I'm Doomed!

I shouldn't have started knitting this little baby throw last Friday. It's opened up the whole box of knitting needles & now I have to use all of them! lol No not really. But it just got me started on knitting washcloths as well as crocheting them. So I have a whole new world of cloth patterns out there waiting for me.

But firstly, I did finish this little baby throw on Sunday. It didn't take long at all. I only had the 6 balls of Ninna Nanna in this Fairy Floss colour way again, so I could only go so far. It's quite small so I think I will need to keep this one for myself. I'm sure it will be a nice little pram cover or car seat cover for baby later on. Lucky for me it's a winter baby then huh? Cruising along in that department if you are maybe wondering. Just full of cold right now & you really notice not being able to take, or choosing not to take cold tablets to help you out through the day. So I am just crashing & taking it easy giving it time to pass. Hopefully tomorrow it's a whole lot better so I can actually get some jobs done at home.

In the meantime, I have been fiddling away with the knitted cloths. I started with the purple one which is basically the same pattern as the blanket above. Too easy! Then I did the yellow fish which is pretty cute. Quite simple & again is the same pattern as the rest so far. lol It's just amazing what you can find on Ravelry. Like I said, I'm Doomed!

This one is pretty cute. The butterfly just seems to appear which is cute. There are heaps like this available with pictures in them. They are pretty fun but you need to concentrate on your row numbers! lol Not so easy with a toddler wanting your attention constantly but I have had a good chance today with the butterfly so it wasn't an issue. Oh, the red & yellow one on the right is a crochet one again. Just one I was working on while out & about.

So there you go then. Stay tuned for the cute one I am working on today while veging out in front of the TV. I watched Eat, Pray, Love. Have you seen it? What did you think? Did you read the book first? I struggled with the book & must admit struggled a bit with the movie. It had a bits added that weren't in the book but it was OK & save yourself sometime & just watch it rather than read it. Will be much move painless! lol

I hope to get plenty done on the weekend, as I am am hoping I feel much better & able to do all these silly little jobs - some may say I am nesting. Maybe so. Who knows, but at least I have a good excuse to get some of these jobs done now that have been waiting. Happy Weekend to YOU!

Busy Stash Busting

I have been working on & off on dishcloths over the last couple of weeks using bits & pieces, playing with some new patterns that I have found on line, some successfully & some not so. These are some of the most recent. I really had fun with the one on the right - my practice Granny Stripe. How cool does that look. So when I have lots of these cotton scraps left I will use them for this pattern. I think that was done in all ends so that was really cool. It sure is pretty. I am stashing a bunch of these away for a possible fundraiser thing some time down the track. They are nice to chuck in the bag & take away & work on when out & about.

Friday I had a day all to myself! How the heck did I manage that? Yeah I know. But BJ had his first day at family day care. I was at home pretty much most of the day - just in case. But he was fine. He was much to busy to miss me I think. I was much too busy too, so that's all good. lol I was starting my Granny Stripe blanket of course. This I am doing in cotton/acrylic blend as I have loads of it. (125 balls when I sorted it last week! lol Yes I need to use some & then I can get the lid on the box properly!) I don't find it terribly soft for a baby blanket but I will keep going with it anyway cos I love it. I may even change my mind about using just these 5 colours & add a whole bunch of others. We'll see. I am just worried that I will run out of all the nice colours & be stuck with the not so nice bunch. lol

While hooking away on the stripes I remembered the balls I had left of the Ninna Nanna wool. Soft & squishy & once more Fairy Floss coloured. Hmmm... what to do with 6 balls of this. So I did a sample crochet piece with it. It's really not going to go very far though so I thought maybe some knitting may give it a bit more size. So I found a pattern on ravelry that is really a dishcloth pattern but someone had made a blanket like this so I figured I may as well. So I am working my way up one side with 3 balls & then will work down the other with the other 3. It won't be huge but oh well, a little pram cover or something for some baby might be ok. It's nice merino wool & I really want to use it up. I will be very satisfied to have another batch gone & something to show for it so soon. lol

I need to stop looking at ravelry though - I have queued another 10 things probably in the last hour. (that was a good hour I could have been hooking or knitting!) There are so many great patterns out there. How cute are these baby moccasins? What about this pretty lace scarf that would lovely in the 2ply lace we just got in at work? It is worked short ways which appeals to me. The pattern book I was looking at had a chain of 300 something. Ekkk... I can count that far but I don't know if my chains will be correct so I think it will work across ways on about 30 stitches instead. I do like a challenge but I don't need one that big right now! We'll see how we go. No scarf or moccasins for a bit until these other things get done & I can get the lid on the box of cotton. That sounds fair I suppose. Mean of myself but fair. lol

Happy weekend. I have just made the yummiest cookies so my weekend will be very happy!

Fairy Floss Throw Finished

I'm really happy with this one! I love the colours & I love the pattern. It is a simple shell pattern in dcs & a dc border for one lap & a dc shell border for the second, in white. I really like the white around the edge. Still not happy with the edge on the Bubble blanket but oh well, sometimes you have to go with what you've got. This one used 6 100g balls of Magnum Soft Touch acrylic for the main & just over half a ball for the edge. It is almost as big as the Bubble blanket which I used more on. Having just folded them both up, this one is much lighter too. So I won't do a single crochet pattern again for a baby blanket as it is quite a bit heavier.

