Stripey Blanket - Part 3

Hello ladies (and gents if there any gentlemen readers this lovely morning!) Has January not just whizzed by? I am personally so looking forward to moving along to end of Feb and into March;  this is when our cooler months start.  We have had wickedly hot weather lately .. too hot to crochet, too hot to do much of anything actually!

My As-we-go Stripey blanket is beginning to look really stunning #saysIwithnomodestywhatsoever !!!

Here are the next few rows:

Row 32-34 : Hdc rows in Bluebell, Meadow and Bluebell

Row 35 : Sc row in Pomegranate  ~ this is where I started the Star Stitch pattern rows.

Row 36-37 : Star stitch rows in Wisteria

Rows 36 : Sc row in Pomegranate ~ ends the Star Stitch section

Rows 37-39 : Hdc rows in Saffron, Magenta and Saffron

Rows 38 - 41 : Repeat of rows 18-21 ~ 4 Dc Shell sts in Meadow, Sc row in Fondant, Dc Shell rows in Plum and Sc row in Fondant again.

Rows 42 - 44 : Hdc rows in Meadow, Shrimp and Meadow

Row 43 : First row of Catherine Wheel pattern in Magenta

Just take a look at my edges .... as I finish a section I am tidying away the threads, it is the only way and works for me!

I am dashing to my wool shop this morning .. I need more Aspen Green ..... AND they are having their January sale.. this could be an exciting albeit pricey trip .. who can resist a wool sale!!  And gosh, my days are just disappearing in a blur lately, taking my dear David to work and then collecting him again in the afternoon takes huge chunks of time out of my daily round.  His wrist is healing nicely but no driving for another seven weeks .. it must be done not so?

Have a super weekend everyone

much love

Pat xxxxx

Stripey Blanket - Part 2

Hello there, how is your week panning out so far?  I had the best time adding more rows to my Stripey Blanket .... I seriously cannot see me trying to stretch this project over a whole year, or even a half a year ... such fun!!

Here are the next rows,

Rows 18-21  :  4dc shells, rows of sc alternating. The shells are in every 4th st.  The sc row:  3sc into the loops on top of the shell and 1sc between shells.

Rows 22 - 24  :  Hdc rows in Fondant, Wisteria and Fondant

Rows 25 - 27  :  Bobble section.  3 dc rows in Saffron, with bobbles in Plum after every 12 sts.  You can insert as many bobbles into the row as you wish, with however many stitches inbetween, it's your choice;  this was how it best worked out for me.

Row 28 - 31  :  Hdc rows in Aqua, Shrimp and Aqua.

Rows 29 - 31  :  Granny rows in Plum, Fondant and Plum

Short aside: my hubby fell through a breaking ladder yesterday and broke his wrist .. he has had surgery and all is good.  Will fetch him home today .. I will probably only get the next few rows done and posted by the end of the week!

Until next time

Happy hooking!

Pat xxxxx

Stripey Blanket 2015 - Part 1

Ever since first seeing the beautiful and different As-we-go- Stripey blankets on Pinterest and while blog-browsing, I knew I wanted to make one just for me!

So as 2014 came to a close and I finished my Blissful Mood Blanket I started thinking about what to make for my 2015 12-month project.  I have collected several glorious colours of Stylecraft Special DK, a yarn I really like .. it came to me that I could work small amounts of this yarn at a time into stripes of patterns and make a Stripey-as-you-go Blanket over the early months of 2015.

The colours I am working with are:

Plum : Spring Green : Shrimp : Wisteria : Saffron : Magenta : Meadow : Fondant : Pomegranate : Bluebell and Aspen

Hook:  4mm

Terms:  US terms are used

I am aiming at an approximate width of 1.2m before the border.  I started with 201 ch.  I simply measured my chain row with a Tape Measure till it measured about 1.2m.  

