I do seem to have been on a roll with baby blankets lately – and I am particularly pleased with the colour combinations in this one:
Made in Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino Duck egg (026) and Silver (012), Elle Rae cashmerino sport Icicle (29) and Scheepjes merino soft Michelangelo (603) and Raphael (602). Made on a 4.5mm hook it took 3 balls of cream, two of the duck egg, and one each of the other colours. It is of course a Bertie baby blanket.
Goodness, this one has been a long time in the making:
The pattern is the Reflections shawl pattern by Ana D. The variegated yarn is Kunstgarn which is a Danish sock yarn – 75% superwash wool 25% nylon. This one is colour 24 which is apparently called ‘Disney’. I bought it from Under the Rowan, a lovely yarn shop at Armadale on Skye. The background colour is Cascade Heritage sock yarn which is 75% superwash merino 25% nylon in colour 5633 ‘Italian plum’. I made the shawl on a 4mm hook. It took 170g of the base colour and 100g of sock wool, and it measures 135 x 70cm.
I have made one before, but I think this will be my last for a while. It felt like a bit of a marathon!
A couple of people have been into the Knitters shop recently looking for baby booties, so I thought I would have a go at making some:
They are based on the pattern by SarahMaker, and made in Sirdar Country Classic dk on a 4mm hook. The colour is duck egg blue (864). A pair of booties took 25g of yarn.
It’s a well-written pattern and includes this useful size chart with the sole size (in inches) for each age. Mine came out at 3.25 inches so are definitely in the new-born range.
We had a wee jaunt to Uist last week and I came back with some lovely yarn-cakes made of various shades of their undyed wool. This is what I have made with them:
They are Moebius cowls and I am very pleased with how they have turned out. They are based on the Laura Cracknell’s PPHOP pattern and each cowl took just over 40g of yarn.
I have made a couple of these in other thicknesses of yarn so for reference my starting chain plus foundation row is 58cm long. For Chunky yarn I use an 8mm hook and chain 71, for aran yarn a 6mm hook and chain 91, and for the Uist wool dk a 5mm hook and chain 99. The chunky yarn has only two rows of lattice in the first block, aran and dk yarns have three rows as per the pattern.
There is something really quite soothing about making a Bertie baby blanket – just the right amount of repetition, and a satisfying rhythm…
This one is made in: Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino Teal (203), and silver (012), Scheepjes merino soft Michelangelo (603) and Raphael (602)., and Ella Rae cashmerino sport Icicle (29) and Fern (14). It took 3 balls of cream, two of teal and one each of the other blues and greys.
It is 9 pattern repeats wide so I started with a chain of 92, to make a 91stitch wide blanket. Mine was made on a 4.5mm hook and is cm wide and cm long. It weighs…
Some of you will remember the original ‘Flying to New Zealand‘ blanket, which I made for my first great-nephew. The blanket has stood the test of time, but sadly the yarn that it was made in (Sirdar simply recycled) was discontinued some time ago.
I have been looking for a replacement for those lovely chalky colours and natural cottony feel, and have come up with this:
Made in Scheepjes Softfun Denim (2489), Slate Blue (2602), Cloud (2530). Mist (2627) and Lace (2426) on a 4.5mm hook. The pattern is Attic 24’s Neat ripple pattern, and my blanket is 7 ripples wide. It took two balls of Denim and one ball each of the other colours.
I had this idea that I might be in need of some mindless crochet to see me through a period of recuperation, and bought some yarn for a project that I thought would fit the bill:
The yarn is King Cole Riot in colour ‘Stormy’ (3079) and I made a corner to corner scarf with it. The scarf is 17 ‘squares’ across, which gave me a width of 22cm using a 4.5mm hook, and I kept going until it was 130cm long. It took 200g of yarn.
It’s not the first C2C scarf I have made (see here, here and here) and it won’t be the last as I am afraid I over-purchased on the yarn!
And now – a pale pastel version of my Rainbow Ripple blanket.
This one is made using colours from the Scheepjes Softfun Pastel colour pack, plus a couple of extras to complete the palette: Light rose (2513), Starfish (2620), Banana (2496), Mint (2640), Sky (2613, not in pack), Orchid (2657) and Flamingo (2653, not in pack) plus Snow (2412) as the background colour.
As promised – a pastel version of my Rainbow Ripple blanket.
This one is made using the softer tones from the Scheepjes Softfun Rainbow colour pack, plus a couple of extras to complete the palette: Rose (2514, not in pack), Soft Coral (2636), Canary (2518, not in pack), Apple (2516), Cool blue (2603), Violet (2519) and Pink (2480), plus Snow (2412) as the background colour.
