New cushions

My previous cushion covers although practical and went with my room, at the time my mum made them for me, needed to be changed and so I set myself another project to do just that.

I bought new feather pads and then found ways to cover them with scrap fabrics etc.

This one is made from the length waste of a pair of Ikea curtains and a small piece of floral.

A patchwork cover made from an old French linen sheet I purchased in France in October for 2 euros, not good enough to keep as one piece but the monogram has worked out well. Mixed with some Irish linen and again good old Ikea curtain fabric.

 I'm really pleased with this one; its made from an old jumper that I got from car boot fair for £1 especially for the purpose of felting. The left hand side is the polo neck part. Just some buttons and lace added.

I also got a round pad which has been the most awkward to deal with. Covering it with fabric was above my sewing skills, so the obvious choice was to crochet the cover for it. Instead of wool, which wouldn't be as hardwearing, I chose a craft cotton (basically string) and crocheted both the back and the front the same in half trebles. I wanted to keep the stitches pretty close as I didn't want the pad to show through too much. 

Although quite nice, it was looking a bit boring. I didn't want anything too colourful or bright and so my final decision, after a lot of messing about, was to weave in different coloured wools. Pretty pleased with it actually.

Bertie doesn't like the new cushion as much as the old ones as she has learnt very quickly that she can't snuggle up on them. So as it stands there is still one old cushion in my living room just for her, spoilt or what!

no touching the new cushions!

After a couple of minutes sitting nicely she's off anyway to annoy Arthur.

Finished scarf....

I did actually finish my scarf the day after my previous post about it, but until now have not got around to photographing it.

It's very warm and cosy, which is a definite plus at the moment when it is so bitterly cold outside. The finished scarf measures 7 by 73 inches, plenty long enough to wrap around and snuggle into.

Love it.

On another note I actually plucked up the courage last night and joined Weight Watchers (again) once I realised that I might actually struggle to get into my work trousers! Hopefully by next week I may have dropped a couple of pounds and will have started to feel a bit better about myself, well here's hoping.

Easy crocheted beret.

A friend of my daughters asked me to make a beret for a 12 year old. After looking around the net I decided on this one, using sock yarn from my stash. 

I got the pattern from here (The Adventures of Gingerbread) and just kept decreasing until I thought it was about the right size for a childs head, hoping it will fit and equally hoping she will like it! Mind you if she doesn't I can always undo the rim, take off the last decrease row and redo it slightly bigger it for Rhiannon.

Yet another blanket!

I'm thinking that it better be a bit chilly this winter as I now have so many blankets that we won't be able to move for them soon.

This one measures about 62 by 50 inches, plenty big enough to snuggle up under. I didn't need to buy any wool as it had been hanging around for some time (at least a couple of years), so not only have a de-cluttered a bit, I also feel a little proud of myself that I didn't buy any new, although truth be told I had looking online all the week before!

It matches perfectly with a chest of drawers I revamped a little while ago.

As well as with a cushion cover that I made probably about the same time as I brought the wool which has never seen the light of day.

This week also saw the delivery of some new fabric, but now I've chopped it up i'm not sure I'm that keen on it. Maybe it will be okay once I get going, I do hope so!

A last some wool work.

Finally, I have a little bit of crocheting going on.

It's my friends wedding in just 4 weeks tomorrow and not only am I starting to panic about the cake but I still don't have a firm decision on an outfit to wear. Oh well whatever I decide at least I should have a nice new wrap, I have cover up those bat wings some how!

It's a beautiful yarn and what makes it even better is that I got it in a sale for just under £2.00 a ball, instead of the usual £8.99.

I found the pattern on Ravelry - here. 

For Lucy Elizabeth.

A friend of mine has just had a little girl and I wanted to make something for the new arrival. After looking through my wool that I have left I decided on a shawl, a bit old fashioned maybe but pretty all the same.

The only wool suitable came on a cone and worked up a bit like using string due to the lanolin still covering it, smelly too. I wasn't sure what it would come out like once it was washed but I persevered, making lots of mistakes along the way, with lots of undoing and redoing going on.

Before washing

After washing - much softer 

A bit of a lurid pink but at least some of the colour drained out upon washing and hey it is for a girl. 

Finished blanket.

My little scrap blanket is all finished and I am a lot happier with it than I thought I would be.

A lot of ends to weave in, there must be another whole ball of wool here!

It's about 46 inches square, thick and warm, perfect for those cold nights that we still seem to be getting, isn't Spring supposed to be nearly here! 

The flower pattern was picked up from here at eggbird designs, aren't they just so pretty? 

 To make them slightly bigger for the blanket I just altered the petal stitches.   

Now my only problem is that my colourful wool stash has all but run out and I don't know what to have a go at next....

Stash blanket

I've been looking at my wool stash for some time wondering what to do with it and decided on a scrap blanket, but I wasn't sure whether to do a ripple, granny or what? I've got granny squares already finished in drawers and baskets around the house waiting to be put together, but I'm not really happy with them, so after some searching I finally decided on this pattern found via Flickr. Although mine will be horizontal, not vertical and square.

It's very easy and pretty quick, but even though i've got over halfway I'm not really sure about this one either. Maybe it's just me, I'm currently in the mindset that I want to make something but don't know what that something is! 

Oh and I went to see The King's Speech last night and everything that has been said about it is spot on - a must see, a great film.

Twists and turns

I made a couple more scarves last week involving spirals and corkscrews. Both made from one ball each of Araucania, Ranco multi, 344m per ball. A really beautiful wool to work with and I get mine from here.  Both scarves are very easy and pretty quick too.  I used a 5mm hook for both, but maybe a 5.5mm would have been better for the spiral one.

My corkscrew scarf. 

To make a corkscrew - Chain 24, 3 trebles into 4th chain from hook, then 4 trebles into each following chain.

Row 1, Make a corkscrew, chain 224, make corkscrew out of the last 24 stitches

Row 2, double crochet into each of the 200 chain, chain 24 and make corkscrew.

Row 3, treble into each double, chain 24 and make corkscrew.

Row 4, as row 3.

Row 5, as row 3.

Row 6, as row 3.

Row 7, as row 3.

Row 8, as row 3.

Row 9, as row 3.

Row 10, as row 3.

Row 11, as row 3.

Row 12, double crochet into each treble and slip stitch into last, weave in ends and you're done. You should end up with 6 corkscrews at each end.

My spiral scarf. 

Chain 231, or length required as per hook size.

Row 1, double into each chain, chain 3, turn

Row 2, 2 trebles into each double, chain 3, turn.

Row 3, 2 trebles into each treble, chain 3, turn.

Row 4, 2 trebles into first treble, 1 treble into next treble, 2 trebles into next treble, 1 treble into next treble, continue all the way to the end, chain 1, turn.

Row 5, double crochet into each treble.