Current Craftings

Thanks all for your lovely and thought-provoking comments on my last post, I really appreciate you all taking the time to say something. Loving the new 'reply-to-comment' feature but not sure if it alerts the commenter so you might have to pop back and check.

Anyway. 30 years and two days old and still here, I haven't become an old biddy overnight or anything. But I am about to write a post solely on wool crafts so I guess I'm on a slippery slope where that's concerned.

It's over a year now since I first mastered basic crochet stitches and I seem to have had something on the go constantly, but am yet to make anything for myself (OK apart from the wonky scarf) - isn't that a travesty? I think it is. I resolved after making my last baby cushion that 2012 would be the year I crocheted myself a blanket, just for fun and with no deadlines. I've had this one in my mind's eye since long before I ever picked up a crochet hook actually and in December I bought a lot of brightly coloured yarn and started some experimental hooking:

Oh yes, it's a Rainbow Blanket all right. In fact that was going to be its name until The Girl christened it the Selfish Granny and I liked the imagery of that better. I settled on the shades I'd use for Richard-Of-York-Gave-Battle-In-Vain and tried them both ways and there was a clear winner - I think you'll agree! I can't believe they're so different - one so dark and the other so vibrant. The squares are about 6" and I'm aiming for 100. I've only made three so far but already I think this blanket is going to be something special!

Part of the reason I've only managed three squares is because my Grandma has been teaching me to knit! I acquired some rather giant needles and decided straight away that I wanted a long colourful Dr Who scarf, so went out and spent £30 on chunky soft yarn (that's far more than I'd ever spend on an actual scarf might I add!) and Grandma taught me stocking stitch that afternoon. I've only got this far with it and you can see a couple of little holes where I think I've missed part of the stitch but I've only picked up one extra stitch so it could be worse:

Not a bad effort for (and I quote my Grandma here) "a giant crab having a fight with a pair of pokers"!

While we're on the subject of knitting, I want to show you one of my birthday presents from my best friend - just look at this amazing pair of gloves!

And they fit and everything! I'm so impressed and love them so much that it doesn't even bother me that they make my scarf look rather amateur (that's the vibe I was going for, OK?)