Crochet Granny Square Blanket

Well it's finally complete, it's been in the making for years and i am so pleased with the end piece, the blanket started when i learnt to crochet just before heading off travelling, i started with a granny square and managed to pick it up easier then i thought. 

When heading off on our 2014 adventure i decided i wanted to still use my hands to craft and felt knitting maybe a bit too much effort so i thought with my hook and a few balls of yarn i could crochet squares in order to make a blanket. So with that.. the blanket started, the yarn was purchased and my crochet addiction started. I crocheted a number of squares when in the Himalayan mountains, the snow capped peaks and the colder air was a perfect place and even better i managed to buy more yarn from local women knitting on the street, I sent a number of squares home, a mish mash of colours, i soon realised there was no colour scheme to this blanket but a whirlwind of tones. 

When i arrived home i looked over my squares and realised there was a number with a brown edging so felt this would work as an outline, i then purchased more yarn to match the colours already crocheted and started to build on my squares. I will admit though my knitting did take over and the squares became nestled in a bag in the corner of the living room. 

I met a new friend last year and my crochet love came back, i started to bring my squares out again and started to see them grow. With buying our van i thought the blanket would be a treat for in there, so instead of the blanket being a work in progress it became the main project and i found myself crocheting away again, my squares building up and the blanket becoming more alive. 

In total i crocheted 143 squares, i must admit they werent all the same size but when i started to join the blanket together it didn't matter, it just felt it made the journey of the blanket and my crochet learning was there in front of me, the good squares and the not so great ones. I wasnt sure on a border so asked some friends and the consensus came back as navy being a strong contender, i decided to go with this and was really pleased with the match, i crocheted the edge carrying on with the treble crochet granny square, i did three rounds and felt that was enough, i was dying for it to come to an end to enjoy it's beauty. 

I am so pleased with the end result and feel the colours work great, it's going to be an ace van blanket and i am already planning another for the house. 

Project Van Life pt2

We have been back out on the van again, Sam has taken on more of the role with me, due to a lot of work being a one man job and i feel i am just getting in the way, however as Sam stated i am crafting for the interior of the van so i am still working, this made me feel more comfortable about sitting watching grey's anatomy whilst crocheting. 

We are still insulating, it's a long and boring job and has many many layers, in my last blog post here http://claire-yvonne.blogspot.com/2016/10/project-van-life.html we started cleaning and prepping the van, if that was not boring then insulating has definitely taken over, we had to first add the outer insulation, we used thermal wrap (Wickes) which was placed on the inside of all the van, celing, walls, floor, we also placed some in the front cab and placed an old yoga mat on tap for a bit extra comfort (before we place the carpet down), we stuck it all down with high temperature adhesive (amazon), which stank and was super strong, we had to cut set lengths to fit around the wheel base (inside the van) and inside certain compartments along the edges. 

Sam then added the framing using timber, the framing will hold the ply, we then started placing space loft roll (Wickes) on top of the thermal roll to pad it out and ensure the heat is kept in good and proper for when the ply goes on top. We used a spray adhesive to start sticking the space loft roll on, however some will just be placed behind the ply walls, this weekend will be more insulating and hopefully the walls will start being placed. 

As for whats happening inside the house, i started crocheting squares a few years back, i decided when travelling in 2014 it would be a good thing to learn and allow my hands to keep crafting, the blanket has been a slow process, however i decided it would be a great van blanket so i have now started focusing more on it rather then it being a 'work in progress' ~ so here it is just a few snaps as a taster. My idea is the crochet squares with the brown outside will be the outer layer then a mad mixture of colours in the middle, there is no order to this blanket, it's been made by so many different wool's in so many different countries that it literally will be a mixture of madness, however it will be treasured as it will be my first crochet masterpiece. 

Flower Fever

After many a festival with my fave friends wearing beautiful flower garlands I decide it was time for me to try my hand. After making my feather headband I felt more confident at giving it a whirl, I had had a look at a few of my friends styles and stored all the ideas in my head for my craft session. 

With a night to myself I made my room I to a flower haven and got the sewing machine at the ready. It was really fun making, gluing and stitching and was really happy with the final results - so much so I made a few more for friends. 

Can't wait till 2015 when I head back to Glastonbury! 

Mine.

My lovely friend Rosa's (Christmas gift - which she told me she loved)

Caroline's.

My feather headband (don't think I blogged this).

I have been really enjoying try all these new projects out and my confidence in craft projects is growing so much, 2013 was a good year for learning. 

