Sunny summer's days?

Well I don't know about you but I'm certainly not experiencing a great British Summer!  What has happened to our weather?  So far we've had six days of our family holiday on the North Coast and five of those have been days of rain!  Warm rain I might add - very sticky and close.  But at least it gives me a chance to hook .....  One friend had similar weather in June when caravanning in Dublin and Cork.  Some of my other hooking friends are in England for their holidays, hopefully experiencing just a little bit less rain than me.

I'm working on the Zooty Owl Seaside Winter Blanket CAL at the minute which is my token gesture to a British summer.  I have been very good by using up DK greens and blues from both my stash and my odds and ends box.  Confession - I did buy three 50g balls in shades of blue for highlighting purposes alongside what I already had in my stash, but I'll not publicise that too loudly!

The squares have been named after seaside areas in South Africa - Umzumbe, Ramsgate, Umtentweni, Margate and Scottburgh so far, with Port Shepstone being released on Friday 15th July.  Zelna, who IS Zooty Owl, seems to be doing about 7 different colour versions of the blankets and she has posted patterns for two different sizes, babyghan and afghan.  As you can see, I initially joined the squares with a contrast colour but then frogged and replaced it with the same mid-grey of the borders which makes the patterns in the squares stand out a bit more.

It's really good CAL and quite easy.  It's very interesting seeing the colours other ladies have been putting together and connecting with crocheters from South Africa to Scandinavia, Australia to America. This is week 6 which means we are half way through and we've seen some beautiful work.  I've been watching all the pics of other people's work and I'd really like to try the CAL in another colour scheme.

I have also taken one of the patterns for one of the  squares, Umtentweni, and have repeated it 6 times (in Aran) to make a cover for a large roll cushion.  I'm just ready to join the squares and come up with two circles for the ends.  I've bought some lovely large, chunky wooden buttons in Mullan's Fashions in Portstewart to use with it.

Looking ahead, I have two things to ask -

Firstly I hope you have all been remembering to take pics of your holiday WIPs? Lots of knitting or crochet in unusual places?  Who can take the most unusual pic?  The funniest?  Who can take the furthest from home pic?  We'll post them all at the end August.

Secondly would anyone be interested in going to the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum's craft day at Cultra on 11th September? It's a while since we've had a field trip.  Check the link and let me know what you think.

I had planned to head off this afternoon to a local wool shop to see if they had anything interesting in pinks/purples for my second version of the Seaside Winter Blanket afghan.  Instead I went back to Mullan's and bought wool for the Liquorice Allsorts afghan in Crochet Now, issue 3......