Saturday 26 March 2011

WiP number 1

Vintage Stripe Blanket

This blanket feels like my nemesis. Ok, so that is a teeny weeny exaggeration but I'm not loving it, it's slow going.  The thought process, inspiration and pattern can be found here .


I take all the gubbins to make this blanket almost everywhere I go. I hook a little here and there and it is slowly growing.  It does look lovely, that's the only reason I keep going with it.  Well, that and it drapes nicely...and I don't have to concentrate on a pattern.  


I do have to concentrate on the actual hooking though as the yarn splits like a gymnast and it looks untidy when that happens.  I wont be using Rico Creative Cotton again despite the low price, not in a hurry any ways.


Slow progress. Very, very slow. I can't say I've been dedicated to it. I do flit off and do a little hooky else where.  Yes I cheat on this blanket, I am a crochet blanket adulteress. I don't feel good about it.


I should have known this blanket would be a bit of a bugger as even getting my mitts on the yarn was troublesome.  I ordered it way back in November and didn't receive the wool till late January I think it was.  The company didn't keep me very well informed even though I paid at the point of ordering by pay pal.  I had to chase them on too many occasions to ask where it was.  In the end they said they were sending it and I had to ask them to stall dispatch as we were at the time totally snowed in.  I must admit they did delay sending it as requested, not by a few days, but for a month (!!!!!) and even then the order arrived incomplete. Grrrrrrrrrrr.  Bitchy splitty yarn from a pretty sh*tty company. Ooooooh 'ark at me having a rant. 


I have a feeling this will be the most used blanket as I'll not be too precious over it. It can go in the garden with the Cuckoos, it can come on many a beach day and lots of picnics.  It will be loved eventually I'm sure. I am liking it much more now I have seen it in these photographs. Maybe I'll have a power surge and get it done all in a flurry.  Otherwise I intend to take it to the Tuesday after school play date we go to and get it done over several weeks or months.  We meet a friend in a skanky soft play attached to one of those Hungry Horse pubs.  It's a yukky place but the boys have a fab time and I get to talk to my friend and put the world to rights over a very substandard cuppa.

What a moany old minny I am in this post!  I try to keep this blog on the sunnier side but just like everyone else I get moods too.  In fact I get the mean reds sometimes.  Once, nine months after Little Cuckoo was born I saw the dark side and it was terrifying.  But that deserves a post all of it's own.

Right, I'm going to trawl through flickr now and look for drool some summerhouses.  I'm hoping that one day I'll have a little shed type thing (or caravan type thing) in the garden that I can turn into a sewing/craft room.  A girly haven for me to escape the mud thugs.  Where I can decorate in such a feminine fashion and Mr Cuckoo can't have an opinion and therefore create the need to compromise.  I can day dream.

Just need to try out the heart icon suggestions from Heather and GW on my last post.  See which way works, hope one of the ways will work!  Cross you fingers....here goes.

♥ (this worked on the comment section last time so fingers crossed!)
<3
ctrl alt L doesn't do anything other than make the screen flicker.

Nope, no hearts in the edit window, maybe they'll appear when published.

Just going to copy and paste from another blog... 

I'm using a Mac I wonder if things are very different on a Mac.

WiP 2 tomorrow with a bit of luck plus some photo's of the baby.

xxx

ps, since Dottie Angel featured my bobble tutorial I have gained a heap of followers and I'm soooooo happy about that.  I am slowly but surely trying to reply to comments and read these fantastic blogs I've been introduced to.  I'll visit all followers and commenters eventually.  I'm even considering doing my first giveaway when the followers/comments reach a certain number.  It's so fabulous to have you all here, it's great not to be talking to myself anymore.

6 comments:

  1. Well I DID say that's how I did it on Windows! Andy has a mac and I just asked him how to do it, but he's just come back from the pub and is WELL PISSED and no use to anybody. He suggested drawing one on a piece of paper. Helpful.

    Where did you get your Rico from?
    I do like the finished article with the rico because the colours are lovely, but it is a bitch to work with. I don't find that it splits too much, I think different people find it more or less splitty than others depending on their technique, how they hold the yarn, whether it twists as you are working it, but I DO find that I have to make my stitches differently ... like instead of pulling them tall, I have to pull through the loop without really pulling them tall. I also can't work it in the round, I can only do it in straight lines. The finish is too lumpy in the round.

    It's a shame that it's hard to work with because the colours are SO beautiful!

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  2. Heya, great post! Am commenting from my phone, never done it before so apologies if the words auto correct! I'll keep it brief! I work on a Mac. To get the hearts, click on the gb flag up on the top bar near the time and click on character pallette. You will find all the icons there. All you need to do is just bring it up when you are typing and click insert and voila! I only know how to do them on a Mac, hope this helps..... And this comment makes sense! Have a super Sunday! Vanesa x

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  3. Oooooh it worked! So just thought would mention, love the blanket, the Rico cotton has the most fab colour range but is the worst yarn to crochet with so am with you there, but reckon the blanket will be gorgeous when finished though! been devouring your blog too.....it's awesome! Glad to have found you ! X

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  4. Hey there! Another great post from a great gal! Even when you say your "moaning" you still put a smile on my face. It's easy to see why your followers have jumped so high..I think you had what??10 when I started. Glad to see more and more people get to enjoy you. Not familiar with that yarn. The cotton we have here is mainly peaches and cream which I don't mind working with at all. I've made tons of beach/grocery bags out of them. I've only made one blanket out of cotton, for my youngest nephew, and he just loves it..mind you he's only 13 months...so not really the yarn expert :)
    Hmmmmm..about that room..I had to start working from home to get mine. Trust me..I'd take your little cuckoo's over work or a room anyday! :)I'm sure it will come in time. I'm computer dumb..sorry no help with the heart thing. Take care! xoxo
    sorry, I try to keep it short..your just too easy to talk to!

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  5. I'm new to your blog and have only just picked up crochet again - the last thing I made was a baby blanket when I was pregnant.... 14 years ago!
    Loving your blog, your blanket looks great and your moaning gave me a laugh!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Just wanted to say that I don't 'follow' anyone - don't like the idea to be honest! But I do regularly check in at blogs I like to see if they have updated - several times in a day in fact as I prefer it like that (so for people who do their readers by visits, that's not a clear picture as I might look 2 or 3 times a day but it's only one person). I often read yours as I really enjoy it. So your number of followers does not mean the number of readers - I guess if they have gone up though, the rest of your readers will have gone up even more. I comment a lot on blogs so have had to slow down. I found you before your bobble blanket (I like yours the best!)I like the little bit of reality that you inject.

    ReplyDelete

I L♡VE your comments. Thank you ever so for taking the time. I do try to get back to everyone but I am rather scatty and I have these 3 big distractions....(and I'm just generally a bit rubbish lately, so please don't feel obliged to leave a note) Sorry about the word verification too, too much spam.