Monochrome & Red

Hello!

This weekends weather has been pretty dreary to say the least, we had a busy weekend with the tiddlers as my youngest celebrated her 2nd Birthday. It feel like yesterday I brought her home from the hospital and crocheted her a baby blanket.

This week I've been kept busy finishing off the Red Sunburst Granny pram blanket I gave you a sneaky peak of in last weeks post. It's been made to match a Cosatto Yo in Busy Betty and I'm really really pleased with how it's turned out.

It was my first time using the continuous join method and it was such a dream to join as I only ended up with 3 ends to sew in at the finishing stage.

It was a project totally different to any colour scheme I've used before. One of the beauties of making things for other people is they come up with colour choices I'd never dream of using myself.

I'm already nearing the end of my latest order too, I've had a bit if a surge in crochet work rate this weekend, probably because of the weather and new toys keeping my kids occupied!

Away from my crocheting, I've been pondering on how to increase traffic to my etsy shop, and I've once again been bowled over by the generosity of fellow crafters in giving their time so freely to give me advice and support.

Both Ruth from Blue Eggs & Tea (http://blueeggsandtea.squarespace.com) and Claire from claireabellemakes (claireabellemakes.com), have been amazing and a real confidence boost. They've also given me loads of pointers, which I'll hopefully be able to implement over the next few months. Please pop & say hello, they both have lovely Etsy shops full of beautiful bit & bobs.

I have a week off from the day job this week so hopefully I'll have lots of crochet goodies to show off next week! 

L

Xx

Hello! Back Again (At Last)

Hello!

After 369 long days, I've finally got round to dusting down this blog and returning to the lovely little world of all you crafty bloggers out there. Much has happened in the last year, the lovely yellow blanket I last posted about has long been wth a new baby, and I've been busy making blankets for plenty of other babies and to refill my little Etsy shop with stock.

Here's just a little snippet of some of the things I've made...

I'm finding making blankets for other people so fulfilling, especially as people never cease to suprise me with their colour scheme choices, which gives me a chance to work with some lovely color palettes that I'd never have dreamed of using myself, including a beautiful blanket in shades of red & orange.

All in all it's been a great year, but I've missed my little ramblings over here on my blog, I love all the crafting talk over on Twitter (come and say hello! @mrssnufflebean), but sometimes 140 characters isn't enough :-)

If any of you are on Etsy or Facebook, please let me know too, I love having a mooch through other peoples pages :-)

I'll leave you with a snippet of my latest blanket and I'll be hopefully able to write a post about the finished item next week!

L

Xx

A Voyage Into The Unknown!

Hello! Hope you're all well out there in Blogland.

Today marks a momentous (and somewhat nervewracking) day for me here at Snufflebean towers. I finally took the decision to list my latest creation on Etsy. Its simply too much for me to keep making blankets and stockpiling them, so I have tenantively listed one here.

Here is the blanket in question...

 

I've been experimenting with alternatives to the tradional pastel neutrals and I'm just a little bit in love with this colour scheme. Its sunny and calm, everything a baby blanket should be.

 

 

Time will tell if it sells, but for the moment I'm in love with its sunni-ness!

 

Also, I have ventured into the (somewhat confusing) world of facebook pages. Any likes are most welcome! www.facebook.com/mrssnufflebean

 

 

 

Mr Crocodile's Nautical-ish Blanket!

Well Hello! I haven't been around for a while, mainly because I've had nothing crochet related to report and my evenings have been taken up beavering away with this little lovely! (Those of you on instagram will have seen endless idenical photos of this as a WIP!)

 

A few months ago a friend asked me to make a blanket for her son (Mr Crocodile), and it just happened that I'd bought some lovely blue hues of Stylecraft Special DK on a whim from Lemonade Yarns, so it must've been fate as I instantly knew the colours would suit him down to a tee.

 

Its taken ages, its big (He's 6 so it needed to be bigger than my normal stuff), and there were times when I felt like I'd never finish it! But here it is... (Apologies in advance for the dark photos, its sooo sunny here that I couldn't get decent photos in my normal place and I was too impatient to wait until the sun swings round)

All of it!

Close Up

 

Scrunched Up

 

Folded Up!

 

 

A couple of the edge

 

 

I think I've finally settled on a method to edge my straight stripey blankets. I do 3 crochets across 2 rows, it produces a lovely even finish with no ruffling at the edges :-)

 

I'm at pains to part with this one, its so lovely and calming but I know its going to go to someone who will hopefully enjoy many hours snuggled under it.

