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!

Spot the difference…

I thought I’d give you a little update on my Granny Stripe cushion cover. Here it is so far…

Anyone spot any differences?

Yep, it’s completely different. About 5 minutes after my last post I looked at it and decided that I just wasn’t happy with it. I didn’t like the colour combination – all the colours were fine, but just not in that order. And I decided that I only wanted one row of each colour, not two. And my foundation chain was too tight, so even within the few rows I’d worked it was wavy and all over the place.

So I pulled it apart and started again! I made a much shorter foundation chain (60 stitches instead of 90) and used a 4.00 mm hook so it wouldn’t be so tight (I switched to a 3.50 mm hook to work the main part).

And I’m much happier with it this time round! I like the colours in this order, and much prefer just one row of each colour. And even better, it’s working up much more quickly due to the shorter rows – bonus!

 

 

 

 

 

I’m also working in some of my brand new wool! The colours aren’t quite the same in the picture, but are pretty close. From left to right they are:

Pomegranate, Aspen, Lipstick and Turquoise, all in Stylecraft Special DK.

Lovely!

As well as having a chilled out afternoon watching trashy TV and working on my Granny Stripes, I’ve been doing a little more pottering around on the internet and come across a whole host of gorgeous blogs! My most favourite can be found on the menu either at the top of the page, or in the right hand column. I’d recommend having a look – so many pretty and inspiring things! Enjoy!

A little light activity

After an enjoyable but hectic morning with the kids in Sunday school, it’s lovely to shut myself away an just have an afternoon of gentle pottering. My pottering this afternoon didn’t involve leaving my chair (surely the best kind of pottering?).

Instead, I pottered around the internet. Along with the obligatory checking of Facebook and emails, I indulged in a little link hopping. I started off with another WordPress blog, Creative Pixie, and had a little browse of her lovely projects. Then I scrolled to her blogroll, partly just to be nosy (as I’m a pretty nosy kind of person) and partly to see if there was any inspiration lurking.

And there was! I came across Bunny Mummy and Diary of a Quilter, both of which are just gorgeous. And yesterday I came across MemeRose as I was browsing through the blogroll over at Attic 24.  It’s amazing what you can find when you spend a little time being nosy! These have all been added to my ‘Beautiful Blogs’ menu, which can be found to the right. (They also appear along the top, although I’m not quite sure why – haven’t been able to figure it out yet!) I’ll be adding more to the menu as I come across more treasures.

In amongst the nosiness, I also started a new project. My wool, spilling out of my beautiful crocheted bag, was right next to me, just begging to be used.

I liked the idea of making a crochet cushion cover, and decided on Granny stripes as the basis. I followed Lucy’s pattern, which can be found here. However, it’s already a whole lot longer than I anticipated at the beginning. Oops! So instead of going back and starting again (which I just hate doing!) I’ve decided I’ll just make it work. Somehow. I havent figured out all the details yet, but I’m sure it’ll be fine! It’s only a few rows long so far, but have got lots of lovely colours to work with, and am planning to treat myself to another couple of colours tomorrow. Yes, I know I have a huge bag full already, but you can never have too many colours! And I’m using Stylecraft DK, which is really quite cheap (can you hear me talking myself into it?!)

Will keep you updated on the progress, but here it is so far, elegantly modelled on my laptop