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)

Crochet Blanket Inspiration: Sophies Universe!

I haven't done a blanket inspo post for a while! I have a few to catch up with now, so here is the first.

I was gifted the pattern book for Sophies Universe a few years ago now and it’s been sitting, waiting for me to get on with it. I had a couple of blankets I needed to finish before I could start a new one.

I started Sophie in August 2020 when I was still part time furloughed, and finished her at the end of November. The pattern was quite fun to work on but I had difficulty interpreting the pattern in some parts. Also it is written in American stitches so I had to always double check that I was doing the right stitches.

Anyhoo – she’s done! She measures about 1.8m across. I haven’t blocked her (ever). I used a 4mm hook throughout. I used Stylecraft Special DK in white, spearmint, and apricot.

Have a look at my other Crochet Blanket Inspiration posts here. There’s lots. I need more furniture to drape blankets over…

Week Twenty of Furlough!

Well a “three week furlough period” has hit the five month-ish mark. I still have maybe five weeks of part time furlough left and should be working full time again from October. There is a lot of stuff in the media about Birmingham going into local lockdown which would mean my volunteer groups cannot start up again which will be a bugger.

 

Mental Ill-Health

I am feeling better this week. We have been to the seaside!!

 

Physical Health

I am feeling knackered this week. We have been to the seaside!! We walked lots and swam in the sea a couple of times, and I was trying to keep up with my daily exercises too. I developed shin splints again and my knee has been twingey.

 

Homelife

We have been to the seaside!! The weather was glorious with the exception of Wednesday afternoon/evening, but we had a lovely time AT THE SEASIDE. We stayed in Trusthorpe but walked down to Sandilands, and up to Mablethorpe.

This week I have baked cakes as an excuse to a) bake cake but b) a reason to use up a courgette. These are courgette and orange cakes, with cinnamon.

I have completed part five of Sophies Universe blanket. This is quite a fun pattern to work on despite having to translate US to UK terminology and having to read, read and re-read the pattern. I am finding it hard to follow as it is written as paragraphs rather than rows but having the pictures to compare is very useful. I will have to order more yarn when I get paid next week as I have just started the second ball of white.

 

Allotment

It is courgette season! Or maybe marrow season. The tomatoes are starting to go red so they’ve had a splash of tomato food. The butternut squash has perked up and it rambling away with about 5 fruits forming. The other pumpkin/squash/butternut is going a nice shade of orange, and the little white pumpkin has a few fruits coming on it too. I do so love pumpkins.

Momma Pat’s Pumpkin Patch on Plot 4 is growing well! It looked so sad when we first planted it but now the plants are huge and sprawling, and there is lots of fruit forming. Spaghetti squash, pumpkin, crown prince (blue) pumpkin, butternut squash, and loads of courgette. 21 plants in total.

I am going to wait a couple more weeks before I try another sweetcorn as the one I pulled the other week wasn’t quite developed. I have dug up the potatoes this week as the plants had died back a couple of weeks ago, I have filled a fat ball tub with spuds which isn’t bad.

 

Garden

Came home from the seaside to discover that the bird feeder pole with hanging baskets was at a jaunty angle, one of the sunflowers was swinging all over the shop, and another was being battered by the winds. Some of the sunflowers are way taller than the fence so there just isn’t anything to tie them too now so they are at the mercy of the wind. One has broken but the flower head is trying to grow so I have tied it across the back fence panel.

I dug up the home potatoes this week and they were naff. All marble sized except for one. So, not a great attempt at growing my own!

The trough planters over the fence have all died off – why can’t I keep anything alive – so I need to have a rethink and a replant. Maybe I’ll buy more herbs…

The seeds I had sown in the trug planter have all come up and it’s looking quite full. The leeks, cauliflower and calabrese are also growing well, so that’s next summer on the allotment sorted!

The aubergines are starting to put out flowers! Better late than never, but I might have to give the plants to my father in law as he has a greenhouse. 

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