frugal friday – making what you need (or want)

For this week’s Frugal Friday post (yes, I know it’s Saturday now), I wanted to tell you a couple of things, and show you something I made.

First of all, this week I reached £100 in £2 coins! Each time I get to £100, I’m going to put half into a savings account, and give half to charity. I think it’s important to give when you can. Rather than my half getting absorbed into the ordinary bank account, I opened a credit union account. I’m quite taken with my little paying in book, and that I have to go into the branch if I want to draw money out. Wonder how much I’ll end up with by the end of the year?

The second thing is that we counted all the small change we’ve been saving for months now – £68.99!

As for the thing I made… I so much enjoyed crocheting my mum’s shawl before Christmas that I decided a bit more crocheting was in order. My hot water bottle developed a leak, and as my old cover was rather grotty, I bought one without a cover, and set about making my own.

I’ve always been quite taken with crocheted granny squares. My own grandma had a huge blanket when I was small, all multi coloured squares edged in black. I remember it being so heavy on top of the bed that I could barely move. I loved it. I planned to edge my squares in black, but then spotted pictures of someone’s squares edged in white… (and I had far more white yarn than black).

I started this project last screen free Sunday, so of course I wasn’t going to search the internet for granny square instructions. ‘I must be able to figure it out myself!’ I declared…

Nope, not quite right…

Hmm, still rather curly round the edges…

A good rummage through the bookshelves found this – instructions for different crochet stitches from a 1970s part-works craft magazine.

Just the thing.

Square squares!

Lots of square squares, in fact.

I wasn’t entirely sure how to join them together, but as it didn’t matter if the fit wasn’t quite right, I just ploughed on, crocheting in front of the tv and on the train.

There’s rather more cover than hot water bottle, and the edges don’t stand up to close scrutiny, but I’m rather taken with it. Cheerful, don’t you think?

A nice new furry hot water bottle would have set me back about £10, so by buying an uncovered one and making a cover, I’ve saved around £7, and entertained myself for a week too. A veritable bargain!

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