These are my first 16 rows:

Rows 1 - 3 : Hdc in Bluebell, Pomegranate and Meadow

Rows 3 - 5 : Granny pattern in Fondant and Saffron

Rows 5 - 9 : Hdc in Plum, Wisteria and Plum

Rows 10 - 13 :  A Zig Zag pattern in Aspen and Shrimp

Rows 14 - 16 : Hdc in Magenta, Saffron and Magenta

One small detail to be aware of ... I was so keen to start .. I did my chain row and was whizzing along, only to realise after a bit that there is a right and a wrong side ...  of course!! I can be such a Dozy Doris sometimes!!  So to have my Zig Zag pattern on the right side would mean my starting Hdc row would be 'wrong-side-up'  Not to worry .. I am just being much more careful now, and making sure to plan each next section.

Inspiration comes in bucket loads from these two lovely blogs Not Your Average Crochet  and Little Woolie, beautiful examples of this blanket and wonderful photo tutorials and patterns to help you along.  I am using them as my references. I hope I can keep this project going over a few months!! my fingers are itching to get going again right now! I am loving it soooo much!

If I can, and I say that not lightly because I am still a little technically challenged, I will try and keep all my progress blogs in this one place .. any assistance will be greatfully accepted :)

Happy crocheting

happy days

love Pat xxxxx

Edit:  I will add a "Stripey as you go" label to each post, and that should keep the progress posts running sequentially .. I hope!

Lazy Ripples and lashings of rain and learning to let go!

Yesterday our beautiful little stream just in front of our house morphed into a raging torrent in less than an hour!

From these tranquil scenes .....

....... to these showing a raging, rampaging torrent!!

By this morning, all was back to normal;  a beautiful and cool and very wet Highveld morning.

I put my little Christmas Poinsettia out into the glorious sunshine ...all its huge red flowers have faded.  I found this useful information for encouraging the plant to flower again next season .. I am going to try this year I think!

The petunias are looking rather floppy, no wonder as they were pounded by heavy rainfall for about 2 hours in the storm.

  

Agapanthas looking so pretty in their diamonds!

I have a tub of New Guinea Impatiens to plant into a lovely ceramic pot this morning ...

  

also a tray of Heirloom tomatoes that I grew from seed;  

I can't wait for them to produce fruit!

A cool corner in the garden, the sun is just touching the plants and by this afternoon it becomes the hottest corner in the garden!!

In December, after our Christmas Dinner on the 25th, I made a difficult decision .. well difficult for me anyway ..  wanting to be the 'one in control' of all planning, menus, and cooking up a storm etc .. that I would let go of ownership, of having my hands on everything.  My choice is made out of compassion for myself ... we mostly have extremely hot weather in December, I now choose not to be in a steamy hot kitchen for hours.   And as I have read recently .. "surrending doesn't mean giving up or not caring, it means trusting and allowing things to be taken care of by others" That's it in a nutshell .... And if my family are all away on holiday, then our brilliant Woolworths always has the most scrumptious "ready to serve" Christmas fare on their shelves.  That will be Plan B!!  I want to be able to enjoy the festive season, make and create, see friends or do nothing, just relax! I am ready to do this, and I am happy to 'let go' .

And on the subject of letting go ... my beloved eldest son is returning to the UK on Wednesday after a lovely visit of nearly three weeks.  We had not seen him for more than 2 years, and oh the joy of having him sit down to a plate of Mielie Pap and Chicken Stew!! And he loves Bacon and Egg with a banana fried in the bacon fat!  I am going to miss him so much ... hoping and praying that he will be able to visit again next December or, and I do believe in miracles, that I can travel over to spend time with him sometime this year!

He will be taking the Lazy Ripples blanket with him, that I have been working on over the past few weeks .. his Christmas gift from me!

I will post details of the blanket in my next post, just measurements, weight, and info re yarn etc.

Until next time (is it Jan 4 already!!)

