Design A1932 - purple stripes

I really enjoyed making the last shawl, let's hope this one goes the same way, it is shades of purple after all.  Lovely!  I am getting through some of my stash of cotton yarns but nearly as much as I had hoped that I would.  Lot's of leftovers, I will take a photo once I have finished this and the next one but I already have ideas of how I'm going to go forward with it as I really don't want to make anymore of this particular design after the next one.

Design A193 - the sunset

I kept looking at the range of colours of aran cotton that I'd got and couldn't get away from a particular thought so I decided to go ahead and try it.  That thought is that a certain group of colours reminded me of a sunset when in the right order.

When my 15 year old saw me making this one they started singing the opening lines from The Lion King, which they learned when they were in Yr6 as that was the end of year performance they were part of when they left primary school, and followed it up with "that looks like a sunset".  Bingo, the exact reaction I was hoping for.

Reminds me of a cross-stitch picture I done years ago...

One day I will get this framed, along with all the others that still need to be framed.

Design A193 - Bottle to cream

I'm made another one of these wavy crochet shawls.  I like this one a lot more than the last one.  Sometimes you think "yeah, that could work" and then afterwards you're not so sure, but everyone has different tastes and I try to cater for that.

The next one is bottle green, light mint and cream aran weight cotton.

I'm definitely happier and more proud of this one.

Design A193 - Coffee Cream

It's been about 4 years since I made one of these, apparently, doesn't seem that long ago but we have just gone through the time zapping, mind numbing Worldwide Covid-19 Pandemic that just took 2 years of our lives away.  I still feel like a zombie!

I am continuing on with my plan of using up some of the thicker yarns and I've picked on a few big bags of aran weight cotton yarn that I have.  I seem to have a lot of this and I vaguely remember buying it because a potential customer had commented that she would most likely have bought from me if I had more things made of cotton.  So I am rectifying that issue and was happy to buy cotton as I can't spin it and it's a natural plant fibre and a renewable resource.

I have put together a number of project bags to make this shawl in several colourways.  Let's begin with the brown range of colours...

Yet another new design - A360 in pure cotton

I'm getting back into making new things again and this time yet another new design for the shop.  Its a comfort style shawl, roughly three-quarters circular so the edges don't actually meet at the front but the shaping makes it hug your neck and the increasing makes it sit on your shoulders and then it just gets more full from thereon down.  I've had the pattern for some time but I have so many it will take years to get to some of them.  This one was published in 2009 by a well-known American yarn company, again with the freedom to sell what you make using their patterns, as long as you are not going to make thousands of them, obviously and the pattern instructions themselves are copyrighted to them so can't be shared, photocopied, distributed, blah, blah, blah the standard legal blurb.

I've had this one in my queue of projects for a while now and I am using some cotton yarn that I picked up second-hand off Ebay sometime ago.  The lady selling it didn't enjoy working with it, it didn't work up as she hoped and so she had "frogged" what she had started making and put it up for sale.  To frog means to rip it back/undo it and is referred to as frogging in the knitting/crocheting community because the vocal sound of "rip it" sounds like a frog.  There are other dictionary meanings of "frog" or "to frog" but those don't apply here.

Ah, I don't have a photo of the actual yarn from my stash so here is one I pulled from the internet of what it would have originally looked like.  It is Garnstudio Drops Paris in shade Apricot and is 100% Cotton aran weight yarn.  Not all of the yarn I bought has yarn labels, a couple missing, that's OK as she had started using it, it's one of those things as not everyone keeps the labels until they've finished making something.  In natural daylight all of the yarn looks the same, no obvious differences in shade or anything so we're good to go.

I make a good start on the crochet and it takes me a couple of days to get to finish line.  A nice pattern, soft cotton yarn, very happy and I've even got some leftovers that I can use on another project or two, depending on what I make.  And then I throw it out open on the floor to take some pictures before I wash and block it.  My happy heart sank like a tonne of lead.  Oh dear, ermmmmm, let's just wash it and see what happens, maybe any excess dye might leak out and then it might look more even in colour.  

No, that didn't happen, that was just wishful thinking.  What did happen though, after quite a while of putting it off and procrastinating for over 6 months, was that it went into the dye pot in September 2022 with some dye that I bought in specifically for plant-based fibres, my usual dyes aren't suitable for plant-based, and I changed it's colour.

