Creating :: The Crochet Blanket Ta-dah

Hi there everyone 😀

It's been a good while since I've done a totally crafty post and this one has certainly been a long time coming.

Inspired by Attic 24's Harmony Blanket I started this project in June 2017 and I am so pleased to finally be able to say 'Ta-dah'.

My epic journey started off with a hunt through my yarn stash which seemed to be turning into quite a collection, with no real plans for using any of it, to see if I had enough already to make my own version of Lucy's Harmony Blanket.

After a good play I managed to find 13 colours which I felt could blend together well and decided to give it a go ...

I started out fairly full of enthusiasm and by November of 2017 had got all my squares up to the third row and it was looking good ...

In May 2018 I was still plodding on and the blanket accompanied me to my first local craft morning ...

By the time I'd got all of the squares up to the fifth row it was April 2019 ...

I decided I would try something new and have a go using the join as you go method for the final row of all of the squares and there was lots of laying out on the dining room table ...

... until I found a design I was happy with ... deciding to go with a kind of a colourwash ...

The join as you go method for linking the squares together worked an absolute treat ...

... and in what seemed like no time at all they were all joined together ...

... and looking very neat ...

I opted for a fairly simple, but wide, border, using my favourite of the blanket colours ...

I did make a bit of a 'schoolgirl error' with my border ... completing it in the same size hook as I had used for the squares. Whilst all started out well ... as I completed more rows of the border it did tighten up so made the blanket difficult to lay totally flat without the corners curling up. I understand that if I'd used a bit of a larger hook I may have been able to avoid this.

The blanket then sat in a bag by the sofa until last week when I decided that it was time to darn in the ends and finally ... nearly four years from starting out I had my 'Ta-dah' moment. I now have myself a hand made crocheted throw and I have to say I am quite proud of it ...

I'm not quite sure what my plans are for it but I do know that I love it and it is really snuggly when curled up on the sofa watching TV ... especially on these seriously cold nights we've been having of late. 

I'm not sure what my next crochet project will be ... but whatever it is ... I hope it doesn't take as long to finish as this one did 😀

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HM@No27 - My December Makes

Happy New Year everyone!!

I know it's a little late but Martin and I have been struck down with heavy colds since New Year's Eve and 2017 hasn't actually started as normal for us.

There have been no lists, no plans, no goals or objectives and, safe to say, when I've not been coughing or sleeping, I've been feeling just a little purposeless.

So, today was the day that I fought back. Enough slobbing around feeling sorry for myself, time to get this year started, with my first post of the New Year.

There have been quite a few makes I've been having to hold off from sharing with you as they were made as surprise Christmas gifts, but now the big day has been and gone I can finally let you see what I've been up to.

Crocheted Cushion
This crocheted cushion is something I've been working on periodically since the beginning of the year and I was so pleased to have it finished in time for Christmas.
I bought the wool at the same time as I started this strawberries and cream one that I did last year, so it has definitely been a case of a marathon rather than a sprint with this one.

Christmas Stockings
Last year I was inundated with orders for personalised Christmas stockings. Fortunately it wasn't quite so crazy busy with these this year and I didn't have to turn anybody away.

Button Art
This button art 'L' was another make as a Christmas gift for a little girl who's had her bedroom decorated with wallpaper covers in buttons. How cool is that? I am sure it will give a really bright pop of colour.

Snow Families
I'd seen a tutorial for these 'sock' snowmen on Pinterest and had been hoping to have made some in time to have on the Christmas craft stalls, but never got round to it.

Just before Christmas I decided to have a go at them and I'm really pleased with how they turned out and ended up giving them as gifts to friends and family.

I will definitely be making more of these this year, so keep an eye out.

 

Taggy Blanket
Another make I've been meaning to have a go at for a while. I finally got round to putting one of these together for my lovely new nephew Bobby for Christmas. I am certain that these will be another returning make for this year.

and last but by no means least ...

