Sea Colours blanket

It's finished! So happy with my very first crocheted blanket!



Yesterday I added the border, then rushed out to get some foam mats from the local hardware store before they closed. I blocked the blanket last night:



And this morning had a photo shoot in the garden!



Since these are the first granny squares I've made since I learned to crochet in July, there is room for improvement. Some squares were larger than others (so some serious stretching was done), some squares have gaping holes where I started a new row, some have colour changes that could have been done more subtly... But I've learned a lot while making this project, and I just adore the fresh colours, so warts and all, I love this blanket!



The details:
Sea Colours blanket
Pattern: Baby blanket by Jeanet Jaffari
Yarn: 4 Seasons Flinders Cotton 8 ply
Hook: 4.0 mm

Road trip to Brisbane

Last week, when the boys had school holidays, we drove down to Brisbane. We met up with old friends and visited our favourite places, such as New Farm Park (photo above), where the jacarandas were blooming. It was so good to be back!



In New Farm I took a few pics of some gorgeous art deco buildings (more pics on my photo blog):



We also spent some time in South Bank. I love the bougainvillea there:



A typical Queensland thunderstorm rolled in while we walked past the Streets Beach. I'm very pleased with this photo!



I did a lot of crocheting both in the car and in our B&B at night...



... and came home with this pile of granny squares. Only a few more to go and then I can start to assemble the Sea Colours blanket!

Look, it's a walking granny square!

My granny square shirt is finished!



The pattern I used is in issue 90 of Inside Crochet - the Gradient Granny Tee by Sarah Shrimpton. It looks a bit different if you have curves, but I'm pretty happy with it!

First finished crochet project!

I just finished my first crochet project! A simple mesh bag, for shopping, or storing balls of yarn. The free pattern can be found here.



It was fun to do and a quick make - I started it on Thursday and finished it today.



Now I'll get back to the giant granny square shirt and the sea blanket. They're both about halfway done. Stay tuned!

More crochet

When my mother-in-law taught me to crochet in July, when we were in the Netherlands, she didn't mention how addictive it was! My pile of granny squares is growing steadily - I just can't wait to pick up my hook and make another one.



I also have this continuous urge to look up crochet patterns on Ravelry and check out crochet magazines at the newsagent's. The other day I picked up this British mag:



I really liked the Gradient Granny Tee on the cover - so when I got an email from Spotlight about their yarn sale I couldn't resist buying more yarn... (hey, it was on sale!)



I've started on the shirt (hope it will look as good on me as on that flat-chested model...) - it took a bit of getting used to the English (UK) terms (after learning in Dutch) but I adjusted to that pretty quickly. Now all I have to manage are the US terms! Why are they different??



I thought about making a case for my growing collection of hooks, but of course one of my pencil rolls is perfect for the job!