
I find lots of things immensely exciting.
Not just mildy exciting, but ImMENseLy exciting.
And more often than not, it's the Little pleasures in life that make me feel the most excited. Yes, lots and lots and lots of Little Things, on a daily basis, make me so-so-so ThRiLLeD that at times I do begin to wonder if i am at all normal. Surely it can't be right to feel so deeply and passionately excited about flowers, sky, a bit of cake, a cushion, buttons, a picture, yarn? But that seems to be the way I am. I think I've always been this way, but I think it's also fair to say that through writing my blog, my awareness of these feelings has very much been enhanced.
Its also fair to say that through reading other people's blogs, I have thankfully realised I am not alone. I may not be entirely normal, but hip-hip-hoooray, there are other people who actually think and feel the same way I do. Quite a relief actually·
Today I'd like to share with you one of my never-ever-ever-ending passionately-immensely exciting experiences :: fresh yarn. Oh!! Oh oh oh!!!!!!!! Nothing quite compares to the thrill of amassing a fresh yarn stash and then teetering with it on the edge of a brand new project. It's one of my greatest pleasures.
And this particular fresh yarn stash is giving me more pleasure than I care to admit.
As I mentioned to you the other day, this is Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. It's a fabulous, luxurious yarn, finer than I'm used to working with (its 4ply as opposed to dk weight) and I'm working it on a 3.5mm hook. It is quite simply Divine.
Now most of this yarn-stash of mine has been sitting in the Attic for quite some time, since the Spring in fact. You may remember me writing about it way back in April (scroll down to the end of that post, it's a long one!). I was lucky enough to purchase a bag of it in a Sale, and as this is expensive yarn to buy at normal retail price, I do feel incredibly blessed to have accumulated this stash at Sale Price. However, the colours I bought in the sale just weren't quite right for me, and I couldn't think quite what I wanted to do with it at the time. So I waited. Kept it in it's brown paper bag and waited for the time to be right to embark on a project with it.
And that time is now.On Wednesday I got all the yarn out and had a really good look at the colours. I decided I needed some deeper/stronger tones to balance out the pastels, so off I trotted forthwith to the shops to purchase such colours. I only needed three more to add to what I already had, making sixteen colours in total, and I'm really, really, really happy with them.
I'll give you the details now, just so you know.....the above picture, top row, left to right ::
17 discontinued, but can be replaced with colour 18 [pale green]
02 [leaf]
16 [sea green]
202 [pale blue]
204 [baby blue]
031 [turquoise]
032 [cornflower]
10 [soft purple]
Bottom row, left to right ::
700 [red]
023 [burnt orange]
602 [rich pink]
07 [wine]
14 [plum]
13 [grape]
06 [rose]03 [mint green] not pictured, sorry!
And so my current WiP? Quite predictable I'm afraid, it's another blanket.
Yes, I'm blanket-making again, I just can't help myself. I really love-love-love making blankets and begin to feel bereft unless I've got one on the go. After much deliberation as to what variety of blanket to make this time, I decided to go back to basics, back to my first love and make a simple Granny Squares blanket. I flirted with the idea of trying a babette, but decided in the end that simple was best, and so basic grannies it is.
This is going to be another baby-sized blankie I think, a cot blanket for Bump24.
And I'm super-pleased about how this little blankie is coming together. I'm joining them as-I-go (ohh the joy of this method!!), making five-rounds with three colours for each square.
I was inspired by some very lovely afghans I came across in Blogland recently, or as Linda calls them "Lapacuddlyghans"...the simplicity of the design really appealed to me, and I love the way that the colours work together when they are used in double rows rather than single rows. I think the bigger the blanket grows, the more effective this pattern of colour is going to look.
I began hooking this blanket in the very early hours of yesterday morning, around 3.30am when I was having another one of my wide-awake spells. I tell you, my body clock is sooo skew-whiff at the moment!
And a few more added on this morning, to make nine so far...........
......what do you think? Do you like the way the colours work together??
I'm going to be writing out a tutorial soon for making basic granny squares (did i mention that already?), for those of you who are new to the joyous fun of crochet, this is an excellent way to start.
Right...off to have a cuppa and sneak a little square or two in before the school run.
Have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you next week..
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