Do you see it? I've marked it on the close-up photo.  It was more in-your-face in real life that what the photo suggests.

Burlesque Red, sounds a little risqué and certain glamourous images spring to mind, think along the lines of Dita Von Teese... apparently this particular shade of Dylon dye has since been renamed as "Plum" and no longer features a feather - boring! What's wrong with being a little risqué every now and then.  I love the film Burlesque that stars Cher, Christina Aguilera, Stanley Tucci, Cam Gigandet (James from Twilight) and many others.  Brilliant film, if you've not seen it and like films where the girl down on her luck finally fulfils her dreams then it might just be worth the 2 hours it plays for.

Anyway, its a cold water dye, so other than warm water to start with I didn't have to keep it on the heat or anything and I kept checking on it to make sure it was taking, yes, but I could see a few patches where the dye hadn't been taken properly or at all in a couple of places so I moved it around in the pot and made sure to get as much dye into a much of the fibre as I could.  Its turned out ever so slightly patchy where some little areas are slightly lighter than rest but I think it looks good and I actually love this shade of red, obviously the original start colour of the yarn has had an affect on the final shade and tone but there is no longer any obvious stripe across it.

I will be making this pattern again in the future, I have a couple of yarns in mind for this that I have in my stash.  I just need to find the time to make them, which might not be until early 2023.

Another new design - A444 in white acrylic

With the colder weather and a need to create more storage space quickly I've decided to work on items made with the thicker range of yarns.  I've had this pattern earmarked to have a go at for quite some time.  It's a vintage pattern, from a 1976 publication to be precise, printed in the USA and the specified yarns for this haven't been made in years so I've found an alternative in my stash.  

I will be using Jarol Baby Rambler Aran, a 100% acrylic yarn that I've had in my stash for a number of years.  I rarely use Acrylic yarn these days due to the fact that, whilst it is relatively cheap to buy, comes in a whole range of colours, textures and weights, is easy to care for and fairly hardwearing, it's production is not particularly environmentally friendly as the main chemical used in its creation is a fossil-fuel based substance and so has a fairly large carbon footprint.  Also, when you wash Acrylic fibres tiny microplastic particles are released into the water and eventually end up in the Ocean and when you are done with the item it is not biodegradable and so goes to landfill, where it will stay for hundreds of years.

The issues surrounding the use Acrylic yarn have plagued knitters and crocheters for years.  You will always have people who don't care about the environmental impact of manufacturing and using these yarns, you will have people who will categorically not use these yarns under any circumstances and then you have people like me who are torn about its use, some will use it because it's the only type of yarn in their budget range and that's OK.  For me, personally, whilst in my younger and teenage years I used Acrylic yarn all of the time as I've grown older, wiser and more experienced in life in general my views have changed and I don't particularly like using Acrylic yarn.  

My way of looking at it now is that I feel that it is OK to use if I already have it in my stash, as it will have been there for a number of years, having being manufactured years ago and there is nothing I can do to change history.  If I just bin it it will go into landfill straight away.  If I sell it on, donate it to a charity shop for them to sell on or knit/crochet with it at least it has a chance of being a useful item for a number of years but regardless it will eventually end up in landfill at some point in the future.  That is a given so I may as well use it to make something pretty and useful.  What I can do though is not to add to the environmental impact going forward by not buying newly manufactured Acrylic yarn and help in a tiny way to reduce the demand for new.  In general, I don't buy any new yarns at all as I have a vast stash already and I also spin my own yarns but if I do buy new yarns it is usually 100% Cotton, because I can't spin that myself or its a really fine laceweight yarn, usually pure wool, again because I can't spin that myself either, it's a specialist skill that I've not yet mastered. Sometimes it's hard to avoid it in blends and a yarn that contains 20% Acrylic is better than 100% Acrylic but I still try to avoid it if possible and these purchases are rare and only occur in exceptional circumstances for custom made items, but again I will try to avoid new and look for yarns on the second hand market to reduce the demand for new.

Right, now that I've got that off my chest, shall I show you what I've made?

