Finally...springtime throw ta-dah!

Finally: five months, 1200g of yarn and 300 squares later...the springtime throw is complete!  Hooray!!!

And I am so pleased!  I feel such a huge sense of achievement at having completed this and I almost can't believe I actually saw it through all the way to the end.  For my entire crocheting life, this project has been lurking in the background, sometimes ignored, but always there waiting for when I was at a bit of a loose end, crochet-wise.  I love the idea of having something big like this to pootle away at when I feel like it, when there's no instant gratification project on the go; and I've already decided what my next blanket is going to be like (well, almost, I just need to find The Square to work it in.  I'm not sure what The Square will look like, but I'll know it when I see it.  I had thought I'd make it with the square in this month's Mollie Makes, but I think it might be a bit of a yarn-eater.  Hmmmm...maybe circles within a square?  I'd love to know if anyone has any suggestions.)  Edit: I completely forgot to say before I published this post: if you are thinking about making this blanket, I would recommend two things: 1) when laying the squares out before you join them together, make sure you look at how the edge colours and the middle colours are lain out, to ensure you don't end up with two squares with the same colours in next to each other (not that I forgot to check the middle colours, or anything...)  2) If you want to add a granny stripe edging like I did, I really recommend reading Jacquie's tutorial for how to make a flat border for granny square blankets.  I didn't see this before I started my edge and I have to say, it is a bit wavy.  You live and learn, eh?...

Middle has already claimed it as his own:

This blanket lives in the sitting room, and every time I come into the room, I find it lying on the beanbag, which is Middle's 'spot'.  Today I came in to find it lain over ALL the cushions from both sofas, which were spread ALL over the floor (something to do with pirates, apparently).

And it did a really good job on Saturday at Fantastic Mr Fox.  Check me out with the healthy-looking picnic:

I say 'healthy-looking', because what we were all really after was this:

Carrot sticks?  Pah! x

In the pipeline

The edge of the edge...

I have to sew the ends of the edge in and then....I have finished!!!!  And how serendipitous - we're going to see Fantastic Mr Fox at an outdoor theatre tomorrow - I will wear my blanket with pride and will be scanning the people around me to make sure they're fully appreciating it too.  (If you're a burglar reading this, we don't feed the Rottweiler on the nights we go out...)
So now I've just about finished this baby, my mind's racing on to what to do next.  I've given up on my Fimo-related project - I couldn't for the life of me get the second 'bump' on the 3D hearts the same size as the first one and it just became too annoying for me to cope with.  (Life's too short to stress about heart bumps, you know.)  So I'm planning to make a short length of heart bunting from my left over cushion yarn, using a lovely pattern I found on Ravelry.  I'm hoping this will be a really nice quick thing to make for a bit of instant gratification after the mammoth beastie that is my springtime throw.
I've also been sucked in by the John Lewis sale and have two new sets of yarn for nothing in particular:

I'm thinking that I might make a cushion for our bedroom with this - it's Rowan milk cotton and I've got a sneaking suspicion it might be a bit of a splitter, but it feels amazing.  Baby N (aka my crochet assistant) is just thinking that she'd quite like to give it a bit of a chew:

She may only be fifteen months old, but she has the speed of a ninja when she's pinching things she shouldn't be.
And sticking with the Rowan theme:

I love, love, love this yarn, which I used to make my hexy placemat thing that I gave to Bookworm; so when I saw this at half price I was powerless to resist.  I've got two balls of the bluey colour and one of the purpley colour.  I think I'm going to make myself a pair of wristwarmers with this as it's just so beautiful and soft (I know...wristwarmers...June...)  Blimey, the ninja strikes again:

Life's been a bit crazy lately and I've now added 'neglecting my blogging life' to my list of things to feel guilty about - so: I'm sorry if I've been a bit lax with the visits and comments lately, and 'hello' and 'thank you' to my lovely new followers.
Thank you and good night x

Crochet update - May

Well hellooooo!  It feels like I've been gone for ages and, do you know what, it's great to be back!  I had had every intention of doing my monthly crochet update before we left for our hols last weekend, but I was ill for a couple of days and then ended up in a mad frenzy trying to pack everything for a family of five, for a week, in just one night....  All fun and games.  We had the best time away, doing lots of things together as a family, and I've got a load of photos to show you, but I'll do that in a separate post.  Anyway, we're back now and I've found my way round the laundry pile to the computer, where I've been trying to catch up on all your beautiful blogs and see what you've all been up to over the past week and a bit.  I have to say, it's almost like finding the world of crafty blogs all over again - you really are an amazingly inspiring and creative bunch and it's been lovely just sitting down and catching up on what you're all up to in crafty-blog-land.
So...my month in crochet terms has felt busy, but looking at my photos, it doesn't seem especially productive.  Hmmmm (or maybe I just need to be a bit more realistic about what it's actually possible to achieve when you have three children and a job...)  The first thing I did in May, was my treat scarf.  I love this project and I'm so pleased I did it.  I promise that I will be doing a 'how to' for this as I know (rather thrillingly) that a couple of people thought about making one too.  It is next on my 'to do' list, once I have posted my springtime throw ta dah (coming very soon!!!).

