miss marie's miscellany

Snow day crochet

I planned a day in the garden today, starting to tidy up now that spring is here.  Or so I thought, we woke up to this 

more snow. Winter hasn't let go quite yet. So no gardening today......may as well get on with some hooking! As well as my friend's green cardigan, I'm also making myself a little something

I bought this wool on Ebay from one of my favourite sellers from whom I've bought  many times. It's a large cone, I have enough for a garment......or 2 maybe!

After a bit of trawling the web, I found what I was looking for........

It is this cardigan (nice free patterns to be found at the website too); I decided on a couple of alterations, I'm making it with short sleeves and am going to add some buttons rather than a brooch fastening, but it is looking good so far.

Back and one sleeve are completed so far. And the snow is still falling, huge fat flakes now

so I may be finished sooner than I thought!

 

 

 

February

It was quite hard to choose just one photo this month; should it be something crafty, something garden-related or to do with the advent of spring. In the end I decide to pick this photo, for the colour and the oncoming season which brings us such lovely flowers.

I'll be showing you my big green blanket later this week, it's turned out very nicely and is also very spring-themed......soon :-)

 

 

 

Looking forward to spring

The good old British weather; just a week ago, there was more snow here in Glasgow, and it was bitter.   Happily, since then, the temperature has gone up quite a few notches, Saturday afternoon so warm that no jacket was required, and finally the garden is showing signs of moving towards a new season..

and some welcome colour

It doesn't seem to have cheered this fella up much

But it has made me feel very happy, it's always good to see the garden springing back into life after winter's icy grip

The azalea is a harbinger of spring for me; once it has these delicate pink buds, I know there will be many more lovely flowers to look forward to. Soon as possible, please!

A small piece of news and exciting for me: this afternoon I am going to teach a group of 14 ladies how to crochet! I hope I can inspire them, wish me luck!

 

Treading a purple path

I really can't get enough purple at the moment, I've been wearing purple garments, using purple wool in my makings, and these are my most recent acquisition

purple boots, I HAD to have them!!

And now there is some more in the garden. The route to the purple shed needed sprucing up, so some constuction has gone on.

It is a recycling of the sandstone slabs which were there already; they were lifted, cleaned, given a good solid under carriage, replaced and edged with purple slate chippings

Halfway there...........

Finally finished

so now, I can walk up my very own purple path!

 

 

I've been busy

Sorry I haven't been here for a while, time has run away since I last stuck my head round the door. But I've been busy with all of the different parts of my life and work, and I have lots to tell you about. Enought for a few posts worth certainly! Just so that I make up for being AWOL.

So I'll start with some snapshots of my recent crochet/crafty makings

This blanket is nearly finished!

I have been enjoying using my garden studio, it's such a lovely space to be in, cosy and comfortable, and the light on a good day is so bright and clear. And I have re-discovered the contents of my iPod too, it's been quite inspiring to listen to old and much-loved songs with fresh ears.

Trying out some new colour combos

I have a big stack of things waiting to be made too; I have 5 commissions, which is fantastic, so I will be showing them off when they are completed.

So that's all the yarny stuff up to date; next time I'll be out in the garden :-)

 

 

Grannies galore

Here are the granny squares I've made so far for the Crochet a Rainbow appeal.

I'm going to make some more over the weekend and send them off on Monday.

I've enjoyed making these so much that I decided to experiment with some colour combinations for possible blankets.Trying to think of a name for each of them.........

Green goddess - I have every ball of green wool out of my stash for this! 

 

Spring flowers, as this puts me in mind of the colourful primroses that will appear soon. (Sorry this photo is not great,it's been pouring down and blowing a gale today with grey skies so I had to use a flash, which makes it look a little more garish than it really is - better pic to follow soon)

I think my colour choices are definitely a look forward to the spring and hopes of warmer climes and the start of the growing season in the garden. Bring it on!

 

Shed surprise

You may recall a while back, I was dropping hints like bricks about a mysterious project; possibly a crafty space down at the end of the garden. Things were going well, until the snow started falling, and work had to stop for a while. But thankfully,  once the weather bucked up a bit, we got it done and I'm very happy to report that, barring a little cosmetic tweaking, I now have a little studio!!!

Would you like to come and take a look inside?

It started out as a humble garden shed, but it has been made lovely outside and in - lined, painted and floored, so it looks like.......

this! 

I have a nice new comfy chair to park myself on, next to my 'Keep Calm and Crochet on' poster, a table/desk, some crochet adornments and a cork board for inspiring images and so on.

Plenty of space to be filled up, I'll show you again when there is more to see.

This corner bookcase is made using 3 storage boxes from IKEA which I bought a couple of years ago. I glued them together with wood adhesive and hey presto, a neat little shelving unit for my books and bits and bobs, perfect for this petite space.

I can't believe I am posting a photo of the floor but it's so good I feel compelled to!

I can look out of the fairylighted window at the garden

while I get busy with the hook.......this is my  inaugural row of stitches!

And now I'm ready for many happy hours of craftiness

It's the next best thing to being out in the garden, and if I have the door ajar, I can hear all the sounds and smell the outdoor aromas as if I was sitting out in the open air, except that I am snug in my cosy space.

It's taken quite a while to get this little dream finished; cold weather does not love plaster and paint and there have been quite a few times recently when I've found the paint frozen solid in the tin!  Kind family and friends have given me lots of things, most notably the heater and the flooring  and helped me do a lot of the hard work, so I owe them a huge and heart-felt thank you. 

 I can't quite believe it has finally happened but when I look out of the window, I can see the fruits of a lot of scrimping and saving  and much hard graft. It has been well worth the wait too......I love my little shedstudio  :-)

 

 

Crochet a rainbow

Sarah London has a wonderful blog which I have mentioned loads of times here. She has put together a great idea to help Australian families who have lost everything in the recent devastating floods - a worldwide making of granny squares which will be joined up into blankets to be given to those who have lost their homes and belongings. I have signed up to make my own small contribution, and so far,  just over 200 others have done so, but I'm sure as many as possible would be welcome. Here's a link to Sarah's blog with all the details, do pop over and take a look.

New to me this week

Isn't this great?

I found it at the Ravelry shop and it will soon be adorning one of my walls! Good advice too, I intent to follow it :-)

Thoughts about a new year

The tree has been taken down, the decorations have been put away, everything wrapped up and boxed, and life is getting back to its normal routine. I always feel a bit mixed during the first week of January; I feel a bit sad that Christmas is over for another year, but I like the thought that a whole new year with new opportunities and exciting prospects is in front of me. After all the lovely eating, drinking and making merry at Christmas and New Year, it's good to get back to a less rich diet and feel a little more health-conscious. I don't make resolutions usually, I never can stick to them,  but after 2010's challenges, I thought I needed to set myself a few small aims and aspirations. But once I'd thought about what they might be, I knew that I had begun a change of heart and mind towards the end of last year. Plans are already afoot, the way forward has already started to change direction. So no resolution is really needed for 2011, I'm just going to do the best I can to carry on with the things already set in place, and to try to get some new projects up and running. This year is full of possibilities and I intent to make the most of whatever comes along in this year's journey. And it will all be blogged about here!

Have you made any resolutions?