miss marie's miscellany

New books

Quite a few lovely books have come my way recently, 2 lovely crochet pattern books and 2 books to sit and enjoy reading. 

 I thought this would be useful, a collection of edgings and trims which I hope to be able to put to good use in all my crochet creations this year. It's a Harmony guide; I have several of these and find them invaluable, in fact they probably helped me learn to crochet more than any other reference book I used.

I haven't made any garments other than mittens and scarves as yet, but there are a few things in this book which I'd like to try

 

although probably not the socks on the right of the cover! I fancy this jumper though

 Crochet Me is a great site for any crocheters with patterns, links to blogs, forums and tips and advice. Well worth a look if you're into a bit of hooking.

 

After my last read (for book group) turned out to be a big disappointment and hard going, I needed the next book I read to be witty, charming and a little different; my choice was Howard's End is on the Landing by Susan Hill and is proving to have all of those wished for qualities. It tells of the author's endeavours to only read books already in her home, read and unread. As well as discussing the books, there are memories of family and home, thoughts about authors and well loved classic books along with anecdotes from Ms Hill's life as an author and publisher.  Very enjoyable so far!

I picked up this anthology, Modern Delight in Waterstones this weekend. It's a collection of essays by writers, TV and radio personalities, actors and musicians of what makes them happy, what brings delight to their lives. Very happy to see amongst those writing are William Boyd, Jo Brand and the cellist Steven Isserlis. A varied and humourous miscellany which looks like it will prove entertaining, and half the proceeds go to the Dyslexia Trust too.

 

Organisation

I can't say I'm as tidy as I'd like to be when it comes to my wool stash. Things were getting out of hand recently; too many random bags of mixed wool were taking up residence in the corner of the room. Apart from the fact it looked messy, it's not a good system when looking for the right colour or make of wool. I got these boxes in IKEA, they are perfect for wool storage.

 

Photographing the contents of the boxes made me realise that just shoving the balls of wool in haphazardly wasn't going to cut it.

 Not very pleasing to the eye. 

A bit of neatening and matching had to happen for aesthetic purposes! 

 

 

Now I can see exactly what I've got.

 

That's better! 
 

 

January collage

The first half of January seems to have been dominated by the snowy, icy weather which was lovely to look at........sometimes! And the results of staying in the house have been much yarny goings-on. Then there was my birthday and my trip to Liverpool. So all in all, a pretty good month to reflect on.

 

Blue and green

 

 

More about that in a couple of days.

 

 
 
 

Ta-dah

A reveal today, I finished my round cushion cover. I used a palette of white, red, green and light browns which compliment each other well. Here it is, looking lovely!

 

I made the other side with a slightly different arrangement of the colours

 

Instead of sewing it up all the way round as the pattern suggested, I decided to make it removeable, and fastened it with some pretty buttons

 

The wool was from my stash, nearly every colour is Rowan Pure Wool DK, apart from the bright red and white which are Patons Diploma Gold and Cygnet Superwash respectively. It will probably live on the chair above but it also goes well on the sofa with the cushion covers I made last year

 

It's lovely to have all these bright colours when it's a bit grey and damp outside. Typical Scottish weather for January........ and February......and March.......etc, etc!
 

 
 

Crochet latest

I've got a few things on the go; since I painted the living room white,  I can add more dashes of colour than I was able to when the room was deep yellow. I like to juggle several projects as I don't get bored that way! This round cushion cover is nearly finished. I got this pattern from the Erika Knight book, Essential Crochet. It crochets up quickly, these only took me a couple of evenings. I ran out of white wool, so I had to pause while I replenished stocks - a final push over the coming weekend and I hope to be able to show the completed article soon.

 

And these will make another cushion cover; I found this pattern at Sarah London's lovely blog, it's called a PinWheel motif.

 

I have to get some purple in somewhere!

I bought some sale wool in John Lewis in Liverpool; green, coral pink and cream. I think these will turn into a hexagon cushion cover, that's the idea at present..

 

I have other things in the planning stage; a friend has just had a little boy, so a blanket or maybe some baby clothes are a definite possibility, very soon after all the above are completed. I'm really enjoying making all these things, work is a bit stressful and tiring just now, and coming home and doing some gentle hooking in peace and quiet is a brilliant relaxation. 
 

 

Bloomin' freezing!

It's so cold here, -8 degrees C  right now, and lord only knows what the temperature was in the night.......at least -10,  my spies inform me! A day for staying in and keeping cozy. The heating is on, I'm wearing my thermals and have blankets ready to snuggle under. I'm putting the enforced staying at home to good crafty use. I remembered that some while back I knitted lots of coloured squares; 

a) to practise different stitches 

b) to make a patchwork blanket

but I put them to one side and promptly forgot about them while I got into crochet. So they have been dug out and I'm sewing the squares together for chilly evening cover-up needs.

 

Some of the brown squares are actually a lovely warm mustard or dusky sky blue but the light is so poor today due to freezing fog that I can't get better photos than these - sorry. At least the variety of stitches has come out well.       
 

I'm also making a crochet cushion,easy rounds in reds, greens and creams to go with this loose cover I made for an armchair.

 

It looks like we are in for another baltic night, when will it all end?:-(

 

December collage

A happy month with Christmas and the preparations beforehand, good times spent with family and friends, some crafty goings-on and lots of glitter and tinsel.........oh yes, and lots of snow!

 

2009 - Review of the year

Another year is almost over, and what have I done? 

I visited all these interesting and beautiful places

 

I've grown all these flowers and enjoyed their colour and beauty

 

I taught myself to crochet and started a new obsession! And I made all these,

 

I have read all the books in this list.

I took 3863 photographs!

And I watched the changing of the seasons

  Starting to write this blog was a big step for me, and it's been quite a journey, gaining the confidence to write and show my photos here. I wouldn't have missed it for anything! Many thanks to everyone who has visited and commented over the year. I really do appreciate you stopping by and all your encouraging words. I hope you'll be back to see what 2010 will bring. Happy New Year to you all :-)

 
 

  

19th

A frosty start this morning

 

 
 and a light sprinkling of snow this afternoon 

has put me in the mood for some crochet snowflakes

 

The pattern for the one above is available free here

 

I scribbled this pattern down and can't remember where I found it, sorry!

They will be adorning the Christmas tree!