Adapting the Sea Glass Shawl

First of all I have to thank you all so much for your wonderful comments about my crocheted poncho. It really made me laugh to think of a 'disappearing poncho' as some of you suggested I must have been wearing in the first photo. The invisibility poncho! Absolutely hilarious. We need a new yarn to be manufactured that would allow the wearer of any garment made using said yarn to disappear.

Anyway, I love it when a pattern can be used for more than one thing. That's why I like crocheted motifs so much.

Remember I crocheted the Sea Glass Shawl from one of the Simply Crochet magazines? Well, I had almost a full ball left of the beautiful Juniper Moon Farm Findley yarn which is 50% extra fine merino wool and 50% mulberry silk. So I decided to make a scarf using the same starfish motifs. I made the scarf using two rows of ten motifs each. I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

Here it is being blocked using my blocking (dressing) wires.

Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the scarf after being blocked and before giving it to someone special. I really despair at my stupidity sometimes!

All the best for now. I hope to get reading your blogs again soon and leaving some comments. As seems to be the norm now, I haven't been able to read anyone's blog for a couple of weeks.

Sea Glass Shawl Finito

I told you about starting the sea glass shawl a few weeks ago. I crocheted the first two rows of motifs, plus a couple of motifs on the third row, in the car. I wanted to make sure I had enough yarn to finish, so I then brought the shawl into the house to weigh and weigh the remaining yarn. A quick calculation and I was able to determine that I needed to buy another ball of yarn. A bit annoying as it comes in 100g balls! I only needed to use it for three motifs and the edging so I have a lot left over. Never mind, I will use it for something else; maybe a nice lacy scarf.

Anyway, it didn't take long to get all the motifs crocheted and joined. They're actually joined as you go, on the last round. At this point I needed to consult the pattern to see how to work the edging. Now in my first post about starting the shawl, I said that I was using a 3.5 mm hook. And in this post I said that I'd made a mistake and should have been using a 3.25 mm hook. When I consulted the pattern about the edging, I discovered that I had been right all along; it says to use a 3.5 mm hook. It's bad enough to think you've been mistaken but to realise that you've mistakenly thought you were mistaken is a little worrying!

You'd like to see the finished shawl now, I suppose. Here it is before it had the ends sewn in and been blocked.

What a difference blocking makes to lace work especially. It really opens out the design and makes it, well, lacy. This is the dress I'll be wearing with the shawl to the wedding. It has lots of beading at the neck so I didn't do any beading on the shawl.

These pictures were taken this morning when it was nice and sunny. We've actually had some better weather recently. But it is getting cloudy now, we've had a few showers and it's very windy. Hopefully it doesn't knock the power off again. Our power was out for several hours last night even though there was no apparent reason for it.

I'll get more pictures at the wedding so you can see the whole ensemble, shoes and all.

At the stage when I realised that I needed another ball of yarn, I was really temped to add an extra row of motifs to the shawl. I'm very glad that I didn't; it's plenty big enough once it's been blocked.

A close up of one of the starfish motifs.

I always thought that starfish had five legs but it's not uncommon for them to have six. In fact, they've been known to have just about any number of legs up to twenty-three!

Please let me know what you think of my shawl. I love reading your comments. Thanks for them all and a big welcome, too, to my new followers.

If you don't already know, have a look to see why I say finito.

Starting the Sea Glass Shawl

Have you seen the Sea Glass shawl pattern in the Simply Crochet issue 33 magazine? I know Daisy has already started one of these shawls and it is looking really gorgeous so far. You can see hers here.

It just so happens that I've also started crocheting one of these shawls. Well look at it! It's so, so beautiful, who could resist making it?

Fortunately I even have a very good reason for making mine; we're going to a wedding at the beginning of September and this is what I intend to wear with my dress.

Lace weight yarn had to be purchased. I picked the colour to match my new shoes. It was tricky to match the colour as I had to buy the yarn online from the Wool Warehouse. Picture me at a screen, new shoe in hand, trying to match the colour to various yarns. This is what I finally decided was the best match and, now that it has arrived and I can see it in real life, is actually a perfect match. 

It's Juniper Moon Farm Findley yarn which is 50% extra fine merino wool and 50% mulberry silk. It feels so soft. So very, very soft.

The pattern looks difficult but it is easy enough to follow. The shawl is made up of thirty four starfish motifs, joined as you go, arranged in three rows; ten motifs in the top row, nine motifs in the middle row and eight in the bottom row. After the first two starfish motifs I was able to continue without needing to refer to the pattern.

This is the first row complete with two motifs of the middle row also done. The colour isn't quite as dark as this really.

A bit closer so you can see more detail. This is much closer to the true colour.

Actually, as a matter of interest, the colour is called Rappahannock. I have to admit that this meant nothing to me until I checked it out on the internet.The Rappahannock River is in eastern Virginia and traverses the entire northern part of the state, from the Blue Ridge Mountains in the west, across the Piedmont, to the Chesapeake Bay, south of the Potomac River. That explains why the name has been used for this shade of blue!

The dress with which I will be wearing the sea glass shawl has a lot of beading at the neckline so I won't be doing any beading on the shawl. When it's finished I'll let you see it (it will improve immensely after being blocked). I'll also let you see the dress and shoes.

Thank you all so much for your lovely comments on my crocheted top. I've also done a wee cardigan which I'll have to let you see. Work continues on the big blanket!

