Head in the Clouds

Yuck. I have been struck down with a head cold. I am languishing in a fuzzy cloud at present and I therefore apologise for any untoward ramblings that might unfold as this post progresses, but I wanted to chat to you, and say hello, and show you another blatantly Christmassy picture of what Ive been up to this week...all of those who are offended by little bearded chaps in red suits, do look away NOW :)

So as the fair draws ever nearer, I am now working like a desperado through the fug of a cold printing up my Christmas cards. I am putting together some boxes of A6 size cards, 10 to be precise which are all individually hand titled and signed. I feel at this point that I have to say to you that whilst the cost of them might well be a tad dearer than what you might pick up in WHSmiths, I am donating 30% to the Down's Syndrome Charity. And they are splendidly handmade.

And there are only a certain amount of them...which makes them a bit extra specially special don't you think?

Anyhow, yes, Ive decided (after trawling Folksy and Etsy and other artist's and illustrator's websites to get a feel for what these things might sell for and being cross with some for not charging enough for what is lovely work that has obviously taken time and effort to produce, to being downright shocked at 8 cards for £16.00 which made me gasp out loud) - to charge £10.00 per box, and you can buy them here.

Look - all hand titled and signed!!! You don't get that in M&S! ;)

So, before the fog of the head cold descended, sometime over the last couple of days I found time to make some stitchy Christmassy decorations, and here is one for you to see:

He is made to a very simple pattern (which I made myself which means it has to be simple!) from lovely Tilda fabric and felt and beads. You will find him at the Candy Cane Christmas Fair, along with various festive relatives who will hopefully be emerging over the next couple of weeks!

Last night, I took out my Big Blanket. The one that I began several months ago after being inspired by Lucy at Attic24 (naughty woman, she's responsible for a total wool addiction and a birthing of crocheted cushions and the like sprouting up all over our house! Bless her, don't know what I would have done without her to tell you the truth!). Anyway, there I go again - I told you it would be like this today, absent minded wanderings!

Well anyhow, out it came - there were 15 blocks in all sewn together in 3 columns with one block over and I sat and looked at it and suddenley I didn't want to be making just more blocks anymore.

No.

Total change of plan.

After an hour of un-knotting and frogging (I think thats the correct terminology for unravelling reams of sewn together crochet isn't it? Please correct me if Im wrong!) I decided to re-stitch in a big square of 4x4. Here's a bit of it to show you what it looks like:

Instead of making a Big Blanket of blocks with an edge all around, Im going to edge my 16 blocks with a few colours and then go around with lots of individual summer granny squares and then edge those. And I think Im going to join as I go, which I have found to be much simpler and faster than the tedious and often mind numbing job of slipstitch sewing along the backs.

It makes the whole Blankety thing feel exciting again. I must admit to having felt a little tired of it, and for a few weeks now, despite having topped up some depleted wool stocks and being mildly excited by the prospect of getting into it again, it remained shoved in a bag under a chair.

I will keep you posted with photographs when it gets to the interesting bits!

So, thats about it for now. Im off to get a drink and take a couple of paracetamols...there is a Craft Candy meeting tonight in town that I am meant to be attending - I desperately want to go, to see everyone and hear all the news before the fair etc, but I feel a nap coming on and its already almost quart' to four!

Onwards and upwards....

By the way, did you know that there is an idea that the common cold is the cure for overdoing it? Its the only way to make our little bodies stop, sit down, sleep or rest isnt it, so that diagnosis makes perfect sense to me, but at the same time it is highly annoying when you have so much to do...but then again, I suppose thats the whole point...

I know by now some of you will be thinking Ive totally lost the plot, got a terrible fever or worse so Im going to cut my ramblings short and go for a cuppa! Thanks for stopping by, see you again soon!

With love

Julia x x x

Shells & Flowers

Hello there!

Well, after a couple of you asked me how I did the shell stitch which Im using to make my current cushion cover (pic above) I offered to share how I did it. Well, Im afraid Im one of those horribly honest people who fear policemen and anyone in charge so I began to wonder if I would be in trouble for writing out how I did it...anyway, I looked about on the internet a bit, and it seems this is the basic shell stitch and there seems to be quite a few tutorials online for it, so I thought if I write in my words exactly how I did it, it would probably be alright.

So, here we go. I am using American stitch descriptions as that is how I learnt. The stitches you will use are Single Crochet (SC) and Double Crochet (DC)

You will need to find a hook that is suitable for your chosen wool. I am using Sirdar Baby Bamboo DK wool and a hook number 4.

Start your chain by making multiples of 6 then add 2 at the end of your chain.

First of all, you need to do a SC into the second stitch from your hook. Then, miss the next 2 stitches out and DC 5 stitches into the next stitch.

Miss the next 2 stitches and SC into the next stitch. Carry on like this until you reach the end - you should be doing a SC into the last stitch to finish the row.

Turn your work and chain 3 - this will turn out to be the middle of a half shell. Into the SAME stitch, do 2 DC's.

Miss 2 stitches, and then do 1 SC into the next stitch ~ this should be the top of the middle shell that you created in your previous row . Miss the next 2 stitches and then do 5 DC's into the next stitch. Miss the next 2 stitches and SC into the following one....do this to the end of the row - if you've done it right you should be doing 3 DC stitches into the last stitch on this row, to make another half shell.

Turn your work and do a single crochet into the top of the last DC stitch (which is the last stitch of the previous half shell), then miss 2 stitches and work 5 DC's into the next stitch...thats it - just keep repeating the pattern til you're done! You will notice that your single crochet stitches sit on the middle stitch of every shell and that your current shell sits between the two on the row below. This is how the lovely flowing pattern starts to emerge.

To add new colours, finish at the end of each row and just knot your new colour as close to the stitch as possible before carrying on.

Oh I do hope this makes sense and your shells turn out alright!! If you're still a bit confused, and I do apologise for the lack of helpful photographs, you can check out this helpful video tutorial I found for you which should sort out any hiccups :)

Talking of crochet...last night I started to crochet my sunny summer garden blocks together - Im working on the granny square pattern that Lucy shared on Attic24 (that lady has alot to answer for and I hold her completely responsible for my current addiction heehee!!)

Here's how its looking so far - I worked out last night (with a rather large sigh of relief) that it needn't be as big as I was thinking, having laid it out on our rug for size, Ive discovered that instead of 31 more of these blocks, I only really need 21 to make a very good sized blanket! Hurrah!!!

Well May is upon us already, and its the bank holiday - we don't have any plans as such for it right now but if the weather is fine I can feel a picnic near a stream coming on, perhaps a wander round a nice garden centre and a country stroll...I seem to repell against joining long traffic queues on motorways these days as the masses throng to the coast, fight for parking spots, get rained on and drive home in a grump - I don't want to sound miserable but that just ain't my idea of fun, no, Id rather have a peaceful weekend closer to home with my nearest and dearest and leave it up to serendipity what happens.

I hope you all have lovely bank holidays, whatever your plans - and I send you sunshine, warm days, and scoops of extra time for things that delight you.

Love J xxx