Design LF433 - Pretty in Baby Pink & Purple

I started making this as soon as I finished making the last one, on 25th April 2023.

All of the threads used on this project are taken from one dye lot per colour. I didn't take any work-in-progress photos at all and I have no idea how I forgot to do that, other than the fact that my father-in-law passed away the first week of May and I was busy helping my mother-in-law and husband with all that that entails.

Design LF433 - Pretty in Purple and Cerise

I started making this back in September 2023, using this project as something to work on when I had to sit in a café and while away an hour or so when my youngest first started college and was only in for 2 hours on a Friday morning and it wasn't worth driving home to turn around and come back again.  He was in for longer the rest of the week and also at times when I had to sit and wait at appointments and such.  I don't have to sit and wait now so I've decided to finish making it a bit quicker.

As what often happens on these projects using the vintage Twilley's Goldfingering, specifically with the thread for the flower centres and/or the flower petals, I ended up having to use two different dye lots for the pale gold centres so I made sure to checkerboard them across the entire shawl so that if there is any noticeable difference it then becomes a design feature. If I have to use more than one dye lot for the main colour, I tend to use one for the crochet and the other dye lot for the fringing or a mix of both in the fringing.

Design LF433 - Pretty in Orange and Lime

The day after I finished the last shawl, I started making this one.  Unfortunately, I didn't calculate things correctly, and I ran out of lime green before I was able to make enough flowers.  I put in a lot of effort, searching the internet and trying a couple of alternatives, but there was nothing around that was even close in colour to this particular shade of lime.  That's what happens when you create things using vintage materials.  Twilley's stopped making this thread in all but seven standard colours: white, black, silver, light gold, gold, bright red, and bright green, years ago. The company went out of business entirely in February 2020, after operating for approximately 100 years.

The upshot is that I have made one of my usual shawls, but this one is a little smaller, one entire row of motifs less than normal, and therefore at a lower price point.

Design LF433 - Kingfisher Blue

For my next shawl I have picked one of the project boxes that has been in a cupboard for some time.  I have a small stack of small boxes that contains Twilley's Goldfingering that I have put together to work into shawls.  This one is pale gold, light pink and kingfisher blue.

I've not been taking work in progress photos lately but I did get a couple, one of the project box, one of the flower, one as I was sewing in the ends and some as the sun bounced on my work and I couldn't resist as its really difficult to show off how sparkly these shawls are, to capture the sparkle is almost impossible usually.

This one is similar in colour combination to another shawl that I made but it is different, that one was silver, pink mix and teal.

Design LF433 - Pretty in Brown

It seems that I started making this sometime ago, possibly at the end of 2020, as it's been a while since I made anything and I can't remember starting to make this.  I've really been loosing track of time these past couple of years what with menopausal foggy brain and Covid-19, I really haven't known whether I've been coming or going at times.  Making dated notes is a must and looking back on social media posts helps a lot at times too. 

Since the last time I made one of these shawls, I have discovered that Thomas B Ramsden, the parent company that owns yarn brands such as Twilleys, Robin, Wendy and a couple of others, did actually go into Administration after dwindling profits over the past 15 years or so and they had already sold off a lot of the old buildings and sites that they once owned in a bid to streamline the business and the business has now closed down after over 100 years.  Very sad.

The colours for this one are WG10 Pale Orange (Twilley's Goldfingering), 313 Orange (Anchor Artiste Metallic), 064 Burnt Orange and 065 Chocolate (both Twilley's Goldfingering).  The Anchor Artiste Metallic is almost identical to the Twilley's Goldfingering.

When I picked this project up to work on earlier this month I discovered that all of the flower centres were finished and some of them had petals on.

As I worked on adding the rest of the petals I did notice that about half of the centres were a tad lighter than the others so I put them into two piles so that when I assemble them into a shawl that I can space them out equally across the finished item, like a checkerboard.

All finished, including all the many many ends all sewn in and fringing cut and added.

I finally got around to taking photos of the finished shawl over the first weekend of October 2022.  Better late than never I suppose.

Design LF433 - Pretty in Purple

I've been working on this one a little at a time, when I can fit a bit of time in to work on it, like that time between getting home from the school run and having to start cooking the evening meal.  I've recently learned that Thomas B Ramsden, the parent company that owns yarn brands such as Twilleys, Robin, Wendy and a couple of others, went into Administration in April of 2020.  This could be a financial and legal reaction to Covid-19, to protect the company from outstanding financial burdens in the short term whilst they are unable to continue business due to Covid-19 or it could be that they are genuinely struggling and are having to close the business after over 100 years.

This one is similar too another one that I have in my shop that has light purple main colour and dark petals, but I have used slightly different purple shades in this one.

