Last of 2023

 

It has taken a while for me to show this finished item because I have wanted decent photos of me wearing it.

This is the cardigan finished in 2023.

 

The yarn is Berocco Folio and given to me at the end of 2020 from a friend of a friend’s destash. I really wanted to make a garment with it but it would have to be colour blocked or striped. This yarn started life as a different pattern in April but was frogged due to size problems. In my Ravelry searching I found another pattern for a cardigan with stripes. It is a free pattern as the designer basically wrote up the notes for the garment she made herself. Nothing wrong with that and just what I wanted.

The black was the smallest amount of yarn had, thus only used for the neck and welt ribs. As with so many of my cardigans, the buttons were the problem; as in what to use. I purchased shell buttons from Sew Vintagely, and they turned out perfectly and no more expensive than JoAnn's.

I am really pleased with the finished item. 

 

An Extra Finish in March

 

I have said that I want to have fewer projects on the go this year. So when I started this project, I had to remind myself to finish another project and then come back to this.

As I have fewer projects I am working on, I have been keeping them under my side table. I thought it would be nice if I had a basket that I could put them in. All the ones I saw online were not very big and then I remembered that a YouTuber had crocheted some baskets. Off to check out patterns and gather yarn.

This is the pattern I chose. I started with four strands of Noro and the hook size recommended although I did change the hook size downwards twice and ended up using a 6.5mm hook. The base of the basket/bag could definitely do with being firmer. The premise of the pattern is to crochet a circle until it is the size you want then work upwards to create the basket/bag and then add handles. Mine came out to be more of a bag than a basket and next time I will use as small a hook as I can manage without ruining my hands. I used a lot of yarn in this project, most of it that I was given but some from my own leftovers. Mostly DK or worsted weight. If I used a thicker yarn I changed to three strands of yarn and if I used a thinner yarn I changed to five strands of yarn. All yarn was joined with a magic knot.

I worked in a circle until the base was the size I wanted, worked a round of single crochet through the back loop then worked up to created the depth of the basket. After completing the handles, I worked a round of crab stitch (reverse single crochet). Although it would have been nice to have a more sturdy item, overall I am very pleased with it and will likely make more.

I started it towards the end of January, while I was still working on the blanket. And as I only want one crochet project at a time, I made myself stop and work on the blanket and then come back to this. I also had a bit of a problem with one of the cats who thought it was her cat bed.

 

This is a great stash buster as overall I used in excess of 2000 metres of yarn.

 

Three Birds With One Stone

 

Once again, thanks to sock knitting I have a completed project. Although this wasn’t absolutely necessary for March as I had three completions in total.

I am very excited about this pair as three boxes were ticked off in their making. (OK two plus a bonus.) Firstly with a pattern theme of STEM I was able to choose a pattern from a book I own. This was published in 2013 and I cannot remember how I acquired it. But I have not knit a pattern from it until last month. The pattern uses two colours and I used one of my oldest yarns plus a yarn I purchased at Vista Fiber Fiesta in 2022 to support the dyer. The coloured yarn is from Riverstone Yarns who are no longer dying and the sparkly white is from Lazer Sheep Yarns. This was the yarn I purchased at the event and I was so happy to see that they had a plain yarn amidst all the colour.

The pattern is Symmetry by Stephanie van der Linden from her book Op-Art Socks. When I was just a few rows into the pattern, I was second guessing my colour choices but I am pleased I continued. 

 

 

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.