The Finished Article: Isabella Blanket

Yikes, when did my life get so BUSY? I've barely had time to read blogs let alone update my own, but hurrah! For one of the things taking up so much of my time (the other thing is Running) was finishing off the Baby Blanket. Last time I posted about it, I had finished all the squares and needed to tie in the ends (MY GOD that bit's boring - need to learn to do this as I go!), and then I blocked them and everything:

(measuring and pinning is tedious too isn't it?) but look at the difference it makes!

I then quickly sewed them all together with whip stitch because I didn't have time to learn to crochet them together. I was so excited when it started to take shape:

And finally I finished off with two rounds of cream grannying on the edge. I had wanted to finish with a round of each colour but just didn't have the time. I like the frilly effect the grannying gives the edge though - I haven't seen many blankets edged this way.

And here we have it in all its, er, glory. By the time I'd finished it it was very much the eleventh hour and no daylight was left - this was the best photo I could manage.

The blanket was put to use straight away in the pram and that was really nice to see - hopefully it wasn't just for my benefit. Sadly didn't get a picture of Isabella snoozing under it though - we were too busy enjoying the rare moment of quiet!

Blanket Stats:
Made up of: 36 5-round granny squares
Measures: 65cm x 65cm - smaller than I expected but big enough for the pram and cot

Wool: James C Brett Pure Merino DK in cream, lavender, and green plus a ball of generic baby DK in lemon as James C Brett doesn't do yellow apparently.

Cost: 8 balls of the Merino @ £2.89 plus one ball of the lemon @ £1.99 = £25.11
Started: 4th January 2011
Finished: 23rd March 2011

Total Man Hours: - average 45 mins per square = 27 hours, plus about 6 hours tying in the ends, 2 hours blocking, 3 hours sewing it up and 2 hours doing the edge = 40 hours! If only I had picked it up for an hour a day I would never have had the mad rush at the end.

Afterthoughts?

I didn't enjoy working with the Merino - the skeins split very readily and it's easy to hook through half a stitch. It is lovely and soft though.

I would take more care over the placement of the squares when sewing them up - I had six different colour combos and decided their order on paper using a Sudoku method, ensuring that no row or column had the same square twice. I didn't take into account though how similar the squares with the same colour outer round look, and quite a few of them are beside each other but I didn't notice til I'd started sewing them. Next time I'll take my time and arrange them and take photos etc til I get something I'm happy with.

I would certainly use brighter colours on a baby blanket next time - I started to really hate the insipidity of these ones after a while - but my friend was pleased that they matched the nursery so all's well that ends well.

And now I'm going to completely gazump myself by showing you the amazing cushion my other friend made for her - she did all the embroidery herself - even the satin stitch, can you believe it??

Isn't it marvellous? I made such a fuss she said she'll make one for me with the scraps in exchange for a dress!

Spendthrift

spend·thrift

n. One who spends money recklessly or wastefully

adj. Wasteful or extravagant

thrift·y
adj. thrift·i·er, thrift·i·est Practising or marked by the practice of thrift; wisely economical.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/

Apparently it's a common misconception that a 'Spendthrift' is someone who is 'thrifty', when in fact the word means the very opposite. (If you're a bit of a geek and interested in this kind of thing, you can find an explanation of the word origin here.)

I hope I've managed not to come across as such too much on here, because I don't want to be a real misery, but I've been having a really, really tough time these last few months and I have to admit that this has resulted in some spendthrift behaviour. Retail therapy if you will. But I'm pleased to report that I have for the most part managed to put the thrift in spendthrift and got myself some lovely bargains. Wanna see?

An idle Sunday afternoon led to quite a long eBay watch list for me, but I managed to whittle it down to a few items I really loved:

I bagged this fabulous G Plan nest of tables for just a tenner (just need a home of my own to put them in now):

I was desperate for a new pair of black boots after discovering a couple of weeks ago that I could actually scratch my foot through the large hole in my old ones. When I saw these Topshop boots with their zips on the outside they reminded me a lot of the Office pair I loved last year. A furious bidding war ensued but these babies are mine-all-mine and I LOVE them!

Good God it's hard to take a decent picture of a pair of boots whilst wearing them!

Finally, I won an auction for this vintage sheet. £6 (inc P&P) for 2 metres of gorgeous floral cotton, I think it'll make a fantastic dress.

Oh, oops, what's that on top of it? Ahh, well this was my not-so-thrifty purchase - a snazzy new iPod nano. I did buy it with some birthday money I had though and it's going to be invaluable on my runs (once I work out how to use it and can actually run for longer than five minutes).

Continuing on an internet shopping theme, I can't remember when I first came across the whatnikkimade shop on Etsy but this Custard Cream brooch had been on my wishlist for a while:

And when I finally decided to just bloody well buy it (and I have had SO many compliments on it since it arrived - should have taken the plunge (or the dunk!) ages ago!), these two Tunnocks Teacake inspired prints fell into my basket too (again, just need a home of my own...)

I've just realised Nikki has a blog too so will be having a nosey over there in a bit - I absolutely love all her stuff.

