Tag Archives: rainy day

It’s not proper mocha without chocolate!

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Hello from England on a VERY rainy day! Hope you’re all well and your week is going smoothly?

I’ve just had a fairly swift pitstop in a café while waiting for a friend to have her hair cut. While there I made a start on what should be the final block for my Coast blanket. I had already joined all the pieces together, but looked at it recently and wondered what an earth I had been thinking? It needs one more block so it’s wider, rather than being FAR too long and narrow. I know that I had planned to do a substantial border but even so… the blanket as it stands would cover my feet and go over my head, by a very long way! So I’m going to undo the continuous join and make it three blocks wide, instead of two. I don’t really mind because the joining was fairly fast to do and I enjoyed it. Plus, I’ve got more Hayfield Spirit yarn left, I don’t think it’s been discontinued (famous last words?!) So I shall enjoy some simple crochet for the next few weeks.

I managed to get a table in the busy cafe in a well-lit spot, put my coffee on the table, got out my glasses, hook and yarn and then realised there was no chocolate sprinkled on the top of the mocha. It’s just not a mocha without a sprinkle of chocolate! I feel like that about cappuccinos too, although rarely drink them. Mochas are an occasional treat. Although I realise that was my second this week and it’s only Wednesday. I won’t have another for a while. Oops, and I’ve just this minute had an alert from Costa to say that I’ve now got enough reward stamps that my next will be free. I’ll try for delayed gratification…

I’m now reading the latest in Val McDermid’s Karen Pirie series (amongst a few other books) and like it. It’s taken me a little while to get into the story, because the premise intially seemed a little strange, or maybe it was me? Reading two crime thrillers might be one too many at once. In this one there’s lots of strands and subplots going on, which I enjoy as they make for an interesting and complex read. It’s set during Lockdown in Edinburgh, Scotland and is reminding me of aspects of that time I’d already forgotten; particularly the only exercising for an hour rule (guideline?)

Thank you for your tips last week on trying to source another ball of Katia Silver Paint yarn for my shawl. I haven’t been successful so far. I will keep looking, but I think I’ve probably missed the boat. It’s shade 100, in case you’re reading this and you do have a stray ball tucked away in your stash. Fingers crossed!

~~~

Joining in with Kat and the gang again, to share what I’m making and reading this week.

Pretty pink 

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   Last night’s IG progress pic 

 Is it ever going to stop raining? Crocheting more pot holders in the garden in the sun, on Saturday, now feels like a long time ago. It rained on Sunday, on Monday and yesterday. Last night I woke up because of the wind and the rain. Today it’s still raining heavily and steadily.

One upside of all the rain is that I am finishing off bits of crochet; mainly so I can start some more. I really do prefer decorative but practical things but I’ve completely contradicted myself by making a doily… I’ve never made a mandala and always said that they are just 21st-century versions of a doily, then I made a doily! A crafty friend says she actually prefers doilies in modern yarns and colours, as she reckons the patterns tend to be a bit more complex. It was absorbing,  I really enjoyed following the pattern. It’s from Simply Crochet magazine, issue 33 and is by Anne Egan. Like others; well to be strictly honest one other I found in my Google (but I bet there’s lots) I omitted the final round. I tried the mini-clovers and it just wasn’t joyful or relaxing. That’s an understatement…  I just couldn’t work out which way to go round and they looked a mess, so I went in to the previous round with DCs instead.  Later I need to block it. Perhaps they might be easier with finer thread, rather than DC cotton and a 4 mm hook? They’re definitely a challenge I’m going to take up in the future. Rah!!!

Alice May & the Rhubarb Ripple

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Such changeable weather here at the moment. It’s truly April showers season. (It is doubly ironic when this, and other regions, were given hose pipe bans because we have been experiencing a lack of rainfall after drier than usual seasons. The day they were imposed the rain began!)

Sometimes the best thing to do is hurry home and get busy. After a little crochet-angst around this project I’ve been really enjoying gently focusing on the Rhubarb Ripple blanket.

It was really bothering me that the stitches weren’t lying on top of each other, namely the increases and the decreases. Plus although I said here in a very cavelier fashion that I would not undo a section after a change of hook size, I have. Lots and lots of rows, but I’m feeling much happier with it overall and am really, really enjoying gently rippling along. The stitches are now aligning as I worked out what the issue had been. I’m back to using a 4mm hook as I started with, this is because the thought of beginning from scratch when the first rows were fine was far too much to contemplate!

*This is still mainly an online diary of a beginner-intermediate crocheter so I’d like to note for self: do not drink wine and crochet a ripple. This is why mistakes happen and future crochet-angst will occur.*

As I uploaded pictures for this blog post I received a picture text of a very sweet little face, and a message giving me the details of Alice May’s birth this afternoon. Congratulations to her Mum! x

Rainy Saturday

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Today’s the perfect day for a bit of lounging on the sofa with my granny stripe blanket to keep me occupied.

Not that it resembles a blanket at all yet, I am a tiny bit tempted to make some edging and turn it into a scarf, it’s looking just like one I saw in M&S after Christmas. :-)

This is SO relaxing; it’s just simple repetitive trebles with a few chains thrown in, very very satisfying to make. Choosing the colours and watch it turn into a stripey colourful textile makes it really fun to make.

Recently I’ve made lots of small thingys which have meant following patterns and counting all the time. This Granny Stripe is refreshing crochet. No counting, no following a complex pattern (complex for me a novice, or intermediate, crocheter anyway.)

I’m a bit wary of when the time comes to add in the red (one of my favourite colours) with the PiNk! You can’t put pink and red together, it’s the LAW. I’ve grown up with this rule. I’m going to break the law. FOR THE FIRST TIME….

Then to make it worse there will also be BriGhT yellow and orange and that yacky green I showed you here…….it’s really going to challenge my sense of colour comfort.

BUT inspired by Lucy’s GS blanket (see Attic24) I’m going to use all the colours in the Stylecraft pack, in my own way. I’m not copying Lucy’s colour combinations, this is MY blanket though of course the colours are the same because they are unofficially called ‘The Lucy pack’ I’m told.

If you want the same pack click here or Google ‘Stylecraft special DK’. It’s lovely to work with and feels unepxectedly soft for 100% man-made yarn (or 100% people-made if we want to be 21st century about it.)

Back to the sofa where a cheeky bottle of English cider and a few snacks are waiting for my company. The GS might go a bit wiggly!

Happy weekend,

Rachel