Happiness In A Shawl Reveal

Ah! Happy happy happy!!!! My gorgeous Happiness shawl is completed. I LOVE IT!!! 💚💚💚 My favourite colour, my favourite yarn and a pattern by one of my favourite designers. *contented sighs all round* Let's do a quick recap before I show you the finished shawl.... The yarn is Cotton 8 by Scheepjes. 

I chose this stunning colour (723) 💚

And THIS beautiful shawl design by Bernadette Ambergen.

I wanted a shawl that was a decent size and it was to be used as a lightweight cover up on the chilly summer evenings. Here it is.....

As you can see from the photo it's a great size!

And the lacy border gives it a bit of interest.

Cotton 8 is wonderful to work with. It's non splitty and just seems to work up like a dream. 

Blocking really brings the lacy design to life. The best thing about Cotton 8 is that the more you handle and wear it, the softer it gets! I've already got a smaller shawl made with it and it wears really well. I'm looking forward to wearing my Happiness shawl with pride!!!

Til next time x

Happiness is.......

Using my favourite yarn by Scheepjes to make something from one of my favourite crochet designers. I know!!! Doesn't get much better than that does it? Ok.... throw some decent gin into the mix and I think we have recipe made in heaven 😜 Cotton 8 was the very first Scheepjes yarn I discovered. It was being sold on a market stall in Groningen (which is a stunning Dutch city by the way!). I was blown away by the colour choice and also the price. I loved the feel of it. It didn't look splitty. It had an expensive feel about it but with an affordable price tag. Perfect for the newbie hooker I was back then. I made my first BIG project with it. Oh the anxiety of it all....what if I messed it up? What if it didn't look good?  Well to be honest, it didn't really matter. Because Cotton 8 is so affordable, if I made mess it was no big deal. But you know what? I didn't! And....that blanket still lives on my bed today. Cotton 8 just gets better and better with use. It goes sooooo very very soft and snuggly. One day I'll get around to making that blanket bigger....one day....

However I digress!  Where was I? Oh yes! New project!!! I need a new shawl. Meh......well maybe I don't need a new one....but I sure as hell want one.  It's the same thing really 😉 I rather thought this one would fit the bill.....

Stunning isn't it? It's called Victoria and you can find the pattern HERE.

I think it will be a beautiful shawl to wrap around my shoulders on chilly summer evenings.

I'm planning on making it a decent size. Nothing worse than a shawl that doesn't wrap all around! The shawl is designed by the very talented Bernadette Ambergen.....or Berniolie as she is known on Ravelry. Check out her work! I can't even begin to imagine how she dreams up these designs!!! I've made a few of her designs before....

Stunning aren't they? Anyways back to the shawl! 

I chose this stunning colour to work with. Its colour 723. 

I've made a start and am working through it quickly.

It's a lovely relaxing project to make so far. Perfect to hook whilst watching TV.

I'm hoping to have it finished in a couple of weeks. 

I'll keep you posted on the progress! 

In the meantime, do pop over to Bernadette's shop. 

I'm sure there's a pattern in there with your name on it screaming to be made 😉

Til next time x

Shawl Tadah!!!!

Well as per usual my blogging habits are shocking! But let's not dwell on that ;-) I've been pretty busy with yarn projects. Lots of new things and finishing up the "almost finished" stuff! Well trying to!!! I've still got 2 blankets at that stage. I'll get there....eventually! So today I thought I'd share my finished Scheepjes Kika Yarn Kit. I do believe you can still buy a kit from Deramores! So without further ado..... 

One finished shawl! At this point I need to tell that photographing the finished article was a complete nightmare! I was either windy and rainy, windy or just plain rainy. You gotta love the North East weather! I managed to grab a very dull but wind and free day and did my best. Some of the photos aren't as crisp as I'd like (ummm....maybe a little blurry might describe them better!) but you get the general idea.

Oh I love this finished shawl. I've completely forgotten the pain of all those teeny 3 million ends that I wove in.

I love how it drapes.

I'm still not convinced about the pom pom though!

But those little star motifs all joined together make my heart sing :-)

So there you have it! One finished shawl. Invicta Extra and Invicta Colour remain my high up there in my favourite yarns :-) The good news is that you can now buy both of these yarns from Deramores here and here. Next time (hopefully a bit sooner than this post!) I've got some brand new yarn to share with you! Til then!

Oooops!

Ok I'm really bad at this regular blogging thing! It's really not intentional. Life just kind of races by at a stupid speed and I end up playing catch up.... ALL OF THE TIME!!!! I hurt my back way back in October. It was my own fault. I lifted something really badly. I have got years and years of moving and handling training behind me and I still lifted something at home in the most stupid way I could!! Ouch! It's taken til now to get back on track because when I hurt myself I like to do it properly ;-) Anyways....enough of that! Let's talk yarn and new projects! I've not been sat idle...oh no! I've been hooking and knitting (!!!!). So lots to share over the next few posts. Let me start with the Scheepjeswol Kika Yarn Kit :-)

15 gorgeous colour combinations to choose from. Talk about spoiled for choice! And best of all? Every kit sold has a donation to a children's cancer charity :-) So actually, by buying a kit you're donating to charity! Win win if you ask me! You can buy the yarn kit from Deramores!

I opted for Deep Ocean as I'm addicted to green!

So what's in the kit?

You get 2 balls of Invicta Colour and 3 balls of Invicta Extra in your chosen colours. You also get a pattern with the option to either knit or crochet, a giant pom pom template and a Sheepjeswol label.

These are the 2 stunning shawl designs you get the pattern for :-) Or alternatively you could just ahead and do your own thing!

I decided to crochet mine....because, whilst I can knit, I'm pretty slow at it. Plus I really wanted to conquer the join as you go thing! Ok this isn't for the faint hearted. There are 238 flower/star motifs to make! 2 rounds in the Invicta Extra then a round in the Invicta Colour. That's 952 ends to deal with!!!! if you say it really quickly it doesn't sound that bad ;-)

I decided from the start to weave in ends as I progressed. Much much easier!

And so it starts.....

The pattern is in both Dutch and English and there's also a chart

I'm really enjoying making this. I make the centres and then when I have a pile of them I join them to the shawl.

Oh just look at those pesky ends!!!!

I love the colour changes!

And this is where I'm at now! Obviously it hasn't been blocked. That will make a huge difference. I know it's wonky in the photo. It was the only photo I had without a cat in it!!!

I've mastered the join as you go thing. I can see lots more projects with this technique in the future :-)

I'm hoping to have this finished by the weekend. Optimistic I know!!!! I think I've only got 57 flowers left to go.....doesn't sound too bad if you say it quickly ;-)

Til next time!