Progress so far on the hexagon blanket.

Well, I thought I would show you my progress on the hexagon blanket..

I'm plodding along with it... I'm really enjoying making it but it's really taking quite a long time to grow in size if I'm honest..!

The hexagons take a while longer to crochet compared to granny squares or something else and they definitely take a bit more concentration. There's nothing worse than getting round to the last stitches when your connecting one hexagon to another and then realising that you made a mistake somewhere along the way. It's sooo frustrating having to unravel a round right back to the beginning!

I'm using the colours in quite a random way which makes a change for me.. I'm usually trying to really match up the right colours to one another, but this time I wanted to go for a slightly more brighter, more eye-catching look. I really wasn't sure if I liked it at first, but I think I do now. What do you think..?!

I'm not sure what kind of edging I could crochet around it though...

This is how far I've got so far... My aim is to get it reaalllly big so that I can have it on the bed.. : ) That may take a while though..! Somehow I can see myself ending up getting distracted and starting another project before I get this blanket finished..!!

Oh and also, I went to get Rose weighed by the health visitor's today and she's now 12lb 12oz's. A healthy girl!

xxxxxxx

Ta-dahh post for my Granny Stripe blanket (even though a little late...)

Hello again..!

I thought I would share my Granny stripe with you today..

I started this blanket around August last year but that was before I was writing this blog.. so I thought that I would show it to you now. The yarn that I used to make the blanket was Stylecraft Life, it's a great yarn to use to crochet a blanket because it pretty low in price and it's very soft and snuggly.

My Granny stripe can now generally be seen on the sofa where I can snuggle up underneath it. I think it's so much more satisfying getting all cosy underneath a blanket when you've made it yourself.. you can really appreciate the many hours that it takes to make it.

I went for quite a calm colour palette.. some bright colours, but then also some light creamy colours to balance it out. I love the brighter pink and purples on it but not so sure about the paler shades, so I think my next blanket that I start will have to be made from brighter more vibrant colours..! Well.. the next one after I eventually finish my hexagon blanket... I've just gone back to it after a break for a little while, it does take me longer to do as it takes a lot more concentration from me than normal granny squares..

I realised it really is very hard to photograph a blanket and try to get it all in..!!

Rose had her first vaccination jabs yesterday, I've never heard suchhh a Loud ear-piercing scream before..! Ouchy! Then we had the 6-8 week postnatal check today, thankfully everything was all okay. : ) The doctor said she usually gets babies screaming through the whole check, where as Rose just gurgled and smiled at her for most of it..!

Right..! Now off to get some housework done.. exciting stuff!

xxxxxxx

Ta-dahh post for my wrist warmers..!

Ta-dahhh!! : ) All finished..! I'm soooo happy with my wrist warmers. They're so much more pretty to look at than my boring blue ones I have been wearing up until now. Although I don't know exactly how much I will get to wear them as the weather seems to be a lot sunnier and warmer at the moment..! I got the idea to do them from Lucy's blog at Attic24. I'm so tempted to try pretty much everything that she has on her blog..!

Whilst we've been on our little holiday on The Isle of Wight I've been able to have a Lot of hooky time. It's been sooo lovely..!! Having someone else to help look after Rose really does have it's benifits!

I bought myself some Debbie Bliss Andes yarn and was planning to crochet myself a scarf/shawl type thing.. first of all I planned to make it out of the Japanese flowers that everyone seems to be making at the moment in blog-land, but then I thought, maybe I would try and do something a bit different instead. I began to make the shawl from a star/flower motif that I made up myself, I got quite far... but then I realised that I Probably wouldn't wear it as a shawl as it is a little Too 'multi-coloured' for my liking. Well, for something that I would be wearing around my neck anyway..! So I've decided that I won't carry on much further with it and I will turn it into a cushion cover instead..! I don't mind a lot of colours in the house! : ) When I can, I will take a photo to show you it's progress...

But, anywayyy... getting back to my point. I've got quite a bit of left over yarn that I won't be using, as the cushion cover will take up a lot less yarn than what a shawl would do.. so I wanted to do something else with some of the yarn.. something that wouldn't take too long to complete as I quite fancied the satisfaction of actually getting something finished..! Haven't done that in a little while..!

They really are so lovely and snuggly.. the softest yarn I've ever felt anyway..! And such scrummy colours..

And here you go, another photo to show them off..! I really do love them a Lot.. which is probably quite obvious already..! hehe

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1st couple of day's in the Isle of Wight..

We've been having suchhh a lovely time so far.. The ferry trip over went smoothly and whilst we were making our way to the self catering cottage, we had a nice drive around half the Island on our first afternoon here. So many pretty hills and we were never very far away from the sea. : )

And... because I have Ray here to help with the looking after of Rose, I've been able to have a Lot of hooky time. I'm nearly finished on one WIP which is going to be a Mother's day gift for my Mum, I'll have to pop in the post pretty much as soon as we're back from here..! I'll show you a photo of it finished when Mother's day has come and gone..!

So nice to have the time to just sit down, relax and work away on a little project..

 The weather is absolutely divineee! So yesterday, we went for a walk around the coastal path around the South coast of the IoW.. Just around the corner from our holiday cottage was this gorgeous stream. I was so tempted to take my shoes off and go for a little paddle..!

..and a field FULL of daisies..! There were hundreds of them. So of course I couldn't resist taking some photo's of course... : )

As we carried along around the coast path we came across the Botanical Gardens, so there were many
 more opportunities to take some pretty photo's. We have been just so lucky with the amazing sunshine!

I think the above flowers are called Chionodoxa forbesii (Glory of the Snow)..?! Well I found a picture online that looks very similar indeed.. so I think I must be right..! I'm really awful at remembering the names of different flowers.. Most of the women in my family have a talent for this.. but not me I'm afraid..! Does anyone know if that's the right name for those flowers..?

