Month: January 2018

Meditating on friends and gratitude…

crochet, shawl book, Shawls, Uncategorized

Ok, so this is a little embarrassing and exciting in equal measure. This week I launched a kickstarter to see if I could raise funds to get the book project underway. The plan was that this weekend’s blog would be a chance to spread the word and nudge a little more interest. However, I completely underestimated the response I would get, so here I am already in a position to confirm that we have hit the minimum target I needed to get the book printed! I am so overwhelmed and buoyed by the support I have had. The kickstarter stays open for more backers until 10th Feb, when it closes and the work begins in earnest. So there is still a chance to support the project and get a copy of the book as soon as it’s printed (ahead of its official launch in May) if anyone is interested in getting involved.

The cover image for this week’s blog is an extreme close up of the shawl I designed for the Christmas shawl club, known as the Friendship Meditation Shawl. The reason for this is linked to the beading. I love crochet because it is the closest I get to meditation and I also love a bit of beading, as you know. At the end of the year it’s worth taking stock of all that you have to be grateful for, and my friends are a big part of that. So every bead is a prompt to think of a person or memory that means something to you. And this is a shawl that just grows and grows, so you can keep going and make it huge! I love the grey silk one I made using some elegance yarn that Sam dyed, but I am planning a bigger one using the yarn that Lollipop Guild Yarns put in their End of Year box. It’s loud and proud and I just need to get some beads to go with it. I love the colours in this.

I am starting to plan new shawls for this year’s shawl club that will start again soon (we plan the first box for March). I have some themes in mind but I would love to hear from you if you have an idea you would like us to explore. Last year we were really impressed by the response to the unicorn themed box. The unicorn rainbow wrap I designed to go with it is a mini-skein project, pictured here using an ombré set in blue, but for the box we went with our interpretation of a unicorn rainbow, so bright pink, orange, turquoise, blue and green. But I have to say that I love the colour blend in this one.

Advertisement

Hello, fancy seeing you here…

Blanket, crochet, knitting, yarn

Hello! Happy new year and all that. I know, since getting the new job things went a bit quiet on here as finding the time to blog has been a bit tricky with the extended commute, but I am back, and I have a lot of catching up to do!

I am going to do some new blogs for the patterns that have come out on Ravelry whilst I have had my head down, and I also have plans to update my photo archive too. But at the moment I am typing this on my phone on the way back from the annual new year pilgrimage to mum’s house. We spent Christmas with my in-laws, and I got the chance to use up some of my stash on small projects while I was there, plus I finished this pretty lovely retro fit jumper designed by Sue Stratford (who also writes the Knitting and Gin blog). The yarn is by For the Love of Yarn, and is a sparkly merino and silk blend that has been in my stash for a while now. I’m really please with the fit of this, and need to make one for me now!

My mother-in-law has asked me to make some lap blanket and so I am busy stash busting with those. My progress is shown at the top of the blog, and the yarn is recycled from an abandoned blanket club make that I lost interest in. I’m using the ripple technique described in the Attic24 blog and I love it in these colours.

But I am on a very strict yarn ban for 2018. I have a crazy amount of very lovely stuff and I have no more room for additions to it. So it’s a year to mobilise what I have, and to prioritise the important stuff – family, making, and getting my act together. I have a very intense six months coming up on both work fronts, so I need to plan and get organised. The book is going to happen this year, one way or another, and I will keep you all posted. But in the meantime here is to a very happy and productive new year!