Baby Blanket

I made this baby blanket for my sister in law who had a baby girl this March. This is a classic granny square continued for 22 rounds. I used this wool from Peachey Ethnits. Tiny Tots 50g wool. 5 balls in total-250g, Colour 948 Candy. I was not sure if she was going to have a boy or a girl so I chose this shade as it had blue, pink yellow and green in the wool. You can see it in the picture above.

 

I used DK Bonus wool for the border. I used the colours that featured in the wool. I Double Crocheted all around the border. A row in mint green and a row in yellow. The pink border was crocheted in a picot stitch. Chaining 5 and one DC in the 3 DC and continuing this all the way round. A blue border was intended to be added but I waited to see if it was a boy or girl. As you can see it was unnecessary as she had a beautiful little girl.

Ruqayyah

This image was taken at the hospital the day she was born. Here she is squeezing her tiny little eyes tight because of the flash on the camera.. bless xx

Hoopla Yarn.

I wanted to share this new yarn that I have sampled.
It's from a site called Hooplayarn.com. The yarn is stretchy and flexible and a Jersey like material. After much deliberation I decided to crochet a hot water bottle cover with the large spools of yarn. I have used a 9.00 mm crochet hook. The spools come in 500g, about 100 metres long and are 100% cotton.

Here is the pattern if you wish to make a cover your self.

Hot water bottle cover pattern.

Abbreviations. CH= chain, DC Double Crochet(uk) = SC in USA & International. SS= Slip Stitch. WS= Whip Stitch

A. CH 17. DC 11 rows, SS and cut yarn. You should now have a square.

B. At the base of the square you have just crocheted join your yarn to the first CH and DC along the bottom to the end of the first row, turn and continue to DC 8 rows. SS and cast off.

C.WS both sides . This will form the main body of the hot water bottle cover. It should resemble a pocket with 3 rows left above. One panel should be longer than the other.

D. SS your yarn in the fourth row from the top of the longer panel. DC 3 rows but, every row you do SS both panels when you reach the edge turn and do the same when you reach the other end. ( You will potentially be joining as you DC) . This process will be creating the pocket for the bottle to be inserted in to.

E. When you get to the top of row 11 join 4 DC with the other panel across the top (use the WS or SS). You will need to leave a gap in the middle which forms the neck of the cover. Leave 6 DC and then join four DC on the other end (join 4 DC left and 4 DC right, 6 DC gap in middle) . SS and cut yarn.

F.* Join in the corner of gap in the middle( the 6 DC gap, this is the neck of the cover. ) DC 1 row.

G. DC 2nd row and increase twice (every other stitch, three stitches in total)

H. DC 3rd row, increase once DC next 2 stitches and increase in the next stitch.

I. Last and final top row. DC across. No increases.

J. Repeat from * on the other side.

K. WS or SS both panels on each side.

L. Now turn your work inside out. This is the correct side and all joining will be hidden.

Now for the fun part.. Jazzing up your cover !

You can now add either fancy ribbons to fasten the opening to the cover or sew on buttons, use velcro or even attach a zip.

The front of your hot water bottle cover is pretty much a blank canvas and you can decorate this any way you please! Some examples... crochet flowers, embroidered patch, felt shapes, buttons, or you can just leave it plain. One tip though : Try not to sew any hard or bulky items on to the cover this is because they may dig in when you begin to use it. Worst thing when taking a hot water bottle to bed is waking up in the morning with an imprint of a big button on your face

Ribbon ties for access

Front of bottle laced like shoe laces !

Close up view of stitches

I hope you like this cover. It has taken me a while to finally finish it and decide on how to decorate it. The pattern is totally my own so if you use it please tell me if there are any errors. I have tried my best to keep it simple. 

This cover will be posted off tomorrow morning to Hooplayarn as they have supplied me with this yarn to sample. Thank you Hooplayarn.

I'm going to sleep now as I am cream crackered- knackered and have an 8.30am start at work later.

Happy crocheting people. Night, night. Yawn !

Solid Granny Square Blanket

Hello everyone, It has been a while and I apologise for not having blogged sooner. I wanted to share this blanket that I completed last year in September 2010. This is my first large crochet project. 

I had a lot of spare wool that I hadn't used and decided to make a blanket to use up all the excess. I started browsing online for ideas and tutorials and came across this tutorial by Crochet Mania Theresa . Her video tutorials that have been posted on YouTube. They are very useful and helped me to get to grips with learning certain crochet techniques. (A huge thank you to Theresa). 

I worked a solid granny (as listed in her tutorial) Solid Granny Motif .

I continued to work the granny square by changing colour and working three rounds of double crochet . I used a crochet hook size 3.5mm (UK). I continued working the granny square by working three rounds in each colour I had. The wool is all Dk Bonus wool that was ordered from Peachey Ethnits .

The blanket formed a perfect square. It looked fine as it was but I wanted a rectangle blanket, some thing to throw over my bed or throw over a sofa. I decided to continue the colour stripes width ways at each end of the blanket. I worked three rows of each colour to match what I had already crocheted. 

                                 The blanket has been laid on my single bed.

I used a total of 13 colours. The border was blanket stitched in black wool.

It is amazing to see this now and see how far I have come. I see errors in this blanket that I never saw before but I love it all the same and that's what makes it so special to me. I reflect on my early work and like the simplicity and effectiveness of this blanket. It looks far more complicated than it actually was to make. All that is required is time and determination to keep going (especially when it starts to get larger and each round takes that much longer to do).

Yup. This is 'My Tiny Box Room'.

Here it is on show in my very neutrally coloured room. I reckon the colours POP ! and SPLASH ! and it brings my room to life.

Here is a sneaky peak of a project underway...

Afrikaan Flower.