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crochetime

~ So many patterns, so much yarn, so little time: story of my hooky life.

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Tag Archives: #crochetmoodblanket2014

Crochet Mood Blanket 2014 ta-daaah!

31 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by Natasja in My crochet, My ramblings, Ta-daah!

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

#crochetmoodblanket2014, crochet, crochet blanket, Mood Blanket

Behold my Crochet Mood Blanket 2014!!! All 357 squares of it in its colourful glory! I started it on 1 January 2014 and completed it 31 December 2014 – precisely one year in the making.

crochet mood blanket 2014

The Crochet Mood Blanket is the brainchild of Stacey Wentworth-Hall (@frofunky on Instagram). You basically just crochet or knit a block or stripe everyday (or once a week if that suits you better)  using a colour that you feel reflects your mood.

If you would like to get on board for 2015, have a look and join the Facebook Group here.

Our blanket will be moving between the living room and the bedroom. I just love how colourful it is! It cheers up any space!

Crochet mood blanket 2014IMG_1251

The Mood Blanket has taught me a lot about myself and how my moods change. John said the blanket is a testament of his patience 🙂  I love that for years and years to come I will always be able to look back at my blanket, and therefore on my emotions during 2014. It’s been a good year and for that I am very, very grateful.

lacy cross crochet squares
IMG_1246

The border I chose for my Mood Blanket is a variation on Border #39 that I used for my Dad’s Atlantic Waves Ripple blanket. The border is made up of  three rows of single crochet, a row of double crochet (which in the original Border #39 is a treble) and a final three rows of single crochet. I used all seven of my colours for the border.

IMG_1240

Seeing as the Crochet Mood Blanket is based on the days of the year, I wanted to be able to remember where it all started. In other words which square represents  1 January 2014? I did this by switching around the colours of the first two rows of the borders. See?

mood blanket corner border

Around the square for 1 January, I used purple as the first row, whereas for the rest of the blanket I used yellow for the first row of the border.  I don’t think anyone else would even notice this small switcharoo, but it’s the perfect reminder of my very first mood of 2014 – in this case a happy lime green.

The nitty gritty of the Crochet Mood Blanket 2014:

  • Pattern: Lacy Cross from 200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton
  • Yarn: Hayfield Bonus and Hayfield Baby Bonus
  • Crochet hook: 3.5 mm
  • Joining method: Join as you go
  • Border: No. 39 from Around The Corner Crochet Borders by Edie Eckman.
  • Size: 21 rows of 17 squares, which makes 357 squares. Completed size with border is 165cm x 135cm.
  • Colours: The colours of the Mood Blanket were chosen to represent my seven moods. This is how may of each colour I used for the blanket:

Crochet Mood Blanket 2014

I did some number crunching and at the end of 2014 I can reveal that I had 6% sad, 7 % irritable, 7% ditsy, 4 % stressed, 30% not great but not bad either, 29% happy and 17% grateful days.  I know this because of a crochet blanket! How crazy and amazing is that?!

Making the Mood Blanket was a great eye opener. I had to be honest with myself about my moods. If that meant that there were three days of being depressed, then so be it. Three grey squares it shall be. I also had to reflect on my day at the end of every day. Some days may have started as green (happy) days, but then something would happen at work which upset me and the day turned into a stressed day. At the end of the day I had to look back and decide what was the prevailing mood for the day: the happiness of the morning, or the stress? Did I allow the stress to get to me or did I look on the bright side and manage to keep my day happy. If I allowed the stress to get to me, then it had to be honest with myself and make the day a red day.

At one point during 2014 I also realised that although I had lots of green (happy) days, I didn’t have that many grateful (turquoise) days. That’s not good and that’s something I had to, and still have to, work on.

If you are ready to be honest with yourself and stick with it, you can use a crochet project to analyse your moods, attitude and emotions for a whole year. As a bonus you’ll have a blanket at the end of the year. I highly recommend it.

Progress on my Crochet Mood Blanket 2014

02 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by Natasja in My crochet

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

#crochetmoodblanket2014, crochet, crochet blanket

It’s been a long time since I showed you any photos of my Mood Blanket. I made an initial summary of my colour choices and I gave you a glimpse into A Day In The Life of a Crochet Mood Blanket, but no photos.

