Christmas Bunting!

You might remember several months ago I ordered some cotton to make bunting with, then I posted an update about how I was getting along, today I have the big reveal post!  It's done, well, almost done, I have a couple of triangles still to do so I can make a second string but I am waiting on some lovely people sending me a little more cotton as I ran out at the last minute.

Once the triangles are all crocheted up they need to be blocked so they hold their shape, and look more like actual triangles than the curved edge triangles they are when you crochet them.  I blocked mine by securing them onto an old bath mat with some little pins. 

 I held an iron just above them and blasted them with steam and then left them to dry off and cool down so that they would hold their shape.

Then it's just a case of taking them off and laying them out ready to be strung together, as you can see I am two triangles short of two sets of 7 triangle bunting.  You can also see that some of my triangles are a bit smaller than other, next time I think I should measure as I pin them because some got more stretched out than others.

The final stage before hanging is to attach all the triangles together, I did this by creating a chain to start and then slip stitching into each of the triangles right along the top edge, then some more chain stitches in between and at the other end so I had something to use to hang it up.

I'm quite pleased with how it's turned out, it definitely does look like bunting which is a big bonus, unfortunately by the time I was done the light had gone so the pictures are a little dull looking, it's more festive in natural light, I promise.

I found this a relatively simple project to do and it's made me want to buy more cotton in other colours and make a large set of bunting, maybe for my little niece's bedroom, that's a project - and purchase - that can wait until the new year though!

Christmas Crochet - Snowflakes

 I'm making an attempt to get ahead with Christmas planning this year and I wanted to try and make some form of decoration for the flat. You may remember that I brought back some thin crochet cotton from Spain with me, this seemed like the ideal way to try it out.   Although I have to admit it was by far the most fiddly crochet I have ever attempted due to the thin cotton and small hook.

 

I saw that Lucy from Attic24 had a pattern for snowflakes and since I generally get on alright with her instructions I decided to give it a bash, she uses much thicker yarn though on a bigger hook.  My hook is a 2mm one which is by far the thinnest I have ever crocheted with so far.

 

Despite that I think my first attempt went quite well...

 

The only issue is that making it with such thin cotton and a small hook the snowflakes ended up being rather smaller than I had hoped...

 

I'm going to need A LOT of these to actually create anything worthy of using it to decorate with!

Yankee Candle - New Q3 - Christmas Tarts

I love it when the new quarterly releases of Yankee Tarts come around and Q4, otherwise know as Christmas, is one of my favourites.  This year there are 4 new fragrances available.

 

Christmas Memories - From the heart of the kitchen, unforgettable moments are brought home again with this comforting recipe of spices and sweets.

 

Season of Peace - Reflect on the silently peaceful solitude of winters snowfall, captured in this cool, enchanting white musk blend.

 

Merry Marshmallow - Its a marshmallow world at Christmas! Find happiness in a delightfully luscious and creamy soft concoction of marshmallow and vanilla.

 

Snowflake Cookie - A new Christmas tradition that is sure to charm, perfectly pretty festive cookies, deliciously decorated with sugary pink icing.

 

Overall I like the collection, I'm not too keen on Christmas Memories because it has quite a lot of Cinnamon in it and I'm really not a cinnamon fan.  I love the other three though.  Season of Peace is minty and fresh and I can't wait to burn it, Snowflake Cookie is another of Yankee's sugary / cakey / cookie concoctions which I was pretty much bound to love.

 

Merry Marshmallow is the let down, it smells great in the shop when you smell the jar - like marshmallow, what's not to love - but it's so weak and has a terrible throw when lit.  I was so keen to try it out after the letdown of the very weak Fireside Treats earlier in the year but I just can't smell anything when it's burning.  I don't know what the issue is with Marshmallow scents but for some reason Yankee just can't get them strong enough for me.

