As we go stripey Blanket

Hello........ today's post is going to be about wonderful stripes, how I've fallen in love with this colourful make.  I'm a bit late to the party on this one as it's from a crochet along from a couple of years ago, but as soon as I saw Hannah's gorgeous blanket 'here' there was nothing else for it.

I came down with a serious case of the wanties, despite already having two other blankets on the go, but seeing as I was laid up with my ankle, it seemed only fair to order some yarn and dig out my 5mm hook.  So my 'Broken Ankle blanket' as I'm calling it began on the 10th September

Hannah from 'Not your average crochet' has made a wonderful tutorial for this blanket and everyday I sat down with my feet up and worked a row or two, until I got to the tricky Catherine Wheels, where a certain amount of frogging took place.

Before I finally got the hang of it, I'm also loving that I'm learning new stitches with this blanket, perhaps not so much at the time, with the Catherine Wheels !!

but when they were done I was skippy happy that I managed them.

After that it was onto the Star stitch, another new one for me and I just Love it so very pretty it reminds me so much of piped butter cream, yep I've been watching to much 'Bake off. '

A few more row of gorgeous colour saw me today arrived at the Bobble stitch, using my all time favourite stylecraft special dk colour of sherbet, hmmm so yummy, do you have a favourite Stylecraft colour ? I'd love to know what it is. 

This was another new stitch for me but I found I was quite quickly, happily bobbling along.

Ta-Dah

Seventeen days in and here's where I'm up too.

Now to the foot, well I went to fracture clinic in the week and the Dr said that the boot cast could come off on Saturday,  yippee happy dance, It's fours weeks since I fell and I'm at the halfway point as it still needs to heal for about another four weeks, but is stable enough to be freed from the boot unless I'm going out of the house.

Something I'm skippy happy about, as I was really struggling with the weight of the boot and the crutches.  Typical me I managed a rare fracture at the back of my ankle, which is good as it's stable and OK to walk on.  I still have to go to physio but things are looking up.  Sorry some of the pics are not that great you can really tell that the Autumn light is kicking in.

Have a great week and thank you so much for all the comments and get well wishes.

Happy Crafting

Clare xx

The Frist Day of Autumn

Hello as it's Mabon today, (the Autumn Equinox) I spent some time this afternoon, changing over my Seasonal wreath.

 Un pinning Summer

ready to for the lovely berry tones of Autumn

I'm so glad I had the light bulb moment of using my tray table for this, as it can be  tilted up to be used as a book rest so I was able to arrange most of the wreath from bed, making the whole task easier, it would have been very tricky on crutches.

So here's how I pin my wreaths first up I tend to take everything off from the previous season even though some of the the crocheted flower will be carried over into Autumn, it just makes it easier to start from scratch each time.

I then lay everything out by type so I can see what I have to work with, aww little hedgie's looking a bit sleepy as he's been hibernating since I made him back in the Summer 'here'

Now we get to the fun bit, the decorating I tend to start at the top and work my way down both side and around the wreath.

Adding the beads to the pins as I go then at the end I added in the berries and cute toadstool, (making there first appearance on the Autumn wreath)

Here's the top of the wreath

The lower right side

and of course lovely little hedgie, who hanging out with the beady blackberries

You read more about how I made the blackberries 'here'

Ta-Dah

Wishing you all a warm and cosy Autumn or a lovely sunny Spring depending on the corner of the world you live in.

Happy Crafting

Clare xx

Patchwork August

Hello......... I know I'm so late with this one, but here are the patchworks for August.

A month full of holidays and crafting and lots of rain, with a ankle disaster at the very end.  I crafted on beaches, in cottages at home and in the garden.  Lots of old WIP's got a airing, all in all a pretty good month if you ignore the bit at the end.

Out in the garden it's been pretty wet but the Flowers are looking lovely apart from the sweet peas which have been a bit of a disappointment this year, out of 40 plants (two separate lots)  I've only had 3 flowers, I've never had trouble growing them before so I'm putting down to the weather.

