2020: A Year In Crochet

I like doing these end of year round ups. It helps me to remember just what and how much I’ve done in the previous year. The last six months have been non-stop with work and I feel like I haven’t had a lot of time to crochet, but the three months before that I was furloughed, and all I did was crochet. I tried to use my period of furlough to FINISH THINGS and SORT THINGS OUT. It mostly worked.

So, what did I make in 2020? I keep a list on my phone – I’d never remember otherwise. In 2020 I:

·       Finished the battenberg granny square blanket

·       Made a solid colour square blanket for my father in law

·       Started and finished Sophies Universe blanket

·       Made a fluffy baby blanket for my cousins new babe

·       Made a new thick wool neck warmer, but I haven’t worn it yet

·       Finished the mandala square into a giant cushion cover

·       Made two new his n hers bobble hats for D and I

·       Did 4 little birds – an angry wren, a goldfinch, a coal tit, and a great tit

·       Made my first ever pair of handmade woollen socks.

 

I blocked the jute twine bunting that I made in 2019, but I still haven’t sewn it together. I also haven’t finished the miners vest thing that I started in 2019. I sort of want to, but sort of don’t like how it’s working out. Maybe I just need to crack on and get it done, and then it’ll be done, and then I’ll love it? It’s basically a body warmer slip on vest thing. Looks well cosy on Pinterest.

I am running out of furniture to make more blankets – I have nowhere to drape any more blankets!! So maybe for now I shall hold off blanket making. Or will I? I do fancy make a ripple stitch blanket, possibly for momma in law to have on her lap when she’s on her toot toot scooter, razzin’ around Bilston. I also keep fancying making cushion covers but again, we don’t have enough furniture for cushions, we don’t have them on the sofa, and I don’t see the point of them on a bed. I haven’t done amigurumi for a while. I stopped making toys for my nieces and nephews as my sister said they had too many, and they were my main outlet for soft toys. I also used to make hats for premature babies (I have made over 400) but don’t do that any more either.

I had planned to make a crochet bird of every bird that came into the garden during lockdown but the patterns are quite fiddly with a lot of colour changes, so I quickly disbanded that idea. Maybe in 2021 I shall make the rest and get a full set.

 

Patterns:

·       Little birds

·       Handmade socks (free pattern at the bottom)

·       Sophies Universe

·       Granny square

·       Miners vest (not the pattern I’m making up, but I shall make sure I wear mine with something underneath it)

Lockdown Diaries: Day 27

Last day! Wahooooooo! Not that it’ll really make any difference to anyone. D and I will be continuing much the same as we have been.

Yesterday I FINISHED SOPHIES UNIVERSE! All 113 rounds! Done! However, I had already decided to do extra rounds to make her bigger as I like my blankets to comfortably fit on the bed, and she doesn’t yet. So a few more rounds to go before she gets washed and softened. She looks good though. It’s been fun, stressful, complicated and confusing, but I’ve wanted to make a Sophie for YEARS. Maybe five or six years. And now I have.

Today I was up at 5:45 after having a super shit sleep, and I was on site for 7:50am. We built raised bed planters today in the winter sunshine so it’s been a good day, but fuck me I am tired.

We have done the tree!! Spiky spiky but it’s done. The lights aren’t quite long enough so there’s a high chance that I’ll be buying more and swapping them…

My winter spinach seeds are coming up, we still have roses in flower out the front, the bulbs are all coming up nearly everywhere, and the amaryllis is reaching for the skies with three (!) flower buds.

Tomorrow at work we shall be having a fire and making wreaths!

Lockdown Diaries: Day 26

Tomorrow is the last full day of “lockdown” and I shall be getting up at 6am to go and build some raised beds somewhere.

Today I have been here, there and everywhere doing lots of things. I am all ready for tomorrow. I also went to the allotment to collect teasel heads ready for wreath making on Wednesday at work.

