I've got a thing for shawls

CaladoniaShawl - This is a pattern that grabbed me right away.  Just browsing pinterest I came across the pattern and had to make it.  

The body of the shawl took no time at all but the lacy border was another story.  There were so many stitch markers required I ran out and had to improvise and make my own from my bead stash!

  There was swearing and frogging aplenty.  The picot bind off seemed to take an age it was like two steps forward and one step back. 

 I got there in the end though and I am really pleased with this.  I picked the yarn up at Yarndale last Autumn  from The Skein Queen. 

I had some leftover yarn so make some matching gloves, based on the pattern by Suzie of the Wool Sanctuary but tweaked a bit with another picot bind off.

 Sunlight Shawl for Sad People – I have made one of these recently and I was delighted with how it turned out. A lovely lady I work with pointed me to this pattern and I was so pleased she did.

It drapes so well and I find it is the scarf I wear most often.  I will be making another one of these this year.

  The pattern is such a quick knit, it is so simple with no counting and you chose where to make the stitch changes.  I think it would lend itself to a nice colourful variegated yarn so I must keep my eyes peeled for the right stuff.

Having some of this yarn left too I make a couple of pairs of leaf collectors mittens from Sarah's beautiful pattern here.

 I kept one pair and gifted one. Love em!

Back Soon

Lisa xx

Crochet Coincidence

I was speaking to my Mum the other day about the things I have been busy making and she said oh I thought I would try my hand at crochet again and she produced a box of stuff she had been working on recently. Years ago Mum tried to teach me to crochet but I couldn't get it so she was glad that I finally got the hang of it. Mum has been collecting the Crochet magazine that was released fortnightly I think, and has been having a go at granny squares. I have talked her into making a lap blanket. I had a scrabble through her magazines and found this one that I thought was beautiful:

I ran off and bought the fine cotton and made this:

... it took bl&%dy ages! I did enjoy it though and it is really delicate and pretty close up. I will turn it into a lavender sachet when I find the right fabric for the inside.

These are what I need to make next with Autumn gently creeping in; well, actually up here in Northumberland it is Galloping! I have been after a pattern for these for a while, I have had a look at the pattern and it's a bit tricky (for me!).

I have actually attempted to start these twice now and have ripped them back to the beginning twice. Aaaaarrrrggghhhh! I don't help myself by making them in black, now I have had two attempts perhaps it will be third time lucky with a different colour yarn, one where I can actually see the stitches, I am thick sometimes!

The lovely Chloé of Clobelle who is my Autumn Swap partner has kindly emailed me one of her knitting patterns for 3 hour fingerless gloves - so for now those crochet gloves can go hang, I will try Chloé's knitted ones next, it might be more like 30 hours than 3 as I am a slow knitter but still!

Any ideas for a nice simple crochet scarf?

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