This new hat is all summer and sunshine. I love it to bits!

Having completed the Loose Change Basket, I was rather keen to get back to making those coasters I was imagining. Just one would be nice. In fact, I could make it a little larger and use it as a cake-stand-doily-thing. Or something. Maybe.

But, oh no, it wasn’t to be (again). I was happily crocheting round and round in circles, and it was getting all mindless and just how I like it when I’m making dinner at the same time, but then that crafty Craft Cotton started getting the better of me once more:

“Er, what are you doing? I thought we were just crocheting around in circles, nice and even?” I asked.

“Mm. Our plans have changed,” said the Cotton, “You shall obey me now.”

“Oh dear, not again. OK, what are we doing next?”

“You feel the urge to treble crochet. Go on, do it now.”

“But if I treble, I’ll have to increase, and that will spoil the pattern.”

“So don’t increase. YOU MUST TREBLE NOW!”

“OK, OK. We’re not making a flat thing anymore, are we…”

“Mwa-ha-ha!”

…And so it was that some more of that first skein of Craft Cotton became something other than a set of coasters. Ah well, Flame has a new hat, and she likes it very much. As usual, I’ve made it to fit an adult rather than a child because the drama of growing out of a much-loved item is completely avoidable with this type of clothing.

The Craft Cotton is fab for this sort of hat. I think it would make a great beach bag too, but I already have too many bag projects on the go to start yet another one now. Also, I’ve started to get a callous on my left index finger where the yarn has been rubbing, so I think I’ll switch to a softer one for a while to give my hands a break.

Anyway, as you can see from the back view, the hat did look good plain, but I think the starfish motif (Rowan Cabled Mercerised Cotton) just finishes it off nicely. That hat makes me want to go on holiday, and I’ll be off in a few weeks’ time! We’ve booked to go to the Isle of Wight (again) in June because it has become our annual Perfect Family Holiday. No rushing around at airports, no pressure to make the most of our time in a faraway place. Just buckets and spades, sandy feet and cream teas, discovering places to explore, creatures in rock pools, and a little caravan overlooking the sea. The girls are at the perfect age for this type of holiday. I remember going on the coin-operated rides, my mum trying to get sand out of my knickers because I was screaming, and my dad spending the evenings watching the shipping lane with his binoculars. Ah, such sweet memories! chuckle

And the coasters? Oh yes, the coasters. They are now on hold because I have lots of things to do for Flame’s birthday. Bah!

Entry plonked in Crochet • Life @ 6:07 pm
Tagged thusly: crochet hat, rowan cabled mercerised cotton, rowan yarn, starfish hat, stylecraft, stylecraft craft cotton, yarn

I’ve been pouring over the yarny goodness on the Web, but there’s nothing better than a bit of yarn fondling at the not-so-local yarn shop. Unfortunately, you are unlikely to get much of a bargain there because they consider a 5p (less than US 10c) discount per ball/skein to be a fantastic offer, but I try to buy a few things every now and then because they cram a lot of stuff into that small shop – fabric, beads, yarn, cardstock, etc. – and it would be a real shame if they didn’t get enough local support to stay open.

The first thing I did was to look for all the yarns I had found on the Web, to see what they would be like in real life. A yarn I got completely wrong is Rowan Cotton Braid – when I first looked at it online, I thought of the similar looking yarns that feel like they’ve been spun from nylon fishing line, so I assumed Cotton Braid would be rather stiff, perhaps scratchy, and not very comfortable at all. In actual fact, it’s incredibly soft (next time, I’ll read the ingredients label and work it out!).

Cotton Braid consists of an approximately 1.5mm wide soft strand, loosely bound in soft zig-zags by fine chain stitches. The chain stitching is not joined widthwise, so they occasionally separate and then bunch together along the length of the yarn. Similarly, the chain stitching does not penetrate the wider strand and so there is some freedom of movement. The overall yarn width is approximately 1cm on the ball, but squashes down to less than 4mm because it is very ‘loopy’.

Cezanne (shade 358) is the lighest of creams, with a slightly darker chain-stitch binding. I can see this colourway as an accent, like a textural edging, but I’m going to have to tinker with it a bit before I finally settle on what to do with it.

Although I love the look and feel of this yarn, but I don’t think I will be buying any more because it varies in quality along its length – quite a lot of the zig-zagging has been pulled and scrunched, so I will have to steam and reset it before I can possibly use it. This is going to take hours because of the amount of damage. sigh The problem area is close to the centre of the ball, so it’s possible that something went wrong during the manufacturing process.

