Last week & Community

We had a holiday, not really a proper holiday as most of it was spent driving.
And we didn't go anywhere exotic, we went back to Suffolk to see the family, we also popped into London on the way past to see our big girl and her husband in Bethnal Green.

We had a lovely evening with them at "1st Thursday", on 1st Thursday all the local art galleries open for the evening, Felice and Phil live in street full of art galleries, so we spent the night wandering in and out being part of the London arty crowd.
On Friday morning Felice took us to see Bow Arts Studio's, up until a few weeks ago she had a studio, she has now moved out as she has space to work at home, but she still spends time at the studio's as she is part of the community and she will be showing in one of their exhibitions later in the year.

As we took Tinks with us we thought we needed proof that our country dog had been to the big smoke, so here she is in front of the Olympic park, just around the corner from the studio's.

London looks wet and gloomy in this photo, but as we had suffered 37 degree heat the day before it was heaven.

Then we drove to Suffolk and spent 2 nights at Phil's sister in Kessingland, we went to Southwold on Friday night for fish and chips and a pint of Adnams. 

It was a very strange experience, we felt like tourists in a place we had spent all our lives....

Last time we went back to Suffolk I felt very anxious and didn't enjoy it much.

Even though I am a born and bred Suffolk girl the last few years before we left had been a living nightmare.

I think a part of me still didn't believe that I had found peace and happiness on Exmoor and I was worried that I wouldn't or couldn't get back to my new life.

This trip was different I was relaxed and happy and could enjoy the sun and pretty Suffolk countryside, as I felt safe in the knowledge Exmoor is my home, I'm part of the community and I belong there/here.

Anyway back to our holiday, on Saturday we had a very enjoyable Perkins family barbeque and Tinks met Peggy the pug, she didn't quite know what to make of her and was slightly scared. However when it came to begging for burnt bits of burger on my plate she decided that Peggy was safe enough to sit next to.

On Sunday we went back to Woodbridge to spend the afternoon with my Dad and Aunt, we had a lovely relaxed lunch and filled the van with the last of our belongings. Fred met us there and helped with the van packing :-)

Then the 3 of us and Tinks went to Shingle Street for a walk. I hadn't ever wanted to go back to Moors Farm and our old house, but when we drove past they seemed like a distant memory and it was nice to see them.

I've just realised that Tinks looks like a lap dog in all the photo's, but she isn't. 

Firstly she's now a bit big for a lap dog and secondly in the above photo I had to hold on to her as she had been running around the marshes like a mental case and needed to be held just to have her photo taken.

Sunday night was spent at Fred's eating Chinese takeaway from our favourite Chinese takeaway.

And on Monday we drove back to Exmoor, arriving home about 4 pm.

Tuesday was spent sorting out all the e-mails and sales we had had while we were away and yesterday Daisy and I took NDS to the North Devon show.

It was fun and lovely to chat to new customers and meet lots of local's, but it also reinforced that Exmoor is our home. 

Several Lyntonites came to the show and came to chat with us, it really made me feel happy that these were people I know from my everyday life and Dais and I were able to show them what we did.

Oh and while we have been jaunting around I did this......

Firefly is beginning to come together and the pattern is beginning to show, I have 2 weeks to finish it in time to be photographed for the book. I'll keep you posted on the progress.

I love Godiva HT

I was really excited when we took delivery of our first batch of Godiva (Merino singles)  HT 4 ply, I love the Godiva DK its soft and plump and makes very snuggly cuddly blankets and garments, so I was hoping for the same in a 4 ply version.

When the 4 ply arrived I loved it, it was beautiful and soft in the skein.
It dyed like a dream, much like its big sister the DK, strong vibrant colours.
But became crinkly when we mordanted and dyed it.
I understood that the crinkles were a result of the very high twist, which makes it a lovely sock yarn with a brilliant stitch definition.
But I personally don't really like crocheting with high twist yarns I prefer plump, soft cuddly yarn.

Phil disagreed with me, he likes making socks and likes high twist, so he promptly knitted a pair of these claiming that someone should always test knit a new yarn and declared his undying love for Godiva HT.

So I thought I had better try it and used it for the background of my new Spyro blanket.

And instantly I fell in love!

