Circles & Roses

Good Evening All!! Yesterday was rather a lovely day weather wise. These photos, although a bit dark, were taken as I sat in the garden enjoying the last of the sunshine before walking to our local pub for a girly meet-up.
I have, as you may have noticed, started a new crochet project. It is just so therapeutic, and this particular blanket is very easy to do in little stages and on the move. You may even recognise this routine from when I have done it previously- it is of course, for a hexagon blanket!

The trusty colander is back to hold all of my little circles (such a recommended utensil for crochet lovers!! It stops your wool running away and it houses all of the little parts until they are needed. Brilliant stuff.). I started off just making hundreds of tiny yellow circles, then decided that I needed some kind of colour routine for the next few stages. Cue 'the plan'!!
For the second round I have been working ten circles in one colour, with five around one shade of yellow and five around another shade. For the third round I am working five circles in each colour and then will probably go back up to working ten circles in each colour for round four. Not sure why, I am just trying to evenly mix up the colours as best I can without getting myself into a muddle.

The growing little stacks of circles are very pleasing and I have been finding myself organising them into rainbows, shades, different combinations of colour- hours of fun!

Whilst I was sat in the garden I noticed that my gorgeous Rhapsody In Blue (Frantasia) rose is in bloom. I bought this rose at the South of England Show two years ago and it has flowered brilliantly every year. The flowers actually change colour depending on how old they are, starting from quite a bright vivid purple when just bloomed and ending up a sort of dusky grey purple at the end of the bloom-span. So when the whole plant is in flower there are all sorts of shades of purple on there.

I also discovered two juicy ripe strawberries on my little strawberry plant. They were so deliciously sweet!!! The best way to eat strawberries is straight from the plant.

And look at this gorgeous rose! I have no idea what breed this is, it is a recurring one that has been in the garden for many years and doesn't usually produce that many flowers over the summer, generally about three or four blooms. They are so beautiful with the mottled pink though.

Crochet and rose happy!

Rainbow Blanket Ta-Daah!

Sunglasses on Chaps and Chapets!! This is a super colourful ta-daah post!
I have finished my rainbow patchwork crochet blanket, and it has now been given to its new owner so I am free to share it with you all. There will be no leading up to this with tantalising balls of wool photos, I am jumping right in. Ready?

TA-DAAH!!!!

I am so pleased with how this has turned out. It's amazing how ideas just come to you when you start, there is something therapeutic and almost mind numbing (in a good way) when I crochet, it clears my head of all the stressful or mundane things and I just get the most amazing colourful ideas and inspirations. I would crochet all the time if I could, it is a much nicer creative world in my head.

Plus, I have been able to use up a lot of oddments of wool in this blanket. Anna was very relaxed with her brief so I could essentially do what I liked and with the colours I liked. The wool pile hasn't reduced by very much, but it was a start.

There are 100 squares in this blanket. 10 squares per colour group and 10 colour groups overall. They were crocheted together after being made so it has created that lovely ridge effect up and across the blanket.

The border is made up of 20 rows, alternating between a double crochet and a triple crochet row, with each colour group being represented by two of its colours..

I even added a special extra, one of the dark blue colour group wools has a sparkly thread running through it!

It is actually a rather large blanket and I can vouch for the snuggliness- the best part about making a blanket is that you get to trial run the cosiness whilst you crochet.

The colours look their best in the sunshine I think. They just pop out and glow, and work really well together. Hopefully this blanket will be used and loved for many years!

ATCs And Postcards

I took a break from crocheting this weekend and focused on getting this month's ATCs and postcards finished instead. We are now on month six of the 12 Days of Christmas swap- halfway through, I can hardly believe it!

I created two little Geese for my 6 Geese A Laying cards. It would be a little difficult to make six geese per card out of felt so I stuck to just the one. Cheeky little ladies aren't they? The eggs are made from a textured, sparkly card to give them a super special look (I think they are supposed to be gold(?) but I didn't have any gold paper to hand so sparkly cream it was!).

I also finished off the 'Really Flowery' ATCs. For these I didn't want to go with the usual flowers so tried to make them a little bit different and mix things up a tad. It's more a representation of flowers than actual ones.

