Eight-by-Six

So I should be finishing g this Gryer shawl but I kind of got distracted with these teeny tiny crochet stars, they are very addictive! I found the pattern on  attic 24  and another easy to follow brilliant little pattern that you can memorise after just maki g one or two. Umm I may have made enough for a little garland just in time for Christmas. Don’t just take my word for it pop over to try out the pattern yourself , I bet you can’t stop either. I’m using Scheepjes Stonewashed in Yellow Jasper and I’ve also got a small amount of minis left that I’ve started using in some gorgeous colours. The little balls of yarn are just perfect for this project.

Catching up with some granny squares this week for my work in progress blanket. I should be knitting a hat but I wanted a change and a treat, we all need a treat at this time of year don't we? We are all running around buying presents for loved ones and friends and forget ourselves. Self care it is then! I may have ordered more Debbie Bliss Cashmerino yarn too, oops well it is on sale. home made raspberry gin liqueur putting my Birchbox bag to good use I also managed to bottle up my summer raspberry gin that has turned into the most delicious liqueur if I do say myself. Its going to be my drink on Christmas day with some Asti. You can find my cranberry gin recipe on my blog, just use what fruit you want. Last year I made cranberry and orange for gift bags, my friends loved it, why wouldn't they! I bought some lovely silver and gold jar labels in Oad Street on Saturday and I'll use these for my chilli jam gifts I'm making this week. I alos bought so

There's nothing more satisfying than knitting the last cable decrease on a Christmas gift. I mainly use Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran for winter hats, and this baby pink is just beautiful and has a vintage vibe to it. I buy mine from Love Crafts and they have good offers on throughout the year. The pattern I use is one designed by Debbie herself, it was free on her web site a few years ago and is so easy to follow with horn cable stitch (or antler cables). Its the perfect choice for hand made Christmas gifts. I'm currently knitting three for my nieces (Meg, Beth and Grace) as they are spending Christmas day with their mum and new dad (my husbands twin brother) You may remember we attended their beautiful wedding in Lake Como in September. The colours I've chosen are Baby Pink (603), Oatmeal (27) and Biege (102) they look so gorgeous when paired with the pom poms I buy from the lovely CraftyFriendsUK . I buy from Catherine because her pom poms are consistently exc

I've almost finished my crochet cowl by Rosina Northcott (aka zeensandroger on Instagram) that  I started last Saturday. I was waiting for more yarn to complete the last row, and its arrived today from Lusciously Loopy Yarn (yeah) just ran out of one row but didn't want to substitute the colour. When I saw the pattern in Mollie Makes issue 103  earlier this year I knew it was something I wanted to make but I couldn't decide on the yarn at the time. I couldn't find the magazine then searched on eBay and luckily I found a new copy, sealed. Then recently I bought some hand dye merino yarn from my lovely friend Fiona at Sewhappily Creativ e and I knew then the main yarn had to be Scheepjes Stonewashed and I have a huge stash of it (all be it not quite enough for the last row!). Fiona introduced me to the Stonewashed earlier this year and its one of my favourite yarns to crochet and knit with. I knitted my Gryer Shawl in May using six colours and I've an

About six years ago I taught myself to crochet using You Tube and a few library books. My first project was the lovely Attic24 granny stripe blanket. I don't think my foundation chain was the same as Lucy's, it was a bit hit and miss, and the colours in mine were pretty random but six years on and I spent the night at my parents and used this blanket. It was warm and cosy and perfect. Although I didn't sleep much it was such a comfort. Its come full circle since starting this with my dads first round of cancer treatment and now he's back in hospital for his third operation. I say this every time I see this blanket, I must make another one. I got home on Sunday evening and did start another one, starting with mustard. Life has been a bit hectic since then so I plan to try to get back and add another row or two this weekend, love watching a blanket grow don't you? I will try to find some time to jot down the colours my first granny stripe blanket

I posted this back in 2013 and its been such a popular post but the link was broken, here it is  again because I'm sure my readers would love to knit this up for gifts over Christmas. I'm currently knitting one in King Cole Twirly Tweed Chunky and the colourway is called Raspberry Ripple. I'm using 7mm knitting kneedles althought the pattern states 6mm. I bought the yarn in Brighton back in May. Its going to look great with my grey coat or a grey jumper, perfect accessory for the chilly weather. I have cast on 33 stitches for this yarn but the Rico yarn uses larges needles and only 19 stitches. I've knitted this for friends and family for Christmas presents and it looks great. Happy Knitting Amanda

