Garden Granny Blanket. . .

Hello dears !

I can finally show off my new blanket, 

which I have called Garden Blanket, because of the flower motifs. 

I started this blanket ramdonly and not knowing 

what I wanted it to be. Well, that is not true. 

I knew exactly the idea I wanted for this blanket, 

I just could not picture it, but I knew what I wanted. 

One thing is sure, I kind of wanted to make a Cath Kidston inspired blanket. . . .and I'm not sure if I achieved my goal. . . and to be honest I could not care less now because I just love the result !! 

This blanket is a gift to a very special baby. . . .(but tell me, is there any baby in the world that is not special ??) 

I mean special because she is my cousin's daughter. 

This cousin has been very special to me throughout my childhood, but about 15 years ago we kind or grew apart. As it happens in many families, there were some family problems. . . at the same time I moved abroad and we lost contact. . . 

We have met again in February and it was an extraordinary day full of emotions and memories. 

I made this blanket mainly with my yarn stash. . . from the yarn I used to make this blanket I made for my daughter. It is a 50% acrylic 50% wool yarn. I buy it locally and a couple of skeins of some colours left. . . I started using green first. . . . instead of the baby blue...

Then the shade of green was just not right, I thought. 

I also bought red and turquoise to give it a boost of colour. . . 

For the border I did a single crochet round in white. Then I used the 2 first rounds of border #120 from the Crochet Borders by Edie Eckman book. 

And to finish off I continued with border #105 from the same book. 

The final round of the border was done in red as I think it kind of frames the blanket and finishes it off. 

Blankets have a lot of history in them. . . I made this one while dealing with a lot (more than I bargained for. . . ) family emotions, good and bad. . . I also made it while traveling to different places for work, pleasure.... and also and mainly watching a fabulous tv series called Gran Hotel (Spanish production) which I have loved !! 

I also made this blanket in a record time (for me). . . 

I started it in February and it was finished on April 5th 2015, 

so about 2 months. . . . wow !!! I'm amazed !! 

I never thought I could make a blanket in 2 months ?!?! 

Now I suppose you want the details ?? 

It is made with Solid Granny Squares (this is a very simple pattern, that can be easily found in Google or any pattern site like Rarely) 

The flower motifs are the Waterlily square from the 200 Crochet blocks by Jan Eaton. 

It has 29 solid squares and 11 waterlily squares. 

It measures: 29' x 45' aprox (74cm x 114cm)

It weights: 438 gr

This means over 6 skeins of 50gr balls (200 cm per skein) = 1,752 metres of yarn !!

And now I leave you with some more pictures to enjoy !! 
I hope to write again soon. . . and be more regular on this little blog of mine. 

Take Care for now, 

xEva 

Makes in crochet & Circular Knitting

Hello all ! 

My, my ! it has been a long time . . . 

Thank you all for waiting for me. 

It is about time I show you some of the things I have been up to these 2 months. 

First, I managed to finish my daughter's

Creative Blog Hop

I have been quite relax about my blog lately and one of the reasons is time lacking and another 

is also probably I am still with that urge to knit and crochet more than using my computer for anything apart from work. 

What has got me to my computer and blog today ?? 

A Blog Hop invitation by lovely Elizabeth from Elizyart Blog. 

I think Elizabeth and I both started our blog around the same time and we have been in regular contact since them. . .and we both live in Madrid (Spain) !! She has created some lovely things and made gorgeous crochet shawls !! If you have not visited her blog please do so now and enjoy some lovely crochet !!

Now, I have to answer 4 questions, here we go !!: 

Question #1: What are you working on at the moment?

I'm always working on several things: this pictures below are solid grannies. 

Woolly DMC Baby Blues Blanket . . .

Did you all have a nice weekend ? 

I did . . .I was in Ireland as I told you in my last post but I have not had the time yet to organise the pictures to show you. . . so that will be another post. 

Before leaving for Ireland I finished this blanket I started back in December I think. 

