A Good Vintage Cardigan

This has been a long time in the making. I first saw it in Simply Crochet magazine last Spring and, once I’d ordered the yarn, I started it in April.
















Worsening osteo arthritis in my hands meant that progress was slow, and Once Summer arrived, I wouldn’t need a warm cardigan.

Here in Lanzarote, only a light cardigan is needed in evenings if I am out and about. Therefore the project was shelved until this Winter and I again took it up determined to complete it.

Less than a week ago I was still putting the finishing touches to it at our local Knit and Natter group.

After sewing in all those ends - note to self, never crochet in stripes again - and adding the buttons, it was ready for a little gentle steam on the blocks.

I used Sirdar Country Style 4 ply, a wool blend yarn. This comes in 50g balls and, although I need more for the main colour, I ordered only one of each of the stripe colours. Because I made the small size, I reckon I still have enough to make another cardigan (or a waistcoat at least)! Whilst it’s a reasonably priced yarn, this is not very economical, and there is no way I’m having another project with quite so many ends to sew in.

This is what it looks like mostly unbuttoned. Read more on my Ravelry page, where all my projects are stored.

Seaglass Shawl

I spotted this shawl in issue 15 of Crochet Now magazine and knew someone for whom it would make a perfect present.

Made with Scheepjeswol Sunkissed and designed by Eline Alcocer. The colours were Pitachio Ice, Sand Dunes, Soft Cloud and Oceanside.



We live by the sea and my daughter is only a few minutes walk from her flat to the beach, where she loves to collect seaglass (below). The colours of the shawl are very similar to those in her finds, except she also finds the occasional lilac colour.

It was ready in time for her birthday and here it is drying out ‘on the blocks’ after a gentle steaming.

It only remained for me to wrap it up and add the label cut from the magazine, embellishing it with some ‘made with love’ ribbon - not that there was ever any doubt.

Nicely matched to the seaglass. And below, the birthday girl herself, with eyes the colour of seaglass, modelling the shawl.

Heartstrings

Two strings of crocheted hearts made for my daughter’s living room, which is themed in red and white. In the first picture they are pinned to the corkboard in my work room, and below, in situ, decorating her shelves.

There are hundreds aof free crochet heart patterns on the internet and I had fun using some of my odds and ends to randomly assign colours and make some bright decorations. The red, white and blue heart is for my friend, whose room is decorated in those colours.

Baby Blanket Orange

This young lady is the latest recipient of one of my baby blankets. It’s the same pattern as Baby Blanket Blue, Baby Blanket Aqua and Baby Blanket Peachy. The pattern is free from Black Sheep Wools. The yarn is Schachenmayr Bravo Color, variegated orange mix, and Schachenmayr Original Color, orange. She is the granddaughter of some of our oldest friends, and so once more we can say we have known the baby’s daddy since he was a young lad himself. So far, all four blankets have gone to the offspring of parents we knew when they were children themselves.

 Here she is snuggling up to her proud grandpa.

Crafty Old Bag Number Two

I was in need of a very large tote bag for the hauling round the largish blanket I’m making. I had one but the blanket was outgrowing it and the yarns I was using were in a separate bag. Then I came upon this (new) hessian shopper, with four outside pockets, at a car boot sale. I handed over the princely sum of a euro, and it was mine.

Although it was a nice strong bag in its own right, it was a bit floppy and rather dull. I played around with it for a while and then I had a brainwave. I turned the whole thing inside out, which gave a me a much sturdier construction in a bucket shape with four inside pockets. This left me with an outside that actually looked like an inside and an even duller look to it.

Brainwave number two; cover it in a bright PVC fabric. For €1.50 I had enough to do the job. I wont pretend it was easy. Despite carefully measuring, I manged to get some of it wrong. It was very difficult to sew and a mistake meant lots of little pinpricks in the PVC fabric, which wouldn’t disappear.

I found some webbing I’d saved from something else to cover the ugly seam inside the bag, and prettied up the outside with some lace from my stash.

I’m not sure I’d do it again, but I am definitely pleased with the overall result. Three of the inside pockets store the  (nine) yarns in the correct sequence for the blanket, and the fourth holds the pattern and oddments of yarn too small for a complete row.

For €2.50 (and a few hours work) I call that a job well done.

Baby Blanket Peachy

This is baby blanket number three, using the same pattern as the previous two; Baby Blanket Blue, and Baby Blanket Aqua, but this time I made a different edging. We didn’t know whether it was a boy or a girl until he was born, so I played safe with a variegated yarn, in both pink and blue colours, with added hints of green, grey, peach and dusky rose. The joining and border crochet are in Schachenmayr Bravo DK 8346 and the squares are 02116. Once again,we have known his mummy since she was a toddler, way back in the early 1980s, and she was a playmate of my own two children.

It’s all too much. I need a nap!

A Heart of Gold

A Christmas decoration made for a friend. The cherub was already printed on the fabric in gold on a dark blue background. I embroidered the date and worked blanket stitch around the edge in gold metallic thread. Then I crocheted the edging through the blanket stitch spaces; single crochet followed by two rows of double crochet. It was hard work using such a stiff thread  but anything softer would mean that the edging would not have stood out and would have been limp. The final touch is a gold bow and loop for hanging.