Relaxation crochet, and corner makeover...

So this week has been a lot more relaxed and not so dominated by work. Had more time to rest and for me and my little hook... Oh and I finally got round to getting a haircut, which was months overdue!
We did partake in pancake day, well it has to be done, doesn't it!

We have also been trying to focus some of our attentions on the house.
This week we decided to change the pc corner.

Since having a laptop we rarely use this area, it's become a bit redundant. So we searched for a new unit, and I came across one in our local heart foundation store. We compared it to others in furniture stores but all other entertainment units were too low. This was a perfect size and actually matched some of our other furniture.

This enabled hubby to bring his stereo unit out of the garage. Once we are able to connect our laptop to the printer, which means finding a disk buried in the depths of the garage, we will be able to get rid of the monitor and keyboard. I'm really pleased with our find and how it looks, but the area does look a bit techy for my liking, not enough pretty things on it, but for now I can live with it..

I've had some little jars tucked away for awhile, and as hubby likes to carry less and less change with him, i thought they needed to turn into penny jars.

But we couldn't just have plain glass jars, and coins to look at, these needed a colour makeover...

Aaaah, now thats better, now its a pretty, cosy, colour corner...

I gave myself time off from joining my mini squares cushion, to relieve the boredom, but I did get plenty of it done, honest!!

 Why is it when you have to focus on finishing something off, is the time when that you think of so many new projects that you'd like to start...

So my mood square this week is made up from a multi-toned lilac yarn, for my lovely relaxation sessions, with a contrasting turquoise for working on our homely tasks.

This one will need blocking before it gets attached, as for some reason its a bit tight, and doesn't lay as flat as the others.

Hooray for sunshine this week, what a refreshing change. Although i'm sure there must be some nasty, evil snow lurking somewhere in the future, i'm happy to take the spring feeling...

PS... I've just spotted that this is my 100th blog post... how exciting!!

Blues squares...

This week has been a bit of a come down after our week away! Although it was lovely to get away, it wasn't exactly a rest, with getting up early for breakfast, and pounding the streets all day to pack in as much as we could. So this week we have felt exhausted! Its been a long week at work with extra hours. with meetings and stock take. At the start of the week I felt I was coming down with a cold, but it never quite established, thank goodness, just another sign of tiredness...
On the plus we have had a break from the rain, and the sun actually put in an appearance, it actually felt like spring was in the air for a couple of days, what a relief!

So this weeks mood square, is a mix of blues. Not that I was exactly sad, but with tiredness and feeling under the weather, and frustration, it just seems to sum it up nicely...

 

Now that two months have gone, already, I thought I would make a start with joining the squares together.

 

 

I'm really pleased with how this is looking, makes such a difference seeing them together, rather than individual squares.

 

As I've got a rare two days off in a row next week, I'm hoping to make headway with my mini squares cushion, as I'd really like to get it completed.

 

Short but sweet this week, but I hope to have some more crafty pictures for viewing next week...

Oxford mini-break...

So last week I didn't get the chance to do my usual post. Why? Because I was having Christmas no II.
We had to cancel my Mums visit with everything that happened over the original season. It felt weird exchanging presents in February but lovely to spend time catching up together.

We decided last week, as we had a few days booked off work, that we would go away for a mini break. We both felt that the break away to somewhere new would be beneficial. 

We chose Oxford, as it was affordable and accessible by train and for once we chose to head north-bound.

We stayed in a lovely B+B, which was just out of town. It was just opposite the Thames, and if our trip had been booked the previous week, the road was completely flooded. Luckily for  us the weather stayed reasonably fine.

On arrival, we strolled around the high streets and shopping malls, and picked up plenty of  leaflets to plan places to go.

With our organising done over lunch, we walked the lanes and headed to the museums.

We chose the Natural History museum as our destination, and despite it being very busy due to it being half-term week, we enjoyed our afternoon pouring over the artefacts

bones, and animals

The following day, our first stopping point was the castle. This used to be a gaol and we had a fantastic guide (each guide dressed as a character from the castles history) we had a gypsy who had been a prisoner and had managed to escape twice. She was full of stories and had a great interaction with the group.

After a hot-chocolate break, we headed towards the Carfax tower, this gave us a view over Oxford. We were glutton for punishment, as we'd already walked up 100+ steps in the castle, and now we had another 100+ to tackle.

Then it was a trip up to the Alice shop before having a bite to eat.

As the sun gave a rare appearance we took a stroll to the poor over-flowing river

and around the college exteriors

We rounded up the day with a lovely meal and a colourful round of drinks...

We thoroughly enjoyed our little trip, although we felt quite exhausted from our long active days, but we would recommend anyone to drop into the city. 

So for last weeks mood square...

I chose Red = valentines, Blue = tiredness, and lilac for relaxed at home...

And this weeks mood square

Red = Christmas (and cherry sour shots ;-) ), Yellow = Adventure and exploring, Pink = Happy and together, and Lilac = relaxed

I've been forcing myself to continue with my mini squares cushion, but I was falling a bit out of love with it, as I was finding the joining/edging so tedious to do!, and was eager to start something new. I was happy to reach the completion of the front, but felt downcast that I had to start all over again with the back. But with the experience i'd gained from the first joins, I found my progress to be much quicker, so there may be light at the end of the tunnel yet!

mini square joining...

So this weeks mood square is completed. Not a very exciting week. Work has been slow, plus had a meeting in Basingstoke, a shopping centre that I really do like, so I needed no excuse to pop in to Zaras and Wilkinsons. So ive used a neutral cream. Home has been quite relaxed, so I made a lilac centre, but feeling tired and not sleeping too well, so added a touch of blue...

