Aspen, Cream and Aqua Lacy Crochet Scarf

My original plan was to make a scarf using Nil and Cream but given the fact that the last scarf used up some of the second ball of Nil this is no longer an option so Plan B is to use what I have of the Nil, add some cream and also use some of the left over Aspen as well. 

So the yarns used in this one are King Cold Big Value Baby 4ply in shade Nil, worked using 2 strands.

Stylecraft Special Aran in shade Aspen, worked just as it comes.

Stylecraft Special Aran in shade Cream, worked just as it comes

I decided to use the darkest yarn in the centre, flanked by cream and finished off with the Nil.  I done it this way as it takes up less of the cream so that I can then use the left overs in conjunction with the second ball of cream on the next scarf and also it uses up as much of the Nil as possible.

I used the Nil held double and used 81g of the 90g that I had left, 50g of cream and 23g of Aspen and they are all 100% Acrylic.

It is only when I took the scarf outside into proper daylight, if you can call November in the Northern Hemisphere "proper daylight", that it became apparent that the pale blue-green aqua kind of colour yarn in the house is actually leaning more towards pale blue and away from any kind of green tinge. Whoopsy! Silly school girl error and I've been doing this far too long to have made such a silly error as checking colour combinations in natural night.  Still makes an interesting scarf, just not quite as I had expected.

Aqua and Aspen Lacy Crochet Scarf

For the next scarf I have picked out two more balls of King Cole Big Value Baby 4ply but this time it is in shade Nil, which is a pale blue-green aqua colour and this was bought at the same time as the lilac that I've already used to make scarves and was bought new from our local craft shop 7 years ago.  This yarn has had to be worked holding two strands at the same time.

100% Acrylic

The other yarn is Stylecraft Special Aran in shade Aspen, also 100% Acrylic, which I bought on my last visit to the same local craft shop and is thick enough to be worked as it is.  

100% Acrylic

I ended up using more than one ball of the Nil, it took 10g of the second ball that I had of this which means I now have to figure out something different for the next scarf as I no longer have enough left in the remaining ball.  This is strange because the other two balls of this yarn in the lilac made one scarf each.

Sparkly Teal and Sparkly White Lacy Crochet Scarf

Following my unsuccessful yarn shopping whilst in Blackpool myself and my two kids have been shopping at our local craft shop again.  It would have been nice to see what different yarns the other shops stocked but hey-ho, for now at least.  I have bought us tickets for a big yarn and wool event that is being held locally in December that has something like 85 different vendors but right now I need a few balls of yarns that will work with some of things that I have pulled out of my yarn stash so I have shopped locally. I only bought 5 balls of yarn, and two of those are the same colour!  My youngest bought a few balls and my eldest bought a big bag full.

97% Acrylic, 3% Polyester

My next scarf is made using the same 12 year old King Cole Haze Glitter in Teal as the last scarf but this time I have pair it with something new that I have just bought which is King Cole Baby Glitz in white, which is shade 483 and on the ball band this states "Dinamo White" but on both Ravelry and on the actual King Cole website 483 is Diamond White.  Most of the same letters but not in the same order.  Odd!

97% Acrylic, 3% Polyester

To make this scarf I have had to work both yarns with 2 strands and because they both have the exact same fibre content there is no change to that this time.

Sparkly Teal and Storm Lacy Crochet Scarf

Diving down into my yarn stash again and surfaced with some King Cole Haze Glitter in shade 124 - Teal that has been in my stash for just over 12 years since I bought it new from a local yarn shop that opened but didn't survive very long, maybe 12 months at best.  It was poorly located but the main problem was the woman that had decided to open a yarn shop upon retiring from her main job at the age of 65.  She was neurotic, watched customers like a hawk with a look of disdain on her face as if everyone was out to pinch stuff and made everyone feel uncomfortable when she glared at them.  I only went in that one time and tried to strike up a friendly conversation/chit-chat only to be met with a tongue that could skin a man alive at 50 paces. 

Anyway, let's get back to the yarn itself.  King Cole Haze Glitter has been discontinued for a number of years now.  It is in the double knit category and yet is 100g/466m (double knit is usually around 100g/300m, give or take).  I had two balls of this yarn and it had to be worked holding two strands together for this design.

97% Acrylic, 3% Polyester

I'm pairing this yarn with the 57g of left overs of the Stylecraft Special Aran in Storm Blue that I had bought specifically to got with the Jarol Rambler Aran that I had used to make the first scarf in this design.  As this yarn is thicker, I only had to use a single strand.

