I thought I would like to introduce you to my Star Blazer Blanket,
So much has happened since I finished this blanket. I've had a baby, well not me, seriously that would be a miracle because I am practically a dinosaur and I said goodbye to my Uterus in 2018. No, my Son and his lovely partner have had a baby. in March. So I have become a Nan, yes a Nan NOT a grandmother! why do people ask you that? "what are you a Nan or Grannie, or Grandma" I don't think I had given it much thought until I have been asked several times so I felt I had to make a decision. So yes Nan it is.
What else, Steve had a new knee in November last year and while he was doped up on Morphine I took advantage of his befuddled mind and persuaded him to have a puppy, He has always maintained that two dogs are enough, and I must admit walking three boisterous dogs does prove a challenge, and if we ever get to travel in Minnie again some time in the near future I am slightly concerned that we are all going to struggle to fit 😆
More big news is that I have made the decision to train to become a Nurse and hopefully virus permitting I will be starting at Derby in September. It doesn't seem real at the moment, I was accepted in March a week before lockdown, so I didn't really have time to let it sink in, I was too busy fighting my way round supermarkets trying to find food for my elderly parents and my Son who was isolating, and hunting for a toilet roll before I had to resort to wiping my bum on newspaper, and working shifts and then the schools closed and David was at home full time, then Steve was Furloughed and off work again and the craziness of it all has knocked my new imminent career path to the back of the ball park.
So I thought I would share this blanket progress with you. what a challenge this was !! For me that is ! because I start so many things and NEVER finish them, so I am actually proud of myself. 😊
AND I wrote the pattern up which took days to do.
There are 262 hexagons in this blanket, and I used Scheepjes cahlista which is a cotton yarn and it is so heavy and snuggly.
It is well travelled, I took it everywhere with me, It came on holiday a few times, I took it with me to Prestatyn and I even took it to France.
I love Granny squares because they are so portable, you can just pop them in your bag and off you go.
I wasn't sure how I was going to put this blanket together at the start, I had the idea in my head, I knew what I wanted but it took a while to get started and figure out the design.
A random gorrilla walking on the sea front
France was amazing, but funnily enough it was a long long way, lots of driving. up to that point I had not driven Minnie, I was kind of thrown in at the deep end. Driving on the wrong side was an experience too. I was awful at getting on to the motorways, you have to just put your foot down and go for it, nobody moves over to let you on! Steve would be in the back shouting "right, put your foot down now! harder ! go, go, go !" I was a bag of bloody nerves! at one point the motorway was closed and we were all diverted on to other side which was the side we drive on in the UK, you should of seen the French drivers, 😁 They clearly hadn't got a clue and you could see they were finding it unnerving, I was like move over I can do this I know how to drive on this side. 😝 When we came home, it was about a week after and I was driving back from Stoke at midnight after doing the twilight shift and I was on a Dual carriageway and my mind went completely blank. I actually couldn't remember which side of the road I was supposed to be driving on !
I picked our destinations, without a clue what I was doing really, I remember poring over the map at home for hours. I inadvertently chose a camp site where French people go on holiday, there wasn't a brit to be seen! we left that tunnel and the further down south we got we didn't see one English car. We only met one English family the whole two weeks! well it was two actually, they were clearly on holiday together. I nearly fell over myself trying to talk to the ladies, I was so starved of female company and conversation, by that time, but they didn't want to know. They looked me up and down as if they had scraped me off their shoe, so I slunk back to my all male camping companions with my tail between my legs. On our last day travelling back when we were in Calais we started to see English cars, Where did they all go on holiday I have no idea? But I am glad really that it turned out like that, we had to try and give the language a go all the time because nobody spoke English. It was fun. Steve was funny he claims he can't speak French and I am pretty sure he can't and yet we would be somewhere ordering ice cream for instance and all of a sudden he would rattle off French like a local ! caused us great amusement. I was hopeless. I would love to go again, Roary took himself off while we were away ! that was a bit worrying, he's done it twice now when we have left him to go on holiday, he's not a cat that wanders usually either, I am sure he goes off to try to find me.
Oh that pool, how I loved to sit by the pool with my kindle and my crochet ❤
My little hexagon stack.
Back home with my favourite crochet mag and an English cup of Tea.
I wanted artful pictures that you see in glossy magazines. Stacey helped me, we just ended up laughing our heads off and then I realised the boots weren't a good look, and my roots desperately needed doing 😆 I didn't wash my hair much in France, it was great, I loath washing my hair. its such an effort. So in France because I was in and out the pool I just kept sticking it in a scrunchy, Steve actually said to me one day "do you think you should wash your hair " how rude ! 😅😅😅😅😅
But oh My, when I got home I could hardly get a brush through it, they ends were like chewing gum 😢 I had to have loads cut off. Note to self, next time actually use all the expensive sun products you brought for it.
Artful Garden Pics
Not
So there you have it, My Star Blazer Blankets journey through its design and process.
Thank you for taking the time out to read my blog. xx
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