miss marie's miscellany

Romantic

A story about how crochet can come to the rescue of a damsel in distress. Well, sort of!  One of my colleagues was telling me that she was playing at a wedding on Sunday and had been told to look more 'romantic' for the occasion. She is a busy mum of 4 and said she didn't think her wardrobe held much in the way of romantic attire. "Fear not" said I. "I'll make you something to do the trick". She is playing as a one third of a trio, so I made 3 rose corsages, in romantic pink and red.

Not bad, considering I didn't get home from work till after 10pm last night. My hook is on fire; I hope they feel the love!

Wishing everyone a lovely (and possibly romantic) weekend :-)

Pink and blue

I liked the baby blanket I made recently so much, I decided to make another. Pink and blue look lovely together, just right for a little girl,  and I just happened to have some perfect wool for the job. So, it's based on the same idea but with slightly different patterns and textures for the squares. It's still a WIP, but I thought I'd show how it's looking so far.

All the patterns are in the Jan Eaton book, 200 Crochet Blocks for Afghans and Blankets. I find this book really helpful when making these blankets, there's such a mix of styles and textures in all the blocks featured, truly something for everyone.

A few close-ups of some of the patterns; this is a tulip design.

This one is a band of bobbles topped with a double crochet section

This design is called Lemon Peel; after I'd finished I could see why

Since I started this post, I've managed to sew the squares together; this is how the blanket is looking today (Sunday)

So it will get a pretty edging as soon as poss, and I'll let you see the FO in a few days.

 

Blackcurrant and orange cream

Hello! Long time no see, as I've been a busy bee, but things are a little quieter and I'm happy to be here again. Despite all that's been going on, I've tried and succeeded to find some much needed hooking time over the last week. I do find it very therapeutic and calming, in fact, I have been getting up early so I can do some before I go to work.......hmm, some might say that is going a bit too far, but I find it the perfect start to the day, a few rows of crochet with a nice cup of tea. A friend asked me to make a baby blanket for a gift ( yes, a commission, how exciting!) I made some squares using different stitches.

 

Purple and orange were requested colours, and I thought the cream set them off nicely. I decided to use all the squares in a random arrangement. You can see all the various stitches in the above photo; bobble stitch on the bottom right and top left, the top middle square is a new stitch to me which I found in one of my crochet books, angled clusters. moss stitch on the top right, star stitch on the bottom left and shell stitch bottom middle.  

The squares were really quick to make, it was the joining up which took ages. But it came together well,and here is the finished article.

 

The colours really buzz, and although they might not be everyone's choice for a baby blanket, I think I like the fruity combination:-)

 
The purple and orange wools are a merino /cashmere mix and the crean is lamb's wool so  it will be very cosy. 

I edged it with a row of treble crochet in each of the 3 colours and finished off with a row of crab stitch which I have become a big fan of. It is worked by crocheting from left to right which feels weird when you first try it out, but it's worth persevering with, the rolled edging it creates looks very fine.If you want to try it out, I found this video on YouTube very helpful:-)

 

I'm happy that this turned out so well, now I just need to find a new WIP to make in the mornings!
 

Seeing stars

Allow me to introduce my bright orange stars cushion cover; I woke up early today and did all the finishing off, buttons, buttonholes and last few rows. It looks lovely in the early morning light.

 

I edged this side of the cushion in pink crab stitch, another new stitch to me, made by making double crochet stitches working from left to right, which gives a rolled corded effect

 

I bought the wool on Ebay from one of my favourite sellers who I've mentioned before, Kingcraig Fabrics. This particular wool is a lambs wool and silk mix in an aran weight. It's lovely to crochet with (and knit too, I should think)and has a nice textured feel, especially in these 2 stitches which both have 'feel appeal'! 
 

 

The other side is made using crochet moss stitch in the same wool in a cream colour, it reminds me  of custard creams! I used some purple buttons to fasten and made an envelope flap for the button holes.

 

 

I am making another of these with pink stars, as a companion to this, finishing quite soon, I hope. 

While I was writing this post, the postman delivered a parcel with more of this wool in some lovely bright colours. Want to see?

 

I'll have to put my thinking cap on, what shall I make with these?!
 

 
 

 
 

iCrochet

I'm a big fan of Sarah London and regularly visit her blog, it's always full of interesting things and her crochet designs and tutorials are fantastic. I was excited to see she has started a new blog, called iCrochet, which is a place for crocheters from all over the world to leave a link and photo of their latest WIP, a lovely compendium of hookiness, if you like. There are some wonderful things to be seen there already, so head on over and feast your eyes! 

 

 

My new hat

I wanted to make something quick and found this pattern at the Lion Brand website. I had some Crofter DK Fair Isle effect wool which I'd been wanting to try, and this seemed a good project for it. 

