Making Bonding Squares

Yesterday one of my friends social media posts was about a hospital running out of bonding squares and they were asking for knitters and crocheters to make some. I have knitted tiny hats and mittens for premature babies in the past but I've never heard of bonding squares before. They are 5 inch squares, made in pairs then one is placed with the baby and the other is given to the parent.

I thought they were an ideal way to use up spare wool and I made five pairs last night.

Information and the address to post the squares to can be found here

A Not So Quick Catch Up

I thought I'd better pop on because I've been absent for a while. 

We've been busy here since my last post with school holidays, new shed for the garden, sorting the living room out (still) and a few birthday celebrations. We went for a meal last week for Caleb's girlfriends birthday and to meet her family. Now to me it felt a bit odd because I will always think of him as my little boy who loved cuddles, not the 18 year old with a girlfriend. She is a very nice girl though.

We still aren't finished with the living room. The decorating side of it was completed ages ago but Anders seems to keep on adding work for himself. I'll show what has been done so far.

This old cabinet has gone

and has been replaced with these bookcases that Anders made.

The opposite corner is pretty much the same as before. The bookcase is one that Anders made a few years ago.

The fire surround is the old one that has had a coat of paint. Anders made a new hearth and replaced the back on the fire (this was something he added on as we went along). The mirror is from Exclusive Mirrors. 

This is what the fire place looked like before.

We ordered the table and chairs on line and when they arrived the table had been damaged. On one of the corners the wood had split so this had been sent from the manufacturers like this and not happened in transit. The company told us to dispose of the table and a replacement would be send. After waiting in for I don't know how many days I got back in touch with them only to be told they didn't have any more and they would arrange a refund. So I'm stuck with chairs and no table. Anders took the table top in work to see what could be done to it.

 After a lot of glue, being clamped and waxed, I had a table. It's a good job that we hadn't thrown it on the tip straight away.

These were the old lights which were originally from my in laws

and these are the new ones. The lights we bought were on sale, half price from Debenhams. The curtains and rug were also on sale from Dunhelm Mill.

The sofa looks a bit bigger than our last one but they are the same size. The old one had chunky arms and as this one hasn't it has more seating area instead. The sofa is the Fellini model from Sofology. The wall behind the sofa does look very bare but that is where Anders hangs his guitars. (as much as I hate them being in here, there is nowhere else to store them and he doesn't even have room for them all here so I don't know what his plan is)

The cabinet is from Ikea. Even though Anders wanted to make as much in this room as he could, to buy the glass doors worked out too expensive. It looks pretty empty from a distance but it is full of nik naks that we're bought on our travels.

This was the corner where the cabinet is now. We've bought some small speakers to replace those in the photo.

Still to go in this room is a coffee table (which is almost done), more bookcases in the other alcove next to the chimney breast and a new TV unit. Anders was going to make a sliding shelf to house the turn table but he says that the unit has faded too much in the sun and it is quicker for him to make a new unit from scratch instead of sanding and re staining the one we already have .. see, he makes more work.

Craft wise I got around to finishing an embroidery that I started a little over four years ago. I only found it while having a sort out.

The pattern was purchased from greenbeanbaby on Etsy.

I also made this crocheted cushion for Caleb's girlfriend.
Something else that may be happening in our house is that we might be getting a puppy. This subject has been talked about for years here with Anders adamant that it wasn't happening. I don't know what's up with him (maybe softening with age) but he changed his mind. The kids are delighted. First I looked on line at dog rescue centres where I live plus surrounding counties. After looking at the descriptions of many available dogs it was clear that I wasn't going to find one that fit our requirements as a family. We need a child friendly dog, one that doesn't shed a lot because of my allergies and my eldest boys asthma and is relatively easy to train. After looking at many different breeds and have settled on a Boston Terrier. I've been in touch with a breeder who has a litter but they won't be ready for some time yet as they are only 4 weeks old. I've done this instead of going to pick a pup that I can take there and then because I've heard so much about puppy farms. We have been in touch via email and they have answered any questions I've had so far. As we have no intention of breeding dogs ourselves we have chosen a dog rather than a bitch.

This is pup (the end one with a thinnest white blaze). We will be going to view him next week. Hopefully all goes well with the visit and his health checks are fine.

Boho Style Shawl

This is something that I began making a while ago to use up some of my wool stash. I underestimated the amount I would need, had to buy more so I've probably got a bigger wool stash than when I started.

I used a free pattern for the shawl which can be found here. Mine is slighter larger than the pattern and is made up with 42 full motifs and 10 half motifs. 

These days I need to take more breaks due to my hands but otherwise it is a fast project to make.

Crafty Catch Up

Today I'm sharing a few things that I have recently finished making. 