All the best for now.

My Crocheted Top

I decided to crochet myself a summery top. The pattern was actually free because I bought some (a lot of) yarn to make a blanket. I couldn't wait to get started. Look, I even used the correct yarn called for by the pattern!

Do you like the tiny bunch of tiny wild flowers in the tiny pink vase?

Before we go any further, let me assure you that at no time did I intend to wear this top as it is worn by the model.

The pattern worked up so quickly. The back was done in no time.

And here it is, finished and being modelled by me. Sorry, the pattern model was unavailable.

I just knew that yarn would be a perfect match for this scarf.

Some of these foxgloves are actually taller than me. I had to crop the picture because I didn't dare let you see any more of me!

As usual, I had to make the top longer than what was specified in the pattern. Especially the sleeves. My arms are of simian proportions.

Here's a better picture of the wee wild flowers.

This was the first of the sweet pea to be cut.

I've been able to cut lots more since then. The sweet pea was late starting to flower but going well now.

This is just a bunch of flowers cut from the garden. They are sitting out in the garage hence the random items in the background like a toolbox!

All the best everyone.

Crocheted Bag Finito

First of all, thanks for the great comments on the garden and the wind chimes. I passed them on to the husband and he is well chuffed!

A while ago my brother asked me to crochet a bag for my sister-in-law's birthday, just like a bag I'd crocheted for myself. The details about the yarn I used are in my post about this commission, and also on winding the yarn and progress on making the bag here and here and here.

Well, the bag is finito. You can check back to read about why I say finito.

Here it is with the edges done and the handles attached. Also a wee tab for the button.

The colours of the bag really look well against the copper beech hedge!

The lining fabric matches so well, I think.

So this is the bag before being lined.

The lining fabric was cut to the right size and I added three pockets.

The bag sits better after being lined; you can barely notice any difference but it's just more substantial looking.

A bit more refined!

Open up to show the lining; two small pockets on one side ...

... and one bigger pocket on the other side.

It was my sister-in-law's birthday yesterday. She was really delighted with her new bag and especially with the colour scheme (which was chosen by my brother, not me).

I'm well pleased! I'm pleased to have been asked to make the bag, I enjoyed the making and I'm pleased that it was well received.

What do you think of it? I'd love to hear your comments.

Beekeeping and a Crocheted Cushion

There has been some necessary beekeeping going on. Hives have been split in an attempt to stop the bees swarming. So far none of the hives have swarmed. We've heard that just about every other beekeeper in the county has had a swarm this year.

Hopefully I'm not speaking to soon, but it looks like we're going to have a really good honey harvest this year. You can read about last year's here. Actually, looking at those old photos has reminded me that there is crocosmia to come soon round the bee hives.

I was trying out a pattern using some left-over yarn. After a while I thought I'd make it into a bag. In the end, though, I decided to make a cushion. It's all wavy on the front and just plain stripes on the back.

The cushion has found a good friend to care for it in the Manor Nursing Home in Rathfriland.

Short and sweet this time. Thanks for your comments; I always appreciate them so much.

The Outer Hebrides - South Uist

Have to start by saying thanks for all your comments on winding yarn. I can't imagine using my knees or feet to do it, as some of you do! Of course, lots of you remember holding the skein for your mum. I forgot to say that I used to hold the skein for my mum many, many times. There's something I really can't understand though. I learnt to wind a skein myself from her. But why, if I'd been there at the time, did I not just hold the skein for her? A puzzle that I'll never solve as I can no longer ask her.

Now, at last, to really get on with my recent holiday. When we left the Village Inn in Arrochar, we drove to Oban to catch a ferry to Lochboisdale on South Uist. The weather had been very bad the previous few days and some of the ferries had been cancelled. Ours was still on though, so we were happy not to have to re-arrange any of our accommodation or other sailings.

Leaving Oban

 Mind you, the weather still wasn't very nice! The journey from Oban to Lochboisdale took over six hours. Initially the ferry sails between the Scottish mainland and the Isle of Mull, a narrow stretch of water so very calm. Here are some photos of the first part of the journey.

Once we got out into the open sea it was a different matter! It was a very rough crossing.

Even so, I managed to get my sister-in-law's crocheted bag started.

By the time we arrived in Lochboisdale and drove to South Boisdale, where we were staying, it was getting quite late. We had intended to have dinner on the ferry but that was out of the question! The very kind lady who owns the B&B we were staying in phoned the Polochar Inn and asked them to keep the restaurant open for us. She actually conversed in Scottish Gaelic with the waitress at the inn! So we headed out straight away, travelling a few miles in the completely wrong direction before I - Mrs No-Sense-of-Direction - realised what was happening. A quick U-turn and we were thankfully heading in the right direction. The Polochar Inn is on the coast so we had lovely views while we ate our delicious dinner. So delicious, in fact, that we went back again the following night.

South Uist is an amazing place. The west side is all big beaches and very flat. This is where all the houses and farms are. The east side is mountainous with very few inhabitants.

I'll just let you look through some photos to give you an idea of what it's like.

The most amazing thing we saw or heard on South Uist was a corncrake. Can you see it right in the middle of the picture?

There's some more holiday posts to come though the weather got worse and not a lot of photos were taken.

This is probably the funniest thing we saw on South Uist.

Sorry, if you've never seen Father Ted you probably won't have a clue why it's funny.

All the best for now.