With this pattern, you start at the widest part of the triangle and reduce down each row until you reach the top.  Oh great, I just love counting hundreds of chain stitches.  Quiet everyone, I'm counting!

It's actually a really easy pattern once you get going and yet it creates a stunning shawl.  I will definitely make more in this pattern in the future.

Design SB188 in Mustard Yellow

I recently sold one of these designs in blue cotton, but the customer had previously asked if I could make it in black and so I searched to see what appropriate yarns were available but the customer went with the blue anyway.  I discovered that higher quality yarns in this thickness have sky rocketed in price since I made the blue one and would probably double the price of the finished item but I did find some acrylic yarn of the right thickness at a good price and so I bought some in 4 different colours with the purpose of making some more of this design.

These work up really quick and I made a giant flower brooch with the left-overs.

Another new design - Design A516 in green tweedy yarn

Another new design and another one that is fairly easy to adjust in size.  I used up some tweedy olive green wool that I bought.  I don't know the brand but it is 100% wool.  Not the softest yarn but its not too bad and despite increasing the needle size I have still managed to produce a fairly stiff fabric, which should soften with time and wear and is incredibly warm.

I took the product photos in two different ways as this shawl is versatile but I think the wedding setting is really nice.

Yep, its another Design A2 - Salmon Mohair

I decided to use up the leftovers from a Custom shawl next, I bought a little extra whilst I could just in case of any miscalculations or emergencies such as bad or damaged yarn, seeing as this is vintage yarn and almost impossible to get hold of.  It was a miracle I was able to find any.

This is Charisma Fashion Mohair from Colours by Adrian of Edinburgh in shade Salmon and its 78% Mohair, 13% Wool, 9% Nylon.

Its a lovely, pretty yarn, but its Mohair and does shed but not as bad as some that I've used in the past.

Once again, the product photos were taken a number of months after I made the shawl as I had a lot going on and I'd put so much weight on that I couldn't fit into the wedding dress so I had to lose weight before I could do the photo shoot.

Bluefaced Leicester - Design A2

I've decided to use up some of my widow skeins on some more A2 Designs.  This one is 100% Bluefaced Leicester aran weight yarn from West Yorkshire Spinners and was spun at their Yorkshire Mill.  Its really lovely and soft.

I just kept knitting until I ran out of yarn.

It was a fair few months before I got around to photographing it.

A little bit of A2

Design A2 is a good design for using up single skeins of aran weight yarn or left-overs from a larger project.  It is a versatile design that is really adjustable once you have the main part of the shawl worked, after that it is dependent on what yarn you left as to how big it can become.

I have a few single skeins of varying length of aran weight yarn that I can't really do anything else with.  Maybe I could look to see if I could work it with something else and make something with stripes but these are completely different texture and colour to anything else that I have, in most cases, and so a versatile pattern like this is a lifesaver.

I have a single skein of Rowan Summer Tweed in shade Sprig.  Its not a huge skein and is quite textured.  Its 70% Silk, 30% Cotton and I have 120m of it.

Ok, I was just one row short of the main part of the pattern but it has made a cute little scarf, ideal if you don't like much bulk.

A new design - L515

I'm trying a new design for a narrow scarf like shawl using some of my own handspun Shetland Wool yarn.  I love the design, although it is quite complex and time consuming and I am disappointed that I didn't get to finish the pattern as it was written because the required meterage of yarn had been converted wrongly so I had to make a decision on what to do based on roughly how much yarn I had left.  I had about 20m of yarn left to complete 18 rows of beaded lace plus the beaded cast off.  Well, that just isn't going to happen is it!  The pattern said it required 250m, the yarn I had had 360m in it and the correct actual meterage required is 465m.

Okey dokey then, straight into a beaded picot cast off to give it a pretty top edge.  I used Toho beads size 8 in shade 177: Trans Rainbow Smokey Topaz and it took a total of 436 beads.

Another completed custom order - Design A197

Back in November I sold a shawlette to a customer and she contact me soon afterwards to ask if I could make another, exactly the same using the same yarn, but larger as it perfectly matches a Mantilla (Chapel Veil) that she intends to wear to her daughters first Holy Communion in May 2019 and that she wants to keep the shawlette already purchased so her daughter can wear it.