Isn't it  the best crochet therapy ever? I really do love the simple granny square, a timeless classic. I never get bored with making these and its very satisfying to sit back and look at a neat stack. A couple of weeks back it was full on granny square production line. Here are some of the photos I took. Currently have 36 joined and another 60+ to make. Its a great project for adding to as and when you feel like it. I like that kind of no pressure kind of project. classic granny squares I pick it up and instantly smile and the happy colours. I have a few baskets full of Debbie Bliss Rialto DK plus a whole box under my bed full of new yarn (oops!) Its going to be big, perfect for snuggling up on the sofa. Full of merino yarn which is so soft and machine washable (added bonus). Just need to decide on a nice wide border. I'll  be picking this up over the weekend and playing with colours. My preferred joining method is join-as-you-go because I love the vintage f

I've been wanting to start the Hepworth sweater ever since I saw it on Instagram (Inside Crochet) but I had to finish my blanket first (not that normally stops me!) I had ten balls of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran stashed under my bed in a plastic box. Is it just me or does everyone have stash in every room and the loft?! Its not a true aran (I don't think) and its a little greedy so I'm just hoping ten balls is enough because its a discontinued colour and I can only find it in Slovenia via eBay and the postage alone is £9 so that's out of my budget.  Especially as I've bought most of Lynns stock at Lusciously Loopy Yarn of Rico Design Essentials soft merino in almost every colour she stocked. The last delivery arrived at work today, hidden away from my husbands view. If you fancy crocheting up this gorgeous sweater you can find the pattern in Inside Crochet issue 117 and follow my progress on my Instagram account  Friday night cast on onto t

Well September has been and gone and it was a month that started with our first trip to Lake Como and we fell in love with Italy, crochet bobbles, knitting pumpkins and finally finishing my sweetheart granny square blanket. Look at all the crochet bobbles, I now want to add them everything! I'll leave you to look at the September highlights and colourful grid. You can see October's pictures over on my Instagram account and patterns are available on my Etsy , Ravelry and LoveCrafts accounts. adding crochet bobbles to the final round my blanket stack is growing September 2019 wet Sunday morning sorting out my blankets a wet Sunday morning end of September sweetheart granny blanket

Autumn has arrived and all the colours change, yarn included. I'm just loving these mustards and orange tones. I'm currently torn between diving into this new yarn (maybe I'll wait until Sunday when hubby is at work and can have an afternoon of indulgent knitting) knitting pumpkins to re-stock my Etsy shop and finishing my mustard granny I started back in May at the same time as my Sweetheart blanket (which is almost finished just 2 rows to go, woop woop) Too many projects and just not enough time. If you want to purchase new yarn for a new project please visit Lusciously Loopy Yarn for  15% off your first order, win win. My mustard granny in progress Fyberspates Vivacious DK 832 Burnished Here's some photos of all my current Autumn projects (I've hidden all the others away!) Here is the pattern link for the cute knitted pumpkins by Amanda Berry over on Ravelry I add a crochet stalk in green. Here's the link to my Mustard Granny Pattern

I'm currently working on two new crochet shawl designs using the most beautiful hand dye yarn from Sew Happy Creative (both gifted) but I have ordered more which I will pay for! That's the yarn in the second photo. I was gifted 3 mini skiens (20g each to test) and fell in love with them. You can buy yours here on Etsy . I prefer to buy the mini skiens as I find it less work especially winding the skiens as I always make a mess of the 100g ones! The vintage denim yarn in photo one was gifted for my birthday back in May and it was stashed away for a few months until I decided to cast on a new crochet shawl just before I went to Italy. The yarn is so soft and the colours are beautiful. Little flecks of turquoise amongst sandy colours so this is definitely a beachy themed shawl. I'm planning to add bobbles to represent stones, I have tried them and they look amazing in this colourway. I've almost finished a 100g skein so I've a little way to go, what with swapping pr

I finished my hitchhikershawl in time to take to Lake Como with me. I made it using my gorgeous mini skiens (Christmas present) from the fabulous Sew Happy Creative  and I love the stellina glittery threads, so pretty but hard to capture. I used 8 mini skeins in total and Fiona was fabulous and hand dyed another batch when I requested an urgent suppyl! . . Pattern: Hitchhiker shawl (with eyelet rows added on row 8) Yarn: mini skeins @sewhappycreativ  Needles: KnitPro symfonie size 3.75mm leave a little glitter wherever you go  I've started another (like you do) this time using Sirdar Snuggly Pattercake in colourway 0761 its beautiful to knit with and feels like cotton wool. Very reasonably priced too for 150g you get 498m/545 yards of 70% acrylic 30% nylon that is machine washable at 40 degrees. I actually purchased mine to knit a baby blanket but so glad I didn't, its perfect for a Hitchhiker shawl because the colour changes are very soft and I love the

