World Prematurity Day

Last Saturday was World Prematurity Day and also marked 101 days since my little grandson was born an amazing 14 weeks early.  We have been extremely lucky and he has exceeded all expectations over the last 15 weeks, but it has certainly been a roller-coaster ride for his mum and dad.  Throughout there time in hospital they have received the support of the charity Bliss.

Bliss was founded in 1979 by a group of concerned parents who discovered that no hospital had all the equipment nor the trained staff it needed to safely care for premature and sick babies. Determined to do something these volunteers formed a charity to give vulnerable babies the care they deserve. Almost 40 years later Bliss has grown into the leading UK charity for the 95,000 babies born needing neonatal care every year.

They have been so grateful for the support they have received that they decided to hold a fundraiser for World Prematurity Day with all proceeds going to Bliss. Friends and family duly collected raffle prizes, which obviously included a crocheted blanket by yours truly, as well as other wonderful prizes. There was also lots of other activities including a tombola, cake stall, face painting and name the teddy to name but a few. Overall they managed to raise a whopping £530 in just two hours with a further £320 raised through a just giving page making a fantastic total of £850.

My waffle stitch blanket was won by my sons partner's manager so we know it has gone to a good home. I did wonder if her gran and her sisters had come a long and bought up all the tickets as they had admired it so much the week before.  This may well have set a president should they decide to make this fundraiser an annual event.

And name the Teddy? Well there were actually two teddies and the names that were picked were Button and Trevor and they have now gone to their new homes..

And finally came the best piece of news when at last this little button left hospital to go home with his mummy and daddy and Ralph cat.

Happy Days

Mx

Cake International

Just occasionally I manage to escape from the madness that is my life and spend some time with good friends. For the past five years we have made the annual pilgrimage to the NEC Birmingham for the Simply Christmas, Crafts for Christmas and the Cake International a 3 day event at the beginning of November.

We get to spend some quality time together mooching around the many stalls picking up Christmas gifts that you don't see every day on the high street, as well as picking up yet more stash for our individual crafts.

By the time we get to lunchtime we have more or less bought what we want or have a note of the stalls we wish to revisit to pick up that must have item you saw probably within the first five minutes of arriving. 

We then spend a good couple of hours wondering around the Cake International Exhibition in ore of all the magnificent cakes that have been entered each year. 

I thought  I would share some of them with you so that you too can sit back in amazement too.

Didn't I tell you they were amazing

Mx

Solid granny square Que Sera Sera snuggle blanket

In the last 8 years since taking up my current post at the hospital it has become a bit of a tradition when a colleague announces that they are expecting a baby that my yarn and hooks come out and a baby blanket is produced. Over the summer the total number of baby blankets made of one sort or another in the last 8 years has risen to in  excess of  30 and I've lost count as to how many I have made before that, in fact some of those babies are now over 30 and having babies themselves, that's a frightening thought. Most of the nurses I work with don't want to know the sex of the baby they are having, they want to wait and have a surprise.  These babies have become known as the whatever will be will be babies, hence the title Que Sera Sera (whatever will be will be).  Those of you of a certain age will know that  this was a song was recorded by many artists but was made most famous when sung by Doris Day, from the 1956 Alfred Hitchcock film 'The man who knew too much' which starred Doris Day and James Stewart. For those who are not a Hitchcock fan or like me  not born until at least the 60's it may just be a song you've come to know through your parents, my mum was always singing it when I was a child she was a big Doris Day fan and the end of a conversation quite often ended with que sera sera Mitzi.

I must admit I love making these blankets they have become almost second nature to make and I have a little collection of thank you cards expressing the recipients gratitude which is always lovely and is usually accompanied by a photograph of the new addition to the family lying on or under said blanket. 

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The blanket is made up of 49 solid granny squares using Stylecraft Special DK in colours Parchment, Duck Egg and White.  I used 200g of each colour using crochet hook size 3.5 sewing all the little ends in with a darning needle (wool needle).

It is made up of  12 Duck Egg Squares, 13 Parchment squares and 24 white giving you a total of 49 solid granny squares making a 7 squares across and 7 squares down blanket measuring  92cm x92cm or 36" x 36".

For those already know how to make a solid granny square, you can scroll down to the graph below to see which squares go where to form the pattern, but for those of you who you are new to crocheting or could do with a little help then this is how I make mine.  In the early days I wasn't able to follow any crochet patterns so I worked on the visual, and still do a lot of the time, by  looking at a square and practising until I had worked it out, so this is my interpretation of a solid granny square and not from a pattern and is written in UK terms. A solid granny is essentially made up of lots of treble stitches and chain and is a relatively easy square to make once you've got the hang of it.

To get started 

1. Make a loop and insert your crochet hook

2. Chain 6

3. Join your chain by slipping your crochet hook through the last chain  (it will look like you have two loops on your hook) wrap your yarn around your book and  pull back through the two loops so that you have one remaining and you should now be at stage 3 in the photo above. 

4. Chain 5 (this will act as your last treble and two chain and you will use this to complete your round)

Round 1

5. wrap your yarn around your hook, put your hook through the circle wrap your yarn around your hook again and pull back through (you now have three loops on your hook), wrap your yarn around your hook and pull through the first two loops, wrap your yarn around your hook and pull through the remaining two loops ( you should now have one loop left on your hook and you have completed a treble stitch). Repeat your treble stitch until you have completed  four trebles in total.