Wooden necklace and bracelet set
It's actually been a little while since I've made any jewellery at all and, even longer since I've made anything using wooden beads. This set was my first attempt at a necklace and I'm really please with how it's turned out.

So that's it from Hand Made at Number 27 for another year. December 2016 was busier than December 2015 which was great news and, as I started with my Christmas makes earlier for 2016, it wasn't quite so hectic, which I was very thankful for.

I'm looking forward to a bit of a lull now for a few months, but do have a few orders to be going on with, so I will be making the most of this quiet time, but there will be plenty more to come for 2017, so please do keep reading.

Thorpe, Derbyshire - and ...... relax!

We were away for my 51st birthday week, staying in a lovely cottage in Thorpe, in the lovely Peak District.

The cottage was called The Rest and that really is what we were hoping for. Martin was definitely ready for a break, even though it isn't really that long since our Guernsey holiday, and even I, lady of so called leisure, was ready for some serious rest and relaxation, before the madness of the next couple of months kicks in proper.

The weather forecast was not good which, in a way, was a good thing, as it did confine us to barracks for a few lazy afternoons where we could really wind down. When the weather is good we don't tend to relax much as we just have to get out and about.

From the moment we arrived we could see that The Rest would be a great place to hunker down on those wet and windy afternoons, generally chilling and catching up with a few bits that we'd brought away with us to look at.

Our first full day, Saturday, was wet and windy and we didn't venture far. We just popped into Ashbourne to have a look at the 'artisan' market. I have a real need at the moment to see what other hand made stuff is out there. The more I look the happier I am with the quality of stuff I am turning out from Hand Made at Number 27. It's also good to look at prices too, I can't believe how much you can pay for a small purse ... £10.50!! No padding, no zipper covers, no frills, just a couple of pieces of fabric stitched together with a lining and a zip.

We were only out for about an hour and spent the afternoon just chilling. I got a load of squares crocheted for a cushion I am making as a Christmas gift whilst Martin was glued to his ipad. We did break off to sample the hot tub in the pouring rain which was a real treat.

We ended our first day with a slow cooker curry and a nice cosy, lazy evening watching Strictly and X-factor.

So far so good ... we were definitely ticking off the need to relax box.





On Sunday we decided we would make a bit of an effort and make a trip over to the Chatsworth estate garden centre and farm shop. The garden centre is normally a good start for Christmas shopping and the farm shop is also a bit of a treat.

The farm shop was absolutely packed and full of gorgeous looking food of every variety, with a full rainbow of colours of fruit and vegetables.  I couldn't resist a few sneaky snaps.

We weren't out long and I spent the afternoon adding buttons and bows to a stack of Christmas themed stuffed hearts I'd already made. These are stock for a craft Fayre, I am attending later this month, and will look great hung on the white twiggy tree Martin has bought me for my birthday.

A lazy afternoon was followed by another dip in the hot tub, no rain this time, an old favourite, chicken tortilla bake, for tea and slobbing in front of the TV for the rest of the evening.

We are really starting to get to grips with this relaxing business!

Hand Made At Number 27

One of the things I really wanted to do when I finished work back in 2014 was to be more creative. I really wanted to devote time to crafting and see what I could do. 

Well, if you know me, or you've been following my blog for a while, then you will know that I have done a bit of dabbling. 

I started out with beaded bracelets, which were the mainstay of my Christmas gifting last year. 

I now have a cupboard full of beads and have really exhausted my present giving opportunities for family and friends. 

I really wanted to carry on making bracelets but needed an outlet for the finished product so, after much deliberation, and lots of research, I decided to open an Etsy shop. 

I found this really great article at Six Figures Under that talked through all of the details and also offered a link that would give 40 free listings, so I decided to go for it. 

My shop is called Hand Made At Number 27 and I've gone through the process of setting everything up, including all my shop policies. I've even had some business cards made and have created some stickers too. 