I'm a little behind with my updates due to my holiday last week in Italy. Lots of photos to share of Lake Como and I'm going to do a list of how to get there etc as its a little tricky but well worth it. In the meantime here is a little round up of August and my colourful makes. Goodbye August with lovely warm weather to the end, full of granny squares, bright pink, stripes, merino jumper and a Hitchhiker shawl, now ready to move into autumnal shades, think Mustard 😊 #crochet #vintageinspired #instacrochet #crochetforinstagram #crochetgirlgang #pedrosplaques #makersgonnamake #stitchandhustle #merino #merinowool #grannysquaresrock #august2019 #grannysquareblanket #moderncrochet #vintagecrochet #grannysquare  #craftsposure #eightbysix #yarnstash #handmadeisbetter #handknit #knittersofinstagram #instaknit #grannysquaretherapy #debbieblissyarn #creativelifehappylife #hitchhikershawl #knitting

Wasn't it great seeing so many beautiful granny squares yesterday. Here are mine and the details for the patterns. You can also find all the details on each photo on my Instagram account. Happy crocheting. Yarn Stockists and pattern links: Biffsugar Yarn  Yarn Debbie Bliss  Rialto DK Yarn LoveCrafts  Sewhappycreativ  Yarn and Sunflower Granny Square crochetbyredagape  Heart Granny Square free pattern Attic 24 Solid Granny Square free pattern Sunflower granny square by sewhappycreativ using had dye yarn from Biffsugar Yarn (Evergreen) solid granny square using hand dye yarn from Sewhappycreativ traditional granny square with a solid final round Heart Granny Square by crochetbyredagape my virtual blanket

One more sleep and it will be Granny Square Day 2019, here are some more designs I've been crocheting this week. One more to try tonight! solid granny square using hand dye  yarn by Sewhappycreativ motif 1 from the book Crochet Blocks using Scheepjes Stonewashed

When its a wet Monday morning and you need a rainbow. I was testing out another granny square yesterday afternoon ready for Granny Square Day 2019 but I forgot to stop. I may turn this into a new jumper, what do you think? Its not like I don't have most of the colours in my yarn stash! I've added the details and the links below. Hope you have find the time to crochet today in readiness for Granny Square Day, not long now. crochet a rainbow Pattern: Attic 24 solid granny square yarn: Scheepjes Stonewashed (bought from Lusciously Loopy (affiliate) Colours: Moon Stone Red Jasper Coral Lemon Quartz Canada Jade Turquoise Amazonite Rose Quartz Hook size: 4mm

Granny square day is fast approaching on Thursday 15th August. The other night I got home and declared the rest of the evening to making granny squares. I popped a one pot chicken casserole in the over and sat down with my yarn stash of Debbie Bliss merino yarn, perfect. What better way to finish off a busy day at work than messing about with colour and squishy yarn. I do love a basic granny square, so satisfying seeing a neat stack to be added to a new (on going) blanket project. Making them during the summer is the best part, because you get to join them and use the blanket ready for the autumn and cosy Sunday afternoons on the sofa watching films or reading a book. glorious granny squares This year there are lots of preparations going on in Instragram and Simplycrochet Magazine has a digital booklet full of gorgeous granny squares for you to make. I've added the link for you to check out all the latest designs, and download your own free copy, granny squares have ne

Crochet border Picot stitch (how to make a square edge round) To start slip stitch to first chain after your first treble round, Ch3 then make one Picot stitch.  To do this insert your hook into the first chain of 3 in the back loop, then dc 3 into the next 3 stitches from the previous row, ch3 again and make another Picot. I have dc 3 in between each picot stitch as I think it gives it the space and balance it needs for this size blanket. R epeat until you have completed all four sides, ss to finish, sew in ends. Picot Edge Baby merino granny square blanket The full pattern is available today on LoveCrochet.com

A new month, new yarn and a new jumper in candy pink with stripes. Another of my late night eBay bargains (I do love a bargain) This time I'm using Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran and I have lots of colours in my yarn stash. I do love knitting and after finishing my Dill Tee I hatched a plan to knit another in Aran weight yarn ready for the Autumn, its going to be bright! I've been collecting the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran yarn for ages, its my favourite yarn for knitting hats. I started this on Thursday night and by Sunday afternoon I'd reached the seed stitch panel on the top. I'm not the quickest of knitters but knitting in stripes makes me knit faster. I knit and purl into the back loops for the 2x2 rib, it gives it a very neat look. Saturday morning The colours I'm using are: pink, duck egg, ecru, lilac, stone, grey and MUSTARD. Had to have a big splash of mustard and I'm thinking the little sleeves can be a combination of the stripes. Lets see wh