I was hoping to show photographs today of both the monthly blanket clubs I am in. But I have only managed to complete one of them, so I can show only half.
Here is the Kaleidoscope Blanket for March:
March Kaleidoscope
I love this, it is a very satisfying make and flows off the hook. Each month the blanket takes on a new life. I can’t wait for April.
The Jane Crowfoot Blanket is taking a little longer. I have done more than half of March, but it doesn’t flow off the hook quite as quickly. I think the main reason for this is that I don’t like crocheting in cotton in large quantities, I find it hard work and not soft and gentle like wool and silk. So I am resigned to slower progress on this. I will share photos when I have finished March.
Meanwhile I have found time to publish a quick scarf design which I am calling the January Crochet Scarf.
January Crochet Scarf
I also have a February Scarf which I have swatched and a March Scarf in my head – this may turn into a regular theme!
I‘ve been thinking a lot about colour recently. Perhaps because I’ve been making colourful hexagons for a few weeks ahead of the launch of The Hexagon Project 2014 which I blogged about yesterday here: https://agrarianartisan.com/2014/01/31/the-hexagon-project-2014/
I like to think I use a subtle colour palette in what I do. If you saw my home youwould see it is fairly modern with plenty of oak and neutral shades everywhere – just odd splashes of colour for accent. But I do love colour in many things, just as long as it isn’t glaring out at me from every corner. So I am not afraid to use colour provided it fits in my world.
You won’t find much multi colours in anything I make or design – just look at my Ravelry project and design pages to see how I use colour!
However, my thoughts have made me reflect on the blankets I have made over the years.
The first blanket I ever made was a granny in shades of blue, mainly pale blue. It served me well at uni. It was thrown out years ago – so I don’t have a photo of it. Believe me when I say it was subtle, not glaring.
The second blanket I made was a small knitted hap blanket – beige with red highlights.
Hap blanket
Then came Starry Night by Amanda Perkins, I made it in grey, silver and 2 shades of dark blue.
Starry Night
The fourth blanket I made was another design by Amanda Perkins called Lily. This time I started to use more colour – I wanted lots of red – and that is what I got!
Lily
The next blanket (knitted) was back to my neutral shades.
Heike’s afghan KAL
Then no 6 was a baby blanket in ice cream colours
Baby blanket
And then a small lap blanket in soft blue, green, cream.
Little Hearts
Then I made a granny style blanket in lots of colour – quite a change for me! It is confined to the spare bed and is very practical. But I do quite like the colour pick-me-up as I walk in that room.
I have also made 2 other blankets recently, I’m not going to tell you about them yet, other than to say one is ‘nicely’ colourful and the other is back to my more subtle colour palette.
Now all of this has made me think about the world of crochet. There are so many fields of crochet in the world from the delicate old Irish crochet used frequently in crisp white doillies to the bright colourful world of simple but effective granny squares, with a myriad of styles, taste and colour inbetween. The recent growth in the crochet world has been predominantly in the colourful granny area – after all it is easy to see the impact of colour and grannies are quite quick and easy to make when you are just getting going.
Just recently I have started to sense a slow change in that colourful granny world, maybe, just maybe, it is growing closer to my preferences of subtlety. I think it is about time it should.
Personally, in the world of colourful crochet my preference is always in the direction of Amanda Perkins, her use of colour is exceptional. It is so much more sophisticated than the granny world. If we are to use colour in the world of crochet it is much better to do with sophistication don’t you think?
Yes, I would dearly love to know what you think, so please share your thoughts with me.
I am sure everyone has been very busy preparing for the Christmas time holiday. But if any of you are still keen to squeeze in one last make before it’s too late here are a few ideas.
If you fancy one last minute decoration make hop over to Kerry’s blog to get the pattern for this:
I count myself very lucky to have some inspirational crafting friends, they make some amazing things and are always happy to share their ideas and what inspires them. So I am now going to share 2 things that I made thanks to inspiration from my friends.
The first is a sewing project. Whilst shopping in Tesco this week I spotted some lovely tea towels, good fabric with nice patterns – £4 for a pack of 3 – one spotty, one floral (a little Cath Kidston I think) and one plain white waffle. I instantly remembered Riana sharing her tea towel tote, so I knew exactly how useful these tea towels could be. I just needed a bit of webbing, which I found in John Lewis, and in no time I had made this:
I call it the Tesco Tea Towel Tote! And it is destined to be a present. Thank you Riana!
The next inspiration came from Heike (do have a look at her blog here http://www.madewithloops.co.uk). She shared a photo on facebook of a very colourful granny bag, gathered at the top into some handles. And this inspired me to make a purse along the same lines – here is my take on a granny purse.
The best bit of this is the lining, have a close look here:
Yes, it is a white waffle – taken from one of the Tesco Tea Towels.
I can’t recommend tea towel sewing more highly, you frequently find some lovely printed fabrics (Riana made a tote using a cupcake printed towel from Ikea), they are good quality and they are generally very good value. And they are already edged, which reduces the sewing. Next time you go shopping look for tea towels, you may find yourself inspired to make something beautiful from one…or two……
There are some yarns I just love so much….kidsilk is one. So when I spotted the new Rowan Kidsilk Haze Glamour yarn in John Lewis I just had to buy some. It has tiny sparkley sequins threaded on the yarn – gorgeous! This is what I made with it:
The pattern is called Glamour Wrap and is now for sale on Ravelry here http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/glamour-wrap, and will soon be added to Etsy and Craftsy. Like most of my patterns, it is deceptively easier than it looks! I love it and just wish it would cool down a little in the evenings so I can wrap it around my shoulders!
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