Colourful Flower Hanging

I've had fun with the flower I made the other day.

I made another two flowers, six leaves and a colourful droplet -

I put them all together, and I now have a Colourful Flower Hanging.

It looks very jolly hanging up and adding a splash of colour to the room.

The flowers have a 3 dimensional centre and 15 petals.  The droplet is slightly weighted with a little pebble so that the whole structure hangs well.  The flowers have three shades of yellow for the centres and then three shades of either blue, purple or pink for the petals.  The leaves use two shades of green and the droplet is made using two shades of each colour from the petals.  

I've spent most of today writing out the pattern - it always takes so much longer than you think.  The PDF is available here, and of course it's free.  Further details of the pattern can be found on the Ravelry pattern page, here.

I hope you like the pattern.

Flower Crochet, Cycling and Hilbre Island - but not all at the same time!

I'm crocheting whilst watching the fifth stage of the Tour de France on the television.  It's difficult to concentrate as it is proving to be quite dramatic - Chris Frome has crashed out and the crashes are still continuing.

I have managed to finish this flower.

I'm making plans for this flower - I'll probably make some more and add some leaves then attach them somehow and create either a floral hanging or garland.  However, the cycling is so exciting I may not get much more crocheting done this afternoon.  I'll let you see it when it's eventually finished.

Yesterday, I had a lovely day out in West Kirby on the Wirral.  Hubby and I walked to Hilbre Island.

Image from Google Images

Hilbre Island is a tidal island and so you need to check the tide times before making a visit.  It was rather windy and we had some light rain but it didn't spoil our picnic on the island.  We found a sheltered spot and I even managed to get quite a lot of knitting done.

There are some fantastic views over to the North Wales coast.

What a wonderful day.  I'm so lucky to be able to spend my time doing the things I love.

Tour de France - Stage 2

Yes, we were there.  The second stage of the 2014 Tour de France went from York to Sheffield yesterday, so we took ourselves over to Sheffield to stay with Grace and to join in the celebrations.

The city centre was buzzing with activity.  There were many dance and musical performances at various spots.    

The Peace Gardens had a giant screen showing the race.

And we managed to find a good view of the race itself, just by the 10 km to go banner.

There was a parade of cars prior to the arrival of the cyclists.  Some were giving away freebies.

Look what I got!

As expected, the cyclists went past as such a speed it that was difficult to spot our favourite riders, let alone photograph them.

But it was a fun occasion and I'm glad we were there.

We'll be watching all the remaining stages on the television at home, which will definitely provide a better view but will probably be lacking in atmosphere - bring out the yellow bunting!

Milly Cardigan

So, here they are, some photos of the recently finished cardigan. I'm calling the pattern Milly

I'm still not completely happy with my photographic attempts, but this is what I have at the moment.

It was easier to lay the cardigan out to get a decent view but I also tried some photos with me wearing it.

And these were taken using the mannequin.

I'll have to ask Eve to take some photos for me, or better still get her to model it!

I'll be writing out the pattern shortly, in the meantime you can see details of the wool etc used over on my Ravelry Project page.

Recycled Strawberries!

Way back when, before I discovered blogging, I knitted some strawberries.

There are numerous free patterns out there for Strawberries - both knitted and crocheted.

Every summer the strawberries are brought out and used as a seasonal decoration.

But this year I had an idea.  They were starting to look a little tired and boring - so I decided to jazz them up.

I crocheted some white strawberry flowers.

Added some green embroidery.

And then crocheted a lovely long chain, attaching a strawberry and a flower alternately along the way.

I now have a jolly garland - and a new lease of life for the strawberries.  Bring on the summer sun (oh, I think I missed it - it's raining today!)

I'm Not a Photographer

Well I've finished my latest cardigan.  It's been soaked and relaxed and is now wearable.  I've worn it a few times already, but what I haven't managed to do is take a decent photo of it.

I see other blogs and project pages on Ravelry and I'm greatly in awe of the wonderful photos that people manage to take.  I need to work on my photographic and styling skills.

I'll try again with the photos and let you see my lovely cardigan shortly.

In the meantime, I've been crocheting away making squares.

The aim is to make enough for a blanket but I'm not sure how I want to arrange them yet.

Maybe in groups of four with a border around each set - something colourful to counter all the grey?

I'll make a decision soon and hopefully get it finished before too long.