Favourites.....

Looking back at bloggy statistics, I thought I'd just share my most popular posts of all time here on this post.

It's no surprise, this being a crafty crochet blog, that they are all crochet makes......

in 1st place:

This one

in 2nd place:

This one

in 3rd place:

This one

in 4th place:

This one

in 5th place:

This one

The Evening Sun Blanket and the Serendipity Blanket are my two top favourite blankets I have made to date. Alicia Paulson's Sunshine Day Blanket makes up my top three I think.

The scarves inspired by a post on Vanessa Cabban's beautiful blog (sigh, still miss her so terribly in the crafty community) are my favourites too. They never fail to bring me colour joy when I wear them.

The waffle post, really was a waffle post, but full of my most recent makes. I had been a busy bee Blanket making and the baby blankets were a dream to make (so much so, adult blankets were made soon after). The pom pom edge blanket is a faithful friend to me. Bright and happy, I love it in the summer. The Rosy Posy blanket was a mammoth job! It was huge, but it was fun to do. It was made to be kept in the car for picnic and seaside trips and just general car snuggling on long trips.

The hot water bottle cover tutorial, is always a big hit some Christmas time. You all know me by now. I don't do tutorials, simply because I am so pants at them, but so many asked for one, and I did a general one to cover all sizes of hot water bottles, and it seemed to be a hit. I have it bookmarked, as I need to make some more for myself. My other covers are looking sorry for themselves as they have been so well used.

So, there we go.

Your favourite posts.

I just thought it was nice to share with you what you have liked the most since I have been blogging.


xxx

Ray Of Sunshine Scarf........

My little.......

Ray Of Sunshine

I tend to gravitate towards Pastel shades in the summer months. Maybe it is because there is so much colour out in nature that I feel the need to keep things calm in the colours that I wear and in my house. The opposite happens in the Winter months. The grey, dull, depressing days call for bright colours to chase away the winter blues. I think it's only in the last few months I realised this colour cycle that I have. It's always been there, I just never really picked up on it before. 

Working on pastel blankets, as soon as the Autumn started to approach, I started to hanker after colour. Strong, vibrant colour.

I ordered some yarn trying to find the brightest shades that I could. Some were bordering on neon, which was a touch scary. I just wanted bright and 'in your face'. I wanted zing and wake up colours. I wanted colours that made me feel alive.

I know it was to be a scarf or shawl or cowl of some type but actually I wasn't sure what on earth I was going to make. I didn't have a pattern in mind, I just thought it might be fun to make something up as I went along. Errrrrrr, not such a good idea.

I started with a shawl, but after several hours of working on it, I didn't like it. I just liked a chunk of it. So I took that chunk of it and made a scarf. But after several hours of working on it, I didn't like that either. So I took the bit of it that I did like and the Ray Of Sunshine scarf was the result. I just sewed in the ends and I just couldn't decide what I wanted for the ends. I toyed with a fringe, or a lacy border, or even little pom poms. In the end I just left it plain, and it will probably remain as so.

So, the shell pattern was what I ended with, and I have to say, I think it was meant to be just that. I did the lines long ways which I think turned out better than having short lines.

I love it. It's gorgeously bright and uplifting. Quite 'in your face' but it makes me smile and it really is a little Ray Of Sunshine on a horridly grey day.

Today has been high winds and grey and wet, but then the sun came out for 5 minutes so I took it outside for a few snaps. I just managed it before it went grey and wet again.

I used Stylcraft Special DK as they seemed to have the best colour range of bright colours. Nothing seemed to beat them for colour except some cotton styles, but I didn't want to make this in cotton.

I used:

Lipstick 1246

Sherbert 1034

Fondant 1241

Grass Green 1821

Royal 1117

White 1001

Citron 1263

Do you know, I'm still not 100% convinced about this yarn. I LOVE the colour choice, and it's nice to work with, but there is still something, which I just acannot put my finger on, that is making this not a perfect yarn for me. I know it is so well used here in crafty land, but, as much as I love the pattern and the colour of this scarf, there is something about the yarn that has not put this scarf up there in my laminated list of scarf favourites.

However, the colours more than compensate for it, and it shall be a 'go to' when I am in the need of a complete colour boost and pick me up.

xxx

Going Back......Pastels...

Okay, so after my last post, I guess I couldn't keep the pastels hidden. So here are some from the archives.....

Ahhhh, it's been so nice re-visiting some images. I've not yet had the desire to read through past postings, so it's been nice to just catch up on what I found interesting enough to photograph. It's been fun. I hope you have enjoyed the photo blasts too! 

xxx