A Crochet Christmas!

I've been having a crochet Christmas. On Christmas Day I finished the scarf I've been working on for the last couple of months. I did 10 variegated squares and 10 solid squares and 10 mixed squares.
The pattern is motif no 113 from Beyond the Square Crochet Motifs. it's quick and easy to make. The variegated yarn is an old Posh Yarn Eva 4ply (cashmere/silk) from my stash and the solid is Lotus Yarns solid cashmere.

I started with a group of 4 solid and variegated squares then 2 mixed ones.

But finished with 2 mixed ones:

So I'm going ot make 2 more solid ones and 2 more variegated ones so the end looks the same as the beginning. I did the two solid ones last night.

I wore the scarf to watch the Hunt at Jamaica Inn on Bodmin Moor on Boxing Day. Everyone liked it apart from Simon, but then I didn't think he would like it. I love it though. It's different, fun and colourful.

On Boxing Day we went to my in-laws for lunch after watching the hunt start. I'd brought a skein of Angora/Merino 2ply from Peachy Knits. It's been in my stash for a while and I've never managed to decide what to do with it. It's gorgeous and soft and fussy. I love angora and mohair yarns but the shedding drives me mad. I've been wanting to make a Curly Wurly Scarf for some time and decided to start on with the Angora/Merino yarn.

I started with a foundation chain of about 300 sts (I gave up counting). Then did one row of trebles, one row of 3 trebles into every st, another row of trebles. One row of double trebles. One row of 3 double trebles into each st. This is the row I'm halfway through now. As you can imagine I've got rather a lot of sts to crochet now.

Not sure how wide I'll make it. I'll keep going until I'm bored. Whether I'll wear this or not I'm not sure. I'm getting covered in angora fuss as I'm making it and I'm not sure if I want yarn fluff all over my clothes when I wear it. Perhaps I should have made it in Kidsilk Haze instead. Does that shed less?

I had a couple of crochet related Christmas presents too. My friend, Marianne, gave me this beautiful book by Melody Griffitsh, who recently passed away. The book is full of gorgeous blankets. I'm not sure which one to start with but I'm thinking about starting with a circular lace coverlet.

Emily gave me another crochet book, 20 crochet blocks, which is full of gorgeous and fun squares to crochet. The good thing with this book is that all the squares end up the same size if you use the same yarn, so I'm thinking about making a mix and match blanket using stash yarn. I think they suggest dk yarn but my stash has very little dk yarn in it. It's mostly 4ply/sock yarns.

The only hting I don't like with either of these books is that they don't contain charts. Now I've gotten used to crochet charts I prefer them.

Simon got me a Bette Midler CD and a Jenson Button book. I'm a big formula 1 fan and I was very pleased when Jenson Button won the championship so i'm looking forward to reading this book.

Vanessa bought me an Indian cooking book. I love Indian food but tend ot use sauces in jars so perhaps this will make me do more homemade stuff.

My friend, Helen, gave me Trinny & Susannah Who Do you want to be today? I think it's based on a TV series which I've not seen but the book looks very interesting.

I also got money (for a laptop) and chocs.

Last summer my parents brought over my old national costume which I was given for my confirmation at 14. Vanessa has been desperate to wear it and it fits her fairly well although I need to get it taken in under the arms. She decided to wear it on Christmas Eve although we did not have the correct blouse as my old one has stains on it and the white apron which should be worn with it is still in Norway. She's also not waring some of the jewellery which should go with it. She was very happy to wear it though.

No Christmas seems to go by without someone in the family getting ill. Last year Emily had really bad flue. This year Vanessa got a bad cold a few days before Christmas and last Wednesday I came down with it. I was okay to Boxing Day. But after lunch at my in-laws on Boxind Day I was feeling so rough and had to go home and to bed. I felt lousy yesteray too and went to bed in the afternoon. This morning I thought I was a little better but now I'm feeling rough again. Not sure whether to accompany the rest of the family when they walk the dog later or not. I've not been sleeping very well either as I've had a very badly blocked nose and keep waking up not being able to breath and dreaming that I'm being suffocated. Not very nice. Emily has got the cold too but she's not been as bad as me. As a result I've not managed to do much knitting. As well as starting the Curly Wurly scarf and crocheting together the square scarf, I've done some knitting on a friend's Christmas present which I failed to finish on time and a secret project whihc hsould have been posted last week. It is nearly done and I need to post it asap. I've also got another magazine design to finish off and post. So that's my priorities over the next couple of days.

I've included some new yanrs in the Big Winter Sock Sale. Go and take a look. they're incredibly cheap. Sock Variety Club willbe going out on New Years Eve so there is still time to sign up.