I’m sorry I’ve been quiet for  while, I was laid up with a bad cold last weekend and early last week.  Of course, being me I thought I could just carry on as normal but I felt so lousy that I was forced to stop all plans and just recuperate.  So I lost 4 days, I even missed going to Knitgroup, which is RARE.

So it is old news, and I am sure many of you have bought the magazine, but I am itching to tell you about the lovely feature I had in Inside Crochet.  It is called ‘Motifs 3 ways’ and is all about how motifs change as they evolve –  the same motif in 3 evolutions was used in 3 items: cowl, coaster and tablecloth.   The feature was presented very well (not a surprise since Inside Crochet style things beautifully all the time) and I felt very  proud.  It’s a great issue with other gorgeous lovelies, so do buy a copy.

Later in the week I had a meeting with my friend Nic (Yarns from the Plain).  Our meeting was all about the Cheshire Fibre Festival, for which preparation is going well and I’ll have plenty to tell you about in due course.   Nic also has a podcast and you must have a listen, in her latest one she even mentions me!

Tomorrow is my monthly crochet club:  Cheshire Crochet Club, which I hold at the local village community hall.  It is all about mandalas and I love preparing for this particular one, it’s all about colour!  A sneak peek for those who will be attending:

Until next week

Happy crocheting xx

 

Pixie Squares Blanket has just been published on Ravelry here.

It is a perfect stashbuster, and those little squares are so addictive !

And to celebrate publication the first 20 people to purchase on Ravelry will receive a discount of £2 from the price, just use the coupon code PIXIEDUST

Happy crocheting xxx

I’ve been addicted to the little pixie squares in this blanket, which I’ve named Pixie Squares Blanket.  I had to stop at a lap blanket because I ran out of yarn, otherwise it would be a huge Queen size by now!!

Here it is:

The pattern will be published soon, very soon I hope 🙂

Happy crocheting xxx

It’s week 2 of this amazing CAL and, once again, I’m the lucky designer chosen to publish the pattern.

First I’d like to do a recap of the square I published last week.   I have been overwhelmed by the love for this square!   There have been so many photos shared on the Facebook group that I have completely lost count.  I can tell you that as of today there have been over 1,500 pattern downloads from Ravelry.  I can’t tell which languages have been downloaded but I know from Facebook that the 10 translations have been very well received.

There were a few questions in the group about yarn and hook.  Whilst the designs were all specified to be in aran/worsted weight with a 5mm (US H) hook, you can make these squares in any yarn you like, just make sure you use a suitably sized hook.  Also there have been questions about the size – the squares were designed to be 12″ across, but don’t get too worried if you don’t make this size.  Wait until you have made a few more squares from different designers and then see what you maximum sized square is, you can adjust the others when you join.  But that is a way off, there are plenty more squares to be published yet!

I’d like you to join me in thanking all the admins, testers and translators for all their great work.    They have put so much work into developing this CAL and assisting the designers, without all their extensive work this CAL would not be happening.  SO a huge round of applause for them please 🙂

Are your hooks at the ready?

Here it is:

This is called Flower Compass, because there’s a flower in the centre surrounded by 4 points that look like the points of a compass.  Pretty apt for a square for ‘Friends Around the World’.  There are no complicated stitches in the square, so a new crocheter should be able to tackle this.  I made mine in one colour, but this would look gorgeous if you made the flower centre in different colours.   I can’t wait to see all your colour choices!

You can find the pattern on my Ravelry page here.

Who’s going to be the first person to finish this one?

Happy crocheting xxx

ETA:  for those who would like a stitch count, these are the stitches along each side (excluding the corner chain spaces):  Round 5 –  15, Round 6 – 19, Round 7 – 23, Round 8 – 27, Round 9 – 31

 

 

 

 

Remember this blog post?   Well, it worked – I was shamed into finishing my blanket and it is now blocking, a good sized lap blanket……….  pattern to follow in due course.  Meanwhile a reminder of how far I was just 3 weeks ago:

Happy Easter and happy crocheting xx

 

Recently I discovered a facebook group called North West Fibre Arts Trail, which is helping promote fibre artists from the North West of England and encouraging them to hold open days and events during the fortnight of the trail.    When I saw this it immediately struck a chord.   There are so many small independent fibre artists, most of whom do not attend the regular large fibre festivals because they are, well, small.  So the opportunity to be part of a Fibre Arts Trail is very attractive and should give those fibre artists access to a wide range of fellow fibre lovers.

