Autumn/Winter Projects Update

I'm really enjoying crocheting this poncho.  I just love making the cables. Every time I come to the end of a row I can't put it down and have to do another row to see how it looks.

These pictures aren't showing the colour very well. The middle one is the best of the three.

My main problem with getting the poncho done is trying to unravel the coat that I had originally knit with the yarn. Well, it's not really the unravelling that's so hard but unpicking the seams before I can even start to unravel. The one good thing is that I don't think I'll need all the yarn from the coat to finish the poncho.

Anyway, at some point I wasn't getting too far with the seam-unpicking and knitting-unravelling so I started the Star Fruit Rug from my Boho Crochet book. I didn't use the yarn suggested in the pattern but substituted Drops Paris cotton instead.

The colours I used were as close as I could get to those used in the original design. My colours were red, orange, mustard, moss green, green, dark turquoise, denim blue, raspberry, petrol and dark purple. The Drops Paris yarn, which is Aran weight, is horrible to work with; it splits constantly. But I'm happy with the finished rug!

I like to have something to work on in the car too. This lap blanket was started using three 100g balls of chunky acrylic that I had in my stash. The black and the sort of grey looking one were Stylecraft but I'm not sure about the green yarn. I ended up buying another two 100g balls of Rico chunky to finish the blanket.

This one is going to the Rathfriland Manor Nursing Home where I think it would be suitable for an elderly gentleman to use.

It is certainly a very warm blanket, as I know from having it across my knees when I was making it.

Thanks for all your comments, as usual. I'm joining with Jennifer and her Winter Project Link Party.

I Love Cardigans

When I see a woman sashaying down the street wearing a beautiful jacket, I always think how elegant she looks. Why do I not look like that when I wear a jacket? I've tried wearing them, even casual, unstructured jackets, but I always feel restricted in some way. Of course, I have to wear a jacket on certain occasions but, for me, a cardigan is much more comfortable.

Here's a dress I bought in the summer (what summer?) and, because we didn't have much of a summer, I decided to make a cardigan to go with it. 

I love the little splash of coral at the back of the neck. It's on the inside so not visible when the dress is worn. It gave me an idea though! I compared the colour to yarn left over from my sister-in-law's bag and, joy abounding, it matched the deep coral perfectly.

There was about 50g of the deep coral cotton left from making the bag. I convinced myself that I was just using up some of my stash by making a cardigan but, needless to say, I had to buy another two skeins. It was worth it though!

The pattern is from Garnstudio (DROPS Design) with a few minor tweaks from me. Mine is shorter, for a start, and with only one button at the neck.

A close-up of the pattern. It was easy enough to make, starting from the top and working down.

I really enjoyed crocheting this, especially as it didn't take very long. I've worn it several times and it has been admired. In fact, one friend admired it so much that I made her one as well. For her's I used a very pale shade called white peach. Sorry, but I never thought to take a picture before I gave it to her.

You'll never guess what. Actually, you probably will guess. There's about 50g of the white peach cotton left over!

So, are you a jacket person or a cardigan person? As the title says, I love cardigans.

St. Petersburg Blanket - Finito

The St. Petersburg blanket was started last May when we were on our Baltic cruise, which included a two day visit to St. Petersburg. There have been many breaks from crocheting this blanket but I've always loved to get back to it and do a bit more. Now, finally, it is finished. Ready to put on our king sized bed just in time for the cooler weather.

The first mention of my cotton blanket was in my very first post. The yarn I chose was Sirdar Cotton DK and used two balls of each of the colours Vanilla, Seersucker, Light Taupe, Toasted, Sundance, Honeysuckle, Tranquil, Bluebird, Sailor Blue, French Navy, Darling Bud, Hot Pink, Black Violet, Larkin and Cottonfield. The plan was to make 144 different 6" squares from the 200 Crochet Blocks for Blankets, Throws and Afghans book by Jan Eaton. I worked it all out in advance and drew up a chart with the number of each block and where it was to be placed. However, once I started crocheting, I quickly realised that I didn't like the mix of blocks worked round and round with blocks worked back and forth. So I changed to make all the blocks of the round and round type. Now there were also some of the blocks in the book that I just didn't like the look of so, in the end, I had to repeat some of the blocks but using different colours. I suppose it's a sort of sampler blanket.

