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.

Another Design A2 - Colinette Fire

Carrying on with my Design A2 roll, I have picked a single skein of Colinette Mohair in shade Fire and this yarn has been discontinued some time.  Its 78% Mohair, 13% Wool, 9% Nylon.  Again, I used all of the skein.  I made this so fast that I didn't take any progress photos, nor did I take any when I washed and blocked it.

These product photos were taken several months after I made the item.

Blue Saturn Mohair Shawl - Design A2

I knew it wouldn't be long until I am back using more of the Colinette Yarns that I have in my yarn stash.  This time I have chosen a bright blue Mohair yarn in shade Blue Saturn and it is an Aran weight yarn in 78% Mohair, 13% Wool and 9% Nylon.

I chose a simplistic pattern due to the fuzziness of the Mohair and this pattern is adaptable to the amount of yarn that you have.  I cast on on 13th January and you work the basic pattern from the top down and then you decide how many rows of eyelet lace you want to work and if you want to split it up into sections of eyelet lace and plain and how many rows of each.  This way you can use up all of your yarn and make a bigger shawl or just work the minimum if you have a partial skein, its up to you.

It appeared slightly out of shape when it came off the needles on 14th January 2015 but as always a soak and block has rectified that.   A simple, quick yet elegant shawl to make.

Hillcrescent Farm Jacob Fleece No.5

Further to my post a few months ago about buying a number of Jacob fleece from a local farm, I have selected one of the fleece at random to start preparing.  This is Fleece No.5.

This was sheared on 26th May 2013, lovely in places but very dirty and was fairly heavy in surface VM.  After I skirted it it weighs 1.1kg, photos were taken after skirting had taken place.

I separated the colours as best as I could into pile of black/brown, a pile of white and the last pile was a mixture of the colours that were too mingled to separate.  I washed and dried the colours separately and was left with 729g of clean fleece, a loss of 371g of dirt and grease, broken down as follows: 86g white, 393g black/brown and 250g mixed colour.


The White Fleece

I combed the 86g of white fleece, which gave me approx 55g of hand combed top to spin.  I decided to have a go at dyeing it with some ColourCraft All-In-One dyes that I had recently bought.  I followed the instructions using 5g of Ultra Marine dye crystals in 1.5 litres of water to dye my hand combed top.  Towards the end of the dyeing process I sprinkled 5ml of white vinegar over the top in the dye pot and left it for 15 minutes, as this is supposed to help the dye to be absorbed and I think this is what caused some areas to be darker than others.  Learning by experimenting.  Such fun!

I didn't blend the top, just spun it as it came.  The finished skein was a 2ply double-knit weight yarn, 55g/85m which was used with other yarns in a scarf.


The Mixed Colours Fleece

I then took the 250g of mixed colour fleece and combed it, blending the colours as equally as I could as I went.

This gave me 128g of hand combed top, which I spun 2ply into a lovely double-knit weight grey yarn which I have called Storm Cloud and it is 128g/258m.

The Black Fleece

I combed this and 393g of fleece was soon reduced to 225g of hand-combed top.  I then got an idea to make it colourful.  Years ago, I bought a yarn sample and colour sample set from Colinette Yarns.  These weren't any use to me any more as some of the yarns they no longer made and some of the colours had gone the same way and they had developed new yarns and colours.  Plus the fact that I rarely buy yarn in these day, not now that I can make my own.  The yarn sample wasn't really any use to me as there were only a few that were pure wool, and those were white or some other pale colour.  The colour sample, however, was a completely different kettle of fish.  Bright and colourful and most of the yarn samples on there were the pure wool ones.

I pulled off the lengths of yarn that I thought would be ideal for me to use, mostly samples of Colinette Graffiti, which is a thickish single with a finer 2ply yarn plied around it.  I took these apart, laying the 2ply aside for a later use.  I discovered that the thickish single had a thread running through the centre of it which was easy to pull on and remove and then I pre-drafted these lengths slightly.

I spun one plain black Jacob single and a second which was black Jacob with lengths of the de-constructed Colinette Graffiti inserted randomly.  These two singles were then plied together to give me a double-knit weight yarn.  One skein is 156g/280m and the other is 135g/238m and I have called this yarn "Remember, Remember the 5th of November".

So that is all of the fleece used up to make these fabulous skeins of yarn.

Pale Blue Bolero

I had seen a free pattern by Lion Brand that I thought was really lovely and would be perfect to make for weddings.  It was a lovely long sleeved lace bolero with a fluffy edging.  I searched my vast stash of yarns to see what I had in the right amounts and weights of yarn.  I had got some lovely pale blue experimental yarn from Colinette that was mostly Polyamide with a small amount of wool and I also had some Patons Showboat, which is a thick but short fun fur type yarn with a bit of sparkle and both were in similar colours.  Perfect, and so I started work in early March.

