Wednesday 28 September 2011

Granny Square Therapy

There are days when nothing goes right. With full on ulcerative colitis, a daily barrel load of steroids and the endless of pressure of juggling work and home life I have had more than a few of Those Days recently.

On Thursday last week, after a bad nights sleep and hours of pain before I had even left the house for work, I found myself sat at my desk at 8am drained and exhausted.  I got the important work done, then jumped in my car and drove home in a daze to sit on my sofa and rest. 

Living with chronic illness is hard.  But this has never stopped me before, I've come through worse. Besides I'm treating myself with a new therapy - Granny Square Therapy...

Making mini squares

I got home, I picked up a hook, found some Kentish alpaca yarn and just started making mini squares, loads of them.  I lost myself in the repetitive hooking and endless weaving in of ends. As they are so teeny, just two rounds in each, the are very satisfying to make; no sooner have you started than you have a little pile of finished squares.  I made 48 squares in all.

Making mini squares

Then I crocheted them all together, added some edging and my favourite picot stitch and...

Granny Square wrist warmers

Granny Square wrist warmers

I now have a pair of soft, cosy hand warmers to get me through autumn and winter!

I crocheted together my mini granny squares leaving a small thumb gap, then I edged the thumb and top edge with a simple single stitch (I am talking in US terms here).

Close up of top edge

For the bottom edge I used my favourite picot edge stitch, pretty!

Close up of wrist edging (picot stitch)

Of course no less than three days later the weather turned and instead of the lovely autumnal drizzly fresh weather we are SUPPOSED to be experiencing, we are now in the midst of a heatwave.  You have me to thank for that.  Just think what might have happened had I made an entire jumper.

All this talk of Crochet as Cure reminds me that I need to share with you the progress of the Big Happy blanket, I haven't forgotten of course :)

Right, best make the most of this blasted heat and get the next load of washing out.....

Ali
x

10 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear you're having a horrible bad patch Ali, but super impressed that you're still being so productive!!

    The hand warmers are so cute!

    This warm weather has me so confused! I was getting excited about getting my boots out and big jumpers!!

    I'm on a washing mission today too, hope yours is drying as well as mine!

    Big hugs,

    Ele x

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  2. Hi Ali - what a beautiful way to use granny squares and what a lovely colour - I can't wait to get my wrist warmers out.

    I hope you feel rested soon.

    Nina x

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  3. Like the idea of crochet squares made into gloves, they look really cosy. I am going to look at your brownie's now. I found them the other day and they looked yummy. Of course I never made a note of where I saw them and then looked everywhere for them again yesterday. I am so pleased to have found them again. I am going to attempt to make them. I will let you know how they turn out.

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  4. Hi Ali, glad you like the stocking, sorry to hear you're not feeling too good, I hope all those lovely mini crochet squares you made helped you to feel a little better........crafting can sometimes be a great therapy,

    take care, lily.

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  5. I'm going to try and post this comment again, so I hope it doesn't pop up twice.

    Hi Ali, so glad you like the stocking, sorry to hear you're not feeling so good.......I hope all those lovely crochet mini squares you made helped you to feel a little better, crafting can be a great therapy.

    take care, lily.

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  6. Thanks for the lovely comments everyone...this is me testing out to see if I can comment on my own blog... :)

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  7. What beautiful stitches and hand warmers! Lovely.

    I hope Those Days become fewer and farther between!

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  8. Just lovely, and the best kind of therapy.

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  9. Just caught up on your news, so sorry to read what you have been going through recently. Sending lots of healing vibes for a positive and successful outcome however you decide to go forward x. Crochet certainly is a bloody excellent at soothing the soul!

    Look after yourself Ali x

    Jo x x x

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  10. I really really like your granny square handwarmers/wristwarmers :)

    Please take a look at me and my mothers blog, it is written in norwegian, but as you can see you can translate it into any language you like.

    Would love to hear from you.

    Greetings from me here in Norway.

    - Elise Marie

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