I am feeling very productive as I have sorted out all the yarns I have been given. I have even listed a lot of it on ravelry as my current. I really need to use up lots of it now. My work has just stocked wool so I am very tempted but will have to hold off on any until I use up some of this stuff. I have the next blanket in mind already - Lucy's Granny Stripe, but am still just finishing off some dishcloths. I will do a practice Granny Stripe with the short bits I have & make a dishcloth. Cloths are great for bits & pieces. I also have a load of bits ready to take to playgroup for glueing craft. That should be interesting. Have to find some colouring pages or something that they can stick wool bits on. I was given boxes of left over little bits of balls as well. Hmmm... I will have to see what I can come up with those for playgroup next. They must be able to be used somehow! I don't know how old some of the bits are but I bet they go way back to the 70's knowing from where they came! (some people really don't throw things out do they!)

Well that's another project done & baby present ready for someone. I would love this one myself, but we'll see. I think each time I do one I will love it & want it but must not get caught up in that. How many does one really need??? lol Happy Day folks...

Can You Find The Kids?

They were doing such a good job of hiding in the ball pit! Ha ha ha ha ha ha......

Good Enough to Eat

I am calling this "Fairy Floss Throw". It reminds me of the bags of fairy floss (or cotton candy for the foreigners!) that you get with 3 rows of coloured floss in it. Yumm... This is my next baby throw that I had to start on Sunday after finishing the other one. This is a nice easy pattern too. Just a basic shell pattern that I found & thought might stretch my yarn out a bit further than the bubble throw did. Well it is going to be stretched thank goodness. I only have 6 balls of this one. I am on the third ball already. So it will be as big as I can go & that's all. But it is pretty. I love the colours. Definitely a girl blanket this one with the pink, lavender & yellow. I have a ball of white that I hope will look ok as an edging. I don't want to have to buy another ball of something else for that bit when I have it.

I just did a great sort out of my yarn collection. Wow. I have lots of the stuff that I got at Kmart 2 years ago, My Friends yarn. I ended up finding 7 bags of it in the cupboard so took stock of the lot so I know what is there. I really should use some of that up so I can get the lid on the box now. I haven't counted how many balls exactly but will later when I get a chance to put it all in Ravelry. That sounds a bit organised. But I need to make some space at home & sort some stuff out & make a bit of room about the place in the next month. Should be interesting. I think some more storage boxes will be on the cards.

Ok, I had better get back to the trains. It's been quite a day working on the railroad. I am getting quite good at track designing! Who would of thought! Happy Days to you!

Ta Dah, Finally....

Woo Hoo! It's done. The bubble cot blanket I started a while back if finished! It was pretty good to do really, but just time consuming as it was all single crochet rows. Hmmm... That's a lot of rows. But it came up OK I think. This was some variegated acrylic from Spotlight that I got a while back. It is Magnum Soft Touch I think so it feels quite nice. The only thing was that once I started I wondered if the bobble bits would be a nuisance for a baby if it was laying on it. Oh well, I hope it suits someone OK, when a baby arrives. I am stocking up on things for new arrivals at the moment. Seems the year for them.

This second picture shows up the bubbles a bit more than previous pics ever did. It also shows the border I did. I really wanted to do the border in a solid colour. I started in a blue that I thought matched the blue in the yarn, but having put a bit on that blue was a real baby blue. The colour in the variegation is one that if you put blue next to it it looked lavender. If you put a purple next to it it looked blue. So I had to ditch the blue. I did have a white in the yarn as well but it was such a bright white it was going to look to odd with it we decided. (We = Stuart the 2nd opinion & I. lol) I thought I had used all the yarn up but just before I finished I found another ball. I fitted it on the cot though & found it didn't need to be any longer. Lucky really as then I could use it for the border. Phew. Looks OK. The border is 2 rows of single crochet & one of the shell edging. Easy peasy & effective enough to add a bit of interest but not to frilly for a boy blanket. Yes I see this as a boy blanket. Wait till you see the yarn I have next! Now that is definitely girl yarn. lol I am going to have to start churning these things out a bit more quickly so will have to keep away from this bubble one for now. All up it took 8 100gm balls for the blanket & another half a ball for the edging. Not too bad. I only have 6 balls of the next yarn so need a pattern that will stretch it further. I hope the one I have found suits. (or it might have to be a smaller blanket cos I think it will be pretty!)

I gave away the baby ripple blanket yesterday. It is still my favourite. I didn't think it was good to give now but after the not so summer weather I decided the new baby would definitely get some use from it over the Autumn & Winter. I hope Annabelle likes it as much as I do.

Also been churning out a few more washcloths. I forgot to get a pic of those now though so you will just have to believe me.

I can't believe how busy it has been lately. Today was good though. I got to work for 4 hours today. That was quite good. Then it was home to use up the zucchini supply again. I made to bit soup pans full of Zucchini & Basil Soup. Stuart made this last week. It was good. So I have made a pot full to take out to a lunch tomorrow. Then I did a second pot full which I finished up until adding the basil & blending. I won't add the cream yet. We are going to freeze it as it for the winter. It was amazing though as each big pot only took 2 large zucchinis. So I did get a few used. Also a batch of Zucchini Bread which is a recipe I was given this week. That is just beautiful. More of a loaf really. But I am impressed as BJ has just been eating some. That is one way to get some zucchini in him I guess. Only problem after all that was that I went out in the garden & picked another 7 zucchinis & 4 cucumbers. Ha ha ha ha... Oh well, nice try to get the pile off the bench!

I hope you are all enjoying the start of Autumn.