Obsessed....

With colour change yarn! Not just any colour change yarn, you understand, it has to be a very gradual colour change.... nice and slow.

An idea popped into my head a couple of months ago. If you had a slow colour change yarn, would it be possible to make teeny shapes in different colours to hook together? Thus saving buying lots of different colours....and having lots of wastage!

Cue the gorgeous Invicta Colour yarn by Scheepjeswol! Now aren't those colours delicious???? I admit to swooning a little when I first saw it. That, and rugby tackling my friend to wrench it from her tightly clenched hands.... 

Mine all Mine ;-) Well.... there are some things in life worth fighting for and this yarn is most definitely one of them!

So the details about this gem of a yarn: 100g gives you 420m of yarn....now that'a a lot of yarn! It's 75% Virgin Wool and 25% Polyamide which makes sure it's soft (oh sooooo soft!) but pretty hard wearing. The recommended hook size is 3mm. 

Oh but look at those colours! This range has a stack of different colour ways.... go see!!! 

As I said earlier, I've had this idea mulling around in my brain for a while to make something with teeny shapes hooked together. I was inspired by some crochet designs by Sophie Digard. This one in particular struck a design chord with me...

Circles and squares! 

A scarf made from teeny circles and squares. Ok so maybe not so teeny as the ones in the photo. I know my limits when it comes to patience! Ooooo I love starting a new project...happy times!

Mx

I'm Back!!!!

Blimey!!! Can someone please explain where on earth the last 2 months have gone? I seem to have totally mislaid December and January!
Well, to be fair, it's been a little hectic round these parts. Work has taken over most of that time but gladly, things seem to be settling down. I say that with bated breath. It rarely happens!

So what's been happening since I last managed to squeeze a blog post into my busy life?
Well...I had a lovely break in Holland. Wow! That seems like a lifetime ago. It was early December. I really really needed a break as I was exhausted. I love my Holland visits. Time to totally relax and recharge the batteries.

Check out that sunset in the clouds....it was totally breathtaking and made me feel quite giddy...

Or maybe that was the wine ;-) My flight was delayed on account of the very high winds in Europe. Well what's a girl to do when delayed....duty free shopping, choke on a blueberry muffin (don't even go there!!!) and have a glass of wine after said traumatic choking episode.

 

We took in a Christmas Market... the donkey totally stole the show! He was a little feisty!!!

The rest of the nativity scene were a little cautious of the diva donkey!

There was freshly baked bread. Oh. My. God. The smell of this stall was totally amazing! No wonder they were overwhelmed. The raisin bread was the nicest I've ever tasted. Delicious.

The market was packed to the rafters. There were out of control fire pits at every corner. The smells were amazing. We had hot chocolate/mulled wine. There was even an ice rink! 

I didn't have any real plans for this holiday other than to relax. I did exactly that! Oh and I had my very first spinning lesson! I've wanted to learn to spin for ages. My friend had a lesson booked while we were there, and thankfully the teacher happened to speak very good english so I booked a beginners lesson! 

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Check out the concentration on my face!!!! I'm not known for my fantastic co-ordination! She was the most patient teacher ever! The picture doesn't include the fabulous log burner that warmed the barn. Oh that place is heavenly. The smell was quite something. Wool fibres have a delicious smell! We spent a very happy couple of hours there before heading off into town then lunch and of course shopping!

I managed to amass a huge amount of Christmas decorations while over there. The dutch do Christmas really well and there are no end of gorgeous bargains to be had. And as per usual, it didn't fit in the suitcase! The packing morning was the most stressful yet! No way was this fitting in the case. Cue hand luggage! Anyways we managed. Thank god for KLM hand luggage allowance. Christmas was duly transported home!

Gorgeous tree decorations.

Pretty tea lights.

Love my newly purchased ceramic house.

Cute little Christmas Tree.

The Christmas hanger.

Christmas came and went. It was lovely. A few days off work. Some down time. Lots of time to relax and sound time with family and friends. Happy days.

Best Christmas present ever????

Meet Mabel! My very own Louet S10. It came in the biggest box ever and I've never seen so many polystyrene chips!!! I love her. 

I've been practising. I think it's safe to say I'm not a natural. But I'm getting better. Luckily, Whitley Bay has a spinning group! Who'd have thought! It would seem that spinning isn't that obscure after all!

