Almost done!

Hi,

I have been so busy lately and just don't know where the days have gone!  I have managed in between everything going on to make some good progress with my blankets that I am making at the moment.  I have decided I must finish off some of these projects I have started before I start anything new.

Any how,  do you recall my bobble blanket that I have been working upon?  Well, I have bobbled many happy an hour away using Cygnet Yarns Aran in Denim.  This has been a real yarn eater but I am really pleased with the outcome so far.

Look at all the those beautiful bobbles....

The main part of the blanket is complete now so I just need to work on the border next.  I am planning on a charcoal colour for the edging, once I have ordered my wool!

The other blanket that I had been working on is smaller and I have used a simple repetitive stitch on this one.  The wool is another Cygnet variety - The Fairy Isle range in Cornflower.

The wool is so soft and it has given the blanket a really lovely feel to it.

So I have finally finished the main part of this one too and am planning to work on it's border next too.  I am opting for a white wool for this one.

As soon as I have re-ordered my wool and made a start on the borders for these I will let you know.

Bye For Now

Von xxx

Waterfalls

Hi,

    We have been away most of this week in our caravan.  It was a much needed rest for us and nice to enjoy some peace.  We were staying at the caravan club site in Pandy, Wales which is a small but very friendly and peaceful site.

   Bank holiday Monday we set off on a bit of a car journey to the four falls walk in the  Forestry Commission Wales woodland.   It was a bit of a queue to park so obviously everyone had had the same idea as us on such a lovely day. This was not an easy walk by any means and definitely tested my fitness but I am proud to say I managed it! And my goodness it was worth it! It was a large circuit and we did not manage it all but we did complete the red pathway as you can see on the map.

  Some parts of the walk were very steep and quite rocky.

   However, I must say it was definitely worth it! We set off towards the first waterfall Shed Clun-Gwyn and you could hear this well before you arrived in view of it.   It was magnificent and we sat looking at this for sometime.

We continued on from here but decided against the green route to two other waterfalls and opted to continue on the circuit route.  It was a gorgeous walk with beautiful woodland, bluebells and small streams along the way.

    We then came across the next waterfall Sgwd yr Eira.  To get to this we had to climb down  a number of steps which were quite deep for my little legs.  It was, again, stunning once we got down to the waterfall and river. We sat and rested enjoying the view. some brave people were going under the waterfall but I'm afraid I wasn't up to that!

     We continued to trek around back to the car and I must say I was glad to sit down once we got there!  There are a number of waterfall walks in the Brecon Beacons and we have previously followed one of these when we have visited before.  I would definitely recommend it as the waterfalls are well worth it!

Bye for now

Von  xxx

Cornflower Love

Hi,

    I have recently discovered a whole new world of crochet on Instagram and have taken to following a couple of inspirational crocheters in particular.  I have become a huge fan of Faye of  Little Dove Crochet and Laurelin of Mrs. Snufflebean. If you have not already seen their work you must take a look.

   As you know I have been busy making my bobblilicious blanket, which is really growing now, with Cygnet yarn.  

  As I was sharing this on Instagram I came across @mrsnufflebeanyarns and her lovely stock of Cygnet yarns.  It was her latest collection of Fairy Isle wool by Cygnet that really caught my eye and I bought a pack of Cornflower from her(which was delivered very quickly and well packaged).

     I set about starting a new blanket straight away.  I am using a simple stitch for this consisting of a double crochet and then two trebles(uk).  I have used this stitch before with a chunkier wool to create a blanket for my Mum but the difference with this wool is lovely.  The Fairy Isle wool is creating a daintier pattern and I love the colours as they change.

I really really love this wool and I must say it feels really soft and squidgy.  The blanket is developing very quickly and I am pleased with my progress so far.  As you can see it is coming along lovely.  

    I am starting to think of a border now but can't decide between a white or a grey....  I will ponder some more and let you know.

Bye for Now

Von xxx

Cross Stitch Love

Hi,

   I love my crochet and I really enjoy all my projects but when I saw this "Merry Christmas" cross stitch sampler by Little Dove Designs it encouraged me to pick up my cross stitch needles and threads again.

I bought the design from Faye at Little Dove Designs and it was very promptly delivered.

So I spent an evening in front of the TV sorting through my boxes of threads to get the colours needed so I could get started.

I have made a start and I am finding this a lovely straightforward pattern to follow.

I am feeling a little nostalgic as I sew this as cross stitch was one of the first crafts I learned to do.  I remember my Mum teaching me when I was a teenager.  I think it was something she gave me to do when I was off school for a long time when I had chicken pox.  It was the start of an addiction from then on with crafts and I have dabbled in all sorts of crafts over the years.

I will let you know my progress

Bye for now 

Von xxx

Little Flowers

Hi,

I love having a flick through the pins on pinterest and I came across this pin to make these little cute crochet flowers.

Well, I visited Todolwen's blog which is brilliant!  She uses all sorts of materials to create wonderful creations and I must say I am loving this blog at the moment.  Anyway I have had a go at following the tutorial she posted to make the "Little Crochet Flowers" which I have found quite addictive!

As I was making these my mind was running away with all the possibilities of using these.  I bought some DMC Petra Crochet thread in three more colours.

I have used these to make more of these little flowers in other colours, as you can see...

 My Mum is a hugely into her card making and I sometimes dabble with this too and I thought "ooh, embellishments for cards!"  I have added some packs of these on to our Etsy shop.

Bye for now

Von xx

Bobbilicious!

Hi,

Oh, I have been very busy on this project trying to get it finished.  This is just a simple bobble blanket this time and I must say I do find it very calming bobbling away in front of the TV in the evenings.

It is a very simple pattern, of my own making, using the bobble stitch and treble crochet(UK) stitches.  I am using Cygnet Aran yarn on this project and I have found it lovely to work with.  It is a beautiful 'denim' blue colour.  

The pattern is very simple.  I began with a chain of  165, then 2 trebles and a bobble stitch repeated across.  In the next row I trebled each stitch across and just  kept repeating this until I achieved the length of blanket I wanted.  

Then it's 'bobbilicious' all the way!

I am really making good progress with this is and it is continuing to grow, as you can see.  Need to start thinking about the edging next.

Bye for now

Von  xxx

Storage Solutions!

Hi,

Now, I am a real hoarder and I save all sorts of bits and pieces saying 'you never know when I might use it!'  Well, I came to the conclusion I must do something about all the chocolate and sweet tins I had saved over the last few Christmas celebrations.  These are great for storing all my odds and ends in but I decided I wanted to make them look a bit more attractive.

I bought some primer spray from my local Wilkinsons store and a metallic finishing spray.

I covered the box with the primer initially.  This was an outdoor job so I was dodging showers!  I gradually built up the primer layers and then added the metallic spray on top.

The finished results were pretty good.  I created some simple labels and attached these as a finishing touch.

I can go and sort all my stash now!  Bye for now.

Von xx