Baby Blanket

Myself and Sophie were invited to a baby shower last week Wednesday which was a public holiday in South Africa.  The invitation came through on the 8th of March and before I knew it, it was Saturday the 17th March and the baby shower was just 4 days away.  I roped Sophie into helping me crochet a baby blanket as a gift and we did some hectic fast crochet moves.  I then commissioned my eldest daughter to help with sewing the blanket together and with just an hour to spare on the day, we completed the edging of the blanket.  I managed to snap a few photos before wrapping the blanket up and giving it away.  I would have loved to sit and marvel over it a little before giving it away but now I'm inspired to crochet some more and have them ready to either give away or sell.

Pretty Edging

Just a little bunny I crocheted last year as well. 

Some Inspiration

I have a collection of inspirations to share with you.  As I have an I-Phone, it comes in very handy when sitting in the doctors rooms, vets rooms or browsing through a magazine at a friends house, coffee shop etc.  Now admit it, we have all been tempted to tear a page out of a magazine as it held inpiration or a recipe you wished to try but the magazine was not yours to tear?  Well now I have an I-Phone so, I promptly whip out my phone and snap the page/article in the magazine.  I will be sharing some of these with you.

Saw this scarf in the "Your Family" magazine.  Love the colours.

Just love these cute cupcake scatter cushions, might implement the idea into a crochet to create warmth for Winter.

I would like to crochet myself a handbag, saw this one in a crochet magazine in the local news agency.

Cute cushion idea.  Think I saw this one in a magazine in the vets rooms.

I am busy crocheting a cushion cover, it started as a cover for my Bible but didn't seem to work, now it will be a cushion cover.  I will blog some of my latest crochet items soon and maybe you'll find some inspiration from that. 

One last one, it's just such a cute idea, to paint on an enamal plate.



A Work of Art

Today I'm posting an email I received from my dad this morning.  My mom started crocheting her blanket last year in October when they visited me in Johannesburg around the time  the "one a day" project started. She couldn't stick to the one a day and worked very hard to get it finished.  Here is the email: 

Hi There,

After many hours of hard labour and millions of crochet stitches, Yvonne completed her blanket this weekend.  She bought the wool in Vereeniging in September and started this mammoth task in October.  If you would like to write to her personally, her address is yvonec@telkomsa.net.  She enjoyed this past week's colder weather when doing the edge of the blanket as she had to work with it on her lap.  I am now looking forward to the winter when I can cover up.

Lots of love

The pattern that was used is from  http://crochethealingandraymond.wordpress.com/ thank you Alice for all the inspiration and tutorials.  You are such a honey!

Finally I attach a little Valentines crochet I made over the weekend.  xxx

A bit of this and that!

As promised, a little bit of what was on the go in my life towards the end of 2011.

 Tea Cosies ... always my favourite.  Planning on making some cute baby blankets this year.

 Knitting a tea cosy while my parents were visiting us at the end of September/October 2011.  I gave the tea cosy to my mom to take home in the end.

Had an order for 6 tea cosies, made a whole lot of cup cake cosies.

 Tried my hand at crocheting toys.  Love the way the little ballerina turned out.

 Coat hangers, such a beautiful luxury to hang ones clothes onto, compared to the "gorgeous" plastic hangers we use these day!!

Just something fun, a jumble of colours and styles all in one!

A Joyful Collection of Things to Do!

♥ I just don’t know where to find the time for everything I enjoy doing, and there are quite a few things I enjoy doing!

Top of the list is my crocheting then baking, blogging, reading all of your blogs, gathering inspiration, printing out some patterns(I have on my list of things to do) and gardening. 



I have tried everything to rotate this picture the right way and it just WONT, so on its side it goes... sorry!



It is spring here in Johannesburg so the garden is a wonderful place to potter around and enjoy.

I enjoy baking, of that my 15 year old son is making sure as he is eating everything in sight.  I actually have to hide the biscuits so that the rest of the family can have some too.

Crocheting:  I have joined the “one a day” group on http://www.ravelry.com/ and am actually doing 2 a day.  I am making blocks for my daughters blanket for next year.  I am also busy knitting another tea cosy, it’s not going too quickly as I am doing the whole tea cosy in knit 2, pearl 2, every row.  It will be rather pretty when I’m done though.

Blogging:  I have so much I want to post and say, photos I want to take but when my day begins at 5am in the morning and I have to be at work by 7.30am, leaving home by 6.40am, I do not always have the time.  I do get time though, to read all the lovely blogs I follow.

My parents are visiting from Port Elizabeth at the moment and I am really enjoying my time with them.  I feel super blessed that they could come to visit and that I still have them around. 

Have a super week whatever it is that you are doing!

Project Blanket Finale`

I had a wonderful birthday and got super spoilt with most of the goodies from my wish list.  I did finish my blanket and here are the photies!

