Wednesday 25 February 2015

My new cosy Alpaca Jumper Dress, some new Granny Squares in the making, a Craft Fair and Cats!

Hello my dear blogfriends!

It really is high time for another blog entry! I don't know about you all, but hasn't February almost flown by?

First a little glimpse of something Crochet related:

Crochet me a Rainbow!!!

I find that seeing a whole rainbow of colours together like this always makes my heart happy!!!!



But first let me reveal my latest finished project:

My new cosy Alpaca Jumper Dress

Yes, I finished it late on Friday night and wore it the same night as we left for another quick weekend visit to England! I always wanted a supercosy baggy big jumper and Alpaca is absolutely the best for this! I used Drops Alpaca Boucle (which I had used before) and knitted double on large needles (9mm). I knitted it in the round, up to the armholes, then back and forth. I knitted both sleeves together (flat). At the end I had to add the collar, the cuffs and I also added a rib to the hem (as an afterthought).

Knitting the sleeves side by side
The main part of the jumper is done!
Yes, it is really long, more of a dress than jumper alone!!! The length from back of the neck to the hem is roughly 1.10 m long, so it goes to my knees (I'm 1.80m tall). I also added pockets which I really like! I began knitting on the 03.02.15 and it was finished on the 20.02.15. It helped that I cut down on internet time greatly (apologies if I haven't read your latest blog post as yet, I got some catching up to do!)


Wearing my new Jumper in England!!!




Happy as an Alpaca!
New Granny Squares in the making

As a travel project I decided to pack my Scheepjeswol Stone Washed yarn and hook up some granny squares! Here we were driving (in the rain) along the M1.


Crochet in the car in England
My kind of fun: coffee and crochet
Happy yarncakes
Stack of pancakes, anyone?
Granny Squares Galore!!!




 
I'm thinking of making a new bag from my squares, but first I need to make a pile more!

Hobby Salon Exhibition in Antwerp 20.02.15

Before our travel, I spent the friday afternoon visiting the Hobbysalon (Craft Fair Exhibition) which was held in Antwerp this time. (I also wrote about the previous one in Hasselt where I went last Autumn).

Again, there were plenty of stands with supplies for all sorts of hobbies. Here are some photo impressions from the fair:


Tiny Seedbeads
Stampers
Shadowbox Display
Masking Tape
Crosstitch
Crochet Weheels
A giant Quilt hanging from the ceiling
I love this embroidery sampler
Origami
VW campervan made from felt

And here are some things I bought this time:

Pretty yarn and seedbeads

Ergonomic crochet hooks - these are great!!!
I'm already using my new hooks!

Cats rule the Internets

Here some little snaps from our cats!

Cleo
Sleepy Twinkle
Jasper keeping me company
Thanks for your patience and reading this far! I love your visits and like to hear what you think, so please leave me a little comment or two. It brightens my day!!!

Monday 9 February 2015

My finished Colourscape Cowl, Knitting an Alpaca Jumper, some yarn love and tiny beads

Hello again!

Hope you are all having a good February so far? Thanks for all your lovely comments on my last post!

With the colder weather here I seem to have concentrated on my knitting lately!

One of my intentions for this year is to look at old WIPs that have been put to one side and left unfinished! Here is one of them that I managed to finish last Friday morning!

My finished Colourscape Cowl

It's a large cowl, knitted in a simple Rib pattern with lovely Rowan Colourscape Chunky yarn, on 10mm needles! The finished size is 70 cm x 40 cm (140 cm circumference). This is large enough to wear as a cape!!! It could also be worn as a cowl, wrapped around twice! I decided to thread a simple knit cord through it, so I can pull it tight! I do not even know why I had left it unfinished!!! At least now I can get some wear out of it in the cold!

The yarn is pure Lambswool, designed by Kaffe Fassett. It has long been discontinued.

The finished cowl laid flat



My unfinished WIP
My finished cowl/cape with a knitted cord!





Knitting an Alpaca Jumper

On Tuesday I sat down and began casting on stitches with Drops Alpaca Boucle yarn, to start a jumper. I experimented with different stitches, I tried out adding a fine colour yarn to the light grey Alpaca, but in the end this is what became the beginning of my Jumper. I started late Tuesday afternoon, then did quite a bit of knitting in the evening with the knitting group 'T Arm Schaap in Zurenborg.

Needless to say that I'm not really following a pattern, but it is somewhat inspired by this jumper which in turn is based on this one here. I also quite like a similar version as a cardigan. It's thecombination of a simple look (Garter Stitch) and using fabulously soft yarn - the prerequisites for a favourite jumper.

This is what it looked like by Tuesday evening: the first 5-6cm!

03.02.15 Starting my new Alpaca Jumper


05.02.15 Making progress



08.02.15 Laid out on top of a favourite jumper dress
08.02.15 The first 37cm

As you can see, it will be quite a large size Jumper, almost a dress, and I am knitting with 2 balls of yarn at the same time! The result is wonderfully light and fluffy and oh so soft!

I am also knitting in the round, because it means that I can knit front and back in one go. Once I have reached the armpits, I will finish by knitting either front and back panel separately. This has the advantage that there are no side seams on the lower body.

Yesterday I had a bit of an indulgent afternoon with continuing my rewatching of 'TheKilling' (Season 1 with 20 episodes!) and lots of knitting. (No, I'm not watching all episodes in one go!) By the end of the evening I had managed to get up to 46cm!!

I always wanted a jumper just like this and I'm pleased that I found such a great yarn to knit with. It will be worth the effort. I'm using 9mm knit-Pro needles with a 100cm cable.


Some Yarn love

Here a little glimpse of my recent purchases, I am trying to be careful with buying more yarn. However, I decided to expand my knit-Pro needle tips collection by adding 6.5mm and 7mm sizes to my arsenal.

I found this wonderful rainbow yarn (by Swedish label Marks&Kattens) on the last day of the January sales! It seems to be similar to my Scheepjeswol Invicta sock yarn. In the Tiger shop I found Sockyarn (last one) for 1 Euro and round knitting needles for 3 Euros. I also got another ball of Lang Mille Colori Baby Merino wool.


My recent purchases
A charity shop find - a small coin purse - in the trend colour for 2015: Marsala



Tiny beads

On saturday I had a laptop and knitting free day - I spent the afternoon playing with my tiny seed beads. I made a necklace which can be worn double and a thing that looks like a pendant, but I think I will make it into a bead brooch instead. I also made a tassel pendant (not shown). I forgotten how fiddly it is to work with such minute beads, I used my strong magnifying Craft lamp - especially useful when you need to get the thread onto a small needle!!! I enjoyed getting caught up in doing something a bit difficult!





I'm sure most of you had quite a bit of snow by now, we had a small amount here in Belgium. This is the view from the upstairs window last Thursday morning.

05.02.15 Snow
This is all from me for now. I must do a bit of studying for a Dutch test this evening! Hope you are keeping warm and cosy, sitting somewhere nice with your crochet or knitting in hands!

Please feel free to leave me some comments, you know I enjoy reading them. I need to catch up on my own blog reading, too! There seems to be never enough time for everything!!!