What's Hooking

I realised the other day, that it's been awhile since I shared any crocheting updates. These days, I seem to spend as much time at the hook as I do at the machine and I love it. So here's what I've been working on lately.

First up are these lovely heart coasters I found from Nancy Drew Crochet. I completed these four in a few hours and they were so much fun to crochet. You can find the free pattern "Granny Sweet Hearts", HERE, if you would like to give them a try. They will be the perfect addition to our Valentine's Day/Wedding Anniversary decorating.
Just one tip: I added an extra row to the pattern and I changed to a smaller needle for the frill and it gave them a much neater finish. I think I will be doing this more often in the future, as my chain style borders tend to be a little loose.

Madeline was cleaning and purging her room a few weeks back, so I crocheted a couple of Mandala's to brighten up her newly cleaned space. She popped them under the vases on her bookcase, and they look lovely. They are also a little addictive because I then made a few more (and a few more).
For both of these projects I used Patons 8ply Cotton Blend and its so lovely to crochet with, I need to buy more of this. You can find the find pattern for the "Little Spring Mandala", HERE
Before Christmas, I did finish my GREG blanket and it is draped over our couch. It was such a fun blanket to work on:

The borders took quite awhile to finish due to all those LBV stitches but it was worth all the work and I think I would use that border style again. Towards the end of the border, I was crocheting those stitches quite well but it took awhile to find the correct rhythm and the correct LBV.
I felt a little lost after finishing GREG, but Shelley had an older free CAL on her blog called "In A Spin". It sounded perfect so I purchased some gorgeous Latte Cotton from Bendigo Woollen Mills:

I love this wool, in fact I just ordered some more for another CAL, which is starting in a month or two (more on this new blanket another time). The "In A Spin" CAL is a collection of patterns from various designers and squares are worked to either 12", 8" or 6". Currently I am at Week 28 of the 55 week program. Each pattern presents a new challenge and you have to add or subtract rows to obtain the right size; basically it makes me think and pushes me to step out of my comfort zone and work beyond the pattern.

This is just one of the lovely squares called "Corkscrew". I love the 3D squares and this one was quite tricky to begin with but I managed to work it out and was quite proud of myself for achieving the end result.
All the details for the "In A Spin" CAL can be found HERE, if your up for a challenge.
You can also follow my Pinterest board "All Things Wool" HERE and see what else inspires me as my list of "to do" crochet projects grows longer and longer :)