First in today's crochet line up is this rainbow cafetiere cosy, modelled by my much loved cafetiere, posing with my spotty milk jug and favourite cups.
This is the set up in our bedroom every Sunday when it's lazing in bed time, and a cosy is a must as it keeps the coffee hot for a second cup. I made this one up as I went along, trying it on the cafetiere from time to time. It's made out of stashed acrylic so I feel like it was free! As it happens I've made it a tad too large - I could have done with a couple of rows less, but I'll know for if I fancy making another one. (However I spell it, 'cafetiere' looks wrong. I've looked it up in a dictionary, spelled it right...and it still looks wrong. And I've just spelled dictionary wrong. Twice. Good old auto spell checker)
Second up is this little wrist bag that I made to take to a friends wedding, as I wanted something small and unobtrusive. It's made out of dish cloth cotton from the stash and is just big enough for my digital camera, room key and lipstick.
I really enjoyed making it and dug into the stash again to make these two, hopefully to sell on Etsy (more on that once I've got stuff to sell and worked out what I'm doing!)
I'm besotted by the humble granny square (you may have guessed from previous posts!) and wanted to find a way to wear that particular stitch pattern. I came up with this shrug based on Attic24's Granny Stripe blanket pattern. Shaping the arms was a bit of a clumsy process but it doesn't show now it's sewn up. I really like how it's got a collar which I didn't expect it to have - it's just there because it's a stiffish, thick fabric and it can be folded back on itself quite firmly. It's made from one of those big 400g balls of aran wool/acrylic yarn that I love so much. I think it took about 200g of the yarn.
Currently in progress is another thing inspired by a pattern on the Attic24 blog, this time the Neat Ripple Pattern . I was looking at gorgeous, bright home furnishings yesterday that were out of my budget and was filled with want, want, want. So I came home, my head full of colourful ideas, and - you guessed it - raided the stash. I'm using the ripple pattern (which, by the way, is seriously addictive) to make covers for one of the long cushions at either end of my sofa. I might make two or I might make a different cover for the other cushion. The colours are coming out of the box they're all in more or less at random so it could be an opportunity to pair up some unexpected colours.
In November I started a blanket as a wedding present for my friend who got married at the end of January. That blanket was not meant to be thanks to me really, really underestimating how much yarn I'd need for it. There were 9 colours in the blanket and when I got about 1/3 of the way through I realised I would need more of all of them. No problem for 8 of the colours but as for the 9th...well...just before Christmas I checked that I'd be able to get more if I needed it. I found plenty of places selling it online so I wasn't concerned. But when I went back to look for it in my hour of need it was nowhere to been seen. Nowhere. This yarn had evaporated, it had ceased to be, it was extinct.
So.
The blanket was ripped back and re-born in the form of my friend, the granny square. Here's one of them, I'm making 16 altogether and that yarn in the middle of the square is the extinct yarn. In the end I made up a hamper as a wedding present for my friend, the blanket will probably be their Christmas present at this rate!
So that's my month of crochet. I'm finding it challenging and lots of fun, and there are so many possibilities for it that I want to explore. I'm trying to figure out how to make a larger granny stripe garment like a cardigan. In the meantime I'm enjoying the ripples and granny squares immensely and just can't put my hook down.