Thursday, February 27, 2014

The Victory Wrap

I just finished this little shawl yesterday and am quite pleased with it. It is maybe a little more crescent shaped than I had expected but is otherwise rather sweet.  The pattern is from Ravelry of course and is The Victory Wrap by Erika Flory. The pattern suggests worsted weight yarn but I used a dk. 2 balls of Wendy Merino dk for the body of the shawl and a single ball of the same in cream for the lace edging. I could perhaps have blocked the points a little more sharply but was very keen to wear it and cut a few corners.

Friday, February 21, 2014

Back to blog

A few months ago I managed to shut myself out of my blog and try as I might it seemed that I would never be able to post here again.  However , my clever husband has just managed to sort it all out for me.  I am really happy to be back in my blog!
Since I last posted there has been a whole lot of crochet and knitting going on.  It would take ages to update on everything I have made so I am just going to concentrate on some recent favourites for now.
At Christmas I made an army of gingerbread men for my workmates. They were a lot of fun to make and I was very pleased with them. I used mainly acrylic yarns as I wanted to make quite a few and wasn't sure whether or not people would want to keep them after the festive season. Everyone seemed to really like the little guys and wore them around the shop for several days. Customers kept asking where we got them - I was quite pleased.


I promised the husband a jumper ages ago and even got as far as purchasing the yarn - some gorgeous soft Alpaca Boucle from Drops Yarns. A friend suggested that I might feel more inclined to finish the jumper quickly if I doubled up the yarn and knit it on big needles. Good idea! I managed to knit up a superchunky v-necked pullover in less than a week. It is a plain design but is very warm and has been worn quite a few times.

Lately I have gone headband crazy.  A friend asked me to make one inspired by a design that her daughter had seen in a shop.  I ended up making about a dozen.  These little projects are ideal for trying out new yarns, stitch patterns and techniques and can easily be finished in an evening. I used up odd balls of yarn that I had in my stash from acrylic to silk. I followed patterns for some and improvised the design for others. This is a few of them...
Alpaca headband


King Cole Galaxy - sequinned yarn
Rowan Wool Cotton

Super cheap sequinned chunky yarn from Tiger

Knitted turban style headband in James Brett Marble Chunky

Poundland acrylic

More Poundland acrylic

Yet more Poundland acrylic!

Louisa Harding Grace - silk and wool




After the success of the gingerbread brooches at Christmas, I decided that it would be fun to make hearts for Valentines day.  I enjoyed making the little stuffed brooches and decorating them with cute flowers.  Over a week I managed to produce a large jar of hearts...

This is now becoming something of a tradition. What can I make for Easter?