This posed me a bit of a problem as most of the yarns I use are either hand spun or vintage and in most cases if I don't have any left it is impossible to get more.  In this case it was some vintage Mohair called Charisma Luxury Fashion Mohair by Colours by Adrian of Edinburgh in shade Salmon.

I searched every where I could think of online and found nothing other than some very similar mohair and mohair-type yarns on Ebay and so I bought a few bits and pieces that might be a good match, which when they arrived they turned out not be such a good colour match after all.  Whilst waiting for some of these yarns to arrive I did finally manage to track some of the exact same yarn down, more expensive than what I paid for it originally but then the original yarn did come via Ebay, I do love a bargain, but this was coming from a shop that sells vintage yarns so is bound to be more expensive anyway.

After a little bit of back and forth regarding sizes and prices etc the order was placed and paid for with the instruction of not to rush, enjoy Christmas and to get it to her by the end of January if I could.  Brilliant, that gives me plenty of time to get it done.

Side by side of before and after washing and blocking.

My daughter modelling it for me to show off the size and pattern.  So pretty.

Pure Cotswold Lamb Shawl - Design S203

This is my second attempt at this shawl, the first being when I discovered that I didn't have enough of the yarn I was making it with, or should I say that the figures for the amount of metres of yarn I would need was massively out in the pattern.  This design was originally a really old Danish pattern for a doily and has been re-purposed/adapted/re-published as a shawl design using yarn rather than fine crochet thread.   Had I read to the end of the pattern before I started I would have seen that there was a note from the designer to say that she had run out of yarn before the end of the design.  My question is "why didn't she have the yarn requirement figures adjusted before publishing the pattern?"

Anyway, the yarn I was originally making this design with was used on another shawl and for this design I chose some Cotswold Lamb that I spun from an award winning flock, not only because its beautiful but because I know I will not run out of yarn this time as I have so many skeins of this and I used three full skeins plus a tiny bit from another one.

I had a total panic towards the end of making this shawl.  With 15 rows left to complete the metal knitting tip fell off one end of the wire of the circular needles.  With more than 800 stitches on the needles at the time you can imagine that I let out a little scream but thankfully it happened just after I had finished knitting a row and was putting my knitting down to take a break so all that fell off was 2 stitches but they were so clearly defined I was able to just pop them back onto the wire until I super glued the end back onto the needle.

The cast off was a special stretchy kind of cast off that took me over 2 1/2 hours to do so that the edging was stretchy enough to make the beautiful shaped edge you see below.

 I have plenty of yarn left so keep a lookout for more Cotswold lamb shawls in the future.

Same shawl, different colour and different sheep - Design F201

After just completing the wonderful "50 shades of grey" Jacobs wool shawl I decided that it would look great in plain natural white.  I chose to make it from some Teeswater x Shetland wool that I spun up about 3 years ago.  This is a cross-breed wool, meaning that each parent was a different breed of sheep and so all fibres have the same qualities as opposed to blending the wool from the fleece of two different sheep breeds, whereby the fibres would have different qualities and it would be called a "blend".

My little Russian nesting doll style stitch markers are doing a great job in dividing each pattern repeat up.  They really keep me in check and stop me making big mistakes.

I think the final result is really pretty and it doesn't take forever to make.

"50 shades of grey" lace shawlette - Design F201

I've been waiting to make this pretty little shawlette for a while but I've been working through all the various patterns that I have.  This is the third and final yarn that I made with first Jacob fleece that I ever bought and processed myself.  You can read about the yarn and fleece here.

I named this yarn "50 shades of Grey", because it does seem to have so many shades within the skein.  This is another "single ply" yarn and is of fingering weight, a tad thicker than the black and the white yarns.

The varied shades in the yarn made it difficult to see the pattern and I had to rely heavily on the stitch markers between each pattern repeat to keep me on track.

I didn't notice until I had completely finished knitting this shawlette and cast off that the two garter stitch sections along the bottom edge of the shawl are darker grey than the main section of shawl and darker than the section of lace between them and so creating natural "outlines".  How amazing is that, I could not have planned that in a million years and it all occurred naturally too.

I have to make one of these in a plain colour, maybe a white or ivory...