Storch Ulli Crochet Afghan Blanket FO

I loved babywearing my son when he was tiny.

Being a lover of fabric, colours and texture, it was natural that I fell in love with the myriad of babywearing wraps that you can buy. It took me a long time to decide on which colour scheme to get. I could easily have bought one of each, but as the initial investment (even with second hand wraps) is significant, I decided to choose just one.

My eventual choice was the Storch (short for Storchenwiege) Ulli wrap, that I found on a preloved babywearing Facebook group.

I just loved the purples, pinks, red and greens all mixed together in beautiful symphony.

It really was a joy to have my son tied around me in the beautiful swathes of woven fabric.

Alas, he grew big too soon, and the babywearing days were over before I could blink, but I wanted a keepsake to have around the house to remember those days by.

I'd seen other crafting babywearing mums crochet up blankets in the colours of their wraps before and thought it was an amazing idea, so I decided to embark on my own.

This was going to be a big project, so I chose an acrylic yarn called Special DK by Stylecraft in colours Claret, Shrimp, Wisteria, Apricot, Purple and Kelly Green.

So, I made a slip stitch chain of 250 stitches and began to single crochet rows in the same colour block ratios as my faithful Storch Ulli wrap.

What started as a noodle, grew to a long scarf, and then it was big enough to cover my knees as I worked. Perfect for crafting during the long winter months.

Literally years later it finally became the afghan I had visualised all those years ago.

I finished the edges with a pretty scallop crochet edging in the dark red, sewed in the ends, washed and blocked the piece.

The resulting blanket took a very long time, but I'm really happy with it. It's really big -- around the size of a king bed.

And now, I can wrap my son up cosy and warm in a different kind of wrap ... a lovely handmade (with oodles of love) crochet afghan blanket instead.

A labour of love, but one that my family can treasure for many years to come.

Leave a comment if you're inspired to crochet your own babywearing afghan blanket, or if you've already done one. I'd love to hear about it.

Hand-dyed and Handspun Capucine Hat FO

From dye pot to finished garment ... here's my handspun Capucine hat FO write-up.

I started off with 200g of undyed BFL fiber which I dyed with green(ish) & pink Kool-Aid. It looked so gorgeous straight out of the dye pot ...

When dry, the colours became much less vibrant, and I was worried that I might have felted the fiber slightly.

But after some pre-drafting, I began to spin it up (during the Tour de Fleece in July this year).

With the Capucine pattern in mind, I spun it in bulky/superbulky weight. As my first batch of handspun of the TdF it was a little uneven and over-spun in places, but I was still more than happy with the result.

Then, on my trip to Cornwall last week, I cast on during the four hour drive to the caravan park.

I do so love a bulky knit, as it seems to grow before your eyes.

I finished the main bulk of the hat quite early into the holiday, but forgot to pack my DPNs so had an agonising wait to finish it off.

A few days later, on the evening of returning home, I completed the last few decrease rows and closed the peak of the hat up, added braids, sewed the ends in and tried the hat on immediately.

I think you can see from the photo how pleased I am with the hat, which fits perfectly and is remarkably warm.

I just adore making the whole item from start to finish and can't quite explain how satisfying it is. It's just a wonderful feeling.

***********

Taking part in Sarah from Crafts from the Cwtch's SPINNING SHOW & TELL meme today. Please go along and take a look at her gorgeous blog.

My Hand-Dyed and Hand-Knit Great Divide Shawl FO

I took part in a fun KAL recently, and just have to share the results.

The pattern was the Great Divide Shawl by 'kisskisskiddo' on Ravelry, and I must say that it's my favourite shawl knit to date. It was fun, easy to memorize and quickly knit up with DK weight yarn.

Loving the creative freedom of dyeing my own yarn, I decided to take on a self-made challenge and dye with a specific project in mind for the first time.

As a relative dyeing noob, I'm still messing about with Kool Aid, but am constantly amazed by the richness and contrast of colours that can be achieved from what is essentially a powdered drink for children!

So, with my undyed 100% merino yarn, I set to work in the kitchen with the kettle dye method. I started with two contrasting colours, and here is what I came up with:

I called the one on the left 'Bluebell' as it features the beautiful range of purples, lilacs and blues found in the flowers of the same name. The one on the right is 'Earth Mother' as it reminds me of the earthy colours found so frequently on our planet; oranges, browns, rusts and greens.

I couldn't wait for this yarn to dry so I could cast on.

I just love the cast on for shawls, when the rows are short and you make fast progress.

With this pattern, I was excited to be able to use my contrasting colour very soon after starting the project. It is always a thrill to see how the colours you have chosen work together in the flesh, rather than in the imagination.

Being a sucker for texture as well as colour, I was in seventh heaven with this pattern ... as you can see, the stitches form a gorgeous repeating striping pattern with a great tactile design.

