Photographic pickings were slim this month; I seem to be saying I'm busy a lot, it's becoming my mantra but I have been, very much so! In the end I chose this photo on the beach by the sea, because I like the sky and the sun light breaking through the clouds. A hint at the spring weather on the way soon after this was taken:-)
I will try harder to take more photos in April!!
Some time back when i was starting to learn to crochet, all the crochet blogs I liked to read were buzzing with talk of African flowers. I wrote the pattern down and then got waylaid with something or other and forgot about it. Then the other day, I came across it again and after oohing and aahing about how pretty it looks, decided to try making a few. The colours I chose were 2 different shades of pink, green, white and coffee brown.
I've seen many pictures of cherry blossom recently, particularly after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and maybe unconsciously I chose these colours as a reflection of those tributes; who knows, but they have the same harmony as the petals, leaves and tree bark of the cherry tree and they look lovely together :-)
The pattern is an easy crochet and yet they have a great rhythm to them as you make them. I think these will probably turn into a cushion cover, or possibly a bag, I'm not sure yet, but hopefully you will see soon.
If you fancy drooling over some more gorgeous colours, there is a Flickr group for these lovely flowers.......head on over and feast your eyes!
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!
A blustery Sunday afternoon walk
enjoying the sky light
the shadowy silhouette of the Isle of Arran
and the sun trying to break throught the cloud
I know I've been have a purple love affair recently, but I am also very fond of green. After I happily sold my multi-coloured big granny square blanket recently, I decided to make another. When looking through my stash, I found so many balls of wool of just about every shade of green possible, and so the colour scheme of green and white suggested itself to me. I think it's something to do with spring coming :-) After about 3 weeks of hooking when time has allowed, I have finished.
As you can see there really is a plethora of greenness; mint, leaf, apple, grass, moss, spruce, teal, bottle, lime. There's even a yarn called Highland Burn in there. By my count, there are 14 different shades of green! I like the way the white makes the greens look so vivid, and yet when it's lying on the bed it exudes serenity.
It really struck me how the different tones come out with changes in the light; the 2 photos above, taken yesterday(Saturday) have a blueish green tinge: whereas in the photo below, taken last Thursday, on a sunnier day, the mossy green colours come to the fore.
I finished it off with some rows of half treble in greens and a row of white treble stitches folowed by a final lime green scalloped shell edging
The edging's frilliness wasn't deliberate but I like how it has turned out
This has been a great stash buster; I obviously had a huge splurge on green wool at some point in the past and had a lot of it. Now it's down to a sensible amount! The yarns I used are all DK and a mixed bag of wool and wool and acrylic mixture. I wanted the blanket to be machine washable, I can't imagine what a horrendous chore it would be to hand wash something of this size!
So there you have my latest finished project.
Staying with the green theme, a friend has asked me to crochet him a cardigan. He presented me with a big bag of this gorgeous wool, we chose this pattern which I found in a vintage book
and I am happily hooking away. The wool is beautifully soft, a joy to work with and crochets up well. I think the finished garment will be very cosy and smart.
It's quite a responsibility making something for someone you know and like, so I'm pulling all the stops out to make it look the biz!
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 :-)
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!
I've decided to have a change; new year, new look. My end of month round-up will now be a list of good things with my favourite photo in the background. I hope you like my idea!
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 :-)
I am Marie, a musician who likes to take photographs and write about what I'm making, reading and enjoying.
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