ELeni

Happy Circles II – My new experiment in random colour placement

I’m working on a new project – a cushion cover!
I’m finally trying out a colour combination that I’ve wanted to try for a long time. The inspiration comes from a cushion I have from IKEA. It is a mixture of green and blue tones, with a yellow undertone in the green shades. And again I wanted to try a random colour placement.

I’m still a long way from having finished it. But so far I like it so much that I wanted to show it off!

My Colours

Stylecraft Special DK

1822 – Pistachio
1027 – Khaki
1065 – Meadow
1725 – Sage
1820 – Duck Egg

I opted for a similar design to the Happy Circles wall hangings I made last year. Do you remember them? You can find the free pattern here or on Ravelry.

Back then I used 15 different colours and created the random arrangement of the colours with a random generator. And I was totally happy with the result!

If you are interested in the process of my colour placement you will find all information in this post.

Random colour placement

After the random colour placement worked so well last year, I wanted to use the same method for the cushion cover.

Well…

Using a random generator

I have to admit that using a random generator didn’t work out so well this time.

I guess it has to do with how a randomiser works. This is a very complex topic – at least that’s how it seems to me. And that’s why I don’t want to go into it any further here. But if you are interested in this topic you can read about it on the Random.org website. I used their list generator for my purposes.

Anyhow, as a result of the random generator, my colours were – of course – not evenly distributed. By this I mean that the colours used occurred in different numbers. No matter how often or in what order I entered the colours, one colour always appeared very often and the others very little.

So, using only 5 colours therefore led to an imbalance – at least in my eyes.

I think when more colours are used, this will not even be noticeable. And with a larger project, such as a blanket, it can even look very nice if one colour is more dominant than the others.

However, I didn’t like it at all on the relatively small cushion cover.

Creating my own randomness

After several attempts I decided to create my own ‘randomness’ with a more balanced distribution of colours.

To do this, I made a table in which I first entered the colours for the first round of my circles. The letters A – E are the placeholders for my 5 colours.

I would like to design the front of my cushion cover with 4 x 4, i.e. 16 squares in total.

Therefore, I decided to start 4 circles with colour A and 3 circles each with one of the other 4 colours. That makes a total of 16.

To determine the colours for the second round, I started at the first square with colour B and entered the colours consecutively downwards. To avoid two rounds having the same colour, I skipped the relevant letter in these cases. For example, in Square 6, the correct order should have been B in Round 2, but I skipped to C, etc. Afterwards I did the same for round 3, starting with the letter C.

This is the result:

From circles to squares

I then assigned the 5 colours that I had chosen to the letters A – E:

A – Duck Egg
B – Meadow
C – Sage
D – Pistachio
E – Khaki

As with my wall hangings, I then turned the circles into squares. For this I added two more rounds in 1005 Cream, also from Stylecraft Special DK.

Creating a layout

Similar to my wall hangings, I created the final layout with the random generator.

I entered the digits 1 – 16 (which stand for the 16 squares) into the list generator of random.org and generated a random result. According to the this result, I arranged the squares on the places 1 -16 in the 4 x 4 layout, made a few more changes until I liked it, and voilà …

The two grids on the left show the places numbered from 1 -16 (the small one) and the numbers of the squares that were arranged on this places. On the right is the finished layout …

And, to make things a little easier:
Below my detailed list of the colours used for the circles for each round and the corresponding layout.

Final colour scheme and layout

Joining the squares

Currently I am working on the join…

For my wall hangings, I had opted for a relatively inconspicuous joining method in the colour of the squares. In comparison, I now use Pistachio, so it’s more of a contrasting colour. And I opted for the Zig Zag Slip Stitch Join.

I really like how it turns out!

After joining, I will probably have to make a few more rounds around the whole panel to achieve the desired size.

However, I’m still not sure what the back should look like. Single coloured or colourful? I think I’m leaning towards single-coloured, but that could still change …

Have a great start to the new week 💕

Tested Pattern Review: Dahlia of Yore Square

Last week I showed you the new design by Pam Knighton-Haener from A Yarn of Serendipity: the Dahlia of Yore Square.
Today I‘d like to show you my version of this design. I had the pleasure of helping to test the pattern and am absolutely happy with the result.

I have tried to do justice to the name with my choice of yarn. I therefore decided on Drops Muskat. I think it looks a bit vintage due to the somewhat muted colours and the silky sheen.

I have to admit, though, that I had to look up the name of the design first. I wasn’t familiar with the word yore. So, in case you feel the same way since English is not your native language either, here is the explanation I got from Google:

Yore means “long ago” and is used in the same way as “yesteryear”, “days gone by” and “old times”. Yore has a sentimental or nostalgic undertone and implies that the old times described are in some way superior to the present.