Pat xxxxxxxxxxx

My Special Year

~ Gifts under my Christmas Tree ~

So here we are with the year drawing to a close; a time for reflection, gratitude and anticipation for the New Year ... "full of things that have not yet been" 

 I have had many blessings come my way through the year.  In my wildest dreams, I could not have imagined how my Sunshine blog would grow, how I would grow with it, how many lovely friends I would meet, how sweet the feeling of success however small.

Five Beautiful Gifts came my way, leaving hardly any space beneath my virtual Christmas Tree. 

This is my first Gift;   #4 is my Sunshine Mandala

Second up a very special # 1 place !!!!! Emily's Garden ~ A Blanket of Flowers,

a blanket inspired by a blog I love ~ The Patchwork Heart ~

 Third special treat; #3 is my Snowflake Mandala

 a Christmas Mandala ~

Next, two excerpts from FB pages I belong to,  that garnered so many 'likes' I was quite simply ... totally delighted and beyond ~ I took part in a CAL, made up my Christmas Throw in traditional Christmassy colours and ended up with an awesome little blanket!  Hope you will excuse me for feeling just a tad self satisfied with over a thousand likes ... came as such a wonderful surprise!  

Lastly, and the Santa on top of the Christmas cake!! placed second in another link party ~

More than I ever dreamed, expected or imagined possible!
The biggest most heartfelt thank you leaves me and floats out into Blogland to the wonderful ladies who helped place the five gifts under my Christmas Tree ♥

Thank you for reading
Love you all xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Pat 

Old Brand New

Baubles .... old brand new!!

Several of my beloved mom's Christmas decorations have lovingly been cosied in the softest cloth for years in my Christmas boxes ... so many fond memories of my sister and I as just little tots watching my mom decorating our tree ♥ love you mom ♥

A lovely post by The Patchwork Heart inspired me to transform these really old baubles and I love how they look!

So easy, and quick too .. and I am so happy now that the baubles that have been in my life for soooo many years, now look right up to date for many years more.

Have a wonderful week ..

Lots of love 

Pat xxxxxxxx

Merry Christmas Throw

♥Wow♥ .... I am delighted with my Merry Christmas Throw. I participated in The Blog Hop CAL with some very talented craftswomen each designing some beautiful squares.   It is so very hot here in Johannesburg during our Festive Season, I knew I wanted to make a statement blanket, not 'cuddle me and keep me warm' blanket, so the idea came to me to make a Christmas theme throw.  Not too big, just enough to make a pop of Christmas colour. And jolly jingle bells!!! this throw does make a huge pop of beautiful, traditional colour in red, white and green!! Makes my very neutral colour, all time favourite chair take centre stage!!!

The throw consists of twelve squares of about 9.5" / 24cm each, and the border is one of my current go-to patterns, the Block St.  To finish off with a merry flourish, I used a Braid edging.

The following pictures show how I have joined the squares. Sometimes, as in the CAL featured here, squares are made up and often will have an different stitch count per square. To overcome this and to join the squares easily and attractively, this is the way I do it:

First I choose the square with the easiest stitch count on which to base the consequent squares.  I chose a traditional Granny square.

*I edged the square with the two rows which constitute the basic two rows of the Block st, i.e. 1sc, 3ch, skip 2/3 sts, 1sc;  all around the square, and then three dc into each 3ch loop.  

*Around the second square, work the first row of the Block st, and as you work along you need to make sure you have the exact same number of 3ch loops as your first square.  If you look carefully at the pictures below, you will see that I have gaps of three stitches and four stitches between the single crochet stitches, worked across the side of the square evenly, so that at the end of the row there are the same number of 3ch loops as the first square.  The corners are 2sc, 2ch 2sc, into the corner spaces in the first of the Block St and 2dc, 2ch 2dc in the second row.  I used the 'join-as-you-go' principle to join the squares. 

*Dedri from Look at what I Made blog, has a very good tutorial on joining squares with different stitch counts, you may like to take a look here as well.

These are a some of the pretty squares ...

Thank you for reading and 

happy hooking!

Pat xxxxxx