Retail therapy, crochet stylie...

I don’t know about you, but I have HAD IT with January! Finish already, for cryin’ out loud!

Yesterday I faced yet another morning of:

Waking to darkness;

Grumpy child, reluctant to get out of bed;

All of us running late, rushing out the door to school;

Rain, rain, rain. Chilling me to the bone.

I reached my limit. Absolutely fed up. Something had to be done. I ignored the cluttered kitchen table, the pile of stuff on the stairs that needed to be carted up and sorted...instead I hopped into the car and drove through the dreary rain and giant flood-puddles to a nearby village with a beautiful yarn shop.

I know I’m nursing my crochet-strained arms and shoulders, but I really want to make this shawl. I fancied it when I first saw Annette's design at My Rose Valley, and fell fully head over heels in love when I saw it again, not once, but twice: in beautiful pastels on Sandra’s blog, Cherry Heart, and then again in happy colours at Coco Rose Diaries. I purchased the pattern, printed it out, and took it with me to the yarn shop.

I spent a lovely half hour playing with the selection of colours whilst nibbling a pain au raisin from the bakery next door. I had balls of yarn laid out in rows on the carpet as I searched for the perfect colour combination. Like a kid in a candy shop I was, sampling this sweet colour, swapping for that bolder shade...

peek-a-boo!

In the end, I came home with this:

I’m sure those of you who have been around long enough to see some other WIPs will not be surprised by this. I thought I was being rather clever, not buying a complete range of pink yarns (I am a very pink person). But when I got home, I noticed that some of the yarns are variations of the colours I chose for the Blossoming Bag...

...and they’re not all that different from my hexie blanket choices...

And the taupe which will be the main colour of the shawl is pretty identical to my living room

Well, at least I am coordinated! (But I may ask for some advice with my next impromptu WIP, get out of this comfort zone...but it is such a *pretty* zone!)

So another WIP. The purple scarf is very nearly done, the hexie blanket has a new batch of purple blooms this week, and I spent Bunny’s harp lesson crocheting the first few rows of the scarf! This is beautiful yarn to work with, soft and smooth and indulgent.

I ended the day with a rehearsal with the chamber choir, a few hours of beautiful music and singing. Talk about turning around a bad day!

January, you can kiss my...hand and take your leave! I have moved on!

Chrissie x  

PS Share what you’re crocheting to battle the January blahs! Link up below...

The nose on my face

Thank you all for helping with my colour conundrum in my last post – the result was a dead heat between the pale green and the aqua. So I whipped up a hexie in each colour

And the solution was obvious – use both!

Really, I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before. I suppose I was so enchanted by the picture of the hexagon throw in Cute & Easy Crochet with Flowers that I wanted to copy it as closely as I could. The flowers in that blanket use the same colour patterns throughout.

But now I’m thinking outside the box – thanks to all of you who commented with ideas! – and I’m going to treat these hexie blooms like granny squares, and just use whatever patterns strike my fancy. I tell ya, I’m living on the edge! I’m a bit of a wild child like that...

Tomorrow I’m off to the Knitting & Stitching show in London – yippee! I can’t wait to get there...I’ll give a full report for Stitching Sunday!

Have a lovely weekend!

Chrissie x

CAL colour conundrum

Welcome to this week’s Bloomin’ Crochet-A-Long post!

My intention was to do one hexie a day from the kickoff of the CAL last Thursday...

So for all intents and purposes, today is Tuesday and I haven’t yet done my hexie. Hmmm.

But I hit a little wall, you see, and I need your help to get over it and get on with this project. Take a good look at the picture of those five hexies. I’m not crazy about the yellow one in the corner. It just doesn’t seem to fit right with the others, at least in my opinion. I’m just not happy with the deep teal centre. I want a softer colour there.

What to do? I couldn’t decide which shade would suit the yellow hexie, so I’m going to show you some options and ask you to vote for your favourite combination!

First, the line-up with pale green

Number two, the light aqua

And three, the pink one

What do you think? Obviously, I could whip up a hexie with each choice, but that takes up three days’ worth of hexie making, and I’m still stuck at Tuesday!

While I’m waffling about with colours, please visit the links below to see what others are hooking this week!

Thank you for your input, and happy crafting!

Chrissie x

Kicking off the CAL...

Ta-dah! My first hexie for the Hexagon Throw is done! Ah, but please, do hold your applause...I have 113 more to go...