Crafting Creations

Since a young age I have dipped in and out of wanting to learn new skills especially in the

art of craft, I never received my knitting brownie badge, started projects that were never completed (apart from a home sweet home cross stitch I made for my Mum one Christmas). Choose food technology instead of textiles at school and showed a materialistic view of ‘why make my own clothes when I can buy them’ never fully realising the technique and creative need of learning such specialised crafts. The saddest part is I never realised how fun it can be and the sense of admiration when a project is completed, it’s been such a great year of learning my own inner skills and sharing skills with friends at the monthly craft night I put on. 

Sam bought me a sewing machine for Christmas and i attended a cushion making course with the lovely sewoverit  http://sewoverit.co.uk/ as blogged about before the course was amazing at giving me the confidence I needed to take my machine out and not feel it was a scary monster, since then I have made an additional two cushions and was rather proud of my skills. 

I decided a few months back I wanted a bag for my polaroid camera Sam bought me, whilst I was browsing through the internet I came across this super cute blog where this girl had an adorable fabric bag, with this and my new sewing machine in my mind I decided to challenge myself to make a drawstring bag, i found this blog http://thecreativeplace.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/tuesday-tutorial-drawstring-bag.html?m=1 with instructions and with a little change to the measurements and a trip to my local fabric shop I managed to stitch up a super cute bag. I was really pleased with my efforts and since then have made a number of bags for my different odd shape camera’s and as gifts for friends (with odd shape camera’s too). 

Polaroid Joy

 

Fleck's Diana

Katy's Mini Diana

Craft night has also been going well, we decided instead of just having an open craft night we would focus on different projects, we decided on pinhole camera’s for this month. The camera ended up not being as difficult as I first thought and we all managed to make a camera, smiling proudly at the end. I hope to use the camera over Summer and get some delightful sunshine shots.

Pinhole Camera

Knitted blanket.

My knitting has been coming on leaps and bounds and my blanket is finished also and is ready for the festival season. With that done I had some amazing point 9 super chunky yarn I really wanted to knit up and found a perfect bobble hat pattern, my first go at a pattern and it went really well, the hat knitted up perfectly and will be added to the festival bag to keep my head snug when adventuring at night.  With my hat knitted and proudly showing off about it I landed myself with another two hats to knit for two good friends, with all our Glastonbury hats complete were ready for the fun to begin. 

 Blanket being tried and tested.

Nicholson hat

 Such amazing yarn - colinette point9

A New Year with lots of New Adventures.

Christmas time was a delightful time was as always delightful with the lovely family, I tried to embrace it with all I could as knew it would be my last year celebrating Christmas at home alone as next year me and Samuel have chosen to spend it together either at our home and then to Sam’s parents or at my Mum and Ronnie’s home, I am so excited at the prospect of being together and feel ready for this new Christmas plan, its always daunted me not being at home but as times change I can see my own self changing and think waking up without being at home wouldn’t be as bad as I once thought, simply because Sam will be next to me.

With Christmas over and 2013 starts the snow comes with it, warm fires and Indian blankets are keeping us warm at home and the wire has kept us entertained for the start of January, being back at work has really hit home and I can feel my readiness for change, although I don’t come to work and hate life, I feel privileged to be doing a job with such rewards and at times enjoy the challenges it brings allowing me to enhance myself as a worker and as an individual. My only itching at the moment is I feel change is upon me and as you can see from previous blogs I have been really trying to find different avenues to go down and what will really challenge me as an individual. I fell into the social care route by accident and although it has been a ‘good’ accident it has developed my learning and allowed me to explore different avenues to see if this is my chosen career and if I can see myself doing this throughout my working days. Recently I have really felt that I wanted a new scope of work and have looked at various degree’s/master’s and jobs to see what may best suit my chosen options for my future, I had settled on a MA but have recently been told the safety of my job may not be present in 2014 meaning an unemployed Claire, with this being the case the MA would leave me limited to my career options and leave me with one main route of therapeutic work and those of you who know me, know I love change. I spent Christmas really thinking about what I want not just for now but for when I have children and when I am older and yes the coffee shop is something I have always wanted maybe its not the right time in the current recession to be putting all our eggs in one basket and maybe this is something we come back to in our later years when we have more stability and more financially secure. I therefore started to think about where my journey first started and how childcare was always something I was interested in and studied with enjoyment at school and college, I took the health route and tried my luck with mental health nursing but didn’t like the 2yr nursing stream and chose to leave after my first term. I discussed with Sam last year the option of midwifery but with my finical situation not being the best we knew it wasn’t something I could go back to just yet. I did some research and broached the subject again and we felt it was something we could afford to do right now and that Sam being lovely Sam he said I should go for it if its something I have always wanted to do, so with that I completed my UCAS and now await an interview, if all goes well I will be back as a full time student come September 2013, studying a course i will be blessed to be part of. 

