March Progress

On March 15, 2014 By agrarianartisan4 Comments

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:

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.

I also have a February Scarf which I have swatched and a March Scarf in my head – this may turn into a regular theme!

Happy Crocheting xx

Spring?

On March 1, 2014 By agrarianartisan1 Comment

Happy St David’s Day!

Yes, 1st March is St David’s Day and for me signifies a key date in the seasonal calendar – because I always think of daffodils on St David’s Day and that means spring is just around the corner. This week we have had some sunny weather here in the UK and I have managed to spend a good number of hours in the garden, which raises my spirits at this time of year. The snowdrops are well advanced, the hellebores are in full flower and many of the crocus are also flowering, and yes a few daffodils are starting to fill out their buds. So spring is in the air.
The met office say spring starts on 1st March, but I prefer to use the vernal equinox, usually around 21st March (but I googled it, of course, and found that this year the vernal equinox is 20th March at 12.57pm EDT – don’t ask – just google if you want to know why!).

1st March is also the official release date of the second hexagon in The Hexagon Project 2014. Unofficially I released it yesterday afternoon – because it was already 1st March in some parts of the world! Oh my, I’m not sticking to any firm dates this year am I?
Here’s a glimpse of it:

It’s available on Ravelry if you like it. Some of my testers found this hexagon a little challenging and their comments and queries made me work hard at ensuring the pattern read well. It is fabulous having such good testers, it helps me improve my pattern writing, so I can’t thank them enough.

I’m looking forward to seeing some colourful versions of this hexagon, and maybe someone will choose sunny spring colours!

Happy crocheting xx

Start as I mean to go on…….

On January 12, 2014 By agrarianartisan3 Comments

Wow! Almost 2 weeks into 2014 already.

I resolved to do more knitting this year and I think I have started well.

I have been knitting cowls. Why? Well I am organising a coach trip to Wonderwool Wales in April and I thought it would be nice to design something to help occupy the time during the 3 hour journey. For some reason I decided on a cowl, but it has to be something that you can knit without having to refer to the pattern too much (not recommended whilst the coach is in motion, it could induce travel sickness in some, me included!).

It took me 3 attempts before I came up with a design I thought would suit. The first 2 cowls were lovely but just did not fit the ‘coach’ criteria. The third is perfect but I need to test it further. So I have knitted 3 cowls already and I am halfway into my fourth.

These are the two I ‘rejected’:

They may be rejects for the coach but I love them, and I have published them. You can find them on Ravelry.

I have also spent a bit of my time teaching myself to spin yarn…….but it will be quite a while before I share my spinning adventures!

Happy knitting xx

Seasons greetings!

On December 23, 2013 By agrarianartisan3 Comments

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:

On Kerry’s blog here:

Crochet Tutorial – Christmas Snowflake/Star

Make a curvy star for decoration or as a coaster

On the blog here:

Curvy Star Hexagon

Make a few small lavender sachets

Pattern on Ravelry here:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/simple-crochet-sachet

And some very quick knitted fingerless mitts

Pattern on Ravelry here:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/easy-peasy-fingerless-mitts-3

But don’t forget to find some time to put your feet up and just relax!

Seasons greetings and Happy New Year to all my readers xxxxx

A good week

On November 30, 2013 By agrarianartisan4 Comments

This has been a good week for me, lots of really lovely things have happened and it had made me very cheery! So I thought I would share a couple of them with you.

