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!

In a Spin?

After my first attempt at using a drop-whorl spindle to make my own yarn, I decided that I wanted to learn to spin on a wheel, so I bought one.  This is my spinning wheel, it is a space saving Double Treadle Ashford Joy.

I support The Campaign For Wool and during National Wool Week I was lucky enough to receive a sample pack of fibres from The British Wool Marketing Board.  I spun two of the samples individually, the first time I have ever used a spinning wheel and then plied them together, again a first for me.  Here is the 100% pure wool yarn that I made.  It is 35 grams and has 45 metres.

 ...and the close up

Not bad for a first attempt!

I made a pair of crochet baby converse with the handspun wool and some aran weight white acrylic yarn.  I added some non-slip liquid to the soles.

Silver Crochet Motif Shawl - Design S443

Following my enjoyment of making the aqua crochet motif shawl I decided that I would make another in silver grey and take the project with me on holiday to work on during the travelling and on the evenings when the children were in bed.  Because of our holiday, this is the reason why the fringing on the aqua shawl was left until I returned from our holiday.  I started this on 27th May and finished it 4th June 2011.

This time around I joined the motifs to each other using crochet stitches as I completed the final round of each motif.

I especially love the way that the shaping of this shawl allows the direct centre of the shawl to be at the nape of the neck whilst the two large motifs on either side shape beautifully around the side of the neck.

Aqua Crochet Motif Fringed Shawl - Design S443

I had bought some cones of 3 ply crepe yarn, one in silver and 4 in different shades/tones of blue.  I found a pattern that I liked in an old and rather hard-to-find shawl pattern booklet.  I started making this shawl on 15th May 2011 using aqua blue crepe yarn.  The design calls for 10 of the large 8" circular motifs and 6 of the smaller 3.5" square motifs.  Pattern calls for the motifs to be joined together by sewing, my favourite part of the job, not!  As there were no clear photographic instructions for this I decided to follow the pattern to the T  this time and sew all the motifs together as instructed.  Ha, now I see how they are joined next time I will join as I crochet the final round of the motifs.

The finished shawl appeared quite small (see the bottom far right photo above).  I decided that I would soak and block it now, before adding on the edging and fringing, to make sure that it is large enough and if its not then I can add an extra row of motifs.  The lace did open up enough to not need any extra motifs and so I added the edging and the fringing.

This is a stunning shawl and very different too and so I will make another one.  All finished bar the fringing on 24th May 2011.

I bought a drop-whorl spinning kit

I've always wanted to learn to spin my own yarn so I took the plunge and bought a beginners drop-whorl spinning kit from someone on Etsy.  The kit contained a small amount of spinning fibre and a drop-whorl spindle.

I had a bit of trouble understanding what to do but I think I got there in the end.  My shoulders really ache though with holding the fibre and spindle high enough for it to work for me.  Maybe I was doing it a little bit wrong but we all have to start somewhere and I did enjoy it.

I managed to spin a worsted-weight yarn, weighing 42 grams and measuring 78 metres.

I made a knitted headband with my yarn.