We’re so far away from spring now and so much has happened here this year that it seems a lifetime ago that I started my Easter colours inspired mini blanket. This project was a spin off from the Spring Circles blanket I began even earlier in the year. It came about as a way to use up the excess centre circles I had made by accident for the original Spring Circles motifs after getting carried away one evening and forgetting to count up how many I actually needed.

I still had to add in a few more as I went along in order to make the second blanket into a useful size but as they were so quick and easy to crochet I hooked a few up whenever and wherever I found myself with a bit of spare time and soon had enough to finish a decent lap sized throw. I believe they’re called lapghans – and this is my first!

It’s the perfect size for slinging over my shoulders while sitting in bed, reading on chilly nights, but it’s also just the right size to provide an added layer of woolly warmth for bed-hogging Mojo.

You can’t have too much of this sort of thing when your human refuses to put the heating on in the daytime.

Yaaaawn! all this frugality is boring. A poor cats got to hunker down wherever the furnishings are most abundant.

Actually, Mojo staked ownership of this blanket a long time before it was finished.

If that’s not the face of entitlement then I don’t know what is.

I made sure it matched up well to the Spring Circles blanket by using all the same colours. A great way to use up all the leftovers too.

It’s been a great project for toting around various places over the summer, small, portable and undemanding on the mind.

I’ve crocheted on buses where my crochet even gets its own seat.

The conductor will be demanding I buy it a ticket if he finds out!

I’ve crocheted in the garden…

…and at the train station.

I whiled away some Spring-Dotty hours in a hotel while hubby was at a training session in Sheffield.

Little cactus likes showing off her woolly brain – I’m pretty sure my crochet obsessed grey matter must also look like that by now!

Sheffield was lovely, and when it stopped raining I took myself off to the city centre park and made friends with a pigeon.

I even crocheted up some squares on a narrow boat during our family holiday exploring the local canals.

And while chugging slowly down the River Severn.

I could have done with another week of that slow and steady pace of life but my cat-sitters couldn’t stay forever and so it was back to crocheting at home…

…where things are always made more complicated but also more pleasurable by the presence of one or more of my lovely moggies.

Lots of ends were darned in…

Lots of squares were laid out…

…and the joining up of all the dots continued in earnest.

Early stage testing made sure all crochet was making the grade and scoring highly on the snuggle-o-meter.

The matching colours and change of scale were working out a treat to finish off my bed set.

Mojo continued his dedication to trying out the blanket as it reached various stages of completion.

Accidentally coinciding the joining of all the rows with the end of the summer and the accompanying drop in temperatures was perfect timing. There’s nothing cosier than to bury yourself in a mountain of crochet and while away the dark evenings repeating simple single crochets and watching TV. The double insulation of a blanket in progress and a purring cat is a joyous combination, even if things inevitably take just that little bit longer.

Our rug was replaced to make it more cat-scratch friendly and the continuing dark autumn evenings gave me and Mojo lots of snuggly time to admire our new-look lounge and to finish off the crochet that was begun way back in May.

All squares were eventually crocheted into their rightful places and my little cactus project bag looked pleased with the results of our labours. She’s done a great job of keeping all the circles, hooks and yarn neat and tidy while we’ve been gallivanting about this year.

A scalloped border added the finishing touch.

However, more yarn ends were lurking on the back at this point so we weren’t quite there yet.

A little more diligent darning and the very last end is triumphantly sewn in and trimmed.

Now it’s time to enjoy my handiwork and put it to good use.

I definitely could do with another similarly sized mini blanket to add to my collection. This one is currently doubling up as an extra layer on the bed at night and as a lap warmer for my newly refurbished crochet corner during the day.

This area is still very much a work in progress but my new arm chair is a major boon for the health and wellbeing of my lower back. I want to crochet a cover for a footstool and a matching antimacassar for the top of the chair to brighten things up a bit more. This chair will probably be my number one destination when all the Christmas frivolities get too much and I need a quiet moment or two with my yarn and hook.

That’s if Mojo doesn’t beat me to it every time!

I hope your Christmas run up isn’t proving too hectic and that you have your very own favorite retreat on hand if things get a bit too noisy these holidays!