Thursday 25 October 2018

Tadaa! The Baa-ble hat

Now all of you should hear triumphant trumpets! I have been meaning to knit this hat for a while, but was rather scared of the colour-work.
The Baa-ble hat was the official pattern for Shetland Woolweek 2015, held every year in Shetland to celebrate Shetland wool and its associated crafts. When I downloaded it, the pattern was still free. Now you can purchase it, here on Ravelry.
The yarn I used is Rico Design Essentials soft Merino aran superwash. I adore the colours!! But I would recommend a more rustic yarn for this hat. The yarn I used makes the hat a bit too stretchy and soft. That being said, I am sooo happy with it. The sheep are so adorable and the hat is very warm. And let's not forget the huge pompom. I wore it in the house for two days, that's how proud I was.
This is an ideal introduction to colour-work or Fair Isle knitting. As a bonus, I learned to knit with two colours in different hands, which makes colourwork much more fun. And another bonus is that I can now knit continental, which is so much easier on the right shoulder that gives me quite a bit of trouble.
So, in my opinion, triumphant trumpets in order here!



let's get started, on double pointed needles:



the colourwork, on circular needle:



me, very happy, with my own Baable-hat!





Wednesday 17 October 2018

The Keeper of Keys

Here is the Keeper of Keys. He'll guard the keys that are entrusted to him. I crocheted the bowl with selfmade t-shirt yarn. Then I washed it by hand and let it dry, stretched over a plastic bowl. This way it kept its form much better. The bear is needle-felted. I gave him a small knitted scarf. Being on a key bowl, he could end up in a drafty place, you see...



Thursday 11 October 2018

Parisienne Chic

This was my very first lace pattern. It is quite easy but I struggled with it at the time, and I made mistakes, dropped stitches etc. Even in an easy lace pattern, mistakes show, but I found a solution. I sewed a nice bead on every mistake and added lots more on random spots. It turned out quite nice actually. Having struggled with this scarf, I still have a soft spot for this "Parisienne Chic".
The yarn I used is Rowan lace (80% baby alpaca and 20% merino), bought at local yarn shop Lana in Antwerp.
You can find this pattern in the booklet "Easy knitted scarves" on p.38.




Thursday 4 October 2018

Daddy-Long-Legs

This fun giraffe is my own design. I made him from a piece of vintage fabric (more than 30 years old), using the sewing machine for a quick make. He reminds me of the original drawings in the 1912 children's book "Daddy-Long-Legs" by Jean Webster, hence the name I chose.