Design LF433 in Pink and Green

I started this way back on 4th March and just been doing a bit of work on this when I can and when I feel like it.  Covid-19 Lockdown is taking its toll on my crafting as everyone has been at home.  I don't have any issues with supplies, I have enough to last me for decades if need be, my issue is with a lack of motivation.

My colours for this one are Gold, Cerise and Pale Green Twilley's Goldfingering.

First up are a couple of work in progress photos.

And now for a couple of finished item photos.

Pretty in Navy - Design LF433

So, I pretty much left this at the beginning of December after making a start on it but I did manage to complete all the flower petals before I picked it up again in earnest on 5th February.  When I did come back to it the first thing I had to do was sew all the ends in from doing the petals.  That is one of the worst jobs when making a shawl like this, all the yarn ends, never ending yarn ends.

Finished and waiting for a soak and block.

I finished this but didn't get round to taking proper photos for several months, certainly not until after I had purchased new backdrops in the summer of 2019 so I've popped back to add the photos rather than create a new blog post just to do that.

I've started another of my favourite vintage shawls - LF433

I've started making another one, I love them, people looking at my shop don't seem to take a look at them though, maybe its the rubbish photos.  One day I will be able to do something about that, I'm sure I will.

Anyway, light gold, turquoise and midnight blue.  I'm having to use a different brand of vintage thread for the petals this time but they are almost identical threads, same thickness, same length, same fibre content and probably made at the same factory with just different labels added to them for the different companies that sell them.

I have made a start, I have all the centres done and started on the flowers but I have to leave this for a little while as I have a custom order coming in and loads to do before Christmas so this will be finished in the New Year.  Sorry for the rubbish photo below, my phone is not the best for taking photos.

Teal and Pink - Design LF433

I've made another of one of my favourite vintage patterns using the same vintage thread and this time I'm using silver for the flower centres, pink multi for the petals and teal for the main body.

Unfortunately I ran out of the pale pink multi with one full flower and half flowers to go.  I searched Ravelry for other people with this thread, only two people had it and I messaged both of them. Luckily one of them was a really lovely lady who only had a small amount left but she sent it to me anyway and refused to take any money for it.  Almost there, just three half flowers to complete and I ran out again.  I still hadn't heard from the other lady, never did get a response so I had to improvise.  Taking a plain pale pink of the same vintage thread I combined it with some blue and gold metallic sewing thread I had and made something very similar, similar enough that once finished with the main colour separating the flowers you have to look hard to see the difference.

In the photo of the three half flowers above, the top left is the one that I made up using the vintage thread and some metallic sewing thread and the other two, can't remember which is which, but they are made from the vintage thread I had and the vintage thread that the lady gave me, obviously from different dye lots but not massively different.

What a difference blocking makes to a piece of crochet.

And the final piece in all its glory.

LF433 - Remember Me

My youngest daughter, who is on the Autistic Scale, has recently had to attend special workshop groups to teach her methods of how to cope with difficult situations that may be stressful, frustrating or emotional.  People with Autism really struggle with these things.  Whilst she was in the workshop group I sat in a lovely quiet part of the waiting area and crocheted, or at least I tried to crochet as much as I could but there was one woman, one of the workers that I will refer to as "gas bag", that kept talking to me every week incessantly about how I think my daughter is doing and probing into my feelings, she never shut up and never took the hint until the last week when I was very abrupt with her.  There is only so much a person can say on a subject and I'd said all I needed to by the end of the second week, which was weeks ago!

So, the project that I was working on, or trying to work on, was another Twilley's Goldfingering 1970's shawl and I kept this project just for the group sessions which meant that I started making the flower centres way back on 28th February and I started adding the petals on the 5th week of the group, getting 3 flowers complete in about an hour and a half.  The last week, the one where I got peace and quiet, I got 10 flowers completed in the same time, which shows how much of a distraction this gas bag was!

I am using all vintage threads for this, vintage silver for the flower centres, vintage red for the petals and vintage black for the main body.

It wasn't until I was crocheting with the black that I noticed that two of the flowers had 9 petals each and not the 8 that was needed so I had to undo the petals and correct them.  No doubt these are two of the three that I done when gas bag was talking to me.

I refer to this particular shawl as "remember me" because it reminds me of Remembrance Sunday and the parades that go with that.

Pretty in Orange - Design LF433

I've recently come out of hospital after having surgery, I have very little mobility and I need something to occupy my mind whilst I recuperate so I am making another 1970's retro shawl in Twilley's Goldfingering.

Similar colours to the last one but different.  This one is gold, bronze and burnt orange.  Vintage threads, of course, with the gold and the bronze being older than the burnt orange.