100% Acrylic

The sparkly thread on the Haze is loosely wound around the plied yarn and has a tendency to pucker-up the yarn so I had to keep pulling it out straight and then other times the sparkly thread would just break, which relieved the puckering.  I've never had this happen before, ever, and it's not as though I had any kind of tight tension on the yarn or anything that would cause the thread to be pushed along the surface of the yarn in any way, shape or form

I made a start on this and then we had a couple of days mid-week break in Blackpool to see the illuminations and do a bit of shopping but unfortunately the one yarn shop I had intended to visit was closed due to her being on holiday and the market wasn't open on the days we were there but I did buy come scented candles and a new winter coat. We hadn't been to Blackpool since I was pregnant with our youngest child 18 years ago and our other child was only 3 years old back then so neither of them had seen or had any memories of Blackpool and the illuminations.  On our last visit I had met Geoff Capes, of World's Strongest Man fame, who was waiting for my father-in-law to be ready to go with him and a couple of other guys on an aviary visit to another Budgerigar breeder as both Geoff and my father-in-law bred and showed Budgerigars and strangely, despite the age difference, both of them have passed away this year, with Geoff only passing away about a week ago and my father-in-law passed away back in May of this year. 

I didn't take any craft projects with me and so I completed this on my return home and the overall fibre content is now 98% Acrylic, 2% Polyester.

Lilac and Purple Tweed Lacy Crochet Scarf

Carrying on using my 7 year old King Cole Big Value Baby 4ply in shade lilac and again working it with two strands held together, I have made another scarf and I am loving at how relatively quickly this pattern works up. 

Baby 4ply is 100% Acrylic and 100g/400m

The yarn that will I have worked with the lilac is from my recent shopping trip to my local craft shop and is some new King Cole Big Value Tweed DK in shade 3654 - Regal.

This tweed yarn is 98% Acrylic, 2% Viscose and 100g/290m

I also worked this yarn with two strands, which made it a bit thicker than the lilac, but it's fine, it's not overly thick.  I used up all of the lilac and 80g of the tweed.  The overall fibre content for the scarf is now 99% Acrylic, 1% Viscose.

Lilac and Purple Lacy Crochet Scarf

This one is made with some King Cole Big Value Baby 4ply in Lilac that I thought I bought about 2 years ago but it turns out that I actually bought it just over 7 years ago. Oh how Covid has made the years meld into each other.  As this is only 4ply and thin I have had to work it held double.

100g/400m and 100% Acrylic

The other yarn that I used is some new Stylecraft Special Chunky in shade 1840 - Purple and I have used this just as it comes.

100g/144m and 100% Acrylic

On this scarf, I have used all of one ball of the lilac and 73g/105m of the purple. I did take just one photo of this scarf in the making and I posted it to Instagram with the caption of "Work in progress on this Saturday night.... and working on this scarf....".  Then began the onslaught of silly messages asking if this was still available blah blah blah and people asking for my bank details as they have been scammed in the past.  So have I and I don't fall for rubbish like that.  I even had one person offer me £150 for it but as I told them, it won't be that expensive and it will be sent tracked signed and apparently every link to my shop doesn't work so can I provide personal details so they can send money. Erm, no I can't!  No actual money has ever been forthcoming for this item, which they didn't ask a single thing about - size, measurements, fibre content, nothing!  All scammers and spammers. They joys of social media!

How to tie a scarf

I've been making some lacy design scarves lately so I thought it might be a good idea to offer some inspiration on different ways to wear scarves with a step-by-step guide on how to go about achieving each style.

Due to the near constant wet weather in the UK right now, these photos have been taken indoors with artificial light and against a printed fabric backdrop, not my usual outdoors in natural light photos, but they are my own and feature a much used scarf that I made for my husband years ago, so apologies if the scarf looks a bit tatty, it's old and well used but was perfect for the job of demonstration.

Classic Ascot style 

1. Drape the scarf around your neck, leave the scarf dangling down over your left shoulder and take the right side over your right shoulder, across your throat and over your left shoulder towards your back and then across the back of your neck again and over your right shoulder. The two ends of the scarf need to hang at about equal lengths.
   
   
2. Tie a loose simple knot.
   
   
3. Tighten the knot and arrange so that one end of the scarf lays flat on top of the other end. Obviously you can adjust the tightness of it around your neck for comfort.

La Loop

1. Fold the scarf in half and lay it across your shoulders with the loop one side and the scarf ends at the other.
   
   
2. Tuck the ends of the scarf through the loop.
   
   
3. Adjust for comfort and style.

Twist and Shout 

1. A twisted version of La Loop. Fold the scarf in half and twist it before laying it across your shoulders.
   
   
2. Tuck the ends of the scarf through the loop.
   
   
3. Adjust for comfort and style.

Wonder Weave

1. Drape the scarf around your neck with the left side hanging much lower than the right.
   
   
2. Take the long left side of the scarf and loosely wrap it around your neck and back over your left shoulder to hang down the front.
   
