Omgosh so hot!!

I know I can’t be the only crocheter/knitter struggling with the sudden influx of summer weather and wanting nothing more to sit in the garden with a cold drink and crochet in the sun?

If anyone’s like me I need the extra serotonin and for the first time since we went on holiday 2 years ago I have a tan and I didn’t realise how much having a bit of colour made me feel a bit better about myself! To the ‘extreme’ of I brought myself a new mascara yesterday, the last time I brought myself a new mascara was definitely before little h was a dot! (So at least 2009!)

However I’m really struggling to actually sit with yarn and hook, especially as my request list is mostly blankets at the moment with a couple of amigarumi.
Even my beloved knit pro symfonie hooks I just can’t use right now, and acrylic yarn or well almost any yarn I just can’t use!

So I’ve gone on a cotton frenzy! Only 2 of my blanket requests are cotton so they’ve been getting lots of attention. The first is my Attic24 granny stripe which you’ve seen before but I love it. That sirdar snuggly baby cotton dk is a dream to work with. It will be perfect for its new home in dubai!

To look at it doesn’t look like it’s grown much but it’s actually quite wide so it takes me longer to get back and forth so the half an hour I might get with it in the garden randomly doesn’t really make a huge impact but when I take a picture and its been awhile since I did I can see that it definitely is growing…

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I was asked to make it single bed size so the little lady it is for can keep it forever, however I always do my foundation chain with a couple of extra inches so that it is big enough that when you lay it on a bed it drapes down the side. The blanket is now probably coming up to the halfway mark. So the excitement if it being nearly finished will kick in soon!! :D

The other cotton blanket is for one of my friends whose brother is having a baby so he thought of me as a way to get a special present. It’s a smaller blanket more cot size so it’s worked up really quickly, and because it doesn’t have colour changes like the granny stripe it is my “quick I’ve got 5 minutes to sit in the garden whilst the boys are playing” blanket so it has had a lot of those random moments over the last week, to the point of I’m on the first round of the border now.

It’s made with Rico fashion iro (from the wool loft) in the lobster colour (I amy have just made up that it’s called lobster but you’ll see why I think that’s what it’s called) and it’s in my baby blue blanket pattern.

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^in the sunshine.

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^laid out for a progress picture

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^border time!!!

It’s such a simple little pattern to whip up and people on the facebook page have complimented it a lot!

Oh, before I forget I wanted to show you what my best friend (& soul mate) got me for my birthday…

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It’s absolutely beautiful and the little charm on it reads sisterhood but I can’t get a pretty picture of it so I decided to get a picture of the swan sparkling in the sunshine. I love it so much!

Right I best go and do mama/housewife things whilst little h is at nursery and mj naps!

♡ Mrs. B x

No crochet!!

Hi!!
So it’s been a hectic week in the crazycrochetmama household and I haven’t managed any crochet at all!

On Tuesday we went to see the amazing Robbie Williams at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester. It was myself, my friend Sam (or Spamantha!) My mum, and her friend Helen. They dropped us off at the stadium at about 2.30pm and they went to check in at the hotel. Sam and I were going to go for a wander and see if we could find asda which was meant to be nearby,  but after walking for a bit we realised that the ques were getting bigger the further around we got and had spotted an entrance that absolutely no one had qued for. So being cheeky enough to ask we found a member of staff and checked if we could que there, and were told that we could!!! Front of the que! Thinking that lots of other people would follow us… only 2 people did!! We got chatting and decided between the 4 of us we should stick together to try and get a good spot.
We were then told about “the golden circle” which was the first 4000 people in got into the bit by the stage!!
The doors opened at 5pm and all of the stewards were shouting at everyone not to run, but it was Robbie!! So we ran the full length of the pitch and only had about 3 people infront of us. I can’t believe the luck, it was meant to be!!!
I didn’t take many pictures because I was so busy singing and dancing, but here are a couple (apologies for watermarking them as I normally only do it to crafty things but I love my pictures!!)

