Not Last Week BUT The Week Before.........

Jillian is a big fan of pompom yarn and has worked two beautiful soft baby blankets. 

The solid colour blanket is just as cute as the multi-coloured yarn.

Elaine had created some pompoms for Lyn's challenge to participate in Kirstie Althorpe's World Record Breaking line of pompoms.

Lyn started her contribution to the record breaking attempt with these multi-coloured woolly pompoms.

Caroline had crocheted this wonderful rainbow blanket. The stitching is stunning! This is an amazing gift for someone.

Roberta was in a purple mood when she knitted these lovely socks. It is amazing the number of people who are now attempting socks. Ginnie Willis you must be so proud that your sock influence has spread throughout the group.

This bonnie pink baby dress was also knitted by Roberta.

Is there no end to this woman's talents? Roberta completed this marvellous red and white aran cardigan. Wow! I wonder what she will bring in next week!

Catriona joined the group recently and brought along this nifty romper suit she had completed. 

 I just love these pink bootees that Catriona had knitted. So cute!

 This stunning baby coat and hat would go beautifully with the bootees. I look forward to seeing Catriona's next finish.

The teacup candle was bought by Fiona on a facebook auction. Our own talented Norma had made this and donated it to the auction.

As you know, Ponchos are on trend at the moment. Fiona had fun working on this little outfit.

 How cute are these little teddy slippers? Fiona created a loud ahhhh! when she displayed this set. These would be a hit at any baby shower.

Anthea has been working on her crocheted flower blanket for about five months. I've admired it in various stages of development and was disappointed to have missed its completion. It looks amazing. What an achievement!

I was on holiday and missed these wonderful finishes and would like to say a huge thank you to Janice for taking the photos and and keeping the notes. I would also like to thank the seven people who assisted me in downloading the photos and juggling them around the computer towards blogger. I shall now retire to the safety of the couch and sip a large chilled glass of wine.

FLOWER POWER

Fran created this beautiful crocheted flower as a possible decoration to a bag.

This is June's second flower after her lesson at Gartmore.

This bonnie wee dress was created by our new member, Alice and is cotton yarn.

Margaret has been busy knitting baby sets for friends in work who are about to become grandparents for the first time.

Margaret has also been busy completing this red hot Dalek for herself. I think there is a family of Daleks residing in that household!

Stephanie modelled her latest creation for herself. This quick knit aran she adapted from a pattern. To make the jacket more individual she created the honeycomb design as part of the collar.

Isabel wanted to learn a new stitch in crochet and used the Shoe Box charity as an opportunity to master an unusual scarf pattern. Admittedly she found this challenging but rewarding.

Isabel was really taken with the Gartmore class that Laura taught - to crochet a bauble. She was determined to adapt her new found skill and has started a scarf for the Shoe Box appeal. Apparently, this stitch is addictive.

Collaboration!

An actual early post for once. Or is that on time? There is a reason for that. As we celebrate our fifth year running next week I thought I would do some nostalgia posts. Have a few ideas up my sleeve so look out for that.

Meanwhile everyone is still working away. I don't think I have mentioned Yvonne here yet. She joined the group just before Christmas. She's primarily a knitter but brought this beautiful cross stitch along on Tuesday. It has a lovely story to it too. Yvonne's mother in law used this piece to teach her to stitch. Then her mother in law moved to New Zealand. Rather than give up it has been travelling back and forth between visits. When the can't visit it travels by post. It's really a collaboration between the two and I think it's a fantastic idea. Gives more meaning behind the work.

How lovely does our Helen look here? Practically outshines her beautiful knitting. After knitting an aran cardigan for Laura she decided to knit one for herself. Quite right too. This looks lovely on and so cosy. I love the lattice work on the bands.

Lyn has been claiming for a while now that she can't sew. Izzi on the other hand will tell everyone that anyone can sew, it's just a case of learning. Izzi has been giving demo's at Hobbycraft and whilst there she took the opportunity to help out Lyn and Fee. This gorgeous drawstring bag and make-up bag are the result. I love the colours. Now Lyne can no longer claim she can't sew. We have seen the evidence! Fee also finished a bag but she forgot to bring it along.

Anthea has been struggling a bit with her blanket. Not with the stitches. She says the stitches in this aran crochet are relatively easy. It's the monotony of one colour (if you have seen her previous finishes you will know she likes her stripes). To cheer her on I took a photo of her progress. It's looking fab and is just past the halfway mark.

Almost every week Helen and I discuss how wonderful it is that everyone in the group shares ideas. Here is another example of that. Fiona T had mentioned to Magdalena the idea of creating a sampler using small crochet squares. The idea is that you use the colours you would like for a blanket and see how they fit in. This is exactly what Magdalena has done. She says she has just one more colour to pick out. It looks so lovely too. Magda says that when she is finished this might become a blanket for a soft toy she has on her shelf. It would be a shame to let the little squares go to waste.

As most of you will know, Donna has been working on the Cath Kidston rag doll for little Abigail. The doll itself (which a few cruel people have named Bob - not telling why) is just about finished. She's also finished one of the dresses. I love the fabric. It looks so small and delicate. Not sure I could stitch anything that tiny but Donna has done an amazing job.

You can sort of see Donna and her project here. She's brought her sewing machine along so that she can get some more of it finished.

Izzi's bag lessons were also ongoing. After Fee's sewing lesson a few weeks ago she decided that she wanted to make a bag too. You can see her in the first photo preparing her fabric. Lyn has done that part and here she is cutting out her handles.

Lots of exciting things planned for next week so expect lots of posts as well as my nostalgia pieces. On Tuesday we will be having our challenge, swap night and some goodies to munch on. On Saturday we will be having our Gartmore at home day and then a number of us are heading out to Frankie & Bennies to celebrate. Should be good fun!