Monday 26 September 2011

Some Crocheted Flowers, a Blanket Update, and Other Stuff.

I've been playing with flowers...

...and seem to have created a little crocheted flower garden.

Most of the patterns (the best ones, in my opinion) were from this book. I started off with the auricula, shown on the right hand page above. Fortunately I had all the necessary colours in my stash and thought the shades looked so lovely together that I carried on with a few more patterns.

I've had a few people ask which brand of yarn I use for my blankets and get surprised responses when I answer that most of it is from pound shops. Three of the balls above were indeed from the pound shop and the mauve one still has its band on, so the brand I most often use is Premier Value DK" and sometimes "Premier Value Baby DK". It's just 100% acrylic and is fine I think for blankets and cushion covers, etc. If I'm making something to wear I'd use yarn with a lot more wool content. When I bought much of my stash a 100g ball did cost £1, however most shops stocking it now sell it at £1.25 to £1.50. We don't have a handy good local yarn shop (I have a little daydream of opening one!) so the pound shops were the next best thing. I also didn't want to spend a lot on yarn at first as I wasn't sure if I'd be any good at this crocheting lark. Charity shops and ebay have supplied the remainder of my blanket yarn.

Returning to the flowers, I do have plans for most of them, as you'll find out later...

I decided to take a proper photo of the blanket as it was at this time. I think it's developing nicely though I'm rather worried I'll run out of some of the key colours - yarn which I bought on ebay but didn't keep a record of the brand or shade at the time. I know better now.

Have some more cherry strudel cake.

OK, here's how some of the flowers from earlier (plus a couple of ones from even longer ago) look now. I've sewn on little beads for centres and have then sewn them onto fabric covered hair bands. I'm sharing a stall at a forthcoming nursery shopping event (it's on Friday, eek!) so wanted to get the hair bands ready for then.

I also made some butterfly hair bands in brighter colours (I have to confess to not knitting these butterflies but buying them from someone else who can knit!)

A picked the bright pink one to keep for herself.

We've also been back to the loch again. It was a school holiday today so we packed a picnic and the bikes and set off.

The simple joy of bikes and puddles.

More hogweed to keep me happy.

The view from our picnic spot. It was a little cold at this point, but brightened up and developed later into a sunny afternoon.

A swan and cygnet. Apparently it's the last cygnet left at the loch, all the others having already flown away.

The swan standing is the resident whooper swan (yellow beak) who remains at the loch year round as he has a damaged wing.

Knapweed in the sun.

And just to finish off, a very recent photo of the blanket taken under lamp light just before starting this post. It is now 7 squares by 6. If I have enough yarn I'd like to make it 8 x 10 which is another 38 squares, almost double the size it is now. Hmmm, I think I might need to settle for 7 x 9, "just" 21 squares more, if I can...

21 comments:

Annaboo's House said...

Wow - I love the colours in your blanket. It looks very serene.
Glad to hear that you buy your yarn cheaply too- I do the same (funds simply won't allow extravagant purchases!).
Have a great week.
Xx

Mereknits said...

Your blanket is looking great, the colors are so beautiful. I love your flowers and butterfly headbands. What a terric idea, I bet they would be a hit with little girls everywhere.
Have a lovely day,
Meredith

Louise said...

I love the colours in your blanket too! Thanks for your recent comment, glad you enjoyed my post!

Louise

Mrs. Micawber said...

Beautiful blanket. You could always crochet a wide border in related colours if you run out of motif yarn...

I was interested to see your knapweed looks a bit different from ours.

That cherry strudel cake! Thank you, I'd love some.

Claire said...

Wow, a post choc full of beautiful things, Cherry Strudel cake, crochet flowers, beautiful blankets, picnics, Swans and more.

Love the colours you chose for your blankets. I think I have 'blanket envy' ouch.........

Claire :}

Anonymous said...

The flower and butterfly alice bands are lovely, are you making two blankets? I like the colors, very nice.

Anonymous said...

Hello! Just had a lovely indulgent hour reading through your last 10 weeks of posts!! You have been ultra busy baking, crocheting, cycling, picnicing and find such fab thrift shop bargains and I have thoroughly enjoyed reading about it - thanks!!
K x

Tania said...

Hi, just love the photos of your crochet, your little flower garden is so cute, and I just adore the colours in your blankets! xxx

YarnRoundHook said...

Is that the same blanket in both photographs? It looks so different under the different lights! Lovely colours though.
I love the crochet flower hairbands - my favourite is the large dark purple. I bet they sell well.

topchelseagirl said...

Wow I bet your headbands will go like hot cakes - and I bet the big girls will like them as much as the little girls.

rockinloubylou said...

hi. left a comment earlier but it didn't seem to go on, so am leaving it again as I really want to say how lovely the hairbands are. You are so creative and industrious!

Clicky Needles said...

Lovely flowers.
I use cheap acrylic for my blankets too. If you can get over the squeaks, they come up nice and soft once washed.

CN

Jacquie said...

Hi , good luck with the fair. Your headbands are gorgeous....what a great idea.
Love how your blanket is coming along too .
Jacquie x

Simone said...

Wonderful crochet flowers and headbands! I hope you do really well at the fair. I used to get my yarn for blankets from the pound shop too 'til they closed down! x

Pomona said...

I love your hairbands! They look really pretty, and I also love your blanket - it is a sort of stained glass effect, I feel - it just looks so beautiful and I love the way you put the colours together.

Pomona x

Jackie said...

Thanks for your lovely comment ~ the weather has been fantastic for the last couple of days but I think it is due to rain again tomorrow. Your new blanket is looking great ~ the colours work really well together :O)X

Rattling On said...

Loving the new blanket, and everything in the post really!!

Beth of The Linen Cat said...

Oh I love, love, love the crochet flowers and they look great on the headbands, I bet they fly! I so need to get my cochet skills going, I found a flower I made the other day and it's not nearly as bad as I thought. Just need some time to practice but your posts always reassure me it's worthwhile. Lovely stuff. Bethx

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