I began to crochet this blanket quite a while ago and after a quick look through my old posts I saw it was July 2013 (I didn't realise it was that long ago). I did start with the intention of it being a large blanket but it seems I got bored.

The blanket is made from 95 hexagons and measures approximately 31in x 42in.

I sewed some black fleece on to the back to tidy it up abit and for extra warmth.

The wool arrived to make the zig zag Hilda mitts from the Pretty Knitted Hands book.

The pattern was very easy to read and I'd finished them in a couple of days. I've been wearing them out ever since as it is still quite chilly here.

At the moment Little L loves to play on the tsum tsum game app so I made these Chip N Dale coasters inspired by the game.

For the pattern I used some free Disney colouring pages which I resized in Photoshop.

At the moment I'm in the process of dismantling some jute gift bags but I'm not sure what to use the fabric for yet.

Crafty Catch Up

Lately craft wise I have been trying to use up my scraps of wool by crocheting some granny squares which I will be then be making in to a blanket. I still have a lot more to go to reach a blanket size.

Also I've been crocheting some little hats for The Big Knit campaign. The innocent drink company pop these little hats on to their smoothie bottles during Winter and for every bottle they sell which is wearing a hat they donate 25p to the Age UK charity. This time I made 40 to post off. Some free knitting and crocheting patterns to make the hats can be found here.

To me it doesn't look like I've been doing much but adding in Winter illnesses to fight off, Christmas shopping, a family Christening (it was lovely to catch up with family members that I hadn't seen for a long time) and decorating the boy's bedroom, I think we have just been more busier than usual here.

Royal British Legion Poppies

Recently the wool shop in my local town have been asking for knitters or crocheters to make some poppies for the Royal British Legion's Poppy Appeal so popped in a couple of weeks ago to see what it was about.

The shop has been working with The Royal British Legion on the knitted/crocheted poppies. Both the patterns and the wool choice for making them has been approved. Everyone making the poppies has to use the same wool so they will be uniform and the patterns are free. Ten per cent of the profits from the wool is being donated to the Royal British Legion.

Once all the poppies have been handed to the shop some are going to be used in a Remembrance Day display at the Lion Salt Works Museum. After this they will have brooch backs attached then be sold to raise money for the Royal British Legion.

The black wool used for the centre is glittery with different colours running through it.

I tried both the knitted and crocheted pattern but everyone in my house preferred the crocheted version so I stuck to that pattern.

In total I made 22 which I dropped in to the shop this week. They're not sure how many they have yet, it sounded like quite a lot though so I hope they hit their target number.

Crafty Catch Up

I've not really made much this month but I thought I'd share what I've been up to.

I used up lots of scrap bits of wool making this bag. I'd seen one like it over on Helen Philipps blog and loved the use of turquoise as the main colour.

I lined the inside and the strap then added some pom poms to the bottom.

Little L had seen a pom pom rug on Pinterest so we used more scrap wool to make lots of them. They need a good trim yet and we still have many more to make.

I started to make something with a shark on for Little L but I haven't quite finished that yet as I need to use a staple gun. My hands can't do it so I have to rope Anders in to help me with things like that.

I've sewn some small toys in to waterproof packets to leave in containers when we go Geocaching.

I had an odd request this week from a friend asking me if I could make a corset for a hat. It was to dress it up steampunk style. Having never made a corset before I had a go but the only object that I could find in our house with a similar shape was a plant pot. I never thought I'd be doing that when I woke up that day.

Granny Square Baby Blanket

For the past couple of days I've been working on this baby blanket for one of my friends.

 It is a simple granny square edged in lemon with double layered flowers added to each corner. I used two 100g balls of white DK wool and roughly 60g of lemon DK wool. The blanket measures approximately 34in x 34in.

Crochet Cover

This week I crocheted a simple slip on cover for one of the small stools that we have here. 

They were at my Grans house for years and when I was young I remember them being covered in a fine needlecord fabric, forest green with a ditsy flowers. When I was little my feet could not touch the ground when I sat on them so I used to drag them to one of the living room walls, scuffle my bottom on and lean on the wall. My Dad told me that my Grandparents acquired them when a pub up the road was being refurbished and he always remembers them being there so I don't know how old they are.

My Gran passed them on to my Mum who owned them for a few years then they were passed to me. During my Mum's ownership she reupholstered one of them.

 My Gran made the tapestry cover on the other sometime during the 80's and it badly wants sorting out but I'm not sure what fabric to use yet. 

This is why I wanted to make a cover, just to make it look a bit prettier for the time being (not that I will be seen as my husband uses it to dump his clothes on)

Anders offered to sand and stain the legs but I kind of like them looking battered and worn, they have always looked this way to me.

I crocheted the cover using two strands of DK wool and a 6mm hook. The pattern I used was this one from Dottie Angel's site.