Habéis tenido un buen fin de semana ?

Yo si . . .estuve en Irlanda como os conté en mi ultima entrada pero aun no he tenido tiempo de organizar las fotos para enseñaroslas. . . así que será para otra entrada. 

Antes de irme termine esta manta que había empezado en Diciembre, creo. 

New WIP and other finished projects: Swishy Scarf and new hat for my daughter // Nuevo Projecto en curso y otros terminados: Bufanda Swishy y nuevo gorrito para mi hija

Hello !!

How are the celebrations going so far ?

We are now in France where we will celebrate the New Year and I'm getting a lot of hook time and so I did not manage to finish my daughter's hat at home but I made it here in 1 hour flat ! 

Here is the end result. 

As I mentioned in Instagram I did not follow any pattern for the hat or flower but if a few of you want the pattern I will write it.
It is really just a simple hat pattern and the flower I made it up as I went too. . . 

Hola !!
Como van las celebraciones ?
Nosotros estamos en Francia donde celebraremos la NocheVieja con la familia de mi marido y la verdad es que estoy teniendo muchísimo tiempo para hacer ganchillo. 
No pude terminar el nuevo gorrito de mi hija en casa (allí siempre tengo mucho mas que hacer) pero en cuanto llegue a casa de mis suegros lo hice en 1 hora !!
Aqui tenéis el resultado. 
Como mencione en Instagram, no he seguido ningún patrón para el gorrito o la flor pero si unas cuantas me lo pedis pues escribiré el patron. 
Realmente es un patron simple de gorrito, y la flor me la fui inventando segun la iba haciendo tambien. . . 

 This is the Swishy Scarf like mine, but in lilac and shorter, for my daughter too.

Esta es la Bufanda Swishy, como la mia, pero en lila y mas corta, para mi hija. 

This is my new WIP. I'm making this blanket again but this time in 100% Merino Wool, and this time it will be given as a gift for a baby that will be born any minute now (my cousin's wife is due in January). 

Este es mi nuevo proyecto. Estoy haciendo esta manta de nuevo pero esta vez en Lana Merino 100%, y esta vez será un regalo para un bebe que va a nacer en cualquier momento (la mujer de mi primo sale de cuentas en Enero)

 and this is something lots of you are waiting for. . .

y esto es algo que muchas estáis esperando . . . 

I'm writing the pattern for the cable mittens, and for that I'm making myself new ones in a gorgeous aubergine colour. 

All the yarn in this post is Woolly DMC , extra soft merino 100% . . . I'm testing this yarn at the moment. 

I will tell you more about it in the new year. . .

In a couple of days I will post also my year end review, don't miss it !

I'm enjoying the holidays, hope you are enjoying the days too !

Estoy escribiendo el patron para los mitones a punto de cable y para ello me estoy haciendo unos nuevos en un precioso color berenjena. 

Toda la lana que habéis visto en esta entrada es Woolly DMC, 100% merino extra suave . . . estoy probando esta lana con todos estos proyectos. 
Os contare mas en el nuevo año . . . 

En unos dias haré una entrada con un resumen del año, no os lo perdáis !

Estoy disfrutando mucho de las vacaciones,  espero que vosotras estéis disfrutando de estos días también !

♥♥♥ Eva ♥♥♥

Stash Busting: Cotton Finished Blanket and another WIP

Hello !

I hope you are having a good week so far. 

It has been great reading all those posts around in blogland about Yarndale. 

I am so glad to have contributed with some buntings !! 

Now it is finally time to show you my son's blanket. I have been working on this project during August and September. I told you about it here and here I told you about buying all the yarns for it. 

This time I have used Paris Drops which are 100% cotton. I had never crocheted this type of cotton yarn before and thought it would be stiffer to work with but it has been ok, and once you get used to it it's actually fine. 

The colours I have used are: (you can see full colour chart here)

16 - White

30 - Denim Blue

48 - Petrol

29 - light ice blue

The squares are all solid granny squares which I had wanted to make for sometime...

