Done It!

Yippee! I’ve finished my crochet blanket, or is it an Afghan? I have worked this blanket in front of a roaring fire all winter. The colder the weather became the faster the blanket grew. I am delighted with the end result. It’s very fortunate that it is complete as I was making this for my campervan. We go away in Damnvan1 tomorrow so hooray.

 

I bought this crochet kit to make a blanket way back in September last year at Yarndale. I bought the yarn from Attic24 and intended to make their Coast Ripple Blanket. This colour scheme is so representative of the sea, beach and cliffs it is perfect for a camper-van. The yarn pack is Stylecraft Special DK.

I started the pattern provided but WOW! As a fairly inexperienced crochet girl I really struggled with the “wave” or ripple pattern. My waves didn’t ripple at all. Obviously a major problem with my technique. After multiple attempts at the waves I abandoned hope.  At this point I stumbled across “Spice of Life” crochet blanket by Sandra Paul. Sandra is also known as Cherry Heart http://www.cherryheart.co.uk

 

 

This Spice of Life pattern was perfect for me as it was like working a sampler. There were multiple stripes using many different stitches. I worked my way through the pattern ( a little slowly) and built up my stitch repertoire. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. The yarn is soft and warm, the pattern lovely and the end result very satisfying.

I deliberated long and hard about whether or not to do a border but I’m really glad that   I did. The border was a further learning experience and really finishes off the blanket. The blanket didn’t need blocking.

The finished blanket is made from the Spice of Life pattern by Cherry Heart and Black Sheep Wools. http://www.cherryheart.co.uk  www.blacksheepwools

The wools and colour sequence are from Attic24 at http://www.attic24.com

I think that now I would be able to work the ripple blanket. In fact I noticed that Attic24 have a new kit, so maybe at Yarndale this year……

Cross Stitch Sampler

Hello Dear Friends! Having blogged about counted cross stitch last week I remembered my first ever cross stitch attempt. This sampler was purchased as a kit, where the pattern was printed onto the fabric. Actually aod way to learn cross stitch.

The sampler was worked in 1985 as you can see. In those days I worked as a Radiographer in a busy A and E department. ( Accident and Emergency, ER -but no George Clooney). Now when I say busy we had quite a lot of down time as I worked mainly evenings. During these quiet moments I used to stitch away. Cross stitch was perfect as I could drop it at anytime. I am certain that in more recent times crafting at work would not be possible! But this was in another era. Can anyone else work at crafts at work these days?

This particular sampler has a very worthy saying which, incidentally I didn’t choose!

“Virtue is the Chiefest Beauty of the  mind

The Noblest Ornament of Humankind

Happy days and Happy Ways! (Perhaps I could embroider that onto a sampler)

Grandmother,Father and Daughter Embroidered Pictures

This gallery contains 2 photos.

These pictures are a record of work done by three generations of my family. The blue Galleon is worked in Goldwork and bead embroidery. This picture was worked by my Grandmother in the 1970s. She was a keen needle woman and I like to think that some of her talent and enthusiasm was passed on […]