 

 

 



Boodles Textile Yarn

I recently picked up some Textile Yarn from Hobbycraft (who currently have all their yarn and wool on a 3 for 2 deal), the brand is Boodles by Avec.  I've been wanting to try textile yarn for a while now so I could make a chunky cat basket / bed for James but it's proved quite difficult to track down and expensive. 

I've got a few ideas pinned on my Crochet board on Pinterest so when someone told me that Hobbycraft not only sold it but sold it at a decent price AND it was on offer I had to check it out.  Here's what I chose:

The yarn doesn't come in specific colours instead there are broad shade categories, the two greens are from the green selection and the grey is from the black / white which means that you basically have to just work with what they have in stock and if you run out of a colour you probably won't be able to pick up more too easily. 

The yarn is made from cuts offs from the textile manufacturing industry so the colour of the yarn depends on what's being produced at the time which is why the shades vary so much and aren't guaranteed.  It's definitely a case of grab what you can while you can. :)

I've settled on this pattern from the zen of making's blog as it seems pretty easy to follow.  So far I haven't gotten too far, mostly because this stuff is super hard to work with.

I'm really having to wrestle with the yarn and hook so it's a bit of a slow process at the moment, hopefully I'll get used to it and the process will speed up as I go along.  I do think it's worth the initial struggle though as I love how it's worked up so far.  I'm using a 10mm hook as suggested on the yarns packaging.

I also picked up some Paton's Fab Big Super Chunky yarn while it was on 3 for 2, I'm looking forward to making a super chunky blanket with this yarn so stay tuned for updates on that too.

Giant Granny Stripe Afghan Progress

I'm still crocheting away at my massive granny afghan project, I'm up to 48 rows now, that's every colour twice.  At the moment I am aiming for every colour 4 times, so 98 rows, although I will probably have to add on an extra two to even out the number, 98 just doesn't feel like a good number.

It's coming along nicely and it's large enough now that it cover me while I am working and keeps me cosy, not really necessary at the moment as the weather is lovely and warm!

There are still some small issues with the level of 'help' James wants to give though, he can be pretty tricky to work around. ;)

It's looking pretty good, and I have to admit when I see it all laid out like this I do wonder whether it needs to be twice the size it is now, I think I'll do another one of each colour and see how I feel then, although I don't suppose a GIANT granny afghan can ever really be too big, can it?

Baby Blanket

I've finished the baby blanket I was working on, good timing since the young lady in question is 1 this month and it's to be part of her present.  I'm pleased with how it turned out, and while it's not perfect, I think it's definitely presentable enough to be given as a gift.

 

 

I like the way the colours have turned out so I am looking forward to using what's left of the yarn to make another blanket in the same shades, this time I think I might give granny sqaures a go.

 

I'm also pleased with how my border turned out, I wasn't following a pattern and I was worried the spacing might not be quite right but I think I've managed to pull it off, just.

 

I just hope the recipient and her dad like it!

 

Yankee Candles New Q3 Fragrances 2013

 

It's that time again, new quarterly fragrance releases from Yankee Candles.  I have to say I wasn't blown away by the selection this time but I was very keen on trying Salted Caramel and I wanted to give the others a go and see what they were like so I picked up a wax tart of each scent.

 

 

 

First up, what Yankee have to say about them:

 

November Rain

 A quiet interlude of the season is reflected in this airy, refreshing mix of watery leaf notes, warm amber and crisp, brisk air.

 

Lake Sunset

 The serene beauty of the sun's golden rays as they dip into still blue waters, calling to mind the musky descent of nightfall.

 

Vanilla Chai

 It's the perfect accompaniment to me time, a superbly satisfyingly rich and spicy recipe of ginger, cinnamon and vanilla.

 

Salted Caramel

 Sweet surrender is your with our luscious gourmand confection of burnt sugar, sea salt, and smooth vanilla caramel.

 

As predicted I LOVE Salted Caramel, it's rich and sweet and perfectly caramel-ly scented, no great surprise that I love it since the majority of my favourite Yankee scents are the super sweet gourmand ones like Christmas Cupcake and Red Velvet.

