Category Archives: Crochet

October 22, 2021 · 12:11 pm

ANYTHING BUT PINK!

Today is the last day of school for my boys before they get a week off for half term. To mark the day, the school have said the kids can come in wearing their uniform with pink accessories, or dressed entirely in pink to raise money for Breast Cancer Awareness.

My youngest (aged 4) often copies his older brother, but aside from that he doesn’t have any strong opinions about pink. In contrast, my eldest (6) once told me that it was a school rule that pink was for girls and blue was for boys. I’ve no idea where he got this from, but he is resolute. We all have colours assigned to us based upon our gender. I’m not sure how this manifests in life, but in his mind it is an immovable fact.

Several of the boys at school opted out of joining in. They couldn’t face the thought of donning pink and having their masculinity challenged, others really went for it. I saw one boy running in wearing his sisters pink leggings, a pink t-shirt and an excited smile. Hopefully my little man (and a few others) will see that no boys were gender re-assigned by six hours in a fuchsia top, that they walked away, pride intact, having had a lovely day.

As for my two, I knocked these up last night and they both looked very handsome. In the end they seemed glad they’d joined in and so am I.

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March 19, 2021 · 1:48 pm

A Crocheted Pot-holder and an Overdue WIP

(WIP = Work In Progress)

I made the potholder pictured years ago, I honestly can’t remember when. Of all the functional things I’ve crocheted it probably gets the most use and is, poor it, the most ignored. However it has saved me from a nasty burn on more than one occasion.

I used wool as I love this colour but it makes my skin itch, so making anything wearable was out of the question. The border is a light purple cotton, just to add a touch of colour, and to reinforce the loop.

It’s made with a foundation chain of the desired length and then rows of single crochet until it was the right size. On the last row I continued beyond the square with a chain, which I went back over with single crochet to produce the loop. The border was added using single crochet all the way around (these are all UK terms). It comes in handy all the time and I really love the look of it.

With regards to the WIP, I’ve been crocheting a pillow case for, give or take, about 3 years. It’s been so long, that when I recently ran out of yarn and ordered more, the colours had changed. I thought perhaps my stash had faded over time, but some colours seem brighter, some seem duller. I’m pushing to get it finished as it’s rainbow themed and with everything that’s happened over the last 12 months, with the extent to which the rainbow has become synonymous with supporting the NHS, I thought 2021 would be a good year to complete it. Fingers crossed I get it done before I run out of yarn again!

On the right is my old yarn, the two on the left are new. It’s not that noticeable… I’m sure I’ll get away with it…

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March 7, 2021 · 12:39 pm

An Overdue Blanket Reveal

Today I am getting a bit of a preview as to what next week will be like, as my husband has taken our children to my Mother in Law’s house. She is part of our bubble and so the visit complies with the current lock down restrictions. This means I was able to have a lie in, the house is eerily quiet and some toys (for the first time in about 12 weeks) can finally be put away.

I decided it would be a good opportunity to post a few pictures of a blanket I made. I originally wrote about in February 2013 (see post here) as part of my first blog post, a post which included images of a number of granny squares, a work in progress. I can’t tell you how long the blanket took in the end, it was a while, which isn’t surprising as it is more than big enough to cover a standard (UK) king sized bed. In the autumn and spring it gets used as an extra layer on our bed, otherwise it is around for anyone feeling a chill.

This blanket was basically my first crochet project and, if only for it’s weight and size, I’m proud of it.

Thanks for dropping by, Polly

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March 5, 2021 · 4:24 pm

Easy Tiger!

For a while at least, I’ll be using this blog to make note of some of the things I’ve created over the last few years.  To be honest, with the boys keeping me on my toes, I’ve not been as productive as I’d have liked, but there are some items I’d like to post here for posterity, if nothing else.  The tiger pictured below is definitely worthy of a post.  

Some good friends bought our then 2 year old a tiger suit for Christmas (2019) and he fell in love with it.  He wore everywhere, in all weather and, like an experienced method actor he really ‘became’ the tiger.  He roared with all the force he could muster, he prowled about the house on all fours and occasionally, when he was feeling particularly fierce (stroppy) he would try to bite us.  B the tiger would even eat foods that B the boy didn’t like, very handy.

As a result, with his birthday fast approaching, I had a look online for a crochet pattern to make B the tiger a little tiger buddy.  I ended up going with this free pattern (click here) by the very talented Jess Huff.  It was easy to follow (US terms) and I was very pleased with the result, though I did opt to leave off the white tummy.  I made the pad but I preferred the wee man without it and, if I’m honest, I thought it might show the dirt a bit.  

When a parent makes a child a gift they do so hoping their child will enjoy interacting with it, that it will really mean something to the recipient.  I made my eldest an elephant when he was two years old, as requested, and I don’t think it’s ever been touched.  It was appreciated on the day, but fell from favour pretty promptly.  

B’s reaction to Tiger was everything I hoped for, and he has kept Tiger close at hand since their first encounter.  If, at 8pm, when he’s supposed to be asleep, B starts to complain that he doesn’t know where Tiger is, that Tiger is sad / cold / lonely, it is with a genuine mix of muted rage and a swell of pride that I traipse off to look for him.  Such was B’s enthusiasm, I decided to add to Tiger this Christmas (2020) with a superhero outfit.  I have very limited sewing experience, the suit took far too long to make and it is nothing like I had in mind, but I was still pretty pleased with it.  That said, B seems to prefer his Tiger au natural – you win some you lose some I guess. 

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February 26, 2021 · 4:27 pm

A Wedding and a Wreath

It’s been years since I’ve posted anything on this blog, seven and a half to be exact.  It is now February 2021 (the last time I wrote was June 2013) and, unsurprisingly our world is a different place now to what it was then.  

