A Visit to North Wales

Hi,

We have been away in our caravan this last week and stayed at the lovely Caravan Club park Lady Margaret's Park in Chirk.   It was a small site but the staff were extremely helpful and welcoming and it was very peaceful.

We enjoyed a walk through the grounds of Chirk Castle and had a tour of the castle which is a National Trust property.  As we walked through the grounds there were some gorgeous cottages with beautiful gardens surrounding them.

The Castle's gardens were stunning with plenty of beautiful flowers to enjoy.  

We, also, visited another National Trust property, Powis Castle, during our stay which was a bit of drive away in Welshpool but was definitely worth a visit.  The Castle was lovely inside but I must admit the gardens and grounds were most definitely a highlight of the visit.

 We opted to visit the Blue Planet Aquarium on one of the days as the weather was forecast to rain.  This was well worth the money for a visit and the underwater tunnel was fantastic with some great views of  the sharks.

On the evenings I managed to get a bit of crochet time in and I will share this with you next post.

Bye for Now

Von xx

Bobbilicious Ta Dah!

Hi,

I posted last time that I was almost done and now I am!  I had a new order of wool arrive and I was off...

So, here are my finished photos.

For the edging I opted for a bobble using Stylecraft Special Aran with wool in Charcoal.  I followed the pattern for the edging from Heidi Bears blog.  This was very straight forward and no problem to follow.  The final blanket measures 100cm x 158cm

I have put this for sale on our Etsy shop now.

Bye for Now

Von xxx

Cornflower Blanket Ta Dah!

Hi,

You may remember I had been creating a crochet blanket using the lovely Fairy Isle Cygnet wool.  It was a smashing wool to use and has a lovely soft feel to it.

I have completed the main body of the blanket and I have been busy working on the edging.  I began with a single crochet round and have continued with a further two rounds of single crochet.

Then I followed on with a two rounds of treble crochet and finished with a scalloped edge.  This is the finished result which I am very happy with.

The finished blanket looks gorgeous and is very soft to touch.  The finished blanket size measures 88cm x 103cm, 34.5in x 40.5in

It is up for sale on my Etsy shop now so take a look.

Bye For Now

Von xxx

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