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Spam & I tried so many times to get a shot of Robbie behind us but this is the best one even though Robbie looks like a ghost!! (I’m on the right!)

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This is my absolute favourite picture from the night. Both Robbie Williams and Olly Murs were amazing. I’ve always been a massive Robbie fan, I missed the Take That days because we lived in Malaysia at the time, we moved back to the UK in 1994 and I prefered East17’s music but when Robbie released Freedom I was hooked! Olly I liked on the x factor but hadn’t really followed his stuff but when he came on stage he was awesome!
I still can’t believe we were that close! Mum and Hel didn’t get there before the doors opened as they couldn’t resist the lure of Manchester city centre so they weren’t as close.

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My “you were here” picture!

When I saw Robbie in 2003 in Melbourne I was close but not this close! Oh and he sang Me & My Monkey!! ♡♡ and lots of my other favourites (monsoon, come undone, not like the others, she’s the one, sexed up) and for the first time ever Angels made me cry. I thought of my Nanna B who passed away when little H was only a few days old and the tears just came. I still can’t listen to Nan’s song.
He’s still an okey dokey stokey blokey and I’ll love his music forever! (Even rudebox!!!)

Oh, I almost forgot, we saw spencer the bear!! And whilst everyone else was dancing to Olly Murs, Sam managed to get a picture which I tweeted to him and got a mention!

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Mum met Spencer the bear whilst queuing for rhianna last week and I was ordered to follow him on twitter, and the morning of Robbie Spencer tweeted that he was already in the queue so we kept an eye out! His twitter is @spencerthebear

Then Friday night Spam and I took part in the St. Roccos starlight walk. Which I really thought I would do the 2 laps (13 miles) but it started to rain 10 minutes before we started and being the genius that I am I was only in a t-shirt with a vest top underneath and I don’t even own a waterproof coat! Doh!
Halfway round the first lap we were at the back (although we were in the last group to start so had no where to go but backwards!) and the route went near to Spams house so she ran and got me a dry top and lent me a coat of hers to try and warm me up. So I classily stripped off on Manchester Road and somehow squeezed into Sams coat (with help from a marshal to do the zip!) And we kept going. After sams 3rd loo stop we were well and truly at the back and it was still raining so we were drenched. One of the medics that was riding the route on a motorbike advised that we only did one lap because we were so cold. So as gutted that we were we decided to cross the line smiling and do the 2nd lap next week.
My feet were so wet they were wrinkly as if I’d been in the bath so long!

Anyway I won’t put a picture of us in all our pink stuff (there is one on my facebook page if you want a nosey!) But I will show you the sashes I made out of ribbon we got from our local market, and yarn (naturally what else would I use?!) And I got to play with my sewing machine that I brought off of Scavenger Annie as she was selling an old one and I’ve been after one! (& she’s local to me)
I used backstitch to form the letters and did it all freehand so they’re not quite even but I loved them (I made 2)

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Nutty Tarts was our team name as there was Spam & I and two other ladies from our weight watchers group. They completed both laps and I’m so proud of them!!

Right that’s enough rambling from me! As always feel free to pin anything you see to Pinterest :)
♡ Mrs. B x

Ripple blanket edging

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I posted in my Ripply love blog entry how I straighted out my Attic24 Neat Ripple blanket but I wanted to follow up with a picture illustrating it. (I’ll quote what I put in the other blog entry)

“I’m not very good at explaining crochet so I apologise if it’s poorly put! (UK terms

Slip stitch in the 2 most central stitches from the ‘peak’ of the ripple. Double crochet in the next one. Half treble crochet in the next two stitches. Treble in the next two stitches then double treble in the next two stitches (these two should be in the 2 stitches at the bottom of the valley)
After the double trebles just reverse what you’ve done. So treble in the next two, half treble in the next two, double crochet in the next one and slip stitch in the next two (back at the peak)

So it’s :- *sl st, dc, htr, htr, tr, tr, dbl tr, dbl tr, tr, tr, htr, htr, dc, sl st*
Repeat from * to *

On the next round of the border I just double crocheted all the way around. (I hope that makes some sense!)”