One of my childhood toys was a knitted rabbit that I called ‘Armless Rabbit’. Recently I decided to make a crochet copy of him:
The name arose because it is the arms of his (her?) jumper that are stuffed rather than the rabbit’s arms themselves, so removing the jumper reveals an armless torso! Anyway I think he is rather sweet, and as I calculate that he is almost 60 years old now, it seems that the design has stood the test of time!
These are made from some rather lovely (and expensive!) lambswool.
Made in Kinross 4-ply superfine lambswool in Navy (18) and a set of Rainbow mini-skeins.
Each scarf took 10g each of the seven rainbow colours plus 30g of Navy. They are made on a 4mm hook and are 3 ripples wide, and 6 rainbow-repeats long. They measure 124cm x 19cm, and weigh 100g.
This has been in my WIP pile for a while, and I am so pleased that I have finally found some time to finish it.
Made in Stylecraft Batik Pistachio (1910), Rose (1916), Sage (1908), Old gold (1902) and Silver (1917) and Drops Merino Extra Fine Off White (01). See my original little squares blanket post for links to the inspirational blanket by Little Dove, and a really useful tutorial on continuous join-as-you-go corner-to-corner crochet!
This one was made on a 4.5mm hook, measures 66cm x 55cm and weighs 330g. It took one ball of each of the Batik colours and four balls of the off-white.
I have been having fun with a Scheepjes Softfun Rainbow colour pack, and this is what I I have come up with:
I used just the bright rainbow colours for this one – Candy Apple (2410), Pumpkin (2651), Bumblebee (2634), Emerald (2605), Dark Turquoise (2511), Deep Violet (2515), and Hot Pink (2495) plus Cobalt (2626) for the background blue. It took 20g each of the rainbow colours plus 150g of Cobalt.
The pattern is Attic 24’s neat ripple pattern and is 7 ripples wide and 44 ripples long. This is split into 21 rows of rainbow ripples, a block of 18 plain ripples in Cobalt in the middle section, then 21 rows of rainbow ripples in the reverse colour order. I made it on a 4.5mm hook, it measures 72 x 54cm with the border and weighs 250g.
I am thinking about doing a pastel version next…
One of the nice things about winter is that I get a chance to work through some of the stash that has built up over the course of my crochet year, and making scarves for charity is probably my favourite way to do this.
These ones are made in: Stylecraft Batik Elements Platinum (1935) with Debbie Bliss Rialto Lake (23086) and Sea Green (23081); King Cole Drifter Utah (1358) with Rowan Wool Cotton Smalt and Skipper; and King Cole Drifter Kansas (1373) with too many scraps to remember!
My general strategy is to put together 100g of scrap yarn, choose a variegated yarn in co-ordinating colours and make a 30 stitch wide scarf in (UK) double crochet alternating between the scrap and variegated colours every two rows. The variegated yarn is a constant throughout the scarf, and the scrap colours are changed every 2, 3 or 5 stripes depending on what proportion of each colour I have available. You might notice that there are little loops of yarn being carried over going along one side of the scarf, which cuts down on the weaving in of ends considerably and makes the scarf no less warm or cosy.
They will be going to Knit for Peace who now have a database of local centres who will accept knitted donations.
I have waited ages for a sunny day to take a photo of this and used a brief window of opportunity this morning…
Made in Baa Ram Ewe’s Pip Colourwork in Bishopthorpe (020), North Sea (026) and Brass Band (021) on a 4mm hook. The wave pattern is Attic 24’s neat ripple pattern and the scarf is 3 ripples wide (using a starting chain of 45) and 45 wide stripes long. It weighs 107g and took about 35g of each of the three colours of yarn.
I believe this yarn is now discontinued, which seems a shame as it was available in a lovely range of colours, and is one of the few genuinely British yarns – spun and dyed in Yorkshire.
I had promised this as a Christmas present but it turned into a rather more complicated make than I had imagined.
The pattern is the Kelpie Hat by the Crochet Project, and is described as being ‘easy’ or for the ‘adventurous beginner’. Whilst I agree that the pattern contains no difficult stitches (it is a slip stitch, UK half treble repeat) there is a lot to remember whilst you are doing it – which is the ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ side, have you remembered to join and turn, or did you join and carry on? There is also a typo in the instructions for the rib, where it forgets to tell you to work in the back loop only, and this threw me for the remainder of the pattern, as I thought potentially all the half trebles were back loop only. However, Joanne (who wrote the pattern) was available by email to sort this out, and I did eventually get going…
I used Fyberspates Vivacious dk (as suggested by the pattern), which is a gorgeously soft superwash merino wool, and I chose Deep Forest for the colour. The hat is made on a 4.5mm hook for the rib, and a 6mm hook for the body. My hat took 80g of wool and measures 19cm from rib to crown, and 24cm from side to side when laid flat. I made the small size but added four extra rows to the to the body, as I was in danger of making a skull cap.
