Crochet update - June

Mmmmmmmm.......elderflower cakes with whipped mascarpone icing...........delicious and really, really slimming.  (Okay, so one of those facts isn't strictly true...)

So apart from stuffing my face with fat-busting cakes, I've also been quite active on the crochet-front over the past month:

Oh, gosh, that looks like a finished springtime throw...
Then in a frenzy of activity since finishing my throw, I've made these:

Not 'leprosy chic', as Mr N rather unkindly called them (something to do with Ben Hur, apparently.  Don't know what he's talking about, I just ignored him, with a rather superior air to my being), but actually wrist warmers, craftily made from scraps of yarn from my stash:

Just need to wait about four months til I can actually wear them.

And, keeping up with the Bunting Appreciation Society theme, I've made this:

I used up the left over yarn from my little flower squares cushion for this; the pattern for the larger heart I found on Ravelry, and the smaller heart comes from the lovely Julia's blog.

While I was taking this photo, my crochet assistant was on hand as usual, making sure all was okay with my toe nails:

I've been teaching her how to open nail varnish bottles so that next time she can make herself really useful. x
Oooh, and how could I have forgotten my hellebores?

Cushion appreciation

This is just going to be a very quick post today - I have finally decided what to do with my lovely yarn that I blogged about in my 'we love Dorset' post and am itching to get on with it as I think it's going to be pretty quick to make and the thought that I might soon be able to actually wear it is very, very exciting indeed.  So I'll just show you a little something I made the other day for a bit of instant gratification:

I thought that my little flower squares cushion was looking a bit lonely all on its own on the sofa, so I made a friend for it out of some deckchair fabric that I bought on my recent trip to Dorset.

It's not quite as rock n roll as my CK-inspired lovely, but I still love it, and I don't hyperventilate quite so much when the children go near it with sticky hands, so that's a bonus. x

Crochet update - April

If I had a watering can like this one, I'd water my plants every day, rain or shine.

Anyway, I'm getting distracted from the task in hand: a crochet update for April.  I've decided I'm going to do this at the end of every month so that you can see what I've been pootling away at, and so that I've got some sort of record to show me that, despite the chaos, I do manage to achieve some things some times!

So, without further ado, I bring you April's activities.  Hurrah!

Firstly I bring you my little stars bunting.  This was a very quick and lovely project to work on and the stars look perfectly at home on my bedroom mirror now, which is where I'd always visualised them.  I first saw these at the lovely Tales from Cuckoo Land blog - thank you for the idea, Cuckoo!

I am extremely partial to a bit of bunting, as you may have realised by now if you've been reading my blog for a while.  I think it's just so pretty and cheerful and I am in grave danger of my house being completely over-run by it (cue long-suffering eye-roll from Mr Nut).  In fact, I might set up the Bunting Appreciation Society for all like-minded flag-addicts.  

This brings me neatly on to my second April project: bedroom bunting.  This pattern came from the gorgeous Crochet with Raymond blog (with slight, unintentional alterations by me!)

It's a present for a lovely friend's daughter's birthday, which is in June and I reeeealllly hope she likes it!

My third project for April is my little flower squares cushion, which I finished today and which I haven't stopped gazing at since because I love it.

This project just came from my head (though I did follow patterns for the actual squares) and it all just fell into place most serendipitously - good karma all round!
The front and back are different:

 

I am going to find it very hard to let the children anywhere near this cushion for fear that they may sully its pristine whiteness.  Ugh, sticky little fingers grabbing at (shudder).  I think I probably just need to get over that though - the stress would finish me off! x
PS - springtime throw square count is up to 186!!!  Yippeee skippeee!

The latest project gets a name...

Just a quick little update on my latest project today.  I'm so excited about this creation.  I've even given it a name.  It's called 'little flower squares cushion'.  Whaddaya reckon?  Snappy name, eh?
I am completely in love with this project.  The yarn is lovely to work with, the finished squares feel gorgeous and soft and, even though I'm making it up as I go along, it's turning out exactly as I had pictured it.  Yippee!
I am racing through it (at the cost of things like feeding the children, but hey, they can fend for themselves - I've got my priorities, you know!)

I wasn't 100% sure about the colours when I got the yarn home, but now I love them.  I like to think they're ever so slightly Cath Kidston-esque (I can dream!)  I need to jiggle the little outer squares about a bit before I join them up (can't have two red middles next to each other, clearly) and then I need to work out if I've got enough yarn left to do a second side - always a bonus in a cushion, I find.
I'll end on a colourful little photograph that big nut took all by himself of his Easter crafty activities, and a joke that middle nut thrilled us with the other day:

Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Colin.  Uh, no, wait.  Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Carrot
Carrot who?
Colin carrot
Brilliant! x 

Hama happy

Gorgeous, gorgeous tulip.  

This little beauty has opened up in my garden in the last two days, much to my delight.  The buds seemed to be teasing us - looking for days like they were about to pop open, but staying firmly shut tight.

We are at that brilliant time of year when everything is bursting into life and green, white and pink clouds of colour are everywhere.  I just love it.

The children and I have really been enjoying the time off from the routine and hard work of school.  Mr Nut doesn't finish until Friday, so the little nuts and I have been just relishing in some time at home before we all go away to Dorset next week (yippee!)
Every day the two bigger nuts and I have planned an activity for when baby nut is asleep and we can concentrate in peace (baby sisters can be such a distraction, you know).  Today it was Hama beads.  I've only just discovered these beasties and I have to say, I'm completely addicted.  Hi, my name's Emily and I'm a Hama-holic...

And here are their finished masterpieces!  Two drinks mats and a skunk - note the green cloud above the skunk's tail - this is the pong, apparently.  Ah, the humour of seven-year-old boys...
Yet again, I'm proving to myself that I'm incapable of concentrating on just one thing at a time (though the springtime throw has been by no means neglected - I'm up to 140 squares now - yippee skippee!) and I've got myself started on another interim project.  Here's a taster:

The yarn I'm using is Debbie Bliss handknit cotton DK and I'm finding it really pleasing and easy to work with.

My inspiration has come from this:

and this:

 (photos from Cute and Easy Crochet by Nicki Trench and Rowan Crochet Workshop)

And I'm hoping to create a pattern something like this:

Watch this space! x