Cosy Crochet Along 3

Hello......... It's time again for a 'Cosy Crochet Along' catch up post, two weeks in and I'm really loving adding each row, seeing my blanket starting to grow, I'm so pleased that it can no longer be confused with a scarf, as was the case up to now.

So a huge thank you to Lucy at Attic24 for the wonderful pattern and for hosting this fab crochet along, it's lovely to see how all the blankets are coming along in her weekly posts.

As for my blanket this week I managed quite a few rows, it's been lovely to escape to the easy soothing rows, and calming colours of my Seaside Pebble blanket.

We've had a bit of a week of it here at the Summerhouse, so it's been a wonderful distraction, above you can see the blanket snuggled up with it's next set of colours, up until now I'd been just selecting as I went, but on Monday I had to go to the hospital for a tests that took all morning so I took my crochet with me with some pre selected yarns.

It was a bit fraught in the waiting room and people were getting a bit disgruntled about having to wait so long, sitting there three hours we saw so many people coming and going, I think crocheting might be a bit like having a dog !! what I mean is that people seem to always stop and say hello when you are out with a dog, crocheting in public seems to be the same. People stopped and had a chat about crochet and I had some lovely compliments about my blanket.

When I went back into have my second test, the lady drawing the blood, said  that one man had said to her about the wait. 'One poor girls been out there so long she's nearly made a blanket.!!'

So the rest of the week I've been feeling pretty poorly, so lots of time has been spent in bed or hunkered down on the Sofa with my crochet.  I'm trying not to think about all the things I need to get finished and made for Christmas, as this week the wonderful relaxing rows of trebles are just about all I've been up too creating.

I'm really loving this make, but best of all though is when I get to a glittery row, they really put a smile on my face.

So here's where I'm up to.

rows 15-16 Mocha

rows 17-18 Parchment

rows 19-20 Blue Sparkle

rows 21-22 Cream

row 23-24 Silver

row 25-26 Brown Sparkle

row 27-28 Parchment

row 29-30 White

row 31-32 Sherbet

All in  Stylecraft Special DK or James C Brett Twinkle.

The above picture is where I was up to last weekend so you can really see how it's coming along.

 I managed way more of the blanket than I expected this past week, although to tell the truth not much else got done around here.  It's been a wonderful diversion in what's been a week of worry. 

As with last week I thought I'd also share with you the music I've been weaving into my blanket, this week I've been listening to the Wonderful 'Long Gone Out West Blues' by Pharis and Jason Romero, I've put a Clip below if you fancy having a listen.

Happy Crafting

Clare xx

Making a start.........

Hello.......... It hard to believe but this time next month will be the big day eek, here at the Summerhouse we've done a bit of Christmas shopping and some Christmas making,  there still so much to do though plus I'm trying not to get too distracted by my 'Seaside Pebble blanket' as I've still got a few more gifts to make.

I have however made a start on the homemade cards over the past few weeks I've been putting these together.

They came as a kit from Marks and Spencer with card blanks, attachments, buttons and some sparkle.

The kit contained two of each card

I loved the pretty snowflake ones so much that I started on these first,

A perfect bit of crafting, for low energy days, stuck in bed, I added ribbons, wooden buttons and glued on little sparkly gems and the printed greetings, which all came with the kit.

Next up was this eek, these candycane striped cards, a little bit too busy for my taste, but I was determined to make something with them.

So I raided my Christmas card making stash and added a cute border at the bottom and a Christmas Tree topper, before adding the greeting that came with the kit and a couple of sequin stars for sparkle.

The other Candycane card blank I decided needed a bit of snow. So I added a polka dot border and three paper snowflakes to the bottom of the card, covering the join with some silver ribbon.  Then I glued a big glitter snowflake to the main part of the card.  Before adding the 'Merry Christmas' to the top.

Next up were the much more sedate, polka dot blanks, much more my cup of tea, for these I was thinking vintage.

The kit came with these really sweet metal snowflakes, but how to used them?? I was pretty sure it would be tricky to push them though the card sooo........

I decided I would push them through the Ribbon, as I was thinking vintage I also found some lace in the Summerhouse to use.

Simply pushing them though the lace, I then glued a pretty little gem onto each of the snowflakes.

