Mystical Lanterns - playing with colour

Hello,


Today I want to show you a really interesting pattern! It is By Jane Crowfoot and is called Mystical Lanterns.

You will find more information here on her website: http://janiecrow.co.uk/presta/

She has designed a special shape called an 'ogee' which fits neatly next to more of the same shape, a bit like a granny square or a hexagon for example. You can make a number of these shapes and combine them into a scarf, shawl or blanket.

Up until now, this pattern was only available in kit form. I wanted to have the blue coloured shawl kit (Aurora) with real Shetland Wool but it was sold out for quite some time. Then I dared to ask if they would soon stock more kits again, and I was in luck! So I went ahead and ordered my kit which includes all the wool you need plus a very detailed instruction how to make the shapes and join them!

When it arrived, I was thrilled to see the amazing colours. It was all very professionally put together. The service I received was friendly and fast! (Remember to scroll all the way to the bottom for further information!)

Last week I thought I would try out how to make one of these shapes. I used my Pingouin cotton yarn to do my first sample. I didn't find it very difficult and was pleased with how it looked. Each ogee is made of 4 different colours.


Mystical Lanterns


The colours of my kit is mostly blues, purples and greens which I love.*

However, this first version will be a wild mix of lots of colours in typical funkycrochet fashion!!!
I'm already very excited about it!

Here you can see the humble beginnings of this great motif!



Then I started making series of 4 motifs, always using the same 4 colours but in different sequences.

And finally I had about 28 colours together of this Pingouin Esterel cotton yarn, spent ages winding these into yarn cakes and laid them all out on the table!

It's starting to look great!!!

I love vibrant colours!

Luckily, you can now buy the pattern on it's own, check out the ravelry link here.

*And this picture shows the colourway of the kit I bought! Isn't it fabulous?

Mystical Lantern Shawl by Jane Crowfoot, copyright Jane Crowfoot

By the way, Jane Crowfoot is a fantastic designer, she did the Lily Pond Blanket CAL 2015, in 2016 she is doing the Frida's Flowers Blanket CAL currently, the Persian Tile Crochet Blanket, the stunning Special DK (Stylecraft) Tartan Blanket - just to mention some of the amazing patterns!
Be sure to check out her website for more details!

I hope you enjoyed this post as well, feel free to leave your comments below, thank you so much!

I will be away for nearly a week to visit a famous Music Festival in Germany, and of course my crochet will come with me!

Finished Pittura Cardigan

Hello my dear blog friends,


After recently finishing my Pittura Cardigan (I first blogged about it in this post), I took plenty of photos so I could show you what it looks like!


Finished project - Pittura Cardigan

The original pattern is called Winkle Vest by Tracy St. John (you can find it via Ravelry).

I used 3 x 100g balls of Louisa Harding Pittura yarn in the colourway Kahlo (604). Basically I kept going until there was only a tiny amount of yarn left. I managed to do 2x rounds of double crochet along each of the outside edges. This helped to reinforce some of the stress points, such as neckline and arm holes.

The yarn is very soft and feels light when worn. The cardigan has got a beautiful drape. The original pattern is an open Gilet type cardigan without any closures. I added buttons and crochet loops to the yoke so I can close it.

funkycrochet : Pittura Cardigan is finished!

I added 3 matching green buttons

The top part of the cardigan

The lacy Shell stitch pattern

Cardigan back

You can see that the front hem deeps lower than the back

The front measured from neckline to hem is 70cm long, the back only 54cm. These measurements are great for me because I'm very tall. The cardigan covers my back and keeps me warm!

The shell pattern shows off the beautiful colour flecks

I found this pattern easy to follow and a great way to construct a cardigan. The shell pattern was easy and the yarn was ideal for this. I crochet quite loosely and I love the stretchiness of the resulting fabric! This yarn would be great for a shawl or equally a blanket!

It was the first time that I ordered yarn from https://www.tangled-yarn.co.uk/ who provide a great and friendly service and also ship internationally. I can recommend this online shop, they specialize in hand dyed yarn and source also from smaller suppliers. I also bought the wool for my Feather and Fan scarf there!

I couldn't resist and placed another order which arrived today which includes more Pittura yarn in a different colourway (more of that in the future). Disclaimer: I was not asked to write this, I only did it because I wanted to share it with you!