I just love the variations of texture in these little cards.

I have also finished off a couple of postcards which had the very vague theme of 'Four Inchies In a Postcard'. Basically a do-what-you-feel-like swap which is always brilliant!! I tend to make and keep batches of inchies every now and then, especially if I work up a background on the sewing machine and have a bit left over. They are only big enough to put a button or a couple of stitches on but they can look so pretty. These inchies are from August 2013 and I made up the background of the postcard to match. I have used lots of different textures in this though, some doubled up tissue paper, felt, and also some yellow vinyl left over from a university project. I can't wait to see what the other ladies come up with!

This Week...

This week... ❤❤

❤❤...We relaxed in little pockets of the evening sunshine...

❤❤...Enjoyed the views over the garden and the clear blue sky.

❤❤...Finished the rainbow crochet blanket (a ta-daah on this coming soon!).

❤❤...Took the Amaryllis outside to enjoy the sun. See how beautiful the petals are with the delicate striping of the veins, and the splashes of pink.

❤❤...Enjoyed the bright acidic greens that are prevalent at this time of year. They zing really nicely against the bright pinks and oranges of the Wallflowers.

❤❤...Discovered that a colander is a brilliant vessel to put one's wool ball into so that it doesn't fling itself all over the garden.

❤❤...Celebrated Ziggy's 7th birthday. How time flies!!

❤❤...Watched little fluffy clouds puff past, sometimes quickly and sometimes barely moving at all.

❤❤...Started a new set of ATCs. I should have started these a few days earlier, they are taking longer than I expected as I keep adding new layers. It is on the theme of 'Really Flowery', and I think I am channeling my inner Marna Lunt for these, and thoroughly enjoying doing so.

❤❤...Received the 6th installment of the 12 Days of Christmas Swap. This is from the lovely Pat, who is very organised (I haven't even started mine yet!!).

❤❤...Discovered strawberries are already ripening on my (slightly neglected) strawberry plant.

❤❤...Looked on excitedly at the number of little flower heads appearing on my Hydrangea. This is going to be a fantastic year for it I think!!

❤❤...And enjoyed a little pop of colour on our garden table in the form of this brilliant Geranium.

❤❤❤What have you done this week?❤❤❤

Interchangeable

I am hugely impressed by the current flower display going on with my Amaryllis. It was definitely worth the wait, the blooms are huge and very architecturally striking, with little flecks of pink when you look up close. The poor thing has been juggled around the house lately though as we have had a delivery of a new bath- currently being stored in the living room. Part of the surrounding panel was broken on arrival so instead of just sending us a new panel....they sent us another entire bath set.

What to do with two huge baths??? (I'm thinking a pond? Outdoor miniature swimming pool? Modified Jacuzzi?)

With the house being a bit of a jumble, all sorts of items living in rooms they don't usually live in and other bits waiting to find new homes, the garden is becoming a bit of a calm oasis. The bluebells are now being replaced by multicoloured Aquilegia flowers which are popping up all over the place.

In true May style, the weather is very interchangeable at the moment. This morning was really dull and overcast, although as I type this it seems to be brightening up with blue sky peeping out from behind thinning clouds. This afternoon may be beautiful and sunny, then the night full of rain. Who knows what could happen next?!

It is good for plants though, maybe May is nature's way of spring-boarding the new growth of summer plants with lots of sunshine and lots of rain. I love these spindly Mountain Cornflowers, though they sparked a bit of a debate when I asked the parents what they were. The Mother said a type of cornflower and Dad said a type of thistle, so after a bit of research, The Mother wins that round. I suppose they are a weed as they spread like mad and are not technically native to this country but they are just so pretty, and the bee's love them (when it's not raining).

 I am frolicking on the edge of my commissioned rainbow blanket, although from now on will only show you teasing glimpses of it as I don't want my friend (the commissioner) to see pictures of the finished article before I have given it to her- it will have more impact that way. I do hope she likes it. I will of course, continue taking photos as I go and will let you see all when the time is right!!