Allium update

Just a quickie today to show how my Bargello Allium is progressing. I've started taking it to work again on a Monday and I reckon I'm at least 2/3 done now. The sooner it's finished the sooner I can plan my pebbles / water piece.

I don't know if I'll get any done today though as I've already started my third cosy stripe blanket. Must come up with a name for it...

Woodland Walk #2 completed!

The Woodland Walk blanket #2 is finished. It had a quick wash and tumble dry this morning before I took a few more  pics. (Yes, you can see some thread ends that I need to trim off. I read once that when you stitch your ends in, you should wait until you've washed and blocked before trimming the ends so you don't get any tiny ends popping out later.)

I made it 6 stitches narrower than the first blanket so that there would be a little bit more wool left to do a slightly wider border down the sides. There still wasn't much left though, so I had to make do with a row of trebles, topped with a row of double crochet but it was enough to finish it off nicely.
Green topped with brown on one side, and grey with brown on the other - worked on a 4mm hook, with 2 trebles worked into the edge stitch of every row.

I really am very pleased with how both these blankets turned out and can't wait to start a third with the other shades of wool I bought.

I have 2 balls of each of all bar one of these colours, so will be able to make a bigger blanket. A little play with the calculator says that 5 balls will make a blanket measuring 29 x 37 inches, excluding the side border, so 44 x 42 inches should need nearly 9 balls, with hopefully enough left to make a one inch border on each side edge.

I did consider altering the pattern and working 2 rows of grannies, then one row of trebles in the same colour, then 2 rows of grannies and one of trebles in the next colour etc, so worked up a small sample with the remaining scraps of wool. 

But I'm not keen. I think I prefer the original 2 row pattern, so will probably make a start tonight before I change my mind!!

This one will be for my Folksy shop. 

Before I go, would you like to see what I went and bought in the sale this week??.... I couldn't resist. I never can...

The Anchor tapestry wool at work has been on offer 2 for 3 this month and it was due to finish today. I kept wondering whether to buy the yarn for another bargello piece and put it away until I had time (yes, I laughed too at the thought of having time!!) and there's been a design floating around my head for quite a while. Imagine a few big pebbles/rocks with a river rushing through and around them. Can you see it?? Nice eh?? So I spent a whole hour choosing colours one lunch time - the blues were pretty easy to choose, it was the pebbles I was having trouble with. I started choosing shades of grey but there was almost no contrast with the blues. So after trying brown after brown, I settled on some sandy browns (they look better in the first of the two photos below). The darkest brown is wrong and will need to be changed and I wanted a tiny touch of dark olive green to do patches of algae on the pebbles  - but that colour looks wrong in good daylight too. I'll take them both with me on Monday and swap them.

Want to see what I chose??

The blues off to the left are from a slightly different colour family than the rest of the blues but were so nice I'll fit them in somewhere!! Can you see what I mean about the darkest brown and the green? It doesn't really show up in this photo but they really don't go.

When I'll have time to do this is anyone's guess! Need to try and sketch out a rough design too...

So many ideas, so little time... Right - I'd better go and get busy with one of my many projects then!

Bye for now, T  xXx

OMG !

I was very brave today and finally listed my Peacock Tail Bag for sale on Folksy! I'd set up my own little shop called,  naturally enough,  TinasAllsorts, over a month ago but this is my first listing. Whether it sells remains to be seen!
I put a link on Facebook which has already had over 80 likes but I don't know if anyone has followed the link to Folksy. Hope I haven't overpriced it... I'll let you know if it sells!

I've been very busy this week with the second Woodland Walk Blanket. I'm two thirds done already. I'm making it a fraction narrower so I can hopefully do a bit more of a border. Not much more - just a bit.

Remember what I jokingly said recently about being worried about the Russians? ... Look at this screen shot of my Stripey Blanket from Pinterest. Yes, MY Stripey Blanket. Can you see where it was saved from? Ravelry? My blog? No.
Livemaster.ru
I don't think there was even a like to the original source. Ah well. I knew it would happen.
It's had a huge number of re pins from one source or another, so it's nice to know so many people like it.
Another picture that's been getting a lot of interest on Pinterest  (sorry!) lately is this one of my Rippling Clusters Blanket -

I wonder how many people pin it then pop across here? If you have just done so, welcome! I always meant to go back and write a little more about how I made it. Maybe I will find the time now. Maybe. ..

That's all for tonight - fingers crossed for a sale on Folksy!

I couldn't resist ...

I went to get the rest of the wool I had put by for the Woodland Walk Blanket and naturally had a look at what else they had while I was there. And guess what? There was something else I really liked that was in the sale! Only £1.50 a ball! It seemed a shame not to buy it. And I thought I should get extra this time. Just in case. Want to see?

There are 5 colours and I wanted two of each but they only had one left of the greyish mauve (2nd right in the bottom pic). But I can work round that. Perfect for another stripey blanket. When I get time!

While I was there, another lady was also choosing a selection of pinks,blues and greys and asked my opinion.  They work well together I said - what are you making? Well, I've seen this Mandala Madness blanket online. ... I laughed and said I knew exactly what she meant. I too have been tempted but only did the very centre as a cushion cover, this time last year. It's a small world.

My lovely Blackie was safely delivered to her new home last night. She really wasn't happy going in th cat basket again and when we got there and I let her jump out, she crawled on her belly to the nearest hiding place and wouldn't come out. Poor thing - she clearly thought she was going to have unspeakable things done to her again.
But I hear she did come out eventually and has been eating and made herself at home on the sofa. Just not my sofa...

Two Ta-Dah's and a sad goodbye

Let's do the sad bit first shall we?? I will be waving goodbye to my lovely cat Blackie tomorrow. She has continued to attack our other cat Fluffy, so I have had to find her a new home. She's going to live in Winchester with a lady from work, who I am sure will make a big fuss of her and love her as much as I do. She should have moved house last weekend but decided to be rather ill and have an emergency (and expensive) trip to the vet one night, followed by 3 nights sleeping on my bed while she recovered. She seems to be ok now - I would have felt terrible if she had moved house and then been ill... I will miss her. She is so friendly and incredibly soft and silky.

😢

And now the Ta-Dahs!

I finished my Dad's lap blanket very fast indeed and we're both very pleased with how it turned out. (Even though he didn't smile for the photo, he really was pleased. I think...) The colours really do work well together and I've decided to go back and buy the rest of the wool I had put by so I can make another as a gift for someone else. Then I might make another in spring colours. Followed by summer colours...

In fact, I enjoyed it so much I might even make a completely separate page dedicated to the blanket, with ideas on different colourways etc. Hmmm...maybe. If I can remember how to create and add a Page! (Update - There is now a page called Cosy Stripe Blanket, and a button on the sidebar too.)

I've also been knitting another hat - my Dad took a fancy to the cabled one I made myself before Christmas, apart from the huge pom-pom I added! His is a much simpler pattern based on double rib and worked in a chunky tweed effect yarn. I found the pattern on Ravelry and like the blanket, it worked up very quickly. He couldn't wait for me to actually finish it before trying it on!! It would have looked better if I'd made it on a smaller needle but he wasn't complaining.

That's all for today - talk again soon.