Its soft and smooth to use, and had a brilliant stitch definition.

When I blocked Spyro the Godiva bloomed and transformed into a stunning blanket yarn.

I'm sad to say it has replaced Dazzle HT in my heart, my only regret is its Merino and not BFL, but you can't have everything....

We have some new colours in tomorrows update at 7pm UK time - you will be able to find it HERE

But if you can't wait for tomorrow night you will find we already have some colours in the shop and you can find them HERE

Madder Triangles July 2013 update

I thought you might like a book update, I'm really hoping to have it published at the end of August.

I've had to abandon the star section as I was never going to have enough time to crochet and design a new blanket and scarf, so the book is down to 8 designs, the star's will have to be in next year's book, although I will publish Florence as a single pattern and maybe another one before next year's book comes out.

Kaleidascope

Lecchi Blanket - Finished

Plankton Scarf  - WIP

It looks very wobbly as the centre section is blocked.

Ripple 

The Rising Sun - Finished

Isabella Scarf - Finished

Spiral

Spyro Blanket - Finished

Firefly Wrap - wip

I started Firefly on Sunday while watching Lewis Hamilton win his first F1 race of the year - I love Lewis.

These 3 photo's illustrate 3 day's worth of designing, the first is unblocked, the second blocked and the third after I had designed a new filler, which I hope works as well when its blocked.

Wings

Icarus Shawl - Finished 

Serefina Shawl - Finished

Granny Squares

As it was a designing day on Friday I thought I would have a look at Inside Crochet's Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/insidecrochet)
Inside Crochet asked a very interesting question - What is your opinion on Granny Squares?
They have a reader's poll with 3 possible answers
1 - love them - 27 likes
2 - They have their uses, but not for every project. - 16 likes
3 - They are good for learning crochet, but I have moved on. - 1 like (and that's mine!)

I was surprised by the results.
I expected the majority of people to like no 2, instead of which most people liked no 1
But I'm the only person to like no 3
I didn't realise I was in such a minority.

Before you all start shouting at me for being a crochet snob I will explain.

Firstly I want to define what I think a granny square is.
I searched the Ravelry data base for crochet granny squares. 
The search came back with over 1000 designs tagged granny square.
Most of them were square motifs that could be used for blankets, so I refined my search to crochet granny square blankets, this weeded out a lot of the square motifs and left a lot of designs using my definition of a granny square, there were still over 300 designs.
Many were the same old design used time and time again, some clever colour variations, but still the same basic design. (I'd like to add that one of them was Mine:-)
This is my definition of a granny square.

Granny squares are the perfect beginners project, they are easy to make and grow quickly, you can use any yarn or hook size and once you have learnt the pattern its difficult to forget.
Most designers start their careers with simple designs, normally scarves or hats, 6 years ago I started mine with a granny square blanket.
It was called Bessies Blanket and made in honour of my granny - Bessie

I have a very short attention span and quickly bored of the granny square, too many trebles and not enough scope to experiment. I prefer half trebles, one time less through the hole each stitch and they're bigger than double crochet stitches. But this is just my opinion.and I don't expect many people to agree with me.

Over the last 6 years I have experimented and played, my motifs became more and more complex, but I've never used complex stitches, I'm too lazy to learn them and can achieve the effect I want with simple stitches.

I have now returned to a really simple motif, because I want to play with colour and surface design. Its easy to make, if you can make a traditional granny square you can make this. 

If it was square it could be classed as a granny square, just not the classic granny square.

Going back to my comments about being surprised because the granny square is so loved, I'm not surprised that so many people love a crochet motif, I'm surprised that so many people are happy to stay in the same place and re-make the same thing over and over again instead of trying something new.

There are so many amazing designs and designers out there waiting to be discovered.

To all granny obsessives everywhere I urge you to give yourself a challenge, make one granny, make one something else, make one granny, make one something else.....

I've done a couple of Ravelry searches - maybe you'll find something you'll fall in love with...

Cardigans

Shawls

Hexagon Blankets

I'll leave you with this quote from my favourite author, I feel its relevent to my blog post and the film version of the song is playing in my head while I write this post. its the first verse from "The old walking song"

The Road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with weary feet,

Until it joins some larger way,

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say.