First the lovely Amanda Perkins wrote a blog about me – yes all about me! It was a huge surprise and she said some lovely things, which left me blushing. If you don’t already know about Amanda you should find out now. She, her husband Phil and daughter Daisy are the family team behind The Natural Dye Studio. They hand dye the most gorgeous luxury yarns in North Devon using historical dyes and environmentally friendly methods. Find the website here: http://www.thenaturaldyestudio.com/
Amanda is also a very talented crochet designer and I have had the privilege to work with her for a few years now – she is a joy to work with. She crochets like the wind and produces the most exquisite blankets in next to no time (ok maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but she certainly crochets them a lot faster than anyone else I know). You can find her pattern and books on the website or on Ravelry here: http://www.ravelry.com/designers/amanda-perkins
And her blog here: http://amandascrochetblog.blogspot.co.uk/

The second good thing I want to share is a publication I received yesterday. It is my ‘contributor’ copy of a new bookazine by Tailor Made Publications (the publishing house of Inside Crochet). It is called ’The Knitting Collection’ and comprises 47 different designs, from small home projects to beautiful fashion items. My contribution is a one-skein shawlette, yes a new knitting design from me:

Co-incidentally (or maybe not) it is made with a skein of The Natural Dye Studio’s Angelus 4 ply yarn, which fabulous to work with and so soft.

I really enjoyed reading The Knitting Collection yesterday evening. It has a lovely array of designs in it, the layout and photography is good and there are very few adverts. Altogether, in my opinion, a quality publication and well worth the £9.99 cover price. I don’t submit my designs to magazines often, as I prefer to work to my own timetable, but I am proud to part of this one.

Finally, today I am starting block 16 of my Bohemian Rhapsody wrap. It has 18 blocks, so I am getting close to finishing…. my excitement level is growing, so much that I am thinking of bringing the completion deadline forward. I’ll just see how the hooking goes this weekend……………………

Happy Knitting and Crocheting xxx

Getting Festive

On November 17, 2013 By agrarianartisanLeave a comment

I am sure you are wondering if I met the WIP challenge I mentioned in my last blog. Well I am pleased to say I did – but only just! So for the last 10 days I have had the luxury of starting some new projects.

This year I have not made many Christmas presents, I decided it would be good to take a year off making them and I am sure it will be a relief to my family and friends as they have already received hat, mitts and scarves over the last 3 years! But I still feel the need to make something for Christmas. So my new projects have been festive – I have thoroughly enjoyed making some decorations to adorn the parcels I will wrap:

These use some of my festive snowflakes. Pattern here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/festive-snowflakes

And some new bunting to adorn the house:

Festive Bunting - Granny Style — Festive Bunting – Granny Style

Which I absolutely love! Pattern here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/christmas-bunting—granny-style

I also found time to design a new snowflake for Kerry. I am calling it Snowflake 2013 and I think I may have set myself a new challenge – to design a new snowflake each year! This snowflake features on Kerry’s blog. You will find the chart for it there as well as a video tutorial – and it’s free. So pop over and have a look, I am sure you’ll be crocheting your own snowflakes soon!

Crochet Tutorial – Christmas Snowflake/Star

Happy Knitting and Crocheting xxx

Rainbows……….

On September 25, 2013September 25, 2013 By agrarianartisan5 Comments

I have been playing with colour a lot in recent months. It was all sparked off by Bohemian Rhapsody, that design just made me want to explore colour more. And I have been studiously sticking to my plan of making one block of Bohemian Rhapsody every 2 weeks. I have now completed 11 – only another 7 to go.

Inspired, I bought 2 packs of The Natural Dye Studio’s Dazzle HT in rainbow colours when I visited Wonderwool Wales. Most of one pack became a subtle colour exploration with the Wild Diamonds Wrap:

And I am now working on something with the remaining 6 colours which may take a while, so I won’t share that with you yet.

But my most recent colour work has now been revealed. It is a cowl made with a complete rainbow of The Natural Dye Studio’s Godiva HT, which is the most lusciously soft single merino yarn. You can find the yarn here: http://www.thenaturaldyestudio.com/godiva-ht-4-plyfingering-yarn-356-c.asp

What made this colour work most special was that the yarn was a present, totally unexpected and very welcome. I was feeling a little low and Amanda sensed I needed cheering up, so she sent me a pack in the post! I can’t tell you how wonderful a gift it was – 10 mini skeins of the complete rainbow, it came at just the right time and really raised my spirits. I can’t thank Amanda enough. So, of course, it had to be made into something beautiful. This is the result:

You can’t tell from the photo just how soft this yarn is. But you can tell it gives good stitch definition and it blocks well; my uneven knitting now looks quite passable!

