January....

    Hello👋😀

    It's the end of January 2026 already! I can't believe how quickly the month has flown by! It's been a weird couple of months since I last posted, and although I can't say that they have been chocked full of yarny🧶 goodness, I am still crocheting, but in a relaxed way, no specific projects or deadlines, just stitching because I want to. I do have one small plan on the go... but first, let me catch you up on what's been happening since we last spoke.

    You may remember that I was working on an Autumnal Cushion Cover🍁🍂. Since completing the front panel I have made some leaves to decorate it with, using a pattern from Attic24. But that is as far as I have got. I did start the back panel, having determined what I wanted to do for it, but the yarn I had chosen was not cooperating! I couldn't even get past the foundation chain before the seasonal roughness of my fingers was stripping the yarn of fibres. It was just so soft! I will try again though when my fingers aren't so bad, and I am considering using the yarn doubled for a more substantial fabric. If that doesn't work I shall have to buy something else to try.

    As for all the little Christmas🎄 projects I was hoping to make... well, they didn't get made. The small wreath I was thinking of making was a real stumbling block and I have decided that I will have to make it bigger if it is going to work out as I hope. I also didn't decorate those wooden trees from Hobbycraft either, but I'm quite okay with that because I feel I need to practice what I want to do to them on some scrap wood first, otherwise I can see them going horribly wrong and being a complete waste of money. I did however get my Christmas Cards made! Just not before December as I wanted. They were well appreciated by the family though, which always makes the effort worthwhile😌.

    I did receive a couple of yarny🧶 gifts at Christmas from my Sister: another box of small Cotton Balls, a "Rudolph" amigurumi kit and she gave me a Hobbycraft voucher in a Chenille Rudolph gift-card holder that she made herself! It's super cute! I'm going to put a hanging loop on it so I can use it as a decoration next Christmas. I have made a start on the amigurumi and it's been so nice to work on some simple rounds of Double Crochet. I've even bought a Bright Red safety nose to enhance its cuteness! 

    The one thing I have been concentrating on is my Sample Squares Blanket. You may remember from the old blog that I had started to edge some knitted sqares in black, and then made some crocheted ones to put with them in order to make a sampler blanket. I have been adding to the number of squares on and off, and I am now feeling that it is nearing completion. And this is where the Plan comes into it!

Knitted Squares

Crocheted Squares

    I recently counted how many squares I had actually made and found that I was only about nine or ten away from having enough to make a lap-sized blanket - I had originally assumed I would make a bed-sized blanket - and so that is exactly what I'm going to do: make the squares, edge them, block them (some of them really need blocking!), and then stitch 'em together. Only then will I start thinking about an edging for the blanket as I won't have any idea of a stitch count or the colour distribution before then. Now, it may be that I have to make a few more squares before the final stitch-up, because not all of them are the same size and I might have to make more - and perhaps not even squares🤔 - to make the length and width I want, but that's okay, and if it ends up a little longer or wider than expected it just means it's a bit warmer!

    And so that is where I am at the mo', calmly stitching along with no great sense of urgency or pressure. It's quite nice!

Till next time,👋😌