 Its interesting how when times became hard its found we revert back to what we know and what’s comforting, I was discussing this with my ever wise Gran when telling her I had received a sewing machine of Sam as my Christmas gift and a class at this amazing sewing café http://sewoverit.co.uk/ and she explained that this is evident from the come back of WI meetings for young women and the new shops that are opening that are sewing/knitting/vintage/film cameras/craft shops, something she states you just had to know when growing up, it was part of life, now people pay to learn these skills and want to feel that ‘older generation’s’ way of living. My Gran laughs at my love of film camera and want to learn skills she is so great at, recently my Mum and Gran have been teaching me to knit and I am finding it really therapeutic, when telling a few friends this I have found they too are learning the skills of knitting and sewing and have been carrying out their own craft projects making pillows, screen printing, scarf knitting and film processing. I really love how clever my friends are and felt we should bring all these skills together and learn from one another, so with that craft night was developed, a group of my closest friends are planning on arranging a craft night once a month, we will have different themes and learn from one another to expand our ever growing crafting brains.
I feel 2013 is full of exciting prospects and with our trip to Vietnam in May and exploring these two heavenly beaches/lodgings http://www.junglebeachvietnam.com/welcome.html and http://mangobayphuquoc.com/,  30^th birthdays a plenty, Weddings, Shambala, Glastonbury (with Mum and Ronnie, yeah) and the possible start of a new course I feel a very lucky privileged lady right now.

Wedded Bliss. How it came together.

English festivals are a huge part of our lives and both believe there is nothing better than the feeling of being outdoors with people you love. We both feel a strong sense to the freedom you feel outdoors and love nothing more than being in a field dancing the night away (normally in the rain).
Sam and I first met at Glastonbury festival and at that time we were both in very different times in our lives so nothing more than a smile occurred. A few years later that all changed when I had moved to London and chose to go out for some drinks with my brother and his friends, when I arrived Sam was there, fate pulled us back together and we have never looked back since. Glastonbury holds such great importance to us both (Sam informed me after he proposed he was going to propose at Glastonbury but was scared of losing the ring) therefore we knew it had to be part of the theme we chose when planning and organizing our wedding, traditional went out the window and Sam and Claire entered it.

Ruffled blog became an addiction for me (I even caught Sam taking sneaky looks) and got so much inspiration from the weddings featured on the site. We decided getting married outdoors was what we wanted, sadly we soon found out that you need to be married in a licensed venue in England, therefore that idea was out. It was important for us to get married in England and somewhere which means something to us. Newcastle upon Tyne is my home and we have both enjoyed visiting and heading to Northumberland on country walks and farmhouse cafes. We came across High House Farm Brewery on a whim and instantly decided we had to have part of our day here, after much consideration we chose the ‘after’ part would be held at this venue and the ceremony would beheld elsewhere.

My Mum works at Newcastle Civic Centre and took us there to look at the staircase, although it wasn’t outside we both fell in love with the grandness of it and both felt a feeling that it was the right place to say I do. With both venues chosen it was time to get designing.

Bunting had to be part of the decoration; I adore bunting and wanted a real vintage feel to the day. My Mum and Gran handmade 546 pennants for the bunting, they stitched and ironed each one to make sure it was perfect and would flow in the wind. When they were put up in the barn I felt a glow in my heart and could see how right it was to have the bunting, the barn looked amazing and so unbelievably pretty. Sam’s Mum found the hearts in a little garden centre shop, we felt they added an extra touch and loved the way they hung down giving the barn an extra decorative touch.

Our table names were again cut and stitched by my Mum and Gran (my stepdad cutting the luggage tags out). Our favours were acorns, when thinking of our favours we knew that they are meant to resemble growth and strength, we felt the acorn showed this and again was something involved in the outdoor world. We wrote a special verse attached to the acorn, so people could understand the meaning of why we felt the acorn should be our favour.

