My Granny Shrug..

Two obvious questions just sprang to mind then. Firstly, no I am not a granny. And second, a granny shrug is not the grown up version of the teenage 'duh... whatever'.
So, now to the point of this post. Over the last couple of weeks I have been jumping around from blog to blog, following links and gathering hints and tips and inspiration from many places. It all started at fruitfulfusion where I saw, what was described as 'mathematical crochet'. Basically hexagonal granny squares joined together then edged to produce a very cute baby jacket. I followed links and sadly lost track of where I went but I did find instructions to follow.
If only I could make one for myself !!!
Soon after, I visited kootoyoo to take part in My Creative Space and found a grown up version of the baby jacket. This one was done on a huge (15mm) crochet hook and looked really good.

I've just finished my version, which is a bit of a combination of everything I have seen. I used a 7mm hook and some lovely chunky yarn. What do you think ?

Starting with two wibbly-wobbly hexagonal grannies.

A bit of Origami, folding in just the right place and you have one side of the shrug.

I crocheted along the top of the sleeve instead of sewing, mainly because I like crochet more than sewing, but also because I like the way it looks. I did the same up the back, joining the two pieces together.

And Voila !!!

One Granny shrug.

And one teenage shrug for the camera.

You can't really see here, but I crocheted round the arms just to tidy up a bit.

And also did an edging along the neckline to add a bit of shaping.  

Now Megan wants to keep this one so I may a fight on my hands.

           

Giveaway Winner !!!

So, last week my blog had it's first birthday and today I have my (not 1st) birthday.
Thanks to new followers who have joined me and commented and thanks to everyone who left a comment. Today I numbered the comments, cut out little numbered squares...( no random number generators here... sounds way to technical for me...) and got my daughter to pick the winner.
And the number she chose was bubbachenille. Miriam at bubbachenille has been a great source of advice and encouragement to me since I joined the blogging world and I am delighted to be sending some goodies her way.
Off out for a lovely birthday dinner with my man tonight.
Bye for now.

It's all in the name...

It's funny the things that pop into your head from time to time.
Sitting here on a sunny Sunday afternoon, with no urgent jobs to be done (apart from housework which doesn't really count) I started to wonder what the weather is like where you are. My google home page tells me that it currently 18 degrees in Perth (Scotland)  and it feels lovely and warm. So I asked Mr Google, and he told me that it is 17 degrees in Brisbane. Now, I read a lot of blogs from Australia and everyone says it's winter and that it's time to get out the woolies. We, on the other hand, call this summer and get really excited about going out without socks.... We've even been out this morning to buy supplies for a barbeque this afternoon. Alfresco dining here we come !!!

Have a lovely day where ever you are.

By the way there are still a few more days to enter my Birthday Blog Giveaway BELOW

My Creative Space

Sadly todays' Creative Space has very little to show for itself. It's been one of those days. A bit of this, a bit of that and a bit of nothing getting done.
Sylvia, who makes super cards for Buy Design, popped in for a visit. Mary, who lives up the road popped in for a visit to show me her Tatting. I really should have taken a photo of that. I've never seen Tatting before and am really impressed by her work. It looks really complicated and when she gave me a wee demo I thought 'oooh I'll never be able to do that'. However I'm always up for a challenge, so when she offered to lend me a How to Tat book, I got all excited and said 'yes please' !!!
Then I had a visit from a very helpful man from Scottish Water. I'm currently having a bit of a dispute over my water rates for the shop. All a bit frustrating and potentially really expensive, especially since I don't actually have a water supply to the shop. So why am I being charged sooo much ? Hopefully Helpful Man from Scottish Water will get it sorted out for me now.
Another visitor came in for a chat about some crocheted white roses which I will be working on next week.
Throw in half a dozen phone calls from utility companies offering me 'cheaper utilities', one wrong number and a couple of agencies offering 'wonderful' finance deals and you kind of get the gyst of my day.
So my Creative Space hasn't been very creative although it has been pretty busy.
On the plus side, there is still plenty of time to leave a comment on my last post ( the one with the Birthday Giveaway) and if you want to see some proper Creative Spaces just click HERE

Birthday Giveaway....

Happy Birthday to my little blog. What more could a blog want than it's own hand knitted Birthday Meringue and pink Birthday Candle.

On the 18th of May last year I decided to become a blogger. Did I plan this ? Did I give it lots of thought ?
                                            Did I even know how to upload a photo ?

On the plus side, I had read lots of blogs and really wanted to join the wonderful world of creative people that I was reading about.

So ,after a bit of arm twisting, my lovely Megan 'offered' to get me started and now, a year later I am so very glad that she did. I have met soo many lovely people, some who pop in once in a while and some who are regular visitors. Some who have been incredibly helpful and encouraging, and some who have made me laugh out loud. Some who seem to want turn my place into a dirty video site ( and  I don't mean mud pies). Thank goodness for comment moderation !!! I am so glad that I found out about that sooner rather than later.

