This is our powder room.  It’s the smallest room in the house & amazingly just about the only one with any wall space.

I’ve had the first aid idea brewing for so long but for some reason just haven’t got around to doing anything about it.

All the bits and pieces have been collected from thrifted first aid kits. I saved them all for about 12 months and now I’ve assembled them in IKEA box frames. This would have to be my number one decorating tip for lazy cleaners (me). You get the lovely look of a jumbled collection without the dusting headache.

The “call Andrea” thing is a bit of a running gag with a mate of mine (ex nurse). I’m going to print these up as A4 prints & get all our friends to hang them in their bathrooms too.

If you’re on Twitter (which I hardly ever am) you’d know all about my frustration with the blog yesterday…it was broken…I couldn’t post…I couldn’t even see the damn blog.

Anyway, in my steam-coming-out-of-ears haste to get the post up yesterday before the whole blog blew up in my face I left off a few(!!) rather significant (& helpful) details…geez Kirst…I think you’ve kind of lost sight of what this space was/is really all about.

Giving each other a hand…having a crack…trying new stuff…& maybe…sometimes…inspiring others to look at things a little differently.

OK…so the vintagey, picnicky bit of deliciousness from yesterday was hooked from a pattern found in 7 day afghans (mine is the 2004 version). The pattern is called perfect plaid. Here’s a link to the book from Delightful Books & Crafts. These guys deserve the sale in my opinion…purely for the name of their store!

I didn’t actually follow the pattern though. It seems that they may have confused the two colours in the writing up of the pattern. I just did what my eyes told me by looking at the finished blanket in the picture.

Yarn Details
I used Ella Rae Classic Superwash. The ladies at The Wool Shop advised it is about a 10ply. I purchased 6 balls of the pale grey, 4 balls of the dark grey & 2 balls of the green.  I’ve got plenty left over BUT I’m cool with that – I’m going to make a few pom poms for pip. My finished blanket measures about 1 metre square.  I’m happy with the width but should have used up a bit more yarn on the length because the stage 2 of the construction pulls everything in quite a lot!

I chose the yarn for a number of reasons…

• colour range
• size of ball – 100gm & 200metres (anything to avoid end weaving)
• price

Hook Details
I used a 6.5mm hook for the mesh & then a 9.00mm hook for the chaining.

Hope this helps you out!  Thanks for appreciating the blanket & for keeping me true to what it’s all about & reminding me this is a space I love & am proud of. x

I got kind of excited about the yarn bowl I made last week & thought you guys might like to have a go at a simple speedy one yourselves.

You might also need to visit my previous tute on drawstring bags to make sense of the top casing but it really is a very simple project. It took me far longer to write the how to than it took to make.

I was just killing time really.

Sitting at the desk…wasting time on the internet…and hooking at the same time.

I made it too small & have since had to cut it off my pins-and-needles-blueish-purple ring finger.

I might make another…or I might not.

If you’ve got good eyesight you could have a crack too. It’s just a rectangle of single crochet which I then cross stitched & seamed up the back.

I used a .75mm hook & a bit of left over embroidery floss.

It will come as no great surprise to anybody to hear that I’ve been inspired by something I saw & read over at the house of Rummage.

I love any kind of craft that uses “waste” material. So it’s with great enthusiasm that I’m approaching my hanger challenge. I’m aiming for a hanger a day next week & thought you might be inspired too. If you think you might like to have a crack too then just join the flickr group here.

The only rule is that you must cover a wire hanger…any way you like. Please don’t cover fancy wooden ones. This is all about turning something ugly into something not ugly.

Edit: You only have to make 1 to play along but I’m aiming for 5. x