6. Chain two (this will form your corner)  and continue repeating four treble & two chain twice more

7. To complete your first round make three more treble stitches.

8. To complete your round slip stitch into the 3rd of  the 5 chain  you made at the beginning of the round and now you should have a square which contains four trebles on each side with 2 chain at each corner.

Round 2

9.  Chain 5, now make 2 treble stitches into the corner, make your third treble as indicated in the photograph  (9)

10. Continue making a treble stitch in each of the treble tops as (indicated in photograph 10) until you get to the corner chains. Treble 2, chain 2, treble 2 in the corner space. Then as you did in round 1 treble in that first space as indicated in photograph  (9) and in each of the treble tops as indicated in photograph 10. until you get to the 5 chains at the end of the 4th side.

11. To complete your 2nd round make a treble in the first of  the 5 chains as indicated in Photograph           (11)

12. Now slip stitch in the 3rd of the 5 chain. You have now completed round two and should have 8 treble on each side with 2 chain at each corner.

Round 3

13. Continue as you did for round 2 at the end of which you should have 12 treble on each side with 2 chain at each corner. (photograph 13)

Round 4

14. Continue as before and at the end of this round you should have 16 treble on each side with 2 chain at each corner. (photograph 14)

Round 5

15. Continue as before and at the end of this round you should have 20 treble on each side with 2 chain at each corner. (photograph 15)

16. You have now completed your  square and can finish off by cutting your yarn and pulling through your last stitch.

Finishing off

1. Using your darning needle thread the yarn through the backs of the stitches on the reverse edge of your square and fasten off.

2. To finish off the centre,  thread your darning needle and thread through the back of each of the four sets of four treble stitches

3. Draw the your yarn so that it pulls together in the middle

4. This will give you a nice neat finish to the centre of your square on the right side.

Blocking 

Once you have your 49 squares and you have sewn in all the little ends you will need to block your squares. I do this by pinning to a set of playmats which are available here or you may find a set in your local DIY store, garden centre or toy shop. Slightly stretch each square keeping their shape and pin to the board  and then with a houseplant sprayer available here  or in your local garden centre, lightly spray with cold water so they are damp to the touch and leave to dry. In doing this all your squares should lie flat and be the same size. Once blocked  you will need to lay them out as the graph below shows you ready for joining.

P	W	D	W	P	W	D
W	P	W	D	W	P	W
D	W	P	W	D	W	P
W	D	W	P	W	D	W
P	W	D	W	P	W	D
W	P	W	D	W	P	W
D	W	P	W	D	W	P

D = Duck Egg

P = Parchment

W = White 

I then gather them up a row at a time from right to left i.e. row one starts with Duck egg and ends in Parchment therefore once you have gathered them up you should have the parchment square on top for set 1. Continue you gathering up your squares in this way until you have seven sets of squares. I find it easier to number them so I know exactly which set of 7 comes next.

Joining

I like to use two different colour yarns when joining my squares together, in this instance I have used parchment and duck egg, so that you have one colour running in one direction and the second colour running in the opposite direction but you can of course use the same colour both ways. I also like to join from the right side so your finished blanket almost looks like patchwork but you can also join from the under side if you prefer.


To start joining the squares I take the top square from sets one & two and place back to back so that the right side of your work is facing outwards.

Joining at the corner and using double crochet go through the tops of the first treble of each square (it will look as though you have 4 loops on the hook) wrap your yarn around the hook and bring back through all 4 loops, wrap the yarn around your hook and pull through the 2 loops on your hook. Continue to make a double crochet through each of the tops of the treble stitches until you have reached the end of the row and have joined 7 squares fasten off and get ready to start joining row 2 and set 3 together. Once you have joined all 7 sets together turn your work around ready to join in the opposite direction using the same technique as before. Once your squares are joined in both directions,  I sew in all the little ends as there are quite a few, 28 in fact.

Border

You are now ready to add the border.  You can of course add any border you wish there are a number of good books out there that are specifically for borders, but for baby blankets where little fingers can go through I tend to keep it quite simple using a slip stitch border. I like to make the border using all three colours by doing two rounds of each, but again you can do which ever way you choose using one, two or all three colours.  Starting two to three stitches away from the corner join your yarn and chain one. Work into the tops of each  stitch in double crochet.  When you reach the corner double crochet x 2, chain 2 then double crochet x 2 to make your corner.. Now continue until you are back to where you started and slip stitch into the 2 foundation chain. 

Now you have completed the first round you will start and slip stitch into the top but through the back only,  which will prevent the border from curling up once completed. When you get to the corner slip stitch x 2 chain 2 and slip stitch x 2. Once you get back to your foundation chain slip stitch to finish your round. Now fasten off and join in your next colour and chain 1. Now continue with your slip stitch and corners as before until you have completed two further rounds and fasten off. Now join your third and last colour and complete a further round. You should now have completed one row of double crochet and four rounds of slip stitch. You are now ready to complete your last round. Working as before continue with your slip stitch border but this time working 3 x slip stitch into each of the corners to give you a nice neat edge to complete your border.

Your blanket should measure 92cm x 92cm or if you work in old money 36" x 36"  and is great for a cot or lying on the floor to have a play and equally as good for lying on grass outside in the sunshine. This one is already to go to it's recipient at the end of the month when they go off on their maternity leave and would you believe it I already have another one on the hook for yet another new arrival  It's all go here at the farm house it feels like a permanent production line at the moment with making blankets for my little grandson too.

You can find the colours used for all 3 of my Solid Granny Square Blankets here


Mx