Pattern of the week: thinking of… tiles!

Hi everyone!

Sorry for the quite long break… I’ve been as usual very busy with woking and studying, and most of all, I’m extremely tired 😦 but I’m finally going on holidays in 10 days or so… yay! I am most probably going to visit Barcelona, in Spain. It will be fun!

Has anyone of you been there? It’s going to be my first time visiting mainland Spain actually. Do you maybe have any yarn/craft stores in the area to recommend? Tips? things that can’t be missed? If so, please let me know! i’d love to hear about that.

Anyway, the upcoming holiday has finally put me in a crocheting mood again. I have also sold a couple of baby blankets in the past 2 weeks, so i’ll have to make something new for my Etsy store. i have been looking for inspirational patterns and came across this one. I had actually been looking for a *free* pattern for something similar for ages, so yay! I am going to buy some new yarn in the next days, i have already picked some palettes, but not a pattern. i will surprise you with some new pattern 😉

And now, on to this week’s pattern!

Cascade Afghan

by Craft Yarn Council of America

 

A simple pattern that actually creates a textured effect which reminds me of mosaics and coloured tiles! I am definitely loving it and it looks nice just in any colour combination!

here are some more examples taken from Ravelry

 

by ElinElla

 

by dahlofwool

So how do you like it?

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Lazy crocheting, mailing list subscription and a discount

Hi everyone!

How are you all doing? I have finally found a job and started working last week. It’s not exactly my dream job, but I only have a 3 months contract, so I’ll have a chance to look for something different in September. The best thing about this job is that I only work mo-fri from 9 to 6, which for most of you probably sounds totally normal, but having always worked in retail it’s a nice change for me 🙂 I’m not used to all that free time! lol

It’s been pretty hot lately, so I have put my crocheting activities by side. I’ve actually done some lazy crocheting when I felt like it. I’ve picked up a blanket which has been a WIP for years now, plus I’ve tested some new granny squares. I have a custom baby blanket due in october, so I still have plenty of time. i have picked the yarn, but I’m not sure about the pattern. You’ll surely get more updates about it in the near future 😉

I have made 16 squares out of the planned 32 so far and it’s going to fit a single bed once it’s finished.
Pattern: “princess white roses knee rug” by Janet Hobbs

Moreover, I got halfway through the “harriett square” by Carolyn Christmas

 

I have also created a new mailing list for my online shop.

Subscribe now to SCD’s mailing list to get updates about new products, discounts, released patterns and custom orders! No spam, I promise: ) To sign up please click on the banner below.

 

And last but not leats, from today till Aug.15th with code “SUMMER2013” you’ll get a 125 discount on all orders above 2€ placed at my ETSY SHOP. Enjoy!

Selecting colours for your projects

Picking the right colours for a knit/crochet project can be quite tricky.

I often find myself staring at pictures of wonderful ripple blankets, granny squares and other things and think “how did they manage to select those colours?!?” since they just seen to be perfectly blending together.

Therefore I have been doing a bit of research to see if there is anything that can actually help.

First, I would say that finding a store that carries a wide range of colours of the same brand can be pretty vital. I know people that manage to beautifully mix and match yarns of different materials and weights, but for me that’s a no go. I could say that it is my personal pet peeve when it comes to crochet. I hate seeing different yarns reflecting the light in different ways, some being matte, some being shiny… when I start a project I usually make sure I have all the yarn I need and that it’s all from the same brand.

Second, I found this very useful and well written explanation of Colour Theory using a colour wheel. If you have never read anything about the topic, I highly recommend you to do so, plus the pictures are pretty self explanatory and will work well for future references.

 

You can find it at www.freshstitches.com

Third, you can seek for help from professionals 🙂 i have a favourite website for this, that is Design Seeds. They have a large selection of colour palettes based on pictures or moods. They are also very beautifully put together, I love looking through them and imagine what wonderful projects they could be turned into! I’m linking to some of them just so that you can have an idea of what it is all about.

 

 

 

 

What about you? Do you have any speacial method when it comes to picking out colours for your projects? I’d be very curious to know them!

Ishbel – WIP

Hi everyone!

I know I haven’t updated in a couple of weeks now, but I had a pretty stressful period at work, I basically worked for some 10 days in a row, which left me little time for hobbies and blogging 😦 Anyway, I am on holiday this week and I’m enjoying some relaxing time at home with my parents and knitting a lot (though I should be studying, but I can’t be bothered) o_o

My mum wanted to knit something for my mother in law for (last) Christmas, so when i visited last time in Nov we went to a wool store and bought 3 skeins of a cool emerald Malabrigo silky merino with the idea of knitting a shawl for her.

