miss marie's miscellany

Cherry blossom inspired - part 2

Just in time for the cherry trees to be in full bloom, I have finished my African flowers with a Japanese twist cushion cover.

I really loved this pattern, it has a nice relaxing rhythm to it, and I enjoyed all the different variations of the colour combinations.......very pretty, in my opinion.

I made one side of African flowers, 18 hexagons in total and 4 half hexagons (very useful pattern to be found here, and a big thank you to Anne at Andamento for providing me with the link to this) and the other side is a large granny square in the same colours.

I couldn't find any buttons to match the colours, so I decided to try a tie fastening, just 2 colours chained together and crocheted onto the hexagon edging.

I think the little bows look pretty and they seem more secure than a button fastening, so after a great deal of hesitation and procrastination on my part, I think it was the right way to go.

Now I am hooked on these, so I've started making some more in a different colour scheme.

I hope your Easter weekend has been fantastic!

 

 

 

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March

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!!

Sunday crochet links

I love hunting the internet for all kinds of interesting stuff, particularly of the crochet kind. I found a few great sites, some new and some old and much loved favourites, which I thought you may want to have a look at.

10 for 10 - Sarah London is having a pattern sale, 10 patterns for $10; there are some fab things, including a wonderful Granny Square Sweater, which I'm loving. I think it may go in my queue of things to make!

Sarah is also still hosting the Crochet a Rainbow appeal, originally set up to help the victims of the terrible flooding in Australia and which is now also making blankets for Japan;  if you have time to make even a few sqaures and send them, it will make a big difference to people whose lives have been shattered.

A new find which I'm very happy to have discovered is Tangled,  a fantastic online magazine for knitters and crocheters, with loads of very lovely patterns, with many of them in both a knit and crochet version. Another garment to go in my must-make list is this cardigan, which I'm very taken with, it's beautiful!

The 2nd Annual Knitting and Crochet Blog Week starts tomorrow! Everyone who signs up for it must post daily about a specific topic for each day, it makes for diverse and entertaining reading. I took part last year, but sadly,  I'm just too busy at the moment for this year. But I'm looking forward to catching up with some of this year's posts :-)

Crochet Spot is a great site with lots of stitches and techniques explained with lots of photos and clear written instructions. I've learned a lot of new stitches from here  and I like its friendly vibe.  This week it features how to make chainless foundation rows which sounds like a dream come true to me.

Today has been lovely here in Glasgow, sunny and warm. Perfect for garden crochet!

I hope your weekend has been fab!

 

 

 

Cherry blossom inspired

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!

 

 

 

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!

 

 

 

Green is the colour on my hook

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!

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 :-)

 

 

 

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!

 

January

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!