Bruges Easter

Doing final packing now for an Easter trip to Bruges. Will be back in a couple of weeks, hopefully with some nice pictures.

Wool Tightly Wound into Little Balls

When I'm going on holiday I worry about the wierdest things. Not "Will the hotel be ok", nor "Have the children packed enough warm clothes". I worry about whether I will have enough wool with me. Yes, holidays have seen me frantically roaming a number of European cities now, searching for a wool shop. "STOP! A WOOLSHOP!" I shriek, while the family cower in the back of the car. Getting out of the car in 90 degree heat to go running into a wool shop. Even if you haven't been there, I am sure you are with me in sentiment.



With this in mind, I've wound my granny blanket wool into little balls. It is amazing how small a 50g ball of wool becomes when wound up like this. Ready to fit into a little corner of my suitcase.

Preview of New Blanket in Progress

I love the look of granny square blankets, but have (almost) no patience for the sewing in of the thread ends. I am forcing myself to sew in the ends before I sew each block on to its neighbour. Total progress so far - about 30 blocks made, and only 6 sewn together. Shall I sew in a few ends? I ask myself, or shall I crochet another block. "Crochet another block" wins most of the time. Here are the six sewn together sofar.





And, here are some of the blocks waiting patiently in the queue to be sewn up. Here, let me present to you "ThePurples".

and their cousins "The Greens":

More Spring Inspiration

Spikes of Monkey Puzzle tree beginning to cheer up again after being shrouded in snow.



A re-found object - shells and stones on a string, next to the monkey puzzle. No real purpose other than to look pretty and remind us of the beach.


And finally: beautifully white snowdrops.

A Little Bit of Sunshine

At last, a little bit of sunshine. We went up to Perthshire today, 70 or so miles north of our home in Edinburgh. In my parents' garden, a few spring flowers are starting to bloom and a little bit of green pokes up here and there.

WIP Big Squares

Just need to sew more ends in on this single bed size.

Pink Grannie Vintage Stripe

Pink because of the predominance of pink. Grannie because that is who it is for, rather than it being a Granny. Vintage Stripe because that is the pattern. This is a MAMMOTH blanket - about 7 feet across, designed to fit a big double with lots of overhang. It is a pet hate of mine about blankets, that they are not wide enough for the bed and they leave you cold at the edges.

This is made in a similar wool to the Teenage Vintage Stripe and the Teenage Ripple, but it is from a different manufacturer. It is mostly pinks, lilacs, purples, blues, with a little bit of green, and a lot of white. I find that the key to most crochet blankets is to add a lot of white, since it highlights all of the colour nicely.