Bella

Well, this British weather is a tad strange.  We have had warm temperatures of up to 23 degrees and it is April.  Crazy really because I remember eating Easter dinner a few years ago and it was snowing.  Today the weather is freezing and raining. Anyway, never mind the weather because no matter what Mother Nature brings us, we will still moan about it.  I am just thankful that I do not live in Phoenix, Arizona.  The ladies from the podcast Come Knit With Us says its in the 100s...oh no.  Just not Susan weather, I could not function!!

Crafting has returned its mojo to me at least for now.  I have wanted to do a little bit of designing again and whilst spending a boring half hour doing some ironing shortly after my last blog post, I had an idea about a raggedy kind of doll thats not stuffed too much, that is bright and cheery and is crocheted from the legs up and does not involve much sewing.  After about a week of fiddling and writing it down, I came up with this little sweet creation.....

I actually had a different name to call her but Frank said that Bella was better suited and I will save the other name for another project.  Basically, her legs are crocheted seperately and then you join them when you start her body. You then tuck the ends inside as you stuff (so no sewing) and you crochet to the top of head with a little shaping and stuffing.  Her arms are the only things you sew on (oh and the hat to position) and the hair is a simple tassel but lots of them.  All I have to do now is write the pattern up which will happen on Bank Holiday Monday (4th May) and then I need to find a crochet tester to make sure the pattern reads ok for others.  

My next decision for crocheting came about as a surprise really when it should have been obvious to me.  My cat Tipsy and dog Tammie like to lay on my cushions on the sofa and at times, Tammie likes to scuff the cushion up to make it all cosy and in doing so ruins the cover.  I thought it time to change the covers and instead of going out to purchase new cushion covers I thought I should have a go at replacing them with crochet ones instead.  Why not!  I have tons of acrylic yarn left and lots of colours too.   So far this is what I have made......I just love them.

Tammie and Tipsy seem to like them too!

I am on my third cushion cover now and its going to be addictive and I may have to do a blanket too....

I have been thinking about how to close the front and back of the cushion cover because lets face it, it has to be washed!  So I am toying with the idea of buttons down either side or on one side.  I quite like the idea of doing a few of these to cover some pillows on my bed....hmmmm ideas ideas!

My knitting progress on the mitred blanket is going well.  I would have liked to have done a square a day however,  I want to enjoy making it and I know its going to be a long project so I just keep going with it.  I am going to do the blanket differently from other peoples attempts and achievements.  I like to be different and that is what is making me keep picking it up every evening whilst in bed.  Just half an hour to make one square and when I have the width I want, I am going to do something different with it.  Here is a progress picture so far...

Oh well, that is all the crafting news I have at the moment.  The weather does not look good this bank holiday weekend so I may be doing more crafting than normal which I am looking forward to.  I am off to bed now to knit a square and then to get some sleep....have a good week and will hopefully be back soon to bore you all with my crafting.  Take care and will leave you with a gorgeous photo I took tonight on the way home from work in my park.  Its a rhododendron and it smells absolutely divine...