 

November Rain is ok, I think it's unlikely I would repurchase it, there are definite hints of air freshener about it to me and I don't think it's the sort of scent I want my home filled with although it isn't unpleasant.  Lake Sunset is nice enough and could grow on me but so far it's a bit lack lustre and not really blowing me away, it's another fresh scent which isn't bad but also isn't anything special.

 

Vanilla Chai was the one I was most curious about, I love ginger and I love vanilla but I really dislike cinnamon, I've never bought any of the Yankee fragrances that include cinnamon, this time I decided to give it a go hoping the ginger and vanilla might drown it out.  Sadly for me they don't, unlit I can smell the vanilla (and cloves and cardamon) but once it was lit this one was all cinnamon to my nose and very strong cinnamon at that.  It does have an amazing fragrance throw though, so if you like cinnamon then this is one for you.

Quick Crochet

I bought a new Hol box from Ikea the other day which I want to use as storage for all my crochet yarn.  Since it's pretty sturdy when it's assembled I decided to buy a cushion for the top of it so it could also act as a spare place to sit when we had guests round, of course, a cushion needs a cover so I decided to use my scrap granny squares to fashion a temporary cover for it.

 

One side is made up of little granny squares I crocheted using scraps which were then joined together using the join as you go method - to see if I could get the hang of it.

 

The other side is made up of a larger square which is also made from scraps, I half had the idea in my head to keep adding to it whenever I had a spare piece of yarn which was too small for anything else but when I realised it was almost the perfect size to be the other side of my cushion cover I decided it would be better to use it for that.

 

It's very scrappy looking and doesn't really match but until I make something a bit more carefully planned out I think it does the job rather well.

Crochet Beanie Hat

I made a hat!  My first actual, wearable, properly useful crochet item!  Ok, I know the blankets I am working on will probably be fairly useful too but a hat is different, a hat is like clothes!  Which you can out on and wear outside the house!  Can you tell I am fairly excited?

I followed this You Tube Tutorial which was really simple and easy to understand.  I've just recently found BobWilson123 on You Tube and I am really enjoying her (her name isn't really Bob Wilson ;) ) tutorials, they are great for beginners.

And here are my results.  I wasn't without issues during the process, at first I over estimated the sizing by quite a bit and seemed to be crocheting a fruit bowl sized hat.

Which I had to rip back to get to a more manageable size (the fruit bowl is about 21cms across, the smaller size which actually became the hat is 18cms and I did 12 rounds in all).

It definitely requires a bit of playing around to get your size right but as explained in the video your hook size, yarn weight and tension all combine to mean that once you've had a go at making one you should have a fairly good idea of what size you need to be working on to get a nice fitting hat.

Mine was crocheted using Robin Chunky yarn, in a shade called Mole, with a size 7 crochet hook.

For me the added bonus was that I also learned how to crochet in a circle which could come in handy in future, I'm not sure when but you just never know.

And here is the final, finished product, on my very patient model.

This hat is a little shorter than I would normally make them I think but it was a special request and surely the whole point of making things yourself is to be able to tailor them to the wishes of the people who will be wearing them?

Now I'm off to make a second hat with the left over yarn!

Crochet Progress

Progress on my giant blanket is slow, mostly because it takes an age to do even one row it's so big!  I'm up to 28 rows now so I've started using the colours for a second time, I'm struggling with being random, I can't quite bring myself to just pull a ball of yarn out of the bag and use it so some thought is going into which to use next while still trying to be a bit random.  I think if I were to do it again I would maybe pick less colours or stick to more of a theme because it really does look a bit unmatching and clashy at the moment with so many colours in it.

It's impossible to take a picture of it fully laid out without moving furniture as it's so long, these pictures are it folded into quarters, so it's 4 times as wide as it looks in the photos which is pretty big, I think I might have got a bit carried away with my foundation chain but at least when it's done (which may be some time yet) it will be plenty big!

