It’s so blooming cold in my office today. I’ve the heater on, the sun is shining though the windows (the same windows are letting a draft in), I’m wearing the beautiful wrap Dina bought me from Berlin and my Ombrè Aran Mitts too but, nope. Still cold ✳
As you know I recently finished the last granny square blanket I’d been working on for Kye, so it’s time to start another. Rather surprisingly, I have quite a bit of yarn to try and work my way through, so I’ve been thinking of ways to use more of it and quicker.
It’s Dina’s turn next to get a blanket, so it can be bright and colourful. Bearing this in mind I rifled through my stash – well that’s not strictly true. When your stash is as large as mine, it’s more like looked ‘I looked at the yarn on the shelves in the old stock room’.
I settled on these colours and considered using each held doubled, but a brainwave hit and….
Having looked at what I’d picked, I drew this rough sketch, very rough I know 😦
I’m still using two colours held together, which means I get to use my 6mm crochet hook so the blanket will grow much quicker and it’s going to be so warm and cosy when it’s finished.
The colours will run as follows
8 colour changes in total
I’m pretty pleased with how it’s looking so far. As it’s my knitting group project I’m not really expecting to fly through it, they just make a lovely, easy project to work on whilst chatting and laughing.
There’s test knitting happening for the next issue already, but I’m afraid I can’t tell you too much. I can let you know that it’s going to be the beginning of something exciting for Olann and ♥ ♥ ♥ if all goes to plan.
Last but not least, our friends are expecting their first grandchild in about 5 weeks, so I get to knit baby things.
Having cast on a Kelly Brooker Beyond Puerperium last night I just want to keep knitting. The yarn I’m using is Stylecraft Alpaca DK, which I absolutely love. I know I’ve said it before, but it really is surprising how lovely and natural looking this yarn is, given it’s high acrylic content.
It knits up beautifully 🙂
Back to my knitting now as I think we’ve been separated from each other for far too long.
Happy Crafting!
I can’t believe it’s been 2 and a bit weeks already since the last Lilly Pond Blanket Clue was released. I know I’ve been busy, but I’d struggle to tell you doing what 😕
Moving on…..
This Tuesday did indeed see the release of the Stylecraft/Jane Crowfoot CAL clue 4 and judging by the Facebook Group Page, there were lots of people eager to get started. Looking again this morning loads, loads of them have already completed all 4 blocks too 💩
Block 4 as you can see, is called Bobbles and Pin Wheels and the design is meant to represent the ripples of the water with little pink lilies at the waters edge.
The chart above shows the colours needed if you’re making the block using Stylecraft Life on the left and the alternative shades for the Special DK on the right.
Not being particularly fluent in crochet, I’ve struggled with this clue the most so far. I think for me crochet is easiest when I have to make a square (going round and round), rather than working a piece that goes back and forth. I’ve managed this much so far and now have had to allow my brain time to heal I’ll be sure to get the rest finished when I’m back from my travels (I’m off to London later today).
Before I go and pack my suitcase, because I’m one of those last minute people (bet you couldn’t have worked that out?) I guess I should really show you my attempts at blocks 2 and 3……
The Tiny Lilly Block from clue 2 wasn’t really that bad after I’d got the hang of it. it’s not the best piece of crochet in the world, but it’ll pass. It is however over 4 centimetres bigger than the reccomended 12cm square size.
As alluded to by Jane, the blocks are likely to get harder as they go on and I definitely found the third block – Lilly Bud, a little more intense. Truth be told, at one stage I’d have rather eaten it than continue.
The eagle eyed amongst you, will notice that my 3rd block is again larger than the specified 12cm. Happily though it’s the same size give or take the odd millimetre to my clue 2 block 🙂 So I’m hoping everything will work out OK.
Yes, I have managed to get through it, but look at all those scary ends that still need to be sewn in.
😱 😱 😱
The next clue, for block 5, is due to be released Tuesday the 2nd of June.
Happy Crochet!
You might recall I’d bought a couple of shades of Merry Go Round Double Knit from Stylecraft Yarns, in order to see what it was like and gauge customer interest. The one on the left is appropriately named Rainbow and the one on the left is called Peacock.
The reaction has been great, with the inital stock selling out in the Rainbow almost immediately. I myself, think it’s rather lovely for baby and children knits and the 100g ball seems to be never ending with a whopping 321yds/294m. So I’ve decided to add a few more shades to the range, top left it’s Starburst, top right is Candy Crush, bottom left is Blue Denim and lastly on the bottom right it’s Strawberry.
There are some lovely little patterns for the Merry Go Round yarn, but as it’s a standard double knit weight it will work as a great substitute with most dk patterns. I’m rather smitten with these crochet soft toys from pattern 9161, but I’m not convince my crochet skills are sufficient.
Talking of crochet….
I finally managed to get one of the blocks made for the Stylecraft Lilly Pond CAL, but I still have to sew in the ends (so many ends) and make a further three of these too. The next clue, for the second block is due to be released on Tuesday 21st April, so I’ll be way behind, but it’s meant to be fun isn’t it?
