crafts & knitting

falling in love again

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)70 Comments

I hadn't planned to make another crochet blanket, although recently I have been missing the pleasures of a little evening crochet time, but when I came across Minna's fabulous fleamarket find I fell in love.

 

Mistyafghan

I adore the colour scheme of her blanket so I'm trying to replicate the smoky, misty feel of it and I have spent the last 2 weeks trawling the yarn shops looking for heathered aran yarns. I've settled on using mostly Cascade 220 yarn as their colour range is vast and it is a very good price (I bought most of mine from Get Knitted).

 

Mistia

Despite the big range Cascade didn't have all of the colours that I had in mind and so I'm also mixing in some yarn from my stash – some vintage Magpie Aran by Rowan, some 'Willow' by texere and some mystery pink yarn (I think it's Rowan) in exactly the shade I wanted. Luckily I find that crochet is very forgiving when you use yarns of slightly different weights and thicknesses. I've posted full details to my Ravelry project page.

 

Mist

 

Now I have made a start, I'm happily settling down into a gentle rythm of working on this after the children are in bed at night. That last hour of the day is perfect for a little sleepy and undemanding crochet time and I'm really enjoying working on this. Hopefully it will turn out as beautifully as Minna's blanket and in honour of her beautiful styling and photography I'm going to call this the 'misty morning in autumn afghan'. Hopefully I'll have it finished by the time those first misty mornings arrive!

 

crafts & knitting

old mossy wall shawl, finished

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)32 Comments

I have finished the old mossy wall shawl.

 

Omwshawl

Although those lovely ripples make a beautiful pattern and I do love the mossy, woodland tones of the yarns, I don't feel quite right in it.

 

Omws3

 

Omws

 

Maybe I'm not a shawl wearing kind of girl afterall. I think I'll be wrapping this one around and wearing it like a scarf and that will probably be the end of my shawl knitting days.

 

Omws2

Omwshawl2

Still, now it's finished I'm free to take up my crochet hook again for a spot of evening time 'one a day' grannying because after saying that I was all blanketed out, something has caught my eye. In fact it's been a bit of an obsession over the last two weeks and I've been trawling the yarn shops looking for the right yarns. Now I have my cast of yarns gathered and I'm ready to start but I will tell you all about it next time!

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PS: I didn't use both the tones of Koigu as I had originally planned. I felt the dark green one didn't work, so I substituted some Madeline Tosh sock yarn that I had left over from some gloves. Details are on ravelry if you're interested x

garden stuff

a spot of gardening

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)28 Comments

 

Typically for a British bank holiday we've spent the long weekend dodging rain showers. Luckily there have been some dry spells that were long enough for Toby to have some bouncy time and for me to potter around the garden. I had bought some new herbs to replace those that have been in situ for a few years and gone all woody and now they're happily bedded into my little herb wall.

 

Garden3

 

In between the herbs I've planted a few little violas – they were on sale and are so pretty that it would have been unkind not to give them a home. There were a few too many to fit into the wall and as the herbs will probably crowd them out, I've popped them into a pot.

 

Garden2

Since the weather isn't yet good enough for us to be spending much time outside I've brought them inside so that I can appreciate their delicate prettiness all the time.

 

Viola5

 

Viola4

 

Viola2

It's nice to have a little taste of spring inside the house, though I hope that Toby isn't tempted to literally taste them – I've not had fresh flowers in the house since the peony munching incident!