Sarah Youde

Reasons to be Cheerful - Parts One, Two and Three!

Hello!

I am feeling very happy today for a number of reasons.  Firstly, because I have just finished drinking a lovely cup of hot chocolate and have relaxed on the sofa for the evening with my crochet basket at my feet, ready for when I have finished this blog post and also because I have finally finished my crochet Happy Flower.

I saw Lucy's flower on the Attic 24 blog and literally stalked the blog until the pattern was available.  I was actually crocheting it in parts as Lucy was uploading the pattern (she uploaded it in three parts).  I love it.  Although I crocheted it immediately and then stiffened it by painting the back with PVA glue as Lucy recommended it then sat in my craft room waiting to be strung together for a good few days, but now it is done and it is just soooo, well, HAPPY.

It looks so pretty hanging in my craft room.  I have plans to make some crochet bunting for my room too so that is going to add to the cosiness.  I also now have the comfy armchair and a fluffy rug in there so it is looking a little less 'officy' and a little bit more like a real retreat for me.  I keep telling Mark that it is MY craft room but he kind of likes it in there too.

This is the corner that used to have a tall worktop / unit  but that has now been removed to make room for cosiness!

Tomorrow Mr Youde and I are going away for the night without the kids!  So that is another reason to be cheerful (part 3).

We are not venturing too far but we will be spending the night in a lovely hotel in Exeter and we have booked into Michael Caine's aBode restaurant to sample a bit of fine dining.  We have stayed at the hotel (Royal Clarence) before and I think we ate in the restaurant too but that was before I (we) knew anything about Michael Caines and his culinary brilliance so we definitely didn't savour the experience.  Although, I think I ate my weight in his gorgeous créme brülée.

image source: google.com

 I can't wait!  It is going to be great to get away and spend some time together.

 

Half term happenings

That should probably read half term madness!

We started half term with a lovely movie day with the kids. We bought Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on DVD in 3D and I used this recipe to make the kids some butterbeer in the cups they brought home from Universal Studios and we all settled down to watch the film. I have to say the butterbeer tasted really good and quite like the one at Universal.

Half term is always a bit manic but this half term we are getting wardrobes built in the girls bedroom and the outside wall is being battened to combat the damp problem that you tend to get in houses which are 100 years old!

I have had a very busy day today boxing up all of the toys and paraphernalia in the girls room and as if that wasn't enough to do when the kids are off school and under your feet I have also cleaned the oven, made pea and pancetta soup and just been generally domesticated!

Charlotte was a great help today, crawling under the double bunk bed in her room to retrieve all the toys and rubbish that Amy throws under there on a daily basis. She loved going onto the top bunks and chucking all her teddies into the box on the floor. Amy just wanted to do everything that I didn't need her to do and ended up just pretending to be a photographer.

I am sat here now at 7pm and I am fit to drop. I think I will watch some TV (currently re-watching all of Ashes to Ashes) and indulge in a bit of Rainbow and Hearts blanket making!

Ta-Dah! Flowers in the Snow Blanket

It's finished!  Really, it is all done and it is so pretty!

I have spent the week manically crocheting the squares together every time I have a spare five minutes and finally got around to starting the border on Monday.  I was so happy.

I didn't do the blanket 16 squares by 12 squares as I thought I was going to but instead made the blanket 13 x 13 squares which is the perfect size to have on the sofa or craft room chair to keep me nice and toasty! 

It also means I have plenty of 'already crocheted' circles to make a matching cushion.

I have got this great little book called Around the Corner Crochet Borders which has about 100 different crochet border patterns with instructions for going around the corner on blankets (and whatever else you need to turn a corner on).  It's truly brilliant.  I chose border #62 for my blanket and it matches perfectly, I love it!

See how wonderful that border is.  Oooh love-r-ly :)

I want to send a big thank you to Solveig from Norway who made this pattern available to us all for FREE.

I was so happy that I had sewn all the coloured ends in as I finished each circle.  There were lots of them (three colour changes) so I did sew them in as I went.  I was glad because when I finished the blanket it still took me ALL evening to sew in just the white ends that were there from crocheting the squares together!