The eagle eyed amongst you will have spotted that my piece measures approximately 53cm, a whole 8.5cm’s longer than the recommended length of 44.5cm
It’s also a centimetre taller, but after talking to friends that are taking part and reading through the posts on the Facebook Group Page, it seems like most people are coming in around this size too. So I’m keeping my fingers crossed and hoping everything comes together without too much extra work 🙂
Happy Crochet!
Today is the 7th of April, which is the birthday of Billie Holiday and Russell Crowe, it’s also the day that Liam Gallagher and Patsy Kensit got married on too. April 7th (1985) is when Wham became the first western act to play China and strangely enough, it’s also the day that George Michael was arrested in a public restroom in Beverly Hills for lewd conduct (1998) 😳
More importantly though, April 7th, sees the release of the first clue for Stylecraft Yarns and Jane Crowfoot’s Lilly Pond Blanket Crochet Along, you can find it on the Stylecraft website to download here
The first block is called Stripes and Waves which, as the title suggests, represents the ripples of water in the lily pond and you’ll need to make 4 of these in total. This will be my first time attempting something like this in crochet and I don’t mind admitting that I’m a little worried my crochet skills will fall short. However, having had a quick look over the first clue, I’m happy to report that there are lots of photographs, to help 🙂
If you’re using the Special Dk rather than the Life DK you’ll have to substitute the colours in the column on the right hand side for the ones they refer to in the clue.
The next clue will be released in a fortnight on April 21st, remember though, there’s no pressure to have your 4 blocks completed by then. The CAL is meant to be an enjoyable experience, so be sure to take your time, I know I will 😉
Remember to pop up photos of how you’re getting on on the Facebook Page if you get a chance.
Happy Crochet!
So for those of you that missed it Saturday 3rd of May was Yarn Shop Day. It was great to see so many of you out to support us and good fun was had by all (I hope) despite the rain 😦
After all the fun and games I have some competition and raffle winners to announce.
The raffle winners are as follows –
Sock Yarn – Mary Healy
Scrumptious Lace Weight Yarn – Fiona Ryan
Snuggly Dk & Pattern – Deidre McArdle
Bambeanies by Woolly Wormhead – Edwina Cole
Erika Knight – Molly McSweeny
Lucy Neatby, The Brand New Knitter DVD – Sadie Foley
Knitpro Symphonie Interchangeable Starter Set – Susan Macfarlane
We also had a ‘Guess the Number of Buttons in the Jar’ for our younger visitors on the day. The winner receives a €5 gift voucher for Auntie Nellies Sweet Shop and a woolly goody bag donated by the good folks over at Stylecraft Yarns, for the knitter in their life.
Can you guess?????
252
None of the children guessed correctly, but the nearest was Jasmine Jennings with 258. Well done Jasmine the Auntie Nellies Gift Voucher is yours and I’m guessing your mum or your sister might like to receive the goody bag.
Last but not least.
There was the competition to find our fastest Knit Happens stocking knitter.
The stocking had to be knitted in two colours and this mind blowing time was achieved by Mary Murphy, who wins 4 balls of Sirdar Bonus Dk for her effort, which she whipped up with smoke rising from her needles in a little over 10 minutes..
The second fastest stocking knitter was Mary O’Donovan with a little over 12 minutes. Mary wins a ball of King Cole Splash for her speedy needles.
Those of you that didn’t make it won’t have had a chance to see our yarnbombed rocking chair, which definitely helped entice passers by in. We’ll be taking it with us, along with lots of our Knit happens stockings to the Midleton Mid May Festival on Sunday 18th at The Square (near The Granary). Why not come and see it and lend your support to this new festival
You can find out more about what’s happening over the weekend here
Happy knitting!
Stylecraft have come up trumps again with their latest yarn Stars.
Reflecting the latest fashion trend for sparkling and lustre effects, Stars is a lightweight blended yarn with a metallic filament and small Payette sequins throughout to bring a beautiful sheen together with a subtle sparkle to your knitting. Made up of 75% Premium acrylic, 10%Polyester, 10% Metallic Polyester and 5% Sequin.
Stylecraft has taken care while developing this DK yarn to ensure Stars is soft and brings a delicious drape to the designs knitted in it. The colour palette focusses on icy pastels, from stellar white to quartz pink and aqua blue with the addition of amethyst and noir for those who like a bit of drama.
A couple of the large spinning mills have released similar versions of this yarn and on first look they might seem like a more economical purchase however, you have to look at the meterage. Each 50g ball of Stylecraft Stars costs €4.80 and contains 150 metres of yarn in comparison to another I can think of that only has 110 metres.
Knitted as a standard double knit there is a great range of designs to support the yarn too including a beautiful bolero that would work beautifully as a Communion Cardi.
Happy Knitting!
Confessions of a Fibre Strumpet 