Hey there! To be honest I’m just popping by to say hello. I haven’t written a blog post this week and can’t think of anything specific to write about. So this just because I love crochet and want to share it today. Hope that’s OK.

I finished a blanket, which is pretty much the same as the first Rainbow Edged Granny I made. Unlike the other one, this one is in my Etsy shop. At the moment there is a 20% discount on all the items. That runs until the 16th of this month. The code is ZEENS.  You’ll need that to get the discount, should you wish to spend some spondoolies.

I don’t think I mentioned here that I made my friend an Urban Stripe shawl. I used Drops Merino and in case you wanted to use that too, I will tell you that it took 7 balls of yarn and the notes are all there on my Ravelry project page.

I haven’t had as many views on the latest crochet podcast. I think it might be the big spider that’s done it. The episode actually has very little to do with the spider although of course I have mentioned him. It’s a standard episode with a little bit of dressing up thrown in. Please do check it out, it’s half and hour of crochet chat. Pop over to YouTube and have a look.

I’m picking up and putting down the Weekend Blankie. Have you made one? It’s a lovely, easy project. Completely stress free actually. Mindless crochet is my favourite crochet. I’m using StyleCraft Life dk.

And I’m still working on sitting down to write up the pattern for my Holey Smokes! shawl. It’s coming with me to StitchFest Southwest this weekend. It’s very Totnes is this shawl! If only I could muster the will power to type up the pattern. I know I’ll feel much better once it’s just blimmin well written. A kick up the bum is what’s needed.

That’s pretty much been my love of crochet this week. Although I did have to put it down to watch Stranger Things 2 this week. Oh my, that was good telly!! What have you been up to?

xxx

 

Hopefully you’ve heard of the Back To School Sweater CAL by now. If you haven’t then you’ve still got a month before the Crochet-A-Long ends. It is the perfect excuse to try something you’ve never done before. I had never made myself a crochet jumper before. Now I have made two! And it’s partly due to this fabulous sweater party that has been devised by Tamara from Crafty Escapism and Helen from Making at Number 14, not to mention shouted from the roof tops by awesome Fay of the Crochet Circle podcast. Go on, click on their names. They will take you to a hive of information and lead you down a rabbit hole of jumpery goodness. There are loads of specially written blog posts by some truly knowledgeable people.

I’ve stopped caring about showing my mad face to the world. It doesn’t really matter does it? I expect you’re looking the the jumper/sweater anyway. And you have probably noticed that both my jumpers are the same pattern. It’s the Cleckheaton Colour Block Jumper and I have mentioned it several time now, mostly over on my YouTube channel (episodes 13-16), where I’ve shared the details of yarn (it’s Drops Lima, which I’ve learned is deffo handwash only) and other super informative stuff .

You can find the pattern for free on Ravelry along with many others that, are in a useful bundle put together by the CAL team. Look here, aren’t there so many you could make?!

Yes, my seaming is a bit dodgy but I’m saying it’s part of the look. And you can always turn it inside out, where it blends in more. And if I’m not mistaken, I appear to have walked past many (far more than usual) doors/walls/strange places that all have nails (or other protruding things) poking out, waiting to grab hold and snag at my granny clusters. It’s a handmade jumper’s worst nightmare (that, and the shrinking/felting thing that I achieved on the first wash).

As it’s a CAL, there are prizes to be won if you enter your project into the Ravelry threads. I have offered one of my patterns as a prize. I don’t know if it’ll be a bundle of prizes for just a couple of winners or if they’ll be many prizes for different categories.  Here is the Chatter thread so you can see what everyone is getting up to. And here is the Finished Object thread. I admit that I’m not very good at chatter threads. I easily forget to check in but I do enjoy seeing other crafter’s takes on projects. Simply by joining in on the threads (and by using the Instagram hashtag #BackToSchoolSweaterCAL) means you’re eligible to be entered into the prize giveaways.

Again, sorry about the face. This photo really shows the jumper off though so I’m over looking the crazy stare (it’s not as if people cross the street when I walk by or anything).

Have you already made crochet garments before? Is it something you enjoy? I loved making mine and will definitely make more crochet clothes for myself in the future. And please shout out if you are already taking part. Or maybe you’ve had a spark of inspiration and now feel the pull of the CAL?! Let me know! Cheers.

It’s about time, it’s sweater weatha… x

 

 

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Find Your Crochet Fade

Do you know the Find your Fade? It is a knitted shawl with glorious colour play, a spectrum of tones and speckled variegated yarns. I absolutely love the Fade, but I’m just not a knitter.

