My two favourite things combined.

Having a hot water bottle makes the cosy blanket evenings EVEN more warm, and I actually find myself wishing it was cold enough to use one!

But they are so boring looking aren't they? Yeah, loads of them come with covers, some lovely, some...not so lovely. But I can't help myself from saying 'Well, I could make it myself.' And it's nice knowing that I actually could.

So I did.

I love the feeling of choosing materials and slowly seeing them turning into something else. Transformational.

So it only follows that I have often seen pictures of people spinning their own wool and yarn, and envying it. This is still somewhere I haven't ventured, but...

I'm pretty sure this is the next best thing. It's sort of a cheats way of making your very own yarn. All you need to do is choose two colours that look just lovely together... choose a slightly larger hook that you would usually use for just one strand... and off you go!

Just hold the two together and carry on how you normally would. Just make sure you have both colours on the hook at all times and you should be good to go!

See how pretty it can look?

I first tried this idea when I knitted my mum some slippers. Knitting this way does work, but every ten or so stitches, you have to unwind the balls as they twist around each other. This doesn't happen with crochet. Which is rather nice.

So once I had made the two sides to fit the bottle... I realised that I probably should have accounted for the sides... basically... it didn't fit. So I just did a round of trebles around the edge. And then it magically fitted. AND because I only did this in one colour, it framed it rather nicely...

Oh! And I wans't very happy with it being so plain... so I thought I would combine my two favorite crafts... so lets add some cross stitch to the front! This chart is from Cath Kidston's Stitch! But cross stitching on crochet was quute confusing... so it's best to choose something you'll be able to adapt quite easily. I made many mistakes.

But those mistakes have made it mine. Even more unique. Even more from my mind. Even more proud of it.

 What makes these even better is how quick they are to make! This one took me a day... and that was not non stop... I would say this one took me three hours. I need to change the heart a bit and round off the left side, and like everything I make, it is by no means perfect. But that makes it nicer. 

My bed is probably the happiest thing to look at on a dark evening.