In Which I See Some Valentine's Yarnbombing

 

 

 

Here's my Louisa Harding Hiking Hat, looking out towards Blakeney! It was a gorgeous day, with a dark, bright light - still winter, really. And, below, the cheery sight of some Sheringham yarnbombing!

 

These were at the crossroads by the station, just in time for Valentine's Day!

 

 

There's so often some fabulous yarnbombing in Sheringham: I've blogged here about knitted fish, flags and now hearts! Whoever is doing this, I salute you - it's really cheerful and lovely to spot it. The hearts in the bushes were gorgeous. Sadly, it's all been taken down now, but I'm sure it made other people smile as well as me! It's also inspiring me to mount a knitted onslaught on a local landmark ... ;)

Ipswich, This Time Last Week: Part 1!

This time last week, I was exploring Ipswich! First stop, lovely pop-up coffee shop in the rather imposing Town Hall:

Inside the Town Hall is a craft shop, with some gorgeous ceramics and textiles. After a little browse in there, I headed for Snobs. This was  true Twitter success: I heard about them on Twitter and was *so* glad I'd found it. Now, inside it just gets better and better:

You can just make out Abby at the till. She told me that there's a strong BuyLocal element to the cafe, with the coffee locally roasted and local foods too.  This is a great space, with a wall of art curated by Cathy at LoveOne, and vintage chairs around nicely buffed old tables. My cappuccino, in a vintage cup, no less, was gorgeous and looked like this:

 

 

There seems a healthy mix of professional types, gallery viewers and customers popping in, as well as the DJ for the vintage music night the following night. I very much hope this pop-up stays put!

Next stop: Jenny Wren's Yarns!

Nothing like a last minute #crochet WIP!

I had a brilliant day yesterday, interviewing Lois from Jenny Wren Yarns in Ipswich and having a chat and a cappuccino made by Abbie at Snobs pop-up coffee shop in the Ipswich Town Hall Galleries.  More on both of these fab Suffolk places to come...

This post is rather short because I'm trying to post via the Blogger app on my iPad - so we'll see how we get on! I was very frustrated yesterday as I couldn't work out how to get photos from the iPad onto the blog - but with a little help from Twitter, I think I've managed it!

So, here goes:

I was very pleased to see a 6-minute crochet heart pattern on the blog of Mollie
Makes magazine.  It took me more like an hour, because I had to look up the American crochet abbreviations half way through and start again .... but I think she'll love it:

#HandmadeMonday - My Hat, At Large.

Finally, the Louisa Harding Himalayan Hiking Hat is done! This took three skeins of Debbie Bliss Blue-Faced Leicester Aran (from Les Tricoteuses in North Norfolk) rather than the two skeins the pattern asked for. Frustratingly, the third skein was needed for only two or three rows of knitting - but the pompom took rather a lot of wool. It has been pointed out to me that the pompom may be, er, a little outsized . . .  but I *love* this hat. The pattern is a good mix of cables, rib and bobbles. It's easy to do and the yarn is lovely - really warm, with a lovely texture which isn't too silky or floppy.

I was so pleased to see snow, so that we could go off and photograph it out and about! If you want to make one of these, see Louisa Harding's page about her fundraising for Macmillan Cancer Care, a really worthy cause. This hat is 'Parju', and the pattern for this, plus 5 others, can be found here: http://www.louisaharding.co.uk/macmillan/

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, what to knit next? This brilliant charity-shop purchase by my GF has given me an idea:

 

 

 

 

I feel a tea cosy coming on . . .  How can it be that I have never knitted one of these? Scary thought: could it be that I am turning into someone who knits from those "Knitted Bazaar" books?! Help!

 

Happy Knitting: what have you made for #HandmadeMonday?

Simple Crochet Baby Blanket Pattern

I have dispatched the latest baby blanket to its recipient and here is the pattern! It's really simple if you are happy with chains, trebles and double crochet. It is a great present and looks so nice when it's done. Lots of photos, too, to help you if need be! Blogger is playing up, however, so there are some rather large gaps under pictures - I can't work out how to get rid of these. Still, I'm pleased with the blanket; enjoy!