Finally, I went out and did a bit of real-life shopping this week and have scored a few clothing bargains:

L-R: This red and white dress was only £4 in Age Concern and put me in mind of The Girl's dress which I coveted recently on her Flickr - it fit (and is a size 8 - woohoo!) so I gladly brought it home with me. You'll probably recognise the black and brown New Look dress, quite a few bloggers have this, and when Laura alerted me the other day to the fact that they had it in their Tall range AND it was in the sale I had to pop in and have a look. One left - Size 12, Tall - serendipity? Fate? And finally, with an oversized handknit aran cardigan remaining elusive, I picked up this mustard cardie for £3, again in Age Concern.

Phew! Time for a period of proper thrift and frugality now, at least til the smell of burning has subsided from my purse. Have you been spendy and/or thrifty lately? Do you think the two can go hand in hand?

Progress...

Do you remember a while back when I started this blanket? I taught myself to granny back in December with the aim of making a blanket for my friend’s impending arrival in February. I decided a 6x6 square should be big enough for a little baby and tootled along merrily making maybe two or three squares a week. Even when Isabella made her big entrance on the 6th February I didn’t worry that I had only made 10 squares because they live quite far away and I knew I wouldn’t be seeing then until the 26th March, so I carried on pootling.

Then last week something awful happened that jolted me to my senses. It was the First of March. I had only made 14 of my 36 squares. Cue much panic and all hands on deck. My little fingers have been on fire these first six days of March I can tell you. My Grannying PB has gone from 1 hour per square to 35 minutes and I’m convinced the index finger on my right hand was on the verge of evolving its own hook by the time I finished up at 10.30 on Sunday night.

But look what we have here, a lovely tottery tall pile of squares!


And here they are in all their glory laid out in colour blocks (these will be mixed up on the finished article):


But I can’t rest on my laurels, there’s still a loooooong way to go. Just look at how the sizes differ!


And look at how crinkly and, well, not square, some of the squares are! I’m going to need to learn how to block pretty damn quick. (Not to mention all the ends which need weaving in – argh!)


And once they’ve been blocked they all need sewing together so I’ll have to learn how to do that, and then finally I’ll need to put a few rounds round the edge of the whole thing to finish it off and use up the rest of the wool. It’s going to be a steep learning curve. 19 days and counting....

(Please try to see past the yellow hue in the pictures - it was waaay past daylight hours by the time I'd got to the point of taking pics)

Animal Testing

This post is not as heavy as the title may suggest, in fact it's positively frivolous. Look at this book my animal-barmy friend gave me for my birthday: The Cat IQ Test by EM Bard. Fab little book full of ticky lists to score your cat on various activities and find out his IQ. And even better, because I have two cats, I was able to pit them against each other!

Look at the charming illustrations!

The test is divided into four parts:

1) The Cat Observation Test - where you observe the cat in a variety of situations and at different times and score him. Criteria ranges from whether or not he cleans his face after eating or enjoys having his ears tickled, which seem pretty usual feline traits to me, to 'being able to predict a change in the weather'(!!)

They both scored highly in the first two examples - here is Sally having a wash:

And Mavis clearly enjoying having her ears scratched:


2) The Performance Test - in this section you must use a variety of objects and test how your cat reacts to certain actions, such as if you drop some string or wool on his back, does he just sit there oblivious or will he remove it? This part drew some puzzlement from the girls who were presumably wondering what on earth had got into me. Sally didn't take too kindly to me tickling her ear hair and Mavis just looked completely non-plussed when I proffered a pencil in front of her nose (she was supposed to grab it with her paw ... but maybe she's so clever that she realised it was in fact a writing implement and not a tasty mouse?).


3) Extra Credits - In this section your cat can gain extra points for particularly clever things he may be able to do, such as balancing on his hind legs - which my cats do quite happily where treats are involved (see below) - and being able to pass any item from paw to paw and hit it back and forth in the air, which seems a bit improbable to me!


4) Credit Deductions - your cat can lose points in this section for acts of extreme stupidity such as falling off a ledge whilst asleep, which Sally has been known to do on more than one occasion - here she is looking precarious on the back of a chair - and more ridiculous things such as continuously running into walls or doors! (I think in the latter case you should probably take your cat to the vet to check for blindness, or at the very least some kind of mania).


So how did they fare? Well they excelled in different areas with Sally scoring highest in the performance tests and Mavis earning most extra credits, mainly for being a noisy little so-and-so. Overall though Mavis scored 193 and Sally just pipped her with 196 - but both are in the high end of the Superior Category meaning they are highly intelligent, well co-ordinated and adjust easily to their surroundings. In short they have mastered the skills they need to survive - what a relief!

At the back of the book if you are interested in such data are some tables detailing performance results based on age, sex and type - turns out Siamese cats are cleverer in general than long- and short-haired breeds - no wonder they always act so aloof!

Whilst I think some of the questions are a bit ridiculous (have you ever seen a cat dance, or even twitch his tail in time to music? Me neither), others just irrelevant (surely all cats enjoy being stroked?) and the results should be taken with a pinch of salt; it is nevertheless an entertaining book which kept me out of trouble for an hour or so, a bit of fun with your feline friends!

Be warned though: your cats will flick their tails and walk away when you're trying to test them as if to say "FFS, what is she doing now?!"

Maybe it's my head that needs testing...