Rocking Horse

This is my very first attempt at Filet Crochet. I've never followed a chart in regards to crochet or knitting for that matter ever before. Overall the finish isn't too bad, keeping in mind that I had no idea what yarn to use nor what needles etc, so I just fudged it.

The pattern that I used was by Sandi Marshall, a free chart hosted by About.com. Her result was very square, whereas mine is slightly more rectangular. Either way it wasn't a bad result at all!



It took about three days, on and off again. The above is the unblocked result. It took an hour to block it all out as I only had so many pins and a smaller ironing board lol!

I used Baby Bella Evelyn yarn with a slightly bigger hook then they recommended. I did that because I had full intention of adding granny squares and the like to make a boarder for it, which were all done with the same tension. However once I put them next to it, it will turn out to be too bulky and heavy looking, so I'm going to just make a lace border until I achieve the size I want.

All blocked out

It does currently have its ends hanging out in places. Ill sew them in when I do the finishing edges. I found the yarn to be extremely frustrating (possibly why it only cost $1 for a 50gm ball). Each ball that I have used has had knots (yes knots!) joining the ends of the yarn together. Resulting in the loss of at least a few inches of yarn while I cut out the knot and then reattach during stitching. I'm not sure if it is a sign of the quality of the yarn, where it is manufactured or both? I know I have never come across this, especially to this degree, before though.

Sewing Jinx & Healing Hearts

Healing Hearts is a campaign running at the moment for quilters to put blocks together to send to New Zealand for the 29 families that tragically lost their loved ones in the mine disaster there.

I only found this earlier in the week from a fellow blogging friend. Ive got my blocks in the mail today and saw they have enough blocks now.

Such a great cause, I hope that Shirley is able to pool enough resources together to finish.

In other news, I am jinxed with sewing machines! I borrowed mums to put my blocks together and now her machine makes a funny noise... or it did, then it went clang and viola no more noise... probably not a healthy sign though. I think I shall step away from the machines for a while lol.

Block Five

Once again this was a very simple and quick block to produce. Again, Im not very keen on the back of the block where the cross stitch comes through, however I guess I will have to learn to deal with it as there is no changing it now.

I havent looked at the next block yet, but I cant wait, whatever it is. I cant believe how quick it is to crochet compared to knitting! I wish I had started sooner!!

Block Four

The granny square!! Oh how I longed for this simple block. And yet, when it came time to produce it, I hated it. I had never done a block that required anything except simple crochet, this incorporated doubles and trebles and was a lot more difficult than it needed to be. It did however produce a much better finish than my other ones (but shh!).

Block Three

I loved making this square. It was so simple to crochet and took little to no time at all. Im not very happy with the back of the square, its neat enough (years of practice, although dislike, of cross stitch) I just dont like the fact that when the quilt is finished, if you turn it over you will see pink lines etc. I would have liked to hide the stitches within the white as I went but it proved difficult to achieve the look while maintaining even cross stitches.

Block Two

My second block from 'The Art of Crochet' is the shell block. Overall it turned out square which is the main thing I suppose. Im not very happy with its overall look. I may undo it and try again later. Im not entirely sure what it is about it that I dont like. I had trouble understanding exactly what they wanted me to do at each of the edges and just seemed to fudge it as I went, perhaps that is what is wrong? Otherwise its a rather pretty square really.

The Blanket

YAY! I can finally make my post about the blanket.

A good friend of mine is now 36 weeks pregnant. A week or so ago I finally got to sending her a parcel which included a little something for bub. One of those surprises was a crochet blanket that I had made for her.

When she first fell pregnant I was wondering what little something I could send her way. There is such a variety of wonder kids clothes on the market today but they dont really carry that 'something' special like a hand made gift.

I had thought about making a quilted blanket however Im still working on my son's from when I was pregnant. That combined with the fact that my sewing machine is still on my kitchen table in bits did not indicate that a quilted blanket was the best of ideas.

We were talking one night on MSN and she was discussing a pair of crochet booties that she had from when her daughter was a baby. This got me to thinking about the granny square blanket that my ex's mother made him. And I in turn thought... why not.

So I picked out a few pieces of scrap wool from various projects that I have made over the years just to see what would happen. It started out with me following directions from the internet and not having much of an idea at all.

Then things just flowed on. I tossed in a bit of colour and ended up having to buy more wool because it was turning out much better than expected.

The end result is sized just enough for a throw rug/lap blanket so perfect size for bubba. Its very soft and feels very warm.

I was so inspired by just how well it turned out that I started one for my son... Its still not finished...

A closer look at the pattern and colours

A simple but effective edge to finish.