I think I need to go and make a nice coffee and snuggle underneath it now.

Flowers in the Snow - ready to go!

I have been busy crocheting the circles for my Flowers in the Snow blanket and I am thrilled that all 192 circles are now complete and ready to be added to the blanket.

I am sooooo excited...

This blanket is going to be so pretty and the Amy Butler/Rowan Belle Organic DK cotton looks and feels amazing :)

I have laid all the circles onto the floor to arrange the placement of them on the blanket which will ensure I don't end up will any unwelcome pools of colour. The blanket is going to be 12 squares by 16 squares, the perfect size for my craft room chair.

Then I picked all the circles up in order making a little pile for each row of the blanket.

And finally, the piles have been numbered to represent the rows of the blanket they will be crocheted onto. 

It's so exciting!  I can start tonight :)

The Knitted Character

I may have been absent from my blog and mostly from my home whilst keeping Mum company for the last few weeks but that doesn't mean I haven't been doing any kind of craft.  In fact, going over to keep Mum company allows me much more time to do a bit of knitting and crochet than if I stayed at home and cracked on with the housework!

I have knitted a jumper which just needs a few finishing touches, continued with my Flowers in the Snow blanket, made more little rabbits, crocheted four crochet hook cases (to be listed on Etsy when I get round to it) and also crocheted the knitted character from Harry Hill's TV Burp.

More to come on the projects later but I just couldn't wait to share my knitted character, it is just so cute.  I followed a pattern from HERE.  The pattern was very easy :)

I think I need to make a couple more because I just can't give one to Ben, Charlotte or Amy without them all having one!

More updates to follow but right now I need to search the web for the perfect buttons to sew on my now finished Owls jumper (which took me only four days to knit!).

One A Day Blanket - Week 7!!

Week 7?!  I can't believe it, that has gone very quickly.  In another 7 weeks we will be in Disneyworld!!

Ok, so if I was doing a one a day blanket (one square per day) for 7 weeks I should have completed 49 squares but I haven't been doing it as religiously as I should have so I have completed 33 squares which are attached to my blanket using the join as you go method and I have 13 circles ready to join to the blanket.  That is a total of 46 almost finished squares so I am not doing too badly but, Shhhh, I have done about  20 of those in the last two days :)

I love using the Amy Butler Belle Organic cotton it is so lovely to work with and the blanket is so so soft and warm on my lap.

I can't wait to finish this blanket, it is going to look so pretty in my craft room and it will be good to finish another blanket because I have started so many this year that haven't been completed because they didn't live up to my expectations but this one, this one I adore already!

Crochet Coin Purse

I love the little crochet coin purses that you see on Etsy, most of them seem to be crocheted with a double knitting yarn which gives only a few rows of crochet and can look quite thick so I wanted to try and make one using a 4 ply cotton.  So, of course, I did.

I used the lovely Safron cotton from Drops Design and it really is a lovely cotton to crochet with.

I lined the purse with some of the fabric from my little stash of Amy Butler fabrics it matches perfectly.  Once the lining was done it was a labour of love to stitch the piece into the frame - hopefully I will get quicker at that part if I make some more because even Mark commented that it was taking me ages!  I just wanted it to be perfect :)

I just need to get some more frames now but it is remarkable difficult to find them at the size I need in this country (28 hole sew on frames if anyone can tell me where to buy them at a decent price!).

Rabbit for Rosie

Our niece Afton has had a beautiful baby girl and we are looking forward to meeting her soon :)

I will be arriving armed with hand-made gifts such as the blanket I crocheted for her and this little rabbit that I have knitted (from my own pattern).

The rabbit is so cute and knitted with 100% cotton (stylecraft) which is really soft and cuddly.  I have knitted lots of bunnies lately, really teeny ones made from Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino but this one was my first and it is a little larger as I have knitted it using double knitting.

I fact little rabbits have taken over my life lately!  First I knitted one from a pattern by Debi Birkin which was nice but not quite what I wanted (Amy has that one and she loves it, carries it everywhere!).  After that I found a pattern in an old Debbie Bliss book called Toy Knits for a little rabbit with a jumper on which was also nice but I didn't like the feet or the way the body came to a point at the bottom or even the way the legs were sewn on (Charlotte has that one and she loves it!).  So I realised I would have to write my own pattern and, oh my gosh, that takes forever!  It also involves tons of knitting, scribbling in books, crossing out and fretting!  I do have my final pattern now and I just adore the bunnies that I am producing they are so cute!

Here is a sneak peek of one of them, I have to think of a better way to photograph it though because you can't see how tiny and sweet it is here.  May need to do a photo of it in my hand :)

Have a great weekend!

One a Day Blanket - Week 2

Oh dear, I am not keeping up with my One A Day blanket very well but there is a reason for that, I have been busy doing lots of other things.

Firstly my one a day, I have completed 6 squares and joined them together using the 'join as you go' method and I have 3 circles finished and ready to join.  I love it, I must do some more soon!

It has been a busy old time here at home.  Mark is finally back in Plymouth and starts his new position at HMS Drake today.  In fact I am writing this whilst waiting for him to come home as I have no idea when that will be and there is a gorgeous smelling stew bubbling on the stove - I am starving! We have been doing a little bit of sorting of the house and garden.  We have also been trying to sort out paperwork and pay for our Christmas trip to Disney (Orlando), I can't believe how quickly that has come around - it won't be long now and I am getting really excited.  I am almost looking forward to visiting the craft shops as much as I am going to the theme parks!

I am thinking of setting up an Etsy store soon so I have been busy devising my own knitting and crochet thingamajigs (it's secret) and thinking about papercrafting items I could sell.  All very exciting but time consuming and at this rate I won't get the shop up an running until after Christmas.  I am having great fun thinking about it all though so I hope I get some sales when I am sorted.  The trouble with me is things are all or nothing and I tend to throw myself in head first, if I don't do it properly then I won't do it at all :)

I am looking forward to Saturday as I am going to a crop to meet up with a few friends at Just Tracey's - roll on the weekend.

A Ravel-ation

I joined Ravelry in February 2009 but it is only recently having taken up crochet and knitting again that I have fully explored the site.  I absolutely love it.  If I am unsure about a yarn I can search by yarn to see what projects have been completed in it, if I need inspiration for a new blanket I can search by blankets and get literally hundreds of example.  There is also a forum and groups, it seems like a lovely community of people helping and inspiring each other and I can't wait to dive in!

That said, I think Ravelry could seriously damage your credit card if you are unable to restrain yourself!  I have definitely been inspired and although I have just started a lovely granny hexagon blanket for Charlotte I couldn't help but join in with the One a Day group where you can make a blanket (or other object) by completing one section (ie a granny square) per day.

I was totally inspired by Little Cotton Rabbit's One a Day blanket.  So much so that I have got the same Rowan Belle Organic DK (Amy Butler) yarn that she has used for her blanket and I am also following the Flowers in the Snow pattern on Solveig's blog.

Apart from these two blankets I have finally received a ball of Quince & Co wool (75% wool, 25% silk)  in the Back Bay colour so I can finish a pair of socks I started a while ago.  I also have a little rabbit and a gorgeous Doll pattern and I need to knit both of these for the girls before Christmas.  Oh dear!  I think I had better keep off of Ravelry because I will have far too many things I want to do and will never get anything done!

for Amy's rabbit

Nails: China Glaze: For Audrey

All this is without layouts, cards, art journals and canvases that I have in mind.  Not including all the Christmas cards I need to make for the classes I have been asked to teach during November and December at the school. I haven't included the skirt I want to make, the Silhouette cover, more socks, Wreck this Journal (that has been sat on the side, untouched, for weeks), more felt Angry Birds for Ben and more dishcloths to knit!  I haven't even mentioned the dishcloths!  They are brillllllliant :)

One good thing about being a crafty girl is that I will never be bored.  I will, however, be constantly frustrated that I don't have enough hours in the day to play and that I have to do the housework and look after those gorgeous kids!