Apart from spinning, I've been very busy on the hooky front too. Lots of projects to share. I think 2014 is going to be very productive!

Til next time

Mx

Mandala Fun!

When my visitor was here we decided to have a little crochet-a-long with our online Facebook group. Mandalas were the order of the day and we hooked like crazy to get them done in time for the first post!

I decided on some cheerful bright Rowan hand knit cotton to make mine with. The idea being to use them in the guest room when they were finished!

For the first mandala i used a free pattern by the lovely Wink which can be found here.
Nice and easy for a novice mandala maker like me and some fab instructions!

This is how my mandala turned out....

And then I decided to be a little adventurous and try a more lacy pattern....

Forgive the wonky shape....it's trickier than you think to block circles! All in all not a bad first attempt I thought. 

Next came the challenge of producing some styled shots of the completed mandalas.

I'm the first to admit that when taking photos I tend not to think about the scene and how the finished shots turn out. I just plop them on my blog and think nothing more of it! Well, having trawled a fair few blogs and seeing some beautifully styled shots I have decided that from now on I shall pay attention to my photography efforts and try and style the photos...

Achieved with a white quilt cover (freshly ironed!) laid over the carpet! How effective is that?

Next came a few props to enhance the mandalas...

Isn't it amazing what a difference a few props and some carefully taken photos can make? 

We also spent a little time taking some amazing photos of my finished blankets. A trip to the seaside in the glorious sunshine proved to be the perfect backdrop!

Join me next time for a peek at how those photos turned out!

Mx

Wow!

Doesn't time fly when you're having fun? Ok fun isn't exactly how I would describe the last two weeks but one thing's for sure....it certainly has flown by!

I had a lovely, lovely 10 days with my visitor. We chilled, we shopped, we ate....and we even took in a gig!

Of course no visit is complete without a visit to a yarn store or two ;-) My local yarn store is in Whitley Bay, not too far away but far enough to avoid popping in every day!!!! It's called Ring a Rosie and is packed with a great range of yarn. There's something for everyone and every budget. The owner hand dyes yarn to sell in the store and also spins! Now spinning is something I've always wanted to have a bash at. I've watched a zillion You Tube clips and whilst not convinced my co-ordination is quite up to the challenge I'd love to have a go! Well, what do you know....they have a spinning club!!! Once a month spinners of the North unite and spin to their hearts content. It's on my list and am determined to have a go.

On Monday we headed into Newcastle. A little window shopping in the town centre...

All the way through the shopping centre there were Elephants on parade! All individually decorated and pretty darn stunning! This was my favourite one....isn't she gorgeous?

After our browse we had a yummy meal before heading over to the Sage to see The Feeling. Boy they were good! And what it made it even better was that we were in the smaller of the halls so were really really close.

We sang our heads off and danced to our hearts content. A good night was had by both of us!

On Tuesday we headed off to the lovely market town of Hexham. It has the most lovely yarn store called Woolaballoo....isn't that a fabulous name? We spent a fair time in there chatting to the lovely lady there and came away with a couple of modest purchases. 

I got a skein of this gorgeous yarn. I just fell in love with the colours. And it's so so soft! I think a nice lacy scarf is the plan for this purchase. 

I also picked up a lovely wooden stool from the Antiques store there. I've been after one for a long time so was very pleased with it. It's pretty battered and needs a makeover but it's perfect to use as a bedside table in the guest room.

*note to self* TAKE A PHOTO OF THE STOOL!!!!!

A fair bit of hooky was done that week. My lovely visitor brought me some gorgeous Icelandic yarn to play with. Well... what's a girl to do????

Yes, that's right.....abandon the granny stripe blanket finishing in favour of playing with the new yarn!

The colours are warm and autumnal and the squares are BIG! Like 7 1/2 inches with the border added to them. I'm making a winter snuggle throw for over the back of the sofa. It's on the blocking board as we speak. Just the joining to go and then the fun part of adding a lovely deep lacy border. I think this may just be one of my quickest projects yet! Which is just as well as I seem to have managed to gather another 4 WIPs!!!!

Join me next time to have a peek at the Mandalas we made during the week and some styled photos!

Til then...

Mx