Ah well, serves me right for deviating from the usual twisted strands, but I still think this is a yummy combination of interesting texture and neutral shade…

Next, I fancied some mercerised cotton, so I picked up some Patons 100% Cotton DK as it looked like an incredibly tight and shiny twist – yes, a nice change from the roughness of the polythene I’ve been crocheting with lately! I went for the DK as I thought it would make for quicker results, but I’d like to do something in 4-ply cotton as well.

Anyway, then I noticed a tempting bit of rough dangling from a shelf…

…And followed it back to a skein called Stylecraft Craft Cotton. Ohmygoodnessme! Instant inspiration! I immediately wanted to take it home and make drinks coasters, dinner mats, jug covers, everything! I’ve wanted to do some household items for quite a while, but I had all but given up hope because I couldn’t find the right yarn for the job – the mercerised cottons were too smooth, hemp and jute were too rough, and I was beginning to feel like Goldilocks’ yarn-obsessed sister, unable to find something that was ‘just right’. No matter, no more, though; Craft Cotton is the one for the job – yum! yum! yum!

As you can see, we also picked up some seed beads. Flame found some in wonderful shades of teal and also a dark, sort of ‘oil on water’ effect. Generally, though, I was only interested in neutral/muted shades of anything today as I want to explore texture to a greater degree without being distracted by strong colours or patterns.

I definitely feel like I’ve got my creativity mojo at the moment (which is a relief because I spent a small fortune on things I could buy a lot cheaper online!), so we’ll see what happens now that I’ve stocked up a little…

Entry plonked in Yarn @ 11:56 pm
Tagged thusly: patons 100% cotton dk, rowan cotton braid, rowan yarn, ryc natural silk aran, seed beads, sirdar luxury soft dk, stylecraft craft cotton, yarn

We went off to Glastonbury to visit my mother over the weekend. Her flat is currently chock-full of packing boxes as she is hoping to be on the move again soon, so we decided to ignore the rain and wander around the shops. Now, I do hold up my hand and freely admit to having an ulterior motive – I was on the look out for some yarn, hopefully hand-dyed and multi-coloured. Mm, perfect.

Unfortunately, although there were plenty of handmade crafts for sale (yay!), there didn’t seem to be any raw materials to be had anywhere. One of the charity shops had a bundle of knitting needles to choose from, but no yarn. Not even a single, 100% acrylic, pastel ball leftover from someones baby blanket project…

OK, confession time again. If you had opened up my handbag, you’d have found a skein of Debbie Bliss’ Maya (scrummy yarn from a few years ago, similar but nicer than Soho, in my opinion), along with some Sirdar of varying quirkiness and crochet hooks in assorted sizes. So… I guess I didn’t actually need any more goodies at that particular point. …But my bag was indeed capacious enough to accommodate quite a lot more yarn, and I did have a few coins set aside for spending…

Anyhoo, a lucky sideways glance at a shop tucked back from the main street set the pulse racing… Yarn. The good stuff. In the window. Right now.

Huzzah!

The manager of the little shop was attempting to lock up and leave for lunch, but she noticed us coming, and very kindly let us in. Inside there was a lot of (really, really nice) handmade stuff for sale, and garments were hanging all round the room, including over the doorway to the yarn section. Once aside, I rushed into the tiny room, all eager to forget the coins and instead to fumble in my wallet for The Naughty Plastic, but there wasn’t much there at all. Still, kudos to them for possibly being the only local yarn supplier to the crafting denizens of Glastonbury and I think they can order in any Rowan you might fancy.

I asked Pixie if she’d like another hat, she said she would, and so I ambled to the the till with some Rowan Kidsilk Haze in shade 590 Pearl, and Artesano Inca Cloud in 53 Plum, 57 Fuchsia and 61 Teal.

I’m afraid I’m not sure of the name of the shop, because the paper bag I was given (finished with a cute bow made of assorted yarn!) was plastered with inkjetted adverts, but I think the most likely name is The Cats Whiskers Clothing & Wool Co, which is a huge mouthful for such a tiny shop. Fab. Someone has clearly put their heart into that little place. …Not somewhere I would frequent for non-yarny purchases because I prefer to make my own handmade goodies, but there were certainly lovely things to see, such as dresses, accessories, and handmade fairy wings…

Back at Mum’s place, I started to crochet the lovely new yarn, and we chatted while the girls played with toys, fiddled with yarn and ate cakes, while Lam tried not to nod off (bless!). A perfect day with Granny.

Entry plonked in Yarn @ 3:24 pm
Tagged thusly: artesano alpaca, artesano inca cloud, glastonbury yarn shop, rowan kidsilk, yarn, yarn shopping