A bit of this ...

... and a bit of that. This is what I do when I'm too tired to work on anything properly (which is quite a lot of the time). So, for the last few weeks, I've been flitting between various projects and not particularly enjoying any of them.

First of all, I've been working on a sort of cray patchwork knitted block. It's only sort of crazy because there's actually an underlying order to it.

I started with the 3" green square in the middle, then picked up and knitted the stitches for the 1" red strip, the 2" blue strip and the 3" cream strip in turn. The last three strips, still working clockwise, are 1, 2 and 3" wide respectively. 

As you can see, each strip or patch is worked in a different textured stitch which was a bit tricky as, of course, the tension varies between them. The whole thing measures about 9" after blocking. The plan is to start with each of the six colours in turn and to knit six of each colour variation - are you still with me? What with that and turning them round as I sew them together, I'm hoping that the finished blanket will look suitably random.

What's next? Ah yes, my colourwork knitting.

Twelve colours, changing colour every two rounds, one round slip stitch, one round knit. I love how this looks but all those ends were going to be a problem. So, I decided just to knot them together.

The wrong side of the stitch pattern looks nice too, doesn't it? It will be hidden when the project is finished though as this is going to be a bag with a fabric lining - got to hide all those ends.

I was getting on well with this until I came to what to do at the top of the bag. I'm torn between a fiddly knitted casing for a drawstring (which I think will look nicer but people might not want to knit) and eyelets (simpler but boring). 

Next is a nice easy crochet project.

I'm making myself a shawl with the lovely King Cole Bramble DK. This shade is called Loganberry and I bought the yarn with some Wool Warehouse vouchers I got for my last birthday from a friend (thank-you Pat if you're reading this). I also bought the hook for the project as I found I needed a 6.5 mm one, bigger than I normally use. My favourite crochet hooks are the Clover Amour hooks which are comfortable to use and come in a range of different colours so you can spot the size you want easily. I already had orange (2.5 mm), pink, (3.5 mm - I use this one a lot), purple (4 mm - can't actually find this one at the moment, it's probably hiding in an old project bag), turquoise (4.5 mm), green (5.5 mm) and now this bright green one. They're more expensive than normal hooks but I think they're well worth it.

Anyway, the shawl is worked in moss stitch, using a combination of double and treble stitches. I'm thinking of adding some sort of collar when it's finished and probably buttons or tassels - or both.

The last of the projects I'm working on at the moment is a blanket I started two pattern notebooks ago in June 2017 so it's about time I finished it. I spent last week sewing the squares together, one strip a day and am now knitting on the borders, 200 stitches or so at a time.

This one should be finished soon ... if I can find a big enough space to block it in. It's only a small blanket but there's stuff all over the floor (as normal).

In between all this work knitting and crochet, I'm still enjoying my cross stitch. I'm getting towards the end of the last of my seasonal samplers.

I think this might be my favourite. It's lovely to work on but makes me very tired so I can only do little bits at a time. I've just got to finish that tree and then I'll be on to the border.

Needless to say, my daughter Rose finished hers weeks ago.

I was most put out. Not only did she beat me by weeks (again) but she got 'July' to sign while I shall have 'August' which is two letters longer. And no, I'm not petty at all! Here are all four of Rose's samplers ...

We're hoping to choose and order our frames soon so that we're ready to display each of them during their season. I'm looking forward to that.