Adding more snow and sparkle, with a wooden glitter tree topper from my stash and some sequin snowflakes.

Ta-dah

Here's the last card from the kit, with more snow flakes and sparkle.

So six down, a whole lot more to go....... eek!!

 Not sure I'm going to get many more made this year as time is running out and my energy levels are struggling but it was great fun to make these. 

I think I'd have to start making them in the Summertime if I wanted to send only homemade cards next year, but somehow I can never face making Christmas cards in the Summer.

Happy Crafting 

Clare xx

Cosy CAL 2

Hello.......... five days into the Attic24  Cosy CAL and I'm loving it so much.

I'm loving the easy gentle rows of colour especially the glittery rows

How I look forward to them,

So much so I've added in some more Sparkle (you can never have too much!!) how they twinkle in the evening light

So we have some new colours in the mix,

Seeing as it's 20% of DK yarns at Deramores at the moment, it would have been wrong not too, not all the original mix is staying though, for now I'm exchanging Stone (left) for Mocha (right) it may make it back into the mix, but I've started off a couple of rows with it and the tone is just a little to warm and yellowy, against the other colours so I've had to rip it back out.

So do you want a peak of where I'm up to?

Mini Ta-Dah

Here we have the first 14 rows in.

Parchment

Cream

Silver Sparkle

Sherbet

Parchment

White Sparkle

Silver

As for picking the colours, I did have a plan at first but I'm much more of a organic girl, so things have change along the way I'm now choosing as I go, next up will be two rows of Mocha, I think, I'll start the row and then decide, if it's staying.

Another thing I need to deal with are the pesky ends, maybe I should make a rule of sewing them in at the end of each week.

So there you have it my new mix of colours, how I'm loving this make, I've been a bit naughty this week, escaping into the wonderful calming rows of my Seaside Pebble Blanket

When in fact I should be focusing on all the things I need to get made for Christmas, so things will probably slow up over the next couple of weeks, but I'm going to try a do at a least a row a day.

Spending a bit of time with my hook listening to some music, two of my favourite things, so each week I thought I'd share with you one of the Albums I've been listening to while making my blanket, it'll be mostly Folkie stuff, this weeks Album is

The Carrivick Sisters 'Over the Edge'

Here's a couple of the tracks from the Album, I hope you like them as much as I do, the good thing about this blanket and the Trebles rows especially rows 3- 4 is I've found myself dancing along the rows with my hook to the music that's the good thing with Folk music as there is usually a waltz track, great for the crochet counting in this blanket.

You see I told you I'm bit in love with this make, so much so I Waltzing along the rows.

Happy Crafting

Clare xx

Grow your own, pasta sauce

Hello.........We may well be getting towards the end of November, but believe it or not today I used the last of the Tomatoes from the garden to make some pasta sauce. Fancy that home grow Tomatoes in November, just perfect.

I was lucky enough to be given some plum tomato seedlings by a lovely friend earlier in the year,  which I planted into a grow bag, by the garden wall that leads down to the Summerhouse, it's a bit of a suntrap so I hoped I'd be picking tomatoes in the Summertime.

Alas this was not to be, as I guess the English sunshine was just not hot enough for these Italian beauties. So a couple of weeks ago I cut the last of the green tomatoes and place them in a paper bag with a banana and as if by magic over a week or so they turned red.

So this is my second batch of chunky roasted vegetable sauce from the garden, along with the tomatoes I added red onion, courgette, aubergine, red pepper and butternut squash all roasted up in the oven with garlic, olive oil, some basil and oregano. Yummy happiness on a tray.

After they were roasted I them put into a pan with some organic chopped tomatoes, sadly I didn't grow enough of my own for the sauce, and left them to simmer slowly until really tender.

Today I had some for lunch served with some baked cod, with some going in the freezer for later and a pot saved to have with Brown Rice Pasta tomorrow, yummy.

Wishing you all a great weekend

Clare xx

Seaside Pebble Blanket: Attic24 Cosy CAL

Hello..... I know I'm a bit late to the party on this one, but I can resist no longer so I'm joining in with Lucy's  Attic 24 Cosy CAL.  I have so much on the go already and lots of gifts still to make for Christmas but after seeing, 'Selma's' gorgeous Scandinavian  style version of the blanket on Lucy post on Sunday, I could resist no more.

