Eva’s Blanket Is Finally Finished (For Now) 

You may have seen me crocheting Eva’s Blanket if you’ve been following my blog  or especially my Instagram. I’ve been crocheting a colourful granny square blanket, letting Eva choose each colour/shade as I go. I’ve been working on it for quite some time now doing a few stitches most evenings, even taking it on the bus with me to work on!

The finished product –

Eva's blanket - finished

We ended up adding 16 different colours/shades to Eva’s blanket and she is absolutely over the moon for it to finally be finished (for now) and able to use it around the flat and on her bed.  Last year I knitted Izzy a soft fluffy blanket but it took quite a bit of time and hurt my hands although I did enjoy it. Crochet seem’s much easier, faster and calming to be honest.

I had one very happy girl last night, Eva settled pretty quickly snuggled up under her blanket and when she woke up this morning it was the first thing she grabbed to bring through to the living room where she snuggled up on the sofa until breakfast!

Eva's blanket - in bed
Sneaky photo of Eva snuggled up falling asleep

I’m feeling quite pleased with myself to be honest. It’s such a lovely feeling finally completing such a big project and seeing Eva so happy with the result! Eva wants me to continue adding on to it as she grows so I haven’t added a border.. yet!

I’ve already started on my next project too! A colourful scarf for Eva using the same wool she asked me to finish her blanket with. I tried knitting the scarf but was unhappy with how it looked. Instead I’ve gone back to my trusty hook and crocheting her a scarf!

 

Have you finished a project lately or are you currently in the middle of one? If you love crafting don’t forget to link up with #CraftingIsMyTherapy too.

Me You and Magoo

 

Latest WIP – A Crochet Blanket For Eva 

I’ve been getting a bit stressed again recently and as always I’ve fallen back on Crochet to help me through. It really is amazing how calming crochet can be, especially when you are familiar with the stitches/pattern.

I knitted a fluffy blanket for Izzy last year & Eva wanted a blanket of her own. With limited funds I haven’t managed to find any really nice soft fluffy wool/yarn for her but thanks to my friend adding to my stash I have started on a simple blanket for now so she doesn’t feel left out, especially with winter nearing and our love of sofa days with pillows, blankets, TV, books & hot chocolate!

Eva loves anything reallllllyy colourful (hence loving her colourful crocheted bag!) so I suggested making a blanket up out of lots of different colours/shades, which she was quite excited about.

Crochet blanket for Eva

I’ve been working on this blanket on and off and finally picked it back up again this week, mostly as Izzy keeps telling me I need to… ‘MUMMY! SIT! ROUND AND THROUGH! SIT!’ haha!

With Eva picking colours as we go it has slowly grown over the last week or so & we have decided to make it big enough to fit Eva’s bed for winter too so I will be making a second square & attaching them. I’m really enjoying making this blanket, changing colours and not having to think too much about what I’m doing as I can do this stitch with my eyes closed! (Yes I have tried, it amuses the girls haha!)

Eva wants me to incorporate the cupcake stitch I recently learnt somewhere in the blanket. I’ve been doing 3 rows though. Cupcake stitch is 2. What do you think? Maybe I could use some more of the colourful wool to blend it all together?

Do you crochet? If so, what are you currently working on? Or thinking of starting?

Me You and Magoo

Dear Bear and Beany

 

Keep Calm and Carry On Linking Sunday

Challenging My Crochet Skills

Somehow over this summer holiday I have managed to fit in a little bit of crochet in between the chaos and been trying to challenge myself a little more.

My first project was the crochet flower heart wreath Eva had spotted over my shoulder whilst I was scrolling through Pinterest.

The wreath Eva spotted on Pinterest

I hunted around the flat and found some gardening wire to make the heart shape and quickly got to work crocheting 18 flowers & 18 leaves, letting Eva pick the colours and sequence of the flowers.

Once all the flowers & leaves were finished we got to work attaching them to the wire to see how it looked and after a bit of neatening up we ended up with the wreath below…

Next time I will use thicker wool/yarn to make the flowers sturdier and a sturdier wire too as it is fairly floppy but sits well once hung.

