Wanted...More hours in the day

Busy. Busy. Busy.

As the title of my last blog said....So much to do and so little time.

The big brown blanket is finished.  Gone off to it's new home.  A quick run through the washer, and the scratchy-ness was almost gone.  A few more washes and it will be lovely and soft.

The "Secret Santa" cushion cover was made, and finished and is winging it's way across the seas.  Again, it was made from the scratchy wool, but it looked lovely, and washing instructions were included.

I managed to squeeze in a few bits for my knitting groups Christmas stall.  There were my flower pin cushions, which I forgot to photograph, Some mini santa's, reindeer and snowmen, (pics to follow) and this rather simple and very lovely cushion, which didn't even make it to the stall, but was snapped up by another group member for rather a sizeable donation.  All proceeds from the sale went to the RNLI.  A very worthwhile cause, especially for us coastal dwellers.

I also made 8 mug cosys, filled the mugs with chocolate, and hot chocolate sachets and marshmallows, and wrapped them for my daughters friends.  Totally forgot to take pictures ...Doh * slaps self on head in Homer Simpson style*  Trust me...they were brilliant!

And finally.....

Another blanket.  This took 2 weeks of solid hooking.  Every spare moment.  I did at least 4 hours a day on this.  6 or more most days.  It's a Christmas present for someone who helped us out last year when we were really stuck, and helped us out again this year.  My "good samaritan".  I hope he likes it

I've also managed to squeeze in 2 carol concerts, a class assembly and a trip to see the school choir at the library in the last week.  Daughter 2 has presented me with a latch-hook ladybird which she wants me to make into a cushion "for nanny...for Christmas..."  Right-ho....what colour do you want that in...."

A gift from a friend

Most of my friends know what I get up to of a evening.  Several have received the fruits of my labour as birthday or Christmas presents.  Occasionally one will find a ball or two of yarn and donate it to my ever expanding stash.  One day I got a knock on the door to find a friend with a huge massive laundry bag, crammed full with all sorts of woolly goodness.

It's always exciting when you find a new stash to root through, and this was no different.  Among all the usual half used balls of acrylic were several brand new packets of wool.  Wool.  Proper wool.  Wool from a real sheep. Undyed, unbleached, naturally coloured wool.

So, I'm making her a blanket!  (What else)  Partly as a thank you, and partly to use up this vast resource of wool that I'd struggle to find another use for.

One problem is, that it is really scratchy.  I did hook up a quick sample square, and ran it through the washing machine.  It came out much softer and after a couple more washes it was really nice.  But, I need to finish the blanket before I can wash it.  I've not made as much progress as I'd of liked, as it even irritates through my clothes, so I end up wrapping a baby blanket round me before I start, and that gets a bit warm in the summer!
Now the nights are drawing in, and it's getting a bit chilly-er of an evening I hope to make a bit more of an effort to get it finished.  Ah well, I've got till Christmas and that's aaages off yet!

Baby Blankets

Probably the best thing about having the baby was knowing that I had a good excuse to make blankets.  Blankets are a good project, in fact they are my favourite things to make,  but can take aaaages.  Baby blankets are much quicker so you get the smug feeling of a job well done sooner rather than later.
No sooner had the blue line appeared on the stick, and I was diving into my stash looking for suitable baby blanket yarn.  I had a few balls of this lovely soft greeny yellowy bluey variegated yarn.

And I also had this strange heavy cotton "stuff" that I bought a big bag of a few years ago.  It's lovely to work with though, so it was the perfect opportunity to start using it up.

Of course, I didn't know what type of baby it would be, so I tried to keep it gender neutral. 

8 weeks in, and they've been through the wash a few times and they seem to be standing up to life quite well.  And they look so much nicer than the shop bought "cellular blankets" that are normally seen gracing the prams of newborns.  (That lilac one could do with another wash though...)