The picture of two finished squares joined together remind me of owl eyes, I don't know why, they just do for some reason.

It was actually quite a long time before these product photos were able to be taken as I couldn't get around very much or stand for very long for quite a good while.  My 14 year old daughter is modelling for me and she's done a good job.

Pretty in Copper - Design LF433

I'm making another of the Twilley's Goldfingering shawls from one of the 1970's pattern that I have.  I do like them, I have a bit of a 'thing' about Goldfingering and memories from childhood of shopping in the haberdashery department of a big department store in Birmingham City with my late Mom, strange I know, but there you have it.

So, this one isn't made from Twilley's Goldfingering though, except for the flower centres.  I've mostly used an almost identical thread which was made by Anchor (part of J & P Coats also known as Coats Crafts) that has since been discontinued.  In fact, Anchor as a brand no longer manufacturers threads or has any offices here in the UK anymore.  It was bought out by an American company years ago and after about 20 years or so they have decided to move business back to the USA entirely and this announcement was made around the same time that we had the Brexit vote, although the two are not connected, apparently.

I have used Twilley's Goldfingering in Gold for the centres, Anchor Arista in Bronze for the petals, which is kind of black with a bronze thread, and Anchor Arista in Copper for the main.  I actually started making this over the Easter Holiday way back in April when the kids were not in school but I didn't get very far and it got put to one side for a while.

I thought I had better crack on and get this one finished as its been lingering around far too long.

I fear this one may be in my shop for some time though as it is kind of a mundane colour combination, I hope not but I just get the feeling that it may well be there a while.

One of my shawls, a famous actress and a New York stage.

Earlier this month I got a surprise sale of one of my higher priced shawls and when I saw the address that I was sending it to I got quite excited and was intrigued to find out what it was going to be used for.  The address was the Costume Department at A Theatre For A New Audience in Brooklyn, New York.  I looked them up online, of course, and discovered that they have a Facebook Page, which I started following in the hopes of finding out what happens to the shawl that I made and they purchased.

Suddenly a set of photos appeared on their page, amazing photos featuring my shawl being worn by Kecia Lewis, who has previously starred in Law & Order, Crossing Jordan and Blue Bloods to name a few, and she is currently in The Skin of our Teeth, a production at Theatre for a New Audience which also stars David Rasche, who has previously starred in Sledge Hammer, Blue Bloods, Ugly Betty and many others.  I quickly messaged them and gained permission to use their photographs to show off and promote my shawls.  That is so kind of them because these photos are amazing.

(c) Gerry Goodstein

(c) Gerry Goodstein

(c) Gerry Goodstein

(c) Gerry Goodstein

(c) Gerry Goodstein

The New York Times wrote an article about the play and you find that here

I certainly feel very privileged to have supplied them with an accessory for their Costume Department and supplying theatres and such like is something I had not even considered before.  It has certainly made my year to date.

If you like the shawl, you can find it available in other colours in my Etsy store, in colours such as Lilac, Royal Blue, Bright Green, and Turquoise with other colours planned to be made later in the year.

Pearl Capelet - Design SB168 Small

I had a small amount of yarn left over in Pearl from when I made the large version of this capelet in various colours last summer.   There was just enough to make the small version, which I have two of in my shop already in a blue-green colour and the same design as the one bought for a photo-shoot.

Of course it looks ridiculous on me as this small version is made with small petite women in mind, and its been years since I could be classed as small or petite when it comes to my figure.

Pretty in Royal Blue - Design LF433

I really love these shawls and working with the bright colours of Twilley's Goldfingering.  It might sound daft but working with Twilley's Goldfingering stirs lots of happy memories from my early childhood.  My parents used this thread to make several "pin and thread pictures" that were so popular in the 60's and 70's.  I know we definitely had one in the design of a London bus and another was a geometric design.  I think there may have been one of an owl and one of a boat as well.  If you have no idea what I am talking about, here a few images that I've pulled from the internet.  People still make these and there are lots of modern designs around now as well.

Ok, shall we get back on track and bring my mind forward about 38 years to the present day?

For this shawl I decided on silver, medium blue and royal blue.

Actually, I started making the centres for this one immediately after making all the centres for the last one on that long train journey but I only managed half a dozen or so before we had to get off the train at our home station.  This one then also got put to one side whilst I made all those Christmas baubles.

I got back to work on this after completing the bright green one, so that would have been the first week of January and I started working with the royal blue on 13th January.  It really is a beautiful colour.

All done by 18th January 2017.  The way that the motifs are joined to one another makes it look almost like a Moroccan tiled floor once it has been soaked and blocked.