The Interior DIYer
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Thrifty things – bust must plus

I struck charity shop gold again this week. For some time I’ve wanted something nifty and a little out of the ordinary to display my favourite necklaces. I had seen busts being used all over the internet machine for this very reason, and I wanted in on some of that action. Since I’m cheap as hell, I casually kept my options open for sourcing a sturdy bust perfect for the job. I dropped into Second Abbey {where I found my new / old footstool}, and there he was. Mozart. At the time I wasn’t able to bring him home, so I figured if he was there the next time, I’d buy him. Lo and behold, the next time I ventured in, he was still there. Lonely amidst the chaos …

The poor guy looked like he had been massacred by fake tan. His face says it all. For a steal at €15, I took him under my wing {actually, I placed him in my bike basket}, and cycled home. A little scrub behind the ears and a fresh coat of Montana’s ‘sh. white‘ spray paint, and Mozart regained a little bit of his former dignity. That is, until I draped him in jewels. 
Mozzy, as I now refer to him, is currently taking first place as the focal point in our bedroom, which I’m slowly but surely revamping bit by bit on a budget. He’s perched on our dresser, which I also recently revamped. I’ll be sharing that little upgrade as soon as I can, so keep your eyes peeled! I just gotta get around to taking some decent ‘after’ pictures. 

Chin up, buttercup.

xx A

Also featured – our living room painting. 
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Update – boudoir blanket

Here in Dublin, the first chills of autumn are setting in. I dug out my all time favourite autumn scarf and engulfed myself in it over the weekend. I heart autumn and winter {to some peoples horror, that includes my mother}, and love nothing more than curling up on the couch with a yarn project. I thought no better time to give you an uppy-wupdate on my our boudoir blanket.

I’ve crocheted a substantial enough of a chunk of her so far {yeah, this blanket is a damn lady} to graduate onto the first stripe. I was so up in the air about what colour to choose – hot pink or purple? I only decided on a colour this week.

The main grey I’m working with is an Aran wool which means I was limited to Aran colours for the stripe. It was either hot pink {left stripe} or purple {right stripe}. I was cut throat and immediately ruled out the purple; as you can see, it was blugh. I really wanted to step outside of my comfort zone and go with hot pink, but I was still too hesitant. I managed to find a third Aran wool {middle stripe} that was the Goldilocks to my dilemma – just right. A little bit of column A, and a little of column B, and home it came.

After a long day I look forward to being an utter slob on the couch with a good yarn project. I just hope I finish said boudoir blanket in time for winter. I already know for my next blanket project, I’m going with little granny squares. Those you can bring on the bus. Not this lady. You can’t tell by the pictures, but she’s a Kardashian – at 6.5 feet wide, she’s feminine and substantial. Baby got back.

A note on my attempted Tunisian crochet – hella no. I caved and went back to old fashioned double crochet within a couple of days. I found the Tunisian crochet slow, tricky and ended up making me very anxious. Seeing as our boudoir blanket is more than 6.5 feet wide, I gave the Tunisian crochet a pass on this project. I’ll try my hand at it later, but for now, it shall not pass.
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New project – boudoir blanket*

It’s been a couple of months since I’ve worked with yarn. If too much time passes between pieces, I get a serious case of idle hands, so I had been on the lookout for a new project. I spotted this Tunisian crochet pattern a couple of weeks ago, and I was sold. I really liked the little square pattern it produced. Sign me up for all of that please.

I then YouTubed ‘Tunisian crochet pattern’ {as I can’t read patterns. I have to watch them}, and found this great tutorial by TheCrochetSide. There was however one thing that baffled me about Tunisian crochet – it has its own special massive crochet hook. And I mean massive. I had never heard of such witch craft, so I was immediately disheartened and thought I’d never find one. Luckily, I didn’t have far to look and Home Focus at Hickeys came to the rescue again … 

Those puppies are an eye-watering 14 inches long {that’s what she said}. Another interesting thing about Tunisian crochet is that it’s a cross between knitting and crochet – you have multiple loops/stitches on the hook at any given time {as seen in the first pic}. It sounds confusing, but it’s a simple pattern once you get the hang of it. 
I then spotted this blanket on Pinterest, and knew it was perfect. It was such a simple pattern, and was just what I was looking for – a bedroom blanket. It would work perfectly with the Tunisian pattern. Except for one thing. I can’t decide on what colour the feature stripe should be. I did a little mock-up for you to feast your eyes on … 

#qp_main24294 .qp_btna:hover input {background:rgb(150,150,150)!important}

HOT PINK OR PURPLE STRIPE? VOTE HERE!
Hot pink stripe
Purple stripe

www.poll-maker.com

I need your ever-knowledgeable help guys. What do you think? Hot pink would be a break from the norm, but then again a dark purple / winegum colour stripe would be perfect … I’m so indecisive. Give me your brains. 

*Sorry. This isn’t a sexy, intricate or mysterious blanket. ‘Boudoir‘ blanket just sounded a lot better than ‘bedroom‘ blanket.