Extravagant Ripple

I've wanted to make a crochet ripple blanket for ages. The rate-limiting step was, for a while, my inability to read a crochet pattern - I tried, and failed, with many a ripple pattern. After my wonderful mother-in-law tweaked my crochet technique and explained that american and UK crochet terms were different and it was never going to work if I mixed the two, I realised that I could in fact read a pattern!

The ripple patern I used was adapted from 'Cute and Easy Crochet' by Nicky Trench of Laughing Hens fame. In the book the ripple features as a cushion cover. I can't remember the number of chains in my foundation chain specifically - I made it a little longer than I wanted the blanket to be and then repeated the pattern repeat sequence until I got towards the end of the foundation chain. If there weren't enough chains left to make another pattern sequence then I left them as a little tail at the end of the work - to be undone or woven in on completion of the project!

The 'extravagant' part of the blanket lies in the choice of yarn - Rowan Felted Tweed. I have always loved this yarn, but at around £5.50 a ball it is a tad pricey. It was an impromptu purchase when I found it on special offer at my not so local yarn shop. The ripple has been an ongoing project for a few months now and I'm about two thirds done. I love the warm, rich colours of the yarn - I had planned to share the finished article on my blog when it was completed, but with the weather and evenings becoming increasingly autumnal with blankets on the sofa, I couldn't resist.

Holiday

It's a couple of weeks now since we returned from our holiday in West Wales. We stayed in the tiny village of Cribyn, not far from Lampeter in a renovated tin shed known as Ty Sinc.

We had a very relaxing time mainly reading, DVD watching, crafting, playing board games and completing jigsaws. We did have some lovely jaunts though. Dr Husband and Big Girl had a boat trip out of New Quay to watch dolphins while Baby Boy slept and I relaxed watching little boats and read Miss Buncle's Book. I've been a big fan of Persephone Books for a few years now and had stocked up on some new books for holiday purposes.

We had an afternoon at the National Woollen Museum which I loved. It's an excellent, well thought out museum chronicling the history of the wool trade in Carmarthenshire with fabulous exhibits and lots to see. Being Welsh I've grown up cwtched under welsh woollen blankets and I loved seeing so many on display - including one very like a blanket I inherited from my grandparents!

(giant boiler at the woollen museum)

(preserved loom)

We enjoyed pottering in Aberaeron ...

...and had a very nice lunch at The Hive.

All in all a very lovely time of not doing very much!