Getting on top of things

Success is cooking 2 meals before 8am- one for tonight and one for the freezer.

Success is getting all the ironing done straight after work.

The payoff is I get to sit down and do what I want all evening!

Bye for now
Gillian

Details

Well we're back from taking Tom to university in Portsmouth. Its been quite a hectic weekend and I confess to very contrasting emotions about it- it is the right time for him to leave and move on so in a way I'm not sad, but I'm also a mum so I'm worrying about him all the time... gosh I hope I get past that stage quick! I have to keep busy to help forget ... cooking, crochet and blogging here I come...


I've been asked a few questions about the quantities of yarn I use to make my hexagon grannies so I've got my best maths head on and worked out a few things. 

 Firstly my Field of Flowers granny; 79 four round hexagons weighed 380g. This is with a fairly cheap acrylic wool blend- I'm not too worried that wool is softer (but then I'm the sort of person who doesn't use fabric softener in my wash as I don't really see much difference). I also use a 4mm hook with double knit wool. As I used wool from my stash I didn't buy anything to make this granny. I reckon on doing another 18 hexagons which will be another two rows. This will give a blanket that fits from lap to floor for one person - I may of course keep going and make it larger so two can snuggle under it- I still have plenty of left over wool- that will depend on how I feel about it... I make decisions with a very emotional viewpoint, ie I do what feels right for me... the best thing about doing grannies is that you can make the blanket as small or big as you like- mine mostly turn out about the size that covers my lap nicely when  I sit and watch TV so sizing them involves simply laying them over me and adding more until I'm happy with the size!


I took six complementary colours of wool with me to Portsmouth so I could crochet on the way. I've done 40 hexagons to round 3 already and really love these colours. I intend to try and make each one different. If I've worked it out right this means I can do 120 different hexagons. 


The maths part now- 40 hexagons to row 3 weighed 105g. So my six 100g balls of wool should be able to make around 240 hexagons. I plan to do row 4 in white to join the hexagons. Based on the Flowers granny 40 hexagons to round 4 is about 190g so for 40 hexagons round 4 alone would need around about 85g of wool. (If you've spotted a mistake in my maths I don't mind if you gloat quietly!) I bought 1200g of white not long ago so I've plenty and will probably do a picot edge when I'm done. 


This one is a bit special because of the link to Tom leaving- I've already called it Strands. The six colours either represent the strands of my family-the five of us plus us a whole... the strands are the way we all interact and mix in multiple ways...


or the strands of my life; wife, mother, woman, person, crafter, worker... interwined with each other...


or the stages of my life; baby, child, teenager, independent young adult, parent, independent adult.


All the strands weave in and out of each other, making the myriad colours and patterns of life.


So philosophical... must be to do with all the change in my life at the moment...


Oh and by the way, tonight I burnt the tip of my right index finger whilst cooking tea so I'm not actually sure if I can crochet today- won't stop me trying though!


So until next time
Gillian

Wadebridge

A twilight walk is so soothing...

I feel calmer for finding a tranquil place

Bye for now
Gillian

My lucky find

Whilst looking for my old coat today I found two balls of wool I didn't know I had (I didn't find the coat- where it went is a mystery!) . Does that sound weird? Well I thought I had used it all up making a hexagon granny blanket last year and so the blanket stopped growing as the wool ran out. Well now it can grow some more!!!







The wool is lovely to work with and produces a really gorgeous variegated result. So it looks like this will be my third hexagon granny on the go at the moment!  That's not too bad though as it is already big enough to cover my lap, so it will be wonderful to add to it as the evenings start to get colder as we move into Autumn. There's nothing as cosy as sitting under a granny blanket as you crochet... well perhaps you could add hot chocolate topped with marshmallows and cream... now that is perfection... a heavenly treat


Until next time
Gillian

Crochet along

Oh I've been busy this week- back to work Monday to Friday and getting everything ready for when Tom leaves home next Saturday to go to University. I think the only thing that has kept me grounded this week has been sitting quietly crocheting whenever I can. It takes just enough concentration to push out the stresses, yet I can have conversations and watch TV whilst doing it- just what I need...


I'm doing a crochet along with Inner Hooker on facebook aka Scotti, see also http://oxfordfam.blogspot.com/ . We're at the end of the first two weeks. It's the first time I've joined in with anything like it and I'm loving it. 


