My granny square blanket

I have spotted a number of Pinterest boards lately with lovely designs of granny square blankets.  This reminded me that I made something similar in the early 1970's when for some reason I had lots of oddments of yarn around and just wanted something to fill the evenings in front of the TV (nothing changes!).
I rummaged around in my blanket box and there it was.

I remember trying to sort the colours so that I went light, medium, dark then repeat, well sort of  'ish. 
It did have some use but the trouble with knitted blankets is that they are very heavy, and not that comfortable to sleep under.  And of course impossible to wash. 
I remember visiting my dear old mum and the bed we were put in had several blankets made of knitted squares, and it was like sleeping under a plank, but that is another story.
In fact I made two much the same.  The other one was given to my mother-in-law and when we were sorting out her house it went to the charity shop!  I hope someone treasures it. This design was not so popular then as it is now, perhaps it is now 'retro'.
Of course I just crocheted round and round and today's designs are much more appealing, with lovely colour combinations and crochet patterns.  I expect it will go back into the blanket box for now.

I have opened an Etsy shop

As I am no longer running the bitstobuy business in the sense of selling kits and needles, yarn etc, I decided to concentrate on the knitting side.  I love making the tiny sweaters and accessories suitable for dolls house or tiny bjd but I also wanted more time for knitting for me!

My main selling is on ebay and I have several very loyal customers who snap up anything I list there.  But I wanted to do something different, and decided to dip my toes in the waters of Etsy to see what happened.

I am lucky enough to be the guardian of a couple of lovely antique dolls passed down through the family, so had a go at designing a dress pattern for the larger, 18" tall one.  I sweated blood a bit over the design but I got there eventually and this is the result.

It is a very fine lemon cotton-like yarn, and is trimmed with ribbon and flower buttons.  I really enjoyed the challenge of making it and was very pleased with the final result.  I have also knitted some lacy cotton socks for the same doll and depending on how popular this size is, have plans for lots of other designs.

These are currently for sale on Etsy in my bitstobuyknits shop.  I am not yet into all the ins-and-outs of Etsy but the dress has been favourited several times so someone has found it.

Meanwhile ever onwards and upwards with tiny sweaters.