I've added a link to Hand Made At Number 27 on Etsy to the left hand margin of my blog, so feel free to have a browse. There isn't much there at the moment, but I hope to build up my range over time. 

I've started off with some wooden beaded bracelets that I've made.

You'll also know that I've recently completed a crocheted throw as a wedding gift. This was quite an ambitious project for the first crocheting I'd done since my teens, but I'm really pleased with how it turned out. 

I really enjoyed getting back into crochet and I've also had a go at some cushions.  The first incorporated a crocodile stitch pattern, which I found on Ravelry.com.  This ended up being a birthday gift for my sister.

The second is made up of small flower granny squares and I love it so much that I just can't bear to part with it!  I am calling it my 'Berry Burst' cushion and have started to make another in different colours as a gift for a friend.

I am really pleased with how both have turned out, but I am finding that this kind of crochet is very slow to progress so whether or not it will be viable or cost effective for these to end up in my shop, time will only tell. 

Last week I had a bit of a crazy crafting week and tried a few new things out. 

I started off with these decorative clay hearts, which are made from bake in the oven modelling clay. 

I moved on to a cushion cover made from some owl design fat quarters that I have had in my stash for a while now. It's been a while since the sewing machine has been out and it took a while to get going but I love how this has turned out.  As well as the patchwork, I've added embellishments and even done a bit of top stitching.

I've already ordered a stack more fat quarters so I can make some more. I'm sure these will appear in my shop some time soon. 

As if that wasn't enough I went on to have a bit of a button art frenzy, as you can see below. 

Button art is great. It's quite cheap to do and, once you know what you are doing, you can turn out a finished article quite quickly. I do have one button art piece in the Etsy shop and hope to add more soon.

When it comes to my Etsy shop, I've not sold anything yet, but people are looking and I guess it will take time for someone to actually take a leap of faith and be my first customer. But hey, it's not costing me anything to give it a go for now, so I will stick with it and see what happens.

My First Crochet Ta-Dah!

The Checkerboard Textures Throw

You will have seen from previous posts that I have got a little bit obsessed with crochet.

My first project started out, back in March, as the checkerboard crochet throw, for which you can find the full pattern here for free.

The picture on the left shows what it should look like ...... and the one on the right is what mine looks like ...... 

Not bad for a first go methinks. I am actually quite proud as it's my first attempt at crocheting in absolutely donkeys years. 

I have adapted the original pattern somewhat. Rather than a five by five squared throw I have gone for seven by four.  This will make it usable as a throw for a single bed, as well as a cuddly for snuggling up in when on the sofa on those cold winter nights.

The original pattern includes 10 different patterned squares and 10 simple granny squares put together to give the checkerboard effect. I decided to have my 'checkerboard' of the patterned squares down the middle, with a granny square border.  

I decided to go with two of each of five different patterned squares instead of the 10 different ones. This was purely because they were my favourites and they turned out well. I then needed 18 granny squares for my border.

I finished off my throw with a final border finishing with a simple scalloped edge.

So that's how it's turned out.  I wanted to share with you how I did it. By no means intended as a tutorial but there may be some useful tips from a crocheting novice. 

I used seven 100g balls of pale grey Olympus double knitting wool (Shade 936),  It was £1.80 a ball at my local post office, so cost me £12.60 overall for wool, which I didn't think was too bad. 

I started out by making the following squares, using a combination of a 3.5 and 4.0 crochet hooks. 

• 18 Granny squares (4.0) 
• 2 Popcorn squares (3.5) 
• 2 Cross stitch squares (4.0)
• 2 Front Post Treble Crochet squares (3.5)
• 2 Front Post Double Crochet squares (4.0)
• 2 Shell Stitch squares (4.0)

The full instructions for making all of the squares can be found on the pattern link here.  If you are struggling with the instructions there are also links to 'Crochet Alongs', where you can see the pattern actually being demonstrated.  I found these really useful for some of the patterns I was really unfamiliar with.