   
3. This next step sounds complicated but it isn't really. Looking at the middle photo above, you see the part of the scarf that is lay flat hanging down from your right shoulder, you need to take the left hand part of the scarf that you've just wrapped around your neck underneath that and then over the top of the loop created when you wrapped the scarf around your neck. The right hand part of the scarf will now be laying more to the left and the left hand part will be laying more to the right. See the third photo.
   
   
4. Adjust and tighten for style and comfort. I've added extra photos below to help with clarity of final look.

There are, undoubtedly, many more ways in which to style and wear a scarf and a quick search of the internet will bring you more ideas. Happy hunting.

Sparkly Purple Lacy Crochet Scarf

Now that I have gotten that brown slippery yarn out of the way and made up into a scarf I can get on and enjoy making another one.  Unusually for me, I have some brand new mass produced yarns, only a few balls recently purchased in order to make a hat for my mother-in-law and I gave her a choice of all the yarns and now I can use the other yarns.  

First up is some King Cole Glitz DK in Orion's Amethyst, a dark purple with a multi-coloured pastel metallic thread that is so pretty.  

Orion's Amethyst is 97% Premium Acrylic, 3% Polyester

Because this is quite a thin yarn I have had to work this with two strands held together and the accompanying yarn is some new Stylecraft Special Chunky in shade Proper Purple, which I have worked just as it comes.

Proper Purple is 100% Premium Acrylic

Sirdar Duet Lacy Crochet Scarf

Continuing on with making these lacy crochet scarves I have been summoning up the muster to have yet another go with trying to make something using some Sirdar Duet in Mahogany brown.   I've tried a few different patterns now and it just looks limp and lifeless and I've had to undo everything and try again.  It doesn't look like it but it is actually a worsted weight yarn.

56% Cotton, 44% Nylon

It is really horrible stuff to work with, especially the shiny slippery part of the yarn and it needs to be used in a design that is more structured and sturdy.  I didn't use all of the yarn that I had and I just binned the left overs as they really are not worth worrying about.  I actually have this yarn in three more colours, blue, white and black and the plan is to make more shawls the same as I did years ago, which is actually a pattern specifically for this yarn. 

I had my doubts about this scarf but I persevered and its come out OK despite the fact that it is technically all in one colour.

Aqua and White Lacy Crochet Scarf

I am sticking with this gorgeous scarf pattern but going back to the Vintage aqua blue Luxury Mohair by Chevy that I used to make a broomstick lace scarf and pairing it with some off white Vintage Lister Lee Tahiti.  The overall fibre content shifts slightly to be 79% Mohair, 13% Wool, 8% Nylon.

78% Mohair, 13% Wool, 9% Nylon

81% Mohair (including 9% Kid Mohair), 14% Wool, 5% Nylon

This Lister Lee Tahiti is very nice and I would say that it is the softest Mohair yarn that I have ever worked with so far.  I do have some very well world-wide known Rowan Kidsilk Haze, which is a laceweight Mohair yarn, but I cannot compare it to that as I have never gotten around to using the Rowan yet.  I do have a good amount of vintage Lister Lee Tamarisk, which is kind of a finer version of the Tahiti, so that will interesting when I get around to working that up in the future, and I had to pinch a bit of it for the off-white fringing as I ran out of the Tahiti so had to combine the two for the fringing.  I digress.

So, straight in with the finished product photos.

Summer Berries Lacy Crochet Scarf

I love this crochet scarf pattern so much that I am going to stick with it for a while and make a few of these in different colours.  So, I've picked up the left overs of the Colinette Mohair Summer Berries from the broomstick lace scarf I made and paired it with some vintage Lister Lee Tahiti in a lilac colour, which looks like it will work with the Summer Berries.

78% Mohair, 13% Wool, 9% Nylon

81% Mohair (including 9% Kid Mohair), 14% Wool, 5% Nylon

I've not used the vintage Tahiti before, I have some of this in other colours, and it is very soft, much softer than the Colinette Mohair, probably the Kid Mohair element has something to do with it.  The overall fibre content shifts slightly to be 79% Mohair, 13% Wool, 8% Nylon. With the differences in colour of the Colinette Mohair skeins, due to it being "hand-dyed", I used up some of the darker left overs for the middle section and then switched to the lightest skein for outer edge sections.  This does show up on the scarf and gives and interesting effect.

Once again, no work-in-progress photos, so straight to the finished product.

Storm and White Lacy Crochet Scarf

Carrying on with scarf making but switching to a different pattern.  I already had some old, but not yet vintage, Jarol Rambler Aran in white in my stash and I had recently gone to my local craft shop to find something use with it and purchased some Stylecraft Special Aran in shade Storm Blue.  Both yarns are 100% Acrylic.

