"I've got a present for you!"

...said the postman this morning.  Oh boy, oh boy!!  A ma-HOO-sive parcel!  With my name on it!!  I'm a fan of this postman - he can clearly recognise a brilliant bit of mail when he sees it...

That's 4130 metres of Stylecraft Special goodness!  I ordered from the lovely folks at Masons a couple of days ago (and ssshh, don't tell anyone I told you, but they have some really amazing offers and discounts this month ;))  Scrumdiddlyumptious!

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Top Row

*1425 Emperor

*1316 Spring Green

*1082 Bluebell

Second Row
*1435 Bright Pink
*1084 Magenta
*1422 Aspen

*1020 Lemon

Third Row
*1068 Turquise
*1390 Clematis
*1061 Plum

*1246 Lipstick

Bottom Row

*1023 Raspberry

*1081 Saffron

*1065 Meadow

I have PLANS for all this loveliness.  Perhaps a babette, perhaps something like a babette but not quite...  Hmm...  When I say "PLANS", I clearly mean it in the plural!

***

Aaaaand, today I'm happy not just because I received a present, but also because I get to give one too!  And guess what?  It's for YOU!  :D

Here's a sneaky little preview of my new granny square!  I'm off to write up the pattern now, and will share in a new post later today   You can now find the pattern here :)

Much love,

Kim

Blank Canvas

It's another gloomy grey day out in North Wales...  luckily I have my orchid to cheer things up.  Those pink freckles are just so happy-making!

...another thing to be happy about: the granny stripe leftovers have been organised into complementary palettes as above, and been assigned to Specific Projects....

...which is where the blank canvas comes in.  I bought this pillow a few weeks ago in Lidl for just a couple of quid, and have been itching to work on a cover for it ever since.  The Rico and Patons leftovers seem like the ideal choice - I'll have a pillow that compliments, but doesn't match, my granny stripe.  Perfect! :)

And the extra exciting thing about this project is that I've written a new pattern especially to suit the yarn and the squareness of the pillow.  There are just a couple of tweaks to make, and if all goes well with this project, the pattern will be ready to share with you all!  :D

In other news, I'm now well underway with preparations for Blog Week.  This is my first time participating, but I'm very much looking forward to it.  If you'd like more info about what happens in blog week, and how to get involved, you can click on the little poster at the top of this page.

Anyhow, enough waffle from me, time to get back to some hooking!

Kim x

Potty Potter / Cable & Lace

Having spent so much time crocheting recently, I'd forgotten what a peculiar thing casting off knitting is.  It has a finality that isn't really matched for me when crocheting, and it can evoke so many feelings.  A sense of achievement is almost always at the top of the list, but there are many other things too: relief, sadness, joy and so on.  This hat has something of all those emotions woven in along with the yarn...

The pattern is the wonderful Hermione Hearts Ron by Christy Aylesworth.  Christy has done a really amazing job at recreating the hat featured in one of the Harry Potter films.  I'm pretty sure that even none Potty Potter fans would enjoy knitting this.

Unfortunately I had some issues with the last few rounds...  I miss-read one of the rows, and then I think picked up one too many stitches in the tink.  I don't think it's too noticeable though (fingers crossed no other knitters pay too much attention while I'm wearing it!)

You can find my Ravelry page for this project here.  I named it Lovecats in tribute to this song, which was stuck in my head for the duration:

And there we go!  That is (I think) the first bit of knitting to feature within the pages of this blog!  I hope you like it as much as I do :)

Much love,
Kim

Pretty Little Petals [Free Pattern]

Strictly speaking, this post was intended to be the "Part Two" section of the Granny Oblong saga.  Except that I went on a frogging spree, and now the whole thing is sitting in the "in progress" box (which has a lid, so I don't have to look at them for a while! :P)

But since you were promised a pattern, and since this is called "eggbirddesigns" not "eggbirdthefrog", a pattern ye shall receive!!  I hope you like it :)

Pretty Little Petals

ETA:  You can now link to this pattern on ravelry here

Notes

sp - space

sl st - slip stitch

sc - single crochet

dc - double crochet

ch - chain

The pattern is written in American terms, however if you prefer UK terms there is a fab 'translator' here.  I used an assortment of DK weight and light DK yarn and a 3mm hook.