As for my Seaside Pebble blanket well I've been working away on big cosy over the summer and had a bit of a photo shoot out in the garden a couple of weeks ago.  I have to confess things have slowed down a little lately as I've been somewhat distracted by my 'Broken Ankle Blanket' 

Here are the colours to get you up to date if you are following along.

97-98 Mocha

99-100 Cream

101-102 Silver Sparkle

103-104 White

105-106- Parchment

107-108 Sherbet

109-110 White Sparkle

As for the Broken Ankle blanket well, you can see why it's such a distraction I'm loving all the colour.  The ankle itself is not feeling so great, since it's been in the boot it completely ceased up again and the swelling is back, I'm finding it all so exhausting and my ME/Lyme's is flaring up under the extra physical demands of the boot and crutches.

I'm still experiencing some technical issues here at the Summerhouse, as a AVG update seems to have messed up the laptop, which is really annoying as all the photo's are on it. It's completely the wrong time for it to happen as life is such a struggle already at the moment I can only really get online if I'm out of bed and downstairs where the desktop is grrr which isn't too often

Any road I'll try my best to do a post once a week.

Hope life is treating you kind

Happy Crafting 

Clare x

Bye for now ............

Hello......... This is  probably going to be my last post for a bit,

As Friday afternoon I had a call from the hospital to say they had changed there mind after the consultant looking at the x ray and my ankle is in fact broken, just a shame they didn't get around to checking the x ray before they sent me off to the physio, who had me standing on one foot on it.

So I now have a very sexy boot, and I'm waiting to go to fracture clinic, as many of you know my mobility is very limited already with the ME/Lyme disease, and the extra weight of lugging the boot around has made me crash big time.

To add insult to injury the laptop has also packed up too, so if I'm not around for a bit you'll know why.

So whats a girl to do at a time like this, well buy yarn of course,

and start a new blanket, (aka the broken ankle blanket!!)

So one sleepless night last week I found the tutorial for this little beauty online, you can find it 'here'  over at 'not your average crochet', it's from a CAL from a couple of years ago, typical me I'm always late to the party, but I get there in the end.

I'll be back when I can.......

I'll be around on the blogs facebook page and also Instagram as I can access them from my phone so I'll maybe catch up with you there.

Happy Crafting

Clare xx

Suffolk 2015

Hello....  Today's post is all about  a somewhat soggy Suffolk,

A couple of weeks ago I travelled to a very pretty village in Suffolk with some friends, 11 of us in total, six children including two cute as buttons babies for a fun filled holiday.

Day one the sun shone so brightly so we set off for the beach, crossing the cute little crabbing bridge

to get to the golden sands of Walberswick.

Where was paddles picniced and of course I took my crochet along.

The next morning was sunny too, and it was wonderful to practise some gentle yoga in the garden, enjoying the sun on my skin, a rare chance for me as one of my medications makes me allergic to the sun,  I was a treatment break especially to go away.

 Then the weather kind of broke, perfect for the ducks who live on

 the villages very pretty pond, but not so great for us.

So after that it was all about inside activities, for young and old alike, hedge row crumbles

A little bit of music

Warming homemade soups for lunch

Board games

and Play Doh,

 I was thrilled to discover they now make glittery Play Doh!! 

and some crafty upcycling, which you can read more about 'here'

The rain did stop occasionally and everyone was bundled into the car and off out for a walk in the woods.  I was happy just to admire the beautiful sight of Dunwich Heath from the shelter of the car.

Happily reading my book while the others were off exploring.

Then down to the beach, for the mini's to go fossil hunting,  while I happily sat listening to the waves crash to shore.

I had plenty of time to put my feet up and have a good rest too, while the other went for walks in the drippy drippy rain to help ease the mini's cabin fever.

 and of course there was plenty of crochet, we did go to the RSPB reserve at Minmere one day, which I'll share with you in a separate post

Then of course I managed my epic slip and fall, flip flops, wet decking and kitchen floors are a bad combo.  

Thanks for all the kind words, I had four X-rays taken today as it's still very painful.  Thankfully no broken bones, but I have damaged the ligaments, which are going to take 6-8 weeks to recover with the help of some physio.

What a wet old summer it has been here in the UK

Happy Crafting

Clare xx