I’ve done a picture to try and help.
It’s not great quality but it’s surprisingly hard to write and draw the lines so that they match up. Hopefully it’s useful…

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I found that it didn’t look quite straight at first, but I did another round of just double crochet and it worked (I chained 1 and turned to start the next round) the dc’s on the right hand side can be replaced with htr (half trebles) but if you do that chain 2 at the corners.

I hope this is useful to someone. Sorry if it’s not clear enough.

♡Mrs. B x

Edit to add a thank you to Peach tree & lime jelly for the idea to do the picture like that (with the stitches written) and naturally to Attic24 for her amazing patterns!

2nd edit (may 2014) if you find this and give it a go and it works for you (or doesn’t!) Could you leave me a little comment just so I know. & thank you x

Lazy days

Calling to you!!

Sorry to start with a random Robbie Williams lyric but it’s been stuck in my head since I decided lazy days should be the title earlier today!

Mr. B has been off of work for a couple of days. Which naturally means that one of the boys is going to get poorly. Which of course happened!
Little H woke up on Wednesday night and was sick.  So the last 3 days have been spent having lots of cuddles and all of us feeling pretty sleepy.
I had joked earlier in the week that as it’s Mr.  B’s birthday next week that we should plan something for this week. (Because last year it was as we were getting ready to go for a birthday lunch that Little H was sick!) And touch wood he should be ok by the time it actually is Mr. B’s birthday!

Anyway, I digress!
Not much crocheting has been done as you can imagine. Last night I did manage to finish my Frayed Knot perfect cowl. I only had to sew in afew ends and construct & attatch the flower. After that I did a row or two of the little blanket I’m making for a friend who’s collecting them for her local neonatal unit. Then I realised I was really tired and called it a night.

Today when I got up I spent some time playing with the boys and after lunch Mr. B told me he thought I should go upstairs and relax with my crocheting. You don’t have to tell me twice! (I think it was a ploy so he could watch football!)

I did a bit more of the neonatal blanket, and then switched to the pastel coloured granmy stripe for a bit and then went and had a lovely hot bath and started reading Game of Thrones which I’m really liking!

So aside from the poorly toddler we’ve had a chilled couple of days. :)

I shall leave you with a picture.

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♡ Mrs. B

A long overdue Ta-Dah!!

I’ve been promising myself (and you!) some pictures of recent makes.
So I’ve booted up the computer and here I am.

The following two blankets were Christmas presents. Which because of my poor time management were late christmas presents!

The first was for a friends sister. She had seen one of the rainbow granny stripe blankets that I did and coveted it, so her lovely sister asked me to make a pastelly coloured large granny square that was big enough for snuggling on the sofa!
I don’t really follow a pattern for my granny squares, I used to but because of my tension or something the squares always seemed to twist a bit which really bugs me! (I’ll have to take a picture of the blanket I made when Little H was still a “flo” bump!) So I just kind of made up my own way. Which doesn’t have a front and a back so much, because I turn after each round. As always I finished up with a “Bev’s Country Cottage Granny Square Edging” (the edge is at the bottom of that page!) Which is my go to edge for granny squares. It always finishes up so neat and makes me smile. :) 
Enough with my rambling! Pictures!!!

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It was made using baby DK wool (not a “brand” its a yarn I get from the wool shop at my local market) and once it was soaked and washed a couple of times (I always soak in a bit of fabric softener for an hour or so, and then wash & dry it, then trim off any tail ends that decide to show themselves after the first wash, then wash again) it was so so soft and snuggly!
I do wish I’d have put some more thought into colour order though. When I asked if she wanted any particular colour order she said go random. So I did. But next time I’m told to go random I will put an element of thought behind it! I’m still getting used to putting colours together, thats my excuse! 

