Granny Square Practice

Oh well, I missed the whole of May in blogging terms - too much going on!  As per usual though I resorted to knitting projects for some relaxation, always works for me :)

Most recently however I've returned to crochet for instant crafty gratification - I purchased some Garnstudio Drops yarn a little while back.  It was cheap enough to enable me to buy a few colours to work with for under a tenner!  I use light aran/worsted weight wool to make granny squares these days as I use Leonie Morgan's book:  100 Bright and colourful squares - lovely selection of designs.  They crochet up to 6 inch squares (well 5.75 with my tension!) really nicely.  I've been using a 5.5 mm hook.

I've learned my lesson and found that I DO find that using yarn with a good wool content helps to block the squares to a nice uniform shape and size.

I'm using a palette of six colours and just making an odd square until the yarn runs out!  No plans really just a bit of granny square practice over the Summer - when I'm done I'll decide what to do with them :)

Upper top left one should be a hexagon within a square but my stitch count was off so it looks a little skew whiff/wonky!  Never mind, it blocked nicely into a square anyway :)

I love the top square with the large petal flower and have used this pattern a few times.  The one below it with a flower within a traditional granny square is fun to do now that I've got the hang of it!

Crochet is such a lovely relaxing hobby - so easy to pick up and make something satisfying in an hour or so :)  I do like the idea of just collecting a few squares in different patterns and using them to make something creative or other - it's a very flexible and a portable project to have on the go.

During May I completed another Echo Flowers lace shawl - I think I made my first one about 3 or 4 years ago.  It's a beautiful pattern by Jenny Johnson Johnen.

This is it on the washing line after blocking - as you can see we've had some fabulous weather recently!

It's a lovely lime green colour - I'm waiting for a suitable posh occasion to wear it :)  I might be waiting some time!!

I've been trying to get back to making some items for sale, but things keep getting in the way!  Soon I hope though :)  My Etsy shop is very quiet as I haven't had the time to do all the social media required to make online sales - I prefer to be creative than spend too much time on my notebook.  It's a balance though I suppose :)

Life is a little quieter and settled at the moment so I'm looking forward to getting back into the groove as they say!

Bye for now
Alison x

Sock knitting and spectacle cases . . .

Sock knitting and spectacle cases - now if that's not a sign of my age, I don't know what is! :)  :)

Seriously, sock knitting is an ongoing passion and source of great relaxation and a constant learning process.  Also, you don't need much yarn to make a pair of socks, so it's a relatively cheap hobby!

Here's my last completed pair of knitted socks - a wonderful pattern by Nancy Bush, called French Market socks - never thought I would achieve making these but I did - I was delighted with them . . .

I read up all the notes from other knitters on Ravelry before starting on these - really useful, and they fitted perfectly :)

Currently working on these socks (Lambs, Chickens and Bunnies Oh My! by Ros Clark) - great fun to knit . . .

Both socks have a Latvian braid cast on - basically twisting three different colours of yarn together - looks very cute.  I braided the yarns left to form a little toggle detail at the back of the sock - just to be a little different!

Last week I decided it was time to get the sewing machine out and do some 'tweedie' work.  The last cosmetic purse I made made me think, if it was just a little narrower it would be prefect for storing spectacles/glasses as it's very well padded, so off I went to designing a few spectacle cases.  I came up with three designs all based on some previous collage work . . . a sneaky peak . . .

My eldest son helped me with my labels yesterday - I thought they came out quite cute! 

I'm hoping to add these three designs to my Etsy shop next week - that's the plan anyway!  At least one more design in the pipeline (maybe two) based on previous artwork.

I would love to add some hand knits to my shop too but struggling with the time constraints of doing both sewing and knitted items - heigh, ho!

I thought our two cute hens had stopped laying a couple of weeks ago but seemingly not - it's been lovely going out to collect the eggs in this nice sunny weather . . .

Enjoying the simple things in life this morning . . . daffies growing outside the kitchen door :)

Catch up soon (youngest has been 'borrowing' my laptop hence sparse blogging activity!)  Here's to shorter, more regular posts :)

Alison x