New Start For January
As soon as I’d completed all my Christmas gift makes, I thought maybe I should take a crafty break. I wanted to read all the books I haven’t read because I’ve been doing crochet or sewing. Well, I couldn’t just stop, that would be daft. But I read a book last week and finished one the week before, so at least I’ve managed to mix it up a bit.
I got a new bag for Christmas! I’ve been saying it’s a jelly bag. I think that’s what they’re called. It’s no good for crochet hooks, but it looks good. I had one when I was little. My new jelly bag is holding my latest project. It’s a bog standard granny square blanket. It’s one of many recent baby blankets that are helping to use up my yarn stash. The colours are an odd mix, but hopefully someone will like them together.
Using Up Yarn, Old & New
Once I’ve finished the big granny square blanket, I will be moving on to a crochet shawl. Nothing fancy, I’m thinking a plain granny triangle. I’ve got Drops Lima, which I think is the DK version of Drops Nepal. The colours and feel are very similar. I bought it because it was on sale.
I’ve also gathered what I need to make a Spice of Life blanket. I’m going to use Stylecraft Special, and I’ve tried to match the colours of the Rico stuff that is used in the original pattern. Mostly, I had this hidden in the cupboard already. I’m getting concerned about how much surplus wool I have (at least I’m trying to reduce it).
Corner-to-Corner Blanket
I finished another blanket at some point after Christmas. A corner-to-corner blanket. I just googled Corner to Corner crochet blanket and chose a free Ravelry download.
I used Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo DK in Pixie green and a mustard colour, which doesn’t have a name on the label. This stuff does not go far, so once the green was gone, I needed to add the big mustard border to get it to a decent size. Originally, it was going to be two baby blankets, but now it’s one! I had enough green to add (UK) dc’s all the way around the edge to create a neat foundation for the border.
The border is just a load of (UK) trebles and a scalloped edge. Each scallop has 5 UK tr stitches with 7 tr stitches for the corners. It’s very drapey and has a good weight to it. I really quite like it.
Lastly, for the rest of this week, there is a chance that I might also try and remember how to knit. It hasn’t gone well so far. I can’t remember if I ever knew how to actually cast on. I think Nanna always did that for me, and then would pass me the needles to do the rest. I should sort that out.
I have bought some drop lima and nepal! Also the spice of life is on my list of thing to do, it looks great
I’ll keep my eyes peeled for your Spice of Life progress. Not sure when I’ll start mine. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks.
Ooooh have some lovely projects lined up. The Spice of Life is on my to do list too. I couldn’t decide on colours. Your c2c blanket makes me want to start one straight away! I need some projects that I can just pick up and do without much thought alongside the more complex ones (or the ones I am bored of already :)) The knitting will come back to you really quickly. I do a long tail cast on for socks (I think it’s because its stretchy). I watched YouTube loads when I started knitting again. Looking forward to seeing your creations.
I spent 10 minutes thinking “eh?” when I started the c2c then off I went and it’s dead straight forward. I watched a couple of you tube videos the other day but didn’t think I’d need to pay much attention. Turns out, I probably should concentrate.
Gorgeous drapey blanket! Oh and I remember those jelly bags!! Seeing that has sent me down memory lane 😊
Thank you! I might have to get some more in different colours. Good presents for those who remember them first time!
I love the corner to corner blanket and jelly bags!! A few memories there, my sister had but I was younger and I didn’t 🙁 She had hers as her school bag. Do you remember jelly shoes too?!
Ha, I’ve still got jelly shoes!! I had some lovely ones when I was a kid as well!
Great projects and good luck with the new ones, too. Hope the knitting comes on well, as others mention, YouTube is invaluable. I found out how to graft the toes of socks invisibly by watching a video on YouTube – brilliant!
I was getting frustrated with YouTube because I hadn’t found a decent video. I found one this morning and off I went! It came flooding back.
Love your jelly bag – I had one too! Looks like you’ve got a busy time ahead 🙂
I hope so, things keep getting in the way. Hoping to sit and crochet today but Toddler is dropping his naps….
Hmm I remember those days, you come to depend on those windows of opportunity to get stuff done. Good luck with the projects 🙂