Finally finished

It's been a long haul from 2012. This blanket was supposed to be mine when it started out but the beginning squares ended up as a blanket for DS and DIL and a blanket for DD. So now 552 squares later (100 + 100 + 352) I finally have my blanket. It measures 16 squares by 22 squares and each square is 4 rounds of Stylecraft DK (plus some other DK that found its way into my basket).

The dimensions are 6' 2'' by 8' 2''.

It drapes down to the ground on our double bed and fits snuggly from the top headboard to the bottom headboard.

The grannies are edged with a ripple edging as I didn't want anything too lacy.

I did 5 rounds of treble shells then 4 rounds of UK dc hooking into the back of the stitches, followed by a round of half trebles, ch 1. From there I did a 'Lucy' ripple but any gentle ripple row would do. There was no base row for the ripple as I wanted a gently wave to the bottom of the blanket. Each ripple row went into the back stitches of the previous row. The final round was a reverse dc round which gives a ridged edge.

Wave, wave.

The original idea was on According to Matt's blog, (whose original idea came from Attic 24 Lucy's blog) and the edging I made up as I went along with ideas I'd read about elsewhere.

So now what?

xx

Moments in time

2/11/13 13.29

So far I've

* cuddled brown Pusscat - he's sleeping it off after having his top set of teeth out 2 days ago. Ahh!!!

* made breakfast

* started off the bread

* tidied the bedroom

* tidied the kitchen

* made some pastry

* made some crumble topping

* cuddled the cat

* made lunch

* listened to the radio

* ironed

* cleaned the skirting boards in the front room

* dusted in the front room - a rare occurence

* polished the brass

* stroked the cat (Pusscat 1 is looking after him)

I am now going to 

* sit for a bit on the computer - hello world

* crochet more of the edging of the 2012 blanket - it's a long way round!

Later I will

* peel some windfall apples (given by a friend) for some apple crumble

* assemble some meat and potato pies and a vegetarian pie with onion, carrots, peppers, cheese, stock cube and anything else that's veggie in the fridge

* knock back the bread and prove

* bake the pies and crumbles

* have tea

* have a bath

* get ready to go out with DD on a night out!!!

:)

xx

14.04

* I'm on the last round of the edge! Whoopee!

14.26

The cats have settled themselves down underneath the blanket. Looks like I'll not be moving for a while yet.

17.30

* Two pies eaten and part of one apple crumble

22.15

* Going home from the night out. It was a cold, blustery night so the blanket came in handy.

3/11/13 13.38

I have just finished the final round of my blanket - yeah! Can't show you any pics yet as the cats are on the blanket.

PS A very warm welcome to my new follower.
xx

Chorley Group Fiat Rally

This rally for charity took a long line of Fiats, including DD's through the Blackpool Illuminations.

Try keeping about 50 cars in one line without breaking them up! It took some manoeuvring.

The weather was fine so the top came down and we waved our garage flag proudly.

We also waved our light wands!

The 2012 blanket number 1 came in handy.

The Lights attract thousands of visitors ...

... and are a wonderful spectacle but it takes ages to crawl through them all.

xx

Round and round

The trouble with going round the edge is that certain members of the family love to help.

Now, cosy though it is, it makes it very awkward when turning a corner because the whole blanket has to be turned 90 degrees. Puss gets hauled round with the blanket.

Am I soft, or what!

Oooh oh, here comes the other one.

xx

Done ...

... all the squares.

Now I've just got to crochet them all together and crochet an edge.

I should have 22 rows of 16 squares. There are some squares that haven't been done correctly. Can you spot any? One's got 3 clusters on one corner. Silly me. (I can't spot it now!)

Click on the 2012 label to see the story of this blanket.

xx

PS A very warm welcome to my new follower who is also enjoying her retirement. Yeah!

Piles!

I think it's time that I showed you my piles!

First of all my pile of books. Gill, I don't review books for anyone in particular. These books were given to me by friends. There's books behind the books in the pictures ...

and more piles of books elsewhere. I'm slowly wading my way through. I aim eventually to wade my way through all the books in the house and give away most of them. One of my NewYear Resolutions was to read at least one book per month.

I've got piles of wool in drawers scattered around the house.

There are more piles of wool elsewhere! Most of it is from CSs or car boots. I'm slowly crocheting and knitting my way through them.

Here is a pile of photographs. I've got photo albums to put them in but I've not got round to that job yet. Perhaps it should be at the top of my list or this pile will hang around getting in the way. I've already had the family videos put on to CD. Now do I bin the videos? Decisions, decisions. I need to get rid of these piles.

Here are piles of fabric which 'may come in handy sometime'. There are more piles elsewhere - oh dear.  How many quilts do I need? Should I start making my own dresses? I've already got piles of those for my dancing.

Here is a pile of garments that have seen better days. They are waiting in a pile to be cut into patchwork pieces with each square a reminder of who wore the garment and where.

And last here, but not my last lot of piles, are the final middles for my 2012 blanket. My pile of wool for this blanket has gone down considerably, with 2 blankets 'done' already for the 'daughters' and 1 blanket left to finish for me.

It will be quite a while before I get rid of all my piles. I'll just have to live with them for a while longer!

xx

Merlin Magic

My Merlin Annual Pass is not only for entry to the Tower Ballroom but also for free entry in to other Merlin attractions, so one of my dancing friends and I went to the Circus this week. The Circus is situated directly beneath the tower and the tower 'legs' can be seen surrounding the circus ring. No pictures were allowed to be taken of the acts (no animals here) but I sneaked in a few before the performance and during the interval. The Circus is as elaborately decorated as the Ballroom.

During the interval children could go down to the ring to have their face painted - for a cost, of course,

or to buy souvenirs.

The circus ring was smaller than I remembered since my last visit - hmm, hmm, hmm years ago when I was little and I'm sad to say that the water finale was not as spectacular as I remember either. :(

The acts were good but not great and the same acrobats seemed to return for different routines. Acrobats, clowns, acrobats, clowns  - not much variety really. I mustn't moan - the tiles around the area were the most spectacular!

I feel a crocheted square coming on!

Pusscat is loving his new bed.

xx

Grannies and Mums

 Granny's Bay

Granny's Bay flowers

Granny's Bay flowers' granny!

Mum's sandy feet and Mum's frock

Mum's frock's granny

More Mum's frocks' grannies

Mum's duvet granny

Granny's Bay rocks!

xx