Therefore, I was so excited when I discovered that a very clever crochet designer had come up with a crochet version. The best thing of all is that the Blurre shawl is a completely original design. It isn’t a copy of the Fade, it is its very own thing, and it’s totally fab!

The Blurre Shawl By Addydae Designs

I stumbled upon the Blurre shawl whilst watching a fellow crochet podcaster. Claudia of Crochet Luna was talking about it, and I told her how beautiful I thought it was. A few days later, I found a copy of the pattern in my Ravelry inbox! Claudia had bought the crochet pattern for me, for my birthday!! How lovely is that?!

I got stuck in straight away! I knew that I wanted to use the hand-dyed yarns I’d found at Stephen & Penelope’s in Amsterdam. That was my starting point. At the time, I was making a different shawl with some neon yellow I’d bought at the Edinburgh Yarn Festival. That was definitely also going into the shawl, too.

I needed two more colours, so I looked for yarn shades that would blend the neon with the dusky blues from Amsterdam. The Wool Kitchen’s Nebula sprang to mind pretty quickly. Then, a spot of time trawling Etsy gave me Made By Jude’s “When Dye Pots Attack”.

Check out my crochet podcast episode where I talk about the shawl, too!

The pattern is awesome. It’s super easy but represents really sophisticated and modern crochet. I didn’t know Deanne of Addydae Designs before. Well, I’d seen her work before, but not properly registered in my head that one person was linked to all the pretties.

Take a look at the Three Springs shawl. I lurrrvve it!! Deanne also has a podcast, check that out, too.

I’m in love with my crochet Blurre shawl!! It’s awesome! However, it has been a bugger to photograph. The neon blows out no matter what I try. It makes the other colours look lacklustre. In real life, it is all superb, I promise.

If I were to be picky, I’d say that I’d like a few more rows of the first colour (the turquoisy one) and more rows of the Nebula (the dark one with rainbow flecks). I think that would have helped to balance out that crazy neon punch to the face. For the most part, I’m well chuffed. If I didn’t have so many other things to make, I’d definitely make another crochet blurre shawl straight away. I know others have said the same, too.

Photographing the Blurre Shawl

I got the camera out the other day and took some snaps that didn’t work too well. I asked my four year old to take some pictures of me, too. Initially, I just handed him the camera and asked him to click away. It didn’t go down well. I ended up with about twenty blurry Blurres.

I got the tripod out, but still couldn’t see exactly what was going on (not until I remembered to flip the viewing screen). Anyway, here are a few reasonably acceptable photos so you get more of an idea about how the Blurre looks.

It was fun to play around, and the boy enjoyed some “responsibility” as my photographer. His favourites were when the cat got in on the action. She didn’t like being a model much.

What do you reckon? Fancy having a go at your own Blurre shawl? I’d love to see other versions!

 

 

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A Yarny Exhibition

I love the Thelma Hulbert Gallery, it’s always welcoming, and they have a really eclectic mix of exhibitions. A couple of years ago, I went to see a collection of Matisse paper cut-outs, which was great for a small-town gallery (the Thelma Hulbert is in Honiton, East Devon).

Sometimes we go just to use their fully stocked art and craft room. The kids love grabbing glue and making collages, or drawing the biggest pictures they can on massive sheets of paper. It’s a great way to encourage a bit of messy freedom in playing. What a fab gateway to art and craft!

I left it really late to visit their latest exhibition, the last day is this coming Saturday (24th June). I can’t believe I didn’t see that it was on until now.

Blooming Marvellous

Blooming Marvellous is right up my street because it is a knitting and crochet exhibition! It’s a garden of all things yarn. People of all ages, from all walks of life, hand-stitched every item on display. I wasn’t sure if it’d be a bit too cutesy, but I was delighted to see it all!

We also contributed by adding a few rows to some knitting that was there. Can you believe that there weren’t any crochet hooks?! I forgot to take crochet flowers with me. Annoyingly, I have some at home that would have been perfect to donate to the exhibition.

I went with my friend and our two youngest children. The boys had a great time finding things on a list they were given. A mole in a hole, tick! A ladybird wearing a lace collar, tick! A plate of prawns, tick! (The boys were also really pleased to find plug sockets hidden in the floor. But they are only four years old).

After the exhibition, one of the people working there told us to go and explore the gardens. There were plenty of strawberries to find and eat, she told us. It’s little things like that, that make me like the place so much.

Blooming Marvellous has been touring the UK for the past six years, and I wish I could tell you where it’ll be next so that you might get to go. Sadly, I have no idea. Hopefully it’ll be on somewhere else soon. I did take pictures though…