Exciting things in the post

A couple of days ago Janette (aka The Green Dragonfly) blogged about ‘Getting ‘real’ mail’, and how nice it is to get something that isn’t junk mail or a bill. From the number of comments at the bottom of the post it seems that several other people also miss getting exciting things in the post. Email/facebook/Skype etc. are certainly very handy (and a lot cheaper) for keeping in touch with people, but there is something very special about getting a handwritten letter or card in the post.

So imagine how excited I was to receive a huge envelope in the post on the very same day I read Janette’s blog!

I immediately knew who it was from and what it contained. A few weeks ago I won a washcloth on a giveaway on Tamara’s blog, and as I don’t often get post from abroad I knew it must be my prize! (The fact that Tamara’s name and the contents of the parcel were written on the outside of the envelope were also big clues!) I eagerly opened it up and was surprised to see not one but two beautiful washcloths!

This is the card…

Tamara has beautiful handwriting – I wish I could write as neatly as she does!

Anyway, let’s have a closer look at the washcloths. This one feels lovely and thick and I love how colourful it is.

And this is her label on the back…

Look at the lacy edging on this one…

Thank you so much Tamara, I just love them!

And as if that wasn’t enough, the following day I had another handwritten envelope in the post! This was another one from a fellow blogger, this time from Jane (aka Rainbow Junkie). She recently celebrated her one year blogiversary (I love that word!) and generously offered to make a bookmark for the people who commented most – and I was one of them! Inside the envelope was a note written on card and held together with elastic bands.

I opened it up to find…

How beautiful is that?! Let’s have a proper look…

Jane, you are so talented! It made it’s way straight into my book (and replaced the previous bookmark – a paper heart which was the closest thing to hand when I needed to save my page!) and has been doing a wonderful job. It makes me smile every time I see it!

Thank you Jane for your lovely gift!

If anyone else feels the need to send me pretty things in the post I’ll happily give you my address

A buttony giveaway

After a few days of dithering, and some great suggestions from you lovely readers, I have decided to celebrate my 50 followers with a giveaway of…

…buttons!

Did that come as a surprise?! I’m guessing not I think most people mentioned buttons in response to this post, so I thought ‘Why not?’ I love buttons, and it seems that most of you do too, so it seems like the perfect giveaway

I was going to go with 50 buttons (1 for each follower – clever huh?!) but by the time I decided I now have 52 followers. And I also couldn’t decide on just 50 buttons, so I’ve ended up with 60. Let’s have a closer look at the buttony goodness.

There are 5 fabric covered buttons on buttons (the very first ones I made)…

Some tiny and super teeny tiny buttons…

Some vintage buttons (I think these used to belong to my Grandma)…

And some shape buttons…

I think the orange crayon is probably one of my most favourite ever – it’s so tiny but incredibly detailed, and reminds me of being at school, peeling the paper off the outside of the crayons.

There are of course a few others thrown in to make up numbers, some useful neutrals (that will go with just about anything), some zingy brights and pretty pastels.

If you would like the chance to win this bundle of buttony goodness all you have to do is leave a comment at the bottom – simple as that! You can be from any country in the world and have until Saturday 16th June to enter. I look forward to hearing from you!

Stripes

This week I have mostly been creating stripes, in the form of the bag I mentioned the other day.  Here it is so far:

Look at the lovely, yummy stripes! And this is the bottom:

However, it has been at this stage for a few days, because as I was working my mind was wandering. I thought to myself “I like this circle bag. It will look good when it’s finished. But I wonder what a rectangular bag would look like? How could I make one of those?” So the circle bag was put down and I started experimenting with a rectangular bag.

For my first attempt I made a long foundation chain, then worked dc (US sc) all the way along it on both sides. When I’d worked all the way around I repeated this with another colour. It was at this point that I realised my mistake – I’d made the chain as long as I wanted the bottom of the bag to be, not taking into account the fact that it was going to get bigger with each round I worked – d’oh! So it would end up being much bigger than I wanted. But the work was not wasted – it will now become a strap for one of the bags.

Second time around I decided to make a very short chain and work rows of 9 dc. I also worked with 2 strands of wool and a 5mm hook to make the bottom slightly more sturdy. When it was the right length I changed colour and, still using 2 strands of wool, worked a border of dcs all the way around. Then using the same colour but one strand and a 4mm hook, I began to work rounds of htrs (US hdc).

I’m using Stylecraft Special DK with the most delicious sounding names! From dark to light they are Lipstick, Pomegranate, Fondant, Candyfloss and Cream. Good enough to eat (perhaps with the exception of Lipstick – that would just be weird).

As you can see, the corners are not very defined, so I think I’ll probably blanket stitch along them when it’s finished.

