weekend update

Hello lovely blogfriends,

I'm just popping in really quickly to give you a little update of what has been going on in my life this past week. Lots and lots of work - as always. Long days, early starts and short evenings. But the positive thing is, that I'm leaving my house when the sun is already shining and I always come home before it's totally dark. Spring is finally on its way and for a summer girl like me this is always the nicest time of the year!

It was my birthday yesterday and I really got spoiled by my lovely family!

My man got up at 5:30 in the morning to make me breakfast. Now let me tell you that C is NOT a morning person. So for him to get up that early although he could sleep for 90 more minutes is really a sign of true love! And it was the most delicious breakfast. Now picture of that, let's just say, that I'm not really a morning person either.

I went to work early (so I could leave early) and was gifted with these nice things from my nice colleagues! I was really touched, given that I only work in that office for 8 months now! 

I spend the evening lying on the couch (with the window open as the weather was really nice) and my man and I went to have dinner with my mother in law (who's birthday is today). She gave me the most beautiful flowers and a voucher for a new yarn shop that just opened up but that I haven't gotten around to visit yet. And it's not only a yarn shop, they offer knitting courses as well. I always wanted to learn to knit but I somehow never get around to really sit down, watch endless youtube videos and finally get a grip on it. So that voucher was just the perfect present!

Oh and speaking of yarn: here's what's on my crochet hook lately. Or rather, on my hooks, as I am working on 3 projects at a time now.

This will be a baby blanket for my niece/nephew. My sister in law won't tell us the sex because the baby father doesn't want to know. We're guessing it's a boy, but secretly hoping for a girl as she already has two sons. But in the end no one cares about the sex, as long as it's healthy.

This is a shawl that I'm making for my wedding dress. My dress has got a little color in it and I think that this greyish lilac should match my dress perfectly. I'm nearly done now, just two more rows and then sewing in the ends. The wedding is "still" 5 weeks away so I should be able to finish it. I really hope that it will look good together with the dress. I can pick up the dress only two weeks before the wedding, so there won't be time to crochet something new. So it will just have to look good! Oh and it's made from a yarn that's made of Baby Alpaca and Silk. It's the most luxurious yarn that I've ever worked it and it's just so soft and snuggly and light and yet very nice and warm. I am totally in love with it. If you want to make the shawl yourself, here is the pattern.

And this is a top, that I showed you here. Once it's finished it should look like the first picture on the post. I want to have it finished for our honeymoon in Mallorca, but if I don't make it in time it's no problem either.

Oh and because the Mario blanket photos are really, really, crappy, I'll show you the big blanket in all it's beauty and this time in sunny daylight. Looks much better, doesn't it?

So ladies, I'm off to Bratislava now. It's my bachelorette party and I'm spending the weekend "abroad" with my friends. It's really just a thirty minute train ride from where I live but hey - another country is another country. 
You won't hear anything from me for the next days because I rarely drink alcohol and I'm absolutely no party girl so I am in no way used to going out all night long and I will suffer for days on end for that. But hey - you only marry once. Or at least that's what my goal in life.

Have a lovely weekend, everyone! :)

The Mario blanket - TA DAH!

Guys, you won't believe it, I actually FINISHED a piece of crochet! And not just any piece of crochet but by far the BIGGEST piece that I've ever made!
If you read this blog semi-regulary, you might have read about the Mario blanket once or twice. I started this blanket sometime in the summer, thinking (haha, how delusional!) that it might make a nice christmas present for my man, as he is a huge Super Mario Fan. So I only crocheted it, when he wasn't around. That lasted for about one or two weeks, then I realized, that I would never finish it that way. So I told him about it.

I saw a similar blanket somewhere on the internet, so the idea isn't clever or new at all. But I still liked it. So I ordered the yarn and started to crochet simple, dense, 5-round Granny Squares. Nothing special about them. Then I found the pattern for a crochet top, so I put the (rather dull, I have to admit) Granny Squares aside to make this. Then I started working on the blanket again. Then my mum saw my finished crochet top and demanded one for herself. So I put the work on the blanket aside, to make my mum her top. Then I worked on the blanket again. Then I started to work on snowflakes for the christmas market. Then I went back to the blanket. Then I...well, you see the pattern.

After New Year I told myself that I'm not allowed to work on anything else until I've finished that blanket. To be honest, it was rather tiring for me, to crochet all those same, simple squares in all those same, simple colors. But I gave up on one Granny Square blanket right when I started to crochet and I didn't want to fail again. So I worked and I worked and I worked.

I got some new yarn deliverd this week. Two packages: one contains fluffy Drops Baby Merino which will turned into a lovely baby blanket for my yet unborn niece/nephew. And the other package contains Drops Silk Alpaca Yarn. Probably the softest and most luxurious yarn that I ever bought. I'm going to turn this into a shawl to wear with my wedding dress on my wedding day which is less than two months away! So I had a really good motivation to finish the blanket.

And as you always have to see the bright side of life: Thank god I got knocked down by a nasty stomach flu this weekend, so I spend three days on my couch with the big blanket on my lap, darning in the ends (because I left them ALL until the end. Very clever, huh? That way I was so far along that I HAD to do them, no matter what. Whereas I would have probably thrown the pile of Grannies out of the window, if I did all those ends square by square. I guess I'm a tad masochistic in that way) and crocheted four loooooong rounds of edging onto the blanket.

But all the work paid off because....TA DAAAAH!

It's finished!

252 Granny Squares
Measures approximately 1,80 m x 1,40 m so it's very nice and cosy and big and snuggly

I don't know how much yarn I used, but I used an acrylic yarn (as the blanket would otherwise have been too expensive and probably also too heavy). One skein (50g) of that yarn made about 20 Granny Squares, so that should give you an idea.
I used a 3,5 mm hook.

Sorry for the bad photos but I finished it yesterday in the evening. And I'm never home in daylight (thanks to my work schedule) and I cannot wait until next weekend to take proper picture. I might take some additional proper pictures then to show the blanket in all its glory. But for now, these have to suffice.

Oh and just for the record:

NEVER AGAIN!