I do love the texture of this stitch, and would potentially make the pattern again, but I have written copious notes to simplify it for myself next time!
A visitor to the Knitters shop very kindly showed me how to make the ‘knot’ in these, by folding a rectangle of paper into the required shape for the joining seam!
For those of you not lucky enough to have had personal instruction there is a really clear video of it by ‘Just be Crafty’ here.
I have tried them in dk, aran and chunky weight yarns and would say that aran and chunky work best for me. They are made in (UK) half double crochet – back loop only, ending on a row of dc.
These ones are in Rico essentials soft merino (aran) Saffron (066) and Silver-grey (096), and Rowan pure wool superwash worsted Teal wash (discontinued). I used a 6mm hook and started with a chain of 72 for the aran yarn and 62 for the chunky version. Each headband took about 25g of yarn.
Now, who has 25g of yarn to spare to give one a go?
Although it is some time since I have blogged I have actually been very busy with crochet! The Scottish Highlands has had a bumper crop of visitors this year and I have been busy replenishing shelves with various crochet items that have been sold.
All of this has led to a dearth of anything new being created, and it has really only been this week that the pressure has eased and I have felt able to try my hand at something new.
These are adapted from a pattern by Entrelac Cat Designs, using King Cole Riot in in Blue Jeans (3437), Dude (400) and Stormy (3079) with King Cole Panache in cream (2077) and Stonewash (2069) on a 4.5mm hook.
You will notice that the top two have a distinct curve to their shape as the starting chain edge is tighter than the last row. I tried to correct this by doing a chainless foundation (US) single crochet in the bottom one, but I would say that this is still a work in progress.
Interestingly, although mosaic crochet is something new for me, I have used this stitch before; as it is effectively ‘moss stitch’ made in two colours. See my previous projects here, here and here. Which just goes to show that nothing learned is ever wasted!
At this time of year a lot of my crochet time is spent making small items for sale. This has a risk of becoming boring, but one item I never tire of making is dishcloths! This pattern is for an aran weight dishcloth in a lovely textured stitch called Even Berry stitch.
You will need 1 x 50g ball of aran weight cotton yarn. I use Rico creative cotton (aran) or Scheepjes Cahlista, both of which are 85m long. The pattern will use a whole ball, and if your yarn has less yardage than this I would suggest decreasing the stitch and row numbers by two to allow for this. The pattern is written in UK crochet terms. I used a 5mm crcohet hook, which gave me a tension of approximatesly 16 stitches and 16 rows for 10cm.
ch = chain
dc = double crochet (sc/us)
YO = yarn over
Start with a chain of 30, then dc 29 stitches for the first row.
Row 2. 1 dc 1 berry stitch to end of row. You should end on a dc. Don’t worry at this stage that your berries don’t ‘pop’ out. It is actually the next row that pushes them into place.
Row 3 and all odd rows: dc across
Row 4 and all even rows: 1 dc 1 berry stitch to end of row, ending in a dc.
You should have a cloth that is 14 berries wide, so continue until it is 14 berries long, ending with a row of dc.
Now start the border: dc approximately 30 stitches along each side and end of the dishcloth, with 2 dc in the corner stitches. Repeat so you have 2 rows of dc as a border.
Fasten off and sew in the ends and that’s it!
I am sure you will enjoy making it. I think it could be used equally well as a face cloth, and I would be delighted to hear how you get on, and what you choose to use it for.
Happy crocheting.
I have had another go at a Little Squares blanket, this time in a sport weight yarn:
Made in Scheepjes Stonewashed Moonstone (801), Crystal quartz (814), New Jade (819), Amazonite (813), Green agate (815) and Smokey quartz (802) om a 4mm hook. It is 63 x 50cm in size and weighs 285g. I suspect that was 1 ball of each of the five colours, plus 2 balls of Moonstone. I made the border by doing 3 (UK) double crochets into each cluster (so 12 per square) and finished off with a round of (UK) half treble crochet.
I am not always the biggest fan of thinner yarns, but this grew very quickly and I think the stonewashed palette suits the blanket well.
Simply hooked 