I hope you enjoyed reading this post, maybe you would like to leave a comment below? I'm so pleased that you have stopped by! Until next time!

Very pleased with my new Cardigan!

(Crochet) Flowers in my Garden - Book review of 100 Lace Flowers to Crochet

Welcome back!


Thank you so much for all your great comments on my latest posts, I enjoyed reading them!

Last week I was busy with having fun making some crochet flowers.



Crochet Flowers


Since there are not too many flowers in my (balcony) garden, I decided to help nature along a bit by making some colourful crochet flowers!

This is the result!

All together now: Smile!!! :)

 

Crocodile Stitch Flower Brooch with Beads

A little Book review: 100 Bloemen om te haken (100 Lace Flowers to Crochet)

The above flowers (with exception of the Crocodile Stitch Flower) can all be found in this useful crochet book:




Caitlin Sainio - 100 Lace Flowers to Crochet (in Dutch)

The cover of the English version looks slightly different.


There are general sections which show a number of flowers next to each other over 2 pages (grouped by colour).

Then each of the flowers have their own page where you can find a photo, a crochet chart and written instructions how to make the flowers. There is an index at the back, listing all the flowers.

Near the end, there is a small section which shows some nice examples of what you could do with the flower motifs.

Here are some of my flowers next to their pages.

What I like is that these are realistic looking flowers! Some are more complicated than others, but this book suits all levels of crochet experience. You could start with the easier models and then progress through the book, choosing your own challenges!

Disclaimer: This review is my own, based on a book that I bought myself.

I had bought this book a while back for reference, but the reason I dug it out now was that I will be holding a little Crochet Workshop next week for the Adult students who study Dutch at our School. I'm looking forward to it!

What would you decorate with crochet flowers such as these? Have you already made something using flowers? I'd love to hear your suggestions and ideas!

Crochet news : My Pittura Cardigan

Hello again,

Well after showing you lots of favourites patterns from just one crochet magazine (check it out here to see all the pictures!), I will let you know which one it is that I have started last weekend...

I am using the Louisa Harding Pittura yarn which is Wool and Bamboo, so soft.
Here is a link where I ordered the yarn from. The colourway is 604, called Kahlo (after the painter Frida Kahlo), it reminded me of a summer meadow with pretty flowers.

Louisa Harding ; Pittura 604

Last weekend we went to Germany to visit a music festival (as we do every year) and I took my pattern along to get started. This is after roughly an hour's journey crocheting in the car.

I am using a large 5.5mm hook (as indicated in the pattern), though the yarn is different, but similar.

My Pittura Cardigan - first stitches. Having a coffee break in the warm sunshine!
 

Did you guess the pattern? It is called Winkle Vest by Tracy St. John. Here are the pattern pictures.

I immediately fell in love with this pattern and knew I had to make it. I was intrigued by the construction. You first make one half of the shoulder section, then go back to the centre and make the other half in mirror image. You then continue underneath and crochet downwards to add the body. This is useful because then you can decide how long you want to make it and try it on whilst working on it.

This was quite different from other patterns I had seen and it looked not too difficult. The pattern consists of rows of shells. The only thing that bothered me slightly was the gaping front, I wanted to change that (I added more rows).

Here are finally some more pictures, it is not finished yet, but I am making good progress. Unfortunately the weather here has been so bad lately that I have not been able to make better photos, sorry! The light does not show the colours very well.

Trying on for fit (also wearing my windowpane cowl)

arm holes

centre neck section

 

front view

side edge view

And here are a few photos from the day when I started the cardigan, it was beautiful spring weather in Germany and the sunshine was warm and lovely. I was admiring the cherry blossom!

And here is just one last photo from our journey back on Sunday afternoon:

We went and visited the IJssalon/Chocolaterie Bellissimo (address: Jan Deckersstraat 57, 5591 HP Heeze, Netherlands) because I mentioned to my partner that we had visited a nice Ice cream café on our way back the year before, and luckily he managed to find it via Google streetview! Hooray! This was the first ice cream of the year, even though it rained, hailed and snowed on our journey back afterwards!

Wish you had been there to taste the ice cream with me!!! :) It was delicious!!!
(I had hazelnut and chocolate, plus cream! What's your favourite?)