Another Birthday, Another Dreamcatcher

Looking for a slightly cheaper cotton yarn than Scheepjes Sweet Treat, I am trying this Rico Essentials 2ply cotton yarn which comes in 50gm balls rather than 25gm.

The colours above are from the Orange going clockwise: Orange, Fuchsia, Emerald, Orchid, Purple, Turquoise, with Yellow in the middle.

There are fewer colours to choose from in this range and the yarn seems ever so slightly thicker than Sweet Treat, but other than that I am pleased with the quality of the Rico and see little difference so far.

Little Miss M also has a birthday this month and after seeing her reaction to the Dreamcatcher I made for her big sister, I thought I had better put other projects to one side and see if I could make another dreamcatcher in time for her 6th birthday.

Her favourite colour is orange, with pink coming a close second – one of my favourite colour combinations.

You might remember the Mandala Madness bedspread I made for Little Miss M

I want to make a dreamcathcer to go with it, so I started with the gorgeously vibrant Orange

to make Tuuli,  another free pattern from the brilliant Estonian designer Zoya Matyushenko. Oh how I love her patterns, each round is a gem.

After the pink I wanted to add a turquoise, but which one?

I went for the Scheepjes: Tropic

You don’t see much of it at the front, but if the dreamcatcher dangles from the ceiling, it will show more at the back

It seems perfectly ok to mix the Rico and the Scheepjes yarn together.

I’m using a 2mm hook.

If you are tempted to have a go, you can find Zoya’s free patterns in the Files on her Facebook Group Page.

Now I’m off for a yarny natter with Cathy and her Crew over on Nanacathydotcom, always a treat on a Friday.

Edit: Here is the finished Mandala Dreamcatcher.

 

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Cosmic Crochet Along

Behind the scenes I have been beavering away at Helen Shrimpton’s current Crochet Along, the Cosmic Cal 

and I have just completed Part 6

Currently measuring 32″ x 35″.

Some of you might have seen my progress on Instagram.

Having seen so many wonderful creations using gradient yarn, I was eager to try it and after much deliberation went for Rosewater Cocktail, a Scheepjes Whirl

You can see all the other colourways here.

It was not easy to choose so I joined the Facebook Group Scheepjes Whirl Creations! 

I could then see all the wonderful things that have been made with Whirls and how each colour looks when it is made up. What a wonderfully helpful community crochet groups are. I’ve learnt so much and been able to ask loads of questions. It has been an enriching experience.

Unsure of how much yarn the blanket would take, I bought 2 Rosewater Cocktails and a Citrus Whirlette as I already knew I wanted to mix up the colours a bit.

But a few rows in I realised I might want to add more colours and bought a Jumping Jelly Whirl.

In a series of blog posts I will describe how I used the Whirls and Whirlettes together:

I wanted to have some turquoise in the centre so I wound off the dark blue of the outside

Cosmic Cals started to appear on Helen’s Hookaholics and I tried out a couple of designs

On the left, I used a 3.50mm hook and included some of the Whirlette, on the right I used a 3mm hook and made the centre look more like a flower

the centre was made with yarn that was pure turquoise

the star was made with yarn that had flecks of pink in it

 

after the turquoise I introduced a round of Citrus Whilette, which is a burnt orange.

and then continued with the yellow from the centre of Rosewater Cocktail.

Wanting to define the hexagon I wondered which of the blues to use

and went for the darker blue with flecks of turquoise in it

(gosh how the colours change according to the light – the photo below does not show the true colours!)

and then one row of lighter turquoise before returning the where I left off with the Whirl.

Continuing with the Whirl until the end of Part 2

More to follow ……

Edit

You can see progress up to Part 4 in this post: Cosmic 4

~

And on Fridays a treat – pop along over  to Nanacathy for a good old Knit and Natter

New Beginnings

Exciting New Beginnings today.

I’m joining Postcard from Gibraltar for the new weekly Friday Photo Challenge

I can see Fridays are going to be busy from now on. There is Cathy’s Knit and Natter, which I love; this new weekly photo challenge from Gibraltar; a new Photo Challenge using our 2017 list over on Magic Sparks; and the most exciting new beginning for me is the Attic24 Woodland Crochet Along (CAL), which started at just past 8am this morning.

I’ve had the bag of yarn sitting waiting patiently for a few weeks and this morning I actually hugged it before getting out the Lime for the foundation chain – as seen on my keyboard.

The Jurassic Coast blanket has been put to one side (with a little touch of sadness) and the Woodland has been started. There has been such a world-wide buzz in the Facebook Group, we were all sharing our excitement until late last night – crazy I know – but I hope I’m amongst friends here! Ha! All my non-blogging friends just do NOT understand.

So I have many windows open on my computer and have been keeping up with the gossip in Yorkshire, Gibraltar and on the international Attic24 Facebook pages.

Life intervened all morning – grrrr – then the fuses blew – so no electricity or internet for a while til I discovered that it was the washing machine causing the problem – but other than that it has been the most fabulous day! and a cosy evening ahead in front of the fire wandering the yarny woodland paths……… bliss!

Looking forward to seeing other New Beginnings.

Woodland Fairy Jacket

Little Miss M beautifully modelling my latest pattern to go live.

Oh my word I’m so excited to be publishing this pattern today! It has taken years for me to develop and test.

Special thanks go to Sheila at Sewchet for test-knitting it for me. And here it is!!!!  Hurray!

Ravelry:

http://www.ravelry.com/designers/wild-daffodil

and Etsy:

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/WildDaffodil

The pattern is for a toddler Aged 1-2

But as you can see in the top photo it has lasted well. I always make the arms a generous length and all my grandchildren seem to get a few years wear out of their yarny  tops.

The inspiration came from this amazing book:

‘Knitted Pirates, Princesses, Witches, Wizards and Fairies’ by Annette Hefford

The publishers kindly gave their permission for me to develop and sell the pattern so long as I credited the book. There are so many fabulous patterns in the book – well worth a look.

I have set up a Facebook page for sharing progress, finished articles and other favourite faerie patterns

https://www.facebook.com/knittedfaerie/

I do hope you like it. I’m planning to publish the pattern in other sizes as soon as I have tested them.

Just published in time to put a link on Cathy’s  ‘Knit and Natter Friday’  post

and

Rachell’s Yarn Along.