300th post give-away

This has been creeping up on me for a while and I wanted to mark it in some way. The local knitters shop is only open during the summer so round about this time of year I get a break-down of what has sold during the season. I have put this season’s sales into a bar chart (!) but I haven’t labelled the bars. The best selling items (in alphabetical order) are: crabs, dishcloths, jellyfish and spiders.

But which did I sell most of?

To enter all you need to do is leave a comment telling me which item you think is the best-selling. If you guess correctly I will put your name in a hat and my trustworthy husband will pick out one winner, who will receive that item as their prize. If you win I would like you to acknowledge your prize on some form of social media (e.g. a blog, Instagram, Twitter or Facebook post) with a link back to my blog. I am willing to post anywhere in the world so don’t be put off if you don’t live in the UK – let’s spread some crochet happiness!

Oh – and we had better set a closing date. What about the end of November 2017 which, by co-incidence, marks the 5th anniversary of me taking up crochet!

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The long and the short of it

As some of you will know over the past few years I have made rather a lot of jellyfish. I have used lots of different yarns and paid quite a lot of attention to what colours work well. We also have quite a few jellyfish hung around the house, and they often give me cause for a wee smile as I pass them.

Recently however I was visiting the lovely shop that sells my jellyfish and noticed that some of the tendrils were distinctly longer then others. They are all made to the same pattern, and when they are ‘fresh’ the tendrils are pretty uniform so it was clear that the change had happened over time. I wondered if it was down to the weight of the yarn (I have noticed that cotton tends to sag with time) but the worst offender seems to be Sirdar snuggly which is acrylic and certainly not heavy.

A friend who is a knitter suggested that when acrylic yarns stretch they don’t recoil in the same way that wool does. Another friend who is a spinner thinks it is down to how much ‘twist’ has been put into the yarn during the spinning process and that baby yarns tend to have less twist to make them softer. I would be interested to know what other folk think too.

It has been a useful lesson for me in learning that it is just as important to understand the fibre you are working with as it is to choose the colour. So what is the best way to avoid saggy bottoms?

What’s selling?

The shop where I sell most of my crochet produce is seasonal, and is now closed for the winter. So I have just got a complete breakdown of what has sold over the last year, and now have a chance to plan and re-stock for next season.

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My ‘to do’ list for the winter includes spiders, crabs, dishcloths, cushions, hot water bottle covers and rather a lot of jellyfish. None of this is a chore actually as I enjoy making all of them, and hopefully in-between time there will be a chance to try some new things too. I am looking forward to it already!

Would anyone like to guess how many jellyfish they sold?

All that glitters

A friend suggested that I might make a sparkly jellyfish, and I had no hesitation in taking on her suggestion.

Made in Sirdar snuggly Pearls DK Pearly turquoise (the darker blue) and Hayfield baby sparkle DK Little mermaid (the paler blue) on a 4mm hook.
I made it for a small person who I think will appreciate the glitter factor!

All things bright

I have had a request from a friend to make some super-bright jellyfish for her grandsons’ Christmas presents.

They are far removed from my usual palette but I have to say it has been a pleasure to make them. They do say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so I hope they will go down well.
Made in Patons Fab DK Rainbow on a 4.5mm hook. Other colours from stash.

Off to market

There is a Christmas fair coming up in the next village to ours, and I have been asked by a friend to share a table with her. She makes the most beautiful felt work, and I know that her presentation will be very professional. So what to make for my half of the table? Well I got a bit carried away and made rather a lot of jellyfish, and a display that I hope people will find attractive.

Made in Patons fab dk Aqua and Sirdar baby crofter dk Archie, Scottie, Skye, Walt, Coralie, Fergus and Logan. Other colours from stash.

The label is new too – thanks to some sustained encouragement from my husband.

My favourite and my best

What a pleasure it is to visit a yarn shop and come away, not just with a bag full of yarn, but also a head full of ideas of how to use it. We live in a fairly remote part of the world (there are 8 houses in our ‘village’, the nearest shop is 7 miles away and I rarely visit our nearest town, which is over an hour’s drive from us) and my opportunities to see, touch and smell (!) yarn are few and far between. So it was with some excitement last week that we ventured into a lovely yarn shop in Edinburgh, and came away with some new yarn. Here are the results:

The large jellyfish is made with Rowan pure wool superwash worsted in teal wash, and Rowan wool cotton dk in ship-shape, cypress, larkspur and celadon, on a 4.5mm hook. The smaller jellyfish is in SMC select extra soft merino colour in petrol marine, and Rowan wool cotton dk smalt also on a 4.5mm hook. The yarns were chosen for my son, who requested a jellyfish in deep colours. I think they are my best yet, and you will be pleased to know that he approves.