Cosy Dutch Ripple Throw - DONE!

I have been quiet on the blog, plenty of knitting and crocheting in the last 18 months, but writing it up has passed me by, even if a lot has happened in that time!

My Cosy Dutch Ripple Throw was started at the beginning of May this year, and as ever the project accompanied me in the car, on the ferry, to knit and natter and friends' houses.It went to France three times, watched a lot of cycling on TV and has seen the seasons pass by. I worked on it outside in the summer and autumn, and finished inside as November started closing in.

The colours were chosen by my lovely eldest daughter to coordinate with her living room, and it will be flying off to Holland to live with her as her 26th birthday present.

I got a lot done watching the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España highlights every evening in June, July August and September. Extra bonus was the Rugby World Cup!

I had a very large birthday in August.

 Many Sundays after a long bike ride, I rested the aching legs and crocheted. The odd piece of cake may have been consumed (chocolate and beetroot here)

 Fitting in the odd row on the kitchen sofa whilst cooking.

 Until it is finished!

 A double crochet (parchment, walnut and burgundy) and scalloped border (burgundy), after filling the gaps in parchment.

 I repeated the ten main colours four times, but randomly. A parchment section (colour 11) every five colours to bind the design together.

Cosy Dutch Ripple finished 5th November (started 1st May 2015 so six months, very slow.)

YARN: 
Stylecraft Special DK

Couple of balls of each, 3 of parchment
1035 Burgundy
1054 Walnut
1061 Plum
1062 Teal
1063 Graphite
1064 Mocha
1065 Meadow
1067 Grape
1080 Pale Rose
1123 Claret
1218 Parchment

Purchased from Get Knitted

HOOK: 4mm 

PATTERN: Attic 24 Neat Ripple

Retro nautical crochet travel blanket with pom pom border - DONE!

I can't remember when I started this throw, it was sometime earlier this year, probably between April and June. It was a lovely summer and I hooked up a lot of squares outside joining as I went, now it is November and my throw has basically been finished for about 6 weeks but I had to finish off the border, and then I ran out of yarn for the pom pom trim, and then I had to wait for lipstick to come back in stock, then I got ill. Never mind, it is all finished and I am very happy with how it turned out.

It's a throw for the king size bed in our spare room, I thought it could be the traveller's room, whilst en route to wherever our family and friends are off to next. Really it is middle daughter's bedroom as we moved here whilst she was away at university, but her home is still with us whenever she wants to be home. However, the "en route" room was really hit upon because I discovered this gorgeous VW classic camper van fabric and made some curtains.

I made some curtains very badly, I re-did them 3 times, the blackout lining was a nightmare and I was very cross with myself. I only did one curtain for each of the 2 windows, I have not taken close up photos as the workmanship is so bad! Even more annoyingly I cut the fabric incorrectly, and one was too short, so I had to buy another length, the shop I bought it from is very reasonable for make up charges so in the end I spent as much as if they had made them, properly, silly girl.

The colour inspiration for the blanket came from the material, although I added in a couple of extra colours (navy and claret) for some more contrast. As ever I raided my Stylecraft Special DK stash, so I only had to buy an extra ball of each colour, 11 colours in all; 2 reds, 5 blues and 4 neutrals. The squares are classic 4 round granny squares, working 3 rounds and using join-as-you-go aka JAYG on the 4th round. then I sewed in the 2 ends per square very religiously after each half row, I lose the will otherwise. I weave the ends in very thoroughly in several directions before snipping, I wouldn't trust just crocheting them in.

