Crochet Blanket Challenge update week 19

Hello there, thank goodness we have arrived at the weekend!  Although in the UK it was a shorter working week thanks to the Bank Holiday last Monday, in fact it felt like a long week - revision and course work going full throttle here at home, and work for DH and I was absolutely hectic.

The last few weeks in fact have been very, very busy, but I have still managed to sneak in some crochet time here and there.  My regular Monday evenings with my dearest friend Sue means that I know I have at least a couple of hours each week to get out the hooks and the yarn as we chat and sip coffee. 

This morning the sun shone for a little while, so quickly snapped a photo of my last few weeks of granny square making:

I now have a total of 56 squares (well actually there is 64 but I have decided not to include the pink ones into the final blanket - these will be used in another project instead).  So most weeks I have managed to make more than one square (we are now into week 19).  My daughter helped me to arrange all the squares on the living room carpet this morning, silly me though forgot to snap a photo.  80 squares will make a very decent sized blanket, especially when there will be several rows of border. 

In amongst the grannies I have also been working on vintage-style pot holders as in this post, here is work in progress on my most recent effort:

I have also been making a little bit of progress with my Couch25K challenge.  This is the start of my third week, DH and I adjusted the programme slightly to start with due to our age and general unfitness!  So this week is the first week of the programme "proper" whereby we alternate one minute of jogging with 90 seconds of brisk walking.  The programme advises a total of 30 minutes for this, but we usually do 40 minutes as we do a complete lap of our local Outwoods.  This week I did the programme along the paths of our local estate midweek, but this really hurt my knees as my trainers are designed for trail running - I really hadn't anticipated how much difference jogging on a hard surface would make.  In the Outwoods the paths are made from decades of packed-down leaves and pine needles so in fact is quite springy.  I must say though, dodgy knees notwithstanding, I am beginning to feel the benefit of this new regime.  And, against my better nature, I am actually enjoying it!!!!

Well, must away, hope you all have a wonderful Saturday!

Helenxx

Springtime Potholder

Good morning...and isn't it wonderful to have a Bank Holiday Weekend!!!  Such a treat, and so, so needed.

I thought I would share a photo of a crochet potholder that I made a few weeks ago for one of my sisters-in-law. 

The pattern was from Simply Crochet Magazine.  The yarn is 100% acrylic so nice and easy to wash.  But my sister-in-law says that it is too pretty to use and she is going to hang it up in her kitchen as a decoration!!

It is in fact really functional in that the crochet "fabric" is nice and thick and would really protect your hands when lifting hot pots off the stove.  I loved making it as it was a great portable project to have nearby for those spare 5 minutes here and there.

I'm hoping to make some more soon when time permits...

In the meantime I'm hoping for a bit of decent weather later so that I can potter about in the garden!

Have a lovely weekend, Helenxx

Crochet therapy

Recently it has been beyond hectic at work, thank goodness for the the calming properties of crochet!  These are some of the charming little things that have been helping me out as a stress busting strategy...

 Pot holder - pattern is taken from a recent crochet and knitting craft magazine, together with an different border.  I have backed it with felt to protect the user's hands.

 Another one, all of these are made with the wool samples given away as freebies with various craft magazines, the quality is ideal for this type of project.  I know some folks also use these as dish cloths, but I think I would cringe every time I scrubbed a dirty dish with them!  Far prefer to have them hanging on a hook near the cooker, decorative and functional - just the way things should be in my humble opinion!

A little flower brooch, in lovely summery colours.  My daughter has her eye on this one....

I have so loved making these, they dont take too long but I was quite pleased with the results.  I have been making other things too but cant show them yet (as they are for the swaps Im involved with at the mo!!  Shhhhh!!)  and have started another bigger crochet project which will be revealed soon!

Have a lovely day, whatever it is you get up to!!

Helenxx