 

Next I'm going to tackle a crochet Giraffe! So watch this space :-)

 

Im off to enjoy the sunshine with the tiddlers.

 

xx

 

A Long Long Time Ago...

There's not much going on in my little world at the moment. I'm still plodding along with my latest blanket, but there's only so many photos of a blue and stripey WIP I can post without sending people to sleep!

Talking of sleep... Snuffly seems to really like her new blanket, here she is in action (or inaction), with it :-)

 

Anyway, having recently rediscovered Instagram, I've been looking at all the lovely things people make and wishing I could make stuff as lovely as that! I was daydreaming being able to make patchwork quilts, when I realised one was staring me right in the face :-)

 

I made this 13 years ago for my GCSE project. I daydreamed that one day it would be used for my children, and it still makes me smile every day I see one of them using it. Infact when I was trying to photograph the back today, S remained stubbornly unco-operative and refused to move. I decided my blog isn't about perfectly lit and posed photos, so he's included in the shot of the back :-)

So, this post has become about things I have made, rather than things I am making. Next up is the blanket I made when pregnant with Mr Bean :-) Not my best work, nor to my current colour taste, but it was the first blanket I ever made, and I can still remember resting the squares on my bump! (I miss my bump, it was a handy crochet table). Again, apologies for the alphabet background, I have to quickly snap photos in the 2 minutes the tiddlers are occupied!

 

 

My tension is all wibbly, the blanket is a bit heavy (its 100% cotton which I always find a bit heavy), and in hindsight, its a bit girly. But I hope Mr Bean will appreciate the effort when he's older.

 

I'm pondering subscribing to Simply Crochet, as it looks really good, but I'm going to try and get hold of an issue first so I can see if its worth the money, or whether my money could be put to better use (Yarn Hoarding!)

 

Anyhoo, off to do some domestics.

 

xx

Snuffly's Stripey Blanket!

At last! Its done!

10 months after I hoped I would have a blanket made, and 18 months after I should have started it, our youngest, Mrs Snufflebottom finally has a handmade blanket!

In a way I'm glad its taken as long as it has, as I actually love the fact by making it after she was born I could make a girly blanket rather than a neutral one (We didn't find out what we were having), and since having her, I've discovered stylecraft and a palette of Pinks & Greys that again I wouldn't have considered pre-birth.

Anyway, back to the blanket...

 

All rolled up...

 

 

Close up of the colours...

 

 

I had a lovely picture of it folded in her cot, but everytime I upload it, Blogger rotates it and it won't let me rotate it back! Doh!

 

The Facts:

 

Yarn: Stylecraft Special DK in Raspberry, Silver, Pale Rose, Cream, Pomegranete, Plum, Grape and Grey

 

Hook: 3.5mm

 

Size: 72cm x 104cm (A bit long and skinny, but it works fine in her cot, although too big for her buggy which it was originally intended for)

 

Edge:

 

1st round - I worked a row of DC across the bottom and top and did HTC along the edges to steal a bit more width. I still haven't cracked the ends of the rows, but I worked 3 HTC across every 2 rows and it appears to work ok.

 

2nd round - I worked TC in raspberry all the way round.

 

3rd Round - HTC in Silver.

 

Final round - TC in Grape.

 

UPDATE!! Blogger behaved and let me add the photo!! :-)

 

 

To Frog or To Add... Help!!

Today I feel a bit deflated! I've been beavering away trying to get E's blanket finished so I can start something new, and I think I've got a bit carried away with myself...

 

This is when I wish I hadn't caved into my controlling side and done a repeating pattern... If I hadn't then it wouldn't matter when I had to stop, but I had my eyes on 2 more colours (Dark Grey & Raspberry) to complete off the blanket. Now I think if I do that its going to look more like a table runner than a blanket... So the question is to:

 

1. Frog it back to the last row of raspberry, when it'll be a bit too short and squat but will conform to my colour scheme.

 

2. Add the 2 more colours and hope it doesn't look ridiculous when its got the edge on.

 

3. Leave it as it is, but always have the niggle that I ended mid colour sequence.

 

I wanted it to measure 70cm by 90cm, the average sized pram blanket. Its currently 70cm by approx 97cm which is why it just looks poopy. :-(

 

Any advice much appreciated, I think I'm going to go and sulk in a corner until someone comes up with a faboulous way to fix my problem.

Humf.