September

Well, it certainly looks as though the summer is over, judging from the weather this last week or two - the air is definitely autumnal now. The leaves on the trees are already turning brown, I noticed, and the nights are pulling in.

Our little Madam started school last week, something she was very excited about. The past few weeks have been a flurry of preparations for this event - buying sets of skirts, shirts, shoes, plimsolls, trousers, pinafores, socks, jumpers, cardigans....the list is endless, not to mention the sewing in of the ubiquitous name labels. It made me feel rather nostalgic for my own childhood, actually, sewing those in. I think my mum even has some of my name tags in her sewing box still!

Although Madam starting school has been a big step, and one which I have been mildly dreading, I can't pretend that having a few hours to myself in the week isn't something I haven't been looking forward to. I only work part-time, which leaves me plenty of time to browse the internet and crochet keep on top of the housework.
Luckily, just in case I run out of housework to do (no danger of that!), I have several new projects which are sure to keep me busy.

I have waited very patiently to order the yarn for these projects. Firstly, I made sure that I had ticked off most of the things on my crafty To-Do list, which had been languishing half-finished in my craft box. Secondly, I wanted to wait until the expense of July and August were over (two weddings and no less than five family/close friend birthdays to buy for!). Finally, I was able to place my order with Mason's, which arrived in less than 48 hours.

What did I order? Stylecraft Special DK, 19 balls of it, for three different projects all destined to be Christmas presents.

From top, L-R: Mocha, Walnut, Meadow, Spring Green, Clematis, Fondant, Raspberry.

 Project 1

This yarn is for a blanket for an old housemate of mine from university. We hardly ever see each other now, due to distance, so it's really hard to buy presents for her as I don't know what stuff she already has, etc. I normally go with an amusing novelty gift, but I do like to give useful things too, so I thought I'd make her a blanket for Christmas, as I know she always used to like her fleece lap blanket at uni. In fact we had matching ones. Originally, I thought I would make her a Wavy Blanket, which looked great when I'd completed a few rows, but I quickly realised that it would be quite a yarn-hungry project and I wouldn't have enough yarn to complete it, and I didn't really want to have to order more. Plus, I found that the (US) treble stitches quite hard on the hands. Anyway, here's a pic of where I got to:

I made the decision to make a Summer Garden Granny Square instead, which was an exciting thought as I now had seven colours to mix and match, as opposed to five when I made the Seafoam Granny Square. I thought I wouldn't follow a plan with regards to colour placement; just try to make sure the colours were evenly spaced and not clumped together. Here's where I've got to so far:

Forty-five squares of loveliness! Unfortunately, I have neglected to sew in any ends, so I am in for a treat when this is finished! 

Project 2

I am making a ripple blanket for my 10 year old sister, who detests anything pink and girly. So I picked seven shades of blue. (Sherbert, Cloud Blue, Aster, Denim, Bluebell, Royal, and Midnight). Annoyingly, I had to rip back what I've just posted a picture of, as somehow I had neglected to put in two DC into the top of the chain-3 at the end of a row, and everything got all out of sync. When I started again, I decided to go with a graduated colour scheme, rather than random. I think it looks good, although it will be hard to tell until I've done a few colour repeats. 

Project 3

This little lot is to become a Doctor Who Scarf for my stepdad, who is a keen sci-fi fan. The website I've linked to gives lots of great pictures of the different scarves used in the series (I naively thought that they used the same scarf the whole way through!), so I tried to match up similar colours on Mason's website. Up there I've got Khaki, Teal (Masons made a bit of a boo boo and sent me Teal instead of Turquoise for the ripple, so I've pinched the Denim that was meant to be for this for the ripple blanket, and used the Teal for the scarf. Actually I think it goes rather well, so no matter!), Camel, Copper and Mocha - plus a barely touched ball of Plum that I have left over. I don't think I will make the scarf quite so long as the scarf from season 15, (as 16ft would be rather impractical, I feel!), but long and wide enough to be a cosy winter scarf anyway.

I seem to have typed rather a lot tonight, so perhaps I will leave it there for now!  :-)