Yes, it’s true. My blanket and set of three cushions are now officially 100% finished! Started way back in the spring this has been a labour of love that has spanned several months comprising of many, many evenings and several long, stitch filled weekends (the best kind!).

Here are my very last ends to be darned in…

…worthy of its own photo any day.

As any of you will know if you have embarked on a big scale project like this the very last yarn ends to darn is a moment of huge triumph. I’m always quite surprised it passes off so uneventfully in the end, expecting a herald of trumpeting angels to provide the soundtrack to such a momentous occasion.

I’ve taken a few pictures of my finished pieces. Maybe there are no angels who can spare the time to share the joy of such an occasion and so I’ll enshrine my handiwork to immortality in this blog post and share it with you guys instead! I’ve been using the blanket as a bedspread for some time, even though it wasn’t quite finished. But I have to say it feels even nicer to know there are no undealt with stray ends lurking on the back anymore. Just like when you tidy out your cupboards and you can feel the peace and harmony emanating from them even when the doors are closed.

Mojo loves it as much as ever, but so does Pogo – who has managed to throw up a rather hideous hairball in catfood sauce on it already. As a result I can also safely say that this blanket scrubs up like a dream. Straight into the washing machine and by the time it emerged you wouldn’t even know that Pogo and the blanket been involved in a minor indiscretion.

Here’s the culprit. He looks like butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth and I sure have the proof that hairballs don’t either.

Aww,  sweet dreams, Pogo but please don’t barf on it again!

I love waking up every morning to the bright, cheery colours and I’m completely enamoured with the bobble edging. So much so that the cushions didn’t escape the same treatment either. It’s such a pretty way to finish things off. I was going to incorporate some of my christmas made pompoms into the edges but this was a much more straightforward, and robust way of finishing them in the end. Especially in light of the need for launderability.  This crocheted pompom edging would look lovely on a Boho style bag. >Makes mental note to have a go at designing a bag at some point in the future<

As soon as I managed to find a time where none of my four cats was comfortably settled on the bed I got the blanket and its cushion pals down to the lounge to show them off in all their glory.

Big mistake, in a way, as I love the look of the cushions on my new(ish) sofa. So much nicer than the plain ones that came with it. I have a few amigurumi commissions and a book submission to concentrate on this autumn, but maybe I can find my way clear to starting a set of cushions specifically for this room in the not too distant future. They sure do brighten the place up a bit.

I’m relieved to see that even though some of the circles ended up slightly ‘cuppy’ in shape have all flattened out very nicely as they were crocheted together and subjected to a bit of stretching. I hate blocking anything so the fact these little discs were ultimately self healing has made me very happy. I think my aversion to blocking is closely related to my aversion to ironing. What can I say? It’s just in my DNA I guess.

The fabric on the background below is earmarked for a set of pillowcases.

Loving raspberry pink right now and really want to bring some contrast of scale and texture into the bed ensemble and I think this fabric will do the trick very well.

I’m not quite finished with the re-style yet but it’s getting closer to becoming the bed of my dreams.

Not quite sure how long it will be until I get the sewing machine out again to actually make the pillowcases. I find it so much easier to pick up a  hook instead, so am very easily distracted into yet another crochet project. It’s almost like an involuntary spasm, reaching for the hook and yarn. And so, with that thought, I’d like to share with you my latest yarny project. I’ve shared a few snippets before, I know, but am quite excited to see my new batch of squares taking shape.

Welcome to my Spring Dots mini blanket. It coordinates with the Spring Circles blanket but is going to be much smaller and meant more for throwing over a lap or a pair of chilly shoulders as the weather here heads towards its autumnal downward trending temperature spiral. It will be an ideal addition for when I’m reading or crocheting in bed through the winter months and feeling too mean to put the central heating on.

I’ve added in a couple of shades of purple this time, just to shake things up a bit, and as you can see I’m making progress rather nicely.

I’m organising the squares into stripes as I go along by skewering them onto knitting needles – a set of greeny-blues followed by a set of pinky-purples – so it’s going to be easy peasy to join the squares together later.

Mojo looks on with disinterested interest, if there is such a thing (?)

We’ll be drowning in crochet on that bed of mine very soon but me and Mojo and Oswald the Owl (featuring in a new Zoomigurumi book towards the end of the year!) are not complaining.

Bring it on, we say. The more the merrier. I think crocheting in, or on, the bed is now my new favorite thing.

I may never get out of my pyjamas again!