On Saturday morning I took advantage of the hour of sunshine and lay the blanket out on the patio table to take photos for you.

In case you’re wondering, I’m using Hayfield Bonus DK and Baby DK, and the pattern for my squares is Lacy Cross from Jan Eaton’s book 200 Crochet Squares.

crochet mood blanket 2014 in progress

 

crochet mood blanket 2014 in progress
crochet mood blanket 2014 in progress
crochet mood blanket 2014 in progress

Being 6 months in, I can truly say, hand on heart, that my moods are

all

over

the

place.

More so, around the middle of the month – I blame hormones. On the up side, I don’t have a lot of red squares which is a good thing – red is the colour I allocated to stress.

Are you taking part in Crochet Mood Blanket 2014? Have you learned anything about yourself in the process of documenting your daily moodswings?

Looking back, looking forward

18 Sunday May 2014

Posted by Natasja in My ramblings

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

#crochetmoodblanket2014, #KCBW5, 5KCBWDAY7

The last assignment for Blog Week couldn’t have come at a better time for me. I’m in a place in my life where I can see that all the great things I’m looking forward to, have been slowly but surely making their way to me since starting this blog back in 2011.

To make your dreams reality, it’s good to look back to see where you began so that you can appreciate how far you have come, because gratitude is the great multiplier in Life. The more you appreciate what you have, the more you have.

When I started my blog it was purely to share my absolute passion of crochet. As I learned more techniques, found amazing yarn, great patterns and saw inspiration all around, all I wanted to do was to share this with my blog readers. Over the last year I found I wanted to share crochet with people face-to-face at groups or workshops and to spend more hours of my day surrounded by things that would inspire me to be creative – things like sunny gardens, blue skies, the comfort of my home, time to really read and comment (not just glance and hit the “like” button) beautiful blogs and doing crochet or knitting (because while I knit and crochet creative juices really flow). What was holding me back was having to go to work five days a week. I blogged about this conundrum in March here, but the need to break away from the office have been coming on a very very long time. I just don’t want to say out loud, or type, the words of complaint and frustration too much because just as gratitude can multiply the good things, so too complaining can multiply the bad things.

In the meantime my dear husband had also been looking for a career change. Through a series of events, most of which were brought on by his positive attitude, he is now doing his dream job for more money. Best of all he didn’t even have to change firms – he still works with the same people, at the same place, 10 minute walk from home.

Then, in February I grabbed an opportunity that has the potential to change my life. A fellow PA announced that she was going on maternity leave. She works only Monday to Wednesday….. I put myself forward to do her maternity cover, and I got it! As of this week, I only work Monday to Wednesday! Thursdays and Fridays are now blogging, photography, crocheting and knitting days! Yes, my salary is less, but with John’s new role and his excellent financial planning, we don’t have to worry too much. We’ve also made a few small changes (like rethinking the type of train ticket I buy and not getting a bi-weekly cleaning service any more), but I am so happy! With my free time I can now set wheels in motion to turn my hobby into a career.

Thursday was my first day at home. It was amazing!

It started with a morning tea overlooking the garden while the laundry was drying.

20140516-110331.jpg

Mid-morning I caught up with The Big Allotment Challenge. This is where things get a bit nasty… our bedroom has been unusable since the Bank Holiday weekend. John replaced the ceiling with a new one that has better sound proofing (we live in the ground floor of a maisonette and our upstairs neighbours are very noisy….). It was a massive job but he did it wonderfully. Now we have plasterers in to skim the new ceiling and the walls. When they are done, John and I will paint everything white and then we get a new carpet. I can’t wait to have our bedroom back! Until then, our bedroom furniture is all over the place, including the living room.

At least I have my knitting 🙂

20140515-140326.jpg

I soon got tired of looking at the back of the book case and two halves of the bed base, so I moved the knitting outdoors.

20140515-135618.jpg

Then it was time to prepare lunch. Lunch with John! If you think I’m happy to be home on Thursdays and Fridays, you should see John! He loves that he can spend his lunch hour with me. I set the table with placemats and a little posy of flowers from the garden.

