Day #15 & the start of WEEK 3 Granny-A-Day

Where has the month gone?  It's the start of week 3 of Granny - A - Day already!  

I started my day by checking for any #grannyaday entries on Twitter

&

Going through the Blog List of GrannyADay'ers to check if I had missed any squares.

I copied and pasted the ones I had missed or that I hadn't been made aware of & then I saved all of week 2's squares to my computer so that I can make a week 2 collage later today.

I am looking at my blog page right now and I can only see 49 Followers when I know that I have 64 (thanks to a new follower overnight).  When I click on my "options" button and then "manage members" it show me there that I have 64 followers so please don't think I have deleted anyone - hopefully it's a Google thing and it will all fall back into place soon.  It seems to fluctuate from 49 to 64 all the time so I will keep an eye on it and hopefully not get too frustrated - the main thing is that you don't think that I have deleted you!

Very quickly - last night I had a dream that I owned a local wool shop.  It was very "up to date" with lots of affordable colourful wools, ribbons and buttons - no "old lady syndrome" at all.  There were modern patterns available and Crochet & Knitting classes too, although the Crochet Classes were much more popular (LOL) It was such a success that I opened a 2nd local wool shop too.

Now for the catch up

Yesterday I started a draught excluder cosy

as I thought my draught excluder needed a makeover

So I worked in Trebles (that's DC in US terms)

with 2 balls of DK as the wool is on the thin side of DK 

& I used a 5mm hook

By lunchtime I had made progress!

However before the night was out.....

My Draught Excluder was cosier than I was & I love the way the mixed wool has worked up!

My new "Cosier than Me" Draught Excluder matches the colours in my lounge too YAY

I found this great link to all courses that are CRAFTY via Twitter

So I will share it with you:

Crazy For Crafts

Free listing of Craft courses in the UK

Granny A Day #15

In shades of blue!

And I continue to work on my Baby Granny Square Crochet Blanket 

Day #14 - Crochet Day! YAY

I couldn't believe it today when I found that I had over 12,000 page views on this blog!

That's amazing so thank you to everyone that's had a look so far &

Feel FREE to pass on the link to all your friends!

Thank you also to my 63 followers - that's an achievement too.

If you want to follow this blog then click on the button that says "join this site" at the top left of the page and if you have a blog I will follow you back.

Once again thanks to VISTAPRINT (I love Vistaprint - they are always so helpful)

 I  now have a lovely bag which is ideal for a small project such as my WIP Baby Blanket

Look what I put on the front!

It's totally unique and I love it

Now for some sad news - Granny A Day #8 is now no longer

It was really bugging me - it was made from DK but it looked like the runt of the litter 

and even though it had other squares around 3 sides, I decided that it had to go as it would always catch my eye & before long it would be too late to take action

So I cut it out!!

Then I made another Day #8 Granny A Day and joined it into place

I then made Granny A Day #14 and popped that onto the end

Now I know that I have 3 WIP's on the go at the moment

The Giant Granny Square.....

The Baby Blanket ....

& the Granny A Day project

But I decided that I needed a change, so I have decided to make over my lounge Draught Excluder

It actually looks ok as it is and it serves it's purpose well, but it does look a little boring

So I have made a start on a cover for it using 2 balls (at the same time) of DK (because it's more like 4 ply) and a 5mm hook.

As you can see, there is a colour mix of Brown, Black, Beige & White

And these colours will compliment my lounge perfectly.

I will let you know when it's finished.

*************************************

You can still join in the Granny A Day 2012 project - it's not too late!

 

HaPpY nEw YeAr 2012

I am going to start my first Blog Post of 2012 with these fantastic pictures.

They were sent to my by one of my pupils JC yesterday

We started off the flowers / floral centres and the base of the squares in class together before Christmas

JC took all three home and completed them

They look so brilliant - I am really proud of her, especially as she also sent me this picture, of the blanket in Rainbow Colours, which was the first pattern that she came to me with - she's soldiering on and trying to crochet a row a day - what an achievement so far!

I love the colours.

Now for the completed Draught Excluder

This was my boring rolled up fleece......

And this was the start of the cover I crocheted.  I was a little concerned as it seemed to be getting bigger in some places and smaller in others - although I was using DK and a 4mm hook throughout, it must be the wool/yarn manufacturers - they must differ very slightly on thickness.  I was using lots of odds and ends and I don't think that any of the wools were made in the same factory.

