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  • Wavy Waiting Blanket and the Mummy Square Cushion

    Last month I finished my Wavy Waiting Blanket for an expectant Mummy I know. Still waiting in the bottom of my knitting bag were oddments of the yarn I had been using. They weren’t long enough to complete a full wavy line on the blanket. But my goodness there was too much there to throw away.

    I have come to the conclusion that I began to fall in love with crochet because it gives you the opportunity to create something with all those left over bits of yarn. It is like creating something out of virtually nothing. I think perhaps ‘Alchemy’ is strong a word. Ok, no alchemy is a good word for mad crafty people who just love messing about with yarn.

    In terms of technical detail, I used a basic ‘Granny Square’, I have called it a ‘Mummy Square’ because it will wing its way with the blanket to support the back of my dear friend feeding her little one in the middle of the night. I have used the technique by Lucy from Attic 24, joining the squares as you go. This is genius. It gives you a very robust construction to your cushion and is very pleasing to look at.

    Now I am in that frustrating position of waiting for little baby to be born. So exciting!

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  • Cosy Cable Hat

    I  just wanted to share with you this little hat. I made it in December and to be honest it only took me about two evenings to knit. I think it is very difficult to find a hat which is suitable for work. It has to be smart-enough, but doesn’t give you the worst kind of hat head and yet simultaneously could be stuffed into a bag in a moment. This little beauty achieves all those things. Although it does look like a cottage loaf on this photo it can look quite chic (not on me – but others).

    During the coldest days of December it was a constant hat companion. If you are looking for the pattern here it is on the Sirdar website. Have a lovely weekend

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  • The Birthday Season

    With reference to my previous blog, the question is ‘Do I read too many magazines’. The answer quite blatantly is ‘Yes, Oh lady, Yes!’ You don’t read the quantity I do without something of ‘Table Setting’ editorial making its mark on your imagination. This weekend I had a number of different friends come over to visit us under the pretext of my birthday. A friend of mine pointed out that it wasn’t so much a Birthday, but a Birthseason. Frankly the Queen doesn’t make this much fuss.

    Anyway having a little excitement provides an excuse to release the inner Martha Stewart and get table setting. I made these name plates very quickly and they are very simple and also use the on-trend Baker’s Twine which I have LOTS. I am going to use mine as a bookmark now.

    The real serious effort and imagination surrounds flowers. Oh how I love flowers. This arrangement was very easy and not perfectly done. But I took a standard rectangle of oasis and a thin tray. Cut the oasis in half, so it was much shorter. I soaked the oasis in a sink of water for about 15 minutes. Then placed it in the tray and then positioned three tea lights across the length. I used about 4 packets of supermarket roses in deep and light pink. Each stem was cut about half an inch from the base of the rose and then pushed into the oasis. Over the years I have done this arrangement many times, sometimes as a circle or a square. If you are using it for a dinner table it is worth hiding the sides with the blooms. If completed a day before you need it, the buds will open out a bit and be even more beautiful. Enjoy

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  • A Confession

    I have a little habit. It might be an addiction, and perhaps it is not so little. Magazines. I love them. I think it is the images, the styling, the way things are arranged. Now, reading blogs and viewing wonderful flickr photos has helped with this. But there is nothing like lying in bed or a favourite armchair and a cup of coffee and just opening those fresh pages of a new magazine.

    I can remember vividly that I was 16 and had a blissful weekend at my aunt’s house. Against her chest of draws in the spare room was an enormous tower of ‘Country Living Magazine’, and that is when the love started. Now over 20 years on I don’t think I have missed many issues. Although growing up in the glorious English countryside, I have spent the majority of my adult life a city dweller. The content and the pictures still lure me in, cheer and inspire me. I think the magazine must be quite a happy family or a indeed a delightful job because editors seem to stay for ages.

    This month is fab, and there are so many really good features/photos. An indulgence perhaps, but a really beautiful one.

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