Exercise today: weights – I’ve gone up to 30 reps now. Sounds impressive until you realise I use tins of beans as weights. I’ve also done 15min cycling today.

Dinner today: beef stew! Cooked for four hours. It was WELL NICE. So good. I've been a big brave girl and put in whole button mushrooms and I even ate them.

The ginger is growing well on the windowsill.

I discovered white aero bubble things today! I am excited. I love white chocolate.

My new flamingo bauble arrived today! We’re putting the tree up tomorrow. I say up, I mean, we’re bringing it in.

I am also officially on the LAST ROW OF THE BLANKET wahooooooooooo!! Although I have decided to add a few extra bits on just to make it a bit more unique.

Lockdown Diaries: Day 25

Today! A jolly good day. Pyjama gardening, chocolate eating, mantel faffing, light lighting, someone else cooking dinner. Beaut.

So today I have potted up the new christmas tree into a bigger pot. I was going to use a blue ceramic one but it weighed as much as the tree! So I used a plastic pot instead. The tree is now in a bigger pot with a mix of sand and peat free compost, and then topped off with grit. It is still out in the garden for now.

I also potted up the kitchen avocado stone today as it was putting out lots of side roots. The daffs that I planted the other day in a planter are now on the mantel with the avocado. We went to a garden centre to get a new drip tray for the tree, and a bag of grit. I may have walked out with five pots of cyclamen, four of which are now planted in the garden and the last one is in a pot on the mantel. Very mantel-ly sort of day today.

The hellebores look like they’re about to flower which is quite exciting! I do want more hellebore for the garden but I am happy to see the flower buds. Even if I did bury them with pot compost before I realised.

It’s been super foggy on our travels today.

I also found a pic of Momma P and I from last year some time and it made me laugh, so it’s here again.

FOUR ROWS LEFT. Four rows. FOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRR.

Lockdown Diaries: Day 24

Big ol’ payday shopping spree today! The fridge is stacked full, the freezer is about to burst, and the overspill cupboards are full. We should only need to go shopping for fresh fruit n veggies once more before christmas. I bought the tree today! Bell peppers have very handy trolley storage stems.

I have put santa hats on the mantel shelf things – very festive.

This morning whilst D was still in bed, I finished part 17 of Sophies Universe! I only have one part left to go and then SHE IS DONE. Done done. Proper done. All done. I’m already looking at patterns for the next project. I fancy learning how to crochet a decent pair of woollen socks.

Also filled the car up today. She was so empty the level wasn’t even showing on the gauge. I also filled mesen up with some cake at Momma P’s hoose.

My little car was packed to the brim.

Exercise today: I actually really ache from yesterday at work – I think pushing a barrow with a half-flat tyre has done it. My arms and my flanks are sore. I did still do weights this morning tho. And 2 miles walking today. Around Sainsburys.

Discovered that I’ve got a wee chunk missing out of my glasses, so that’s great.

Lockdown Diaries: Day 23

A good day today. I’ve been out with a couple of my volunteers, it’s been sunny, and we’ve had a right laugh. We have started gathering things for wreath making next week and we also made a lot of lardy seedy bird feeders. Eventually. My golly was it hard work. It wasn’t this bad last year! Anyway, we did it. 4kg of seed is now hung up around the allotment at my Selly Oak site. One of my ladies made a fat ball feeder from a piece of garden mesh rolled around into a tube and closed at one end. Well good. Pretty funny, too.

Exercise today: 10 mins cycling, 2.4 miles walking, some of that with a heavily loaded wheelbarrow with a soft tyre.

Dinner today: spaghetti and meatballs with homemade, veg loaded, sauce. There’s enough left for tomorrow. And Monday (we have a roast every Sunday). And maybe Tuesday too.

I had a soak in a bubble bath last night accompanied by some jaffa cakes and a book.

My flamingo amaryllis is now putting out three flower buds – one is tucked right at the bottom.

The sky was nice this evening. We didn’t need the frost covers on the car. Nevermind.