Miss Maggie Redux

I admit it, I did not knit the cowl for Miss Maggie 2.0 - she sits without twenty quilts, no pants, no shoes and no sweater. I think I've piqued in the Maggie obsession.

But fear not! She has an army of admirers who are willing to fuss over her when mama is busy - a little crochet blanket recently found its way into our home from a friend and now Maggie 2.0 does not feel quite so sorry for herself, even if she has no other clothes, and indeed, no whiskers to call her own, at least she has a ripple blanket.

This Chair of mine

I walked in my sitting room the other day and this is what I saw. From corner to corner my sitting room is being taken over by fibre and yarn.

In one corner, my spinning wheel and paraphernalia; in my sitting corner a knitting project on one side (and all over the floor), and on the other a crochet project (and all over the floor). It's taking over the house.

I either need my own room. Or I need to tidy my toys away.

My own room. Definitely.

Ripple Redux

Making headway on the ripple blanket.

Sometimes it sits for days with no work being done on it at all. Then somedays, whenever I can grab five minutes I quickly work a few more stitches. Those stitches turn into rows. And row on row, slowly slowly, something quite wonderful happens. A blanket is born.

It's an easy project, with no pressure or deadline. Just the way I like my projects - relaxing, and easy-going.

Revisiting the Ripple

I'm not a fan of acrylic yarn. You could call that an understatement. It repels me. I hate the feel of it and I don't like it next to my skin. It baffles me, then, as to how I've managed to accrue so MUCH of it over the time I've been a yarn addict. It just doesn't end. It goes on and on.

To finally rid the house of all abominable acrylic I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone - work up yet another blanket to satiate my mad, blanket obsessed mama hen subconscious, and finally use up all leftover acrylic from every last vestige I could find.

And what better way to do so than with a bit of ripple.







I only hope I can make a blanket big enough without having to buy yet MORE horrid yarn to finish it off with, which would then thus leave me with yet more leftover icky yarn to get rid of. This could be a vicious circle...

Crochet Workshop :: Book Review

Those nice people at Quadrille very kindly sent me another book to review:: Crochet Workshop by Erika Knight due for release on the 7th June, or thereabouts.

You may remember another book, Simple Knitting by Erika Knight, that I reviewed a year back in which I praised the simplicity, the lines, the aesthetic? Well, the same team have come up with another mouth-watering book which actually made me dizzy just flicking through.

Again, the concept is that of a workshop course in which you start at the beginning, making your way through projects with increasing complexity until you have amassed an armoury of techniques at your disposal. It aims at the complete beginner. Which is just what I am.

The knitting book I actually gave to my sister (I hope she's knows that I don't part with books for love nor money, Apart from love. Obviously) as she wanted to learn to knit. And now she's knitting. Perhaps she might want to write a review of the book and/or her journey to knitting to share. I do know that this crochet workshop is right up my street... I can barely tell one end of the hook from the other, and even though I have managed to hobble together crochet projects, it's more on a wing and a prayer than actual technique. I cannot follow a pattern, and anything beyond a doily or a square is beyond me.

Looking at this book as a novice I am immediately tempted to jump right in. The projects are some of the best I've seen in a crochet book, definitely things I'd like to make. The quality is also very apparent. Again, the message that simplicity can be awesome is driven home thoroughly and it gives one a sense of being able to achieve marvellous things with very little confusion. Definitely my type of book.

Projects include :: slippers, blankets, mittens, rug, shrug, snood, a dog basket (might make one for my DH), it goes on and on. There is a pleasing array of projects to sink your teeth into.

So if you're thinking about learning to crochet, or want to get beyond a simple square, then perhaps this book would suit you?

You can pre-order the book on Amazon today.

RRP £16.99
Amazon price + delivery £11.04

Pop Quiz ::

What do you get if you add a ball of cheap garden twine with a wet afternoon in a room full of non-stop talking children with a crochet hook and a challenge of 'it can't be done'?







You get one of these ::











A jute bag? A basket? A ropey doily?? I don't know what it IS, but I sure know it holds a LOT of my knits-in-progress! And for the price of a few pennies I'd call that a bargain.



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Granny Granny

There seems to be an increase in granny related crochet around these parts. I'm finding the craft speedy and pretty as I search for warmth now that winter has decided it really will fall this year.

I admit it; these relatively warm weeks have lulled me into a laziness and a false belief that we have enough blankets, mittens, scarves, cosies etc etc BUT WE DO NOT - we never will. Never will the need to make blankets leave my mind until I have a house bundled to the rafters with them like those mad women who collect newspapers and when they die firefighters have to force their way into the building and hack a tunnel through the amassed paper to retrieve the body (imagination running away with me ... chocolate rush, I apologise) before they discover that she died from a column of newspaper falling on her crushing her to death. That will be my fate. Except with blankets - I will suffocate on quilts and blankets and my life will be held up as a moral - not as a shining example, but as a terrible warning.

Unless global warming lulls me into a false sense of security by making winter so warm that I am too busy making fly swats to make slippers. Like this year. Winter just crept up so sneakily, and now I am playing catch up - knitting much too slow - we are sewing and crocheting our way to cosiness.

I don't think crochet will ever replace my love for knitting, but it's coming pretty damn close...

Now must make blankets, and covers and mittens, oh my!



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Busy Making

Lots and lots of things are happily tumbling out of this work space of mine. It involves an inordinate amount of doilies, lots of french knots, quite a hefty gross weight of vintage fabric, the odd bit of Liberty print and mod podge, and not an insignficant dose of crochet... and I'm not done yet!

I think we can assume that there will be a shop update in the not so distant future insha'allah. Details to follow.


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