Sunday, April 19, 2009

A Granny a Day

Well I just got back from a weekend at the beach. My mother-in-law has a holiday house in Blairgowrie on the Mornington Peninsula, (Victoria, Australia) and it has been a long time since we last visited. The house is located not far from the back beach which is absolutely stunning.  We went for a couple of walks to the beach and my girls loved being chased by the waves and getting their clothes wet. We managed to catch an incredible sunset (see pics here) and it was great to get away from the city before going back to the daily grind tomorrow =( .  I have been lucky enough to have the last week off work so I have had lots of time to create and do the things that I never get the time to do. It's a little sad to think that I have to rewire my thinking into work mode again but there's not a lot I can do about it.  C'est la vie.

Any way, back to the topic of the post... When packing for the trip I decided that I'd better take something crafty to do in my spare time. We don't really have the room in the car to take the sewing machine and overlocker so this time I decided I'd take down some wool and crochet hooks and try my hand at making a granny a day. (Flickr pool here)

I learnt how to do granny squares at school when I was about 10 years old but pretty much haven't made one since then. My grandmother was a sewer and knitter so I never really got much practice in crochet at home. I downloaded Attic24's instructions as per Pip's post and crossed my fingers that I'd be able to follow it without needing a video tutorial.  As soon as I started it all came flooding back to me and, well, I think the photos speak for themselves... =)

Granny Squares


Granny Square

All in all I ended up making 11 squares over 2 days - a little obsessive compulsive - but I enjoyed every minute.   I also couldn't resist adding a bit of glitz.  I am a sucker for sparkles, in fact nearly every cardigan I own is sparkly in some way.  It's sad I know, but  I'm a seventies child.
 
Granny Squares


Granny Squares

Whilst I'm here I'd also like to show my appreciation to Pip (Meet Me at Mikes) for coming up with the idea to make a granny a day (and make-along!).  When our lives are busy we either don't often have the time to be creative or end up suffering from creative-block and don't know where to start.  It's great to have someone leading the way and keeping us motivated.  Even if my granny squares end up in the "will finish one day" pile I still have these great photos (subjective licensing applies!) of mollusc grannies clinging to rocks and I have revived my crocheting ability.  It's a win-win situation.  Thanks Pip.  

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

They are really pretty!

Elaine Prunty said...

They look great,I love being consumed by a 'project'?
i love your description "mollusc grannies clinging to rocks"
my first ever blog post was about a lampshade i made using granny squares,
what do you think?its at
http://jaboopee.blogspot.com/2009/01/my-first-blog.html

Mel said...

Melanie they are soooo pretty! I love the colour combo's and the photography is awesome! Go the granny square :)

Anonymous said...

These look great photographed on the beach like that!

Anonymous said...

Love your sparkly squares M*, very cute! I'm motivated to granny along too, if it's not too late!

M* (Melanie) said...

Thank you so much everyone for your encouraging comments! It really is great to get such positive feedback.

marelle said...

thanks for your comments on my blog Melanie!

i do like these 'granny squares' ...they remind me of those funny blue thingies that wash up on the beach with the bluebottles!

they're called "glaucus atlanticus" as a matter of fact! ..'wiki' it!

Thea said...

I have just discovered your blog. It's delightful and I love this photo-shoot of your mollusc grannies. Very creative!

Attic24 said...

ooooooo Granny's rockin'on the Rocks, I love it!!!!!!!
your squares look great Melanie, and I love that the colours are of sea and sand and rock, they'll remind you of your lovely holiday by the beach..
Thanks for sharing
Lucexxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx