Category: General

Welcome back to my topsy turvy world 🙂

It’s been even more of a rollercoaster than usual lately, and of course we’re nearing the end of term, which is always manic, hectic and this year is a little more emotional than others as number two son prepares to leave primary school tomorrow and start the next educational adventure in September.

But a firm constant has been the crochet. It’s a meditation of sorts, except when I need to concentrate on counting and have at least three of the five saying “Mummy…!” I’ve been plugging away at the granny square waistcoat / vest / jacket / whatever we want to call it, managing to make about a row a week. And I’ve been trying different patterns of square, some of which are quite dramatically more beautiful (in my opinion, anyway).

 

But, as often happens with such a big project, I have become a little bored of the same old same old, and my mind has wandered a bit. And then I had a birthday and my fabulous fella gave me some crochet books, one of which is entirely dedicated to trims. You can find it here: The Finer Edge

I dug out the beautiful (if rather pricey) yarn I’d just bought and started playing:

I wanted to trim the sleeves and hem of a dress I’d been given for my birthday, but it’s linen and this yarn is not machine washable, so I tried another:

But this was a little too fuzzy-looking for my liking, so I attempted it again with cotton:

But this was a bit thick and heavy… *Harumph*

However… it did give me an idea…

At auction a couple of years ago, I bought a couple of boxes of sewing paraphernalia – the genuine article; in old tobacco tins with sellotaped “Pins”, “Buttons” etc and it contained loads and loads of mother-of-pearl buttons. On the strength of this one, a few friends ordered their own in various colours and with various decorations – these followed swiftly:

And another lovely friend stretched me a little further by sending me a picture she’d found on Pinterest and asking if I could do anything like it. I loved it, took up the challenge, and here it is:

These are my own personal two that I am now living in:

Then, I found a bag of beads I’ve had for years:

And here is a sample from the collection:

I don’t think this enthusiasm is going to wear out any time soon 🙂

But the real story of the past week is that I threw myself into something I’d promised aeons ago. Back in January, a few friends and I on Facebook became involved in a ‘Pay it Forward’ – the idea being that the first five friends to comment would receive something from you over the past year. Could be anything, but most likely, I think, is personal creations. One of these friends had her third beautiful daughter not so very long ago, and I decided to test my skill and knit her a jacket. My number five son – a little feral to say the least – pulled it off its needles once too often and I abandoned it. Then, I decided a granny-square hoodie was the way forward, but could only find a pattern for an adult and lost confidence in my ability to create…

Then, I found this pattern on Etsy from monpetitviolon: Little Crochet Cardigan

I think it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever made. I highly recommend the author of the pattern, as it was incredibly easy to follow, and included pictures for reference, to check you hadn’t gone horribly wrong.

In times of stress, I throw myself wholeheartedly into projects like this and neglect all other areas of my life (except my children!) and I managed to make this in about two days.

I have a new passion! I have plans to attempt a long-sleeved shrug for myself loosely based on this pattern and using the yarn from the very first trim I attempted, but I’m going to make a summer version of the little cardigan first, similar to picture 2, for our lovely niece Laura’s adorable daughter Faith next. At least I know it’s quick and she won’t have grown out of it before it’s done!

See you soon, and happy hooking 😉