Retro nautical throw finished 22nd November 2013

SIZE: 190cm x 190cm including the border and pom pom trim, 170cm square without

YARN: Stylecraft Special DK weight 100g balls)
#1246 Lipstick      3 balls
#1123 Claret         2 balls
#1203 Silver          2 balls
#1218 Parchment  2 balls
#1005 Cream        2 balls
#1011 White         2 balls
#1302 Denim        2 balls
#1034 Sherbet      2 balls
#1019 Cloud blue 2 balls
#1011 Midnight    2 balls
#1003 Aster         2 balls

HOOK: 4mm

PATTERN: Classic Granny Square so the start of each round is not obvious 4 rounds, JAYG as fourth round.
4ch and sl st to a loop
1st round Work into loop catching tail of yarn as you go
2ch (counts as 1tr) 1tr 1ch *3tr 1ch repeat from * twice more 1tr sl st to 2nd chain from hook to close. sl st to corner space  NB Only one chain space in the corners on the first round
2nd round 2ch (counts as 1 tr) 1tr into corner space 2ch 3tr into same corner 1ch *3tr 2ch 3tr into next corner 1ch repeat from * twice more 1tr sl st to 2nd chain from hook to close sl st to corner space NB Two chains for each corner space now
3rd round 2ch (counts as 1 tr) 1tr into corner space 2ch 3tr into same corner 1ch *3tr into side space 1ch then 3tr 2ch 3tr into next corner 1ch repeat from * twice more then 3tr 1ch 1tr sl st to 2nd chain from hook to close sl st to corner space
4th Round 2ch (counts as 1 tr) 1tr into corner space 2ch 3tr into same corner 1ch 3tr into side space 1ch 3tr into next side space 1ch *3tr into next corner 1ch then JAYG into corner of adjacent square by slip stitching from above 1ch 3tr into same corner space JAYG into next side space from above (NO chain required when JAYG on side spaces) 3tr JAYG into next side space from above  repeat from * once more if 2 edges are being joined JAYG into both corners (so 3tr 1ch JAYG into first corner JAYG into second corner 1ch 3tr  and finish final edge/s as set sl st to close. All squares but the first one on each row are JAYG on two sides.

Granny Cluster Border classic granny clusters, work 3tr into each space but just one 3tr cluster into the JAYG space between the 2 corners, as you can see in the close up below. Also, to stop a wavy border DO NOT WORK A ONE CHAIN SPACE BETWEEN THE CLUSTERS!! I worked 9 rounds changing colour for each round and finishing with lipstick.

Pom Pom or Bobble Crochet Trim
I started a new ball of lipstick for the final pom pom border as it uses the vast majority of a 100g ball, based on this pattern

*sl st to space between clusters
ch 8
tr3tog in 4th ch from hook
ch4
tr3tog in top of prev tr3tog
slst to opp side of base tr3tog in the single stitch to close the bobble
ch4
Repeat from * to end working 2 repeats in corners.

Thanks to Laura and Sue at Get Knitted in Bristol for teaching me this adaptation of the granny square and the pom pom trim adaptation, although I may have changed it slightly from her demo!


HOOKY HAPPY INDEX: 9/10

PS this never got posted in November and December has disappeared but I got there in the end!

Nellie the elephant packed her trunk..... DONE!

Nelliephant the elephant packed her trunk and off she went to live in Newcastle!

Our lovely middle daughter is 21 today and Nellie was part of her present, commissioned when she was home over the summer from university. Nellie will be renamed though apparently, she does not want to be part of the common herd.

The Nellie the Elephant African Flower Pattern is so clever, made up of crocheted African Flower Motifs; mainly pentagons with a few hexagons, octagons, one heptagon and a square too! Initially I joined the motifs as I went using the join as you go tutorial in the pattern, but I found it hard to see and it was slow progress, so I decided to switch to working the motifs and then sewing together which was far more preferable. Sewn above, join as you go at the bum end below!

The colours were chosen back in September by the birthday girl, from my Stylecraft Special DK stash, the pattern calls for 4 ply/fingering but by using a smallish 3.5mm hook I just made a bigger Nelliephant. I had to steal buttons from the cardigan I was wearing that night for her eyes!