Eva decided she didn’t want any buttons or extras added in the end and it is currently hung up on her bedroom door.

I really enjoyed making the wreath and definitely want to try a few different ideas soon!

I also managed to crochet Izzy a little handbag big enough for a fruit shoot & crisps/fruit bag for walks to the park which she seems to love!

I’m really enjoying getting creative with crochet but only knowing the basic stitches was starting to bore me so I decided to have a look around and find a new stitch to learn.

After a little look around I decided to try out the 4 point star stitch (Marguerite stitch) which is really easy once you get the hang of it and look lovely!

My first attempt was quite loose but with a different hook I think it will look much better now I’ve worked it out.

I love how quickly you can learn a new stitch especially with such great tutorials on the internet! I decided to start again with my favourite hook and was much more pleased with how the 4 point star stitch turned out.. What do you think?

Have you learnt any new stitches recently? What’s your favourite stitch?

 

The Secret Diary of Agent Spitback
Me You and Magoo

Crochet fun

I’ve got to admit I’ve been having so much fun crocheting lovely pieces now I have such a lovely stash of wool! I’ve been having lots of crochet fun!

After finishing Eva’s bag I really couldn’t think of what to try making next but Izzy helped me out by asking for a hat for her baby since one baby already had one attached to her. I quickly got to work and got a hat made up and gave it to Izzy the following morning, she absolutely loved it!

Izzy loves watching and helping me crochet and gets really excited when I pull out a ball of wool so I wasn’t surprised when she passed me a ball of wool and shouted at me as she pointed to her baby dolls feet. Socks.. Or shoes? I went for shoes as I struggled to follow a sock pattern and just altered it to the style I wanted and they didn’t turn out too bad! Although next time I think I’ll use thicker wool as the wool I used was quite thin.

crochet fun

I absolutely love the colour of the wool though & may use it for a light cardigan when I find a pattern I can read haha! I seem to be having trouble following pattern’s although I know the stitches and abbreviations!? So far my guessing hasn’t worked out too badly luckily..

Next Izzy wanted a dress for her baby and chose a pink (yuk), purple (yay!) & blue wool. Trying to find a dress pattern I liked and was easy to follow was hell to be honest. Most were too girly and frilly and I couldn’t stand them so after a bit of a sulk.. (I had already had to put up with using a wool with pink in it lol) I decided to just use the stitches I know and made it up as I went along adding button holes on the straps to make it easier for Izzy to dress and undress the doll. I have a huge stash of heart buttons & found some dark pink ones that I thought went well with the colours too & luckily Izzy loved the dress when it was finished.

I’m impressed how quickly I can crochet things like this and really enjoying learning all the stitches even if I am struggling to follow patterns.

I’m now debating what to make next and sorting my stash hasn’t helped at all.. Sooo many choices!!! If you dont follow me already then pop by my Instagram as I tend to share wip’s & finished projects on there 🙂 dont forget to follow me too, I follow back!

Colourful Crochet Bag

Having received 2 bags of wool last week and unsure what to make with all my amazing purple’s I started a little project for Eva using some rather colourful wool that had Eva written all over it which I found in the bags!

I decided to crochet a bag for her to give myself a bit of a challenge but struggled to find a pattern I liked so decided to just wing it with what I know and hoped for the best.

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I was shocked when it started looking like a bag, maybe not perfect but for my first attempt with no pattern I was quite pleased with myself to be honest.

Surprisingly it began to look like the bag I had pictured in my mind fairly quickly and I was quite impressed with how quickly I managed to finish it considering I was only doing 10-20 minutes here and there across the week. I managed to twist the handle when I stitched it on so had to unpick the stitching then  untwist the handle and restitch it again but luckily that didnt take too long either!