And the second thing, and the thing that's really been taking up all of my hooky time, is my springtime throw.  I have soooo nearly finished this blanket, I cannot wait to do my ta-dah post for it.  My first ever blanket...sigh...I feel like a fully-fledged crocheter (ha ha, was going to say 'hooker' then, but not sure that sounds quite right).

I spent a slightly silly amount of time on our week away, working on this beastie - Mr N kept finding me hiding in the bathroom/car/cupboard under the stairs feverishly joining squares together (he just doesn't understand, you know).
I really do feel that having made a blanket is some sort of rite-of-passage for me as a crocheter/hooker and I love having a big project like this to work on over a long period of time - something that I can come back to when those smaller, instant gratification-type projects dry up temporarily.  I have already decided what I'm going to do for my next blanket, which will be for our kitchen sofa, and I'm also planning a post on that in the very near future.  That's just five-hundred posts in the pipeline, then. x

A lovely award

Thank you so much Jacquie at Bunny Mummy!  Jacquie is one of my real big-time crochet blog gurus, so I'm really thrilled to get this from her.
I'm slightly worried now because I need to think of ten interesting facts about myself to share with you, as part of this award.  Eeeek!  After much head-scratching, I've come up with the following nuggets for you:
1) I really hate peas.  Really, really hate them.  I even have to pick them out of curries, so that I have a little pile of yellowed beasts sitting ominously at the side of my plate.  Urgh.
2) I've got a piece of pencil lead stuck in my left index finger, it's been there since I was about seven.  I've also got a little bit of glass embedded in my heel, which happened when we had a car crash when we lived in New Zealand in 2001.
3) My first word was 'shoe' (I'll say no more...)
4) When I was a child I really wanted to be a vet.  That or an astronaut.  I'm actually not either.
5) I've visited 21 different countries (though since I've had children, I've only managed a weekend in Dublin and two days in Barcelona with work.  Ha ha ha)
6) When I was little we had lots of animals - pigs called Pork Lunch, Bubble and Squeak; sheep (including a psychopathic ram called Rambo, natch) and loads of chickens - my favourite was called Scrawny and she got eaten by a fox.
7) I didn't pass my driving test until I was 31.
8) I'd really, really love to be able to sing.  Tragically, I'm so bad that my own children actually laugh at me when I try.
9) I met my husband when I was 19.
10) There are only nine interesting facts about me in the whole, wide world...
I'm going to pass this award on to Jooles at Sew Sweet Violet because she makes really, really beautiful bunting and as I've said before, I've got a bit of a bunting fetish. x
PS - There is some very exciting news on the springtime throw-front...more in my monthly crochet round up tomorrow!

I'm so square

I've been a busy bee these past couple of days: lots of little squares flying off my hook.  I am determined to finish my springtime throw sometime soon...  I've only got 44 of these little beasties left to make (is this the time to confess that I'm making it 2/3 size?  Ahem) and my mission for our little half-term break next week is....to join them all together!  I'll keep you posted. x
PS - thank you so much for your lovely comments about my treat scarf and middle nut's willow fish - he was really, really thrilled by them. 
I've got two more recipes to add to my 'cake' tab and I'm going to put up a 'how to' for my treat scarf on my 'crochet' tab (just for you, Homebird!)  Just need to get my act together and actually do it now...

Bits and bobs

I just love the colours of this drink/straw/glass/tablecloth combo.

Blogging really has opened my eyes to the fact that there are actually other people out there who look at everyday things like this and feel a little thrill of inspiration too.  It's great to know I'm not alone!  Poor big nut - he really wanted his banana milkshake and I cruelly said he had to wait while I took a photo - will he be scarred for life?
The past few days have seen a fair amount of rain in my neck of the woods and really, it just looks as though everything's had a good wash.  Everything had been so dusty - the car was a rather fetching shade of beige and the boys were coming back from school with shirts that were, quite frankly, about as un-white as it's possible for white shirts to be - but now order is restored - the car is once again red and the boys are back to their usual white-with-mud-splashes uniform.  Phew.
The countryside is now a beautiful, vivid green and the garden is looking full and lush:

And remember the sad-looking pansies that I blogged about in my 'Apathy r us' post?

Well, they have gone absolutely mad and the pots I put them in now look like two huge yellow and purple pom poms.
On the crochet-front this week, I've been putting some serious hooky time into my treat scarf, which is actually now starting to look like a proper scarf and not just a stripy rectangle; and I've been showing my springtime throw some love too - I'm now up to a square count of 200 (oh god, that actually doesn't sound that good, considering I've been working on it sporadically since February.  Boo)  Another little something has been getting underway too:

Some more little 3D hearts have been slipping from my hook.  This project seemed like a great way to use up the left-over yarn from my small flower squares cushion and it involves Fimo (which I haven't used since I was about twelve) and I'm saying no more for the moment!!  Ooooh, mysterious.....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!