Pictures were hastily snapped on my phone as I had rushed home from a half day at work to finish an ear, sew both ears on and make her plaited tail before packing her kicking and trumpeting into a bubblewrap parcel and bundling her off to the Post Office with an hour spare to the last post. Good old Royal Mail looked after her very well and she was safely delivered to the opposite end of the country in 24 hours.

Rear of the Year 2013

Nellie the Elephant finished 6th November 2013, started Sept 2013

FINISHED SIZE: Um, I forgot to measure!

YARN: Stylecraft Speacial DK
Parchment (main colour)
Mocha
Meadow
Pomegranate
Pale rose
Grape
Emperor
Candy floss
Burgundy
Plum
Lavender

HOOK: 3.5mm

PATTERN: Nellie the Elephant African Flower crochet pattern by the talented Heidi Bears

HOOKY HAPPY INDEX: 8/10

I am just finishing off the border on my retro nautical throw so another "done" post is due very soon, and then I am going to knit <shock> <horror>

French Stripey Throw - DONE!

As promised I'm back.

I finished my French Strip Throw. To be truthful I finished it back in June, and we have had a long hot summer (well for England we've had a lovely summer) and in all that good weather I never got around to photographing my dense, warm, cosy and soft French Stripey Throw! So here it is.

The story started a year ago when I splashed out on some gorgeous Garnstudio Drops Extra Fine Merino in my favourite colours, a light double knit pure merino wool. I justified the outlay as it was my birthday money. I then stashed it like a squirrel. Nothing unusual there for most knitters and hookers, but I do not store, I buy for a project and use it. I may not finish whatever it is but I always buy for a specific project and not in advance of starting, and certainly not without knowing what it is for and how much I need.

I knew I was making a throw and that was it, but the design cogitated in my head, with extensive "research" on Ravelry, aka how-to-make-an-evening-fly-past-and-achieve-nothing!! I finished my Rainbow Ripple and started and finished Cath Kidston inspired Granny and also mum's Christmas present Vintage Granny, the blanket wa vintage colours not that my mum is vintage!

Anyway, a bit more detail on how my French Stripe Throw was finally born, back in January. It seems ages ago when it rained and rained and rained for months. Here is my only update a couple of weeks later. Since then we have moved house and I've started a new full time shift-work job that is very physical. I am so ready each evening for a selfish half an hour or so of crocheting with my feet up.

As you can see in the pictures, we are getting around to doing something with our little estate garden. The vintage gazebo came from mum's garden in Cumbria 15 years ago, moved to Minchinhampton where it resided with a clematis crawling all over for 15 years, and I was determined it was coming to Bristol as there was nothing in the garden, it had to go into storage! A couple of weeks ago when I had Sunday off and it was a lovely day, the two of us dug the turf and bedded in the wood edging and bamboo strip so the grass can be mown up to the edge, and pegged down some weed matting. It's scary how much this landscaping lark costs. A huge crane lorry arrived on Friday morning and nimbly lifted a bag of slate chippings over the back wall. Then we had to wheelbarrow it round, as you can see I didn't get very far on my day off on Friday and got waylaid by photographing my blanket! it was finished yesterday though.

Anyway, back to the important things. As I explained previously, I had 9 colours and I decided on a very loose 'colour pattern' of 5 rows solid and then a variegated similar size stripe of different colours and then another solid stripe and so on and on and on. As it gets bigger you have to lug the whole blanket with you, great in winter but it gets a bit warm in summer. However, there was no joining-together-marathon either. There were a lot of ends and the ends were "dealt with" very religiously every 20 or so rows, I would lose the will to finish if I had all the ends hanging over me, literally.

The size was determined by the amount of yarn I had, early on I sent off for another 12 balls, so 40x50g balls in total approx. This pattern is yarn hungry and quite dense, I kicked myself for picking a dense design with the posh yarn. I just kept going until I reckoned I would be getting short on the border.

The border I worked by keeping the pattern the same (dc ch) and picking up down the two long edges, working a double crochet in each row and then a chain to work into on the following round with a 2 ch sp and 2 dc worked into the corners. 

