Stacking up

After a few hours working in the garden I really don't feel up to doing anything that could possibly turn out to be even a teensy wee bit strenuous ~ so as you can imagine my decidedly patchy housework routine has gone completely out the window yet again 😄

That's not to say, though, that I've just been vegetating in front of the TV of an evening 😉 I have in fact been plugging away at the Christmas gift blanket I started back in August.  I estimate that I'm about two-thirds of the way through the body of the blanket but I confess that the making of it does seem to be crawling along somewhat *sigh*  It's also not as wide as the bonus blanket, and I don't really know why.  I can only surmise that I made a longer starting chain for the BB and/or used a slightly larger hook perhaps?  This is, of course, a good lesson on why I should keep proper records of the things I make for future reference!  To bring it up more to the dimensions of the BB, I guess I'll just have to make a wider border.

It is a very pretty blanket, though, and I am pleased with how the colour combination has turned out, but I rather think it will be quite some time before I tackle another interlocking block stitch pattern 😄

To make matters worse, my butterfly mind keeps flitting over to the latest blanket Beverly has asked me to make: a baby blanket for her friend.  Said baby is due in February, I believe, so provided I get a wiggle on with the Christmas gift blanket I should be able to leave myself enough time to make this one.

pattern from Dada's Place

This is the pattern that Beverly has chosen, the Rainbow Ruffle Blanket by Dada's Place.  Dragana has lots of lovely, free, patterns on her blog as well as many more in her shop.  I came across this particular pattern quite some time ago and it's been sitting in my stash of patterns waiting to be made since then.

Beverly decided to keep the colour palette very simple and neutral rather than the rainbow colours used in the pattern, and also to have the blanket made a little larger.  I got the yarn from my usual go-to supplier, Wool Warehouse.  It's King Cole Cottonsoft DK which, as the name suggests, is a 100% cotton yarn and comes in 100g balls.  The main body of the blanket will be in the lovely pale green shade, Sage, with the ruffles in Oyster.  I'm not very good at estimating how much yarn I'm going to need if I alter the size of a project from what is stated in the pattern ~ hence all that leftover yarn from Olive's blanket that I still haven't used up, despite making the bonus blanket 😲  At least anything that may be leftover from this ruffle blanket can be put to good use for making more dishcloths as and when I need them😉

So as you can see, the projects are starting to stack up a tad.....goodness knows when I'll get the guest bedroom blanket finished!  

Whilst I was very good and didn't let myself be tempted to add to my decidedly not-insubstantial yarn stash, I did succumb to the allure of a tapestry kit that I'd had in my WW wish list for a while.  After all, how could I be expected to resist the rather pleasing 15% discount 😏   

I had been planning to repot the houseplants in the living room on the days I can't get out in the garden, but I guess I won't now be disturbing my schlumbergera any time soon!  It seemed to just suddenly be full of buds although I should, of course, have been expecting them to be putting in an appearance now that we're into October.  The flowers are a very pretty pale pink, and really add a cheerful note to the long, dark, days of autumn and winter.  Oh well, Miss Schlumbergera will just have to wait until she's finished blooming for her repotting ~ I've still got plenty of her companions to keep me occupied in the meantime 😊