of baubles we've collected over the years. We have quite a lot of Waterford baubles which we bought in after-Christmas sales. They are big so you don't need very many of them. We certainly won't be buying any more!

This is our ancient artificial tree that stands in the hall and is decorated with a heap of gold and silver decorations. Not for any theme's sake but simply because I have them. At some stage in the past I must have gone with a gold theme and then changed to a silver theme for another year.

 





The husband and I both love Christmas though not the commercialism that goes with it. We like it simple and with family and friends. The husband is keen to decorate using simple things like greenery from the garden. This is what he did with some of our holly and ivy ...

 

The carnations aren't from our garden! I bought them in the market in Banbridge.

 

Well, here we are; Christmas Eve! Can you believe it? I certainly can't. It only remains for me to wish you all a very lovely Christmas. Enjoy it immensely.

Felt and Other Christmas Decorations



Welcome back. I'm trying to get all the pictures of my decorations posted before Christmas as there's not much point keeping them until afterwards. Here are some more that I made; mostly felt from Corinne Lapierre's book Felt Christmas Decorations (Twenty to Make). Some I just made myself with, no doubt, inspiration from something I've seen somewhere.

The beaded embellishment on this heart is from an old necklace.

I made this angel wall hanging last year in my patchwork quilt class. Unfortunately the class is no longer being run.

This was also made at the class last year.

Hope you like these! I've had so much fun making them.