Another thing that I changed in my plan was that I made the blanket with eleven rows of twelve squares rather than twelve by twelve.

The square below is called St. Petersburg. Well, I had to include it, didn't I? In fact, I crocheted it while we were docked in St. Petersburg! You can just spot a little bit of the border below the St. Petersburg square. I did eight rows of griddle stitch in different colours. Look at this post for an explanation of how to work griddle stitch.

Not all the colours were what I would call 'my colour' but, by using with other colours that I do like, each square really pleased me when it was finished.

The squares were all joined as-you-go which meant that, once the blanket got to about a third of it's final size, it was very heavy and hard to work with. By the time I was working on the last row I could hardly manage the joining! I'm not likely to do this again, but if I did, I would leave the joining to the end and crochet the squares together.

Please let me know what you think of my blanket; I hope you like it!

Here's a picture of our pet dog called Nonem. I tried to find one for my last post but couldn't. Then today, when I was looking for something else, I found this picture.

She looks like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth but she's crazy.

Thanks, as always, for your lovely comments.
(For new readers, if you want to see why I say finito, have a look at this post).

Crocheted Bag Finito

First of all, thanks for the great comments on the garden and the wind chimes. I passed them on to the husband and he is well chuffed!

A while ago my brother asked me to crochet a bag for my sister-in-law's birthday, just like a bag I'd crocheted for myself. The details about the yarn I used are in my post about this commission, and also on winding the yarn and progress on making the bag here and here and here.

Well, the bag is finito. You can check back to read about why I say finito.

Here it is with the edges done and the handles attached. Also a wee tab for the button.

The colours of the bag really look well against the copper beech hedge!

The lining fabric matches so well, I think.

So this is the bag before being lined.

The lining fabric was cut to the right size and I added three pockets.

The bag sits better after being lined; you can barely notice any difference but it's just more substantial looking.

A bit more refined!

Open up to show the lining; two small pockets on one side ...

... and one bigger pocket on the other side.

It was my sister-in-law's birthday yesterday. She was really delighted with her new bag and especially with the colour scheme (which was chosen by my brother, not me).

I'm well pleased! I'm pleased to have been asked to make the bag, I enjoyed the making and I'm pleased that it was well received.

What do you think of it? I'd love to hear your comments.

Crocheted Shawl

Recently I was asked to crochet a shawl. It was to be rectangular and denim blue in colour. Oh how I love to be asked to crochet for someone else!

First of all I had to find the yarn. Unfortunately my local yarn shop has closed so I had to resort to the internet. I searched and searched to find the best colour and decided that the Rico Essentials Cotton in Dark Jeans was perfect for the job.

I couldn't wait to get started! I didn't even get a picture until the shawl was almost finished. I just crocheted and crocheted and crocheted. Here it is, before the edging was done.

It's an overall lacy design.

 Here is the finished shawl; edging completed and then blocked.

The edging is a sort of sloped shell.

As soon as the finishing touches were done, I parcelled up the shawl and sent it away. It was greatly admired by the person who asked me to make it; which pleased me immensely.

What do you all think of the shawl?

Thanks to all of you for your very kind belated birthday wishes. Almost as good as having a second birthday. Actually, I think I'll suggest that to the husband; from now on I shall celebrate two birthdays each year (without getting any older). He'll agree but only if he can have two as well!

The Outer Hebrides - Harris and Lewis

The next stage of our journey was to take the ferry from Berneray, North Uist to Leverburgh, Harris. Unfortunately the weather had changed; it was now cold, very windy and very rainy. We were worried that the ferry wouldn't be able to sail but it went ahead anyway, with a bit of a delay. 

This was the view while waiting for the ferry.

