Blogtober Catch up! – Gift Ideas to Make

Oof! I really do need to catch up! Brain fog obviously leads to brain freeze, not helpful.

Woke up to a beautiful autumn morning…

You really wouldn’t think I was in the corner of a muddy field in Norfolk, would you?

But despite the tropical feel to the day, I’m actually addressing the C word, whisper it…Christmas! Every year I have the best of intentions and then leave making presents and decorations until far, far too late. And I think this year a lot of us will be think how best to budget for uncertain times while still capturing some seasonal magic and being able to spoil our loved ones in some way.

There’s the whole ‘boring socks and pants’ for men thing but I think I’ve cracked it with socks. My menfolk actually ask to be given hand knitted socks for Christmas. (I’m not going down the knitted underpants route!)

I’ve gone all out with ribbon yarn and have been making sets of little baskets.

crochet_ribbon_baskets

These are really useful for all the little odds and ends which accumulate in the bedroom, bathroom or sewing table, and can be filled with goodies to suit the recipient. I can usually make a set in an evening in front of television with a dachshund on my lap, helping!

The yarn is from Hobbii where it is currently half price, and it comes in forty-six different colours. (I wish I hadn’t looked now; I might have to buy some more!) The pattern was from Hobbii too although there is a huge choice of different styles to choose from.

Another pattern I have to hand when it comes to an easy knit for a handmade gift is the Baktus Scarf which I first made several years ago.

baktus_scarf

Another really quick knit! I can’t find the original pattern I used but Cowgirlblues has a similar one if you are thinking of making it. I’d love to make one in self striping yarn just to see how it turns out, but I must not buy any more yarn until I’ve finished at least one of my WIPs!

So, I’d better get working again, so many socks, so little time…

See you soon…x

Blogtober Day 5 – Not Gardening

I was out this morning and very happy to see that despite being quite breezy it was sunny and warm. Just the sort of day to do some stuff in the garden I thought. Having come home and had a bite to eat I discovered the moment had gone. Higgins and I have been left looking at the rain hammering down. All thoughts of gardening discarded.

But I took photos the other day and they are just what we need to cheer us up on a soggy day.

I have to confess that the beautiful bits of our garden are entirely down to my son. He works as a landscape gardener and plants are his passion. The more exotic the better! As he is currently without his own garden we have reaped the benefit.

The bits you don’t see are the ones I’m responsible for. These are the bits that desperately need attention, on a dry day!

This year I did quite well in the vegetable garden for the first time. Lots of tomatoes, cucumbers, beans and courgettes. It was jolly hard work keeping up with the watering! I really have to stop trying to grow any sort of brassica. I think the entire cabbage white butterfly population in Norfolk gorged itself on the fancy kale I grew.

But the biggest success I had this year was finally growing sweet peas and keeping them going nearly all summer. These are one of my favourite flowers but until this year I’ve failed hopelessly. This year I bought a fabulous selection from Higgledy Garden and they bloomed and bloomed. I was able to have bunches in the house continuously, filling the house with scent. It’s time to sow them again for next year, another reason why I must get outside. But not today!

sweetpeas

See you tomorrow…x

Blogtober Day 3 – Temperature Blanket

I am sooo behind with my temperature blanket! One of the hazards of having far too many projects on the go at once. I blame my butterfly brain, always fluttering off to the next pretty thing which appears over the horizon. However, this is it so far:

I’ve reached the end of June!

But, I keep a journal where I try very hard to record the daily maximum and minimum temperatures every day so I can catch up, eventually. I reckon if I can knit ten rows a day I might just get to where I thought I’d be. The plan was I’d knit two rows every day of the year (pause for a hollow laugh!) That will be alongside all the socks, mittens, scarves etc which I’m planning or currently making!

I’m really pleased with how it looks though, and it will be a good reminder of this year when we reached the record highs on my birthday. I spent the day languishing indoors in front of an industrial fan and cold drinks!

I found the colour ideas on the Lovecrafts website, and the yarn used is Stylecraft Special. You might remember that I used this way back when in 2010 and it’s a great yarn for blanket projects.

crochet blanket Stylecraft Special

I love using natural fibres where possible, but if you have children or animals to contend with you need to be able to throw blankets in the washing machine without worrying about them shrinking. Add in the reasonable price and the huge range of colours it’s win win all round. (The only things it hasn’t stood up to are Higgins teeth!)

The temperature blanket is knitted in moss stitch so there is no right or wrong side to the finished blanket and there are two rows for each day, the maximum and minimum temperatures. Rather than working in literally hundreds of ends I’m making fringed edges. This winter we are going to need all the blankets we can make!

