Crochet, knitting and a whole lot more

Whether it’s the uncertain times we’re all living in or just general frustration I don’t know, but I don’t seem to be able to settle to one thing, so have a lot of different projects on the go.

This is a mandala mat I have now finished. I love how quick this made up and how easy the stitches were. Being able to almost finish it in one sitting was very satisfying. I found the pattern on
Attic 24 which is where I find lots of interesting little projects. They are always so colourful and just make my heart sing.

Another beautiful project is this Harmony Blanket pattern from the same blog (once on the blog just scroll down the left hand side in the patterns section). It is quite a classic granny square pattern brought bang up to date using Stylecraft Special double knit acrylic yarn. I have always loved Stylecraft and this particular range has about 85 colours which makes it my favourite go to for just about everything. It is only around £2.00 a ball for 100 grams too. I made this blanket a couple of years ago but sold it to a customer when I had the shop. She asked if she could buy it and I quoted £80.00 thinking that was far too expensive and she snapped my hand off and bought it on the spot.

I fell in love with this little cardigan pattern as soon as I saw it but couldn’t find my bag of green Stylecraft Life DK which would have been perfect.  Instead I started it in pure merino wool from Jenny Watson. It’s off white and the quality is gorgeous. Unfortunately I’m not “feeling” the colour.  Casting on 262 stitches was a pain and after the first row the second one didn’t work out. I am an experienced knitter so I contacted Sirdar who assure me that it is fine and that it is probably me. I’m not convinced as when I use a calculator it definitely isn’t working out but I will give it another go and then make it up as I go along if necessary. I will endeavour to find the bag of green wool before I start again though.

Next up is my little Frontline Hero Bear. A gorgeous free pattern that I discovered after reading a friend’s Facebook post. My niece is a Doctor and her partner used to be a paramedic and now works in a hospital as the person you see if the doctors are busy (I don’t know his full title). They have 2 little girls and I thought it would be nice to make Mummy and Daddy hero bears. If you can crochet, these are really easy to make and I’m so pleased at how the first one is looking so far.

So as you can see I’m very busy but a bit all over place. Hopefully out of all this chaos I will find a little calm!

Just when you think everythings going your way!

It was too good to be true.  I had a great day yesterday, very relaxing, really smashing. Unfortunately my Mum was taken in to hospital last night and oh dear everything grinds to a nasty halt.  The doctors thought is was a stroke as she lost a lot of the use in her arms but it turns out to be a nasty chest infection.  I spoke to her last night before bedtime and apart from being tired she seems to be OK.  Thank goodness.  She is 92 years old and these scares really knock you for six.
Well it didn't put me off being good and I managed to prepare a really nice dinner of pork and vegetables.

The carrots and beetroot were harvested from our own garden and so the flavours were beautifully intense.

Mmm I'm feeling quite peckish just looking at those pictures.
Today started well with a good breakfast of porridge, Greek yogurt, honey and sliced banana with nuts and seeds for my snack.

I joined a gym back in June and surprisingly I have kept up my exercise routine although I missed last week due to feeling under the weather.  I managed to do a good workout today and am currently on 7,258 steps on my Mi Fit band. Obviously my goal is to reach 10,000 today and by the time I've rushed round later I should have achieved that without too much trouble.

Oh the above picture has just reminded me that I never showed you my completed Harmony blanket.

I started this back in August and it took about two months of solid work to finish it.  The pattern is over at Attic 24 and I enjoyed every minute of the making process.  I used exactly the same wool and colours that Lucy recommended and it turned out perfect.

At the moment it is on the sofa in the shop but will eventually have pride of place on our bed at home.

 Right well I better shoot off and get some lunch and I'll check in with you all very soon.