Change of plans!

I'm good at changing my mind. It's one of my (many) talents.
In this case, its for the blanket for Youngest Girl.
I was going to make her a sampler afghan in "candy" colours (with white), but changed my mind. I decided instead to go with Lucy (of Attic24)s Neat Ripple instead.
I have no photos atm, but I'll upload some later. (Don't judge me - I'm terribly disorganised about my blogging. I'm even more disorganised about photographing things... including my children!)


Oh, an ICYMI, we've expanded the menagerie. We're now at a cat, 3 dogs, 4 chickens, a rooster, several fish, 3 children and a husband.

Margaret's chevron blanket

I'm using Lucy (of Attic24)'s design for the wavy ripple.

Here are the progress pics so far... 

A distraction...

My yarn is under threat, thanks to this little furball. She was howling out the front of our place, so we've brought her in, fed and watered her, and now she's sleeping and purring on the lounge.

Oldest Girl's blanket...

I've finally got myself motivated enough to a) pick a pattern and b) pick out colours for Oldest Girls blanket.
The pattern I'm going to use is the Mixed Stitch Stripey from Little Woollie. Oldest Girl loves blues, so I'm going to make a blanket in shades of blues, creams, greys, and maybe a random white (perhaps the bobbles?).
Basically, I'm going to make this

... look like this

(Photo courtesy of Little Woollie at http://littlewoollie.blogspot.com.au/ and tempyjo at http://gertieleigh.blogspot.co.uk/ )

Colours and designs...

So, I asked the other day for some colour inspirations...
This is Isabella's blanket with her quilt (doona/duvet) cover

And this is the blanket pattern I have 

Similar, yes?

So, the question is, what colours should I make the blanket in for Margaret? This is her quilt cover...

I was thinking red, pink, white, blue...

And then there's Katharine's quilt cover (which is still packed for now, but this is the matching pillow case)

I'm thinking light blue, royal blue, yellow and red... 

And that's where I'm at for now... 

Some input, please!

For those that don't know (and under which rock have you been living?), I crochet.
I recently bought Kim Werker's Crocheted Gifts since Isabella has a star blanket that was crocheted by a friend.
So, here's where you all come in... My design Pinterest board has colour swatches. Can you jump over there and please tell me which would be best for the princess (Margaret, age 5), which would be best for the Doctor Who obsessed child (Katharine, age 10), and which would be best for Ian and I (we have a green quilt cover and a blue and coffee quilt cover, so coordinating would be best).
Thanks, guys :)

More new patterns!

Am I the only one who buys a whole crochet book for just one pattern?

A new pattern...

I bought a new pattern... Olivia over at The Gingerbread Lady wrote a beautiful pattern, and I've been umming and ahhing about it for ages. I finally decided to do it, and bought the pattern so I can give it a go.
I also have a few other patterns I want to try - Annie's Attic Cathedral Rose, and several billion hat, scarf, motif based blanket, mile-a-minute patterns, and a book on its way from Interweave Crochet (there's a pattern in there that I want).
All of that should keep me busy, as well as getting the blankets I'm already working on done, and learning to knit!

Success!

After much trial and error, I finally turned the hexagons into a square.
I started with trying to convert an octagon to square pattern ...

Then I decided to make it up as I went along - a problem, since I have another 95 hexagons I need to replicate this on...

At least I have that first one I can count from and then copy.

Pattern will be forthcoming when I tweak it properly.

Time to square off...

So, the hexagon blanket plans have changed again...

I found a lovely and simple tutorial on changing an African flower into a square (which makes them much easier to join together) so I've taken it over to my hexagons. I'm working on the first one now, and to see how well it works - if it's successful, I'll post the link tonight and some images.

Crochet thread, bobby pins, and stocking stuffers

I've managed to acquire a lot (and I mean a lot) of crochet thread.
I also have around 200 bobby pins.
And Christmas is less than 2 weeks away.
I see me making lots of hair clips for the girls - stocking stuffers, or if they catch me doing it, "stuff for my Etsy store" ;)

A brain storm!

Earlier today when I was sorting out boxes in the sunroom (which is easily as big as our loungeroom, just a different shape) I realised I have a crapload of off white yarn. I suddenly realised I can use the off white yarn and make another 96 hexagons - red, white, dark pink, white instead of red, pale pink, dark pink, pale pink - and then slipstitch them all together in green.
Tomorrow night, I start on the red circles.

A screeching halt...

I've been too tired, eyes too sore, and the knuckle at the base of my thumb have been too sore to do much crochet in the last few days.
Having said that, I probably have enough hexagons right now to stitch some together to see in practice exactly how many of them I will need. The big question is, which way do I want them? Half hexagon gaps at the top and bottom of the blanket (along the shortest side), or half hexagon gaps along the (longer) sides?