Isn't the colour of these Hyacynth flowers just incredible, so bright and eye-catching. A treat for the eyes indeed..!

One of the lovely views along the way..!

And last but not least, a little piccy of Rose's tootsie's..! With little booties on that I knitted for her..2 day's before she was born I might add, luckily had enough time to get them finished..!

Right, I'll be going now.. today we're off to the beach..! Plenty more hooky time for me! Yay..!

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So exciteeddd..!

We're off to The Isle of Wight tomorrow. : )

I know it's not anywhere exotic or anything, but it is our first 'family holiday' all together and I'm reallyyy looking forward to getting away. I went back home to Dorset with Rose to stay with my grandparents a little while ago (just me and Rose as Ray was working a long weekend) and it went very well, being away from the house with a newborn baby for the first time I mean..! It was kind of like a practise holiday for us..! Before that, I was a bit panicky that I wouldn't cope with her outside of the 'home' enviroment..

So yes.. we're all packed up and ready to go and get the ferry over tomorrow morning! Staying in a lovely self-catering cottage near the beach, so I'll have to take some photo's and put them on here when we're back to show you. Finger's crossed for some sunny weather! It will be suchhh a shame if it rains an awful lot..

Has anyone been to the Isle of Wight before? Was it nice? Any nice places to visit..?

Here are a few photo's of my little garden.. it's all coming to life..! All of the bulbs that my Nan helped me to plant when we first moved here (plus quite a few extra that I popped in!) are all coming up out of the ground and now they are all beginning to flower. I find it all rather exciting seeing as I've never had a garden of my own before that I can do whatever I wish to.

Yummy purple/lilac crocuses just outside my french windows. Sooo pretty to look at..! The seemed to just pop up almost overnight!

These crocuses are just so bright and eye-catching, I'm so chuffed at how pretty the garden looks now compared to what it was like before..!

This is my New project... I'm making a shawl out of these star shapes. I'm using Debbie Bliss' Andes yarn and it soooo lovely and soft...

I have far too many WIP's on the go at the moment (hexagon blanket... baby cardigan for Rose... crochet cushion cover... teas cosy!) but I just couldnt resist beginning a new project. It's so easy to get inspired by something new that catches your eye and then off I go again... starting something else! oops! I'm guessing other people must have this same problem too...!?

Hearts and smiles.

I've had a lovely day today, even though the weather has been rubbish. I ventured out with Rose in the Wilkinet sling to go and get her weighed and it promptly started pouring it down as soon as the front door clicked shut behind me. But when we got there, I found out that she is now 12lb1oz.. so I'm relieved to know that I am feeding her enough..!

In a rare moment of sunshine today I took this picture of my hyacynth bulbs in the kitchen, they're just starting to flower properly and it's so lovely to come down every morning and see how much more they have grown in just a day.



I finished the hat that I have been making for Rose, I got the pattern from here: http://www.aestheticnest.com/2010/07/crochet-best-baby-cloche-and-tutorial.html

This one was made using Debbie Bliss ecobaby, colour 14011. I've also done another version that's slightly bigger in Stylecraft Life dk, but it's a bit big for her head at the moment.. so I will take a photo and show you that one sometime soon. They've been the perfect little projects to have on the go whilst I'm up in the middle of the night feeding Rose. : )

Almost but not quitee catching a proper smile.. she surprises me with these really scrummy smiles but then they're gone again just as quickly as they appear and so it's really hard to catch them in a photo!

I finished my tiny heart bunting today! :) I think it looks so so lovely in her nursery.. We didn't know if Rose was going to be a boy or a girl, so her room has been very neutral up until now. It's lovely to now have something up in there to make it a bit more girly and pretty.

I got the pattern for the bunting from here: http://http//juliacrossland.blogspot.com/2010/03/teeny-tiny-heart-bunting.html

Right, I'm going to go now as I need to get some sleep before a day of packing tomorrow.. We're off on our first mini family holiday to the Isle of Wight on Monday..! Yay! Hopefully we have some sunshine... xxxx

The mini 'hug' blanket.

I just thought i would show you a picture of Rose on her mini 'hug' blanket..!

I have a larger slightly different version that my auntie Lettie crocheted for my birthday last year.. and so it was so lovely to recieve this yummy version for Rose herself. It looks very nice indeed next to my one and I can now wrap her up all cosy in her own blanket.


xxxxx

Where to start...

Well..! Where to begin..

I started writing a blog last year but it kind of fizzled out and so I've decided to make a complete fresh start and begin all over again..! I'm not sure who will Actually be interested in what I've got to say, but I'm just going to treat this blog as a kind of diary to record the going's on in my life, the thing's that I make, the things that I like and of course... the developments of little Rose.


She is currently 7 weeks and 3 day's old.. so still very tiny. Well age-wise she is... she was never really a very 'tiny' baby..! I'm starting to feel like I actually know what I'm doing now and definitely feel like a Mum, in the beginning it kind of just felt like I had been given a baby and I was just pretending or something, but now I can't imagine my life without her.

I'm amazed at the rapid pace in which she's growing, but a photo like this reminds me how tiny she really is...



I really love these tiny hearts...



I spent a lot of time crocheting yesterday, in between other things. I found a gorgeous pattern on Julia Crossland's blog.. it was for the teeny tiny heart bunting which I fell in love with as soon as I saw the picture. My plan is to make my little hearts into some bunting to hang in Roses nursery.
Here is the link for the pattern.. http://juliacrossland.blogspot.com/2010/03/teeny-tiny-heart-bunting.html
Right, have to go as she seems to haven woken up..! Be back soon xxx