It's like going to M&S and trying on a size 10 then going to NEXT and fitting into a size 8!!

Anyway back to crochet.....

I am really pleased with the end result

It's really colourful and has "made over" that boring old rolled up fleece blanket no end

I just love the colours

DON'T FORGET 

GRANNY - A - DAY 

STARTS TODAY

You can join in at any time - just let me know that you are participating and I will add you to the list

I will do my first Granny of 2012 later today and blog it.

Good Bye 2011 - Hello 2012 "Granny Square a Day"

Yes it's the last day of 2011 and I have lots of lovely Crochet plans for 2012!!

My Personal,  main Crochet plan, is to crochet a Granny square a day.  Yes, Plain old Granny Squares!!  I really do love them and the only variety that they will get is the colours.  Some will be one colour/ plain and other with be up to 4 colours per square.

I will be continuing with other crochet projects at the same time so don't think that a little Granny Square a day is all I will be blogging about!!

I have ordered lots of lovely wool / yarn in a double knit weight from Ebay in colours like Wisteria, Plum, Soft Peach, Sky Blue, Citrus, Saffron, Spring Green & Candy - they were only £1.25 per 100g ball (the P&P came to about £5, so cheaper than getting in my car, parking fee's & my time shopping) & I can't wait for them to arrive.  Hopefully they will arrive today, in time for tomorrow, but if they don't I will start off using similar colours from my Yarn Stash and use the new colours once they arrive, however I will probably add odds and ends from my current YS as it's a great way to use them up!

I am going to make small Granny Squares - no bigger than 4 rows in each square and I am going to join each Granny Square as I go along.  You could either use this method, which I will try to make a tutorial about OR you could make a stack of squares and join them up as and when - that's up to you!

I have joined squares on previous blankets by double crocheting them together, but I like this idea of crocheting them together as I go, as this saves the "chore", which it can turn out to be and it also saves having a Granny Squares Stack!! (My Squares Stacks in previous projects, have mounted up to 30's and 40's).  I also like the finished product as I like the texture that the raised join on the right side of the work, gives you.

Here's a sampler that I made before I went on holiday........

Each square measures 3 inches across, so bearing in mind that there are 366 days next year (leap year) then this blanket, this time next  year to be exact, is going to be rather large!

Now the next question to you, reading this blog, is: 

ARE YOU GOING TO JOIN IN? 

Could we all get together and get a GLOBAL Granny Square a Day Crochet Theme going?  Can we do it? Do you want to join in?

Here's what you need to do:

1. You can make any Granny Square of your choice - do it your way, in your colours, add flowers or anything you want to.  I am choosing to do mine plain because that's what I want to achieve from this 366 day project, but you do your Granny - A - Day YOUR Way!

2. If you do want to join me in a Granny Square a Day, then just leave a comment and I will (a)follow your blog or follow you on Twitter PLUS (b) I will add  your blog to the new Blog Roll that has started (see Granny - A - Day'ers at the top right of the blog) or (c) if you don't have a blog then it would be great to get an email from you on a weekly or a monthly basis with some photo's of your Granny Square a Day project as it progresses. (d) I will post photo's (daily if my time allows me to) on this blog under the *Granny-A-Day* tab (see above)

(If you are emailing/sending me links or posting me pictures via twitter then you are allowing me to publish your photos on this blog & therefore giving me permission to use them - however I will not use your full name directly - only initials or your blog name and if supplied the area/country that you come from.)

3. Remember you can do it YOUR WAY - you can add flowers or motifs, make different size squares, use any colour YOU like, any yarn that you like & join the squares in the method you prefer - the choice is yours!

4. There's a button that I have created, so that you can copy this to your blog and encourage others to join in!  Just take a look in the border at the very top right of the blog (you might have to scroll back up ------------>

Remember to let me know that you are joining in the fun as I have posted a group on Ravelry - so if you are joining in from there just leave a comment below. 

The More the Merrier!! 

My current Crochet Project is a cover for a draught excluder that I have at my Guest Bedroom door.  It's simply a rolled up fleece blanket from IKEA that I am am going to makeover with a Crochet Cover in "Rainbow" colours!!   It's a great way to use up odds and ends from my Yarn Stash. - Picture will follow later as I will probably finish it today, but here's what's happened so far.

The current draught excluder is just a rolled up fleece blanket - effective but boring

The "Rainbow" cover so far - not boring at all!