The blog is officially out of hibernation, I've been super busy over the past few weeks trying to dye as much yarn as possible for the shop and for my upcoming show at Wonderwool Wales in April.
I'm happy to present my new yarn base, a gorgeously soft 4 ply cashmere blend that I have named Glock. Why? It's not a love of the famous Austrian GLOCK weapons manufacturer, it is in fact an amalgam of the words gloves and socks (this will not however stop me from citing gun-related puns!). The yarn is also ideal for babywear but I thought if I added another word I would end up with something silly like Glocky, or Bloves...
It's been a while since my last blog post due to a number of 'emergency giftings' so I've been knitting, crocheting and dyeing like a maniac! I did find the time to design some patterns and this crochet beret is making it's debut!
I find that lots of crochet berets are quite two dimensional, and unless you use super bulky yarns, or complicated puff stitch patterns, you don't get much warmth! This Winter Crochet Beret pattern employs a simple ridge stitch that creates air-pockets that trap warmth and has a lovely ribbing across the hat. The instructions are quite straightforward that a beginner can easily create this hat in a weekend... and the addition of elastic at the brim will make sizing much easier if you have a smaller sized head!
Today is the second day this week that is hasn’t rained. I’m in a great mood.
Walking the dog was great, he ran around so much he collapsed when we got home on a half-empty pillow my sister was using to stuff her crochet animals...
I took a long hard look at the soap-scrap-stack I had near the sink in the bathroom this morning, I knew I had to do something about those un-useable slivers. I trekked across the road to Cancer Research Wales and picked up 3 skeins of cotton yarn (at a BARGAIN price of 20p!), after which I proceeded to make a soap saver sachet...
It’s a nifty little project, super quick and good for using up the last few metres of yarn from a ball! PLUS, if you’re anything like me and CAN’T BEAR to throw away any soap scraps, it’s a fantastic way to make your soap bar go further!
A took a good long look at my ever-growing yarn stash a few days ago and decided once and for all to do SOMETHING with the odd half-balls of cotton boucle yarn that were leftover from a baby blanket I made a few years back. My old bath scrubbie was getting a little tatty so I set out to make a few more this weekend! Cotton scrubbies are great; they're soft, makes the soap lather rich and foamy, extremely durable (my last one lasted almost 6 months), and best of all, eco/healthy friendly because you just toss them into your weekly laundry wash and they're good as new! No synthetic petrochemical yarns/fabrics that fray and can't be recycled!
I usually make these without a pattern, I just 'go with the hook'...but this time I wrote all the steps down so I can share it. This is my first official attempt to writing a pattern, I figured I would begin with a nice, easy project and see how it goes!
You will need: