Daisies

Daisies
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Thursday 26 January 2012

It's Friday!

Another week has gone and it feels like I have done nothing!  On reflection though, I have attended a school's cricket match one afternoon, I have finished another small blanket, I have made some cucumber pickles and made a few 'birds' eggs'.  Now you might ask, what on earth are you talking about? Well, about a year ago I picked up the most beautiful rounded stones on a beach near us.  I have been looking at these for a long time now and could not decide how to use them.  In the meantime they were sitting outside on a small table looking all zen like. I have stacked them, put them in my bedroom window, amongst my plants, but still could not decide.

I have penciled some ladybird likeness on some, but have not 'coloured them in' yet.  Before christmas I thought that crochet work of some sort would look good on them, which I tried, but liked the covers so much that I turned them into snowflakes!  I have decided to try again and here are the results:


Pretty little birdeggs!

Then I have finished a small knee blanket with the leftover mohair from the double bed one.  The size is approximately 75 x 105cm and I must say, it looks pretty damn good!!  Just big enough to cover cold winter knees and as light as rain. 



It's knitted up in 4 pieces, short and long and I have used the cable pattern of the big blanket on one side, baby cabling on one, plain stocking stitch on one and a double moss stitch on the last one.  The joins I have finished off by running a row of chain stitch over them.  Looks pretty good!  Will definately do it again.

The pickles I made turned out rather nice and I must say, disappeared while they were still soaking.  The recipe is found on a blog:  Not Quite Nigella.com and is called My mother's cucumber pickles or something like that.  Worth a look!  Super easy, no waiting, in fact, I have bottled them this morning. 

This is what the ribbons looked like while soaking overnight in the fridge. 

I also made cucumber jam, but the jury still out on that one.  Must be cold to appreciate.  If a huge success, recipe will follow.  I am sure it will be good with cold meats and cheesy sarmies.

Have a good weekend!




PS:    A home without a cat is just a house!

Saturday 21 January 2012

Mohair Blanket Ta-da!

Have finished mohair blanket this morning!  What a job, a very steamy hot job!  Anyway, it really looks great and will be VERY, VERY warm.



Heavenly softness for the awaiting Aisling!

Tuesday 17 January 2012

Heart on your sleeve?

Another very hot day on the map for us in the Eastern Cape today.  Already passing 22 deg C and it's only 08:43am.  WOW!  Even the seawater is more than 22 deg C, beautifully warm, but not so refreshing!

Valentine's day is coming up fast and for us crafters who try and make some sort of a living from selling little handmade items, now's the time to start working hard. I've been doodling all sorts of ideas on paper to see if I can come up with something original.  It is very hard!  In the meantime, I've knitted up some hearts and will sit and look at them until some brilliant ideas flash through my mind.  Hope I am awake enough then to catch and hold!


 Heart shapes waiting to be dollied up. 

My granddaughter brought this home yesterday. Her 'artwork' at playschool for the day and I thought it so lovely, it's worth a frame!  And to share!

Have a lovely cool and breezy day wherever you are!

Monday 16 January 2012

Almost done blanket

Four o clock in the afternoon and 26 deg C!  It is hot on this side of the world!

Anyway, still knitting in this heat, believe it or not!  Been looking all over for shady and breezy spots to sit and work and I am almost there.....

 First view of the mohair blanket, two sides stitched together.  Still have to finish the middle part, but only 48 rows to go.....

 This is my randomly blue thingie.  I received this acrylic blue yarn from a friend and could really not think what to do with it.  So now I am knitting irregular blocks and crocheting them together in a navy blue, just to see what it would look like in the end.  The (let's call it a lap blanket) blanket does not look toooo bad, lots of work to be done still.  Anyway, this is just an in betweener to relax my hands and fingers!
Maybe this is a better view of the mohair blanket with all the sides together.  Does not really give you an idea of how big it is, but it is super light.  Can't wait to finish to see the end result.

Wishing for cooler weather.....

Tuesday 10 January 2012

Blankets and Beanies

 Slumberland Pam (From the You Knit booklet) - fun toy for my granddaughter!
 Merino beanies for my London based daughter and her friend.
 Mohair scarf to go with merino beanie for my daughter.
 Last panel of mohair blanket on commission for a friend.  So warm to handle in our current heatwave, but I do 6 rows at a time.  Cable repeat is 48 rows. 
Different view of cable pattern.
 First blanket I did on commission.  Embroidered farm animals, birds, etc to break all the blocks.
 My very first blanket and I tried out every thing I could think of.  Very cozy and much loved by me!
 Beautiful autumn colours in this knee blanket. 
Special birthday present for my daughter in London using old lace from her bedroom window curtain and various colours and flowers to remind her of home (in Paradise Beach, Eastern Cape at that time) and of course, she is also an accomplished diver, so mother had to add penquin buttons and waves and dolphins!

I made another double bed blanket, but unfortunately forgot to take pictures.  It was very uninspiring at times, but  after I embroidered all the flowers on it, I really loved it.

I miss my old home so much!

Tuesday 3 January 2012

New Year, New Year!

Bit like New York, New York, but must keep reminding myself that anything you set your heart on, is possible through hard work and of course, a little bit of luck!  Best of everything for the 2012 to all and I hope that you will have a lot of inspiration to tackle everything you do, successfully!

I have been quite busy for the past month or so and hopefully the photo's I have in mind to post, will actually appear on this post.  As you can see, I am still very new to all this blogging!







First of all, had to finish the double bed merino blanket for my friend, then did some toys for the Xmas market at the local church and also covered some coat hangers on commission.  Made some pretty xmas decorations (not shown) and commissioned beanies and more hangers!  The toys are shown on one of my blankets.  Watch this space for more pictures of blankies!!

Have a lot to do still, so I'll see you on the grapevine!

Marl