There have been a few significant events within our personal world: my husband and I got married, and we now have two beautiful boys (aged 3 and 5).  We moved house, trading-in local amenities for a garden and more space for the kids.  I am also no longer working and, at present, I spend my time with our youngest, preparing food, reading, being hugged, stumbling on toys and muttering expletives.  At present though, as for many, the overriding theme in our lives is COVID-19 and it is for this reason that I’ve returned to 45 Ginger Biscuits.

Once upon a time my anxiety levels were nonexistent, I may have been prone to brooding on arguments or worrying about things that hadn’t happened but, otherwise I was reasonably stable.  A miscarriage many moons ago seems to have irrevocably rocked the boat, and now I have to be a little more mindful about how I manage my mental health.  To cut a long story short, creativity helps, I enjoy writing, and so I’m back. 

Without further ado, I wanted to share the wreath featured above.  It was made, along with six others, after our wedding using the flowers from the bridal and bridesmaid’s bouquets.  I made the bouquets using a tutorial similar to this (click here) and then pinned the flowers to a wreath by way of a keep-sake.  I also crocheted bow ties for the groom and any significant gents involved in the ceremony.  It was a time consuming project but well worth the effort, that said, I couldn’t have done it without the help of some very dear friends.

My eldest returns to school on the 8th March, he can’t wait and I’m excited about the light at the end of the lock down tunnel. Hopefully a little more free time will mean a little more time to craft and to post.  Until then, hope you have a good day.

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March 2, 2013 · 2:43 pm

Restless Digits in Abu Dhabi

At the tail end of last year I went to Abu Dhabi to stay with my Mum with the aim of working for a Marine charity for six months.  The work placement fell through but the flights were booked and the loose ends were tied so I decided to stay there for six weeks to do research for my pipeline PhD and crochet.

I only found one yarn shop nearby, which was a good hours drive away, so I took some yarn with me in a vacuum pack, a true obsessive!  There are a lot of tailors in Abu Dhabi so sewing supply stores were plentiful (hence the buttons) and the metal clips were taken from the lanyards we were given at the Grand Prix.  (It was Mr Ginger’s 30th birthday last year so I got him tickets for the race and he joined me for a week in Abu Dhabi).  Each of us received a separate lanyard for each of the four days of the race and we went with friends = lots of lanyards = oodles of key rings 🙂

keyringMr Ginger likes his pictures and he got himself a super zoom lens from eBay – it obviously needed a super case to keep it safe and sound.  I made the pattern up as I went along, but the basics came from Attic24’s fabby baggy blog post which is here.

DSC03758Not one to miss out on the action, I decided I also needed a camera case.  I stole the button from Mum… I do hope she never loses a button off whichever blouse it once belonged to!  Again, I made this one up as I went along.

camera caseGranny Bunting! To be honest I’ve no idea where the pattern came from for these, there seem to be lots of similar ones online.  You may have noticed I seem to reference Attic24 in almost every post (repeatedly), the wonderful Lucy has a similar pattern on this post here, aside from that, I think I’d made so many granny squares by this point for my blanket a triangle wasn’t too challenging!

bunting

Having spent 6 weeks in the sunshine and knowing I was arriving home at the start of December I decided some gloves were in order.  I must admit they are a tad drafty as gloves go, but they did the trick!

Crochet gloves

Please note, the gloves match my camera case beautifully and Mr Ginger looks very well coordinated using his camera near the bunting.  It’s probably for the best I didn’t have more wool as there was reading to be done…

Thanks for popping by!

Po x

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March 2, 2013 · 2:03 pm

Birthday Crochet x 2

I learned to crochet in September last year at a café in York called The Flax and Twine, they do all sorts of wonderful crafty courses (during which they often serve tea, cake and sandwiches – ruddy lovely!).    Since then I’ve been well and truly hooked to the hookey business. 

By way of birthday gifts I made three brooches for the lovely lady next door:

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The rose pattern is from Cute and Easy Crochet by Niki Trench, in the book she attaches loads of them to a stunner of a tea cosy .  I then turned to the ever wonderful Lucy of Attic24 for tips on how to make them broochy from this post here.

AND a garland for a friend with a soft spot for ladybirds:

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The lady birds were made using Attic24’s flat circle tutorial, I left a gap in the second round and changed colour from red to black to make the head.  There are lots of flower patterns knocking around on-line, but I used this one from  Sarahndipities lovely flower garland tutorial.

The weather looks utterly gorgous and I have a puppy waiting to explore the great out doors 🙂

Thanks for popping by!

Po

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February 28, 2013 · 9:49 pm

Intro to me and my blanket

This is my first shot at all this, so I’m going to keep it brief!  My name is Polly and I live in York with a puppy called Ginger and my ginger husband-to-be called Tim.  We keep bees in our backyard and hope to expand with additional hives  in future.  I studied the sea but in the absence of a job and the presence of a puppy I spend most of my time crocheting, cooking, pootling in the garden, eating cake with friends, searching for reasons not to do house work and musing the beautiful blogs of crafty people.   At present I’m working  on a blanket, progress pictures below:

Towering Granny

Grannies waiting to be crocheted together, I greatly enjoy pictures like this.

This picture was taken in Abu Dhabi in November when I was visiting my Mum, at the time I thought I’d get the blanket finished by the end of December – not a chance!!

November Status

Novembers squares in order!

I’ve done a lot since then, but that picture might have to wait until I’m finished!  What I will say is that it’s a flower with blue petals a green stem and purple grannies round the edge.

Thanks for popping by!

Po

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