Tackling the Tetris Blanket

I know I keep talking about it but I've decided that I'm going to tackle the blanket (in my Mum's terms) 'little and often' so I'm going to do it as part of 'A Granny A Day' based on the idea by craftyminx.

The game has a 10x20 square grid so I will be making 200 squares.  If, starting now, I make 1 a day every day I should complete the 200th on 14th August - better get started then!

I've also started work on my present for The Boy and my cowl for myself.

Treating myself - wool shopping

As I said yesterday I have been looking forward to my exams being over so I can go wool shopping.  So I set off this morning to go and re-stock my wool stash.

Here is what I bought:
I'm making myself a lovely snuggly cowl using a pattern by HappyBerry so I bought a huge 200g ball of James C. Brett Chunky wool.

I bought some Sirdar Click (as it was reduced) for The Boy's birthday fingerless mitts.

Also as I mentioned I want to make a Tetris blanket so I bought lots of wool for that (the purple is the only colour missing but I already had that:

Annoyingly, I forgot the black that I needed for the background so I will need to pop back for that.

I did get some funny looks for having that much wool - both from the shop assistants and from the people I passed on my way home.

I also love my stash bag for my Tetris blanket.  I've gotten to a point of commandeering every canvas bag I can find and The Boy now looks out for free ones for me - this one is from a family friend who works at the Royal Institute and was promoting his work in Liverpool recently.

And finally, as it is Friday, I have to post my finished projects.

I decided to make headbands for my teddy bear using this pattern for the bow but experimenting with the straps - either crochet chains or bands with little ear-holes:

Doesn't she look lovely!

I'm free!!!

My exams are finally over! I know 4 exams spread over 2 weeks sounds quite relaxed - I thought so too but it has been so tiring.  I think they went well though.

Now that they're over I can't wait to get back to crocheting and blogging.  Oh that reminds me, I've got 737 unread blog posts on my Google reader to catch up on.

I have a trip to the nearest craft shop planned for tomorrow and I've written a list of all the lovely things I want to make - most importantly are birthday presents for The Boy and my Sister but I also want to make a granny square blanket which looks like a Tetris game (it was the first app I put on my new phone) but that needs more planning and A LOT of wool.

Hopefully I'll be able to get some of my WIPs finished too before I start burying myself new projects.

I'll let you know tomorrow what I end up with.

FO Friday - A Cute Little Smiling Robot

Recently, I discovered the magical world of Moon Buns at Moon's Creations.  I love the idea of having a basic body and then customising it for an occasion or to represent a character.  However I wanted to make it more personal to me so decided that I should make a little crochet robot.

I wanted to make the robot simple, as the Moon Buns don't have arms or legs (but hopefully it's still identifiable as a robot).

So this is what I ended up with:

What do you think?  I'm planning on making another one then I'll probably write up the pattern if I'm happy with it.

*Ooh Random Point*
I've set up a blog email address so you can ask me questions directly and I'll get straight back to you.
It is written at the side of my blog so over  there --> somewhere hopefully, under the Ravelry icon.

But here it is anyway:
thesmilingrobot @ hotmail . co . uk
Don't forget to remove the spaces.

Darn it! - Missed FO Friday

Ok so I've lost track of a lot of time recently also with having so much revision to do at the moment I haven’t finished many projects.

However I did make a case for my new phone:
No Sew Mobile Phone Case by Lydia Busek

Also I couldn’t resist making this adorable R2D2 egg cosy:
R2D2 Egg Cozy by Jodie Beale-Hughes

Sadly I haven’t got around to finishing the 'Basic Bear' I started on Christmas Day from the book I received - Toys to Crochet by Claire Garland.

I Went to Venice!!!

My Birthday present this year from The Boy was a trip to Venice.  I know my birthday was aaages ago but we decided to go over New Year.

I've always wanted to go to Venice so I couldn't believe I was actually there at first.

Venice is so beautiful!!!

We did so much walking and sight-seeing in the 7 days we were there and managed to fit in a gondola ride which, although overpriced, is just something you have to do in Venice!

The B&B (B&B San Marco) was on the third floor of a building and the family who ran it were so friendly and we often all sat around to breakfast together with the other guests.  This was the view from our balcony:

There was a little pizza restaurant nearby which did amazing pizzas at great prices - we had a pizza each and drinks for around €20. When we got back we both agreed that we won't be eating pizza for a while - at first you love how fresh and tasty they are but after 4 or 5 days you are like "I NEED BACON!!!"

I was glad that everyone in the restaurants and shops spoke English - I know it sounds arrogant but I didn't know any Italian (also they all seem to speak at least 4 languages).  On my first attempt to speak Italian to a local it was a ticket inspector on the waterbus and he said 'buongiorno' so I replied the same and he says "so are you going to the airport?"  I was gutted that I was called out as being English so easily!

It was an amazing holiday and great to be able to see the place I have spent years fantasising about visiting.

Here is an assortment of pictures from our holiday:

Me by the Ponte di Rialto

The Bridge of Sighs

A close-up of the Bridge of Sighs

The Boy by a canal

View of the Grand Canal from the Accademia Bridge

The Boy with St Mark's square in the background

One of the lions of St Mark on the Doge's Palace

St Mark's Bell Tower

St Mark's Basilica (left) and the Doge's Palace (right)

Me with a view across the Grand Canal

Taking the gondola under the Rialto Bridge (supposed to be lucky)

Gondolas only sign by side of canal

Our Gondola (the red one in the middle)

Me and The  Boy