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.

The Sea Glass Shawl Goes to a Wedding

On Friday the 4th of September we headed off early to board the ferry from Dublin to Holyhead. The crossing was very calm and we arrived about lunch time in Wales. We then started our drive across Wales and into England, right down to Bournemouth, on the south coast, where we planned to stay.

The traffic was really heavy so the journey took a long time. We were so hungry when we arrived that we decided to eat in the hotel bar rather than trying to find somewhere in Bournemouth. The food was very nice; we had a sharing platter. The waiter exclaimed that we were the first couple he'd ever come across who managed to finish everything!

On the following day we drove to Salisbury for the wedding of a dear friend. That's him with the white hair in the middle of the picture. And that's his very beautiful bride. The wedding ceremony was really special.

There's my husband all decked out his new suit, shirt, tie and shoes.

After the marriage all the guests drove to a tiny village in the New Forest for a reception to be held in a marquee. We were very fortunate to have some lovely weather that day! The marquee wasn't on a slope; that's just my bad photography.

The marquee was erected in the grounds of a very old church. I'm standing at the side wall in this picture.

 This is it; the sea glass shawl and the rest of the ensemble.

The reception meal was delicious and we got a chance to talk to lots of the guests and some friends. It was all quite a relaxed affair and very enjoyable.

Afterwards we headed back to Bournemouth for a walk along the sea front. A lovely way to end our day.

If you haven't already read about me making the sea glass shawl then have a look here and here.

I'm sorry that time is being squeezed yet again and I haven't had time to comment on your blogs for a while. Hopefully I'll get it done soon. Thanks for reading my blog and leaving your comments. It's the comments that make it all worthwhile. Bye for now.

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.

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

Welcome back and a special welcome to some new followers. It's been a bit of a hectic week. Problems with broadband and problems with drains. All sorted now, thankfully.

I forgot to show you my second dishcloth that I made recently (pattern here). Here it is with our new, very miniature, rose. More about roses later.


Our neighbour does a bit of farming and for the past few weeks the field beside us has become the 'maternity field'. This was the first calf to be born. The picture was taken the day after it was born.

Mummy cow kept a close watch on her new baby.

In another field close by is the boy I would be pretty sure is the daddy!

Anyway, back to the garden now. The husband made this willow construction months ago (see here) for growing sweet pea. We've had such awful weather this summer with so much wind and rain. In fact, it is now official that we've had the coldest July in twenty years. The result is a slightly skewed willow frame and sweet peas that haven't quite reached their full potential. But they're not bad!

This is inside the frame where there are poppies growing as well.

This rose was planted last year and isn't doing too badly. A lot of the roses in the garden haven't done well at all this year.

This rose seems to do very well every year.

The first of the tomatoes this year. There is going to be a really big crop but that's because they're in the greenhouse. They are very slow to ripen so I pick them as soon as they show signs of starting to ripen and bring them into the house. For some reason they then ripen almost overnight.

Some of the blackcurrants that have been picked. I have washed and frozen over twenty two pounds so far and there's more to come! Later in the year I'll make blackcurrant cordial and probably some jelly too.

The strawberries weren't as good as we'd hoped because of the bad weather. We managed to get plenty to eat with ice-cream but not enough to freeze any.

I've finished crocheting the king sized blanket and have started sewing in the ends. It's therapeutic!

Did any of you spot my deliberate mistake in my last post about the sea glass shawl? I said the shawl is made up of three rows of motifs but it is actually constructed using four rows. The first has ten motifs, then nine, eight and finally seven, making a total of thirty four motifs. Also, I mentioned in the comments that I am using a 3.5 mm hook. Well, yes, I am. When I checked the pattern again (after having made fourteen motifs) I discovered that I should have been using a 3.25 mm hook. To be honest, I think the 3.5 mm hook is perfect so I'm glad I made that mistake! I've now finished the first two rows and am really loving it. Thanks for your lovely comments about the shawl, by the way.

Well, that's it for now. A little bit of this and a little bit of that. I have some news about giveaways that I've won but that will wait for another time.

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.