Update On Projects

Hi Everyone!

I hope this finds you well :-)

I just want to say a huge thankyou to my new & regular followers.

It means so much that you read what I have to say.

So here's my update:

As you know I'm taking part in the GrannyADay project

Well I got to 117 squares and decided that would be enough for a nice little lapghan for myself.

Originally I laid them all out on the lounge floor to sort out which square I wanted & where.

Here's 90 of them. (You can also see Tigger was helping too lol)

After trying it out for size, I decided to do a few more to make sure my feet were covered whether I was sat on the bed or in the chair.

I also added a cream & lilac edge just to finish it off.

Here it is hanging on my washing line on one of the many sunny days we've had here lately.

Ta-Daaaa!!

Isn't it just so bright & cheerful!!

And its soft and cosy to have over my legs.

I'm still doing the GrannyADay project, but I also want to try out other crochet stitches.

So I'm following this tutorial by The Crochet Crowd on how to do a ripple stitch.

Mikey makes it so easy to follow & also gives tips on how to read a crochet chart.

I haven't got very far so I'll show you next time I blog ;-)

The weather has been amazing these past few days.

Last Sunday we had the warmest day of the year, which had the most warming breeze.

It's nice to be able to get outside for a while, listen to the birds sing and get some fresh air without a multitude of clothes to keep the chills out.

Another project I'm working on is an Aran cardigan for my other half.

He's always wanted one, and I've always wanted to do a cable pattern.

The pattern I'm working on is called Northshore

I've done the ribbing and one block of the cable pattern.

It's took several attempts to get the pattern to look right & at first I thought the designer had made a mistake.

But I hid myself away and concentrated on each stitch and wham! I got it right.

I've made a swatch of just the stitch pattern, so if I'm not sure it's right i can refer back to that and give a cheer if it's right lol!

As my youngest has taken my batteries (College course took precedent) I can't take any pictures, but I promise on my next post I'll make sure I take some.

Well it's time I went & got on with the cardigan.

Hope you're all having a great week!

See you soon

xoxox

Readers For Blogs

Hi everyone!

I hope this finds you well!

As some of you may have read lately Google Reader will retire on July 1, 2013.

This has caused quite a stir in a few communities as a lot of people use this service to keep updated with Blogs and other website feeds.

Martine the owner of the iMake website has made a great post explaining what's happening, and explains about some alternatives.

I felt there wasn't any need for me to write a long detailed post as I would only repeat what has already been written.

So if you're interested why not pop over to Martine's place. HERE

Personally I've been using Feedly

on both my iPad, Android phone & laptop and love it!

I have all my subscriptions in Catergories and it's display has a clean, fresh feel.

I hope you find an alternative that will keep you up to date, and you have found this post useful *smile*

Too much chocolate?

Hi Everyone!

How was your holiday weekend?
Did you all eat too much chocolate? Is there too much chocolate?

We had a fairly quiet one, plenty of food, movie watching and of course indulging in easter chocolate.

Up until Friday it was really busy here with one thing and another, so apart from doing my Granny A Day crochet squares I didn't get much crafting done.

MrM helped me lay them all out on the lounge floor and we counted 90 all together.

I've now stitched them together.

I need to add another couple of rows of squares & then I'll crochet an edge.

Once I've done that I'll show you my finished results.

If you remember, last week's post was about the Spring Swap I was taking part in.

Now my recipient has received her parcel and opened it I can reveal what I sent.

My plan was to make my parcel as Spring like as possible. the weather here in England has been terrible with below freezing temparatures and snow instead of Spring like days.

It even snowed on the first day of Spring, so instead of being out in the garden over easter, which was the original plan, we stayed in the warm and began hibernating again.

I decided to make these Pinwheel Flowers by Frankie Brown
You can see them to the right of the photograph.

I love Frankie's designs as they're always colourful, bright, cheerful and easy to do.

(On the left is a hank of hand spun yarn I had in my stash, that I also added to the parcel)

In the picture you can also see a knitted bunny.

Here's a close up

Isn't she cute!