20140515-135625.jpg

I made a salad and quick lemon juice & thyme dressing. My knitting and laptop is still on the table within reach. Of course.

20140515-135633.jpg

After lunch and waving John goodbye at the door (how 1970’s housewife am I?! I love it!) I continued watching The Big Allotment Challenge, this time with my Crochet Mood Blanket. I was in the messy living room again but at this point it really sunk in how much time I will now have for crochet and knitting. I was half way through the first day and already I had swapped between my two crafts and I still had the whole afternoon ahead of me! When our house is back to normal (we are also redoing the bathroom) I’ll be able to use my Office Behind The Door again. That’s going to be great! (I’ll also be able to fit in an afternoon nap…ooh yes!)

20140515-144135.jpg

When things in the living room / bedroom campsite got too much I moved outside again to continue working on Crochet Mood Blanket.

20140515-171151.jpg

I got up every now and again to check on the dinner (no housewife is worth her salt if dinner is not on the table when husband gets home) and pack away laundry. If I say “pack away laundry”, I mean fold it and pile on top of any of the three stacks of wardrobe drawers on the floor of the study. Our clothes are not neat (or easy to find), but at least it’s clean.

I really had the most amazing day. I just know that because I’m so happy, relaxed and busy doing what I love, everything, including the crochet workshops I’m holding, is going to work out. How could it not?

In the meantime, I’ll follow my own advice – I won’t focus on the messy house I’m in now but rather focus on the beautiful white walls and modern bathroom that is to come. And to take my attention away from dust and inconvenience? I’ll knit and crochet.

 xxxxx

This post is Day 7 of the Knitting and Crochet Blog Week 5: Looking Back, Looking Forward

Annual-2014-Knitting-Crochet-Blog-Week-on-Eskimimi-Makes

 

Talking to Tote Bag Barry

15 Thursday May 2014

Posted by Natasja in My ramblings

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

#crochetmoodblanket2014, #KCBW5, 5KCBWDAY4

Tote Bag Barry is one of, at last count, five canvas tote bags I use to carrying and keep my various crochet projects in. Tote Bag Barry is a memento from a road trip through Germany’s Romantic Road. I bought him at a supermarket near the Neuschwanstein Castle for a few Euro’s – much cheaper than the tote bags in Hohenschwangau village at the foot of the castle.

Me: Hi Barry. Thank you for taking the time to chat with me today.

Barry: That’s all right. I wasn’t doing much anyway sitting here on the chair in your living room with Crochet Mood Blanket 2014.

Me: I know you don’t have a very exciting life at the moment, especially compared to your time in the REWE Supermarket in Schwangau with all the tourists admiring you. You have to remember that I was one of those admiring tourists and when I saw you I just knew you would be another perfect bag to carry my crochet around.

Barry: Yes but you could take me out of the house once in a while you know. The tree hugging “My Green Bag” cotton bag from the health shop goes to work with you every day!

Me: You’re right Barry, but I keep you at home because you are so much bigger than any of my other tote bags. You’re keeping Crochet Mood Blanket 2014 company and he’s growing every day. By the way, thank you so much for keeping him from unravelling the other day. I really wouldn’t have been able to keep him happy if you hadn’t told him about the diary. I need you around to keep CMB2014 in check. Just like the Neuschwanstein Castle printed on your front, you are a stable influence and impressive, I dare say noble, presence on that chair.

Barry: Well if you put it that way I guess I can overlook the disappointing lack of excursions.

Me: Thank you for understanding Barry. You are my German prince! As CMB2014 gets bigger you soon won’t have to keep him safe any more. I promise to then swap you for the health shop tote bag and you can go with me to work. Will that make you happy Barry?

Barry: Ja. Vielen dank.

Me: You’re welcome Barry.

xxxxx

This post is the Day 4 assignment for Knitting and Crochet Blog Week 5: Conversation Between Workers

Annual-2014-Knitting-Crochet-Blog-Week-on-Eskimimi-Makes

A Day In The Life

12 Monday May 2014

Posted by Natasja in My ramblings

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

#crochetmoodblanket2014, #KCBW5, 5KCBWDAY1

Sunday. Living room

10:13 She is meant to crochet my squares every evening, yet I can’t remember when last I saw a crochet hook. Will I have to sit through yet another Sunday watching her make amigurumi owls, knit (bah!), crochet placemats and do cross stitch in stead of working on my squares? By the way, what’s with the cross stitch and knitting? I thought she was all about crochet. Judas.