Once I had completed all of my squares and had darned in all of my ends, I 'blocked' the squares and was amazed at the result. It was a bit of an effort, but well worth it. Blocking your squares just straightens out all of the edges and makes sure that they are all exactly the same size. You can find really a really useful tutorial for blocking crochet squares here.

I just folded up a few towels and put them on my ironing board and measured and pinned the squares in batches. I steamed them and then left them for 24 hours before unpinning. The squares should measure 7" x 7" when blocked. 

To make sure that I was happy with my overall pattern, I laid all of the squares out on the bed and just moved them around until I was happy with the final layout.

Rather than whip stitching my squares together I crocheted them on the reverse, using a slip stitch and was really pleased with how it turned out. They look really neat, with a nice flat seam on the front and a nice neat ridge on the back. On my next project I will be confident enough to join on the front. 

I joined my squares in strips first and then joined the strips together.

Having joined all of the squares together I then added my own border. I did a round of single crochet, followed by a round of double crochet and then another round of single crochet before finishing with a simple scalloped edge. 

Overall I am really pleased with how it's turned out. I'm not really sure as to how long it has taken me to make overall as I haven't really kept track of how long I've spent on it. 

I've made it as a wedding gift, hopefully for someone who does not read my blog, so it will come as a surprise.  

As its my first completed crochet project there will be part of me that will be sad to part with it. I only hope the recipients love it as much as I do.

This is not the end of my crocheting exploits - I already have two cushions to share with you and a bag full of wool for more new and exciting projects so watch this space!

Getting Organised

This is a post that I've been waiting for ages to share with you, but something else always seems to feel a bit more interesting.

Whilst on holiday in The Peak District, back in March, I stumbled across another blog that I really like, and have continued to follow since.  Attic 24 is always really colourful and inspiring.  In the main, it is all about crocheting, with a bit of Lucy's love of her caravan and the English countryside thrown in.  Lucy has made some really impressive stuff and is clearly very talented. 

Reading the blog inspired me to want to do more with my own crochet and, while we were away, I ended up ordering some books to help. They were there waiting for me when I got home, but I have to be honest, other than a quick flick through, I haven't really spent much time looking at them, I seem to have gone my own way with my crochet, which is really coming along nicely and I have a couple of finished projects which I hope to share with you all soon.

One of the blog posts, though, was totally non-crochet related. It was about getting organised around the home, something very close to my own heart. 

Since leaving work I no longer have an excuse for not getting things done and I've been trying to get into a routine for both generally keeping tidy and clean, but also those once every three or six months jobs, like turning the mattress or washing the duvet. 

Even with all the lists I have made myself .... I do love a good list ..... It is hard to remember everything and I have been falling behind, in favour of more interesting crafty activities. Lucy's blog post referred to two other websites ... Fly lady and Bullet Journal .... which I had a really good look at. 

Whilst Flylady seems to be aimed at the someone who has seriously got behind the type of person, you know ... the kind you see on fly on the wall TV shows, there were some good theories that I fancied giving a go. 

The bullet journal, on the other hand, I just loved everything about. I know, in this digital age, it may seem a bit archaic going back to notebook and coloured pens (but hey, I'm a girl with a great love for stationery). Martin had bought me some lovely Laura Ashley notebooks for Christmas which would fit the bill nicely, I had been wondering what to do with them. 

I spent Easter Saturday having a really good read of both sites and set up my first 'bullet journal' which I love already. Martin thinks it a bit freaky, but I am a real list girl. Now, all of my lists and activity are captured in one place, rather than in different notebooks, on the iPad and post it notes. 

The first page is an index page and then I started, as advised by Lucy with an annual planner, so I can see certain events across the year at a glance. You can find examples of printable annual planners here.

For my monthly calendar I just knocked up a word document and coloured the entries that were pre-planned before printing this and sticking it in. 