This one is worked sideways from the centre working outwards then re-join on the other side of the centre chain and work the other side.  Interesting construction which is a little fiddly to begin with but once you have one row worked on either side of the chain it is easy.

No work-in-progress photos so straight to the finished item.

Cosmic Broomstick Lace Scarf

This time I am using some yarn that I bought recently from a visit to my local craft shop and I saw this and could not resist the colours.  King Cole Riot Chunky in shade "Cosmic" and I used both skeins but I did have to colour match the join from 1st to 2nd skein as it didn't flow but then I used the length removed at the start to add to the end.  

Because this yarn is thicker I only used 6 pattern repeats across the row instead of the usual 8 and then I done 142 rows instead of 118 to use up the yarn and also so that both ends of the scarf were the same colours.   The yarn is 70% Premium Acrylic, 30% Wool. 

Summer Berries Broomstick Lace Scarf

I have a couple of skeins/part used hand-wound balls of Colinette Mohair in shade Summer Berries.  I wound them into cakes, when it then became obvious that there was a lot of difference between the skeins.  This is normal and expected with Colinette yarns and there are even instructions on the band that states this fact and to alternate between two or more skeins when working with them.  One is very very light, one is dark and then the part skein is even darker than the second one!    

The pattern that I am working has a standard length of 118 rows, which is what I worked.  I worked only with the two darkest skeins and alternated between them every two pattern repeats. The yarn is 78% Mohair, 13% Wool, 9% Nylon

I didn't take any work-in-progress photos but I did hold it up against the light for an interesting stained glass effect.

Aqua Mohair Broomstick Lace Scarf

My next scarf is again some vintage Mohair but this time only one of the 5 balls have a label so I have no idea if they are all the same dyelot but they are Luxury Mohair by Chevy.

I am sticking with making broomstick lace scarves for now.  The yarn is 78% Mohair, 13% Wool, 9% Nylon.  The pattern that I am working has a standard length of 118 rows and this is what I worked.

Once again I didn't take any work-in-progress photos and this colour is just beautiful.

Red Mohair Broomstick Lace Scarf

I've decided that I need to use up some of the smaller amounts of vintage yarns to make smaller and quicker to make items that still fit within the lace theme of the shop but that might be more marketable and at a lower price point.  I have 10 balls of Charisma 83% Mohair Rich but 7 balls have one dye lot and the other three have 2 different dye lot's between them.  

Using the 3 rogue balls with odd dye lots I decided to make a broomstick lace scarf, putting the two balls with the same dyelot on the ends and the other ball in the middle.  The yarn is 83% Mohair, 9% Wool, 8% Nylon.  The pattern that I am working has a standard length of 118 rows but I worked 134 rows to use up as much of the yarn as possible and to make sure that the same number of rows were worked for each of the balls of yarn with the same dye lot so that if there is any slight difference in colour those sections would be equal.

I didn't take any work-in-progress photos.  I must get back into the habit of doing that!

Spinning the 12 Days of Advent 2019

Spurred on by my recent spinning of the previous years' 12 Days of Advent set of fibres I decided to tackle this one which was produced the year after and was the last one that I purchased from that particular supplier before I parted custom with her.  It seems that I didn't make such detailed notes about the different options available that year on my stash page for this fibre but my chosen pack was called "Frost Fair" and the inspiration for the colours is the picture below.  Having said that I have discovered that I did, however, write a blog post about the options available back in the day and that can be found here.

The main braid is 60% 18.5 micron Merino, 20% Yak, 20% Tussah Silk and the 11 x 20g smaller packets are all 14.5 micron Merino, which is also known as Ultrafine Merino.  The original post that I wrote showing all of the fibres in my pack after I opened them can be found here. Apparently, according to the notes that I took from the supplier at the time, the colours are all on a theme but I haven't managed to work out what that "theme" is yet.  Answers on a postcard to...

This time I started with the main braid first and I spun this over-the-fold and chain plied due to the short Yak fibres and to try and keep colours together as much as I could.  It's lovely and soft and spun up to sport weight 102g/293m.

I spun all of the 14.5 micron merino fibre bumps in the same way, over-the-fold and chain plied.  I did have a few problems along the way with it breaking on me during the ply and this was due to it being underspun in parts.  I'm not a fan of such fine Merino, or at least not the stuff from this supplier, the fibres were very short in parts which didn't help in keeping the yarn in one piece.  Personally I prefer something with much more body and more hardwearing.

So this...

became this

All of the Merino spun up to sport weight.  At some point in the future I will figure out what I will make with it but I doubt that I will use all of the smaller merino bumps together in one project.  I'm glad it is all spun up now though because about half way through it began to feel like a tedious chore but I was determined to push on through and complete it.