The next blanket was for a baby boy, the same friend asked me to do it for her nephew. And she had a cot mobile made to match by DottyDaisies. She requested primary colours and they looked awesome (even if I do say so myself!) And I made up a border that I can’t really put into words, but as I was doing it I had “follow the yellow brick road” going through my head (you’ll see why on the close up!) and I’m hoping to use it as inspiration for a blanket one day! It ended up being just a bit bigger than cotbed/toddler bed size but not quite single bed size, and I loved loved loved getting to the stage where it’s big enough to snuggle up under whilst making it! 

More pictures!!! (they’re not great, the flash/light made the blocks of colour blur a little bit!)

In progress (with my beloved knit pro hook!) <3
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A big picture of it in progress..

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Finished!!! (excuse the bad picture, it’s the first time I’ve taken a finished picture on a bed! The bed is cotbed size)

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More close ups of random parts of it. The border was one of my faves that I’ve come up with!!

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Well. I think thats enough from me!
I’ve got so much more I really should share with you but I haven’t got the time right now, so keep an eye out for more updates over the next few days. They won’t be as picture heavy, maybe just one or two pictures per entry. I need to work out which projects I’m missing, and I really need to finish some WIP’s and take pictures of them too!!

Oh, and feel free to pin any pictures you like if you’re on Pinterest. I love seeing my blankets pop up on there every now and then! There should be a “Pin it” button around here somewhere, or you can install the pin it thing to the toolbar directly from Pinterest.

Hope to see you back here soon :) 
Mrs B x

Leibster Blog Award :)

I was nominated by the very kind EmilyBev, who’s blog can be found here ~ http://emilybev.wordpress.com/

I discovered her because of her AWESOME Ziggy Stardust amigurumi. And hit the follow button because I love her colour choices and the hat that she made! But the Ziggy definitely made her one to follow!

The purpose of the Liebster Blog Award is to recognize blogs with fewer than 200 followers that deserve a look. My job is to list 11 random facts about me, answer the 11 questions Gray has set me, then to nominate 11 new bloggers, who should bask in the Liebster glow – which means doing the same as I am doing here! ie, post a blog linking back here, with 11 random facts about you, answer my 11 questions and nominate 11 new bloggers (and think of 11 questions to ask them – can be anything!). Off we go then…

11 Random Facts About Me

  1. I was born in Derby, but we moved once I started talking and shouted “ey up mum, wait for me!” in a broad Derby accent (at 3 years old!)
  2. Both of my parents are southerners, which always gets noticed when we’re all out together! (usually someone says to mum “you’re not from around here are you?” To which she has to reply she’s been living here for 20 years!
  3. I have way more yarn than I probably will ever have time to do anything with. But I love it and almost every ball/hank has a project matched up for it in my mind!!
  4. I also have a love for crochet hooks, and keep “upgrading” one at a time. I started with metal hooks, then I discovered bamboo, now I have my beloved KnitPro Symfonies and although I did buy an Etimo Rose hook I have only used it once! (I love my KnitPros!)
  5. I am also a bit of a gamer. Not so much now that the boys take up a lot of my time. My console of choice is the Xbox 360.
  6. My Gamerscore on the Xbox is currently 67427. And I’m abit gutted that I’ve now surpassed the ability to have sequential numbers as my gamerscore! (well until I pass 100,000!)
  7. We lived in the United Arab Emirates when I was a child (from age 3) for a few years and I can still count to 10 in arabic! (aurally at least!)
  8. I can make a mean chilli, although I discovered the other day that 3 scotch bonnet chillies is 1 too many!!
  9. I both love and fear Aeroplanes. My Dad is a licensed aircraft engineer so my love comes from him. Little H loves nee-yows (as he calls them) too and he can name the flaps and rudder as well as the main parts!
  10. In total because of us moving around a bit when I was a child I attended a total of 9 schools. Which includes college, and one little home school that was run by an Australian teacher when we lived in Malaysia. I loved that little school and hated it when a place opened up at the English school so I was moved to there (Alice Smith School, which still makes me chuckle that the abbreviation is ASS!)
  11. I am a full time mummy. Which is more of a job than I ever imagined, but I love it!

