cherry pie and hearts

Posted on February 26, 2013 by bear loves dove

Cherry Pie and Cream Blanket
Cherry colour – 75% wool, 15% mohair, 5% alpaca, 5% silk. Cream colour – 100% handspun wool. Crochet.

I know. I have a thing for food names. This blanket was made especially for my daughter and I wanted it be as comforting as Cherry Pie and Cream on a cold winters day. Or at least what I imagine the comfort that ‘eating Cherry Pie and Cream on a cold winters day’ would bring. You see I have a bunch of allergies with food that rules out Cherry Pie and Cream from my diet. Unfortunately! And the colours look like they could be Cherries and Cream… in my imagination anyway. Ok, so maybe I was just hungry and wishing I could eat Cherry Pie and cream too. Hmph… in my dreams!

It’s a classic granny square pattern, I just kept going… and going…

7 rows of cherry red, then 2 rows of cream. This totals 9 for the pattern. I’m a bit OCD with numbers in patterns. I like my favourite numbers to appear. Often. It’s a numerology thing. And an OCD thing. Do you do that with patterns? You know, make sure they have your favourite numbers in them? I know my mum does with her beautiful jewellery making. Maybe it’s just us?

The cherry red is the “Persian” blend from Bendigo Woollen Mills in ‘Rhubarb’. The cream is handspun and gently waves from thick to thin in a lovely natural organic manner. Both yarns were deliciously soft to work with and both are 100% Australian. We are so very lucky to have such gorgeous yarns of the most beautiful quality available to us here.

Chartreuse Love Garland.
Dark Green 100% Cotton, Chartreuse 100% Silk.
This little sweet heart garland is for my sis. She has a lovely newly decorated set of shelves with a collection of her favourite green items on it. She mentioned recently that a crocheted heart garland would finish it off nicely. I think I found the perfect green yarns in my yarnstash*.

Duck Egg Blue Silk Hearts
100% Pure Silk, Crochet.
I liked my sisters heart garland so much that I decided the divine duck egg blue silk had my name on it for a garland. It’s so… um… well… silky! Duh! Really luxurious to touch, but may I say, not so luxurious to crochet! A bit of a pain to honest. It splits easily and because it’s so feather light and fine, quite tricky to handle and work with in general. I think I could make this with another yarn in a third of the time… Must say though, I think it’s well worth the extra time and some colourful language!

Sweet hey? Heart pattern was written about back here if you’re thinking about whipping one up yourself. You may see some appear in my Etsy Shop soon too… If I can handle the pace!

New project time!

Yay!

Hoping your days are filled with comfort like Cherry Pie and Cream, maybe with a sip of Chartreuse on the side?
And a sprinkling of soft silky hearts!

* affectionately known as ‘The Yarn Shop’ by the hubby!

green granny blanket

Posted on August 12, 2012 by bear loves dove

Green Granny Blanket
Green: 75% Wool, 15% Mohair, 5% Alpaca, 5% Silk. Brown: 80% Wool, 20% Bamboo. Crochet.

Finally a finished project! It’s been finished for a while actually but as it was a birthday gift to my sweet sis, I had to delay posting about it til after her birthday.

It’s a large blanket with subtle contrasting fine stripes of an earthy brown. I think the stripes add modern twist the regular granny stitch blankets.

Finished with an open chunky row followed by a few rows of double, then a couple of single crochet rows including one final brown stripe around the edge. This is a lovely warm chunky blanket that is very soft and cozy. Both the yarns are from Bendigo Woollen Mills – I stocked up quite a bit with my last order! They really do a beautiful quality yarn with a fabulous selection of colours to choose from.
It was a pleasure to create this little blanket, especially knowing it was going to be for my sweet sis to snuggle under on the couch watching the telly. Hmm… sounds like the kind of thing I’d like to do on this lazy Sunday… but maybe with the addition of my yarn and hook… and a pot of peppermint tea… and maybe even some leftover gluten free chocolate birthday cake that I made. Although it’s not really like a cake because I can’t follow a recipe to save myself. Kind of turned out flat. So I called it a torte…but then I thought it looked like a pancake (yep it really was that flat)… and then I thought it was really like a brick! But surprisingly, a delicious rich chocolatey fudgey brick. Ok, I’ve talked myself into it now – I’m off for another slice!
Wishing you all a super sweet Sunday.

it’s been so long!

Posted on August 3, 2012 by bear loves dove

Hello!
I feel like it’s been an age since I posted something… and to be honest this isn’t going to be one of my normal posts full of finished glory. It’s a quick little ‘in-between’ post until I get a bit more time to finish what I’ve started… and as you’ll see, I tend to have a few things started at once. Fickle hey!
Life not only mimics the ups and downs of a rollercoaster but does have a way of picking up pace like a rollercoaster too. I think I’m on the screamingly fast downhill run at the moment! As soon as I get to the slow climb up, I’ll be back to post some finished glory I promise.

First up is going to be possibly the largest blanket I’ve ever knitted. The yarns are from Bendigo Woollen Mills and are just lovely. There’s some wool/bamboo blends and also some of their new luxury Persian blend which is wool/mohair/alpaca/silk. The colours are very earthy and masculine as I have the future recipient in mind as I create this random striped blanket.

Next up is a large crochet blanket. Using the lovely Persian blend again in this gorgeous earthy green. I can not say too much about this blanket as it might just be for someone special who happens to read this blog. I’m so not very good at being cryptic! Am sure it’s going to be completely obvious, but none the less this has been another project that I’ve been working on lately. Real post on this blanket coming soon!

Now this little number is a slice of pure luxury. It’s 100% pure silk yarn! So divine and silky (duh!) soft to work with. It’s actually so light I can hardly feel it in my hands, a bit like crocheting in a cloud. And I adore the colours, pastel-ish chartreuse and soft duck egg blue. These yarns are just some of the goodies I purchased at the recent Craft & Quilt Fair in Melbourne. Boy did I do some damage there! And the best bit was I got to go there with my dear sweet daughter and her lovely friend, both of whom are talented artistic inspirational young ladies. What a treat that was. PS. Where the morning light is hitting this yarn is more like it’s true colour.

Some of the softest yarn I’ve come across. This was another find at the Craft & Quilt Fair and I simply adore these colours together. The blend is equally beautiful with extra fine merino, silk and cashmere. Yes cashmere! I’ve never had anything with cashmere in it… and oh boy… it could be an expensive discovery is all I’m saying!

Now this is just a recent bargain find… a clearance table of Gutermann threads. What a find you say? Certainly was… 4 for $2 just couldn’t be ignored so I stocked up…as you do! I think I’ll be right for threads for a while what do reckon?

Now I’m going to leave you with a couple of photos from a recent sunrise. Who doesn’t love a sunrise hey? Seeing that glorious glowing sky in the morning really sets you in stead for the day doesn’t it?

So pretty. Do hope you are getting enough time to be crafty and finding time to do the things that soothe your soul.
Wishing you all a happy crafty weekend.