“Nature’s Walk” CAL

I’m still way behind with the CAL “Nature’s Walk” organised by Cherry Heart . . . but that’s fine.  I’m not even trying to play catch up.  Just crocheting at my own pace, and enjoying the experience.  I don’t have accounts on any of the social media places where other CALers are interacting, so I’m quite happy to crochet along in the peace & quiet of my living room, without feeling pressurised about dead-lines.

For today, I can show you my latest six squares.

This pattern is “Gates” and officially the part 1 pattern.  I crocheted in Stylecraft Special DK “Meadow”, using a 4mm hook to keep size the same as my first squares.

Above photos without flash, but one below with flash

Which gives a better idea of true colours.  So for the moment I have 12 squares.  Six in “Spring Green” crocheted with the practice “Heart” pattern on a 3.5mm hook.  And six  in “Meadow”. 

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crochet & cross stitch

I’ve been busy with two different types of needlecrafts these past few days, alternating between crochet and cross stitch.

On the cross stitching front . . . I have a subscription for Cross Stitch Crazy magazine, and when the latest issue plopped into my letter box recently, I was tempted to sit down and stitch up the freebie kit almost immediately.

I simplified things a little (leaving out most of the French knots which I hate doing) . . . but I think these two little decorations turned out very sweet nonetheless.

As for crochet . . . well, I was busy making squares for the “Natures Walk” CAL designed by Cherry Heart (aka Sandra Paul).

This chart is actually meant to be just a practice square, but I liked the little heart design so much, I crocheted up six, in Stylecraft Special DK “Spring Green”.

Now the official instructions for this CAL are to use 6 colours, with a 7th neutral for joining & borders . . . idea being to make 8 squares from each of the 6 colours, therefore ending up with 48 squares for the finished blanket.

Being me, I’m going to do things my way, and plan on making only 6 squares of each colour, but to add a 7th colour so my blanket will turn out 6 x 7  (instead of 8 x 6).  My only problem . . . I initially picked only six colours and a neutral, and was then umming and ahhing about what extra colour to add.  One possible combination looking like this.

But . . . the husband, whose opinion I do listen to occasionally, thinks it looks too “scrappy” . . . so I’m in the process of revising my choice of colours.   I’m going to need to place an order anyhow, for my border neutral (of which I will need 400g), so I might end up changing my colour scheme completely before I go much farther!

ScrapHappy # October

It’s time to link up with Kate and Gun for our monthly ScrapHappy party!

In August I showed you this

A small patchwork piece where I was having fun assembling squares with some white rectangles.  I wasn’t really sure where I was going with this, but it’s since grown from

to

It’s now 36” square . . . and I reckon it’s a nice size to stop there.  Stay tuned for next time, when I hope to have this little patchwork quilted and bound.

SAL “Bag Ladies” # 18

I’m very motivated to get this project done and dusted!

Last time I showed you this

Today, I am pleased to show you progress

It might not look like a huge amount of cross stitching, but I’ve also been adding more backstitch detail as I go.

Anyway, I’m well on track to seeing this finished in another 2 updates.

In the meantime, let’s hop over and see what other SAL members have been up to.

Avis, Gun, Carole, Sue, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Linda, 

Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Deborah, Clare, Mary Margaret, Renee, Jenny, 

Carmela, Jocelyn, Sharon, Daisy, Anne

And meet up again on 3rd November.

lots of this, that & the other

I’ve been away from my computer these past few days, even though I appeared to be around (the magic of scheduling posts on WP).  Where did I go?  I hear you ask . . . over to England for a long week-end, to visit family.  We stayed with Lindashee (our daughter) and Mr Lindashee, in their new house but since they live only a very brisk walk away from the Viking family, we were also able to catch up with Viking parents and Baby Viking, who we hadn’t seen since last September.

Baby Viking is 13 months old now.  Has begun taking her first steps and saying a few words.  Our short stay was filled with lots of nattering, eating, drinking and playing with our grand daughter, as well as lots of walking in the rain.   I also managed to do some crafting!

Anyway a mish mash of photos, amongst other things, a few things I had made to take over for Baby Viking.

Probably not the right season for this little outfit, which I actually made way back in the summer.  I made a size 2 years so hopefully, it’ll be a good fit for summer 2020.  Made at the same time, and using same pattern, as the Smilie top and leggings (in size 12 months).

I also got out my crochet hook and had a trial run with ripple stitch, making a small blanket for the little plush doll in carry cot, I bought recently at a carboot sale.

Baby Viking really liked the little doll, and happily pointed to all her body parts when we were singing “Head, shoulders, knees & toes” to her . . . especially good at the “eyes & ears & mouth & nose” part lol.

The only crafting supplies I took with me were a 3.5mm hook and a ball of Stylecraft, as I suspected I wouldn’t have too much free time to sit and craft.  Delays at airport and one afternoon babysitting (during naptime), saw me come home with 2 crocheted squares.

Neither are perfect, and I’m debating about whether to frog or just ignore the iffy bits . . . this pattern is by Cherry Heart (aka Sandra Paul).  There’s a CAL just started, called Nature’s Walk, running from 24th Sept – 12th Nov.  It’s free to download patterns and follow, so I’m doing just that.  However I’m going with my own colour scheme and will probably go for a smaller version of the blanket.  I also won’t even attempt to keep the same pace as other CAL participants, since I can’t see me finding time to crochet one square a day, every day for 6 weeks.  Plus, I’m already over 2 weeks behind!  So I’m seeing this more as a practice project since I’ve only ever really made amigurumi in crochet.

Looks like I might also be turning my hand to soft toy sewing . . .

Lindashee gifted me these two patterns as a surprise.  I’ve certainly got plenty of fabric in my stash to have a go at some of these critters . . . will I be able to find the time though?

SAL “Bag Ladies” #17

Above is the photo I posted last SAL update of “Bag Ladies”, a project I’ve been working on since September last year . . . for today’s 3-weekly update, this is progress!

Not too shabby, methinks!  One new cat head, and a brown bag almost stitched, but lots of backstitch detail to add.  By my calculations, it should take me another 3 updates to see this project done & dusted!

In the meantime . . . let’s hop over and see what other SAL members are up to.  This time we welcome 2 new members;  Susan and Anne (their names are last in the linky list.

Avis,  Gun, Carole, Sue, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Linda, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Deborah, Clare, Mary Margaret, Renee, Jenny, Carmela, Jocelyn, Sharon, Susan, Anne

And we’ll be back on 13th October!

SAL Bag Ladies #16

This was the photo I posted 3 weeks ago, of progress on “Bag Ladies” . . . and here is progress for this time.

Not as much as I would have liked, but it’s still a step in the right direction.

For those of you thinking I was so close to a finish last time . . . sorry to disappoint, but no, there are still 2 bags and 2 cats to go which means at least 4 more stages (or 12 weeks in SAL time). 

Let’s pop along and see what other SAL members have been up to.

Avis,  Gun, Carole, Sue, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Linda, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Deborah, Clare, Mary Margaret, Renee, Jenny, Carmela, Jocelyn, Sharon

And I’ll see you with another update on 22nd September.