Questions from Emilybev

  1. What was the first thing you ever crocheted? – As a child it was a really long foundation chain. I think it ended up being about the size of a football! It was during the summer holidays and mum & dad had put my brother and I on a plane back to the UK to stay with Nanna & Grandad for the holidays. It was an amazing summer, and the first time we flew on our own. I’m pretty sure Nanna regretted letting me loose on a crochet hook and her yarn!! She taught me a granny square after that (& we unwound the yarn from the huge foundation chain!!)
    As an adult, I can’t remember if it was a large Granny Square. Which I sent to a friend who had recently had a baby. (who today turned 5!) Or a Shell blanket that I made by discovering TJW1963 on YouTube. Her pattern was for a shell scarf, and I thought it looked pretty, so I spent an evening or two on her channel & blog teaching myself how multiples worked (and wtf they were!!) and how to read a chart because I knew I wanted to make a shell blanket! Little H now uses it as his naptime on the sofa blanket! <if I can find a picture I’ll add it!>
  2. What is your favourite type of food? – Cheese! Is that the right answer? I do love cheese though and as I get older I’m being more adventurous. But my favourite cheese will possibly always be Edam. I only allow myself to buy the small bits of it when shopping because I could quite easily cut it all up and just eat it! Mum & Dad brought be a whole ball back from Amsterdam when I was a teenager. I’m pretty sure it didn’t last long!!
  3. Who is your favorite band/singer? – I will always struggle to answer this! I am torn between David Bowie and Robbie Williams. I was brought up on David Bowie, T-Rex, and was introduced to The Jacksons, Queen and The Carpenters as a tweenager (I think thats what they call them now, I was 10/11) and my first concert was Michael Jackson in Singapore in 1993, and there will always always be love for Michael! (I saw The Jacksons on their Unity tour last month, and Cirque Du Soleil’s Michael Jackson Immortal show only a week and a bit ago!)
    But no matter what mood I’m in Bowie or Robbie have a song to suit it. And to pick me up! Only the other day I was having a bad day, walking through the shopping centre and Robbie’s “Misunderstood” was on the centres music thingy. It made me smile, proper Bridget Jones moment! Bowie… Well he’s just amazing! I have been lucky enough to see him live once, at Move in 2002 for my birthday. (with mum naturally!) and I am really hoping that he tours again!
    Robbie I’ve also seen once, in Melbourne in 2003. He was amazing! And I have tickets for June this year! (Mum is coming too, she is a new Robbie fan after we saw Take That in 2011!)
  4. Summer or Winter? – Summer. I think its all the living in warmer climates!
  5. What is the main purpose of your blog? – It’s just somewhere for me to ramble really. I don’t expect (and never have!) anyone to read it. (Or to be able to follow my ramblings!) And to post pictures of what I’ve been making, I guess so that in years to come I can look back and see when it was that I made such a thing (or to find out where I got a pattern from!) I love remembering dates of things, but since becoming a mum my memory has definitely declined!
  6. When not blogging, what are some of your favorite websites to visit/hang out at? – Facebook gets a fair bit of my time, mostly because it’s easy to do on my phone. I go through phases with Pinterest. I love it for awhile and then forget about it and rediscover it! Although I now have the app on my phone, so its quite easy if I have 10 minutes to forget the world and Pin and RePin lots of stuff! Aside from those two I don’t really have an online life anymore! I always say, if the choice is between internet and crocheting, crochet wins everytime!
  7. Favourite smell? – At the moment I really love the scent of PurelyArgan (they have a fb page >here<) I can’t really describe it, but I’m not really a flowery scent person, and it’s nicely scented without being overly RAWR and girly. I love the smell of fresh washing too. And Orange!
  8. You have £100 to do with as you wish. What do you spend it on? – First, I would do a happy dance! I would get myself a Furls Crochet hook I think. Maybe. I’d at least see if I can borrow one to see if I can crochet with it and then get one. If not I would definitely get a Lantern Moon hook. Then probably yarn or books!!
  9. If you could go back in time and talk to anyone from the history books, who would you choose and why? – Not so much history books, but history none the less. Heath Ledger! I don’t really know why as such, just I’d like to know what happened. And just talk to him! (or ramble at him as I tend to do with men!)
  10. What makes you laugh? – Currently MJ walking/trying to run. He’s 16 months old now and over the last couple of weeks he’s decided he can walk, and its just adorable! Both the boys have the ability to make me laugh no matter what! DisneyPixar films do too, and Lee Evans. He will never fail to make me laugh!
  11. What is your favorite memory? – Coming around after my 2nd c-section and seeing Mr. B. Cuddling MJ, and asking what we’d had. Him telling me we’d had a boy made my heart feel like it was about to burst. And being able to hold and feed him almost straight away. Little H was a prem baby so I didn’t get to see him until he was a few hours old.

