Oh My Oh My Oh My

Let me introduce you to my new 'current' crochet project.  On Monday night I read two wonderful posts by two fabulous crocheting ladies called Lucy and Heather and just thought I MUST join in.

Last year I started a ripple and after a number of stitches followed by frogging and then more stitches and more frogging and so on and so on I got this far:

Oh swoon at my lovely Cath Kidson project bag.  I <3 thee so much.

I didn't say I'd done much!  But the hours and hours it has taken me to get to this point is unbelievable.  This is my colour selection, with cream:

Without cream:

Not quite sure yet whether to use the cream but the length of time it will take to finish the petrol stripe I will probably have months to decide.  This ripple pattern is really the first time I have struggled with crochet and I find I am constantly looking at the pattern which means pretty slow progress.

Well, my yarn choice, rico baby dk, is not as gorgeous as what Heather of Little Tin Bird and Lucy of Attic24 have chosen to make their next ripples with but I am going to take part in their ripple along.  The idea of lots of ladies round the world all rippling along together, helping and encouraging each other truly inspires me.   I'm quite sure I will NEVER keep up with them all but if it get me motivated then all the better.  

These is Heather's lovely choice, Debbie Bliss DK Cashmerino (about £4 per ball):

And Lucy's, Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino (about £5 per ball):

Don't they just look fabulous.  Words can't express how much I am in love with the quality of yarn and their colour choices:

Both ladies have such an amazing talent for picking colours that work, contrast and complement each other so well.  I just don't have the confidence or the 'eye' to pick out colours of yarn as well as these ladies do.

Mmmmm, question is can I build up a stash of their choices to repeat their ripple blankets at a later date?  

It will certainly be buy a couple of balls at a time with the price of these yarns especially if I want to make a decent sized blanket (will need about 36 balls by Lucy's estimation).  But one thing I know for sure they will be so super scrummy and cosy to snuggle under as their choice of yarn is so fantasticly soft and yummy to the touch.


Heather has set up a flickr group for the ripple along which can be found here.  Over the weekend I will add my paltry effort to the group. Oh how disappointing it will look compared to the lovely ripples that are already there! Well I've got until May to get it finished for the new arrival, surely even I can manage that lol.

Thanks ladies for the inspiration x

Photo credits for Debbie Bliss yarn to Lucy and Heather.  

Finally Completed A LO And A Little Bit Of Crochet

It may have been the 17 June yesterday but I finally completed my first LO this month.  With everything going on my mojo has really gone and I have just not had the time or the inclination to scrap. At the Bromsgrove Crop last night I completed this:

Think I need to add a little cotton to the buttons to complete it.

Also have some crochet to show you.  Have used the teal sublime wool and done a round on Liam's Granny Squares and stitched them together:

Freya was very insistent Snowball had a cuddle, stupid animal just let her wrap him up in it:

It is so lovely and cuddly.  Blanket is going to be 7 squares by 12.  Only another 75 squares to go!  Before anyone does the maths, I have a ninth square that I haven't stitched together yet.  

Had a delivery of new yarn today which I will photograph and show you over the weekend.  This is also going to be Granny Squares, just love doing them and the they so easy to take places.

See this.......

Well to be honest, I am going to hit my head against it before the day is out!

So been into the village this afternoon to go for a walk to clear my head and somehow, really really not sure how but I ended up in the wool shop, oh my oh my, how on earth did that happen?

And as it is very very rude to just go in and touch, smell and look at the yarn, I just had to buy some.  Here are my little goodies:

Four balls of Rico Baby DK and :

1 ball of sublime merino wool

Well.......in fact there were a few more purchases but my LYS is lovely, they let you choose what you want for a project and then buy 1 ball at a time when you need it.  They put your purchase outback in a box, so you will know you have perfect colour matches!  One of the many perks of a LYS, friendly service, spread the cost and you can actually see the yarn before you buy.

Thanks for visiting, off to the hospital, to be yet again, prodded and poked.  Then home to start the Granny Squares with the Sublime wool.  Promise I will post later to show how the squares are looking.

Mr Postie Has Been A Knocking

Well well well, what do I have here?  Over the past few weeks I have been looking at Lucy's Blog Attic24 and Heather's Blog Little Tin Bird.  Both are huge crochet fans and both have commented on using Kool Kotton to crochet with.  Others have also commented about this yarn. 

Until now I have used Sirdar Baby Bamboo and Rowan Extra Fine Merino Wool.  Have been completing Granny Squares with both yarns.  The Rowan is crocheting beautifully and is so soft and warm, however, the Baby Bamboo is really soft but only crochets so so.  I am without doubt a real real big fan of the Rowan but at £4.95 a ball it is quite expensive.  Not too sure with the Baby Bamboo but again this is not that cheap at £3.10 a ball.  Both were purchased from local yarn shops because I am not yet super knowledgeable about what yarns are good and don't really want to waste money by buying online and finding they are not suitable or the colour is completely different to what I see on screen.  I have learnt from buying Scrapping papers online that the computer screen really does not give a true representation of the colour.

Having read both Lucy and Heather's reviews I ordered last Friday some Kool Kotton.  I purchased mine from Texure Yarns.  Arrived Saturday morning.  Here are the colours I purchased:

1st Row - KK15 Cerise, KK1 Pink, KK14 Khaki, KK3 Denim

2nd Row - KK13 Purple, KK7 Coral, KK6 Mint, KK11 Tomato

3rd Row - KK8 Aqua, KK2 Mauve, KK12 Olive, KK10 Lilac

Not quite sure yet whether to do Granny Squares or a Granny Stripe.  Will have a little play at a Granny Stripe tonight then decide.  To be honest, I quite fancy trying a Granny Stripe, but the counting large numbers of chain stitches is putting me off!

Five Favourites For Friday

Today I am loving

and

both available from sarahraven.com

Also loving:

By Naughty Monkey - Can't find anyone who stocks them in the UK!!!!!  Not fair, so love the pink heels!

Wool by Rico - Creative Cotton, available from First For Yarns

Lovely Martha Stewart punch, available from Sarah's Cards Ltd:

Well thats all for today, hope to see you soon, Thanks for visiting

Hugs Can x