...completed crochet blanket number three. Shown here in a jumble with the other two, and a cat.
I've not waffled often about this blanket. There was a post here, here, and a brief mention here. (I love the zoom through old blog posts finding these links involves, sometimes I don't think I achieve much, it's nice to see photos proving otherwise!)
It was very quick to crochet. I must have used a fairly large hook -I actually finished crocheting it last October and have been sewing in the ends on and off since then (until they're dealt with I don't consider the blanket truly completed) and can't remember the hook size I used or indeed the pattern (I will search for this and add the link as an edit at the end of the post, it was a free download from Ravelry).
It's quite a holey blanket, which makes it a nice and light weight.
Tada!It ended up 9x9 squares square. I would have made it bigger but I was running out of some of the yarns (unidentified charity shop bargains, so I couldn't just buy more). I added a granny border which I really like.
As to the name, I wanted a blanket similar to the Turtle blanket (shown with it above). Much of the yarn used is the same, but there are different additional colours, and of course, the pattern is different though it's still a variation of a circle in a square. They're both to go in the living room for winter use.
And here are all three blankets together to show how they vary in size. So from never thinking I'd manage one blanket I've now made three. They're strangely addictive to do. There's something soothing about the actual crochet process and it's always fun selecting the colours, plus there's a great sense of achievement once they're complete.
While I was fussing about with my blankets, the children were happy to play in the garden. We didn't end up doing anything special on the last day of the holidays, we were all quite happy to stay home and enjoy the last routine free day.I mentioned in my last post that I'd been spring cleaning. One reason for this (aside from it desperately needing done) was that the parents were popping in for a visit on their way to the airport. They've not been since last summer so things had been allowed to slip since the last "inspection". Anyway, I made them a nice tea...
I'd recently bought this book, and decided to make all the courses from it and moreover to pick things I'd never made before.
We had garlic, coriander and chili baguette. I'd probably omit the chili next time as I perfer just garlic and herb bread though it was nice to use fresh herbs instead of the dried ones I normally use for my herb butter. (image from the book).
Chicken, almond and apricot tagine. This was fabulous! Definitely one to make again and it was pretty simple too. (image from the book, in too much of a rush to dish mine out hot to photograph it!)
And to finish, I made lemon tart topped with raspberries.
It was scrumptious too but a bit more of a faff to make and very rich. In addition to lots of sugar and cream it requires 9 eggs! Three of the eggs were yolk only, so I was left with three egg whites...
...so I had my first go at making meringues last night. The recipe is from Rachel Allen's Bake. The red swirls are just food colouring. We're going to have them for pudding tonight...Edit:- Found it! Here is the ravelry link to the pattern.
