Sugru is like slightly toxic plasticene when you first get it out of the box, but it sets like strong rubber. In fact it was perfect for this, the finished feet feel securely attached and they’re slightly squishy so they absorb the shock of me typing or the issues of a slightly uneven surface. Perfect!
It’s a very traditional granny square crochet blanket, I love these because I can take a ball of wool and a hook with me to anywhere and just make another square or two when nothing else is happening, but I never have to carry around the full project until I’m assembling it right at the end. The border is one round of trebles and another of double crochet – as simple as anything!
So, I crocheted a blanket for my friend’s baby (welcome, Benjamin!)
The cushions were 66cm so I cut two rectangles that were (66cm plus seam allowance) wide and ((2.5 * 66cm) plus seam allowance) long. Then I hemmed across the short sides (this was really fraying fabric, I should have overstitched everything before I started but I was too impatient!). They are simple envelope-backed cushions so I lay them on the floor with the right side up, folded the long sides at 33cm and then 99cm, basically you have a short end folded up and then the long end folded over that, with the seams showing. Then you sew up the sides and when you turn it the right way out – the short bit of the envelope is on the outside.
Dead simple but they match the curtains and they are lovely and soft – the fabric is plain sheeting too so nice and comfortable even in bed!
Once I’d made the pattern, I cut out the bag and followed the instructions. They have good instructions, step by step with pictures. The Charlie bag is really simple so you just zig-zag round the shape and leave the handles like that, just unfinished, which is about the only way someone with my sewing abilities is going to make anything with curvy handles :)
I’m really pleased with the result:
This was pretty simple and now I’ve assembled the paper pattern, I might make a few more :)
For once I (loosely) followed a pattern to make something, which is pretty unusual for me. Another unusual feature of this project is that it is actually for me, I mostly make things for other people, not sure why! The pattern is the “Beaded Cobweb Wrap” from Erika Knight’s Essential Crochet, I have a few of her books and love them. This was a brilliant project, it was tiny to pack and with a 6mm hook it grew despite having rows as long as I am tall! Here’s a couple of pictures of the finished product (thanks Kevin for photographing me):
And to show off the beads:
Its a basic ripple pattern, I have the 7 Day Afghans book and I reduced one of the patterns in there to baby-size with fewer repeats. It was a 6ml hook and the wool was taken entirely from my existing stash, basically it was a stripe or two of each of the DK weight wool I had lying around. So it’s colourful, and it helped make space in my life for more wool, and it was very inexpensive (i.e. free!), so on the whole the perfect project. Here’s the finished article:
And a close-up of those ripples:
I’ve made a round ripple before but never a straight one, although I kept looking at patterns for them. When I heard about Deb’s pregnancy, I knew this was exactly the blanket I wanted to make! So, welcome Ethan, and good health to all the family.