Im looking for 2 funky buttons so it can be done up and I still need to tuck the ends in but this is the finished product so far…

Eva absolutely loves the colours and pattern of the bag and has asked several times if its for her and if she can have it but I’ve told her I’m making it for someone else so I can hide it and fill it with gifts for her birthday.. Which I may have a little head start on already… 😉

I cant wait to give it to her! What do you think?

Now I need a new project.. Haha!

The Secret Diary of Agent Spitback

Me You and Magoo

Purple crochet/knitting project hunt

I am absolutely over the moon! Some of you may have seen on my Instagram yesterday a friend gave me 2 carrier bags full of wool, knitting looms and needles. It really made my day as I was very low on wool and hadn’t done much crochet or knitting lately!!

I’ve been struggling again since the steroid injections began wearing off and clearing through the flat over the weekend has left me hurting even more so lots of new wool to play with is a much needed distraction. I love how many purples there are and have already begun a little crochet project for Eva with the neon multi-coloured wool but I’m on the hunt for a project I can use the purple’s on for myself!

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I know a few of my readers crochet and knit and would love some suggestions if anyone has any?

The Secret Diary of Agent Spitback

Another Crafty Bargain

I shared with you all my Crafty Bargain before but completely forgot to metion another crafty bargain in the same shop in Grays highstreet, PoundCity.

I was really impressed when I spotted these and noticed that they were different sizes to what I already had so definitely had to be bought, I bought my brother a set too as I am trying to teach him to crochet as he already know’s how to knit.

Have you found any crafty bargains recently? Or starting/completing a project? Don’t forget to share them with me & leave a link in comments 🙂

Turning down days into up days

This week hasn’t been too great If I’m honest. So I’ve been find ways of turning down days into up days. My pain levels have been high & I keep losing my balance. I’m trying my best to stay positive and just rest but sometimes it’s difficult as I explained here.

I guess there are always going to be bad day’s & I just need to fill those days doing something easy and simple to stop focusing on the pain. So I decided to do just that and busy myself with something & ended up finishing off knitting Izzy’s red scarf I started before Christmas & forgot to pick back up again.

turning down days into up days

I finished off the scarf quite quickly and decided to make a start on learning how to crochet using this Youtube video. The first thing I decided to try crocheting was a simple flower. At first it looked complicated & I thought Id never get the hang of it! Admittedly Izzy hopping on and off my lap didn’t help much at first but I managed to make my first crocheted flower.

I was quite impressed with how it turned out although a little annoyed I had obviously made 1 too many links on one of the petals so it was slightly larger than the others and a bit wonky.. But hey it was my first try 😀

After that I felt quite confident I could make another without a video & managed to produce this second crocheted flower.

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I was much happier with this one and carried on making a few more..

Eva loved the flowers & asked me to make her a headband with a flower on. ( Just happened to be the wonkiest one!) So I gave it a go and this is how it turned out..

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Eva loved it and tried it on straight away and wore it for the rest of the evening 😀

I’m quite pleased with how it turned out even if Eva did choose the wonkiest flower I’ve made (haha).  I have really enjoyed learning too, I’m going to make Izzy a headband next and I want to learn to crochet hearts next too.

Do you crochet? Do you find it a calming hobby too? If you have any patterns or tutorials to share send me a link & I will check them out 🙂

10 Things I’m Looking Forward To In 2016

10 Things I'm Looking Forward To In 2016

10 Things I’m Looking Forward To In 2016.. A whole new year to look forward to! I usually don’t have too much to look forward to as we enter each new year however so far 2016 seems to have a few things in store for us which I can not wait for. So here are My 10 things I’m looking forward to this year.

