Some Squares

The granny squares are accumulating. So far I have been adhering religiously to my plan to use up my stash, but I have got a point where I am left with a smidge too much pink that I don't want to use, and I feel a breathless craving for more shades of turquoisey-blues. So I am obviously going to have to cheat and supplement the spectrum with a trip to a yummy wool shop. The plan at the moment is to go around each square with a subtle and soft grey and then join them together with the same or similar colour, if I can find it. That way I think each square will stand out nicely rather than blurring into a painful cacophony of hues. Remember the snake in Disney's Jungle Book, hypnotising young Mowgli with his swirling eyes? Yeah well, that's not the effect I'm hoping for.

A note about the squares... Clearly, I have chosen to stick with the traditional granny square. I had bought a very funky-crazy pattern from Wonkey Donkey on Etsy, as seen on this post. But when it came to it, I could see myself spending years trying to learn each variation on the square theme and not getting very far with the blanket. As it is, this project is one to pick up and put down, according to mood or weather, so it's simple and comforting to just get into the rhythm of a familiar pattern. Then there are all those ends to sew in, but I'm not thinking about them today.

Swoony Loveliness Overload

'covered stool with hezlein' from whereyourheartis on Flickr

Is that just the right amount of heart-meltyness? Try not to stroke the screen. My new crush on granny square blankets has led me to this pic. Loads more inspiration and ingrained obsessiveness can be found on F*ck Yeah Granny Square. So far my squares are coming out quite loud so I was thinking of contrasting that with some pale neutral shades such as a light stone or dove grey. It should work, especially with our aluminium walls here in the Airstream.  Some similar ideas can be seen on this page on Apartment Therapy.

And So...

Right, that's that then. It's quite hard to pick up a blog when it's been left for a while, as many of the blog writers I read point out from time to time. Is there a bloggers' protocol out there, whereby we just type in a codeword and everyone understands the futility of trying to make up for the un-blogged weeks or months. That would be handy.

Plus, of course, there was that December festive stuff that seems to have been building up since about October, so let's not mention any of that. We survived. Nuff said.

So what's new, apart from the year? Well, we trundled around and up and down the country throughout December for friends' big-birthday and getting-hitched celebrations, as well as the family visits at the end of the month for you-know-what. Now we're happy to be tucked up once more in our Worcestershire hideaway.

And I just posted some Sock Critters from my Etsy shop to someone in Niagara Falls! I know that's probably exactly the whole point of being part of the Etsy handmade hyper venue, but it's still blooming marvelous to think that I can sit here in our Airstream in little old Blighty, knitting and sewing daft bits of loveliness, and someone in Canada (and Australia recently too) stumbles across my stuff and decides it's just what they need or want. Brilliant! Now the Little Tin Hut shop is looking a bit depleted so I have another Critter on the go and a tea cosy, of course.

Here's a cosy which I should have shown off proudly some weeks ago. It was made for Carl and Gaynor's 1959 Tradewind, with some of Gaynor's wool left over from her crocheted blanket. Her sister-in-law started her off this summer and I don't think she's stopped since. Dare I say she's hooked? No, I'd better not.

I've also been inspired to pick up the crochet hook again. I recently bought this pattern from Wonky Zebra's shop of vintage crochet and knitting patterns, and I have started working on the array of granny squares. The colours will be different of course, because I'll be wading through my stash as much as I can without making it fit-inducing.

From Wonky Zebra on Etsy

Long Lost Project

The number of times I have needed a little bag this size! I remember now that it was specifically for carrying my pocket-sized camera that is just a bit bulky for an actual pocket. So that, when Pete and I are out exploring (I can vaguely remember us spending two and a half years doing just that, bliss), and we've parked up next to a field with a hunebed or monolith, or "pile of old stones", I can just pop in the camera and car keys and go.

I had forgotten all about this poor abandoned little bag until Carole reminded me of it last week. I retrieved it from the depths of my half-finished project bag and just got on with sewing up the sides and attaching the strap. That's all that needed doing. How insane. And I am completely over the moon with it. I now feel the need for one in each colour.

Also handy for trips to the pub; money, keys, phone, lippy. I might have to turn this into a blog about the combinations of essentials that will fit into my handy little crocheted bag.

Eyes Open

During a day of chores and errands the supermarket car park presented this jewel. Some days it's a relief to realise my eyes are open and to catch a little bit of natural sparkle on a rainy day.


I never find the right bag. I assume there is one bag for every day, but I'm wrong. Sometimes I just need a little bag that will simply hold my point-and-shoot camera and the car keys, for those times when we hop out of the car to check out a bit of neolithic resilience, or the sun on the hay bales, or a rainy leaf! So I'm making one. I'm trying to make it quite tight and supportive, so I'm using cotton and double crochet (in English terms that is). The work feels a bit stiff, it doesn't glide like wool so I'm not really getting into a satisfying rhythm. And I'm making it up as I go along. How tricky can it be?