I have managed to complete the horizontal joins on my mini square cushion

Once my little coloured squares are completed, I double crochet across the full width of the squares, adding a chain stitch in between each square.
Then to join, I put two strips together, right side facing, and double crochet the two white strips together...

This is the back of the squares, you can see the ridge going along...

Now i've got to figure out the vertical lines

I think it may be a little fiddly but i'm looking forward to seeing it completed...

With Valentines fast approaching, hopefully i'm in for a fairly busy week at work, and ive always got my squares to come back to, to help me relax...

January squares....

This weeks mood blanket square is made of two different colours. Firstly the pink, as things had settled at home, finances were getting sorted, and despite being a bit cluttered and surrounded by stuff, we had made a start working through the boxes.

The second ball used was a multi-toned yarn, predominantly green, but with some yellow and cream too. This summed up work, which is pretty quiet, but still managing to bring stress and frustration

I like how the squares are all turning out so completely different

And already a whole month has gone by!

I haven't had much chance to work on my mini squares, as i've not managed to have much free time

But I did begin the joining process, and have worked the first two strips together

Am hoping to be able to have a lot more of the front joined by next time

so until then....

Remembrance and learnings...

Thank you for all your kind words last week.
It has been quite a heavily emotional week. We have had a positive step forward with the finances, and the house clearing did finally come to an end, although that was a heavy emotional pull for hubby to say goodbye to the family home. Final plans came together and Friday was the day of the funeral, and thankfully the rain held off. The day went smoothly and it was a good turn-out. We certainly felt very drained after such a long day, with the journey, the poignant service, and socialising with family at the wake.

We had booked the weekend off, and this was set aside purely to shut ourselves away from the world, to rest and spend some much needed time together.

There was no decision to be made for the colour of my mood square this week, it had to be purple. This was Tisha's favourite colour and the main shade at the funeral.

A bit of sparkle mixed with the plain. This shows the mix of mood and personality.

This is how the first four weeks of my mood blanket are looking. Just hoping now that the colours can start to get a little lighter and brighter as the weeks progress.

My mini crochet squares are still travelling round with me, and the pile is growing...

Back at home the joining process has started. I was unsure what I was doing, and it's been a bit trial and error. I tried to combine the edging and joining together but i didn't like the ridge showing on the front and i felt the crossover joins were a bit hit and miss and were turning out too lumpy.

So I unravelled, and this time i'm doing all the horizontal edging first, before joining.

I''m still learning as I go, but hopefully I can manage okay when I come to do the verticals. Only time will tell.

January blues & a crochet mood blanket

I haven't managed to be around blogland for quite a while as its been quite a traumatic month. Working in retail in December is usually pretty hectic anyway, but on top of that my mother-in-law was taken to hospital, and this time she didn't make it, and we lost her in the early hours of Christmas eve. Christmas passed in a blur and then husband travelled to her home to start the mammoth task of sorting her belongings and it took over 2 weeks of being away from the comfort of home. It has been a massive task, and through anger, frustration, tears, exhaustion and seemingly being up against the odds we are getting there.  We did stop for a brief glass of wine at new year but January so far has been a bit bleak, but hopefully we will break through it soon.

I have managed a little crochet this month, to help me relax.
Firstly, on instagram the lovely @frofunky arranged at the start of the year a crochet-a-long mood blanket project. I think it has taken off to be much bigger than she ever expected. Now I have never made a blanket before, purely because as its such a large project I couldn't see how I would fit it in to my busy schedule, and I have a tendancy to get bored very quickly, so I couldn't see me making endless repeats. I have seen other projects before which have tempted me, but I knew that i'd never manage it. This project was different as it offered two options, either to crochet a square a day for the year or a square a week. Now a square a week, that made me take notice, surely even I could manage that, and get to have a completed blanket at the end of it. Also what makes this one different is there's no planning, no deciding on a colour pallet, just choose a colour or pattern to define your mood.
For my first square I chose blue, and a basic granny square pattern.

It had been a hard week and was not really in a happy state. I had in the back of my mind, yes I guess I did actually try to plan this, I would stick to the same pattern, choose a different colour each week and join with white. But after looking at all the lovely pictures of peoples mood squares daily, it hit me that as someone who loves colour and texture, did I really want to have such a basic blanket.
My second square was an experiment.

I had wanted to try popcorn stitch for awhile, so after watching some youtube videos I gave it a try, and I carried on working a square around it.

I'm very pleased with how this turned out. So the next technique that I need to learn is joining the squares as I go. I gave it a go, but I had the ridge showing on the front, which i'm not too sure that i like.

As its my first blanket I want to have an end product that i'm happy with. So its back to the drawing board and some more research, and I think I will unpick it and try another way.
I'm very excited to do this project in many aspects. Firstly its going to be a learning curve, trying different techniques, plus its a test of endurance to keep a project going for so long. Also as i'm inheriting my mother-in-laws yarn stash,

this enables me to start using some of the quantities up, but what is so lovely is not only will this be a mood blanket but this will also be a memory blanket....

Another project i'm also doing is made up of mini granny squares.

A nice small, quick and compact project that i've been able to do on the train or at lunchtimes at work.

I found some balls of multi-coloured yarn that I couldn't wait to use to see how they worked up.

These little squares have been flying off my hook, and i'm trying to be good and get the ends sewn in as I go,
plus once I find a technique i'm happy with I will get on with joining them together. This I will be turning into a cushion.
Next week I will update on my my mini cushion squares and show my next mood colour square...