The only thing that had any colour was my crocheting!

At least the crossing was a short one.

The ferry had to manoeuvre between these buoys, seemingly heading in completely the wrong direction and then turning again at the next buoy.

Our accommodation was on Lewis so we drove right up through Harris, stopping for coffee and scones. The weather was still atrocious. By the time we got checked in to our B&B, the rain had stopped and we were able to go and see the Calanais Standing Stones. We were staying just a few miles away from Calanais so it only took a matter of minutes for us to get there.

It's an amazing site as well as an amazing sight. There were only a couple of others there that evening, making it very quiet and peaceful.

We decided to visit the standing stones again the next day and, on that evening, go for some dinner. On the way to the restaurant we spotted these Highland cattle down at the edge of a small loch.

Aren't they absolutely gorgeous?

The following morning the weather wasn't much better; very windy though, to start with, not raining. We went to see the Iron Age Doune Broch - Dun Carloway - which was very interesting. There were coach loads of other visitors there which made it hard to get any decent photos.

People actually lived in this many years ago! The husband just had to get climbing up as far as he could.

This little village is just below the broch.

Next we went back to the Calanais Standing Stones, mainly because the visitor centre was open and we could get coffee! The older son was on holiday with us too. He hadn't been to the stones the previous evening so this was his first experience of the ancient stone circle. He really loved it. You can get an idea of the size of the stones, though they think that quite a lot of each stone is still buried.

Some of the stones looked like they were carved from wood.

The rain came on - with hail - while we were looking round the standing stones and this was our cue to head for the visitor centre and coffee. It was very busy as all the other visitors had the same idea!

We decided to go and see the Gearrannan Black Houses. We managed to get into the houses that are open as a museum and to see someone demonstrating weaving. Some of the houses are used for self-catering accommodation.

There was a video explaining how to cut peat and stack it correctly so it dries and can be used as fuel.

The houses went right down to the sea.

The weather was getting worse at this point. It was really windy, lashing rain and bitterly cold.

We decided that the best thing we could do would be to cross to the other side of Lewis and visit Stornaway. It was a one-track road over the moor, through driving rain and, at times, snow! It was hard to even see the road in front of us.

But we had made the right decision for the weather in Stornoway was very good.

We took a good walk up round Lews Castle grounds. Some work is being done to the castle by a firm from Northern Ireland that is based not far from where we live.

We rounded off our visit to Stornaway by going to a great chip shop for our dinner. Then we had to face crossing the moor to get back to our B&B. It was still raining and snowing up there!

This was the progress made on my sister-in-law's bag by the time we got back.

We spent two nights on Lewis and were then to sail to Skye for the last night of our holiday. We had a good opportunity to see Harris better before getting the ferry from Tarbert to Uig. Harris is extremely scenic. All these islands, even though they are so small, have their own unique features.

We had lovely walk on this road.

The son thought it was all fantastic and took lots of pictures. So did I.

The husband had to climb!

The son wanted to walk out as far as he could into this loch.

He got right to the end of the finger of land pointing into the loch. It didn't look that far but you can barely see him there because he's so tiny and far away.

This is the harbour at Tarbert, a lovely wee town with great hotel where we sampled the coffee and ice-cream.

We spent our last night on Skye; in Portree. This is the view from our bedroom window.

Then it was time to start our long journey home. We stopped off in Largs to have a delicious dinner followed by ice-cream. A real treat. This Viking was standing just across the road from the restaurant. You can see how big he is!

Well that's all I have about our holiday. Only eight days but with a lot packed in. I hope you enjoyed the pictures. Your comments have been very nice to read and it certainly seems you like the scenery.

I've finished crocheting a few small things that I'll have to tell you about next time. The crocheted bag just needs to be lined now.

All the best for now.

PS I've been wearing my new crocheted cardigan that I told you about here. It's very itchy but I wear it anyway. Well it looks nice!

PPS I cut the first sweet peas today. They're gorgeous but can you believe how late they are? We've had such awful weather.