You will need:

2 balls of double knitting, one of each colour.

A 4mm crochet hook

A darning needle

Finished measurements: 58 cm wide and 78 cm long (but you do not need to be too precise about this!)

Using Colour A, make a chain of 93 stitches (90 to crochet the pattern into, 3 for the turning chain).

Row 1:  still using Colour A, miss 3 chain. 3 trebles (tr) into next chain, 1 chain (ch), miss three chain, 3 tr in next chain. Repeat til end of row; 1 tr into last stitch of row (you need this to give a firm, even edge).

Row 2: still using A, 3 chain. 1 tr in first chain from hook, 1 ch, miss 3 chain, 3 tr in space between previous row’s groups of trebles. Work 3 tr into these spaces until end of row; 1 tr in last stitch.

Row 3: join Colour B to do 3 chain. Do not cut Colour A free, but just leave it at the end of the row. Work the same pattern along the row.

Row 4: using B, work the same pattern back along the row.

Repeat the pattern. Between rows, at the edge of the work, twist the colours together once or twice, close to the edge. This will keep the edge flexible and make sure you don’t have huge loops of wool where you have swapped colours. The edges will look like this:

  

 

 

 

 

Border:

You need to use your judgement here, to make sure, according to your own tension, that the blanket will lie flat and not curl up.

Using Colour B, do a row of DC along the short edge of the blanket, one DC in each chain. At the corner, do 1 DC into end stitch, then 2ch, then 1 DC (all into end stitch).

Along the long side, continue to DC in Colour B. Try to space the DC so that their spacing mimics the spacing on the short edge. If they are too far apart or too close, the edging will start to curl up. Don’t do the DC too tightly. Do one row of DC all the way round, then do the same, 1 DC in each st, in Colour A.

Then, all you have to do is to darn in the ends!

Close-up of the corner, and border, is below, as well as a shot of the completed blanket! Happy crocheting!


 

 

 

Ta-Dah! A Friday #FO - one simple crochet baby blanket

 

 

Better pictures to follow soon, hopefully - these were under the kitchen light on my phone! Such was my excitement at having a Friday Finished Object! The blanket is done!! The pattern is to follow as I'll be writing it up this weekend. I'm really pleased with it, though it took longer than I thought. I'll be posting it next week to my very-pregnant friend!

 

Now, back to the Louisa Harding bobble hat - the next WIP!

#WIP Wednesday - simple crochet blanket - & a knitted mug

 

This is a treat for myself - like I need one, after Christmas! - a Fair Isle mug, from Blacks. Not my usual shop of choice, but I spyed it from afar. In the sale, too! Hurrah! It's actually huge - I had to peer down into it to see my coffee - but I love it.

 

Today's WIP: a simple crochet baby blanket, for a friend whose baby is due on, er, 25th January! I am making this up, so pattern will follow. I had a yarn emergency at the weekend, as I left my other WIP (a Louisa Harding Himalayan hiking hat) at my parents' house and only realised when I got home - tragedy! Still, I popped out to a trusty charity shop and bought two crochet hooks (which I bleached throughly - should I admit to that?!) and then bought the yarn for the blanket and got going.

 

 

Finally - it's always good to see a knitting-themed display - and this one is in Holt Library, North Norfolk, to launch their Monday Knit & Natter (clearly a more sedate occurrence than our Stitch & Bitch!) I really want to read Rachael Herron's A Life in Stitches (left hand side of the display) as I've made one of her patterns for a friend and I read her blog, about her writing, knitting and life with her girlfriend. In the corner of this picture is a book I actually got for Christmas - Claire Montgomerie's Knitting Vintage. I'm sure I will write more about this last, once I get the blanket...and hat... done!

 

So, that's how my 2013 has begun. Hope yours has got off to a similarly good start.

 

Happy New Year!