James was a bit annoyed that I tried to use a crochet hook to show scale, apparently that's his job.

I have also started another blanket, this one is to be a gift for a little girl - ideally to be used in a buggy - so it's much smaller than my giant blanket and in different colours.  I didn't want to go for anything too girly or pink so I chose purple, lilac, cream, turquoise and teal.

I only started it about a week ago and haven't had much time to work on it yet but I'm hoping it'll be ready in time for the birthday deadline in a couple of months time.

I'm pretty pleased with how it's working out so far, I just hope I've made the initial chain long enough and that it doesn't end up the size of a tea towel! :)  It is faster to do rows on though so I'm hoping when I get a bit more time it should work up nice and fast.

My New Project - Crochet!

This is slightly different from my usual beauty related posts but I thought I would add it in anyway since it's another of the things I like to do in my spare time and I'd like to try and keep track of my progress as the project goes on.

Recently I have started crocheting again, I've done a bit in the past but never really stuck with it or made anything proper, I just tended to crochet granny squares for the cat to sit on.  This time I was inspired by the gorgeous granny stripe afghan on Attic24's blog, you can see it here, and decided that I would have a go at doing a proper project.  Look how pretty it is!

I found an amazing step by step tutorial on East Crochet Pattern's blog and decided to follow that as it was a bit more step by step than the pattern given on Attic24's blog which is ideal for me as a relative beginner. 

First up I decided to try out a smaller test blanket to see how I got on with it, I used some super cheap acrylic yarn from Poundland (it works out at 3 balls for £2) and here's my progress so far.

Not too bad, if I do say so myself.  James seems to approve.  The colours aren't exactly the best but I didn't want to spend lots of yarn until I was sure I could follow the pattern and also complete something, hence the cheap stuff (which is actually not too bad to work with) and the slightly 'interesting' colour selection.

With my first mini blanket going well I decided to bite the bullet and order the yarn for my large granny afghan.  I checked out quite a few places online and discovered Wool Warehouse, they had the Stylecraft Special Dk yarn, which most people seemed to use for the project, at just £1.69 for 100g which I thought was a pretty good deal and there was the added bonus of free P&P if you spent over £25 which I would do by the time I got enough yarn.

After agonising for ages over what colours to pick I finally decided on my selection and put in my order, I had to phone Wool Warehouse with a query first and they were super helpful which was nice and made me feel more confident about ordering.  I put my order in yesterday afternoon and the yarn arrived this morning, I couldn't be more pleased; super fast service!  They also added in a little free gift of some knitters needles for getting rid of all the annoying ends on a project which I thought was a lovely touch.

I'm so pleased with the colours, they look lovely and bright together and I can't wait to get started on my blanket, I'm hoping to make it at least double bed sized so progress could be quite slow and ideally I'd like to finish the smaller one before I start on the new one.  Look out for future updates on how I get on...

Do any of you knit or crochet?  What are you working on?

Kringle Again

I posted about Kringle a little while back and I was so impressed with their speedy delivery and fantastic scents that I couldn't resist putting in another order when they had their wax potpourri on special offer.  This time I added a couple of fragrances I had tried previously; fresh mint and vanilla mint and a selection of new scents to try.

 

 

The new scents are plum, french lavender, baker's vanilla, cortland apple, raspberry jam, maple sugar, vanilla lavender, mango and creme brulee.

 

 

 

 

So far I have tried Mango which is a gorgeous strong fruity scent, it's quite one dimensional in that it does really just smell like mango but it's lovely and fresh and the wax potpourri has a great throw which really filled the whole room.

 

 

The other scent I have tried is Creme Brulee, this one is fantastic and I will definitely be ordering it again, it's a soft sweet caramel scent which is so warm and comforting.  I absolutely love it!

 

 

So all in all another successful haul from Kringle, now I just need to get on with using some of these and my Yankee collection up so I can buy more new scents to try. :D