10:30 She and the hubby are eating breakfast. Enjoyed your lie-in did you? valuable time wasted when you could have been catching up with your mood squares. She committed to make a crochet square every day and look at me. Skinny as a rake while they’re doing that full english breakfast thing. So selfish.

11:10 She’s finally out of those hideous pajamas and in her spot on the couch. There’s a mug of tea too. Will she work on her mood blanket squares? No. She’s knitting! Stupid needles click, click, clicking away. If I was able to crochet myself a square, today would be a purple square ’cause I’m really irritated.

11:55 Ooo, she’s reaching in my direction. Tote Bag Barry tells me that she is writing down her moods in a diary. Maybe she’s reaching for the diary. At this stage any progress is better than nothing. Even if it is just to write down “okay” or “ditzy” or whatever crazy mood she’s in.

Nope, I’ve been ignored again. She was only putting her knitting away.

Why has she forsaken me? Why? I’m definitely having a grey square moment. So sad, so sad.

11:56 Off to the kitchen. Probably to make tea.

11:59 Here she comes. I smell peppermint. Called it. (How much tea can this woman drink?!)

12:01 She’s reaching in my direction again. I’m not getting my hopes up. The acrylic strands of my heart can’t take the rejection much longer. I mean really. It’s so quick to crochet a 4-round square. She doesn’t even have to join my squares – it’s join as you go for Pete’s sake. If Barry is right and she is writing down her moods every day, she is still thinking of me so why not put hook to yarn? Just one square a day is all I ask. Just one a day.

Oooh, the hand is coming closer.

I’m out of the bag! I’m out of the bag! I can see her (ugly) Crocs.

I’m on her lap! Whoo-hoo! This is it!

Barry was right. I can see the diary. It’s open at 4 April 2014. Geez, she is way behind! Not judging. Just saying.

Well hello Sirdar Hayfield Baby in White and 3.5 mm Knitpro crochet hook. Long time no see. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Come snuggle up next to the happy green square from 3 April 2014.

Suddenly my day has turned into a very good day. My stitches are practically a quiver with happiness.

13:10 She’s been crocheting squares for almost an hour now. She only took one tea break and I’ve grown by two rows – that’s more than 4 weeks worth of squares!  I think she may even be up to date with the squares. I’ll have to ask Tote Bag Barry to check the diary, but things are looking good.

13:13 I’m back in the bag and she’s off to the kitchen.  I presume this is the end of the marathon moodblanket catch-up session.   Her hands are hopefully probably aching from trying to catch up on the backlog of squares. Serves her right for neglecting me for so long, but has she learned her lesson? I’m not betting my stitch markers on it.  I will bet on something else though: she’s in the kitchen making tea.

xxxxx

This post is the Day 1 assignment for Knitting and Crochet Blog Week 5: A Day In The Life.

Annual-2014-Knitting-Crochet-Blog-Week-on-Eskimimi-Makes

Crochet Mood Blanket 2014 update

13 Monday Jan 2014

Posted by Natasja in My crochet, My ramblings

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

#crochetmoodblanket2014, crochet blanket, crochetalong

Are you making a Mood Blanket? Have you joined the more than 2400 people from across the world in this year-long crochet along? It’s a great crochet along!

There seems to be a couple of interpretations of what the Mood Blanket is. Most people are doing it the way I am: you crochet a block, a hexagon or a row a day / once a week using a colour that represents your mood on that day (thereby giving you 365 or 52 of each). Most  people are also using join-as-you-go because there’s no need to keep a pile of your motifs if the whole point is that the placement of the motifs have been determined by the day of the year it was crocheted on.

Some people not only use a shade of yarn to represent their mood, but also a different pattern, and others are crocheting whatever they want just “as the mood takes them”. People are crocheting ahead as well (that’s a bit strange.) Some people are making traditional granny squares, using a different mood-inspired coloured for each round to show how their mood changed throughout the day. “Mood Blanket” is definitely open to intepretation.

