Granny Circle Blanket - Complete!

In June 2012 I started creating granny circles for a blanket, destined for my baby's future big girl bed.

I planned to make 15 rows of 12 squares, big enough for a single bed, totaling 180 squares.

I started off using scrap wool but quickly discovered that I would need consistant colours and textures to keep the weight of the blanket even. Although it looks the same, some wool will be lighter than others and it can throw the whole thing out. Some circles were ending up smaller and thinner than others etc. 

Instead I used an acrylic yarn, approximately 150gms of each colour Navy blue, aqua blue, sky blue, dark purple, lilac purple, red, hot pink, baby pink, teal, yellow, lime green, along with approximately 10 balls of 100gm white.

I layed them all out randomly, no two circles exactly the same, and hung them on some yarn and stored them in my wardrobe on a hanger. I slowly got through the yarn snake, and did it in my "layed out order" so there was a nice even mix of colours (brights vs. darks etc)

Eventually it was time to start the white of the blanket and initially it was such an exciting process - to see that mass of bright colours balanced out with a simple white, imagining my daughter snuggled underneath it, I prayed for my family white I crocheted it.

Once I got to the middle it began to get tedioius; another row done and you could hardly tell. The end felt far away. 

Little did I know I was actually only 1 row away from finishing, when it was bundled up and put away at the beginning of my pregnancy with Baby Moo2. 

Summer was beginning, morning sickness thrived and I felt like crochet was the last thing on my mind. 

In February 2013 I picked it up again, realising we wanted to move our daughter into her own bed some time in the next few months before the newest baby was born and I needed the blanket for it. Because I'm sentimental like that. And I dont miss a deadline. 

I quickly finished off the last row and a half, giggling with glee that that is all that was needed to complete it and spent a week working on the border.

A recent post by Attic24 for her patchwork blanket inspired me to do a thick border around the blanket, something I hadn't given much thought to but after seeing her photos of her blankets with great big borders and understanding how they 'complete' the blanket I was inspired. My blankets will always have borders now!

I interpreted her photos of a recent border she had made up and trialled it out on my own, I love how the little spots of pink break through the white.

And here she is, in all of her nine month, colourful glory!! 

Millas white Granny-Circle blanket!

She was supposed to be for a single bed, but as we haven't set Millas bed up yet I took these photos on our double. As you can see, its rather large! 

THE DETAILS:
Time Taken: 9 Months
Yarn Used: 8ply, acrylic yarn.
12 balls of 100gm colours, 10 balls of 100gm white (with plenty left over)
Granny Circle pattern used: Grandma All-Square tutorial
Border Inspiration: Attic24 Granny Patch Blanket
How to stop your borders from ruffling: How to Make a Flat Border for a Granny Square Blanket
More Crochet Inspiration: Sophie Slim Crochet Pinterest Board

Thanks for stopping by and sharing these journeys with me! Blogging is so good like that! 

Creative Driftwood

When I came back from this holiday I stopped off at this beach and found THE most PERFECT driftwood I have ever seen in my liiiiife.

Its small, perfectly smooth and shaped and best of all it goes for miles along the beach. 

I brought some home, along with a few perfect stones. I bought some brooch backs from spotlight and turned them all into brooches. Some I wrapped in embroidery floss, others I painted and the rest I left al-natural.

The moral of this story is now I have too many stick brooches.

This is my attempt at a garden. Apartment life huh? Over crowding much?

Oh! E! And this is my first time linking up with Creative Spaces. Head there for more crafty happenings!

Comb Revelio

Specialis Revelio!

I made a few of these cute hair combs today! I saw them here and had a go! Such a sweet touch to an other wise boring and practical accessory.

I have super thick hair and I love me a hair comb. Helps keep everything in place and now it looks styley too!

I'll be adding a few of these to the Stitch Africa sale I'm doing in December. If you're visiting here from Stitch Africa and want to get your hands on some now just email me on sophie@moo2.co.nz. I'll just be flicking them off for a couple of dollars to cover the costs of the combs :)

Fun!

Bangle Revelio

Specialis Revelio!

I used up the very last of my verigated cotton that I used on my booties and jar cover. A special little puffy bangle! I saw it here, along with a tutorial! Simple and satisfying.

Speaking of the jar cover that I did in this post, check out this earlier post from a year ago here! Fate!? (I never ended up making them originally. I tried and failed miserably.)

x

You're, Whats It Called? Shoe Revelio

Specialis Revelio

If you're following me along with Blogtober you may have been wondering where I was yesterday (or not.)? Well, I spent every single nap minute in our spare bedroom turned office turned sewing room.

I whipped up these babies amongst much fury at my geriatric sewing machine. If I work it too hard it gives up and does all these loose stitches, so I turn it off, give it a break, and then it works fine again (until..) By the end I was over it and just finished them off, so you can see the sole is so rough and the stitching is coming apart. But, not bad for a first attempt. 