I’ve also spent a little time this morning sort out my wool. A couple of balls were getting near the end and starting to get pretty tangled up!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So they’ve gone from looking like this…

To looking like this! Much easier to work with

Yet another cushion (and a giveaway reminder)

For some reason I just love cushions. Even more, I love making cushion covers. I think because they can generally be finished pretty quickly (which doesn’t leave me much time to get distracted) and are a great way of trying out new skills with a relatively small amount of yarn or fabric. After the success of the Granny Square cushion (the pic to the right) I decided to make another one. This one is bigger, to fit an 18 inch cushion, and instead of crocheting both sides I wanted to try using a jumper as backing (as seen over at attic24).

So, I carefully cut off the buttons and added them to my colourful button jar. This picture doesn’t really show the true colour of the jumper very well – it’s a lot pinker than it looks here.

 

 

 

 

Then I cut along the seams of one arm and cut the front of the jumper off. (This is a bit closer to the actual colour.) I carefully measured out and cut each piece so that I would have overlapping flaps for the back.

So by this point in the day I was planning to sit down and show you wonderful pictures of the finished product.

No such luck.

Have you got any idea how hard it is to bind the edges of a curling jumper on a sewing machine?! All I wanted to do was a simple zig zag stitch all the way around so it wouldn’t fray and unravel where it’d been cut. But to start with it got jammed so I had to pull it a little, which stretched it, so it ended up wobbly. Then it just wouldn’t go straight no matter how hard I tried – so frustrating!

By now I have mangaed to zig zag around all the raw edges, wobbly though they are, but really wasn’t feeling the love so decided to leave it until tomorrow when I’ll hopefully be in a better frame of mind.

But while I’m here, let me remind you about the African Flower Scarf Giveaway! It’s only 8 days now until my blog is 2 months old (so exciting!) and to celebrate I’m giving away this scarf If you’d like a chance to win it, please leave a comment at the bottom of this post. On 12th March I’ll put all the names of those who have commented into a high tec hat and pick out a winner.

In the meantime, enjoy the last few relaxing hours of Sunday before another week begins!

 

A splash of colour

Sitting having my breakfast this morning the sun was streaming through the window, shining right on to my colourful mess of crochet where I left it last night. By the time I got my camera out the sun was starting to hide away. But the colours still looked lovely, and thought they were worthy of a photo.

By the time I’ve got my computer up and running (only about 15 mins after taking the photo – I tend to faff around a bit) it’s looking decidedly grey and gloomy outside. Just in time for me to go out. Fantastic.

Anyway, a quick progress report. My Granny Stripes stopped halfway. My reason? I started making something else! But it’s all connected: I decided that the stripes would be great for the back of a cushion, so thought I’d make two panels that would overlap to make the back.

That was because I wanted to put this on the front:

A giant Granny Square!

And I’m really happy with the front, especially as it reminds me of a blanket I had on my bed as a child.

But I’m now less happy with the back – it doesn’t really fit properly with the Granny Square, and having two different things going on on the same cushion makes my eyes water a little.

So, after thinking it through (and looking around for inspiration) I think I’m going to turn my stripes into a full sized cushion front, and back it with a jumper, a la Lucy.

And my Granny Square will have a matching one to make up the other side, but with an extra bit worked on to one side to make a flap for closing (I don’t like cushions from which you can not remove the covers – I’m quite messy and spill things easily, so things need to be washable!)

I’ve made a start on my second Granny Square, but it only has two rounds so far. Let’s hope for some good stuff on TV to keep me entertained as I work through it!

Works in progress

A few days ago I began another project that was inspired by Attic24. Lucy made a beautiful crochet bag, full of bright colours and lovely stripes, and very kindly wrote a tutorial showing how to make it. I thought I’d give it a go in order to use up some of my odds and ends of wool, and when it’s finished it’ll hold what’s left. Unfortunately I’ve got carried away and ended up buying more wool – oh dear!

The base came together very quickly, although it ended up slightly wobbly the bigger it got (but it’s not polite to dwell on big, wobbly bottoms). I also realised that even though I was following the pattern by working in treble stitches there were more holes than I wanted. So when I got to the sides I started to work in half trebles instead. I’m really pleased with how it looks, but as half trebles are smaller than trebles, it’s going to take longer to make.  Never mind.

Anyway, this is how it looked yesterday:

And today:

It’s growing! But it’s still got a long way to go if it’s going to be big enough to hold my entire stock of wool.

And look at the lovely stripiness of it. As I was looking at the latest stripes I suddenly started thinking of ice cream! They seem to me to be very ice creamy colours, and remind me of ice cream bowls…

So I thought “What would be better than an ice cream bag?” And the answer was “Not much!”

Which got me started on another project. It hasn’t gone far yet, but loook at the lovely colours!

More pictures will follow (hopefully of finished articles, but you may have to wait a while – it depends how many other bright ideas I have along the way!)

 

Quick update: The ice cream bag has turned out really well so far! It still needs some handles, but apart from that is nearly there – so exciting! Hopefully pictures tomorrow…