Monday 15 August 2011

Seafoam Granny Square Blanket - Finally Finished!

OK, I am officially rubbish at keeping up with my blog!! I have blog posts in my head, but never seem to get round to actually writing them down, especially when I haven't got anything particularly 'exciting' to write about, like a Finished Object. I must work on not being embarrassed to post whatever I fancy on my own blog, lol!

Anyway, I thought that since I actually have a FO or two to post about, I would take the time to write a post!

Presenting....the Seafoam Granny Square Blanket!




I ordered the yarn for this blanket back in January, and worked on it sporadically throughout the spring. I decided to use a combination of traditional granny squares, Attic24's Summer Garden Granny Squares and Flowers in the Snow squares I found on Ravelry. I decided to use Stylecraft Special DK again, and ordered Cream, Sherbert, Cloud Blue, Aspen and Spring Green, as I was planning to crochet some flowers and leaves to attach to the squares. I hadn't realised Aspen would prove to be quite such a bold greeny colour (the perils of internet shopping!), but I think the colours work well together. I was too lazy to crochet flowers to attach, so I just incorporated the Spring Green into the squares. 



I used the join-as-you-go technique to join my squares which saved loads of time, and also saved me from losing squares in my various project bags and boxes. 




Finished off with the granny blanket edging found at Attic24.

It took me months to finish sewing in all the ends. In fact, I even pressed it into service on the bed before I'd fully completed it. I did a few squares at a time - whilst on the phone, or watching TV. I did take it round to my mum's one day, where we sat out the back for a pleasant hour or so, weaving in all the ends together. Finally, this weekend, it was all finished! I've enjoyed admiring it spread across the bed, without those pesky ends sticking up everywhere, and I've been lucky enough to get some lovely comments on it on Flickr. 

I haven't got all the measurements yet, but I will get round to that soon hopefully! 


Tuesday 2 August 2011

Going to the chapel....

One of my best friends got married this weekend, and I was her bridesmaid, which was rather exciting. The couple requested money rather than gifts as they already have things for their house, but I wanted to give them a little something with a personal touch as well. (For our wedding two years ago, they gave us a Welsh love spoon with our names and the date engraved on it).


So I decided to knit them a pair of wedding teddies, with the outfits personalised to them. The pattern came from a book called Twenty To Make - Knitted Bears by Val Pierce, which I picked up about 18 months ago in WHSmith, before I learnt to crochet.



The bride wore a full-skirted dress with beads and sequins sewn onto the skirt. The colour scheme was black and yellow, and the groom wore a black suit, white shirt and yellow tie and pocket square. I had to text my friend to get her to send me pictures without letting her know why I wanted them, lol. 


The pattern says to use beads as eyes, and sew the nose and mouth with yarn, but the bears ended up looking rather evil for some reason, so I scrapped that idea and cut pieces from fabric and glued it on instead.



The bride wore a bubble veil (had to Google that! lol).



I lent her my blue garter, so of course, I had to put one on the bear! 


...and she carried a bouquet of pale yellow dahlias (could only find these yellow ones in The Works but I think they suit).

Some pics from the actual wedding...


View of Tintern Abbey from the car (the wedding was in Merthyr Tydfil and we had to take a detour through the valleys as the Brynglas tunnel near Newport was shut due to an explosion. I didn't mind though...the scenery was wonderful!)


A close-up of my bouquet. The lovely little yellow flowers are a type of Australian daisy and are called Billy Buttons. The groomsmen wore them as buttonholes too. 


Obligatory shoe shot! Mine is on the right!

The reception venue



 The tables were named after Welsh theatres (bride studied Drama and is involved with the theatre) or tools (groom is a carpenter!) 



Funky cake toppers! 



My present for being bridesmaid was a gorgeous charm bracelet, including this cute little yarn charm! 


                                                                 Me, the bride, and our other friend who got married this year comparing our bling!


All in all, it was an amazing day! I'm now impatiently waiting for more of my friends to get engaged!

PS - I have it on good authority that the bears now have a happy home on the mantelpiece!