Next time I'll do it well, promise. 

Cute huh?

When we were tucked up in bed hubby said "You're good at all that"

"All what?"

"You know, sewing, knitting, stuff. What do you call that?"

"Crafty stuff?"

"Yeah."

Holy Heck - biggest compliment the husband has ever paid me. It's still making me grin.

Seriously, whats wrong with my machine (or me?)?

Ripple Revelio!

Wow. What a journey!

I started this Ripple Blanket approximately 6 months ago as one of my first Crochet projects! Initially I wanted to make a baby blanket but I used cheap acrylic yarn that was much too scratchy for a bubba so instead it turned into a lap blanket for those chilly movie evenings!

Finally, after months, it is complete! You can read about the start of it here and the half way point here

Specialis Revelio!

A big thank you to Lucy of Attic24 blog who once again provided great inspiration and an easy to follow pattern and tutorial.

The whole blanket took 8x balls of 100gm acrylic yarn and was really easy to do, I just googled each of Lucys directions and all of a sudden I had my first few rows. This was the best Ripple pattern I could find. After seeing Lucy's I did a bit of hunting online for different patterns and I discovered everyones ended up with big gaping holes on each of the ups and downs but Lucys avoids this! Love it.

The edges on my blanket are a bit rough - I didn't know how to neatly join new colours for the first half of the blanket but had it figured out by the last half. I would have liked to have put a border around it to try and neaten it up but I'm not that talented to make it up, and to be honest I'm glad to see the end of it. 

All done! Now I'm on to my next project... This Ripple needs a friend. More on that later! :)


** You may be wondering how on earth a mother of a newborn is finding time to crochet. Let me tell you, there really is 'no time' but I make it. Before when I had no job and no baby time was abundant and so was procrastination. These days if I dont make time and squeeze in as much as possible into my stolen minutes during the day nothing gets done. Yes, my hands are full and yes, I am busy. Don't be fooled.**

Revelio Jar Cover!

Specialis Revelio!

Remember my pretty pretty yarn of which I had the fortune of having left overs!? Your suggestions were great and I finally decided to make a pretty jar cover.

I got the idea from the ever creative and colourful Lucy and her tutorial was easy peasy. If you're thinking about picking up a crochet hook this is a great place to start! 

So. I had a ball of pretty fabulous yarn in one hand, a hook in the other, a napping baby and a desire to make something purely for the fun of it. Not necessarily purposeful, but something I could keep and something pretty. Perfect!

I was surprised with how consuming crochet is, it used up pretty much the whole ball on this little project and I was expecting to get at least 2 covers out of it. Well, I am 'hooked' and I'll definitely be adding to my little jam jar collection in due time. Its unfortunate i'm not the greatest photographer and the lighting doesn't do it justice here!

A Cinderella Revelio!

Specialis Revelio!

After a 4 year work in progress I found inspiration for my lost Cinderella. In the last few weeks of pregnancy I actually managed to finish most of it, and spent my last day of pregnancy sitting in the sun in our lounge working on her outline.

As I went into labour and we cleared out the lounge for our birth pool I had to pack up unfinished Cindy and place her on our shelf. I apologised out loud to her (Cinderella) and Camilla for not finishing her by the targeted time (birth).

Last night while Camilla was sleeping I finished the last few lines and today framed it!! So... Ta-Dahhh! Can I hear a YAY!????

Camilla was quite happy with her book this afternoon but when it was replaced with her gift she wasn't so happy. Poor Baby.

Its a trackpants day around here for the both of us (except I don't own trackpants... But I have them on in my mind). Graeme and I are both feeling a tad under the weather. I feel a cold coming on and woke up last night with a sore throat. After a long winter with no sign of sickness I'm hoping this doesn't turn into anything!!

I hope you're all enjoying a sunny Friday!

Good Intentions - Scarf

Last weeks good intentions resulted in this:

Turning into this:

Hehe, well, not really! I did start the mustard ball in this cowl pattern but quickly ran out (who knew scarves took up so much wool!!) As I was on a crocheting roll I got out some yarn I had in greater quantities and made this baby! 

However, I own a bazillion scarves and have no use for this one, so if you would like to buy it (its actually really awesome) you can see more of it on Stitch Africa and donate money to a church in Uganda while you're at it :)

I will still make the mustard cowl as I really want to give it to a particular person, but alas, having no job and no income means spending money is very tight (non-existant). (thankfully though, we have set aside enough to go to Hanmer this weekend on a Babymoon!! Woo!!!) So you should buy this scarf, and then I will have money to purchase more wool to finish off my mustard one ;) haha

So really, I guess this mustard cowl neck is still on my good intentions list just in a different form. It is 1/8th of a scarf instead of a ball of wool. Progress!?!?