Bluebells and Blankets

The weather turned out to be soooo much better than was forecast in my part of the world (Hampshire, UK). Saturday morning I decided to get up early, get my arse in gear and go out to see the Bluebells in Micheldever Wood again, and boy was it worth it!! They look amazing and have the beautiful fragrance you only get with English Bluebells.
I wasn't in the same area of Woods as last time. A dog walker had suggested walking a bit further along the road from the main car park, (only 200yds) and going into the woods on the other side. She said the bluebells were even better there, although to be honest, I thought they were just as good as the main woods, the difference was the noise. Or rather the lack of it. Micheldever Woods runs alongside the M3 motorway and there is a constant drone of traffic. The other area of woods just had birdsong. And very few people too - I counted ten people in the 90 minutes I was there. It was idyllic and I took a million photos but don't you know it, the best ones are on my phone...I've emailed myself one or four to show you.

The lovely shades of lavender blue reminded me of the bargello piece I made last year, inspired by the bluebells.

When I got home I settled down to start writing up the pattern for my Tooty Stripey Blanket. I decided to go for a chart format and it took quite a long time but I got there - although I don't know if it will make sense to anyone else!! It's over 3 pages already and I haven't mentioned the border yet...
Obviously, anyone who wants to use it will need to know how to read a chart as I am not planning on writing instructions in "long hand", or doing any kind of tutorial - it's just a chart. And it's a bit scruffy. But I will be adding plenty of links to lovely bloggers who have already done fabulous tutorials on how to work every stitch - and I'll look for one on how to read a chart!!
When complete there will be a separate tab at the top of the page. No, it's not there yet, I'm still working on it!!
I need to scan my pages and save them as pdf's, upload them, then make them downloadable - it's been a while since I did that, hope I can remember how! Then write all the extra text to support it. Not much then! To all those bloggers out there who do write complete tutorials with lots and lots of photos to help even the complete beginner along the way - THANKYOU!! I take my hat off to your talent and generosity. Mine looks very poor in comparison...
Want a quick peak??

Naturally, I have started something else already. I kept seeing pics on Instagram of a gorgeous shawl with lots of texture. It was called the "Lost in Time Shawl", designed by Johanna of Mijo Crochet.
I thought the shawl pattern would work as a square baby blanket - and boy does it!! If you follow me on Instagram you will have seen all the pics I've been posting this week. I did some more rows today, sat on the patio in the sunshine we were lucky enough to enjoy again. Mind you, it's 20" square now and takes a long time to work my way around all four sides - especially working the texture rows!!!
I'm still using my tooty fruity colour palette but this time I sorted them into a particular order and have kept repeating that order. The pattern has twelve rows and I have eleven colours, so the pattern and texture does appear to be changing as it grows giving a very pleasing effect. I've decided to call it the "Lost in Tooty Time Blanket" !!! I hope Johanna doesn't mind...

Well, that's all for today as there's crochet to be done!! See you again soon, T xXx

PS I've just noticed the Pageview Counter for my little blog has passed 25,000!!! Woo Hoo!!! Thank you so much for dropping by!