The inaugural North West Fibre Arts Trail runs from 30th September to 14th October this year.

I pondered for a while as to how I could hold an open day.  I  hold regular workshops in a local community centre and wondered if I could hold an open day there, but maybe I’d need a larger area.  I investigated other local venues and chanced upon a lovely village hall, very modern and well equipped and with excellent parking……but it was just too big for me.   That was the point I had a lightbulb moment – how about collaborating with other fibre artists in the area for a joint open day/event?   Without thinking much more about the practicalities I jumped straight in and contacted my friend Nic who owns Yarns from the Plain, we’re already collaborating on other things and she thinks very much like me (at least I think so – she has a good business brain and a huge dollop of common sense!).   Funnily enough she had been having almost identical thoughts!   So within a few short weeks we find we have launched the first Cheshire Fibre Festival, we’ve invited a few more fibre artists to join us, all with complementary arts within the fibre world.

The date of the Cheshire Fibre Festival is Saturday 1st October 2016.

The venue is Marthall Village Hall in Marthall, Cheshire.

You can find a new page here, which I’ll update with details of all the plans as they emerge.

It’s rather exciting, if a little terrifying!

Happy crocheting xx

 

A year ago a new crochet Facebook group was created called CAL – Crochet A Long, a fabulous group of crocheters who share their progress on various CALs around the world.   The success of this group can be shown in the membership, in just a year it has grown to well over 20,000 members, which is all due to the hard work and dedication of the administrators.

To celebrate the one year anniversary, the administrators hit on the brilliant idea to host an anniversary CAL and to invite designers from around the world to design a 12” (30cm) square or two, they even volunteered themselves to design a square (quite a new prospect for many, and I’m so very impressed by them).  The plan is to publish the squares over a few months as a mystery CAL, at the end of which everyone who joins in will have a beautiful afghan blanket.

I feel privileged to be chosen as the designer to publish the first block design for this event, the “Friends Around the World” 1 year Anniversary CAL.

It was such an honour to be asked, especially when you see the list of the great and the good of the crochet world (from around the globe!) who are participating, but to be asked also to be ‘first off the blocks’ (ooops, no pun intended!) is beyond any expectations I had.

For those of my readers who have not yet found the CAL group on Facebook, you can read a bit about it and join here.

And to those who are in the CAL group, welcome to my humble little blog. I do hope you like the design I am publishing today.

Before I show you the square, I must give huge thanks to the team of administrators, organisers and testers – so much hard work has been going on in the background to make this all possible. They have even translated the patterns into another 10 languages, so it is truly global and reaches as many crocheters as possible.

The brief – I was asked to design a 12” block using aran weight yarn, a 5mm or 5.5mm hook and one which a beginner should be able to tackle, in one or more colours. Now this brief  is ideal for me; I love one colour block designs and used them in a couple of CALs before and I like to reach newbies and experienced alike, so aim for patterns that are easy to follow.

I expect you are getting a little impatient now, so here it is:

It has texture and lace, and is best made in just one colour.  I used under 100m of Drops Nepal yarn in colour Light Olive (8038).

I’ve called it Octoghan, as it has 8 raised ‘legs’. These raised legs are made using front post stitches, which may be appear a little tricky for a beginner but they aren’t that difficult, it’s just a case of placing your hook around the post of the stitch in the previous round, rather than into the top of the stitch. You have to be careful with your tension though, so I’ve given a sizing after 3 rounds to help you adjust the hook size if necessary.

The pattern, which also includes a chart, can be found on Ravelry here. There are 12 versions to choose from: English terms, US terms and the 10 translations:  French, Spanish, German, Swedish, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Polish, Italian and Hebrew.

I can’t wait to see lots of Octoghans being shared on Facebook!

A new design will be published each week, so keep your eyes on the facebook page to see when the next one is out.

Happy crocheting xx