In all honesty I fell a little bit in love with all the natural tones of her blanket, who am I kidding I came down with a serious case of the wanties that had me hopping over to Dermores as quick as a flash to get me some yarn.

Now my blankets going to be a little bit different I'm calling it 'The Seaside Pebble' as that's my inspiration, we have a shingle beach here at the 'summerhouse by the sea' and I'm hoping to be able to capture it in blanket form, so as well as Selma lovely mix of Stylecraft Special DK in

• Parchment
• Silver 
• Stone
• White 
• Cream

I'm adding in, some additional colours.

• Cloud Blue
• Sherbet

(which is my all time favourite colour of all the stylecraft yarns.)

Also in the blanket mix is a bit of sparkle (I always love the pebbles with the sparkles in at the beach  the best !!) so I'm using James C Brett Twinkle in

• White
• Silver

So there it is, my Seaside Pebble mix, blue skies and sea, pebbles, driftwood a hint of lovely sea glass. I've taken Lucy's tip for selecting colours, I didn't have any lovely wooden pegs, so I've wound my yarn around pieces of cardboard, which I'm loving the look of, it so driftwood like.

Seeing as my craft time is so limited due to my illness, I think it's going to take me a while to make this, so I'm going to crochet along with everyone at Attic 24 for as long as I can but I foresee I'm going to be plodding on with this blanket way after most people have finished but hey ho, that's fine after all I love nothing better than being beside the Seaside, so I think this blanket is going to be just perfect for Summerhouse.

 Here a sneaky peak of where I'm up to so far.  I'm a little bit hooked on this blanket but I've had to stop for now as my arms aching so much it feels like it might fall off.

I've already finished my book for the month so instead I've been indulging in a bit of lovely craft magaziness.

Joining in the yarn along with Ginny

Happy Crafting 

Clare xx

These Days

Hello..... These days, these November days of greyness are upon us it seems, so if you get a spell of sunshine you have to make the most of it.

These days the Westerly Winds have taken most of the leaves from the trees

There are still ladybirds to found though, this one went off in the post the other day to spread some cheer.  It's a 'Attic 24' ladybird, I added a little magnet to the back and some googly eyes.

Earlier in the week this stunning Orchid came to live at the summerhouse, to cheer  these Autumn days. It was less than £4 reduced to clear at the Supermarket. 

So it hopped into my trolley as a little treat after a Cardiology Appointment, yes I have a new diagnosis to add to the ever growing  list.

 I've been diagnosed with POTS ( Postural Tachycardia Syndrome) it's nothing new to me I've had it for getting on twenty years now, ever since I got sick again at 19.  Back then they had no idea why my heart beats so fast, but now I have a diagnosis and some treatment.

It's runs alongside both ME and Lyme disease as well as many other illnesses, it basically means that when I'm lying down my heart rate is normal but when I stand it shoots right up high.  Now the problem is, that the advise if you have POTS is to exercise, but with ME you are told not too, so it's catch 22.

I tried to explain to the Cardiologist, that in June the ME service told me  'no exercise at all, that I'm not well enough at this time,' that the level of my illness means I'm only out of bed for about 1hour 20 minutes a day, but he just said 'I don't know much about ME, but POTS you need exercise, slowly build up you're exercise', followed by 'in six months time I'm hoping you'll be able to walk into you're appointment not be using a wheelchair.'  Don't you just love it when medical advice completely conflicts.

Never mind as these days, I have finished making the flowers for my cowl, just need to sew in the dreaded ends and make it up, I need to get on with it though or winter will have been and gone

These days Merlin has been keeping me company while I'm stuck in bed resting

It seems these days we are inching ever nearer to Christmas, so I bought this magazines for some inspiration

There has been card making and

other top secret Christmas makes are a foot.  I hope this pic doesn't give to much away.

And finally....

I've not forgot, it's been a bit of a tiring week for me, but I'm hopefully going to get the pattern for the dreamcatcher written up over the next few days.

Wishing you all a great weekend

Happy Crafting

Clare xx