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Anybody there?

It's been ages, I know. I thought I would give up, but somehow I couldn't quite turn my back on the blog, so here I am again.

Life has changed a bit. Both our sons are away at university and we do feel as though we're rattling round. I started a temporary part-time job in September which has now turned into a permanent full-time one! It's still early days, but I think it's a good move because I was spending a bit too much time mooching at home. I have yet to receive my first enhanced pay packet ... can't wait!

There are two casualties of my increased hours: the allotment and time - to myself (obviously) and to visit my elderly mother. I've decided to give up the allotment rather than feel guilty all the time about letting it go to rack and ruin. One project this year will be to see if I can fit more herbs and some vegetables into the garden. As for my mother, I will visit her at weekends but probably not quite as frequently as I did before, but do you know, I don't think she's too bothered. She's comfortable and secure and has lots of people on hand at the care home where she lives. My brother visits regularly too, so between us we'll cover most weekends I think.

I've been knitting and crocheting and trying to keep my stash down. At present I'm 'hooked' on a hexagon blanket. I collected some Koigu from sales and Ravelry stashes, plus some bits I already had. I've found Koigu really yummy to crochet with. It doesn't split, it's soft, it has a slight sheen, and it makes lovely chubby stitches.

   

All the oranges, reds and pinks are Koigu; the cream, greys and maroon are other merino 4-plys, including Yarn Yard Ochil, Fiberspates Sheila Sock and Jaeger Matchmaker (another lovely crochet wool). I'm mixing the colours randomly.

The motif is Jan Eaton's classic hexagon and Jan very kindly gave me an online tutorial in how to join them as I go. I love the joining round the most, I think! It's nice not to have to sew up, but I will have to deal with the ends. I think I'll have a darning-in session after every two strips joined. Ha! we'll see.

Stashbusting

Maybe I'm not being as disciplined as I could be in my efforts to reduce the stash, but I am making some progress. Last Sunday Loop had a yarn swap and I took my wheelie suitcase along full of wool. There were two tables: one for selling and one for donating/swapping. I did a bit of both, but mostly sold. I made £50 or £60! (forgot to keep a tally) and was pleased to see wool going to new homes. I only brought a couple of lots back home (and only three little new lots of sock yarn). While at Loop I saw their lovely Babette Blanket made out of sock yarn. I think Jill and Dawn have also admired it! Well, wouldn't you know it - it's now the third blanket I'm making out of stash!

Sixty

Sixty crochet squares. I've been plugging away at these and was able to bring the total to a round number while we were away camping in Dorset for a few days. I found them an ideal thing for camping - easy to carry around and possible to work in less than ideal light.

No particular layout here - just trying them out for size. I think I'm going to need at least 10 by 16 and preferably 17. So, I'm over a third of the way on the basic squares!

I can't believe I did that

Members of a knitting group I meet with have crocheted a simple, triangular shawl - really half a granny square - out of Seasilk. It's very effective and they all seem to have enjoyed doing it. I haven't got any Seasilk, but I have got some Alchemy bamboo yarn in a blinding red and shocking pink colourway and I thought it might work. I bought it at the first Ally Pally show I went to, in about 2002.* Anyway, I dug the yarn out of my deepest stratum of stash last night. I bought it as a kit to make  a market bag, so it came in rather a posh tote bag and there's a pattern enclosed. There's also a receipt. I cannot believe how much I paid for 100g. Are sitting down? £66!

All I can think is that I was so overcome by my first experience of a knitting show that I just lost all sense of proportion. Also, I have to remember that there was nothing much available then even online. In a sense I was an 'early adopter'. As with televisions and computers, if you wait long enough prices come down eventually. I can't find the bamboo yarn at a UK shop but it's $28 per 50g at Purl Soho. 

*I can't remember exactly, and the receipt is not dated.

The ice is a bit thicker

The reason I called my last post 'Skating on thin ice' is that I had taken up yet another project/craze: crochet squares (I've also been dabbling with hexagons, but have managed to avert a complete cave-in). I was having a lot of fun making the little squares but couldn't decide on the overall scheme of the thing. After browsing Ravelry and blogs I've decided to abandon the white completely and join the squares as I go. I was having difficulty finding nice but cheap white wool blend dk. It had to be stark white, not cream, to match what I had used previously - and I regard this blanket as a cheap and cheerful scrap blanket, not an investment.   

It's certainly bright, isn't it! My only worry about this method of construction is that the squares are joined by a single chain stitch through the big holes of the adjacent square, and  this thread is simultaneous forming the outer ring of the square you're working with. So if a thread snaps there could be quite a bit of unravelling!

Meantime I am working on a pair of socks (I'm on the toe of the first one, having had to rip it right back to the heel and redo) but all other knitting and spinning seems to be on hold.

Hooked

Yes, I've fallen for the crooked ways of crochet. My mother has now moved into a nursing home and I have been doing some gentle destashing in her house (not yarns, just stuff, like really sharp kitchen knives and baking powder). I found a beautiful crocheted cream wool blanket/shawl that I didn't remember seeing before. My mother told me that her mother made it when she was expecting her - all of 89 years ago! I was so pleased to have something made by my grandmother, who died when my mother was only a month old (childbed fever). I got some advice from someone who knows a lot about crochet and worked out the pattern. It's not a difficult one and I have started my own version in a lambswool laceweight yarn that I bought on a partial cone a few years ago. That's the blue/green blob in this picture:

But of course it didn't stop there. I googled, browsed blogs, bought looked at books. I was rather taken by the Larger than Life crocheted bag that some people are making. I didn't have the authentic pattern but the pattern for the square is the same as Willow in Jan Eaton's crochet squares book (without the final tier). However, when I'd made my twelve squares I couldn't see them as a bag and I've decided to make two cushion covers instead. The colours are exactly right for our sitting room. The yarn is Rown DK Light that Dawn gave me for the baby clothes (and for any projects I wanted - thank you Dawn!) and these were the colours that I couldn't really see on a baby (looking a bit washed out here in the sunshine).

 

One thing led to another and now I'm crocheting a ripple blanket (google it, or look at Jan Eaton's fab book, on ripple stitches for crochet or knitted afghans. This is from stashed Jo Sharp dk that I keep hauling out and putting back because the blue is just not quite right. I feel that it's in the spirit of crochet to use up oddments/stash, so I quite like the slightly off look of the colours here. One thing I've learned about these rippley things - they pull in, so make your initial chain a bit longer than you expect.

My mother was very good at crochet and I can't actually remember learning to crochet, although it must have been when I was very little. I'm quite proud to be in a line of crocheting women, although I've a long way to go before I match my mother.