Mobius scarf

Last Wednesday I ‘fessed up to having started a new crochet project, and although it was an expensive spur-of-the-moment project it was also, mercifully, a quick one.  The pattern is straightforward, and it was a pleasure to do something which came together so quickly (near-instant gratification is not to be sniffed at).

I mentioned in my WIP post that my flowers had come out smaller than the ones in the pattern, and as such I had to lengthen my rows across the length of the scarf, meaning that my scarf is made up of 50 flowers instead of 34 – but what’s sixteen extra flowers between friends?

It’s so pretty, but I’m already drowning in scarves so I will have to find a home elsewhere for it!

Yarn info: 2.5 skeins of Noro Silk Garden Lite (shade: 2048).  45% silk, 45% kid mohair, 10% lamb’s wool.

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Wednesday WIP

It’s been three weeks since my first Wednesday WIP post, and it’s been a productive three weeks.  I finished the shawl I was working on, I made a quilt, I’ve been making hexipuffs in spare moments (current tally is 160), and I’ve started a new crochet project.

I didn’t intend to start anything new, it’s all Sally’s fault.  I was having a read of her blog (I’m playing catch up with all the blogs I follow, and it’s a losing battle so far!) and saw her first crochet project.  It’s so pretty, and I love the way her version looks like stars because the tips of her petals have gone a little pointy.  I had a peek in my stash and found the Noro I bought at Stitch & Craft in February, and thought that might look nice made up into the Cassia so I made a start… and then realised that there was no way I had enough yarn in that colourway to finish it.  To compound my frustration my flowers have come out around 2 inches wide, and the pattern says they should be 3.5inches across.  Hmmm.  So I’ve already had to make the first row longer so that it’ll actually fit around my neck.

The colours are lovely, but of course I’ve had to order some more of that yarn (three balls…) so I can finish the cowl.  Most expensive spur-of-the-moment project ever?

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Project 365 – Day 290

 

16th October 2012 – “Starting the Cassia cowl”

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Project 365 – Day 284

 

10th October 2012 – “A different sort of veg”

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If you like yarn…

…then you’ll LOVE this.  Back in July I went to Fibre East, and amongst my many purchases there was a mini skein from Willow Knits.  It was beautiful yarn, so soft, a lovely colour and nice to knit with.

When I visited her stall at Fibre East, Anne mentioned that she was setting up a mini skein club… and of course I couldn’t resist, so I treated myself to a subscription via her shop on Etsy (click here).  The first shipment arrived this week and oh my!

What beautiful colours!  This was a truly lovely parcel to come home to after a really long day at work.  The colours in this shipment are (left to right in the photo): harlequin, rosewood, lemon ‘n’ lime, hyacinth, and duck egg.

I haven’t decided what I’m going to do with them yet, probably hexipuffs, but I think I’m going to keep these stashed away until I receive my next shipment and can see what others colours there are.

This is a really good way to try different colours of a gorgeous hand-dyed silk yarn, and it’s very reasonably priced too.  $20 (approx £13) per shipment (1 shipment per month), which includes postage within the UK.  You can sign up for all three months at once, or just get one shipment.  A perfect treat for either experienced or amateur knitters/crocheters

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A colourful adventure ends

I started this blanket back in November, click here to read about the start, and almost met my goal of finishing it before the end of 2011.  I did finish the body of the blanket on 31st December, but decided to add a little edge to the sides on 1st January.

It’s turned out quite small, which is only to be expected as I refused to buy any more yarn to make it bigger!  The final measurements are 110cm x 91cm, just big enough to use as a lap blanket.  I think I’ll take it down to my studio as it’ll be handy for keeping my legs warm when I’m working, and also when I’m sitting out in the garden with a cuppa.

I’ve enjoyed this blanket, and I really like the pattern.  I think I’d like to make another one at some point, using the same alternating bobbles and stripes, but with a more limited colour scheme.  The yarn was also really nice to work with, not as “splitty” as I’d feared (being a cotton), and the drape of the finished blanket is perfect.

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Tying up loose ends

As the end of the year is rapidly approaching I thought I’d better see if I’ve got any projects on the go which I could try and finish before 2012 starts.  Mercifully I only seem to have the one at the moment: the colourful adventure blanket (yeah, I stil need to think of a proper name for it).

That’s what it looks like at the moment, and I’m rapidly running out of yarn so with a bit of luck it’ll be finished by 31st December.  I’ll post photos when it’s done

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Posting from afar

Well, from Blackburn really as I’m away for the weekend.  In truth I’m actually publishing this post in my own absence (got to love the scheduling feature on WordPress), and it’s just a little snapshot of the colourful blanket (which has yet to be named – any suggestions?).

I’ve managed to keep up the progress over the last couple of days, and am sad that I’ll have to take a break from it this weekend (it doesn’t seem very practical to go away with a bag full of yarn!).

In other news, if you haven’t yet signed up for this month’s Crafty Photo Scavenger Hunt then why not give it a go?  It would be lovely if we can get a few new faces participating, so if you know anyone who would be interested then please give them a shove!  I’ll be posting the list of participants (and links to their blogs) on 30th November.

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A colourful adventure – part 2

I told you I was determined to post more regularly, and here we are – every day this week so far.  Clearly I won’t be able to keep this up, but for now I’m feeling smug even though it’s only Thursday!

I’ve been at work the past two days (my gardening work, not studio work) and as a result haven’t had much time for anything else.  I have managed to do a little more of my latest crochet project though.

It’s wonderfully colourful, isn’t it?  It’s still very much in the early stages but so far it makes me think of circuses and the bright posters they have.  I’m especially pleased with the bobbles as I had to work that out by myself.  I’m hoping I’ll get a chance to do some more this evening as I find it’s easier for me to work through projects quickly (before I get bored!).  I’ll post another update on this over the weekend.

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A colourful adventure begins

We all make impulse purchases, and I made one last December.  I blame Lucy over at Attic24, who always make such beautifully colourful things.  She mentioned on her blog that First 4 Yarns were selling packs of wool in her colours, and as I was having a pretty miserable time back then I gave in and bought one.

As impulse buys go, it wasn’t a very quick one.  I purchased the yarn at the beginning of December, and didn’t receive it until the end of January… and by then I’d lost interest in it so it got stashed away.  Out of sight and out of mind, sort of.  I’ve never forgotten I have it, but haven’t been able to think of any project that it would be suitable for.

Last week I was catching up with various blogs, including Attic24, and once again Lucy was responsible for inspiring me.  She mentioned a blanket she’d seen in a magazine (click here to view her post), and then posted a link to a blog called Little Woollies where the author is making a very similar blanket to the one Lucy was admiring.

That was it.  That was the project that the stashed yarn was destined for, and yesterday I made a start on it.

It doesn’t look very promising in that photograph (my mother looked down her nose at it…), but I’m a bit further on now and it’s starting to come together already.  I’m choosing my colours very randomly (on a ‘ooh, I like that!’ basis), and also selecting the stitch type for each row on a similarly random basis.  I think it’s going to be extremely haphazard, but I’m hoping that it will work as a whole…

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