Holiday Makes & Granny Square Crochet

The last week has been somewhat busy, but I have tried to savour every minute before my babies started and returned to school yesterday. For days beforehand I felt so choked up, but it has happened and my little flower doesn't seem to like it one bit, gulp! Fortunately the first three weeks are staggered and with only a couple of hours in school everyday it will hopefully help her settle in and also give us some quality time when she gets home. I have been meaning to show and tell all about our wonderful holiday, but for now that will have to stay on the back burner for another couple of days. In the meantime I will quickly share the holiday crafty goodness with you.

For my lovely regular readers, you had a little peak to see what was in my bag to take on holiday to Italy and as always I was a little ambitious to say the very least. I knew beforehand that the objective of the holiday was to spend quality time with the whole family and to do little else and that my lovelies is exactly what I did. I pushed myself and had fun with the kids and enjoyed time with Ma and Pa just being, something I really miss, so all I have to show for that is the most wonderful memories that I will treasure for as long as I live. We did enjoy a couple of evenings where Ma showed me the ropes of embroidery and if I  had to show you all the photo's (which Pa took as he giggled at the sight of his rather clueless daughter), then you will all have a good old belly laugh. Unfortunately for you and fortunately for me I am not sharing these with you, but I will share a few, so without further ado.

 

 

I loved how the family just sat together in the evenings and enjoying some reading, talking and embroidery, it was so so wonderful. I took these little drawings I did with as I have something special in mind for them, but more about that when I finish them. It was such fun working the pretty lazy daisy stitch with Ma and learning how to do it properly.

 

 

I also took these sweet fairy drawings, which I got from this Doodle Stitching book, which is aimed at a future project. This was more fun than I could have imagined. The first time Ma showed me how to do ribbon embroidery, her exact words were: 'It is as easy as falling off a log!'. Now that might be the case if you are a frog sitting on a log by the bog (I love this sweet Usborne phonics story), but for this frog, who was rather agog, it was rather fun sitting with some ribbon by the bog, waiting to fall off a log. Ribbon embroidery is such fun and I am completely lost in the endless opportunities that it can conjure up. In fact I have already started a little ribbon embroidery project, which will take a great deal of time, but more on a later date.

 

For the fairies, we used a combination of stitches, including French knots, another great stitch. It is such a simple, yet effective stitch and I am actually using it a fair bit at the moment with another sweet little project I will share with you soon.

 

Now on to some crochet. This little flannel worked up quite quickly on the plane and for this I used Drops Paris Cotton and followed the Cotton Square flannels' pattern from the very lovely Granny Squares Crochet book, which I discuss in a little more detail later on. It is a sweet little project and I will definitely be making some more of these. I personally so enjoy seeing pretty home made cloths around the house to brighter up the bathroom and kitchen.

 

Three generations enjoyed an afternoon by the side of the pool where we sat together to do a little crocheting, trying to show little Es the 'ropes'.

 

Before we went away I had already started to work on my Lazy Days throw. I still needed to work quite a few squares to finish the first two rows and then 'join as I go'. I also made it a little bigger than the pattern as I wanted it to fit our bed, but to be honest I measured it on the bed in Italy, but as it turns out it might still be a little on the small side. The good thing about making something like this is that there are a myriad of uses for it, so it most certainly won't be waisted.

Thanks to a five hour drive to Rome and waiting around in airports, I managed to get the first part of it all together. I always think it takes twice as long to work the ends in than it does to actually crochet a square, but that's all part of the 'fun'. Even thought I haven't really touched the surface yet, there is something rather satisfying about getting the first stage of it done.

The pattern is from the lovely book Granny Square Crochet by Catherine Hirst. It was a gift from my doh (darling other half) for my birthday and what a wonderful gift it is turning out to be. Usually when I get a book, I feel inspired and there are a few projects that grab my eye, this book on the other hand has so many wonderful projects that I want to make and in fact I have already finished three of them and now working on the fourth. Each and every one of the projects I have finished have turned out lovely. The first being a pair of arm warmers, which I made as a gift for a bloggy friend, and then the flannel mentioned above and also a cowl which I worked up this week, but more on that at a later date. There are so many things that I really love about this book, the fact that it is so easy to understand and follow, that it uses UK terminology (I appreciate that this might not be helpful to everyone) and the fact that Catherine Hirst uses inexpensive yarns, such as Stylecraft Special amongst others. Furthermore it is also a lovely coffee table book to flick through as the photography, design and presentation is very pleasing to the eye.

For anyone interested in a good and easy to follow crochet book, this is the one. There are many wonderful and inspiriting crochet books out there, but this one is up there with them all. There are so many wonderful patterns in this book, and I have tried to captured only but a few for you to give you a feel for this wonderful and inspiring book.

1.Sunrise potholder, 2. Square flannels, 3.Granny bunting, 4.Cushion Cover, 5. Bedcover, 6. Tea cosy, 7. Arm warmers, 8. iPad and iPhone cover, 9.Granny Stripe Scarf.

There are so many project waiting to be put into action and I also have a little stall to prepare for at the end of the year so the next couple of months will be a busy time for creating and making, but more importantly also a time where my body is going to get some much needed time to heal and relax and I am really excited about the prospect of working on improved health. I have been waiting for this moment for so many years and it is so lovely to know that I will soon have my days to focus on my structured daily rest, but also to try and see if I cant get some further improvements that will last. For now though until the middle of September I am just going to make the most of the hours I can get with the lovely little Es and embrace this beautiful season Autumn that is slowly stepping closer to knock on our door.

 

I am feeling excited about Autumn, I love the changes that seasons bring and Autumn is definitely one of my favourite seasons. I love the colours and the smell. For now our garden is still holding on to that summer feeling, like many of us I suspect after such a glorious summer, and it is looking beautiful with so many flowers joyfully singing. The roses are still flowering and the Rudbeckia have just opened their beautiful dancing yellow petals. I really love this gorgeous plant, it has such attitude and charisma and there is something special about having your garden bask in their yellow glow when autumn comes calling.

Before I go, I wanted to say thank you to all you lovely readers for always leaving such wonderful comments and being so supportive. You are all amazing and so very lovely and I wanted you to know that you add a little brightness to my days, so thank you so much for that. As a little thank you a bouquet from our garden, especially for you.

 

Wishing you all a very happy and creative weekend ahead.

Warm Wishes

Hannapat

xoxo