A Finished Project

 

I have mentioned that last year I was given a load of yarn when a friend moved. I was also given some other yarn when another friend moved. This latter yarn was Skein Tones from Lion Brand. I could have used this for hats but I was given 14 skeins, which is a lot of hats, plus with that many a bigger project seemed a better use.

I had 2 skeins in each of five colours, 3 skeins in one colour and 1 skein in another colour. I decided to make a blanket for the giver’s daughter. The blanket would be crocheted so that it wouldn’t take forever to finish and I decided to hold the yarn double not only for speed but to add to the squish factor. I also decided it would be fun to fade the colours, so one colour was used then it was held with another colour and then that colour was used. In other words, two strands of A were worked together, then a strand of A and B together; then two strands of B, then a strand of B and C and so on.

This put the single skein out of the picture, and one of the colours didn’t fit in with the rest. So I was left with five colours to work with. A quick search on Ravelry came up with a simple pattern – Alissa EasyThrow – which is free on the designer’s website (link goes to website). It is a simple two row pattern of one row single crochets and one row of double crochets in what is called Granny Stitch. As my gauge was completely different to the pattern’s I worked a single crochet foundation chain until I thought it was a good width for a kid’s blanket. (OK. I actually did this twice because after a few rows it was obvious it was far too wide.) I didn’t worry about each section having the same number of rows but I did change colours at the beginning of a row and I finished with a single crochet row to match the start. Overall I used 2 skeins each of the three middle colours and just over 1 ½ skeins each of the two end colours.

I am really happy with it. And the recipient said they couldn’t believe it was the yarn they had purchased. The only bummer is that this is the only photo I took of the completed project.

 

February Socks

 

This year is starting well with a pair of socks completely knitted in each month. (I won’t be able to show off January’s pair until later in the year.)

For February there were two designers and two techniques/themes. The latter were repeats and design your own, neither of which I was especially interested in. So I was hoping that I had at least one of the designers’ patterns. And I had five patterns that I had not previously made by one of the designers – Caoua Coffee. Next to pair up yarn with one of the patterns. I chose an orange yarn that I had purchased in the closing down sale in 2021. (Dizzy Blonde Studios Lambie Toes)This was not as tonal as I was expecting but still worked well with the pattern. Caoua Coffee’s patterns are always interesting but well written and not hard and this was no exception, with the start of round changing on several rows.

This yarn was really hard to photograph and capture the true colour. It is a deep orange but my phone wanted to capture it much lighter. And before I forget the pattern is Canon by Caoua Coffee which I had added to my Ravelry library in December 2019. I used about 75g of yarn with size 2.25mm double pointed needles.