For Christmas last year, 2017, my mother's sister Eva wanted to give her daughter something she needed; a scarf. But not just something traditional and boring, as she put it. She wanted something made for Caroline, something different. Once I found a yarn that I liked for the project, the cowl almost made itself. I was on a mini bean stitch kick at the time, and the texture of this cowl is soft and fluffy, it keeps nice and warm even in the coldest south Swedish winter weather but breathes as well. Luckily, Caroline loves it, and i have to say I do too. It worked up so lovely, it's hard not to love it.
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Early this spring I started making these little pencil cases, or pouches, or whatever you want to call them. I made so many, I got a little tired of the pattern. After browsing around among my saved "textures" on Ravelry, I ended up making this. The texture is made entirely of front post stitches. I have this green one in my bag, for my lipbalm, earbuds, and if it's cold season there's absolutely a small pack of tissues in there as well! Last Christmas I needed some quick fix presents for a game we play on Christmas Eve. Now, I didn't have time to run to the store, because I was still baking up a storm, but I did have a crochet hook and plenty of cotton yarn! I found some dish/washcloth patterns, and made a few to pair two and two for the gift of the same. That's how my fondness for homemade cotton dishcloths came to be. And that's the whole reason I made this one, that and I absolutely adore the texture of this bamboo stitch! I got a hold of this wonderful yarn from Mayflower, and the second I was out of the store I started thinking about what I was going to do with it. Since I haven't made a lot of kids hats, I decided that maybe a nice toddler hat would be a good idea, and started fiddling around with the yarn. The Unicorn Stripes Hat is the outcome of said fiddling. Since the Arisarum gave my next hat its name, I figured it was appropriate to show you why. I found this picture of the Arisarum Proboscideum on burncoose.co.uk. To me, the Arisarum looks a little like the neck of a swan in the shape. But at the same time not, because it's got a thicker part, and a thinner part - that's off to the side a bit. Which really explains the offset shell stitch I used for the Arisarum slouchy perfectly. In Sweden we have sweet briar bushes all over the place. When I was a kid there used to be a whole hill full of them, right by the public pool entrance. The roses would bloom when it was time for school to cut out for the summer, and the whole hill would be full of white and pink flowers. Then, as a sure sign of fall, the first mature berries came around the time it was time to go back to school in the fall - or there abouts. The pattern of this hat was inspired by Kirsten Holloway Designs, but got its name from the, now only half, hill of mature berries that I drive by on my way home from work. After making the Ophrys Chunky Hat I got my hands on one of the skeins of Falkgarn Karamell that I had lying around. I started the Ophrys Cowl first, saving enough of the skein that I could make a matching hat - because my love for this stitch knows no bounds. It makes such a wonderful textured fabric! Earlier this year my cousin Dan's son was christened. It was early in the morning, and you could feel how everything was just at the cusp of spring going into summer. In the days before I crocheted a lot, among other things I made some earrings. But once it was time to pick a dress for the christening I realized I didn't have any matching earrings. Dang it! After I finished the first few trials of the Ophrys Chunky Hat, and had written up the pattern, I got a cold. I hate having a cold, because it goes straight for the places where my pollen allergies have already worn me thin. It's the same thing every September, and I'm still suffering the after effects. But, during all the sneezing and wheezing, I got my hands on a skein of Falkgarn Karamell that I had at home (seen below in the colorway Nougat).
The Glover stitch. It was the first thing I really learned fresh when I started crocheting again. First, I'd like to share a little about how I got into it - and back into it - since that plays a big part in the creation of this pattern. I started crocheting when I was a kid. It was a part of our textiles class when we were between the ages of 10-12. I crocheted these tiny, striped squares that were supposed to be helpful in taking things out of the oven. For a long time, I didn't crochet, and after a very difficult time that resulted in two sugeries and physical therapy for my hands, I found myself staring at this rainbow colored gradient yarn in the store. I bought a skein, went home, and dug out the biggest hook I could find. |
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