Settling Down

After all the excitement and flurry of recent weeks things are settling down here at the House with the Blue Door. We have eased gently into October and have had some gloriously warm, sunny weather. Every dawn a fresh mix of pearly pink, gold and peach skies: every day suffused with a golden light. Our bedroom is in the loft and this has been the view I see when I open the curtains in the mornings recently. The trees look as if they've been cut out of grey card and stuck on top of each other in layers. Clover's enjoying the warm sunshine too...

I am enjoying the time to make things again, and be creative. I'm still crocheting J's blanket which I'll post about when it's done, so I thought I'd show you a couple of blankets I've already made while we wait. Here is the blanket I made B when she went to Uni two years ago (is it really that long?). She asked for purples, pinks and blues, and this is how it turned out. I tried to vary the order of colours as much as possible to make it look random.

I think the colour mix is feminine and very cheerful, and I made it from acrylic yarn so that it was easy to wash and dry. B seemed very pleased with it, I think.

Shortly after that I decided to make another blanket from one of my favourite colour combinations: lilac, green and cream. Washing lines really are the best way to photograph blankets and throws, aren't they?

As you can see, I've stuck to the same granny square design because not only do I like making up random squares of colour, I also like to sit and crochet in front of the TV sometimes, and it doesn't tax my brain too much. This one's made from my favourite, cotton yarn, and it's very soft and drapey.

While the work continues on J's blanket I am enjoying seasonal things like these flowers. I have never been a fan of gladioli, but at £2 a bunch I couldn't resist these fabulous purple ones. Aren't they something? They do have unfortunate associations with a certain 'housewife superstar'*, but I do like my flowers to be in season, and what a glorious colour they are. 

I put our flowers on the dining room table, but we have to be careful to move them when eating meals in case they take someone's eye out!

It's lovely to be in October and I'm so enjoying settling down to some creativity again.

(* Dame Edna Everage, comic alter-ego of Barry Humphries)