To celebrate this little landmark I think it's time to have a Buy Design Giveaway.

Bearing in mind that my visitors are all over the world I feel there should be a bit of a Scottish theme to this one. Since I am officially (according to my profile) a jewellery maker there really ought to be some jewellery. Since I have become addicted to crochet, there really ought to be something crocheted.

To enter, it's really simple. Just leave me a comment and become a follower. Maybe you have been a secret follower for a while, well now it's time to say Hi ! 

Tell me your favourite colour and I will do my best to make the prize to suit your tastes.

Closing date will be 27th May.

My Creative Space

It's Thursday again, and time to share at kootoyoo .

On Saturday 22nd May I will be taking part in a craft fair in Blairgowrie Town Hall, Perthshire. Of course, everyone is invited, but first I need to restock on a few essentials. Sooo.. today I put away my 4mm crochet hook and  wool and brought out this instead.

Crochet bracelets were at the top of todays To Do list.

Red and silver wire with seed beads in a little shell pattern.

Same wire and beads here but just a simple double crochet.

Soon these little fasteners will be stitched in to place and the bracelet will close with a little magnetic catch.

In true 'Blue Peter' style.... Here's one I made earlier.

And finally... I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this yet. Could I do several wire and bead granny squares and turn them into a bracelet..? There's no weight to this at all so it's no use as a pendant...

Ah ha. Maybe a brooch....?

I'll let you know if anything worthy develops from this one.

Miserable night out

My little girl is going to be 18 on Friday. Technically, Megan is my big girl since her sister is only 13, but she will always be my little girl.  Hard to believe that 18 years ago today I was waddling like a duck with my great big pregnant belly and wondering when my baby would decide to arrive. Obviously, she arrived when she was good and ready, and the time has flown by ever since.
In a few months she will be heading off to university, and so, as a birthday treat, we headed off to Edinburgh yesterday for some special mum and daughter time. We had a truly Miserable night out and absolutely loved it.....  What am I talking about ???
We went to The Edinburgh Playhouse to see Les Miserables. What an incredible show !! Wonderful music, incredibly sad story, amazing cast. I could go on and on and on about how much we enjoyed ourselves but hopefully you get the idea.
We managed to fit in a bit of shopping (well quite a lot of shopping) several coffee stops, lunch (mmm !!) supper (mmm!!)  and a bit more shopping this morning after breakfast, before heading to the train station to come home.

So grown up. Happy Birthday Megan.

 Do I now have to start acting my age I wonder.

And Finally......

It's finished.

Not quite as big as I had planned but big enough to cosy up on the sofa.

The turquoise fades out towards the edges. I know that's because I ran out but it looks like it could have been planned that way. I'm pretty pleased with the scalloped edge which I think finishes it off quite nicely.

My Creative Space.

This week my creative space has been a little bit frustrating.   Lessons have been learned, and it's only fair that I share what I learned.

Lesson no.1

 It takes a lot more granny squares to make a blanket than I thought.

Lesson no.2

  Follows on from no.1

It takes a lot more wool to make a blanket than I bargained for.

Lesson no.3

  When you find bargain wool in the Pound shop buy an extra ball just in case.

Lesson no.4

The reason it's in the Pound shop is because it's been discontinued and when it's gone, it's gone.

Lesson no.5

I'm still working on lesson no.5. I'm sure it involves magically turning 62 squares into 120 squares but I'm not sure how I will achieve this.

If all else fails... Call it a cot blanket and gift it to a friend with a baby, then take note of the lessons learned and start another one.

Take a look at some more spaces at kootoyoo 

Hats hats hats

The problem with telling your friends that you have a blog is that they tend to hide when you produce a camera. Calls of  'that better not be going on the blog' are accompanied with silly faces and (sometimes) rude gestures. Well sorry girls but it has to be done....

Here are Elaine and Mel wearing their Easter Bonnets. We were at a Legs ( League of Extraordinary Gentlewomen) get together in one of Mels holiday cottages.

Mel also modelled my crocheted bonnet. Mainly because I was the one with camera but also because I have one of those heads...... I love hats and spend ages looking for just one that actually suits. There is sure to be a hat somewhere that doesn't make me look like a muppet but I have yet to find it.

Sadly, only 3 entries to this months' competition so we were 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. I fear that had there been more entries then we wouldn't have been so lucky but it was good fun.

The evening progressed with me giving a bit of a jewellery making demonstration. This was good practice for me really as I get invited to demonstrate 2 or 3 times a year and I usually get myself into an awful fluster beforehand. Good natured heckling from my friends will surely make a civilised audience a lot less intimidating in the future. My friend Val proved herself 'a natural' at crocheting with wire. I may have found myself an assistant there.

Now here is my latest crochet project. Great fun to do and part of a bigger project, but I think I can safely show him without giving away the Top Secret project that he is part of.

He is quite a cutie I think. I still need to embroider a little mouth for him but keep putting it off as I'm not sure how to do it yet.