We browsed Ravelry for the ideal pattern and we ended up picking “Ishbel”, by Ysolda Teague. Her patterns are very popular and I must say I usually like them, though I don’t particularly love knitting them… I really don’t know why!

My mum knitted the first 3 panels before Xmas, but then realized she had messed up somehow the stitches counting and the shawl was looking uneven and wonky, so she put it by side.

I decided to pick it up again as I came here to visit and give it another try 🙂 I frogged all the lace pattern and started all over. I must admit that it took me a whole day to get a hang of it, but I finally finished the first 2 panels by the evening! lol The pattern is not that difficult, but you need to be constantly concentrated or you’ll easily mess up… not what I would call a relaxing knitting project, but I am determined to finish it nevertheless!

This is how it looks so far 🙂

And here is the usual link to the pattern on Ravelry

I also got as a present from my mum a skein of KAUNI wool, more or less in this colourway (pic from internet). It goes from brown, to caramel, to pink and purples… it’s super cool! I have in mind to knit another Ishbel for me out of it if I ever manage to finish this one!

WIP’s update :)

Just a quick update on what’s been on my needles lately 🙂

THERMAL

I finally finished the neck ribbing, I am very happy with it, it was a bit of a challenge for me 🙂

Though I always say that I don’t like knitting bottom-up garments, I actually learn many new things each time I try making one. With top-down you can’t really go wrong for what concerns fittings and shapes… so I am happy I challenged myself with this pattern 🙂

The sleeves still need to be knitted and sewed. I just noticed that I don’t have any #4.5 mm dpn’s, so I will have to buy some.

It’s now currently on hold till I overcome my laziness and finally get to drive to the store 🙂

HEART VINES

I bought a skein of Valiani Nomotta some time ago cause I had a project in mind which actually never became reality. Since I had bought it in my usual yarn store down the street, it was at a robbery price, so I decided I HAD to do something with it no matter what.

I picked a hat pattern called Heart Vines from Ravelry. It’s a really cool pattern, very easy to follow and to remember, too bad that with this bloody yarn I could have knitted pretty much anything and the pattern wouldn’t be recognizable! By the way, if you ever see this yarn in a store and think about buying it, well then please think again. I have never seen anything as bad as that, not even the cheapest acrylic yarn is so rough, so stiff and totally lacks of elasticity. Never again! 😦

Day 1 – just cast on and finished the ribbing

Day 2 – knitted up to half of the second pattern repeat, just about 20 rows missing before crown shaping

BTW, here is a link to the pattern in case you’re curious

FAIR ISLE!!!

I loooooove Fair Isle knitting! I remember that my grandma once knitted me a pullover with the cutest butterfly pattern when I was a child! That’s probably where my love for fair Ialsnd knitting comes from 🙂 Anyway, I posted some time ago about trying some easy pattern in order to get confident with it… since I liked the result I decided to try something more difficult and there it goes… a Blythe Hat!

pattern of the week: thinking of… cowls!

Knitting the Milanese Loop opened up a whole new world for me! lol It just made me realize how cowls and loops are actually this winter’s trend when it comes to knitwear 🙂

So… I’ve been surfing ravelry a bit looking for the “perfect cowl”, something that looks warm, has a nice textured pattern, doesn’t look like factory produced one… and most importantly, that’s for free!

It was a hard choice picking one, I found at least a dozen that i’d like to knit… people are so creative 🙂 That’s why I’m posting two of them, one is for free, the other is not, but I just find it amazing 🙂
As usual, pics are from Ravelry 🙂

Shelter Infinity Scarf

by Anniken Allis

 

 

 

Winter Wheat Cowl

by Milja Uimonen

Which one is your favourite?

Pattern of the week: thinking of… Halloween!

I got a link to this pattern in the Lion’s Brand Yarn newsletter and I though Id share in case someone hasn’t seen it yet! 🙂

I am not a big fan of Halloween to tell the truth,in Italy (where I come from) it’s not a traditional feast, but still it’s getting more and more popular, esp with kids. The knowledge of whole social/historical background is missing though and it have the feeling it’s just another excuse to sell decorations and such and make profit out of it. I bet that no italian kid would be able to tell what Halloween is about apart from pumpkins and spider webs… a shame! In Austria, anyway, the situation seems to be pretty similar… but oh well.

Anyway, here is the pattern, which I find extremely cute!

And here is the link to it 🙂

(free but still requiring registration)