And then the rain came .... wet weather projects

View from my studio window 

Its been rainy and overcast for about a week  now. Not that Im complaining, I love this sort of weather and its always a good excuse to curl up with a project. Ive been working on finishing a couple of projects (new years resolution and all that) and Im excited that Im actually getting some stuff finished. 

100 Granny Squares

Ive been watching loads of tv so that I can finish my granny square rug (series one and two of Grand Designs on DVD - Im now inspired to build something, but thats another story). Ive completed the 100 squares and now its ready to put together. Being a bit new to crochet I wasnt sure the best way to join the squares, and found a fabulous tutorial at Attic 24. Not only was the tutorial fabulous, her whole blog is really interesting and well worth a visit.

Kochira the cat helping select the blocks for my Gate Quilt

Over a year ago I was part of an online patchwork bee - you may have heard of them. A group of people get together via the internet, and each month a person sends out their fabrics to the rest of the people in the group with some instructions on what they would like to have made. It was a great introduction to quilting for me (I also met up with some friends who were part of the group and I learnt some great techniques, as well a lovely excuse to eat cake and drink cups of tea). The down side is that some people are less likely to complete the project than others. Consequently, I have received finished blocks from half the group, and the other half seem to have disappeared!  

My block was inspired by a gate design I saw in Sydney (it also happens to be the same design as the gate on my little cottage - a very nice coincidence). It is a little tricky to put together, and it looks like I have to sew about 8 more blocks to make up for the missing ones sent out to the quilting bee. Thankfully Ive got a stack of DVD's to watch and its perfect weather to be indoors ....

x

Granny Square Addiction

A little while ago, when the weather decided to have a cold spell in the middle of summer, I decided that I should make a blanket (!?) one of my 'seems like a good idea at the time' ideas. I thought it would be a good way to pass the time on a train trip to Melbourne and back. The trip to Melbourne unfortunately didnt eventuate.... but I have lots of odds and ends from all my knitting projects, so a scrap blanket to use up these bits seemed like a good idea.

I did some google searching to get some inspiration and found this delightful idea

image courtesy of www.lushlee.com

image courtesy of posy.typepad.com

And the pattern for these groovy granny squares can be found here

Amongst my searching many blogs warned about the addiction to granny squares. Throwing caution to the wind I commenced my first granny square. It was only then that I realised that I was hooked (ha ha - excuse the terrible pun!) and was finding all sorts of excuses to create another square.

Thankfully my friend had lent me the Mad Men series and I could fulfil two addictions at once - admiring the 1950's glamour of the advertising industry and create granny squares at the same time.... ah bliss.

So far Ive created 40 little circles and completed 20 squares.... my aim is a 10 x 10 granny square rug, so I need 100 squares in total.... looks like I'd better go and watch another episode of Mad Men so that I can get closer to my target :)

Wrapped with Love

Earlier this year I knitted a blanket entirely out of recycled wool (jumpers from op shops) for my sister’s birthday.

It consists of 28 squares sewed together and is approximately 1m x 1.75m (suitable for a single bed or getting cozy on the couch).

The pattern and concept is from Wrap with Love (www.artsandcraftsnsw.com.au/Wrap), an organisation which formed in 1992 with the idea to help as many people as possible by providing warm Wraps to ward off hypothermia. Over the past 18 years they have sent more than 221,700 Wraps to people in over 75 countries, including Australia, with the help of their hardworking and generous volunteers.

Along with the blanket knitted for my sister, I have contributed to several blankets which have been donated to the Wrap with Love organisation.

Completed projects

I have just finished knitting a lacy blanket for my Kiwi friends as a wedding gift using a beautiful 4 ply New Zealand Romney wool. You can see it covering the chair in my lounge room picture. Also featuring in this picture is my 'Fang' pouffe - a project that I started last year which included learning how to re-upholstering the ottoman using traditional materials and techniques, and covered with one of my screen printed fabrics. The image is inspired by my Mum's puppy Fang.