She holds a surprise though! She's actually an egg cosy!

I added a chocolate egg under her dress as an extra special surprise.

I also sent a blue teddy type sheep, some treats for my recipients dog, some easter chocolates.

Some notes in a vintage decorated box (bottom right) and some soap which was in the shape of roses (bottom centre)

On the top right you can see a sachet of coffee as she's a huge coffee fan & I bought a Biscotti biscuit from our local cafe.

The lady posted to say she was thrilled with her gifts, so all the worrying I did was completely unneccassary lol!

My parcel arrived on the Wednesday and as we weren't allowed to open it until Saturday it was promptly confiscated to DD1's bedroom.

But wow! once I opened it there were lots of oohs and ahhs at the contents.

I opened the lid to find lots of little parcels covered in lovely purple paper.

The parcel wrapped in silver foil was actually a bar of soap that smelt of Lavender!

It is such a lovely spring smell!

Underneath the soap you can see the hand knitted dishcloth.

That smelt of Lavender too, and it's so soft to touch.

I also recieved a pencil with pictures of sheep on, which will be used all the time as I'm old school and have to write down row counts etc on pencil & paper.

Ive yet to find an app that I can get on with.

I also had some cute ribbon with sheep on.

I havent yet decided what to use it for, but it will definitely be used.

As for chocolate treat, I opened 3 packages to find some chocolate with popping candy, that was great fun to eat!

I felt 9 years old again lol!

And also some luxurious dark chocolate which contained cranberries & raspberries.

I love Dark chocolate & any berry fruit so that was a definite win!

Some Cadburys bubbly chocolate too, which I havent eaten yet, but I'm sure it won't be long until that's been enjoyed!

In the above picture you can see the lovely handmade card that was in the box, as well as a little bag.

In a pretty blue with strawberries on.

Ive already filled it with a crochet hook & some yarn & will be used when I go to the doctors, hospital or when visiting relatives.

On the left you can see 2 little balls of yarn.

This was infact to 50g balls of Rowans 100% cotton.

It is so soft! 

Not sure what that will be made into just yet. But it will be something for me.

So there you go, thats my adventurous weekend over Easter.

the sun is actually shining here for once, so we've managed to get some washing outside & I can already hear MrM has the lawn mower out.

So I'm going to put on my coat & join him outside for some sun.

Hope this finds you all well

See you next time xoxo

WIP Wednesday

Hi!

Here's my latest WIP.

I've been working away on a little secret project these past few weeks.

I'm part of a group on Ravelry called "British Banter" and it's Spring Swap time.

For those of you that don't know about "Swaps".

 It's when a list of people make something & send it to a recipient.

Sometimes there's a theme, like this one is Spring & Easter, or it could be Christmas.

Sometimes it's just for fun.

Usually you get a recipients details and a guide to their likes & dislikes.

(After all there's no point in making something they don't like)

Then your "Swap Partner" gets a list of your likes & dislikes.

There is usually a limit of an amount of money you can spend, and if you already have something in your stash that you think your swapper would like, that doesn't count in the cost.

You make something by hand, be it knitted, crocheted, sewn, or even just a handmade card.

Add some little bits like favourite chocolate or goodies, make the parcel special and send it along.

then we have a group "Opening" day.

We all wait until that particular day, open our present, and post a picture of what we've received & of course a Thank you to our sender.

However this swap I'm participating in, is a Secret Swap.

I know my recipient, but he/she doesn't know who I am, so it'll be a complete surprise as to what they've received.

I've made my card by hand, added some little gifts that I think she'll like, bought some of her favourite chocolate, added some things made from my stash, and not forgetting the most important part...the knitted gift.

As it's a Spring swap I wanted to make something that was bright & cheerful, as well as incorporating the Easter theme.

I can only post just one photograph for now incase she's looking.

I can't wait to send it & see what she thinks!

but I'll be sure to show you all the finished result after opening day which is March 30th.

A Little Update

Hi there! *waves* 

I just wanted to say Hello to my new followers.

I take it as such a huge compliment that someone wants to follow me on my blogging journey.