♥ It is wonderfully warm to cuddle under this blanket in front of the TV at night as the evenings are still a bit chilly.  I am very reluctant to share it with anyone else besides my husband on our bed!  The dogs try their luck to sneak onto the blanket but promptly get booted off.

My veggie garden is coming along and the seeds you see in the photo above still need to be sown.

I have been pretty busy crocheting tea cosies for the coffee shop I supply so haven't had too much time to blog.  This past weekend was my eldest daughters 19th birthday on Saturday as well as her matric dance.  I am rather exhausted this morning and do not really know why, think it's just been the high of it all!  My parents arrive this Friday for a 4 week visit, so it's going to be a busy month.

I will post photos of the tea cosies this week sometime for you to see!

                               ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~

Project Blanket

It feels like ages since I have last blogged.

I have been on school holidays for the past three weeks as I work for a Grade 0 School and have the privilege of enjoying the school holidays.  During the first week of my holiday, I didn’t do any crocheting, but at the end of the week had finally decided on my next project.  It’s one of the biggest projects I have taken on in a very long time and that is to crochet a blanket for my queen size bed.  I have chosen to use Ella Rustica Chunky and it is exquisitely soft with a combination of 60% Acrylic, 20% Tweed and 20% Wool. 
I am now 110 blocks down and have calculated that I might still need to crochet another 100 blocks approximately. 

I do not want it to hang too far over the edge of the bed as I would like a blanket that is manageable when making up the bed, but then of course, I’ll just have to see as I get closer to the END! Oh, the end, actually I do not mind having taken on such a project as I know that wonderful feeling at the end when it is all finished and ones hands start itching for another project.  Not as quick as a tea cosy I might add, this one requires much more endurance as in running a 100km marathan.  I am determined to have it finished in the next 3 weeks!  Ooh, not sure if that is good or not, as some of you crocheters out there might be much quicker on the needle!

I end off with my cat Amy who she takes possession of everything in this home, including the new blanket, my lap and spot in the sun, WHAT A CHEEK!  She loves kneading blankets though, so will have to watch her with this one.

Winter Woolies and other Warmings

It started raining on Friday evening and has been mostly cold and wet all weekend.  The winter woolies have been hauled out of the top of my cupboard and are slowly making their way into my daily attire.  I must say I am not mad about winter clothes so am hoping to add some soft jersey colours in this year like pink, soft green and such.  Whether I will attempt to make any for myself is a big question?  I may just be up for a new challenge I will see.  I am currently busy making a “Granny Crochet” poncho for my 5 year old daughter.  I tried crocheting with the fluffy wool my mom sent me but it got a little confusing seeing my stitches in all the fluffiness so I will attempt to knit something with that wool instead.  While busy crocheting yesterday, my cat decided to come hijack my wool basket and it was just too cute for me to throw her out, needless to say I did not get any more crocheting done until much later in the evening. 

In the afternoon we visited our friends. My friend is very happy with her tea cosy.  This is the photo she took of it.

We had some of her lovely Danish treats with coffee, they are called "Aebleskiver".  Friends are a blessing.

My sister and her children came around for supper last night; I made pancakes and a creamy chicken as a filling.  It was delicious and we had a good time around the dinner table talking and laughing.  We got to watch the video taken of my dad at the hospital, it was good to see him and we love him dearly.  It has been a very worrying time with my dad in hospital but we are not without hope and are trusting for a miracle.  Thankfully we have a Father in heaven who hears our every prayer.  When my eldest daughter went on her first school tour, she was just eleven or twelve years old.  I prayed over that big bus taking them to Mpumalanga.  I prayed for the driver, the tyres of the bus, the engine, you name it I think I had it all covered.  The Bible says we are to pray without ceasing –

1 Thes 5v17 “Rejoice always, ^17(AA) pray without ceasing, ^18(AB) give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  I have my dad covered in prayer.

If you are not praying for a need, be sure be giving thanks  and even when you are praying for a need, be thankful too.  Have a blessed week.

Something New

I am crocheting something new that I haven’t tried before that looks very beautiful, I am making some Granny Bunting.  Emma’s bedroom has been irritating me for a long time now and I want to re-arrange it and make it look all pretty and girly.  So what has Emma’s bedroom got to do with the “Granny Bunting”?  Well I am making a string of crochet bunting to hang on her bed to pretty up her room.  I would also like to make a scatter cushion cover to finish off the look but all in time.  Bunting as described by Wikipedia is as follows:  Bunting (textile), a lightweight cloth material often used for flags and festive decorations. 

So with new beginnings, I have also photographed the one and only Foxglove that came up out of a packet of seeds, it stands in a pot close to my patio so I am looking forward to it magnificent show.