Anyone reading my blog would think that all I do is shopping, a bit of gardening and running round after Higgins. Actually I do a lot of running round after Higgins, but despite that I have managed to fit in a bit of making . (Only today I was remaking the garden hose after someone – I wonder who? – bit twenty metres off the end. The hosepipe ban monitors are recruiting early it seems.)

 Before I went to visit the family in France I had my usual panic when I realised that the thing I had been planning in my head for months has still not actually been made. At Christmas I had come home with a little cross stitch kit which had been given to my daughter-in-law. I’m afraid it flummoxed me completely, and having got to the ‘throw-it-on-the-floor-and-stamp-on-it stage I took it round to my mum, who took one look and polished it off in a couple of days. (Looking at this I now realise there will be any number of people baffled by my ineptitude but there were three different reds and life is too short…)

I really wanted to turn it into something useful for Celia, rather than something that sits and gathers dust and decided it could make a great replacement for the Yellow Plastic Bag. (The Yellow Plastic Bag has been the home of Celia’s sewing kit for quite some time and is where I rummage for needles and threads when I lose my own when on holiday – don’t ask…) Anyway, I had a big plan and all of a sudden I realised that that was all it was, a plan, and I had better get on with it. And eventually, this was it… (Spotty tablecloth courtesy of Celia) Meanwhile, Rose, Celia’s mum and the other half of the Belle Mere Mafia had already announced that on retirement she intended to knit socks so obviously a knitting bag was needed… Sewing completed, I also needed a little something to keep my hands occupied while travelling. I’ve been following Lucy at Attic 24 and her efforts to find a reasonably priced acrylic yarn with a good range of colours and she is now making a blanket in Stylecraft Special DK, priced at £1.60 a ball. I was triumphant when I found that the nice lady on Norwich Market not only carries ALL the colours in the range, but she only charges £1.49 a ball, for 100grams! What a bargain! I recently finished a UFO which had been languishing in a bag for too long, so long in fact I’ve lost the ball bands so I can’t tell you what the yarn is. It is also acrylic, beautifully soft though, but I do remember the colour range was quite limited. I really like the colours I used though, and love the zigzags so I thought I’d go for a bigger version of a snuggly blankie for winter evenings. After a happy half hour at the wool stall gathering various combinations of colours together, I eventually ended up with this… …selection of colours. I started the blanket off in the car as we travelled through the Channel Tunnel, it kept me company watching DVDs with the grandsons, and chatting in the evenings with a glass of wine (or two!) It’s coming along nicely, I’ve got to the point where it’s just about square, so I’ll have judge when the proportions are just right. The zigzag effect is so easy, and I love the slightly Missoni feel to it. If you’d like a tutorial do let me know. I haven’t written one yet but I’m happy to if it would help. It’s certainly a good project for a beginner because you don’t have all the colour changes involved with granny squares which can be a bit distracting. Crochet can be so relaxing when it just flows…
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