Graduated Granny Blanket

I have a crush on granny squares...  I love that they inspire infinite possibilities of colour play, and shape and size combinations, to create something unique every time.  It's the staple pattern that so many of us always come back to when the enthusiasm of a new pattern has been satisfied; and it is the basis of the pattern that I share with you today.

Now something that I am not quite so keen on are variegated yarns; they look so appealing in the shop with some lovely combinations of colours, and I've succumbed to the colourful lure of them more times then I care to remember.  But I have almost always been disappointed with them once I work something up - it must be the control freak in me that just can't give control to the wool!  I saw a blanket made by someone on the internet this week that was absolutely stunning; it had been worked up in lots of different shades of blue and the creator described how she put all of her various blue shades into a bag and randomly took one for each round.  And it looked really, really great.  I must do that, I thought to myself; and then I thought hang on, that is just impossible for me - there is no way that I can just pull a ball out of a bag and not have a heated debate with myself deciding if I like how this is going to look.  This will inevitably be followed by me having another delve until I find something that I like better...  hmm, it is no wonder I have a problem with variegated yarn!  Give me gorgeous, solid colours any day.

What I do like about variegated yarns is the blending of one colour into another, and so I decided to play around with using multiple strands of different solid colours together to produce different effects - and it is quite addictive!  And exciting as you never know what new, blended yarn you are going to create on each round - endless possibilities...  And you can decide where a colour change will occur on your work...  AND as you are using multiple strands, as well as a big chunky hook, your work grows incredibly fast - as well as using up a wool stash quicker than you can say "honey........ my wool basket is empty...... I need to buy some more..."  Everyone's a winner!

So, I give you, the Graduated Granny Blanket -

I NOW HAVE A NEW WEBSITE AND THIS PATTERN CAN BE FOUND AT -

http://psicrochet.com/portfolio-items/graduated-granny/

One rainbow graduated granny.  I do hope I have inspired you to try some yarn blending and maybe a graduated granny of your own.

The colours blend so beautifully together...

I hope you have a wonderful, colourful week.

Happy crocheting!

Karen

xx

Inspiration vs. Motivation

Hi everyone,

Loving the weekend here in sunny Scotland!  I've been busy busy busy this week working on my baby blankets, but I also squeezed in, and completed, something new - a great stash-busting dollop of instant satisfaction (well nearly..  a couple of evenings will do it).  I'm saving it up for another post, but that might be a quick glimpse above...

Along with crocheting my week away I have spent far too many hours picking through the delights on pinterest.  It is the font of most of my inspiration nowadays, and I thought I might start sharing with you just a couple of pins each week that have particularly inspired me.

The two I have chosen this week share a theme...



I love everything about this room; the simplicity; the distressed wood; the stripes; the red chairs; the delicate pink blossom.

And then this -



Red gingham & white bedding...  need I say more! 

I think that it says a lot about my motivation this week that when browsing pinterest I pinned this -



closely followed by this -


I think that in 365 days I will have kept my current figure, and greatly added to it... unless I learn to run away from the cake!

Have a great week everyone.
Happy crafting.
Karen
xx

Northern Star

Hi everyone; my second, baby boy option, blanket is now decided upon.  I wanted a blanket covered in 5-point stars, made up of hexagon motifs similarly to my baby girls puffed daisy blanket.  This wasn't the most straightforward project to design, and I have to admit that I don't think I could just write the pattern down in a way that most people would be able to understand easily, so a comprehensive photographic tutorial is essential for this project.  I would have loved to have made a video tutorial for you, but with only 1 pair of hands I'm afraid it is beyond me!  (I suddenly feel the need for a large rubber band to hold my camera to my forehead!  I joke, but part of me thinks I may just try it!!!  But not today...)  It is quite easy to work, once you are familiar with the pattern and where the stitches are placed. (I surely hope)....

 

I NOW HAVE A NEW WEBSITE AND THIS PATTERN CAN BE FOUND AT -

http://psicrochet.com/portfolio-items/northern-star/

Back view below.

My boys baby blanket is in shades of blue, green, white, grey and dark brown.  I've made pretty good progress so far.

Go on, give it a go...  It's not difficult honestly!!

Happy crocheting

Karen

xx

Easter Holidays

Happy Easter Everyone!  I have my parents visiting with me at the moment, and with the very welcome bank holiday giving me a long weekend off work we have been exploring the Southern Scottish countryside.  We drove up the western coast yesterday to Ayr, and I spent far too much money in the shops there.  Today we drove to the southernmost point of Scotland, the Mull of Galloway.

Unfortunately the good weather we have been enjoying has fled south, and it was a cloudy and blustery day by the lighthouse.

On a good, sunny, clear day the information in the visitor's centre said that you could see (my homeland) the Cumbrian fells in England to the east, the Isle of Man to the south, and Ireland to the west.  Alas, the weather was not that kind to us and there was no sign of Cumbria...

But we could just make out some distant hills that must have been the Isle of Man...

And similarly we could just see Ireland to the west.

It was lovely, but a bit blowy and cold, so we came home again to hot, sausage sandwiches, coffee, dvds and, for my part anyway, crochet...

I am getting on with my girly puffed daisy baby blanket, but I also haven't been able to resist trying out some ideas for a baby boys blanket.  As I'm doing flowers for a girls blanket, I really wanted to do stars for a boys blanket, but I couldn't find any designs out there that suited me.  What I wanted really was a basic 5-point star that was worked in the round, similarly to my daisy flowers, but all the patterns I could find had the points of the stars worked sideways which wasn't what I wanted.  When I started to play with a pattern myself I realised why these stars were worked sideways; it's difficult to get a good point worked in the round, but I persevered and I now have my boys star blanket pattern.  I will eventually do a photographic pattern tutorial for it, but for now I give you a sneak peek...

Happy holidays and crocheting!
Karen
xx