 ‘A little acorn has the ability to grow into a big oak tree, we hope you keep it safe and remember each year the strength the acorn has, just like the love we hold for each other’

My advice for all brides would be to plan early; I did not feel stressed leading up to the wedding more excited and enjoying planning such a fun day. I could see nearer the date if my planning had not been carried out early then the stress levels would have been high. Sam was actively involved in all the planning, he was a perfect help and made the whole thing easier by having an opinion and supporting me with ideas. It was our day and therefore I feel the most important thing is you plan it together, it has to be what you both want and a day you will both remember.

We wanted the whole day to be personal and related to us, with that I felt It was important not only Sam to do a speech that I did one too. I wanted to tell him how much I loved him and give thanks to people who had supported me in my life.

My best women also did a speech which meant so much, there two women I hold so close to me and hearing there kind words moved me and made me smile greatly.
My Mum gave me away, she is my life and my rock and there was no one else I would have rather had by my side.

Our save the date cards were taken in a photo booth in Budapest, we loved the idea of sending everyone a small reminder with some photos we loved. We also hired a photo booth for the evening, it went down a treat and everyone was in line waiting for their chance to take home another memory of the day.
Both our outfits were from high street shops, we decided that we didn’t feel the need to spend a lot of money when you can find such beautiful clothes without the expensive price tag. I knew I wanted something floaty and fitting but a dress that felt like me and not something I would feel uncomfortable in. A good friend, who designs wedding jewellery made my hair band; again I wanted it to be personal and everyone to be involved in the making of the day.

Our photographer Jack is a good friend who works in the photo industry, other weddings I have been too I have felt the camera to be intrusive and didn’t like the fact a stranger was taking such intimate photo’s. With some gentle persuasion Jack agreed and it was the best idea ever as he did a wonderful job and captured the day perfectly.

True Romance is my most favourite film and I believe the most romantic love story, Sam always says the main theme music from it makes him think of us, straight away I knew that was to be the music played as I walked into the civic centre.

We played Blur Tender for our signing the register song, we are both huge blur fans and love the words to the song, and we felt it apt for this part of day.

When Sam and I got together he informed me he had never watched Juno, it being one of my favourite films I made him watch it straight away, from there he fell in love with the soundtrack. We always talk of the main song from it being so beautiful and describing love in a very beautiful way, therefore with this we knew when we became man and wife we would leave to ‘All I want is you’. As we left and the song started playing all our guests started clapping, it was a really special moment.

First Dance: Albion - Babyshambles

We wrote our own vows and felt again it was so important for them to be personal to us:
Finally I have found a place into which I fit perfectly safely and securely with no doubts. No fears, no sadness, no tears, this place is filled with happiness and laughter, yet it is peaceful enough to allow me the freedom to live my life and be myself. This wonderful place which I never believed really existed I have found finally, inside your arms, inside your heart, inside your love.

And when we gave our rings to each other we added something important to us that we do for each other:
Samuel I give you this ring as a sign of my everlasting promise, I vow to cherish you, respect you, tame your curly hair, leave love letters in your lunch box and love you deeply till my body can love no more. May this ring remind us of this amazing day, this special moment and our forever together

Claire I give you this ring as a sign of my everlasting promise, I vow to cherish you, respect you, make you warm toasty fires on cold nights, always use the teapot when I make you a cup of and love you deeply till my body can love no more. May this ring remind us of this amazing day, this special moment and our forever together

Our rings were our both our grandma’s and my great grans wedding bands, we had them melted down and made into two new rings. We felt this meant so much as they are still with us and there rings being used to bound a new marriage.

The craspedia (billy ball) flower was one of the first things I decided on, found on ruffled I fell in love with this flower and needed it in my wedding day, with Sam agreeing he liked the flower I contacted my local florist and she made it her mission to track the yellow headed flower down. The poise’s and button holes were all made with the craspedia and Penny from Katherine’s did the most amazing job, when they arrived I was so happy with how they looked and were exactly how I wanted them to be.

I wanted my bridesmaids in a 50’s feel but also something they were comfortable and happy in, because both girls have different features I decided to put them in different colours. I think they both looked adorable and the petticoat finished the dress off.

Sam’s Mum made our muddy chocolate cake and surprised us with the top being us two in our tent.

Like every festival the night ended with camping in a muddy field, this way we could all be together and wake up with sore heads and big smiles together.

When Sam and I were married I became Mrs Claire Austin, as a gift Sam bought me a rose called Claire Austin, a perfect gift from my perfect husband.