Sophie is 50 and soon I will be too

Wow yesterday evening I finished round 50 of Sophie. Isn't she beautiful!

I would recommend you all having a go at this beautiful design. It looks so complicated but as long as you know your basic stitches and can count you just need a bit of concentration. Any stitches you aren't sure of there will always be a youtube tutorial to help.

So Sophie has reached 50 and so has Banham Zoo (our local zoo) and to celebrate they have given away lots of entrance tickets to those of us who are also reaching this grand old age this year... which includes me.
Can't quite believe that in a couple of weeks I will have reached half a century... I just don't know how that happened. All in the blink of an eye really.

So today we are having a family day to the zoo. Thing 1 and Thing 2 plus the OAPS (my parents). I have treated myself to a new camera this year so will be practising my wildlife shots today. Im sure Thing 2 will as well... he likes to take over lol. Less than 3 weeks now before he leaves for his first year at Aston Uni .. gulp.

So have a great bank holiday monday if you are here in the UK and a great day if you are elsewhere in the world. Would be lovely to know where you are so drop a message if you are happy to .

Enjoy, have fun and I hope the sun shines on all of us
Roz x

To the Universe and Beyond!

Well hello there everyone. Definitely been a bit cooler today in my part of the UK. But while it is nice to have a day with a bit of rain I'm seriously hoping we still have some nice warm weather to finish our summer with.

I was going to do some work on my monochrome blanket this week but typically realised I was running out of the wool so had to put an order in. Then... fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you see it.. i stumbled across Sophies Universe  [www.lookatwhatimade.net]. Its a CAL and absolutely lovely. I have been 'hooked' and beavering away have reached round 35. I was feeling quite chuffed until i realised there are 113 rounds in this Crochet Along.

This is my effort so far and I can't believe how much work has gone into creating the pattern. Thank you Dedri !

My monochrome wool has turned up today but .... i think i'm going to be sticking with Sophie just for now

Enjoy your evening

Roz

Where has that year gone

I can't believe its been nearly a year since i was on here last, despite my constantly thinking i would keep this blog more updated. Thing 1 returned from Vancouver Island University in May and Thing 2 passed his A levels this week with an AAB so will soon be starting year 1 at his uni doing a Marketing degree. With both of them soon at uni i might eventually have more time to do things, like this blog, for myself. I know the house will be quiet without them here but a little freedom after 21 years will be nice as well. Ask me a week or so after they've gone if i still feel like that lol.

So a quick update on the crochet i've managed since last autumn. My granny square blanket has increased in size but still needs more squares. An ongoing project!

I also made a blanket to fit both my boys... typical they are 6'3" and 6'4". Thats two long blankets, done in the theme of norwich city football club. The one below is laying on Thing 2.

I also made myself a scarf with many stitches and edged it with bobble stitch. That edging took as long as the actual scarf!

The boys both got a covered cushion in baby soft wool from aldi. This is Thing 2s and Thing 1 has his in grey.

My sister bought me the Imaginarium of Edwards animals book for christmas and this is the polar bear. My first attempt. I managed four of them in total but the small fiddly stitches played havoc with my slight RSI that raises its ugly head occasionally so i had to stop doing them.....

I've also been doing a black and white blanket, will post a pic when i have one but i made it up as i went along. For those who know me well... i'm not and never have been a lack of colour girl but i've really enjoyed this blanket which also uses shades of grey. Its colourful in a non colourful way. 

And today... i bought a chromebook. After previously using a tablet this is heaven and has taken me so much less time to post. Happy times. 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend

Roz

Autumn has arrived

Autumn has arrived and its bought cooler days with still some Sun breaking through.  But its that time of year when you start to think about snuggling down on the sofa,  under the numerous blankets already made  and contemplate which big blanket I want to make this winter.

I so enjoyed all the stitches I used with my small blanket (see last post ) that I wanted to keep that theme going.  So I've started my new blanket of granny squares.
It's at this point I want to give credit to Nadia from Yarnutopia as at the moment I'm using her blog on 365 days of granny squares and picking the ones that appeal.  Some of these are made by others and the credit is on yarnutopia's site.

Nadia has done brilliant YouTube demos for these squares which are easy to follow but boy does this girl know how to crochet quickly. I thought I was relatively fast but she's a whizz!
Thank you Nadia 😀

So this is my progress so far.  Some of the squares are still to be joined in but i will do a few more before i do a joining session.  I'm joining them with double crochet (uk)

Ah that's the only problem with Yarnutopia. Nadia is American so you are constantly converting the stitches in your head to UK terms lol

This gives you an idea of progress but I haven't steamed it yet so the flowers look a bit all over the place and the heart needs to lay down,

But I'm loving the scatter gun colourfulness. Something different to look at with each square and a variety of stitches 😊
Happy days

Busy busy

Well life  has been hectic this last month and emotions have been all over the place.
With a cooler time in July and start of August I made my mum a ripple blanket that she can use one way folded as a lap blanket or a long thin version to lay on the settee with.

i don't have a complete photo,  gave it to her without taking a picture silly me but this is a snap shot of the corner.  I'm loving the colours which will match her living room well

Then last weekend I we went camping,  the boys and i. Just local but it gave us a few days to chill relax and spend some lovely time together before Friday when thing 1 flew to Canada for the start of 10 months study abroad on Vancouver island.  So proud of him but gosh I'm going to miss him.

To keep myself busy,  and my mine not on him going,  i started a lap blanket for myself.  I followed a pattern to begin with but then made it up as I went along. It's the most fun I've had making something.  There are so many stitches and most I've never tried before.

It has the treble,  half treble and double crochet that we all know and love but also the following stitches
Star
Catherine wheel
Ripple
Granny stitch
Moss  (or linen)
Bobble
Larks foot
Suzette
Block with 3 and 4 treble versions
Waffle
And a wave border to finish

I absolutely love it.  Will be perfect for the winter. And so glad I finished it this morning as the weather is going to be lovely today and I didn't fancy that blanket over my legs.

Happy bank holiday Monday wherever you are and whatever you are doing