Being DK weight with a frequent set of increases, the main bulk of the shawl was knit up in no time, and I began to think on what I wanted to do about the bottom border. Initially, I was just going to knit the bottom edge with the remainder of the Bluebell coloured yarn, but as the shawl progressed, I started to visualise a third colour, so I set to work with the dye pots again.

I wanted a nice Spring-fresh green that would complement the other seasonal colours, and was really pleased with the results of my third skein of yarn.

Green is my favourite colour, and I usually like a slightly earthier shade, but I was really happy with the tonality I achieved in the bright limey-yellowy green pictured above, and it was exactly what I wanted to ofset the other bright colours featured in my shawl.

I am really happy with the three colours I chose, and even more so that I dyed them myself.

The finished shawl is my quintessential Spring and Summer Shawl for chilly British weather ... so bright and cheerful.

I am one very happy dyer / knitter indeed.

If you are on Instagram, please use hashtag #greatdividekal to see all the other wonderful knitters who took part in the KAL.

*******

Taking part in Tami's Amis and Other Creations FO Friday. Please go along and see all the other wonderful FOs :)

Happa Handspun and Handknit Hat FO

My trip to Unravel Fiber Festival earlier this year was very fruitful ... I came away from it with lots of goodies ... Well, it would have been rude not to!

One of these purchases was 100g of merino fiber from Skeins in the Pale Jungle colourway.

I was itching to spin it up and so this happened >>>

This was such an enjoyable spin, as these are some of my very favourite colours, plus of course being 100% merino ... Yum!

It all fit onto one bobbin, so I wound the singles on to a yarn winder to create a center-pull-ball.

And after the plying, I had a lovely squashy 2-ply yarn ready and waiting to be used.

I began looking through Ravelry or a suitable pattern for the correct yarn weight and meterage. I kept on thinking that I wanted to make a cowl, but then I asked for the advice of my Instagram friends, who instantly suggested that a hat would work well.

And so the 1 of 6 Hat KAL was born.

With very short notice, as this was all so spur of the moment, I simply couldn't wait any longer and cast on the Happa Hat within days of organising the KAL. There was no urgency or rush for others to follow suit, and they participated when they had the yarn and tools to hand.

And there it is ... the beginnings of my hat. I had learnt a new stitch too (I love an educational knit) ... the twisted 1x1 rib stitch, which I couldn't quite work out at first because I thought that my hat looked way too small for an adult head, but once I was further into the pattern I discovered (with great relief) that this rib stitch is uber-stretchy.

And on to the lace pattern, which is always so thrilling to see as it starts to take form. I just love the leaves effect of this design.

Being worsted weight yarn, it knitted up nice and quickly. In between a busy lifestyle it took a few evenings over the course of about two weeks to complete.

There's nothing quite like knitting with your very own handspun yarn. Truly satisfying to the MAX.

And here it is ... with some daytime FO photos :)

And a cheeky selfie of one happy spinner/knitter ...

Daybreak Hand Knit Shawl FO

It's only taken me six months to be able to say this, but ... I've finished my Daybreak Shawl ... Yay :)

I had a serious case of inertia with this project, and had to put it down on several occasions, but I did really enjoy this knit and am thrilled with the result ... I just got a little distracted with other projects along the way.

It all started with the idea to do a knit-along with some Instagram buddies.

I had been admiring this pattern on Ravelry for quite some time, and felt like I was ready to tackle it.

Being Autumn when I started the project, I decided on a sympathetic colourway with Ochre (a mustardy-yellow) and Cordovan (a rich dark chocolate) Malabrigo Sock Yarn.

And so I cast on ...

As with all shawls, I do love how the first handful of rows knit up really quickly, and then with frequent increases, they begin to lengthen ... especially with sock weight yarn. And so with this pattern I eagerly looked forward to being able to add my second colour.

It was really exciting to begin the stripes as I could then see the pattern start to take shape.

I became side-tracked quite a bit by other faster projects with bigger needles and chunkier yarn. Inertia sometimes happens when I'm faced with a project that doesn't grow quite quickly enough.

Picking it up and putting it back down again over the next few months, I made one last concerted effort to finish and gave myself a stint of a good few nights in a row ... and here it is, freshly off the needles and awaiting its first bath ...

And on to some VERY satisfying blocking ...

And then the utterly gratifying first trying on session, where all the blood sweat and tears were forgotten (okay, okay, I'm exaggerating a bit now).

And I must say I'm over the moon with my new hand-knitted shawl. It is a beautiful and striking pattern and I'm really pleased with my yarn and colour choice. I missed the boat to make the shawl in time for Autumn 2012, but will be wearing it with pride when the colder weather returns in September 2013.