Friday 16 May 2014

3 Things




I have gotten over myself following my little internal strop about the Glastonbury blanket and not wanting to make any more squares. I realised that I was just being impatient to see it in full, and that this really wasn’t good enough!!

The blanket is really begging to be square, and not a half-hearted rectangle, so as much as I want to play with edging and my new projects, the Glastonbury (and my Aunt!) deserve better, so I have been hooking up the final 16 circles, ready to turn into squares, ready to turn into the last 2 rows of blanket. 

The Glastonbury Blanket, begging me to make it square!


The edging is puzzling me, when I started planning this blanket I had visualised a couple of extra Turquoise granny rounds around the whole thing, to neaten up the edges and to give a better proportion between the motifs inside and the edging outside. The edging I had pictured to be quite lacy and in a fabulous purple, making a real statement to finish off the blanket nicely.

I still love this idea, and I have found a pattern I loooooove for this plan, but the mounds of excess colourful yarn in my basket have a different idea. They are calling out to me to be turned into a border of granny rows in a fabulous fiesta of colour…

I don’t like the idea of lots of different coloured granny rows topped off with the lacy edge, as I feel it wouldn’t do justice to either plan – to my mind the lacy edge needs simplicity and boldness of colour, while the fiesta of colour needs a simplicity and boldness of pattern… However, I do have a little idea emerging of how to combine these competing ideas without spoiling either one, so I’m keeping it a secret for now until I can see if it will work!



This sheep is called Ginny, and she has hearts on her knees. How absolutely adorable is she?????






And the grand finale...
I received a little parcel today – I had been expecting it, and was quite excited to see it waiting for me when I got back from the gym today!



Inside was a card with a lovely message…



…and a little bag to keep its contents protected… can you see what is peeking out through the clear parts of the bag?



If you were thinking that it looks like yarny hooky goodness, then you’d have been correct! Just look at those lovely vibrant colours: 



Then turn it over, and see more lovely colours, and a fantastic pattern begging to be enjoyed!



To do justice to this lovely creation, I decided to take it outside into much better light for photos. I seem to not be very good at photographing round things, but I did my best to not have the perspective looking all strange.

And here it is, all that yarny-hooky-coloured goodness!



That’s right, it’s a stunning crochet mandala, hooked up in lovely purples pinks and greens in such a way that it shows off that lovely pattern to perfection. Its journey through the mail has left it a little rumpled at the edges so I will block it again to return to its full glory, but it is no less gorgeous for its travels!



So where would such a wonderful package come from? Why, the lovely Sharon at Perfect Days :)  We only met recently through blogland when I restarted my blog at this new address, and Sharon has been very lovely to me ever since we ‘hooked up’. Then a couple of days ago, I saw an email from her, asking if I would like this lovely thing to take with me to Australia – well that question was only going to have one answer!!!!! And now here it is, in the flesh (or in the yarn at least!) and it’s even lovelier than it was when I saw it in Sharon’s photos! What a wonderful, lovely, thoughtful and kind thing to have done – to offer something made by hand and with love as a gift to another person. I feel very privileged indeed to be the recipient of something so wonderful!

Thank you very much to Sharon, and to everyone else, please do pop by to Perfect Days and see this lovely mandala's journey into existence!



8 comments:

  1. Beautiful mandala!

    I think you're right with the border for your blanket, I don't think lace works well with too many colour variations, unless it's a really simple pattern I guess. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with :)

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    1. Thank you, I'm excited to get to the border and try out my idea - just sewing in ends on the next batch of circles at the moment though so still a chunk of work to do before I can do that!

      The mandala is gorgeous - I feel very lucky!

      D :)

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  2. Your blanket looks lovely, Debbie.....I love the colours and am sure you will choose just the right border! Love the sheep with hearts on her knees :) And what a beautiful mandala...such a gorgeous gift!
    Happy weekend!
    Helen xox

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    1. Thank you very much! I hope you have a great weekend too :)
      Thanks for the blanket comments, I'm so impatient to get to the border now! haha

      I love the sheep, I'll have to get more pictures to share - and of next door's shetlands too - they are so cute!

      Debbie xx

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  3. The blanket is looking just smashing :) mandalas are just gorgeous, I have them on my to do list!! Have a great weekend xx

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    1. Thank you!! I'm really anxious to get to the 'finishing off' bit of the blanket now, but still have this next set of pesky ends to sew in first... It'll be worth it though, as then when it's finished it's finished, and I can enjoy hooking up the border :)

      You have a great weekend too! xx

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  4. Awwww it's arrived. Yayyy!! I was a bit worried it would revert to pre-blocking curly mode, but it doesn't look too bad for having been squashed in an envelope for 48 hours. To be honest just leaving it flat cures a multitude of curly sins I found, gravity is a truly wonderful thing lol.

    I'm so glad it has lived up to expectations. I really enjoyed giving it to you and I know it's gone to a great home where it will be enjoyed and appreciated for many years to come.

    Thank you also for your kind words [I'm not sure I'm THAT nice really], you have made my day.

    Mr Glastonbury is looking good, I agree re the square thing but that could be my OCD influencing my opinion.

    Ginny is wonderful, hearts on her knees = very sweet. [Three legs?? Take a look! ;) ]

    Have a lovely weekend Debbie, it looks like we'll all get a bit of sunshine so enjoy!!

    Much love

    S xx

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  5. It did look good as it came out of the packaging actually - a little crinkled, but it improved much with a bit of smoothing out on the kitchen table. I love the colours - they're even more lovely than in the pictures aren't they? And because I don't know what our next place will be like in Oz, I'm having a great time imagining just the kind of place that would be perfect for it ;) I'm glad if my words hit the spot too :)

    I hadn't realised that I'd made Ginny look like a tripod! You can just make out a sliver of her 4th leg if you look carefully, so hopefully she'll forgive me ;)

    You have a great weekend too and enjoy the sunshine - it's the village fayre here tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to experiencing a bit of village life with the sunshine.

    And thank you once again for such a kind and thoughtful gesture and beautiful gift!

    Dxx

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