For me, it’s just a plain and simple exercise: I have six main moods so I have six colours. At the end of the day, usually after the washing up has been done and I’m in my PJ’s in front of the TV, I reflect on my day and choose a colour. My squares need to be 9cm so I only have four rounds of Lacy Cross to crochet. It’s quick and easy. By doing join-as-you-go, I can see how my blanket is growing each day.

Here is a photo I took on Friday to show you the first 10 mood blanket squares.

crochet mood blanket

I really love this way of making a blanket. No pressure. No rush. No worrying about colour placement. I have a year to make this blanket and the only thing I have to do, is reflect on my day to determine the colour.

I love my Mood Blanket!

Crochet Mood Blanket 2014

30 Monday Dec 2013

Posted by Natasja in My ramblings

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

#crochetmoodblanket2014, crochet along

Tomorrow is the last day of 2013. Can you believe it? We still have leftovers from Christmas dinner and it’s almost 2014! One good thing about the new year being here on Wednesday is that it’s the first day of the Mood Blanket 2014 crochet along. I’m making one square a day. Others are making one a week. Some people are making striped blankets so they do a row a day. Anything goes, as long as the colour is inspired by your mood. (Have a look at the Facebook group for Crochet Mood Blanket 2014 for all the info. You will have to ask to join the group, but get accepted really quickly. It’s lovely to see what others are doing – “others” being more than 2,200 people so far!)

I’m going to use leftover Hayfield Bonus from the Granny Square blanket I made for Nicole. Here are my colour choices to represent my moods.

Mood Blanket

The pattern I’ll be using for my squares is Lacy Cross from Jan Eaton’s 200 Crochet Blocks.

Here’s hoping for a predominantly green, turquoise and white blanket for 2014!

A visit to Greenwich and a mood blanket

28 Saturday Dec 2013

Posted by Natasja in My ramblings

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

#crochetmoodblanket2014, crochet blanket, crochetalong, Greenwich

Are you enjoying the Festive Season? Recovered from all the turkey and ready for the New Year’s party? I’m not. Except if you by “New Year’s party” you mean crocheting in front of the TV when the fireworks start on BBC 1. For that, I’m ready!

I’m not at work for the days between Christmas and New Year as my Dad is visiting us. He arrived on Christmas day. He’s only been here three days but it feels like he’s been here forever. He’s the perfect house guest and a real joy to have around.

Today was the most amazing Winters day here in London. Clear blue skies and not too cold. It really was something special. Dad and I used the day to visit the Greenwich Observatory and Planetarium and also popped in at the National Maritime Museum.

Me and Dad taking a break in Greenwich Park
Me and Dad taking a break in Greenwich Park
The Peter Harrison Planetarium
The Peter Harrison Planetarium
Ship heads at the National Maritime Museum
Ship heads at the National Maritime Museum
"He's my jolly sailor dear"
“He’s my jolly sailor dear”
Greenwich Park
Greenwich Park
Trekking up the hill to the Royal Observatory
Trekking up the hill to the Royal Observatory
Greenwich Park
Greenwich Park
View from the Royal Observatory
View from the Royal Observatory

On a different note, are any of you taking part in mummy_stacey’s the Crochet Mood Blanket 2014 crochet along? I am! Have a look at mummy_stacey’s Instagram feed here for all the info. She explains it all on there, but it basically boils down to you allocating a mood to a colour and crocheting a square a day to reflect your mood, or you can do a square a week. I’m making 9 cm squares and so far I have allocated 5 colours (I’m not very complex so I don’t need many colours :-))

I’m thinking of red = stressed, lime green = happy/positive, grey = depressed/sad, white = okay, bright blue = grateful/blessed, purple or yellow (I can’t decide which) = irritated.

I think it’s great that at the end of the year I can look back on my blanket and see what my mood was every day. It might be a shock if the overall colour is grey or red, but that’s the chance I’m going to take. At least I’ll have a blanket at the end of it.

If you take part you can use #crochetmoodblanket2014 whenever you take a photo on of your mood blanket on Instagram or Twitter. It will be great to have you on board too!

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