I had a fair bit of trouble with the pattern and looked to the Lion Brand website for help where I discovered that almost every person who had written a review had actually given up on the pattern as they couldn't make head nor tail of it.  I decided to persevere with it, figuring it out and almost making it up as I went along.  It worked though and I wrote notes and included instructional photographs to help others who really wanted to make this design to understand how the bolero was constructed.  I made two of these in the end, finishing the second one on 14th March 2013.

Sea Breeze Triangular Motif Shawl

At the time of writing this I am very much into Colinette yarns, especially their Tagliatelli and Giotto yarns.  This shawl is made using 6 x 100g skeins if Colinette Giotto in shade Sea Breeze.  Giotto is a super bulky ribbon type yarn and is 50% Cotton, 40% Rayon, 10% Nylon.

This shawl design is by Colinette yarns and was designed to be made with their Giotto yarn.  I am using a 6mm crochet hook and began this on 17th February.  I had trouble with this pattern as it just didn't read right and the wording used was confusing.  It also didn't help that the photographs in the booklet are all very catwalk/action style and there are no photos showing close ups of the motifs at all.  I finally figured it out after a few hours and then it was easy and quick to make.  Finishing this huge monster of a shawl on 27th February 2013.  I omitted the final row of motifs due to the sheer size of the thing already.

I don't want to make this again as it is so big and heavy and is really difficult to photograph successfully.

Morocco Capelet - Design SB168 small

This pretty little capelet was a really quick knit and I started it on 30th August 2012 and finished it the next day.  I used just over 1 skein of Colinette Point 5 yarn in shade Morocco.  It is super bulky weight, 100% pure wool and is a single ply thick and thin yarn.

When I came to photograph this little capelet I had to use my mannequin as I am just to big for this.  What can I say, I like to eat and I have to make goodies for all shapes and sizes, not just big girls like me.  I didn't take any work-in-progress photos, because it was such a quick knit.

The customer who went on to buy this in 2016 was Camilla Jorvad, a lifestyle and wedding destination photographer and she had purchased it from me for a photo shoot and a few months later sent me some wonderful photographs for me to use as I wish.  Her photographs are so beautiful and show off the capelet a million times better than my attempts at photography.

I do have more of the same design capelet available in my shop made from different yarns and in different colours.  This is the small version of the design and there is also a larger version available too.

Zebra Capelet - Design SB168

I found an interesting pattern to try out with some Colinette Shimmer Five in shade Zebra, which is a Super Bulky single strand yarn that is 50% Wool and 50% Viscose.

I made this in its entirety on 28th August 2012.

Neptune Capelet - Design W419

Following on from making a firey red beaded edged capelet I decided to make another in vivid blue.  The yarn is Colinette Tagliatelli in shade Neptune and its a 90% Merino, 10% Nylon ribbon type yarn which is hand-dyed in Wales.  I love this yarn, so nice to work with.  I started crocheting on 14th April and was completed by 18th April 2012.

Blocking made a huge difference to the final item and those beads on the fringing are just perfect.

Firey Red/Orange Crochet Capelet - Design W419

There is a thing called "exploded lace", whereby you take an old fashioned doily pattern and instead of making it in thin crochet cotton a tiny crochet hook you use a heavy weight yarn and a big crochet hook and "explode" that lace, in other words you make a big version of a tiny thing.  

This crochet capelet has been designed using "exploded lace" and I used Colinette Tagliatelli in shade "Fire" to crochet the capelet.  It is a super bulky ribbon type yarn of 90% Merino Wool/10% Nylon.  I also used red and orange lustre glass beads on the ends of the fringing to match the yarn.

This starts from the neck down and I started on 24 January and was finished by 27th January 2012.

Marble Capelet - Design W419

This is my second capelet in this design.  I've chosen Colinette Tagliatelli in shade Marble, a ribbon type yarn 90% Merino, 10% Nylon and its hand-dyed in Wales.

Started crocheting with 6mm hook on 19th December and finished on 30th December 2011.  Blocking made a huge difference to the capelet and opened up the lace and made it drape as it should.

I used some peridot green lustre glass beads for the end of the fringing.

Burnt Ochre Capelet - Design W419

There's a bit of a new thing going around called "exploded lace", where you take an old fashioned doily pattern and instead of crocheting it in fine cotton using a tiny crochet hook, you use a slightly chunky yarn and big crochet hook and "explode" the lace.  This is made using that technique with the pattern modified, to remove what would have been the centre of the doily, to make way for your head to fit through.

I'm using Colinette Skye, a discontinued yarn, in shade Burnt Ochre and its an Aran weight 100% wool.  I started on 15th December and was finished by 18th December 2011.

I love how this has turned out.  I wasn't sure what beads to add to the fringing but I'd been given a bag full of old costume jewellery and beaded necklaces that used to belong to my late gran and late mother, mostly broken or seen better days and many were just plastic but there were some nice made of glass beads that could be repurposed.  I had taken these apart and cleaned all the beads and in amongst them were these foil lined amber glass beads.

After blocking I popped it over one of our black cushions to see the effect if was worn with a LBT.  Stunning!