But back to my yarn and colours. Drops Muskat is a mercerised cotton and has about 100 m / 50 g. It is rated as a Double Knit (DK) / light worsted yarn weight (#3), great to work with a 4 mm hook.

I had originally bought this yarn for another project. That was so long ago that I can’t even remember what exactly it was for. In the past I have used it for another of Pam’s designs, the Sage Advice square. (Different colours but also a very nice vintage look.)
Unfortunately, Muskat is not quite easy to crochet with. You have to be very careful not to pull any threads. But the result is fantastic, isn’t it? And as I said, I like these muted colours.

Here my choice:

Drops Muskat
– 87 Pomegranate
– 09 Nutmeg
– 82 Silver Orchid

Unfortunately theses colours are very hard to capture in a photo. So, in my photos, the Silver Orchid looks a little more silver than it is in reality.

I followed colourway 1 from the pattern and replaced
– colour A with Silver Orchid
– colour B with Nutmeg and
– colours C and D with Pomegranate

The only change I made is that I worked rounds 15 and 16 in colour C instead of B.

My finished and blocked square measures about 26 cm, that’s about 10 ^1/4 inch.

The pattern is available on Ravelry. Of course, the size and stitch count match Pam’s other squares perfectly.
The skill level is rated as mid-intermediate. As usual in Pam’s designs there are a few special stitches. But they are all well explained. Additionally, detailed photos for each round help in case something should be unclear. It‘s definitely worth trying!

Another new design by Pam: Dahlia of Yore

Pam Knighton-Haener from A Yarn of Serendipity just released a lovely new design: Dahlia of Yore Square, a beautiful afghan square – just look at that …

Dahlia of Yore

My test-version of this lovely square will follow in a few days. I am just preparing the photos!

My Crochet Flower Collage: Fresh Spring Craft Ideas

About a week ago we came back from a wonderful holiday on the North Sea. The weather was cold but mostly sunny. So we were able to take wonderful long walks on the beach. It was great!!

At home – we live about 500 km south in the centre of Germany – we then realised that spring was slowly arriving …

Our apple tree is getting its first green leaves, the little peach tree has the first pink blossoms and the birds start singing again. Spring time!

This first soft green has inspired me to bring some colour into our home! Although I really don’t crochet much at the moment, I spontaneously thought of making something Easter-themed. I only couldn’t decide on a pattern. Then I remembered a lovely site that I discovered last year, just before Christmas: Bomuldskys .

Bomuldskys is a Danish site. Emilie, the person behind it, lives in Copenhagen. She offers both paid and free patterns. And I just LOVE her designs, especially her greeting cards.

Last year I already fell in love with one of her Christmas designs. Due to my eye problems, however, I didn’t have the patience to make it. This time Summer Flowers caught my eye. It is one of the greeting cards and available for free on her website.

I just had to try it!

So I grabbed out my crochet hook and some yarn from my stash.

My yarn and colours

I used 3 different shades of pink for the flowers:

Hobbii Rainbow Cotton 8/4 (160 m / 50 g)
- 64 – Dark Powder Rose
- 46 – Old Rose
Drops Safran (160 m / 50 g)
- 57 Mauve

A green shade for the leaves

Cotton Kings Cotton 8/4
- 41 – I have no name for this one, sorry

(I got this some time ago as part of a colour pack from Hobbii yarn shop but it looks like the brand Cotton King doesn’t exist any more.)

And a light yellow to embroider the stamens of the flowers

Drops Safran (160 m / 50 g)
- 10 – Vanilla Cream

Greeting Card

I found a suitable card and paper (for the little bag) in the stationery shop. I used a card for crafting which is about 12 x 17 cm (4 3/4 x 6 3/4 inch) in size. It has a window on the front so that you can place a photo or something similar.

For the assembly of the flower bouquet I orientated myself on the instructions and the photo from the pattern.
I first made the little bag and glued it on using a craft glue. Then I arranged the flowers and leaves. After all had found a position that I liked, I glued them on as well.

In total I made

1 big and 2 small flowers in Dark Powder Rose (Hobbii Rainbow Cotton)
1 big flower in Old Rose (Hobbii Rainbow Cotton)
2 small flowers in Mauve (Drops Safran)
4 leaves in green (Cotton King)

I absolutely love the result and will probably use it as birthday card for a dear friend. But it would also make a nice Easter card, wouldn‘t it?

The flowers and leaves are really quick and easy to make! I also can imagine them in different colours. Light blue and white, for example, would also look lovely together!
However, I just felt like making a few more and assembled them in a

Flower Collage

For the collage I got a white picture frame that is 13 x 18 cm (5 x 7 inch) in size.

At first I took the frame apart and removed the glass. Then cut a piece of cardboard to the appropriate size and inserted it in place of the glass. That way I got a nice background for my bouquet of flowers.

The further process was basically the same as for the card. I first arranged the flowers and leaves until I liked the placement and colour distribution. Then I glued on the individual parts. I started with the stems and then worked from the bottom upwards.

