miss marie's miscellany

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!
 
 

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!

 

11th

 

These are Kusudama flowers. I found this tutorial which is very good if you fancy making some yourself. 

 

I thought they would be a lovely addition to the Christmas decorations, and they have been therapeutic, pleasing and easy to make.

 

Origami = calm, which is a good thing as the Christmas craziness approaches.

 

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.

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!

Bits and pieces

An interesting piece at the BBC about the growing trend towards 'make do and mend' and the increase in sewing machine sales since the recession.

Continuing my William Boyd theme, I found this article written by him in the Guardian, an A-Z of A how parks have inspired novelists.

I went to see 'Julie and Julia' and thoroughly enjoyed it, especially Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci who were superb (Oscar-winning performances maybe?). If, like me, you have a little touch of the autumn blues, this film will cheer you up, I can vouch for that!

My new shoes; I bought these in purple, my favourite colour at the moment. They look lovely, are comfortable too, they make me a good 2" taller and I feel like the bees knees when I wear them! What more can you ask for in footwear?

A trip to the theatre last night to see this powerful production of  'The House of Bernarda Alba'. I wasn't sure if moving the setting to present-day Glasgow would work, but it did, very dramatically with some great performances from the all-female cast.

Hope you are having a good weekend!

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!

Woolly weekend

Yesterday  I went with friends to John Lewis for a Rowan yarn show. We enjoyed a slideshow of the latest designs, had a feel of some of the newest yarns and knitted them too,  and saw (and tried on)some of the designs made up. There were patterns books to look at and free tea and coffee and delicious Danish pastries. We all got a Rowan magazine, 2 patterns and a 10% off voucher for purchases of Rowan goods, and all this was FREE. Excellent value, I'd say! Well worth checking out your nearest JL store as they have lots of these on all over the UK. It was a great way to spend the afternoon, away from the hustle and bustle of the retail-crazed Saturday shoppers and nice to meet other yarn lovers too.

A browse in the wool department was necessary afterwards, of course.  I picked up some bargains in their sale corner. Here they are

These will be used in my hexagon blanket project, more of that below!

And I couldn't resist these pretty buttons

So, as I'm in a woolly frame of mind, I thought I'd show you my crochet hexagon blanket. I'm still miles away from being finished, in fact, I think this will go on well into the winter months. It's the joining up which has taken ages, although it's been great seeing it coming together. I'm liking how it looks, and it already feels cosy.

Soft greens, pinks, purple, and blue with a little black and brown and random splashes of red, yellow and orange.

I think I need to make another 150 or so hexagons, so I'd better go and get crocheting! 

Hope you are having a lovely weekend, whatever you're up to!