What littleberry did next.....

by my reckoning this post sort of takes me up to the end of January, but also includes a couple of projects that were done in March and April... and by the way I have found my crochet version of Swallowtail ;o)

OK deep breath... first up after all the crocheting for Christmas gifts was my Amijin Scarf (I'm assuming most of you reading my blog will be on Ravelry, if not give me a shout and I can point you in the right directions for pattern links). After all the gifts I'd made I decided it was something for me. I'd seen the pattern on Pierrot Yarns website and I fell in love with the colours they had used (they are not my normal choice of colours) so I ordered the yarn in the suggested colourways from Pierrot Yarns - English site. It was a quick and easy crochet pattern made all the more easier by being charted than written out - I find worded patterns are very hard to follow.... I 'get lost' in the words so to speak and keep loosing were I am up to and make mistakes.... now according to my Ravelry notes I had it done in 3 evenings so it must have been quick and easy ;o)

Mmm what was next??? Yes the Cabled Scarf (yes crocheted) for my friend Sharon aka Yarnimals birthday in early January. I found the Crochet Cable Scarf pattern on Ravelry, even if you don't use the forums or 'chat' much on Ravelry the pattern and yarn database is worth it's weight in gold. It was originally published in Crochet Today! Dec 2006 / Jan 2007 and is now available for free. I opted for DK weight and decided I'd try the newly launched (at the time) Patons (UK) Merino. This was a dream to work with, soft and squishy and bouncy and at £3.25 per 50g very reasonable. Thankfully Yarnimals was pleased with the gift :o)

Moving on towards the end of January now....My mum was 80 this January gone and you 've already seen the Swallowtail I did for her in hand spun, to be given to her at the SnB group. I also wanted to give her something personal from me that she would appreciate. So I decided that I would attempt to crochet a doily style runner for her in #20's crochet thread - eek!

I know I mentioned in an earlier post that my maternal grandmother was a superb crocheter especially of very fine work... so as my mum keeps things (not quite a hoarder) especially those of sentimental value (she was very close to her mum) I opted to go through her old patterns and of course her collection of thread inherited from her mother.

She'd already expressed an interest when I started crocheting about a runner for the top of the drawer unit in the conservatory in blue - so the project was an easy decision (that's half the battle for me, getting the right project for the person) and obviously the colour was an easy one too. I eventually found a pattern which  had first been published by Coats in 1965 and then reprinted in 1981 (so mum had obviously bought this one, as her mum died back in the early 1960's. It was the Motif Runner from the Wheat Ear Booklet. So armed with 5 balls of what I thought were the same colour and a 1.25mm hook off I went.

I decided I'd go for the main motifs in the main blue and then the filler motifs in a paler blue. I discovered while doing this project that while each ball may have the shade number in,, there is no dye lot on the ball; this is because the dye lot for the box comes on a slip of paper in the box.. it must have been a nightmare for shop keepers if they had boxes of different batches and one of my 5 balls was most definitely a different shade of blue. So in the end I had to shorten the runner by one motif and used the 5th ball to make the filler motifs.

and last but not least.... I decided to do something else for me.... I'd chosen a Japanese book from Mum as part of my Christmas present and it arrived a week before Christmas and as I'd already decided I had to crochet the Crescent Moon shawl, I ordered 2 balls of Noro Kureyon Sock in colour S188 (that lovely purple/green).

So as soon as Christmas was over I began :o) I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this project :o) I used a 3.5mm hook for the body of the shawl and 2.5mm for the edging based on what one or two others had used. In the end I used approx 120g of yarn ( made myself a pair of socks with leftovers). Working from charts makes things so much easier IMHO, you can see what you're meant to be working towards, no transposing of US / UK terminology and you can see if you're on the right tracks! I was a little sad when this project was finished.

and socks with leftovers (although I still have a little left!) - yes I know they don't match fleegle!

I have to admit to loving this pattern and for me it has become to crochet what Swallowtail is to lace knitting for me :o) so needless to say I have done 2 more since January as gifts.... and again enjoyed working each one.

For my friend's daughter who was 16 in March I used Schoppel-Wolle Zauberball in colourway Café Flair

and then my best friend Janet was 40 on the 22nd April (same day as me) so what else do I make her ;o) I used Noro Kureyon sock in colourway S40

Now as I said more or less takes me up to the end of January and a little beyond... so hopefully next time we shall nearly be up to date!