Big Happy Blanket - April/May update

Caution: This post contains highly colourful scenes of a crocheted nature.

During my unexpected blogging break during April I became a whole year older.  I am now at an age where I keep forgetting how old I am, I find myself counting back to 1977 to work it out.  I'll let you do the maths! My birthday was a rather understated affair as I was rather sickly with sinusitis (never had it before and never want it again, yuck).  Hubby still owes me a White Company wild mint scented candle too as we never made it to the shops to get it... *COUGHITYCOUGH*

Also during April the Big Happy blanket became ever so slightly bigger.

I took all these pictures on Easter Sunday, which was a few weeks ago now, so as I type it is bigger still.

So far the blanket is earning its name.  It is very hard not to get happy when you look at it :)  The colours are completely random and usually based on whatever colour Lillia pulls out of the bag to use next. I am loving how it is coming together.  I am looking forward to the chilly winter days already....only 7 months until Christmas you know, I'd best speed up.

Trying to be clever I went upstairs to get an "aerial" photo of it...

...I wonder if you can see it from space yet?

Big Happy blanket update - February

Just three more blocks of colour have appeared on the Big Happy this month.  Progress has been slow indeed.  But this is a Good Thing. Why? Well...

...progress has been slow because life has been busy, but also because I have been diverted by other crafty projects (to be revealed later!)

It's a good sign.  In the beginning, in the earlier weeks after Phoebe was born, I could couldn't have contemplated doing any kind of project, let alone the many I seem to keep getting stuck into now.  The Big Happy was always supposed to be a great lumbering slow project...

Progress is slow but steady, which as we all know will win the race :)

Snow days

Thank you for the lovely supportive comments on my last post, it is so wonderful to be connected to so many other mothers who can understand in some way what I am going through right now.  I am taking it one day and one night at a time right now.  Though to be honest night and day kind of blurs into one long stressy mess at the moment.  These early days of babyhood are so hard...soooo much guess work involved, so much unpredictability.  I do prefer some predictability, never been one for flying by the seat of my pants.  I could cope with the interupted nights of sleep if I knew for certain what was coming and when - could cope with breastfeeding at 2am for an hour if I knew with certainty that when I popped her back - warm, cosy, cuddled, comforted, clean, dry and well fed - into her basket she would then fall peacefully asleep...not cry instead.  It's moments like those that really baffle me, and in the dead of the night really stress me out.

The arrival of yet more snow here in our little corner of England  has also scuppered plans for any trips out and about with the buggy, even in the car.  Combined with a serious lack of light I find myself getting quite cabin-feverish.  I need to get out soon!

Lillia has been a real superstar, has been entertaining herself far more these days than she has been used to.  Making little camps with her ripple blanket.  The stool and cups are a "mulberry bush" apparently and she has been skipping around them singing quite a lot.  I do feel for her, all this being cooped up indoors in a tiny house with a crying baby and a tired mummy.  It's hard to feel at this point that providing her with a sibling has been a Good Thing.  Maybe in a few months when Phoebe is older, more smiley and interactive perhaps, when mummy is maybe getting more sleep, maybe then it'll all feel worth it.

All my crocheted blankets have been getting a lot of mileage these last couple of weeks.  There has been a LOT of sofa time, a lot of TV time, a lot of cold weather and being snowed in.  It has made me decide to attempt to start a new crochet project to keep me going along.  Something rather big.  But more on that soon.

Thanks so much again for the lovely messages of support, that really do mean an awful lot to me, I frequently check in to my blog from my phone and look at what lovely comments have been left - it gives me something to do at 2am when I'm part cow, part human, part zombie - they always make me smile.

One day at a time.

xx

Colour Bay Blanket - scenes of great progress!

Progress on my Colour Bay blanket has been much speedier than I expected!  These granny squares aren't so bad - three simple rounds in a nice variety of colours of easy-to-use double-knit yarn.  I've been racing through.

What with finishing up the day job and all that palava though I haven't had a change to get any photos until now...

There are ten colours in the blanket and I've done 9 squares of each so far.  Now I need to to decide the layout of my colours and work up more squares in each of the more dominant colours I choose.

I had a little helper on my photoshoot who didn't like things looking quite so neat and tidy...

She had a lot of fun messing them up!  Who would have thought granny squares could be so entertaining?

I'm loving the mix of colours.

It's half term this week so I'm not sure how much time I will have for sitting down and crocheting but I shall be trying to squeeze it in as much as possible.  With the weather turning much colder recently I am looking forward to snuggling up warm under my new blanket very soon :)