Making gifts

Ta daa ~ the first stash-busting blanket is finished!  I love this blanket...and so did Beverly when she spotted it LOL  So, guess who's getting this for Christmas 😉  It does go rather well with that cushion on our sofa, though.....

I made a rod for my own back started a Christmas tradition for Beverly a few years ago: "Christmas-every-day" ~ which is basically a little gift I've chosen for her to open each day in December up to Christmas Day.  I have decided to make a few of the gifts this year, and this tissue-box cover is one of said handmades.  She has been nagging asking me to make her a couple of square covers for a while, as the tissues she now buys come in square rather than oblong boxes.  She chose the colours herself from my humungous yarn stash, and this is the first one.  I have made a few oblong covers from a pattern by The Royal Sisters but they don't have a square pattern.  I was able to find one, though, for a Santa-themed cover which I just tweaked a bit 😊  I have another one to make for Beverly, in a different colourway, and I'm going to make a couple for myself too.

I've started on another blanket in that same colour combination to put on our own sofa.  After all, those colours do go extremely well with that cushion we have 😉  The pattern is a simple granny stripe from Granny Square Crochet by Catherine Hirst.  It's actually for a scarf but the pattern length worked out beautifully as the width for a good-sized lap blanket.  I'm simply going to keep on crocheting the stripes until I reach a length I'm happy with, ending with the same colour I started off with.  The scarf pattern has a nice edging which I shall probably use, too, to give the blanket a neat finish.  I shall use the beginning and end stripe colour, Mocha, for the edging.

Do you like my little cushion, by the way?  I've had it for a few years ~ I got one for Beverly at the same time.  Although I'm not really a fan of Union Jack-themed stuff I really liked the sentiment, it just seems oh so very British doesn't it!  I wonder if I could incorporate the phrase into a cross stitched picture ~ another project to add to my never-ending list methinks 😄