miss marie's miscellany

14th

There are a wealth of lovely crochet patterns for Christmas available online, how about these stars? 

 

 If you follow Lucy's blog, Attic 24,  you will already have seen these lovely stars there, as I did.  The tutorial for these Granny Twinkle Stars as they're called, can be found at a lovely blog called the Royal Sisters which has lots of lovely patterns and helpful tutorials.

 

Here's a slightly different star pattern. 

 This is from Sarah London who has a great blog with superb crochet creations, a real feast of colour and texture. I love this star with its flowery centre! Click here for the link to her pattern.

 More festive crochet to follow soon in this advent blogging countdown!

 

November collage

November seems to have flown by, time again for another monthly collage!

 

3rd

Christmas coloured granny squares;  I made these not long after I got the crochet bug earlier this year. They ended up in a cushion cover, my first successful crochet project :-)

Saturday crochet

Getting on with making some more hexagons for my blanket.

 

Trying some different colour combinations

 

And a mystery Christmas motif.......more on that to come!

Hope your weekend was good.

Keats, costumes and crochet.

I went to see 'Bright Star', the film about John Keats and his love affair with the girl-next- door, Fanny Brawne. It's a treat for the eyes, and I enjoyed it; although the pace was slow, it depicted beautifully the stillness and quiet of how life must have been in early nineteenth century Hampstead village. Apart from domestic tasks, time is spent by the characters in contemplative, often silent pursuits; reading, walking and in particular, sewing. Fanny is an accomplished seamstress and her vibrant outfits are a real stand-out, colourful and unusual. One of the costumes has made quite an impression on me, it's the cardigan in this picture.

 

Isn't it lovely?! I've found myself thinking about whether it's knitted or crocheted, I think possibly the latter and if it could be re-created!? It looks like little flowers joined together by crocheted chains. I wonder..........!! It will have to go on my long list of things to research and dream about making. I found a nice article in the Guardian about the costumes, which are on display at Keats' House in Hampstead. What a treat it would be to see them in the place where much of the poet's most famous work was written.

October collage

Fairly slim pickings this month, due to bad cold and busy work. But the autumn colours are rich and my crocheting is getting better, and giving me a lot of pleasure and much stress relief.

Stripes

A peek at my latest crochet. Another brilliant idea from Lucy at Attic 24, they are wrist warmers. Just the thing for the weather of late.  They were quick to crochet up, in fact these only took a couple of evenings. I'm enjoying a purple clothes phase just now, so it fits in with my colour scheme too, with a splash of pink and grey-blue for contrast.

I made mine quite long as I hate having a gap between sleeves and gloves, nothing worse than wrapping up to keep out the cold and then letting it in!  I'm pleased with how they have turned out, so pleased that I'm going to make some more, in different colours; and if I receive some favourable comments from friends, their Christmas presents could be sorted too! They'll be having their first outing later today.

This week I am crocheting....

more hexagons for my blanket. 

 

A bit bigger since I last showed here! But still, I've a long way to go till it fits a king size bed. 

I also started a scarf using a ripple pattern with 2 shades of grey and a green flecked wool. 

I like the colours together, they compliment each other beautifully, and  the fine wool crochets up into a pretty lacy look with texture.

I don't think it'll take too long to finish. The weather is definitely dictating that scarves and gloves will be required soon, so I'm getting ahead of the game. I feel a chilly winter is coming. If this turns out well, it could be a good idea to make a few more to give as Christmas gifts. More on that plan to follow!

My first baby blanket!

Before you get all excited, calm down, I'm not expecting!! Still quite exciting though, I finished the blanket I decided to make for my friend and her new baby. This is the first crochet project I've made for someone else as a gift, so I wanted it to be good, and I'm delighted with how it's turned out. 

The granny squares were easy to make, but the joining up was a labour of love; I just about lost the will to carry on on Monday evening when I realised I'd joined a row of squares together with the wrong sides up, and later on, I did the same thing again!  What a muppet!  Anyway, I collected my thoughts and persevered, and it was delivered to my friend yesterday;  she really liked the colours (I think she's getting tired of pale blue baby presents!)  and appreciated the work that had gone into making it;  and it's just the perfect size for her little boy. Everyone's happy!

Sunny Friday

It was a  lovely day in Glasgow yesterday.  There's been a distinctly autumnal air here recently, but an Indian summer is with us just now. It's lovely to feel the sun again. I spent the afternoon in the garden doing some tidying up, planting salad leaves and digging over the veg plots. I found these potatoes (I always miss a couple)

I have some cracking tomatoes growing too. I have to confess that I stuck 2 plants in the greenhouse (ie plastic covered shelving) and apart from watering them have done absolutely nothing nurturing to them. I think that's because of the last 2 summers of lavish care and attention for pathetic tomato yield; my expectations were low. But this is the result of my chronic neglect

There are about 8 or 9 plum tomatoes! Hopefully these will turn red, especially now they may get some TLC. 

I also enjoyed lunch outside in the sunshine, - do you like my new IKEA tray?!

A thumb through this library book whilst eating

to give me some inspiration  to make something for my friend who has just had a baby boy. She's a brightly coloured kind of person, so I decided to crochet a granny square blanket

I like the bold colours, and the fact it will turn out a bit more funky than the average baby blanket. I think my friend will like it too!