A 5 minute project

Since it's only 5 minutes at a time, I don't think it really a "project" as a "gap filler".

Miss M, Miss I and Miss K want pretty hair clips, so I've been making mini flowers (From Lucy of Attic24) and threading bobby pins through the back. The flower Miss M is wearing right now matches her poncho - it's made from a scrap of the same yarn.

And now for some of my own art work...

First off all, I do need to show you the colours I'm using for the hexagon blanket.
It sounds a strange colour combo, but red, pale pink and medium pink do actually work well together.

See?

Next is the starter circles, all in red - I started with 48 of these and realised that I need many more, so I did another 48 last night.

I now have 96 hexagons in progress, and even if the blanket is then too big, it really is better it be too big than too small.

Second row is the baby pink - I think it looks better to have the pale colour between the two strong colours, don't you think?

Yes, I am aware they look kinda like boobs. That isn't intentional.

The third row is the dark pink - its a lovely contrast to the pale pink.

I have 48 of these little flowers made already. I now just need to do the other 48.

And the Fourth round is where it gets turned into an hexagon.

I'll be stitching them all together with a dark green - probably forest green - to make the blanket.

So, what do we all think?

2 blankets - WIPs

In a continuation from my last post, I'm doing well with the hexagons. I had 48 starter circles before I started doing the pale pink, now I have 48 starter circles in red with pale pink second rows, and have started on the medium pink third rows (I'm up to 20 of them now). I suspect I will need to do another at least 20 more, but I'll work it out when I get to sewing/crocheting them together. Miss M (aged 4) has claimed this blanket, and it should eventually look like the blanket that Lucy from Attic24 made, but all in pinks, so much like a flower garden.
For those to lazy to look, this is what a close up of Lucy's work looks like

And the second blanket is going to be in blues and yellow. Miss K has requested a blanket in African Flowers. The centre will be a golden yellow with the second row in pale blue, the single line in the golden yellow again, the next row in medium blue and the final row (joining row) in green - again to look like flowers.
Just so you can imagine it, here's an image 

So that's where I'm at for now - Photos of the hexagons and the progress will be posted soon - likely this weekend.

Hexagons...

A while back, I started making hexagons. They're in red, pale pink and medium pink (and you'll have on trust me on this but the colours go well together).
I'm considering adding in light and dark green, too.

Anyways, I'd crocheted around 100 red centres, then completely forgotten about them. So, Saturday night, I started on the next round. Pale pink.
I got 12 done before I started falling asleep.

I haven't picked them up today since I started on a cowl for myself (yes! something for myself!) this afternoon. I've done 16 rows, and I'm thinking I need to do about 45 - I may in fact do a few more.
I'm still not sure how it will look on me - It likely will end up being a "Not For Me" project, but we'll wait and see.

A poncho for Miss M

I've finished the poncho for Miss M.
Photos will be taken and uploaded when I have Miss K, Miss M, Miss I and Miss W all together and all in their ponchos - That should be next Wednesday, but we'll see how it goes.

A poncho

Over the past few days, I've been busy hooking.
Miss K (aged 9) now has a poncho, Miss M (aged 4) will soon have a poncho. Miss I (aged 7) will have one as soon as I can get some yarn to make it.
And before we go in to Sydney for a concert at the Opera House (I'm really looking forward to it - Mnozil Brass are quite entertaining, and it's a rare child-free evening), I'm going to need to make a poncho for Miss W (aged 8(ish) ), a friends daughter, and also the daughters friend. So, more yarn needed for that, too.

Anyways, the pattern I used is Miss Sucrettes poncho pattern.

It's a graphic pattern on there, so I'm going to be helpful and write it out.

Foundation Chain: ch multiple of 8, to fit over the head of the person. slst to beginning of chain

1st row: ch3 (counts as first treb), treb into each stitch below. slst to top of ch3 to join.

2nd row: ch3, trb into 2nd stitch, treb into 3rd stitch, ch1, **treb once into next 3 st, ch1**. Rpt ** to ** end. slst to top of ch3 to join.

3rd row: ch3, trb into 2nd gap, treb into gap, ch1, **treb once into next gap, ch1**. Rpt ** to ** until half way around. at half way, add an extra treb, treb, treb, ch to make a corner (similar to a granny square corner). Continue ** to ** until you reach the beginning, and add an extra treb, treb, treb, ch.

Repeat 3rd row until desired length.
 Trim however you wish.

As you can see, I still need to weave in the ends, but Miss K and I are both happy with it.

My pale blue and chocolate blanket - a WIP

My latest WIP is a blanket in pale blue and chocolate.

Obviously, they won't be just like this.

Also just as obvious is the fact there will be many more. They'll be joined with a pale brown (is "latte" too stereotyped a colour? :P ), and then a border will be made with all three colours - how that comes to look, I'm not quite sure right now.