Yarn, Wool and Twine Week

Another week of enforced  ‘resting’ waiting to have stitches out has been quite pleasant really!  No housework and no driving has meant a lot of yarn, wool and twine crochet and watching TV!  Of course I can’t just do one project, oh no, I have to have a couple on the go to switch between every so often!

I’ve kept on with the ripple blanket and the woolly Beanie but not as fast as if I hadn’t started 2 other projects at the same time I suppose!  I love choosing the colours as I work but it was taking too long because I really didn’t have enough choice.  One late night perusal of Wool Warehouse website led to a fat chunky parcel on the doormat 2 days later!!   They are brilliant, not only are they cheaper than other online shops but they send the goods very quickly too!

Stylecraft premium Acrylic in pinky purple colours

new colours of Stylecraft Special DK

I just didn’t have enough pinky, purply colours!!

Multi-coloured riple blanket from a pattern by Attic 24

Ripple Blanket Week 6

I couldn’t  just do my blanket as each row is very long and I need more of a quick results experience so I started on  little hearts and flowers to make a spring garland!  Most of these are Attic 24 patterns and some are my own random crochet!  Here are some of the first ones I completed in the Stylecraft acrylic yarn again.

little crochet hearts and flowers using Attic 24 patterns

hearts and flowers!

I’m planning on completing this for Oestara, the Spring Equinox.

Anyway, despite being quite content with my crochet I was reading my Facebook newsfeed and fell instantly in love with a picture of a tote bag crocheted using twine.  It was posted by The Chunky Hooker as they sell the twine.  Oh, wow!  I couldn’t help myself when I saw the green twine!  Such a lovely colour!  I bought a ball of the natural twine and the green and decided to make a bag in each using the suggested pattern

As soon as I started to work with the natural twine I realised I wouldn’t be making it very quickly and probably wouldn’t make 2 bags as it’s quite hard work and is also ‘raspy’ on my skin.  I did wear a thin gardening glove on one had most of the time and this does help (it was suggested by someone commenting on the bag post, not my bright idea!).  It was hard to see all the stitches clearly and I think I interpreted some of the pattern wrongly as I didn’t end up with the correct number of stitches for the bag base and it was wonky! It’s far too much effort doing it to face unpicking so I decided to carry on anyway and just accept it will probably be a little lop sided in the end!

tote bag base crocheted in twine

base of tote bag in natural twine

The pattern is much easier to follow for making the sides – I love the star stitch which forms the pattern.  In the next picture I have just completed on row of stars, there are 5 to do and I will alternate with the green twine I think.

Tote bag crocheted in natural twine and green twine

Tote bag sides with star Stitch

I really do enjoy making this but I have to do it in stages, letting my hands rest for a day as it is really quite hard to manipulate.  The green twine feels much softer and I think it will hook much more smoothly. The Chunky Hooker is another great online shop – the parcel arrived in a couple of days with a note asking to see a picture when I’ve finished the bag!

So that was my yarny, woolly twiny week!  I really am neglecting my sewing though and need to get back in the craft room before I become addicted to slumping on the settee with my crochet watching This Morning and old DVD box sets.  My knee stitches ‘unpicked’ easily and I have my post-op clinic visit next Tuesday so no excuses after that.  I am ‘hooking’ up with Handmade Monday as usual and looking forward to reading about everyone’s crafty lives.  🙂

My comment box is still not working for everyone – Free spirit unchecked a box to enable it to work or if you type your name etc in the boxes even though it doesn’t show when you type it does actually record it.  I am missing all the lovely comments!!

Colourful Crochet!

Well I’ve really got the crochet bug again now!  Although years ago  I used to make pram blankets in colourful crochet, in recent times I have mainly concentrated on using chunky, random yarn to make big throws, as I enjoy the change of colour but the lazy way!  However, since my visit to Yarndale and discovering Lucy’s blog of tutorials, I have again become fascinated by the idea of mixing up different bright colours.  So this is what arrived this morning!

unopened parcel of wool just arrived

 

I just love the sound of the postie dropping parcels of fabrics or wool in the porch!

And this is what it contained!

New balls of Stylecraft Special Double Knit

My new Stylecraft Wool

These are Stylecraft Special double knit premium acrylic.  I have prefered to use 100% wool in the past but as these seemed to be endorsed by quite a few people in the crochet and knitting world I thought I would try them.  They are from Wool Warehouse and I must say they shipped them very quickly as I only ordered them on Monday!  My young self would have been incredulous at the idea that I would one day sit in my living room choosing and paying for lovely wool instead of getting the bus into town and carrying it home!

I am now actually looking forward to cold and even rainy days when it’s just sensible to snuggle up with some colourful crochet!