Summer Garden Granny Throw Ta Da

Drum roll please.....
here it is finally.....
after four and a half months work.....
The completion of my first ever crochet blanket, Ta Da!!!  Look Look!!!

I am so pleased to have finished it and am so proud of myself.

Thank you to Attic24 for providing the instructions for the Summer Garden Granny Squares, the joining and the final edging.  Also thank you to Compact UK for crinkle-free border instructions.  I couldn't have completed the project without your virtual guidance.

It really makes me feel great just looking at it.  It makes me feel even better wrapping myself in it.  Wonderful blankety therapy.

Not forgetting some delicious stats:

120 Summer Garden Granny Squares.
8 Granny borders and then a final three-part shell edging.
Weighing in at 1.2 kg.
155 cm long by 135 cm wide.
Using just over 3.5 Kilometres of yarn (wow).
I used Stylecraft Special DK acrylic yarn throughout, approximately 12 balls of wool.
Total yarn cost, only £16 (double wow).
At least 50 hours work (and that's a conservative estimate), over the last four and a half months.

The blanket shall be adorning our bed.  That is until the arrival of our puppy next week, hmmmm think it will have to go somewhere safe until the chance of a chewing has abated.

Next blog - my blanket learnings.  All the things I have learnt and some things I would do differently next time.

Nellie P

Super Super Cute Dragon

I know things have been quiet on the posting front.  I've been hard at work completing my Summer Garden Granny Throw.  Having finally finished the joining of 120 squares, no mean feat at around 15 hours work, I am now zooming along the granny borders.  The final Ta Da moment is approaching fast!

In spite of my, quite frankly obsessive, determination to finish the throw I've been distracted by a couple of mini-projects.  The first of which, this little dragon, a gift to my daughter for working so hard at her maths.

This Dragon is once again from the Super-Super Cute Crochet book by Brigitte Read.  The wings were an addition by myself once I was assured that a dragon 'must' have wings.  Aside from these I followed the pattern faithfully using Stylecraft Special DK yarn in Lipstick and a 3mm hook.

When only half way through the main body section I could not believe he would end up the right shape.  Luckily lots of stuffing in the right places worked wonders.  He became 'cute' as soon as the back spines were introduced (Stylecraft Special DK in Bright Green).  Lovely to be able to make a little gift for someone I love.

Nellie P

African Flowers

I've been toying with Heidi Bears' African Flower pattern.  As I'm still joining my Summer Garden Granny blanket I'm not quite ready to embark on another full-scale blanket project.  Instead, I settled on a quick dangly hexagon for my bag.

I crocheted two African flowers, both in DK Cotton using a 3mm hook, so that they worked up quite firm.  Then I slip-stitched them together at the edge.

These two African flowers are actually back-to-back.  Something beautiful for my bag to hint that I crochet.


Nellie P

Crochet-on-the-go

I just wanted to say a big thank you to my friends in Dorset for this beautiful hand-made drawstring bag.  

The print is lovely, very pretty, a vintage look to it.  The bag is lined and has two internal pockets, just right for my crochet hook and scissors.

I use it as my go-everywhere crochet bag and it gets popped into whatever I'm carrying every day.  Well, you never know when you'll get a chance to crochet.

Many Thanks
Nellie P

Summer Garden Granny Update

Hooray, I have reached my goal of 120 granny squares.  After two and a half months work I'm feeling very pleased with myself,

and here they are in all their glorious colours.

The picture above shows them all laid out in their planned order, but looking at it again (not in the middle of the night) I can see a few swap-arounds to be made.  It's a bit like an enormous puzzle, trying to make sure no square is adjacent to a very similar one.

Yes, there's now the slightly daunting task of joining them all together, I shall be following instructions on Attic 24.  Let's see how it goes.  Deep breaths.

It really has made me smile laying out this patchwork of colour, better still, all made by me.

Nellie P