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.

February is over already???

But where did February get too. Ok, the reason it went by so fast is because it is a short month right. Of course it is. That's the reason.

I've been keeping a low profile really. Trying to fit in a few things like the crochet, sewing & all the other things in the craft space of my brain. Unfortunately Baby Brain has taken over & the craft space part is shrinking. Oh well, I get to spend more time on the couch with the kid(s). lol BJ loves getting in cuddle time on the couch at rest time.
There was some bad weather the other weekend, so Stu along with the help of BJ got a bit of painting in. Ok, don't look too closely at the horrid orange that is our garage including the ceiling. Well actually the ceiling is whiteish now along with half the walls. Just waiting for the next weekend of rain to finish up I suppose.

I have been working on a little crochet. Just about finished the baby blanket. On the second last ball of yarn at the moment so it won't be far off so stay tuned for that one. In between I have done some dishcloths again. I have been taking these out & about & just doing them inbetween times when it is still too warm for sitting under the ever growing baby blanket. I have to edge the pink & red ones still but by needlecase had gone AWOL but I have just spotted it so can now sew the ends in & put some edges on. I am making these up for possible fundraising stall in a while. I'll see if they end up there or they will make good gifts again.

Hope all is good in your world.

The Week At A Glance

Lots of fun at the local play gym... I think this will be a common place to visit from now on. BJ just went flat out for 2.5 hours. I got to watch & crochet for that time. Ahhh... bliss... nice for the both of us. He's growing up. He doesn't need mum's help so much for things like this anymore!

Friendly neighbours are very common right now

The baby blanket I started a couple of weeks ago is still growing. This is 4 balls (100g) so far. Getting hotter to sit under now though so may go in the pile with the Rainbow Ripple blanket.

The zucchinis are abundant. Luckily I have a Stuart that likes to cook & has been hunting for some fabulous recipes using it. This is one of my favourites & it doesn't need cooking! Too easy & great in this humid weather. So very tasty too, which you wouldn't expect from something so simple, but often we find out that simple is best.

Working on dishcloths/washcloths again to build up a stock for later on...

I have also made another Babushka doll (which proved to be much liked - thanks Jana!), sewn a couple of little teddy bears which aren't so cute after all. Not a lot more going on. Our regular yearly programming starts next week. We'll see if I get a bit more motivated to do some other stuff then.

A Quilt In A Day

Yesterday morning BJ was sleeping in & I had a sudden urge to make this quilt. It is a cheating kind of quilt but does that matter really? The fabric is Beetle Boy from Clothworks. We got it in a couple of weeks ago at work & I really had to have some. The quilt top was cheating as it is just the fabric as is. No cutting, piecing or anything. I just got 1.5m of the top & backing & basted them while BJ slept yesterday. Too easy. He gave me a hand quilting the top later on. I did machine quilt it. I just followed the lines. How easy is that. I used a clear thread on the top & red underneath.

Below you can see the beetles up close & then I have pulled the back up so show the red with yellow dot backing fabric from the range I used. I just love the stripe that I used for the binding. I actually got the stripe originally to make a hat for BJ. I still have enough left I think. I got the strip & one of the blue bugs from the collection for the other side of his hat. I will probably get that done in time for winter! lol I am a bit scared of the hat, though I should try. I am sure it can't be that hard. Anyway, the hat is beside the point. Back to the quilt - I think I spent longer hand sewing the binding on than the rest of it took. What a great way to make a quilt though. If you need a quilt in a hurry this is the way to go. I don't need one in a hurry at all, I just had the sudden urge to make one. It was actually good practice too as I haven't done any for a while & I sure could do with a lot more practice. My binding corners aren't too shabby all things considered! lol This will probably hang up at work for a couple of weeks. I told BJ that it was going there anyway, so he didn't try to claim it like he does with everything I make.

So there you go. Now I can get back to the other list of things I have that I want to do. No doubt there will be new fabric at work that I need again soon. If it is true that there is going to be a worldwide cotton shortage, run out & buy a bunch of fabric now before the prices go up.