 I did have a few issues with the wavy edges, and so I worked 2 decrease rounds in border rounds 2 and 5, clearly visible on the pistachio round, where I crocheted two stitches together every 10 stitches.

I didn't have the same amount of each yarn so tried to spread the colours evenly throughout, some had run out by the border.

I was a little frustrated that I had chosen a pattern that ate yarn, so it ended up a throw size for the sofa, and goes well with our soft furnishings in the living room, a cushion snuck outside to pose!! It is gorgeous yarn, but being 100% wool I will worry about it more than the Stylecraft blankets that can be abused. I have no reason to believe that the Drops yarn won't wear well, I only worry because I spent so much more on it than usual.

French Stripes Blanket finished 14th June 2013, it took me six months as I started on Boxing Day

FINISHED SIZE: 160cm x 135cm including the border that ended up as 9cm

YARN: Drops Extra Fine Merino (Light DK weight 50g balls)
#15 Light greyish green 2 balls
#19 Light grey blue       6 balls
#20 Dark blue              4 balls
#21 Purple                   4 balls
#13 Denim blue            6 balls
#14 Steel blue              6 balls
#22 Medium purple      6 balls
#26 Pistachio               6 balls
#01 Off white               2 balls

HOOK: 4mm

PATTERN: Beach Stripe Surf Blanket from Kristen's Cozy Things blog
Inspiration came from the talented Cathy at Clicky Needles which led me to Kristen's blog. Oh how time is wasted artistically inspired blog hopping!

HOOKY HAPPY INDEX: 8/10

French Stripe Throw The Beginning

Update 1

Update 2

Update 3

Retro-Nautical Crochet Throw

I have not blogged for a long time, and I have missed it. I have been reading other blogs off and on and find them all so inspiring. The trouble is that we moved house and now that I work full time, in a physically demanding shift work job, the weeks just slip away. I do still spend a few hours a week crocheting though so I have some catch up to do here! Just a taster today, my new creation, I seem to have called it "retro nautical" for some reason. I am over half way through but here is a taste, and I will explain more soon about it's destiny!! Rest assured, French Stripey Throw has long been finished and I need to share that too!

I promise I will not be absent for so long now!! I have to go and jump on my bike and pedal 5 miles to work now, I have also become a bit of a cycling geek.

One-a-Day 15th Jan 13 Tuesdays Tallies

Attempt at today's Tuesday's Tallies # 2. I just posted and managed to wipe the original by having multiple windows open on my phone and pc, I should know better!

Great news, the sun came out and I managed some "bathed in sunshine" shots of my French Stripey Throw. It is measuring just over 40cm, but I will need some more yarn as I have used a third of the gorgeously soft Drops Merino Extra Fine. I love the colours, and feel of this yarn. Not very much progress on that this week because...

I've been knitting! My 16yo came in from a friend's asking if I could knit her this Rowan design she had found herself. However after reading other people's experiences of this pattern on Ravelry I was not so keen but I was keen to knit her a sweater as it is the first time she has asked me to knit her something. In the end she decided she only wanted a plain stocking stitch sweater and we have agreed on a Comfy Raglan Sweater which at least is a top down pattern (new for me) and in the round too (no seams!!) We decided on yet more Stylecraft, this time Chunky in the lovely denim colourway. I bought the yarn on my first foray to a Knit and Natter at Get Knitted in Bristol last Friday. It was a lovely morning as the Friday morning session is new so the 5 of us were all new together and nobody knew anybody else. The jumper is upside down in the photo as the rib is the collar and I have just placed the sleeve stitches onto pink yarn to pick up once the body is complete. I hoped to be finished in a week as it is a winter sweater.

Comfy Raglan Sweater

Hopefully next week it will be a finished and modeled shot, and not one trying to disguise our messy living room that now has four different piles of yarn lying around in it. Hopefully we will also know by next week if/when we are moving. It will be nice to be back in a house we can call our own!