 

It only took me about 4 hours to make. Perhaps it's a bit mad to be crocheting hats in the summer, but it hasn't been too summery here in Glasgow of late, so I thought I might as well get myself ready for autumn days out in the garden!

 

Another self-taken photo of yours truly, I really must practice doing this a bit more! But you can see how cozy the hat looks :-)
 

 
 

Shed demolition and garden improvements- part 1

It was high time there were some improvements in the garden; a new fence and garden shed and making the top end of the garden more user friendly; it has been home to the horrible old shed and a large plantation of weeds up to now. and I have to admit, that has been very daunting.  It's all been happening over the last few weeks though. Note the lovely new fence in the picture below; job no 1, done.

Goodbye to this old shed, which I inherited with the house. I hated going in there, it was dark and dingy and also completely rotten and not watertight, so it had to go to shed heaven. My lovely handyman Michael pushed it over in about 2 seconds

 

The aftermath!

A new base put in place, Antony Gormley would be proud of this beautiful plinth.

 

Friday morning at 7.30am, I'm still fast asleep when the shedmen turn up to install the new shed

 

Here it is, 8.15 am, all done and dusted

 

A bit of painting and now it looks like this.

 

I thought the inside needed brightening up

 

And it's home to all the garden paraphernalia again

 

Now there is a big space waiting to be used for who knows what? (I know it's a complete tip just now, but it will look beautiful in a few weeks, I promise.......this is the 'before' photo!)

 
 I'd definitely like some raised beds, but there's room also for something I read about recently here; I fell head over heels in love with it and have been wondering if I could/should acquire one myself? I am sooooo tempted, it would be crochet nirvana for me :-) What do you think?

 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 

What every crochet loving lady should drive

I came across this fantastic smart car with its own multi-coloured crocheted cover........I love it!

 

It is the work of Magda Sayeg, an American lady who is a guerilla knitter. I've heard of guerrila gardening, but not knitting; but it sounds like an excellent idea to me, brightening up your surroundings with some lovely knitting or crochet, putting it in locations where you'd least expect to see such a thing; lampposts, road signs, a bus .........yes,really, if you don't believe me, look at this.

 

Magda Sayeg has a blog called KnittaPlease where she posts all her latest projects. Absolutely fascinating and inventive, it takes yarn and what one can do with it to a whole new level.

I wish my car looked like this!

  

Heather shawl

I finished my granny stripes shawl :-) I'm made up with how it looks, the colours are just right for me and it's very cosy. I tried to take a photo of me wearing it, almost impossible, but after lots of shots of the side of my head, I succeeded in taking a presentable image.

 

It was a lot of crocheting once the sides started to get longer, but it was worth the work to get such a lovely finished article. I used a mixture of wools, some Sirdar Countrystyle and Bonus DK, King Cole Big Value DK and the purply-pink is from my Ebay wool from Kingcraig Fabrics. 

 

Thanks to Jenny for her comment on my last post, she said it reminded her of moorland colours and so, inspired by her idea, I've decide to call it my Heather shawl. 

I hope your weekend is full of colour and good things!
 
 

 

Playing with colour

It's a while since I talked about crochet and wool. but I haven't been idle, in fact quite the opposite, I can't stop with the crochet hook!
 
I found some fabulous wool/silk mix yarn on Ebay, from this seller. Their shop has lots of beautiful wool in a rainbow of shades; much of it comes on cones, good for those larger projects, and they have now started selling 100g balls, which is ideal for my purposes.  I chose an autumnal mix of aubergine, dusky pink, mustard, oatmeal and lemon and lime twist (sounds like a recipe) in this lovely nubbly yarn which has turned into this round cushion.

It is an unusual mix but I think it works :-) 


When I was in Liverpool, my sister-in-law took me to an Aladdin's cave of a shop, Abakhan, a treasure trove of supplies for every craft under the sun, and of course, that includes lots and lots of lovely wool. They have an online shop too, worth a butcher's.  It was like being let loose in a sweet shop, I left with a huge bag filled with brightly coloured wool. I decided to make a granny square blanket using lots of colour and a random combination of them.



A freefall colour experience for me, I usually like to be symmetrical ; I'm just keeping going till it's BIG.



Still a way to go before it's ready, but it's turning out nicely!

Continuing with the granny theme, I've seen a couple of lovely granny shawls recently and had a real attack of the wanties. Just the ticket for a cool summer evening in the garden, I thought, and it will definitely come in handy if we have another baltic winter! I'm just playing with the colours, but think I've found a good combination with these.



These are very 'me' colours! A concerted effort over the next couple of days and I should be able to show the FO shawl.

I hope your weekend is full of colour too.