Right! A bit more about what i've been up to...

As I confessed in my last post I have re-discovered my love of knitting :) This has been enjoyably costly as I then found I needed new knitting needles.. 

How come you always need the knitting needle you don't yet have to make a project? 
I'm sure that doesn't happen to just me?! Anyway a long search (via internet) ensued to find my all time favourite knitting needle/s.. I have purchased Swallow Casein Pearl ones, wooden ones... Britany birch from the fantastic Life craft & fun Tazmanian Oak needles by Art Viva, colourful aluminium metal ones by Susan Bates to name just a few. Even though my collection has expanded exponentially.. even today I had to order some double pointed needles for the 1st of my Christmas patterns as yet again I didn't have the size I needed! I now can't wait for them to arrive. Don't you just love getting lovely craft parcels in the post? ;) 

So what do you think my favourite needles are out of everything I've bought? I'm actually still undecided as they all have their pro's and cons.. which I might go into detail on in another post if anyone is interested. For the moment I'm loving my new needle stash & finding it not only inspiring but a pure joy to look at when I'm knitting away!

Well with all my new needles what exactly have I been designing & knitting?

The answer... Blanket squares... and LOTS of them!

The first half of my blanket squares project is finished and all the patterns have been uploaded to my Ravelry pattern store. It is a complete capital A-Z alphabet mapped out to make blanket squares in 3 sizes...

• 6x6inches/15x15cms in Aran (worsted weight)


• 5x5inches/12.5x12.5cms in DK (sport weight)


• 4x4inches/10x10cms in 4Ply (fingering weight).

This alphabet is the start of a whole pictorial alphabet series & it's the motifs i'm working on next. A few are done already.. A for apple, B for ball & C for car... but there's plenty more to come!

There's also a quick to knit Christmas toy coming shortly.. I'm knitting up the one to photograph for the pattern front cover right now! All i'll say at the moment is it can be done flat or in the round, you need red and green yarn of either 4ply/dk/or aran, it'll take you just over an evening to make  & it'll be easy!

So what have you got on your needles; be they crochet or knitting at the moment?

Fi x

Free blanket square pattern - songbird

To make this 15cm blanket square you will need

1 x 4mm (USA 'g') crochet hook & 1 x embroidery needle

1 x 50g Debbie Bliss cotton DK in shades Ecru / Cream shade 02 (or similar)

A small amount of soft brown cotton DK for the bird itself, an oddment of orange for the beak & a small amount of green cotton DK for the musical notes

The pattern for this square is written using UK crochet terms


The cream 15cm x 15cm dc base square

Foundation row    24ch, 1dc into 2nd ch from hook, dc to end, turn. (23sts)
Rows 1 - 24          1ch, dc to end, turn. (23 sts)
Row 25                 1ch, dc to end, fasten off. (23sts)

NB. If your finished square is not 15cm square you can adjust the size by using either a hook size up or down depending on whether your square is too small or large.

Click here to download my free PDF pattern.

The songbird - worked in rounds & then embroidered

Foundation ring    Using your soft brown cotton DK make a magic adjustable ring, 6dc into ring, pull tail of ring tight, do not turn, place stitch marker if wanted. (6sts)
1st round             2dc in each of the 6 dc's of previous round, move stitch marker, do not turn. (12sts)
Final round           [1dc,3tr,1dc] into 1st stitch of this round, 4dc, [1dc,4ch,5dtr,4ch,1dc] into next stitch, 9dc, [1dc,3htr,1dc] into next stitch, 1dc, slip stitch across next 4dc's, then to form a wing shape... slip stitch into the previous rounds dc's with another 7 or so slip stitches curving firstly downwards and then back across to the right, finishing just below and to the right of your magic adjustable ring, pull last loop through to back of work, fasten off.

Use a single strand of your brown DK & small stitches to stitch the lower/outer loops of your completed bird shape to the bottom left hand corner of the cream square. Then using a single strand of the brown DK embroider 2 birds legs in back stitch, start at the birds body... work few stitches downwards and then work the last stitch across horizontally to form a foot at the end of each leg. Using a single strand of cream work a french knot for the birds eye. Lastly using a single strand of bright orange DK work a tiny triangular shaped satin stitch area for the birds beak.

The musical notes

Using a single strand of green DK work each musical note one at a time. Start each musical note with a bullion stitch circle wrapping the yarn around the needle 12 times before pulling the needle through and pulling it tight. Finally work the vertical stem of each note with 2 x chain stitches. Do as many musical notes around the square as you like!

NB. The pattern for this square is written in UK crochet terms ie.

1 DC= 1 x UK double crochet/USA Single crochet (SC)

1HTR= 1 x UK Half treble/USA half double crochet (HDC)

1 TR= 1 x UK Treble/USA double crochet (DC)

1 DTR= 1 x UK double treble/USA triple crochet (TRC)

Have fun & if you have any queries just let me know :)

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