As border I just made it up, very simple. 

First round: all single crochet (US) , double crochet (UK)

Second Round: all double crochet (US) , triple crochet (UK)

Forth Round: all single crochet (US), double crochet (UK)

In each round I did 3 stitches at the corner stitch. 

 To join the squares I used the single crochet (US) (double in UK) at the back loop which gives a lovely ridged edge that is decorative at the same time. 

The blanket has still to be washed and blocked but I am happy with the result. 

 I still have to make my daughter's Paris Drops cotton blanket but have not decided on the pattern as yet...

But at this moment I am working on another WIP which I will give you a peek of:

 Have a lovely day !

x Eva 

Maginspiration #2

Hello all !!

I come back again with more inspiration found in old magazines. 

We are still renovating the basement and so we are still spending time looking for ideas, inspiration, buying materials, etc. 

I am making progress in my little boy blanket but as I had nearly finished last night I was not completely happy with the way I was joining the squares and so I pulled the thread and I'm starting to join them again with a different method. 

It is not something I'm enjoying as there has been a lot of testing, making and unmaking on this blanket but it is part of the learning curve and this way I will know which is the method of joining solid grannies I like the most. 

I will share the result and method used with you once is finished and ready to show. 

Now back to inspiration . . .found in Country Homes & Interiors - November 2008

A quilt above and there is also what looks as a lovely crochet throw (first picture above)

And another quilt in lovely blues and greys. . . so romantic . . . 

And some more found at Ideal Home - December 2010

Lovely grannys blanket . . .

And knitted cushions . . .lovely !

Hope you find these inspiring too . . .

Have a lovely week !

xEva 

Magazine Inspiration #1

Hello all ! How is you Autumn going so far ? 

I am working on this WIP , I'm also making the border and finishing off this blanket, and I am also modifying this shawl as I wanted it wider and with more wrap around, mad I know, but I'm just like that. 

I was not completely happy with it and so I decided to modify the pattern and make it wider. 

In the meanwhile, at home we are going to work on the basement and renovate it and so I digged out my magazine collection looking for wood burning stoves and some interior inspiration and found lots of inspiration that I want to share with you all. 

In this Country Homes and Interiors - November 2010 issue I found:

(this lovely granny squares blanket)

(again...grannies on a towel)

(a scraps blanket, I'm sure we can all make this with fabric scraps and a crochet hook.

And did you spot a couple of lovely quilts and cushion on the left ?? )

And . . . these lovely 5 projects to knit. . . now. . .I only know basic knitting skills so this is something I already have on my list to learn. 

What are you making ??

Have a lovely day and week ahead !!

xEva 

Holiday Stash Busting and new WIP . . .

Hello !!

I'm back from holidays, well actually I was back just last week but a lot of organising after we came back around the house.

I was here, in Nerja, a little Andalusian town in Malaga, we love this place as it is really not crowded, the hotel is very family orientated and family friendly and the place has its old world charm. The town has kept its real andalusian and Spanish feel to it.

Before I left I managed to finish and send the bunting for Yarndale that I mentioned here

During my holidays I started a new WIP, another blanket for my little son Marc, with Drops Paris I bought and told you about it here

 I am doing solid granny squares in the 3 different shades of blue and then a white border, I wanted this blanket to be simple, and I am using a hook size 5 for it.

And during my holidays I bought a basket, perfect to keep my yarn stash, and it seems my yarn stash is not as sad as I thought !! I filled the basket and I still have a full bag of Drops Paris from the offer I bought.

I have to say I was a little wary at the thought of using 100% cotton yarn as I had read that it could be a little stiff, but it has turned out to be really nice to work with and not stiff at all. I'm loving it !!

And now this is my stash basket, do you like it ??

And just if I thought I did not have enough yarn, I bought this offer, just for the free yarn !!
all for 1.99 Euros

Have a wonderful weekend !!

xEva