A Cottage, Some Thistles, Sheep and a few Hens...

YWhen I left home in the Midlands and moved to London to train as a Nurse at the age of Eighteen I did not think about how I would spend my spend my spaare time. In fact I don't think I realised just how much spare time I would have. Across the road from where I lived was a wool shop and so I decided that I should learn to knit. On one visit home my Maternal Grandmother had come to stay so I told her about the wool shop and about my desire to learn to knit and she very kindly agreed to teach me. She is the lady pictured in the blog below with her Grandchildren outside the caravan.

That was over thirty years ago and I have knitted many items in that time, I keep meaning to look through my photo albums to find evidence, I even designed and knitted jumpers for Jack who became my husband as well as myself and the children. However this blog is mainly about the patchwork blanket and it's significance today.

As far as I remember the pattern for the blanket was from The Woman's Weekly Magazine, I certainly remember having to collect the patterns. In those days you could have wool put aside so you could just buy it as you needed it. I rather ambitiously decided to make a cover for our double bed but then I fell pregnant and so decided to make a cover for the cot bed we had bought for the baby. Obviously I did not know if it was a boy or girl so I included blue and pink and backed it with yellow.

When I was packing up to move here 2 years ago I came across the blanket and when I looked at it I remember my hair standing on end. It featured a cottage, albeit with upper windows, thistles, sheep and hens in amongst the hearts. When we first came to this Cottage on the SW Coast of Scotland there were sheep in the field behind us and hens in the garden next door, the thistles appeared later. It was as if I had predicted my own destiny through the blanket.....

                             The Patchwork blanket in our Scottish Garden 27 years later

                                                           A more recent blanket

                                         A Noro bag in lovely sea colours made about ten years ago

Cath Kidston and Ladybird

                                         Patterns my Mother and I used to knit for the children

About six years ago I decided it was time I learned to crochet but as I had nobody to teach me I decided to teach myself, here is one of the books I used and one of my first attempts that I never finished....

                                                 I did then crochet a scarf, here is the result

Last year my sewing teacher invited a lady to give us a crochet lesson, I was so thrilled as I wanted to ask her if I was doing it correctly, I was even more thrilled to find out that, not only was I doing it correctly but that she too had taught herself, that gave my confidence a boost. She even taught me to crochet triangles which I love doing and have now created my own bunting which you can see over on my Facebook page.

Crochet and knitted triangles

And today at Oakwood Cottage here are my latest additions, so many ideas, so many possibilities.....