Ladybird Diaries and I are officially kicking off our Bloomin’ Crochet-A-Long today! We are both working on the Hexagon Throw from Cute & Easy Crochet with Flowers. I really love the colours Nicki Trench used in her book, and thankfully, I had all but two of the colours in my stash:

See the ball of yarn with the label still on? I bought that plus five balls of cream-coloured DK yarn (I couldn't bring myself to use a very bold orange shown in the book, it's just not my thing with all these pastels). The rest I had in my stash (you might recognise a few from my Blossoming Bag, they fit the palette of the blanket nearly perfectly!).

Here is your Lazy Crochet Tip of the Day: weave in ends with a smaller hook.

I have decided, for the sake of my sanity, to take the time to weave in the ends after every hexie. I cannot face a stack of more than 100 hexies with billions of ends to weave.

But even weaving in as I go makes me grumpy; I really don’t know why I find it so tedious when I quite happily embroider teeny weeny stitches for Stitching Sundays...but we’ll psychoanalyze that quirk another day. 

Instead of threading a tapestry needle repeatedly with the tails, I grab a crochet hook a few sizes smaller than the one I’m using for the project...

...tuck it under a few loops...

...and pull the tail through. Repeat one or two more times in whatever direction hides the tail best. Sorted.

Same goes for the other tails.

A few snips of the ends and you have a neat piece of work!

What’s on your hook? Grab the button and play along!

Chrissie x

Colours, colours everywhere...

...but which ones should I choose?

Hello to my newest visitors, and thank you to all of you who left such lovely comments on my last post – y’all make me smile!

I’m glad everyone seems to like the colours of the Blossom Bag I’m crocheting, because choosing a range of colours for one project is nearly impossible for me.

Three rows done!

I tend to play it safe with colour. I love my neutrals, soft blush shades, pale greens, greys and taupes. I love ivory and shades of white.

I gaze longingly at the happy brights found throughout Attic24’s crochet world. I drool over MemeRose’s Kaffe-inspired hot colours. The vintage and retro-style blogs, with their candy-coloured papers and fabrics – I’m captivated! But alas, when it’s my turn to start a multi-coloured crochet blanket...

I have stood in yarn shops, arms full of sunny colours, but then I have total brain melt. My eyes hit a completely unrelated shade, and I start adding colours in that range...and then get frustrated with the mismatched lot and leave. I have filled online shopping baskets with eight striking shades of dusky plum, only to turn off the computer after being distracted by the equally beautiful intense aquas and acid greens. Indecisive.

Oh, how I envy the carefree crafters who reach blindly into a yarn basket and hook on whatever colour is chosen by chance! I’m afraid I would reach in again and again until the ‘right’ random shade appeared.

I have managed to complete a multi-coloured granny stripe blanket, mind. For Bunny, about three years ago

Juicy, eh? I *loved* this colour palette, and working on it was a joy. I selected and combined the yarn shades, but the palette was based on Bunny’s favourite colours, so I can’t take total credit. I followed up this project with a little dolly blanket for Little Flower’s baby

 

Three colours, safe and sweet!

So. I couldn’t wait for Cherry Heart to release the pattern for the Blossom Bag, it is just so darling, but I really wanted to choose my own colours. Action was needed.

My lightbulb moment happened in the local DIY shop. I spotted those paint colour strips, with everything lined up in a neat little row. Then I grabbed some home decorating mags and found their mood boards and colour wheels.

I know it’s obvious, but it’s taken me this long to figure it out – I’ve started a new Pinterest board – Colour Palettes. I do a search for various shades that strike my fancy - hydrangeas, pinks, rainbows - and good ol’ Pinterest gives me loads of beautiful variations on the theme.

 

My Blossom Bag is from the ‘Autumn Hydrangea’  pin on my board – go over and take a look! I can see me going a bit bonkers with this every season – I already have about a dozen projects that I want to make based on pins alone! And yes, I have plenty of neutral loveliness on there, but oh the shades that accompany the photo of a log pile...

********

As I took a break from writing to check out what’s happening in Blogland, lo and behold the Colour Collaborative came to my rescue! As if they knew I was flailing in a sea of colour choices, this group of creative bloggers are writing about seasonal colours and providing inspirational palettes – a lifesaver. Ah, this is why I love blogging – we’re all in the same boat, and we lend a hand to those who seem a bit lost at sea. (I have no idea how or why the whole nautical metaphor is on my mind, but it’s evocative so I’m going with it!)

Ahoy, maties!

Chrissie x