The next page is a monthly task page, followed by daily task lists throughout the month. I've then included all sorts of other lists including general garden and house maintenance activity, pages where I can capture blogging ideas and craft projects I want to have a go at.

I've also set up some pages to capture lists of things that friends and family like, as I hear about them. I am hoping this will come in really useful at birthday and Christmas time. I've also done some pages for stuff I like ..... Which I will make sure Martin is aware of. 

I've then left space for my Flylady routines and will see how that goes. It took a while to set up but as time is going on it isn't taking that long to keep going and I am really getting on well with it.

I've also found a few of Flylady's sayings really useful ........

• You can do anything for 15 minutes (yes, even going for a walk!)
• You are not behind, just jump in where you are
• If you make it fun, it will get done
• Babysteps

It might not be for everyone and it does take a little while to get to grips with the Flylady's routines, there is a lot of information to take in, including flight plans, reminders, zone missions and detailed cleaning lists, but it's working for me and, hey, who knows, maybe some of it might work for you too.

If your home is in CHAOS (can't have anyone over syndrome), then it might just be worth a look.

Cracking on with the Crochet!

Well. I've been surprised at how I've cracked on with the crochet!

I've now completed 10 of the 20 squares I need for the throw that I am making, which will hopefully end up looking something like this.

What I really like about this pattern, which is available for free on the Red Heart site, is that Red Heart also did a 'Crochet Along' on their blog, which demonstrates fully how to crochet each different pattern. I've really found this invaluable, as I couldn't even remember how to do a 'dc' (double crochet).

I have now completed a Shells with Front and Back Post Stitches Square and a Front Post Double Crochet square, both look great.  I've also done some more granny squares, which I can now knock out in about an hour.

I think I've decided that rather than 10 granny and 10 different patterned squares, as per the pattern, I will go with 10 granny and 2 of each of my 5 favourite patterned squares.

Hopefully I'll soon be able to show you the finished article.

Crazy for Crochet!

I know it may sound a bit bonkers, but I've been inspired to start another new craft project - I blame Pinterest!

It's clearly not that I've not got plenty on the go at the moment as I seem to be starting lots of different projects.  It's not that any have been abandoned, all are moving forward, be it quite slowly in some cases.

Anyway, for some crazy reason last week I decided that I was desperate to have a go at crocheting, something that I haven't done for over 30 years!

I had been browsing Pinterest and found a website called Red Heart that provides lots and lots of free crochet patterns.

I decided that I wanted to have a go at a throw, but may have been a little ambitious in my first choice as I gave it up as a bad job after row 2.

My second attempt went better.  I did have to trawl YouTube to remind me of how to do the simplest of stitches, but once I got going, as you can see from the photos, it didn't go too bad.
However, it wasn't quite what I wanted and it was still quite hard, as this pattern was for a throw that was all made in one piece.

I decided that squares stitched together would be a better option for me.




I found myself some really nice pale grey wool, in the Post Office of all places, and hit Hobbycraft for the right sized crochet hooks.








I started with a granny square and this went really well.

I then got a bit obsessed and sat up till 2.00am one night crocheting and then carried on, in my dressing gown, the next morning, till lunchtime!! I'm pleased to say that I have calmed it down a bit now.

In my marathon crocheting session I tried a cross stitch one, which looked a bit wonky round the edges and I have now actually ended up pulling it down and starting again.  You can see my second attempt below.

My marathon session also included a back loop square which, on reflection, looks a a bit tatty and I don't think it will make the final production.

However, I can't tell you how pleased I am with my popcorn square.

So, I've got 5 squares I'm happy with - 3 grannies, a cross stitch and a popcorn, only another 15 to go!!!  Oh, and then of course, there is the stitching together and the border.

I have now set up a Pinterest board for potential crochet projects and can see throws could be featuring as this year's hand made Christmas gift.