Have you made a temperature blanket or scarf? I’d love to know how it went. I’m off now to knit a couple more rows before I need to stop to cook the evening meal. I will also get wuffed at very soon by a small dog who wants his tea, NOW!

See you very soon…x

Blogtober Day 2 – Socks

Hello, and thank you for the lovely comments on my previous posts. It’s great to be back, and I’m gradually beginning to get back into the blogging mindset. Photograph everything… write notes… get out of the house and do stuff!

But today I discover it is also Socktober! Why have I never heard of this before? I found out it began as a charity in the US which I think is a wonderful idea. This year I’m going to use it as a reminder to knit more socks. The chaps in our family always seem to appreciate hand knitted socks, the madder the colour scheme the better. I can’t walk past a wool shop or scroll past a woolly website without finding something else to add to my sock yarn stash so I really need to work my way through a few balls.

I’m currently at the point of turning the heel on this first pair of Silly Socks:

But the ones I really love are these, where I get to use the odds and ends of all the socks I’ve ever knitted to make some which are always completely unique.

Random Socks

I’ve been hunting round to find other bloggers taking part in Blogtober and found the lovely Louise Tilbrook who is also a Socktober fan. Her blog is here and you’ll some find super free patterns and autumn knits along with the socks.

If you are a fellow Blogtoberer (can that be a word? it is now!) do stop by and leave a link. And if you just want to say hi, please do. The world out there is pretty grim and us crafty people need to stick together in our cosy little world.

Hugs…and see you soon…x

Blogtober 2022 – Day One

Welcome to October, and yes, it’s properly Autumn now, the heatwave is a distant memory. I seem to have gone seamlessly from moaning about being too hot to complaining about the cold, so I need to speed up the knitting and crochet creations to keep myself and the rest of the family warm. I just can’t knit socks quickly enough!

Higgins is spending a lot of time wrapped up in a blanket which is the default position for dachshunds it seems. We’ve got to the point where, if he is comfortably ensconced on my lap and snuggled in a throw, I get the most horrible groans and grumbles from him if I have to get up. He’s definitely turned into a grumpy little old man!

Mini dachshund

I’ve been time travelling, looking at old blog posts and reliving memories, trying to decide how to tidy things up and make them more relevant. My biggest decision has been to revamp the Rainbow Mouse patterns, both crochet and knit. As I no longer have the Etsy shop where they used to be for sale, I’m going to make them available as PDF for free on here. This will happen in the near future so keep a lookout, I will let you know.

So, a short post, but a beginning. I’m off to sort out ‘work in progress’ for a revived pattern I shall be sharing soon. This will entail a blanket, a cup of tea, an audio book, and my four-legged helper who I hope will not get tied up with the wool and needles!

Until tomorrow…x

Blogtober 2022 – coming soon!

Hello from Higgins!

Gosh, I’m embarrassed to pop up after all this time and say I’m taking part in a blogging challenge! But I shall do my very best to reinstall the habit, and stop faffing about saying I must change the theme/tidy up the out of date bits/scrap everything and start an entirely new blog. I need to just write, and see what happens!

Tiny squares crochet
Tiny Squares Crochet Scarf – 2009

One thing I’ve done is go back to the very VERY beginning of my blogging journey and had quite a revelation. When I started Planet Penny, I didn’t have a clue what I was doing, I just wrote, and it was fun. I got a routine going for photographing what I was doing, downloading and editing the photos as I went, it all became as natural as breathing.

Patchwork Quilt 2010

But gradually, things started to get technical. Blogger wasn’t good enough, it had to be WordPress. When I started my business I started to get nagged about Keywords, SEO, Cornerstone content, URLs all that stuff which makes me confused and grumpy.

Fair Isle cushions and Crochet Blanket 2010

And yes, I did build my stats up, and the business went well and all of that. But now I can see that it gradually sucked the pleasure out of just writing about the things I do and things I love.

Needlefelt Robins 2010

Even Photoshop which I used to edit my photos and could do almost with my eyes closed gradually became so technical and ultimately too expensive that I gave up on it.

The Mouse Clock which went viral! 2012

And then there was Brexit which wiped out the business side of Planet Penny, and then the pandemic which has affected everything and everybody.

So I’m throwing all that ‘stuff’ out of the window and I’m just going to turn up and woffle on about things. I hope I won’t be boring (do tell me if I am!) and that you’ll join in and tell me what you’ve been doing too.

I’m looking forward to the challenge, see you on 1st October…x

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