Pastel Cashmere Scarf
I stumbled across some hand-painted, lace-weight, pure cashmere on eBay in June and simply couldn’t resist it. Only 40gms but I figured there’d be enough to make a reasonable scarf. I made an Apple Blossom Stole last summer and really liked the lace pattern which was actually quite simple to work. The cashmere seemed ideal to apply the same pattern to a scarf. The only real change I made was to start with a chain of 54 instead of the 78 in the original pattern. I also decided to work the trellis pattern as per the original stole so that…
The Raw Silk Top Affair
A few months ago, I made myself a really pretty crocheted top ( “Cupcake” from “The Happy Hooker”) using cream raw silk. I was really quite pleased with it. It was cool and really, really, light. Then R got his hands on it…
Aphrodite Shawl
The last migraine really knocked me for six! Took a good 10 days until the brain was functioning well enough for me to do any coding work. So I crocheted instead.
I’d been eyeing up the Aphrodite/Pineapple Shawl for a while. Plus I made a Sunbeam 100% cotton triangular shawl last year that, whilst it was pretty enough, wasn’t really “me”. Triangular shawls never stay on the shoulders as well as a 3/4 circular shawl and I get fed up of dragging them back up every few minutes.
Granny Afghan
I’ve always wanted to make a multi-coloured afghan from proper old-fashioned Granny Squares. Finally found a pattern that fitted the bill on the Coats & Clark site, It took me about 6 weeks to gather 12 different yarn colours that I liked and thought would work well together. Ended up with quite a mixture of yarns. Some I liked more than others.
Truffle Shawl
I had enough Truffle left (450gms) to make a short Seraphina Shawl. That’s five Seraphina’s inside 12 months! Hey — so I’ll never be cold…
Maui Crochet Shrug
I bought 200gms of 4ply terracotta merino yarn a while back that I originally intended to use to make a short shawl. However, I then decided I had enough shawls & stoles (last count – at least 8 of varying lengths and styles). So, after some pattern browsing, I opted to make a long-sleeved Maui shrug with cuffs of Strawberry Lace. Then the whole thing dropped way beyond what I expected when I washed it. So I ended up frogging the cuffs and taking about 4″ off each sleeve. It’s still lovely, though. And I had enough yarn left to…
Openwork Crochet Scarf
I had a single skein of Wild Fire Fibres Bambino (Purple Lotus) and was looking for something fairly simple that would show this lovely, drapey, yarn off. After some false starts, I settled on an openwork scarf with borders at each end based on Doris Chan’s All Shawl Strawberry Lace. Materials 400 yards soft 4ply yarn 5mm crochet hook Scarf Body Foundation: Ch 54st. Row 1: Skip next 8st, sc, * ch5, skip next 4st, sc **; repeat from * to **, turn (9 loops + 1 half loop) Row 2: Ch5, skip next 2 chains in the loop, sc…
Crocheted Clutch Bag
Made as a birthday present for M from The Happy Hooker pattern “Fit To be Tied”. Used 4ply silky cotton and lined it with light canvas/linen.
Another Seraphina
Bought some blonde laceweight (2ply) merino on eBay. Used two strands and a 4mm hook to approximate a fine 4ply/fingering weight. This is my 4th Seraphina, so I now have 1 for each season!
Ivory Chanson
This was my second Chanson. Although the pattern looks complex, providing you take it 1 row at time, It’s not that difficult. I used a basic mixed-fibres aran yarn for the first one but felt that the yarn didn’t really show off the stitches. It seemed that the pattern needed a drapey yarn with a slight sheen but good stitch definition. I already had some 4ply (fingering) weight mercerised cotton in my stash. so I decided to try using two strands throughout. The finished Chanson has a much better drape and stitch definition. I’d be quite happy wearing this one…
