Monday, 4 November 2024

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.


Sunday, 3 November 2024

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.


Friday, 1 November 2024

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.