So as to my progress- I'm pretty happy with it so far... I now need to lay them out on our bed to take a photo rather than on the settee- I know it's a strange way to mark progress- but I've never claimed to be conventional!

The Field of Flowers granny is my first ever attempt at being random and is therefore quite therapeutic.  I am struggling with the lack of a repeating pattern- it means I'm actually constantly having to think about making sure no one colour combination dominates any area- that's harder than I thought it would be- I find myself almost wanting to plan it out- aaarh!

My other granny is the opposite- just four colours and a very controlled pattern- sets of 7 hexagons which I will join with surface crochet when they are all done. I had to get more wool today and managed to match 3 of the colours but not the fourth so I have to hope I have enough... I'm sure a solution will present itself if necessary...

I have two boxes on the go, one for each granny, here's the coffee one...

... I take these wherever I want to crochet- even in the car (I can get quite a lot done whilst John gets to be my chaffeur  - hee hee). I just keep grabbing 5 minutes whenever I can and doing a little at a time...


I discovered that I like crocheting in the car in the summer. During the 6 hour drive from Bodmin to Liverpool I made the arms, legs, muzzle and ears for this little fellow...

Amazing what you can get done when you are not able to do much else!


I made another little cutie during that trip too. 

Both are based on patterns I found on Etsy by Dawn Toussaint (note - I have made changes to both patterns to make them the way I wanted).


Anyway time to crochet beckons,
So until next time
Gillian

Little Successes

I've started a new blog today. It's really a bit of a journal for me. The special thing about it is I am using it to record my little daily successes. The things that make me feel good and special...


Here is the blog link  http://littlesuccesses.blogspot.com/


Until next time
Gillian

Another lunch bag

I've had fun this afternoon playing around with my sewing machine trying out an idea to make an insulated messenger style lunch bag. I used the last of my gorgeous white strawberry cotton, insulbright and a polyvinyl lining and made up how to do it as I went along.

First I cut all three layers to the same size to make a long thin rectangle. I then layered them with insulbright then rightside up fabric then the polyvinyl. I stitched down both long sides and one end. Next I turned it inside out so the insulbright was between the fabric and the polyvinyl. I then folded it to the desired size with the fabric right sides inwards. I had some fun (=difficulty) persuading the thick sandwich to go through my sewing machine to sew up the sides- several cross words came to mind as it jammed several times before finally I got both sides done (I wanted to stitch it twice to re-enforce the seams but couldn't face doing it again). Next I turned the back right side out and finally turned the unstitched flap edge over and fastened it by handstitching with blanket stitch.

The gorgeous strawberry fabric

I'm pretty pleased with the result- I'm sure there may be better ways to do it, but It worked OK. I am happy with my lunch bag, and know I will be using it soon.

I really hope I can get more of the fabric soon- but in reality this is a summer style fabric so probably the shop I get it from won't stock it again until next year.


Until next time
Gillian

Creations

I've had a busy last few days of our summer holidays. Another day at the beach on Thursday. Friday and Saturday mostly at home because the weather wasn't brilliant. Of course that just gave me time to play and make...


I've gone a bit overboard making cute little lunch bags- just the right size to fit in a small lock and lock box, some crisps and a piece of fruit...

I saw a friend with a bag like this and through trial and error have designed some sweet little bags. They are basically  little tote bags but what I  love about them is that the tops of these bags have one long loop for the handle and one short one to thread the handle through- a great way to keep everything together.

Two loops...

...One handle

Though when I gave one to Sean he very seriously said "Mummy, I think we've got a problem. One handle is too small." - bless him...




He's actually taken one of the bags to keep some small toys in. I'm thinking of making some larger ones and ones with two equal handles instead of the loop and handle design...






My favourite bag is the strawberry insulated one. I used insulbright as a wadding in a straightforward tote shape- this makes it a proper insulated lunch bag. This one I'm keeping for me- oh how selfish!....








I'm also working on two hexagon granny blankets for a crochet a long with Scotti Oxford a.k.a. the Inner hooker on Facebook. I'm using a pattern I found on Attic 24's blog ( this is a great blog- one of my favourites)  at http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/hexagon-howto.html .


One is in coffee colours. It's hard to see in the photos but the centres are very pale cream, very pale flesh and off white. I find crocheting this one very soothing.

 The other is supposed to look like a field of wild flowers. I'm using lots of leftover wool and trying to avoid any regular repeats- the idea is to be completely random and wild.




Anyway, time to go and do...
So, until next time
Gillian