First crochet garment :)

I did it!  Crocheted and finished without too much pain.  Doris Chan short cardigan, from her book Everyday Crochet.

Modifications: extra row of pattern under the arms to give more room in the  arm hole, length is longer than the Mei Mei pattern, shorter than the Soft Serve, short sleeves and a different shell edging along the bottom and front edges.

It was too small when just off the hook  but I knew from my swatch it was going to stretch with blocking - and it has!

So happy!  Here it is, still blocking, more pictures when it is dry.

Vertical Stripe - finished

I haven't posted any pictures of the wip but but here it is finished already!  Started on 15th 

November, finished on 5th January it is my quickest blanket yet, but the pattern is so simple it is excellent TV crochet.

Facts:

8 colours, (shades 132, 140, 117, 142, 137, 118, 181, 149) Jarol Heritage dk yarn 100g balls, I bought two of each colour but didn't start the last two balls, total weight 1250g. Size 5mm hook.  It's 55% wool (not 30% like I thought) and 25% acrylic, 20% nylon so I am hoping it will wear and wash well.

Pattern - 204 stitches, 40 stripes, each made up of 3 rows of US half double (UK half treble) stitches, I think this is my favourite stitch.  It gives texture and thickness while growing quite quickly.  Two rounds of colour in the same stitch as a simple non-fussy border for my teenage son.  About 25,000 stitches in all ( scary!)

Size 150cm x 100cm  (that's about 5 by 3ft) so not massive but large enough to snuggle under.  

I used a foundation single crochet for the first time with this blanket and I think I will use it again.  It gives a neat foundation row, neater than my usual chain stitches anyway which can vary in size if I'm not careful, giving an uneven edge.

It's been a bit grey and rainy today so yet he pictures aren't great, the colours are closest in the first picture if not quite right in the the others. But here you are:

The finished granny blanket

Finally found time to take some pics, bit of a grey day but at least it isn't raining, for once.  We've had floods the past few weeks round here and never-ending rain.  Back to work today, and it was dry ... Typical!

Here's the stats:
64 granny squares, joined -as-you-go.  Total size 115cm square  (45 inches)
Yarn -same acrylic I used for the ripple, left over colours from the ripple plus a couple of new ones, pink and turquoise.  8 colours, 600g in total.

I made all the squares up to the last round, then joined them using the colour of the second round one row of squares at a time.  Bordered with a simple shell edging  ie (US) 5DC, Skip 2, SC, Skip 2 repeated

It has seen some use and has kept its shape and washed well.  I am a little disappointed it has gone a bit flat. The blanket I'm working on now is 30% wool so I will be interested to see if it keeps its bounce.

And just cos they are so cute, here's a picture of the chickens we have staying at the moment....

Still Here!

Just a few things I have been working on:

Finished - granny squares blanket, lap sized.

Cowls, three or four, various yarn all from this lace pattern http://marthastewart.lionbrand.com/patterns/L10159.html

Amigurumi bunny for a new baby, I enjoyed making it so much I made two!  

Shirts, one fitted in a stretchy fabric, the other a light cotton in more of a smock style

Started -  vertical stripe blanket, this one in a wool mix, so much more bounce than the acrylic.

Just a taster of the granny squares, finished picture to follow

Finished

One double quilt top, a present in greens, golds and reds for my mother. The pattern is simple, a square-in-square, but the sheer size was very daunting. One hundred and sixty five of them!

Binding and backing, then quilting, still quite a lot of work to do.

There was a stage where I wasn't sure about the colour scheme and the fabric, but together I like it and I hope she does too.

Linking up to Amanda Jean at finish it up Friday

They don't call it rocket for nothing

The first seedlings of this year's crop are pushing through all over, the fastest of which is always the rocket. Here are the seeds planted exactly two weeks ago, next to lettuce planted at exactly the same time.

This will be ready just in time to replace last year's rocket, which we are still eating (albeit after a period of inactivity in the coldest weather). It is absolutely the best thing to eat in bacon sandwiches by the way - forget BLT, try BLR, delicious!

Elsewhere in the garden, lime green is dominant. I love that my garden goes though distinct changes over the seasons, first early spring with yellows and pale blues, then it moves to this brighter phase, beautiful as a foil to the other colours emerging, the oranges and reds. I could (and do!) spend hours poking about in the borders, spotting the tiny details that make up the whole. The whole is not perfect, definitely not a show garden, but made up of such fantastic cameo performances, changing all the time.

Mothers' day in the Rusty household

Being elder child's birthday last Sunday, this obviously took precedence over the somewhat arbitrary modern custom that is Mothers' Day. The children decided to celebrate a week later instead, so yesterday was my day for tea and toast in bed, my choice of what to do for the day and Sunday roast cooked by teenagers with a little help from their dad.

My choice of activity was an afternoon at the allotment - family weeding you might call it.

A job shared is a job halved, or in this case quartered. We got a lot done, and the weather couldn't have been nicer.

In other news a little crafting has been going on.

Crochet heart bunting for the birthday girl

Instructions from Marie at Marie's Making


Lace trim on some cheap cotton pillowcases, hand sewn in less that an hour, so pleased with this:)

And wherever I am taking pictures, a cat always appears!