Blanket Making and Fingerless Gloves

Posted on 26 October, 2014 by patchworkfairy

Well as it has turned out I am not doing the Liverpool fair I thought I’d b etter get my items on my Folksy shop! Gosh it’s a lot of work! First trying to set up a bright space for taking the pics, editing them. then writing all the product details up, measuring the items etc! I’ve only managed to add a couple of new one so far! It’s not doing my ~~tennis~~ crochet elbow any good either 🙁 I couldn’t mange to write a post last week ‘cos my arm is so sore, but on the bright side, my sciatica has finally gone 🙂

I did manage to make myself another pair of fingerless gloves/arm warmers!

pink, purple, teal and green crocheted fingerless gloves

Fingerless Gloves / Arm Warmers

I am hoping my arm improves soon though as I was so taken with the warm autumnal colours in the Attic 24 Cosy Blanket I ordered the pack! It arrived in a couple of days in a lovely organza bag and I can’t wait to start it. As yet I am not sure whether to make the actual Cosy Blanket which Lucy is doing as a CAL from next week, or whether to finally make the ‘As we go stripey blanket’ by Not Your Average Crochet which lots of people were making a few months ago?

Wool Warehouse delivery in Organza bag!

Woolly Goodness!

Hopefully by next week I will have made a start one way or the other! Now over to Handmade Monday!

Outlander Style Arm Warmers/Fingerless Gloves!

Posted on 28 September, 2014 by patchworkfairy

So, firstly let me apologise if you haven’t heard of Outlander! Fans of Outlander will enjoy looking at/talking about anything remotely Outlander related, but for the rest of you, well – what you are about to see are just crochet arm warmers. But, these are not just any arm warmers though, these are Outlander Style Arm Warmers / Fingerless Gloves!!

Outlander is the title of a series of books by Diana Gabaldon, of which the first UK edition was called Crosstitch, while in the US it was called Outlander. However the use of that name has now widened to encompass the whole 9 book series and the recent US made TV series. There are worldwide Outlander fans – the books have been going for over 20 years – they are big long stories and each is a satisfyingly very good read. I never re-read any books, yet I am currently re-reading the whole Outlander series and enjoying it as much as the first time.

I won’t describe the story except to say it starts in 1940s Scotland and moves into 1743 Scotland. It is a story of an amazing relationship and is packed with Scottish and US history. It is not a ‘romance’ novel nor a ‘science fiction novel’ although it includes love, passion and time travel! So if you feel like a good read for the autumn and winter you could actually have it downloaded from Amazon onto your Kindle or E reader app in seconds! If you do try it I’d love to hear how you found it. One thing I would say is, don’t join the FB groups or any of the other Outlander groups until you’ve read at least the first book or you’re bound to read spoilers.

And now for the actual handmade crafty bit of the post! In the mini-series which started 8 week’s ago in US some of the female characters in 1743 Scottish Highlands have been seen wearing arm warmers and cowls to keep out the Scottish chill – hence the book fans are making/buying these with gusto! Here are mine – made from appropriately named Highland Tweed yarn!

Outlander-style arm warmers!

Mine are based on the pattern from Hopeful Honey although I have altered her pattern somewhat, to make my own version.

using fingerless gloves holding red flowers

fingerless gloves – hold things easily whilst keeping warm!

I love wearing these type of gloves as they make it so easy to pick things up when you’re busy, whilst still keeping warm. I can’t wait for it to get a teeny bit more autumnal so I can wear my new outlander style arm warmer/fingerless gloves!

Now I’m off to Handmade harbour and later I’ll be starting to crochet my chocolate brown Claire-style cowl in highlander chunky yarn!!

Wool, Coffee and Cake, a dream day out!

Posted on 9 March, 2014 by patchworkfairy

Ooh I had a lovely outing this last week! Mum and I went for a drive in the countryside (well down the M53 amd M6, then the countryside!). We went to Black Sheep Wools Craft Barn in Culcheth! My dream day out! – it included wool, coffee and cake!! (and my mum 😉 )

Entrance to Black Sheep Craft Barn

The craft barn is set back off the road in a lovely countryside setting, but it’s even more lovely inside! As you step through the door you can see shelves of pretty, delicate spring coloured wools and cottons on one side, shelves of beautiful variegated purply pink yarns on the other and a central stand with crafty items and gifts!

craft items and gifts

coloured yarns

Noro Yarns. I love the variegated colours of these Japanese yarns!

view down shop

I was hard pressed to actually move through the shop as I kept getting distracted by yet another shelf of lovely yarns! They sell a wide variety: wool, mohair, cotton, silk, viscose, acrylic, bamboo and various mixes of these in plain and varigated colours. There is also a large section of Cross Stitch kits and threads, a wide selection of craft books and patterns and various notions to purchase.

Mum and I always suss out a coffee stop wherever we go and so thoroughly enjoyed the onsite cosy café serving light lunches and cakes. We had a very nice panini and a slice of Victoria Sandwich cake with fabulously strong coffee, just how I prefer it! I’m quite happy to travel to visit new craft places but I do like it when there is a café so I can stop and reflect on all the things I’ve been browsing through before I make my purchases, especially when I’ve driven a while to get there! It’s the sort of place you could enjoy visiting with friends or a knitting/crochet group.

I was very taken with a crochet designs book by Nikki Trench called, ‘Hooked on Noro’, Now although I like the look of Noro yarns some can feel a bit harsh and are quite pricey so this time I bought the book but chose an alternative yarn – Fusion Cotton – a soft, cotton and viscose mix yarn by Patons, very reasonably priced for the quality, with which to make the fingerless gloves from the book. Mum wanted to know why I would want to have fingerless gloves?! When I said they would be handy for texting, she just raised her eyes to the ceiling and said, “you could just pull off a normal glove!” – Eh? I don’t think so! I love the pair I’ve just made and actually so did Mum once she saw them finished!

Fingerless Gloves!

They are very comfy and soft to wear and the pattern in the book is easy to follow.

The final thing I bought was one skein of Rowan’s Kidsilk Creation Stripe. Now this is pricey, but absolutely gorgeous! It looks and feels like a high quality product. It’s actually mohair and silk mix and it already partly knitted into a long mesh, which can be stretched out widthways if desired. I noticed there was a pattern on the label to crochet a scarf with it but I couldn’t understand how you would do it! Luckily there are plenty of nice friendly staff to ask for help and one of the ladies explained I needed to crochet it up the long edge. However, I was completely flummoxed at first when I got home, but once I understood what to do it was very easy to make up in about three quarters of an hour! It ends up as a twirly, twisty floaty pretty scarf! I’ve taken some pics and will post a tutorial about how to work with this yarn as it’s certainly worth it! I chose a pinky purply mix and the finished item has now been posted to my very stylish Aunty for her 70th birthday!

the kidsilk creation stripe yarn before crocheting

Purple and pink mohair and silk crochetd scarf.

Scarf in Kidsilk Creation Stripe

So all in all we were there just over two hours – it was long enough for Mum who by now was trying to nudge me to the exit! It’s the sort of place where you could keep going round and round oohing and aaahing and patting large balls of pink and purple wool!

Well I’m off for another visit now – over to Handmade Monday to visit some lovely blogs! If anyone lives near Black Sheep Wools Craft Barn and fancies meeting for a coffee n’ cake I’m always up for another trip!! 🙂

I always love to read comments. Please don’t be put off by the comment boxes for the name and site appearing to not let you type – it is actually recording your text and will show up once you publish your comment!