To Begin: create a magic loop (if you're unsure how to do this, click here).  Work 6sc into this loop and pull tight.  Join with a sl st into the first sc [6 sts total]

Round 1: Ch1, 2sc into each space around.  Join with a sl st into the first ch1.  [12 sts total]

Round 2: Ch1, *2sc in next sp, 1sc in next sp* - repeat between * 6 times [18 sts total]

Round 3: Change colour.  In new colour ch1, 1sc in each sp around [18 sts total]

Round 4: Ch3 (counts as first dc), 5dc in the same space.  Sl st into the next two sps.  *6dc in the next sp, 1sl st in the next 2 sps* - repeat between * 4 more times.  Join with a sl st into the initial ch3.

Round 5: Ch1, *sc around the petals (ie into the 6dc from the previous round), and sl st into the second of the sl sts from the previous round* - repeat between * 5 more times.

To finish, just sew in your ends, and hurrah!  Teensy little flowers to enjoy.

I'm not sure what I'll be using these for yet.  Perhaps I'll get round to working out those oblongs, or perhaps I'll put them to some other use...  Either way, I look forward to seeing how you guys interpret them :)

*This is the flower that originally sat at the centre of the blocks.  As far as I'm aware, this pattern is an entirely new one.  However, it is a pretty basic pattern, so there's every chance that someone else has already created the same.  If you think this might be the case please let me know and I can give proper credit where it's due.

Granny Oblong: Part One

You might remember that last night, I posted about having lots of ideas fluttering around my brain... well this afternoon I sat down and set about bringing a few of them to life.  What happened is perhaps best described as "unexpected"... I'll let the pictures do most of the talking:

Close, but no cigar...

Now we're getting somewhere!

Where've the petals got to?  ...Ribbit ribbit!

Ooh, I'm liking the cut of your jib!

An oblong, eh?  Fair enough.

A granny oblong!  Where did that come from?!  It needs a bit of neatening up, and a bit more tinkering, but hopefully I'll be back sometime next week with a fully written up pattern to share, and maybe even a completed cushion cover. 

What d'you think?  Be gentle with me - it's my first design! ;)

Much love, Kim x

Grannies, Tulips & Butterflies

I'll admit that granny was having a bit of a snooze (no progress for more than a week!!), but as soon as I re-started, I was - as they say - hooked all over again.  ;)

It's currently 41 stripes long (82 rows!  Golly gosh), and only something like 19 stripes to go before it's border time!  Oooh, it makes me soooo happy happy happy :D

But, happiest of all is that the granny-bug has bitten not one, but TWO of my housemates!  Both came and requested I teach them the basics so they could start on granny stripes of their own.  I'll have to ask their permission to take photos, but they're both looking lovely.  Only one more housemate to convert *ahem* inspire...

***

Tulips are without doubt one of my favourite flowers.  These turned up on Valentines Day, during our anti-anti-valentines/embrace-your-singledom celebrations.  I expect that they'll show up in a few doodles later when I get round to scribbling down some ideas.

The trouble is that there are just so many ideas fluttering around my brain like little butterflies at the moment.  That's how my art teacher used to describe my thinking: "a butterfly mind". 

It's not a terrible thing in and of itself.  If anything, it makes me happy because at my lowest points my imagination disappeared completely and that was a terrifying thing to feel.  But having so many thoughts; images; colours; strands of sound at one time, it becomes exactly like trying to catch a cloud of butterflies: they don't want to be stuck down and tamed.

I hope it doesn't sound like I'm complaining though.  I try to embrace these periods - they make me feel well again :)

Baby Rico's Granny

A surly postman knocked on the door this morn and handed me a parcel. I had a little squish of the bag and giggled. The surly postman got back into his van, mumbling. I giggled again. The Rico Baby is here!!

Admittedly, some Patons Diploma Gold and some Sidar Snuggly have snuck their way into that picture.  That's because I got overexcited about starting my granny stripe, and just had to do something.  Pretty sure you all know the feeling... 

(Although I would like to say that this time the urge to start wasn't even my fault.  It was Lucy's ...  Her blog is full to the brim with inspiration.  Look here at her granny stripe - how could I possibly resist?!)

And so, while I was ever so patiently waiting for my "main" yarn to arrive, I did a teensy, tiny, ever-so-small, little bit of hooking with the Patons, and here is what I have to show for it:

I love it already.  And the best part is that the shop I ordered from had run out of a couple of colours so there's even more on their way!  What a brilliant start to the day!  :D