Refuge blanket

I made a hair band for a friend in the Facebook pay-it-forward craft thingy. I made three crochet flowers like the first crochet flower I made (see post of 26 June 2012) and attached them to an i-cord band. Unfortunately the only photo I have is really rather rubbish, so you'll just have to imagine it.

I also made another hat for another friend in the same Facebook thingy, using Woolly Wormhead's Ruislip pattern, which I used for the Valentine hat I made for a swap (see post of 29 March 2013) but as it is identical, there is not much point in putting a photo here.

However, I did say back in my post about mitred squares (see post of 16 March 2014) that I had incorporated them into the last of our blankets for Refuge, so here is the finished item. I crocheted the blanket together and made a few other of the squares in addition to the multi-coloured mitred squares (the brown and cream diagonal one is one of mine). The rest were knitted/crocheted by DD, DM and various other members of the Croydon Knitting Group. I had hoped that someone else would offer to put together squares for future blankets, as I would be happy to do some more squares, but feel I have 'done my bit' as far as putting them together is concerned. It hasn't happened as yet...

Winter is Coming Cushion Cover

sewn side

knitted side

I was going to do a post about all three cushion covers I have made, but unfortunately realised I have no photos of the ones I made for DD in their completed state, just the progress photos. I have asked her more than once to take photos of them but I am still waiting...

This one was done for a Ravelry swap entitled Winter is Coming. For people who are not Game of Thrones fans, this is the motto of House Stark and was also apt as it was an autumn swap. The lady I got to send to likes autumn colours.

The sewn side (yes, I know this is a knitting blog, but sometimes things have to involve more than one craft!) is made from the cut-off bottoms of some friends' curtains, which I acquired in a craft swap meet. The border (down the left and right side in the picture) is the very bottom of the curtain. I cut two pieces the same and inverted one, so that the two halves (there is a seam down the middle) are (more or less) mirror image.

The knitted side is made entirely from stash, except for the burgundy, which I bought quite cheaply (so still sticking to yarn diet, more or less). I asked the recipient to imagine looking at a picture an autumn garden at the edge of a forest, then the picture is smeared (whether by hand or Photoshop) diagonally. The brown represents tree trunks; the two shades of beige (not easy to discern in a small photo, but there really are two) represent dead leaves; the burgundy represents copper beech leaves; the multi-coloured yarn represents a mish-mash of leaf litter etc; the yellow is the odd ray of sunshine through the trees; the pink is the odd faded rose in the garden; and the tiny bit of blue, which really should be at the top, not the bottom, is a little patch of blue sky. Yes, maybe I did get a bit fanciful and carried away with this, but it was that sort of swap and it was very well received, I am glad to say.

Third diagonal baby blanket

This one's made the same way as the previous ones (the pink and white one and the blue and cream one), except for the border. I used up a lot of tatty old bits in this and was a bit worried that it looked a bit of a mish-mash, but I think the white border (added because I realised I had made it a wee bit small) brings it together well enough. Some of the yarn I used was specifically given to me for the purpose of making baby blankets for the local baby unit and some was left over from previous projects (including some from at least 30 years ago), so as well as being a useful item, it has been a good stashbuster.

Dropped this in to the Acorn Suite last Saturday (23 March) along with the pink cardigan also posted today. Now I've finally got started on another pair of socks for myself, which will of course turn up on here eventually.