Happy Hexagons Organic Cotton Baby Blanket

Happy October! We've having a heatwave, so it doesnt feel very autumnal at the moment. Yesterday I somehow a lot of work done, which isnt easy when you're looking after a 6 month old at the same time. I managed to get some patterns listed in my etsy shop, and this is one of them!

My brother & his girlfriend are expecting a baby in 2 weeks, so I decided to make them a blanket. They love bright colours and dont know whether they are having a boy or girl, so I raided my stash and found lots of different colours to make motifs with. I played around with squares, and stripes, and finally settled on hexagons. I wanted a plain kind of shape that wasnt too girly.

 

Later, I was making a cushion cover from some organic cotton, and when I had some left over I decided to make some more hexagons, as they are so nice to make! So I ended up with another blanket. It's made from lovely Twilley's Freedom Sincere Organic Cotton.

I enjoyed working with Sincere, it was a bit splitty, but all cotton yarns are. I often question the ethical and environmental sourcs of yarn. Acrylic yarn is essentially made from oil. When I was (mostly) vegan I hesitated about using Sheep's wool, also it makes me itch. There are soya and bamboo yarns available, but I guess there isnt really a truly sustainable yarn. 

   

Freedom Sincere is just like Rowan Organic Cotton, but about half the price. I stopped liking Rowan yarns so much when I worked in a wool shop. The colours and textures are gorgeous but when you come to work with it, it often has knots in, and it bobbles when you wash it, which isnt great when you've spent a lot of money. Modern yarns like Sirdar and Patons are so much nicer than they used to be, and are washable and dont bobble. When I'm making things for H, I tend to use budget acrylic yarns because they need to be washed so often, and he grows out of things so quickly.

Happy Hexagons Baby Blanket pattern is available from The Tree Bridge and Ravelry.

Simple Pleasures

I think people can be divided into two categories, those who thrive on interaction with others, and those who get exhausted by it after a while. I'm definitely the latter. I like people for a couple of hours, and then I want to go and hide in the bath with a good book. I think its why I found school hard, you have to be around hundreds of people all day long, and there isnt much energy left for learning after that.

The best job I ever had was being a gardener, I could have my mp3 player on all day and just get on with my daily taks. At the same time, I worked in a fabric shop, and it was tiring talking to customers all day long. My husband could always tell which job I'd been to that day. If I was energized but calm, it was gardening, if I was exhausted and grumpy, it was the shop.

So now I get to be at home with H a lot. I love it! I've gradually come up with a routine so I get my housework done quickly (one room per day). It just makes me really happy doing quite mundane things like hanging H's nappies out to dry in the sun. Or rearranging the food cupboards. I think I was meant to be a housewife! Then in the afternoon we go for a walk or I do an hour of crocheting. I do go to baby groups and things, but sometimes its just lovely to just have time at home.

So my simple pleasures are:

   

Nappies drying in the sunshine

     

Organic veggies from the farmers market

  

and baking. Yum!