It’s been an incredibly busy week. I’ve had quite a few freelance deadlines to meet and I’ve been feeling rather uninspired when it came to last week’s Alphabet Photo Challenge hosted by Charly over at PODcast. It was the letter Y. Yellow? Yell (my photo was nearly the photo of the haunted Wind House on the Shetland island of Yell, but I ended up turning that into a Taste of Shetland post for Halloween! Click here to read all about sheep’s head broth, a haunted house and other spooky stories from Shetland). Youth? Nah. I couldn’t come up with anything I could (or wanted to) photograph.
Then, last night I picked up my crochet.
A collection of crochet squares has been sitting in my craft drawer for years, after I had a notion to make a crochet blanket with bibs and bobs of coloured yarns donated to the local charity shop. Each week I’d check the yarn basket to see what had arrived and add it to the blanket. I liked the idea of practicing various crochet techniques with bits of unloved yarn discarded by other crafters. That and buying new yarn is an expensive hobby!
I pulled out these unfinished squares a few weeks ago and ventured back to the charity shop to find the yarn basket was empty. So, I finished up with what I had and sewed them together (20 different coloured squares in total). I picked up a ball of multicoloured yarn from the local craft shop and I’ll crochet a simple edge all the way around the outside of the squares until I run out. I might add another ball, who knows. I plan on wrapping the finished blanket up for a Christmas present for my daughter.
I like sitting there in the evening watching television (quite often The Big Bang Theory with my teenage son) absently crocheting away, so to finish a blanket with a crochet stitch you don’t have to think about is ideal.
Last week, for the Alphabet Photography Project, Y is for Yarn, taken while I was playing with the vivid colour settings on my camera.
A is for… Adventure
B is for… Brave
C is for… Coast
D is for… Derelict
E is for… Education
F is for… Fishing Industry
G is for… Green
H is for… Helicopter
I is for… Iron Age
J is for… Jelly Sweets
K is for… Kohlrabi
L is for… Lynn
M is for… Marmoset
N is for… Noise
O is for… Orangedale
P is for Puffin
Q is for Quarry
R is for… Ruins
S is for Sculpture
T is for… Time
U is for… Up Helly Aa
V is for… Valhalla
W is for… Winkles
X is for… χάρτης khartēs
If you want to be kept up to date on my recipes, occasional craft tutorials, adventure stories and giveaways then please subscribe to my weekly newsletter; it gets sent out every Monday morning if there is new content. Your email address won’t be passed on to anyone, you will never be spammed and you are free to unsubscribe at any time, no questions asked. Make sure you confirm your subscription or you won’t receive the newsletter – if it hasn’t arrived check your junk mail folder.
[wysija_form id=”1″]
Heather Haigh
I love to crochet, but after breaking both bones in my left wrist, my fingers are just too stiff. So I’m knitting, very slowly, and gradually getting some flexibility back. I aim to be back using my hooks in a few months. I do think doing something you enjoy is far more motivating than doing it because it should make you better. I love the colours on you masterpiece – it will give me inspiration to get back to mine. x
Holly
I imagine there are lots of bits of leftover yarn in the Shetlands. It is a shame you were out of luck this time though.
sustainablemum
Love the colours, crochet is something that still evades me despite friends trying, one day……
Chantelle
Yarn, crochet, charity shops, The Big Bang Theory… You’re speaking my language! That rainbow yarn is very pretty!
Elizabeth
Haha, fantastic! 😀 I thought it was rather pretty yarn too. I can work a simple stitch and have it look fab 🙂
fashion-mommy
Lovely idea to use Yarn for your Y – the squares are already looking great.
#UKBloggers
Elizabeth
Thank you! 🙂
Emma
Id love to learn how to crochet, I think the finished result looks amazing and what a lovely gift for your daughter 🙂 xx
http://www.itsalwaysdarkestbeforethedawn1.blogspot.co.uk
Elizabeth
It’s really easy to do. The ladies in my craft group taught me how in an evening, but there are plenty of tutorials on YouTube (I rely on these quite a bit!)