Verb: pootle
poo-t(u)l To move in a leisurely unhurried way,
with no real purpose


Thursday 18 February 2016

Bring on Spring ....



Is it just me, or are you longing for Spring to show its face too ?

I am so over Winter now - 
actually, its not so much Winter I'm over, as I adore cold, frosty mornings,
 log fires and getting cosied up inside -
it's the rain, and the mud  and then more rain and more mud ! 
Has it actually stopped raining at all since about November ? 

I wouldn't have even minded snow, would have LOVED some snow !

But just enough already of the wet and the squelching and 
the muddy paw prints throughout the house and the endless paw wiping
 and dirty dog towels.

I cannot help but long for a little bit of Spring sunshine
and I know that it's literally just around the corner.
Just as sure as Winter follows Autumn, Spring is waiting in the wings.



And this being England I know only too well that we could go from 
wet and rainy to gloriously sunny and warm all in the space of one day -
and that's completely fine by me !

So until then I'm going to subconsciously will it on with a whole lot of 
Springtime colour in all my crochet makes......


from my Spring Flower Garland ....


to tiny yellow primroses .....


and blossom coloured flowers ....


to beautiful pastel coloured yarn .....


and bright zingy spring tones


to my Cherry Blossom Poncho.


Come on Spring,
you can do it !!



Monday 1 February 2016

A whole lot of waffle ...


A couple of weeks ago I finished my Waffle Stitch blanket and I have to say, 
I think it has been one of favourite blanket makes so far.


I've been wanting to try this particular stitch for some time now and 
so once I'd decided that I would have a blanket all lined up to start in
 those lovely, lazy post Christmas days I didn't have to think 
twice about the sort of blanket it was going to be.


After a very good heads up from a friend on Instagram I ordered all the 
yarn from Hobby Craft and it literally arrived the very next day. 
I used The Women's Institute Soft and Smooth Aran,
 and with it coming in balls of 400g 
and being on offer at three balls for two I was all set to go.


To learn how to do the stitch I watched a video by BellaCoco and this
 really helped me to get the hang of it very quickly.


Once I'd made my starting chain I was off !

It really is the most satisfying stitch to do as the pattern forms so quickly
 that it makes you want to keep doing the next row, and the next, 
and the next, just to see how it's going to look.


It works up to look differently on the reverse, 
with the pattern being equally as lovely as the front.


In no time at all I was all ready to add the finishing border and with the 
blanket being super chunky and squishy I needed to make sure the border matched.

In the end I decided to go with a contrasting colour 
and to keep it simple and not too elaborate.


I used a border that I have done before on my Meadow Picnic Blanket.
It starts with a round of DC, but to create a blanket stitch look I made the DC a deep stitch.


The second round is worked on the reverse 
and is sort of giant bobbles come mini pompoms !
The full instructions for it can be found here.


It seemed that before I knew it the blanket was finished,
and, sad though this makes me sound - I felt quite lost when it was all done :-) !


I have no doubt at all that there will just have to be another one in the making soon .........



but in the meantime one very lucky little pooch has a new bedtime blankie.

The full pattern and details for my Waffle Blanket can be found here.