Thank You Lady Julie Jools!

Yes this is the book that I have seached HIGH and LOW for.

I was begining to despare

I had tried everyone...

• Amazon
• EbaY
• WHSmiths
• Waterstones
• The local Wool shop
• Abebooks &

many many more

If you go online you will find loads of books available, but when you place your order, you get an email back to say "sorry out of stock"

ARRRRGGGGHHHHHH

As a last ditch attempt, and short of starting a charity shop search, I posted a "tweet" appeal on Twitter

&

Yes you've guessed it!

A fellow Twitter & Crochet Blog follower

LadyJulieJools

came to the rescue!

She sent me a message to say that she had this very book & that she would part with it if I REALLY wanted her too.  I obviously said yes, bowing and on bended knee at the same time, and before you could say "Double Treble Crochet" the book was in the post to me. 

Well it arrived yesterday morning, and in between chores, I have not been able to put it down (as I am sure all you fellow Crocheters can imagine!

Here is an example of the inside of the book - pages and pages of many (well 200 to be precise) squares......

With a detailed picture of what the finished square should look like (very helpful A. to choose the square you want to make in the first place and B. to see if you have indeed followed the pattern correctly)

And you also get a guide as to which colours to use (you can obviously make up your own colour combinations) the difficulty guide (2 crochet hooks means some experience required) and how the square is worked e.g in rounds as in the example below or in rows!

So it's everything you need as a novice or even an experienced (I am not sure where I fall into on those two catagories) Crocheter

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You

Thank You

to

Lady Julie Jools

I can't tell you how excited I am to have this book

&

I will dedicate the first square to you!

It worked!

Do you remember this square (or the begining of one) from an earlier post.  I was worried, at the time about how the edges looked, as they did look a little scruffy.

However, as it happens.....

Once it was sown into the blanket, it worked out fine and now looks very neat!

The blanket is currently 8 squares by 6 squares and I have already got another 6 squares to join in!

Now for something totally different......

I came across these 100g (yes the big ones) balls of DK wool on Ebay.  They were on at a bargain price compared to that in the wool shop, so I snapped up a few balls in various shades.

Not too sure how the Sunflower Yellow will fit in!  Its more vibrant than the picture on ebay showed!

Anyway, I have made a start on a few squares and will post again one more are made.

This project is currently on hold as I really want to get the blanket finished first.

Biting off more than I can chew?

Yes, I am at it again.  Crocheting squares.  Not only that but I am scouring the internet for different square patterns.

I came across this one and thought "OK I'll give it a go," so here it is.....

The Antique Pearls Square

And this is how mine started out

And how it ended up!

Considering that I was following and American pattern, so their DC's are our TC's and I had to teach myself how to stitch a double treble crochet in the midst of it all, I am quite pleased with the end result. 

It can get confusing reading DC and having to make a TC, and the pattern did get a little complicated at times.  When that happens I down tools, walk away for 5 minutes and come back until the penny drops!

 I also had to do my own finishing row, as the original pattern was that little bit to small compared to my finished squares, so I added a row of "V" stitches (2 trebles into one stitch)

My first "creation"

Finally, this is a square that I have made up.  I fancied something stripey.  So I crocheted a foundation chain of 29 and put 1 treble into chain 5, then another TC into each of the next 2 chains 1 chain.  then 3 trebles into next 3 chains 1 chain to end.  Changed colour, 5 chains - start again.  The ends are a bit messy, so on my next attempt I will improve that, but as they will be sown into anyway, I just carried on with this one.  Only 2 rows to go - one in beige and one in brown!

The Art of Crochet

This is the subscription magazine that got me started.  The 1st issue was 99p - you got a binder, a DVD the magazine, a crochet hook and a small 25g ball of wool.

I continued to go to WHSmiths every week to pick up the latest copy at £2.99 - for this you got the magazine and a new ball of wool. 

You do get a load of other patterns e.g. cushion covers, kiddies cardigans, scarves etc. to crochet, but the attraction for me was this beautiful throw.

After Issue 6, I was told by the lady in WHSmiths that it's normal for them to change to "Customer Orders Only" after a few issues, so in this case it was Issue 6 as I couldn't get Issue 7 off the shelf.  Nice of her to tell me when I was purchasing Issue 5 or indeed 6!

So I came home and placed an online subscription for Issue 7 which I have to wait for 28days for it to arrive, along with another 3 issues, so I may have to wait longer.

I have since calculated that the throw is approx 10 squares x 14 squares, so mulitply that by £2.99 and deduct the £2 not paid for the 99p magazine - that's £416 - one expensive throw!!

I don't have more money than brains, so I will immediately go online and cancel my subscription!

The Big Blanket......

It started with a granny square made from leftover hat and scarf wool by Stylecraft.  It's called Kon-Tiki and comes in a range of lovely Autumnal colours....

The square grew and grew....

And when that square was finished, I started another....

And another....

I visited the Wool Shop which is nice and local, for some more supplies, and I saw this new colour "Paprika" so I picked up a few balls of this.....

I then fancied a change, so I started some Treble Crochet Squares....

And another variety, a Plain Ridge...

And a plain ridge with multi colours.....

I then read on the WWW - the font of alot of knowledge, that it's best to join a few squares together as this could get boring if you had to do 200 at once, so I made a start....

And did some more.....

This is the joining as it would show from the front - giving the blanket that nice "rustic" look

And this is the join from the reverse....

It's February 24th today and apart from 10 or 12 squares yet to add, this is the blanket so far.....

 More to come soon....

This is how it all started......

I was inocently sitting there watching the telly, when this advert came on

"The Art of Crochet"

It convinced you that after spending 99p on the 1st issue, you would, by the time you have parted with several more lots of £2.99  per week, that you would have crocheted yourself a rather stylish

Throw!

So off I went to the news agents to buy Issue 1.

Then I went the next week to buy Issue 2,

and the next to buy Issue 3,

and the week after that to buy Issue 4......

Yes, and please pardon the pun, but I was "hooked"

Unfortunately the magazine squares were not quenching my appetite for my newly found crochet skills in good time, so I rumaged in the cupboard and found some baby wool that I had left over from a previous knitting project.  I didn't take to knitting (again a self taught project) as well as I thought and didn't enjoy it that much.

My friend Dorjana was having a baby in a few weeks time, so I got to work on a Granny Square Blanket.....

Not a very good photo, I know, but it looked FAB and Dorjana and Baby Chloe love it!

I love Crochet.

I love Allotments.

I love blogging!