It is now written as a pattern and can be found in my Ravelry, Craftsy and Etsy web stores.

All this colour work has really boosted my creativity, and yet another colour project is on my hook right now! So there will be a few more colourful reveals in the not too distant future.

Happy knitting and crocheting xxx

An Anniversary…..

On August 23, 2013August 27, 2013 By agrarianartisanLeave a comment

An Anniversary

In my last blog, I mentioned the special date of 27th August being the 1st anniversary of my Ravelry forum. I can now disclose the 2 designs made for that anniversary.

The Anniversary Sharf (knitting):

And the Simple Circles Scarf/Wrap (crochet):

If you are a member of Raverly, join my forum on there (Agrarian Artisan Designs), establish a project linked to one of the 2 designs above and tag it properly before 1st September 2013, I will gift the pattern to you via Ravelry….and then you can join in the fun, knitting or crocheting with other like minded folk 🙂

Happy knitting and crocheting xx

Glamorous………

On July 20, 2013 By agrarianartisanLeave a comment

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!

Happy knitting and crocheting

Curvy Star Hexagon

On July 2, 2013December 7, 2013 By agrarianartisan6 Comments

I talked about my hexagon project yesterday and I’ve been pondering ever since. Maybe you won’t understand my love of hexagons…or will you? So I thought I would share another small hexagon design with you just to see if it whet’s your appetite! Please do tell me what you think of it.

As I made it I was thinking of a star but, as so often happens when I get a hook in my hand, it took on a life of its own – and this little curvy star was born.

Do you like it? Subconsciously I must have thought of the blanket I want to make, which I want to be ‘open’ but snug, because I think it is perfect for what I want in that blanket and that’s what I will make with it. It is 3 rounds and really not too difficult to make if you can crochet in the round. Here’s the pattern:

This is written in English crochet terms and uses standard abbreviations.

st = stitch

ss = slip stitch

sp = space

dc = double crochet

tr = treble

htr = half treble

dtr = double treble.

I used a 5mm hook (US H/8) and some aran weight yarn, but you can use any yarn as long as you use a suitable hook.

Foundation – make 6 ch and join into a ring with a ss

Round 1 – 3 ch (counts as 1 tr), 1 tr, 1 ch, (2 tr, 1 ch) 5 times, join to 3^rd ch from start of round with a ss

Round 2 – ss into gap between first 2 tr from last round (if you are changing colour join your new colour here), into this gap crochet (3 ch (counts as 1 tr), 1 tr, 1 ch, 2 tr, [into next 1 ch-sp, crochet 1 dc, into the gap between next 2 tr from last round crochet (2 tr, 1 ch, 2 tr)] five times, into next 1 ch-sp, crochet 1 dc, join to 3^rd ch from start of round with a ss

Round 3 – ss into top of 3 ch from start of last round (if you are changing colour join your new colour here), [(1 htr, 1 tr, 2 dtr, 1, tr, 1 htr) in 1 ch-sp, ss into 2^nd tr along, ss into next tr along] five times, (1 htr, 1 tr, 2 dtr, 1, tr, 1 htr) all in 1 ch-sp, ss into 2^nd tr along, ss to first ss to complete the round. Break yarn and fasten off.

If you want to join the motifs together, join between the 2 dtr at the tip of each curve on the last round.

For those who like charts, here’s one for you (this uses standard symbols)But please note this is copyright – do not repost/pin this or you will be in breach of that copyright:

Now for the legal stuff – I designed this today, it’s all my own work and is copyright. Please feel free to make as many as you like, but not for commercial purposes, and please credit me with the design. Thank you!

I am human (yes, I am!) so I am perfectly capable of making mistakes! So if you spot any errors in the pattern please just tell me and I’ll correct it.

Happy knitting and crocheting

PS For those who are interested, I use Stitchworks software to chart.

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