11 Blogs I Want you to take a look at!

  1. http://veiledpurl.wordpress.com/ – Take a look at her “Inspired by ModCloth” entry. Love it!!
  2. http://naturallylillys.wordpress.com – Look at her Etsy shop.. I love her large shawl in black & grey heather.
  3. http://gluisyarnblog.wordpress.com/ – She’s fairly new to wordpress, so take a look!
  4. http://sasumog.wordpress.com/sasublog/ – She hasn’t blogged for awhile, but does have a Facebook page give her a quick like!
  5. http://agirlinwinter.wordpress.com/ take a look at her handmade wardrobe. And her Victory Rolls!! <3
  6. http://sincerelysarahandcrafted.wordpress.com/ She makes pretty things and is having twins!
  7. http://rainbowjunkiecorner.wordpress.com/ One of the first crochet blogs I discovered when I joined WordPress. And is nice enough to leave comments when she drops by! (she has pretty patterns to take a look at too!)
  8. http://marissafh.com/ She also has a blog that’s just for crochet, but I love the posts on her main page a lot!!
  9. http://gentlestitches.com/ – She’s already been nominated for a Leibster award, but you should check her out anyways!
  10. http://bobblesandbaubles.com/ – Beautiful crochet and other bits and pieces. And she does awesome crafty tips too!
  11. http://vintagehomespun.wordpress.com/ A lovely blog, and she knits too, I’m always in awe of knitters!

Questions for Nominees

  1. What was the first thing you ever crocheted?
  2. What is your favourite film?
  3. Who is your favorite band/singer?
  4. If you’re a crocheter/knitter what is your favourite yarn?
  5. When did you discover blogging? (reading or writing them!)
  6. What’s your favourite book(s)?
  7. Favourite smells & flavours?
  8. If you won the EuroMillions, would you tick the publicity box, and why would/wouldn’t you?
  9. Do you have nice handwriting? Do you like it?
  10. Brown paper packages tied up with string? What are a few of your favourite things?
  11. If you could go anywhere right now, where would you go?

A little help from my friends?

Hi!
I’ve been thinking, seen as I’m intent on blogging more & reading your blogs more (and hopefully commenting too!) That I’d really like to do a page of blogs that I like as well as facebook pages (and maybe pinterest pages too if people would like?)

I’m hoping that to make it a bit easier to gather links together that you guys and girls might be willing to post your links in the comments box here?

I’m open to links for blogs, pinterest,  facebook pages and etsy shops.
You are more than welcome to post your craftsy/ravelry shop links in the comments box too but I won’t be putting them up on the links page (not just yet anyway)

My comments are set to need approval, but I will approve them so that your links are public and then other people can see them. And I’ll start putting together a linky page :)

I hope this works!

Oh and because I don’t like doing an entry without a picture here’s an ocean waves blanket update ♡

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Ocean Waves Blanket

Pattern by frayed knot (search ocean waves blanket/frayed knot on craftsy and you’ll find it)