  1. Steroid injections in March I know it’s strange to look forward to a procedure like this but especially as the pain is creeping back again I’m hopeful they will help ease even a tiny bit of the pain to allow me to continue strengthening my core.
  2. The Easter holidays – Although we don’t particularly celebrate Easter as we aren’t religious in any way we do love to scoff a few choccy eggs! (Don’t we all!?) The holiday itself is a nice break for us and a chance to do things as a family. Things are looking slightly better financially so we are hoping to fit in a trip to London during the Easter hol’s to visit the science museum and anywhere else that takes the girl’s fancy. We haven’t had a chance to get out and do much with the girls & I intend on changing that this year!
  3. Eva’s 6th Birthday (10th May) – The last few years the majority of people have let Eva down on her birthday so last year we decided against a party. This year however I’ve decided we are going to do something different & take her & her friend out for the day to the zoo. If we have our own car by then it will probably be Colchester zoo otherwise we can all take the train & visit London zoo instead! ( 😀 I Love it when I have a back up plan!)
  4. The summer holidays (June-Sept) – Who doesn’t love it when the sun is shine and that alone is a perfect excuse to go out & enjoy it. I hurt so much when it’s cold it makes it hard for me to feel motivated enough to take the girls out much but in the summer I always make up for it.
  5. August – It’s part of the summer holidays but I love it for other reasons too! My brother turns 21 on the 5th, Izzy turns 2 on the 6th, and I turn 20… (6 D: ) on the 14th. It’s a big one for my brother this year and I fully intend on making sure he damn well enjoys it!
  6. Spending more time with my brother – In the last 2 weeks we have seen him 4 times, usually we see him maybe once every 2-3 months as he hides away when he is struggling but he seems to be realising now he can come to us no matter what & we will help in any way we can even if he just needs to be around people and chat nonsense 🙂
  7. Figuring out how to make pretty knitted & crocheted items – I’ve been knitting a few years now but never had the confidence to do anything other than a plain knitted blanket or scarf, this year I want to focus on my knitting a bit more & learn to crochet properly. (If you have any tutorials/patterns etc please Get in touch :D)
  8. Growing the blog – Getting back into blogging again has already helped me loads & it makes me really happy to see my followers growing and people actually reading my rambles. It makes me even happier when people like & comment too. I’m really enjoying blogging again & cant wait to see what progress I can make in 2016 & look forward to connecting with other bloggers too.
  9. Working with brands – I love product reviewing and testing all sorts of stuff from technology to food, toys to appliances, there’s very little I wouldn’t mind reviewing if I’m honest & after testing a Cake for Baker Day’s it’s reminded me just how much I loved doing this on my last blog.
  10. Learning to manage my pain – I am now under a pain management consultant who really seemed to listen on my first visit & has explained so much to me that although I still feel a little lost with it all after  we now have a plan in place to help me manage the pain and build my core strength back up. The plan so far is that I will see  my consultant every 8 weeks or so with steroid injections & physiotherapy alongside it and once I am able to manage the pain better I can work harder on building up my strength, in the meantime though I just need to keep active but not push myself so hard and actually rest when I need to.. easier said than done admittedly with 2 young children but I am at least trying to slow down!

So that’s my list (I love lists!) of 10 things I’m looking forward to this year, what are yours?

Crafty Bargain

I managed to escape alone the other day into town which gave me a chance to actually have a little look around and find a crafty bargain instead of just grabbing what I knew I needed and heading home.

One of the Local Shops Poundcity has sooo many things for sale but I rarely take a proper look around when I pop in to grab myself a ‘Lentless & the Mr a Redbull so I took a wander around to see if there were any bargains I could pick up.

I came across a pack of coloured plastic crochet hooks in various sizes which I instantly picked up and had to buy as I currently only own one metal crochet hook because I am a bit tight and dont really like buying things like this unless I specifically need them but at £1 I could say no plus I am at least attempting to learn crochet & to top it all.. Yup there’s a PURPLE one!!!

crafty bargain

I came home feeling great & joked with the Mr & his friend that I actually bought something for myself for a change and not the girls, something the Mr is always nagging me to do haha!

I have previously bought a pack of plastic knitting needles for £1 in this shop, they are quite thin but they do the job & as I love trying to teach friends & their children how to knit I dont mind giving them away & I find them a lot safer & gentler for children to use too & have bought several packs already.

As you can see.. I’m down a few pairs again already 😂

I love little bargains like this they really make my day! Have you picked up any Crafty bargains lately? Or any Bargains at all?