On the way home from our visit to the Leigh Spinning Mill last weekend, I began another granny square project. It’s a sure fire way to brighten up even the most monotonous stretches of motorway.

I found these two James C. Brett Marble yarns in pink and purple for £1.99 a ball back at the beginning of the summer, so I snapped up three of each and stashed them away until I could find a use for them.

 What a heavenly combination, just like raspberries and blackberries, perfect for an autumnal project.

Blackberries are particularly abundant around here right now. I’ll be having a picking spree soon and baking apple and blackberry pies until everyone is heartily sick of them. An autumn ritual that can’t be dispensed with! On a slightly more unhealthy note these colours also match up perfectly to one of my favourite childhood sweet treats – Raspberry and Blackberry Domes. Anyone else remember these? They look so realistic at first glance.

What a shame they don’t count towards your five-a-day fruit and veg quota. I could happily eat a bucketful of these in one go!

Motorway journeys are seldom plain sailing these days and it doesn’t take long until we get stuck in loads of traffic, but on the plus side a pile of fruity squares begins to stack up nicely as I while away the snail-pace miles. They’re proving to be just as addictive as the last batch I made. This project might turn into a big one!

It feels good to have a change from crocheting shawls. Three in a row from the same pattern is enough for anybody, I’m sure. I had a lot of fun making them though and the pattern was a doddle. Here are the finished ones I made for myself. I’ve had to move my mannekin into the bathroom due to the sheer lack of space in my overcrowded studio, but I think it looks quite nice in there now I’ve got used to it. My crochet projects are stealthily taking over the entire house so it’s only fair that the bathroom should have its fair share too!

I’ve just got the edging to finish on the third shawl and a heap of tassels to attach. This one will probably end up as a Christmas gift. I’ve started the process of thinking about who is going to get what this year. I’ve bought my wrapping paper and Christmas cards already. (Well, it is October, there’s no time to lose!)

This is the shawl I started on my seaside holiday in August and it looks like the scales on a mermaid’s tail (or a fish, of course, if you’re the more down to earth type). Those beautiful shimmering greens catch the light so prettily. I hope the recipient I have in mind is going to like it as much as I do. You can find Mimi Alelis’ free shawl pattern at mycrochetstuff.blogspot.co.uk.

By following just the first 8 lines I also made a pretty scarf. I used a Rowan yarn by Kaffe Fassett. It’s made of pure lambswool and has hardly any twist to it at all so you have to be quite careful as you work because it can break quite easily. Strictly no yanking or losing your temper with this one! Once it’s taken on a knitted or crocheted structure it’s very sturdy though, so I should be getting a lot of wear out of this as the weather gets colder.

Here’s a close up of the yarn I used (shade 431).

Because this was bargain bucket yarn and they had it in blue too (shade 432), that’s now also sitting in my stash baskets  waiting for its moment to shine.

Initially they were bought because they’re pure wool, which I knew would felt really well. My original intention was to make some felted slippers or little crocheted tote bags. I’m still looking forward to getting on with that when I’ve got some extra time.

For now though, I’m well and truly stuck into my next big spare-time project. I’ve got a plan, of sorts, and everything is packed up in a handy basket ready to follow me around for the next few weeks, or maybe months.

I’d forgotten quite how relaxing it is to make the humble granny square. It will be lovely to get back to basics and crochet away the darker evenings with these berry bursts of scrumptious delight.

There are plenty of new amigurumi designs to be working on during daylight hours so something a little less mentally taxing will tick all the boxes for the cosy wind-down evenings.

As long as I get the taxing versus relaxing life balance right, harmony will rule. So here’s looking forward to a happy, hooky, bristling with berries, amigurumi by day, granny squares by night kind of autumn ahead.