Getting up early has its rewards. Our Airstream is parked in a lovely wooded site this week. So we get dripped on long after the rain has stopped, sunlight is dappled, and there are acorns. Doesn't it already feel like summer is winding down? Or is it just here in the woods?

Still Hooked

The shawl is progressing, slowly. Although each row is one loop shorter than the previous one, I'm not feeling it yet. I am happy with the trellis stitch though.


The pattern is from Sirdar but I have substituted the shiny, synthetic yarn they recommend with a merino from Debbie Bliss. It has a little bit of stretchiness in it so I'm hoping I'm not going to end up with a massive, distorted, shapeless thing.

This might be a bit naff, but here goes anyway. While I was deciding what my next crochet project should be I saw Jennifer Aniston in some film or other and she was nonchalantly and stylishly sporting what looked like a crocheted shawl. It was open and light enough to be draped a couple of times around her slender neck. Consulting my copy of the Compendium of Crochet Techniques I guessed the stitch was trellis or similar. We can't always choose where we find inspiration, can we?

And why do I need a pattern for such a simple garment? Well I'm a novice and I needed the guidance for the shaping involved. It's all a learning process.

Getting Hooked

I have been experimenting with some crochet stitches, including this funky purple ruffle. I'm new to crochet and I just wanted to learn the stitches and to see how the textures and three dimensional shapes turn out. So I made some swatches of squares, circles, trellis and the ruffle as well as various flowers.


Now I am starting a shawl for myself in a trellis stitch. I'm looking forward to sitting outside the Airstream late into the approaching summer evenings and I think the trellis stitch looks like it will be open and drapey and wrap aroundy.


It is going to be a big, holey triangle. So far I have made a very long chain and a foundation row of one hundred loops. Each row will now get shorter by one loop, like a very slow countdown. Then there will be a fringe. Pretty glamorous really.

Crocheter's Block

Oh dear, I am stuck. I can't seem to make a decision about colours.

I have been thinking about making a throw, or blanket for the Airstream. I like the cosiness and familiarity of retro or traditional afghans, but our trailer has a modern interior with a fairly monochromatic colour scheme. I am happy to mix up contemporary and retro styles but I think the colours need to be just right. The granny square blankets lend themselves to fun colours but in this interior it could dominate. So I thought about sticking with the monochromatic scheme, or would that be too boring? What about adding splashes and flashes of colour?

I tried a few sample squares. They were too awful to even show here on the blog. Pete said they were a bit pearly king and queen, which is definitely not the look I'm going for. Maybe squares are too grannyish after all. Perhaps stripes would be better, or one big square radiating out from the centre.

Ooh I don't know. My indecision is making my head hurt. When we had our 1973 VW campervan we could just put in anything red, orange, rainbow-coloured, stripey, spotted and it would add to the grooviness. Mind you we didn't have to live in it.

As a reaction against the black and white disappointment I started a new project with as many random colours as I could muster. This piece is going to be felted and then cut into petal shapes and sewn together to make a flower. At least that's the theory. I'm following instructions from a Nicky Epstein book, except her colours are more restrained. I clearly need to get something out of my system.


Meanwhile I also continue to add to the monster menagerie.


I can't post pics of the finished wonders yet because they are destined for new homes and I don't want to dilute that first encounter.

Branching Out

After two years living and travelling in an Airstream and sharing the blogging on ukairstreamers.blogspot.com I thought it was time to branch out and put some of my wooly musings on my own blog. Don't be fooled by the title. It's not all about knitting.

Yes I am a nomadic knitter, and more recently crocheter and sock creature maker, but those titles don't scan so well. Plus I enjoy going off on a tangent and I aspire to avoid consistency.


One grandmother taught me the basics of knitting, the other crochet. These skills lay dormant until I decided a few years ago to knit a scarf in the style of Gromit's in A Close Shave as a Christmas present for Pete. I was perfectly happy to knit scarves for a while, simply enjoying the repetitive act of knitting rows and rows, and friends seemed more than happy to receive them as prezzies. Then when I was ready for more skills my knitting grandmother showed me how to make old-fashioned, pleated tea cosies. I have her pattern which is so folded and thumbed it has practically lost its molecular integrity.


So I make small things. I think I'm a slow knitter and I get excited about a new project, but I don't want to have to wait too long for the finished product. I also get excited about the colours, finding the right one that just sits there looking gorgeous, combining colours so that they blend or pop out from one another. These combinations aren't always wearable but they look fab on a teapot.


I recently had a flashback to how my other grandmother showed me how to crochet a granny square. Sadly she wasn't around for long and I didn't know anyone else who crocheted. I recently bought a "Compendium of Crochet Techniques" by Jan Eaton and so I am branching out. I like the potential for more three-dimensional textures with crochet so I'm looking forward to combining those with some jumping colours.