The little stems were not part of the pattern. So I just made a chain in a suitable length (mine are between 18 and 20 chains long) and slip stitched all the way back in each chain.

For the Collage I made

1 big and 3 small flowers in Dark Powder Rose (Hobbii Rainbow Cotton)
3 small flowers in Old Rose (Hobbii Rainbow Cotton)
1 big and 1 small flower in Mauve (Drops Safran)
5 leaves and 3 stems in green

A quick word about the crochet hook size: according to the instructions, a 2.0 crochet hook should be used. Personally, this seemed a bit small to me. Especially as the cotton yarns I used tend to split a bit. Don’t get me wrong! I love both Hobbii Rainbow Cotton and Drops Safran. I especially like the softness and the matte look. I just find it difficult to work them with a small hook.

For the card, I therefore crocheted the flowers with a 2.75 mm hook. This is the size I normally use with this yarn. At first they seemed a bit loose to me. So I went down to a 2.25 mm hook when I made the flowers for the collage. Although liked the structure better I have to say that the flowers I made with the larger hook were easier to shape.

In my opinion, you can’t see any difference in the end result. So both seems to be ok.

What do you think of the result?

I think it could become a new passion of mine… I have two crochet books with different flower motifs. I’ve been wanting to try some of them for a long time. Maybe I’ll make some new decorations for our living room. Let’s see …

I hope I was able to inspire you a little for a beautiful and quickly made spring decoration. I’m going to see if I can make something Eastery after all. I’ve seen a cute little rabbit. Or should I make a few more flowers? Hmmm …?

Have a nice time 💕

My New Coasters – Mastering short rows in crochet

You’re probably wondering why it’s so quiet here… – well…

I am still struggling with health issues.

As I mentioned last year, I have some trouble with one of my eyes. About 4 months ago, my eyesight has got worse. My eye doc diagnosed an oedema – a kind of swelling – in my eye. For treatment I’m now getting injections (yep, right into the eye— yikes!). After each one, I have to rest my eye for a few days, which means no reading, no sports, no bending over, etc. This of course limits my crochet projects.

But, at the moment I’m feeling hopeful! At least subjectively the treatment seems to do something good! Still, focusing on anything for too long is a struggle.

So I have to take things slowly and mostly stick to smaller projects for now. And, yay, slowly but happy – I just finished some coasters.

And additionally , I learned something completely new: short rows. Until now, I only knew short rows from knitting. There I often used this technique for creating the heel of socks. But as far as I’ve heard, it is also sometimes used for knitting jumpers etc. But I’m not an expert on this.

Despite the different techniques, short rows in knitting and crochet are probably the same thing. In both, as the name suggests, only part of a row is worked. This makes it possible to create a particular shape.

Until now, however, I had never used it for crochet.

Gift Coasters

Last December I bought an eBook from Tatsiana (Lilla Bjorn crochet). She had a mystery make-a-long (MAL) and released 4 small patterns: Gift Coaster, Gift Bauble, Gift Mandala Garland and Pixel Coaster & Purse. All of them very lovely!

Whilst the MAL is over the patterns are still available on Ravelry – either separately or as an eBook .

Although I’ve had the eBook since December, I’ve only now found the time to start one of the projects.

I decided to start with the Gift Coaster. This pattern is using the short rows I mentioned above.

I am absolutely fascinated by the effects you can achieve with short rows and working in the back loops.

The coaster has 8 sections that are crocheted one after the other. This gradually creates a circle. The pattern is very detailed. Besides the written instructions the pdf has also a picture tutorial. It shows exactly where the stitches must be placed at the transition from a short to a long row. And there also is a link to a video tutorial if you prefer visual and spoken support. I don’t normally like watching videos. But I found this one very helpful, especially for join at the end.

My version of the Gift Coaster

My two samples are made with Schachenmayr Catania and a 3 mm hook.

Catania is a 100 % mercerized cotton yarn. It has 125 m / 137 yards per 50 g. It is classified as #2, Fine or Sport weight yarn.

My colours are 0244, Agave and 00507, Salbei.

I just love the combination of these two colours. What do you think?

Salbei (Sage) was from a limited Edition back in 2022 – I am not sure if it is still available anywhere. It was my last skein – I would love to have more!

My coasters are 15 cm in diameter. So they just turned out as they should.

I am totally happy with the result!

Beautiful 6 Inch Squares – designed by Pam

I was just going through my emails and came across a slightly older email from Pam. It was from September last year and she was telling me that the book 60 Quick Granny Squares would be available on Amazon from the beginning of November 2024. Ugh, I had completely forgotten! Time to catch up!

60 Quick Granny Squares – The Book

I don’t normally write book reviews and I don’t want this to be one either. Actually it is more about some desings by Pam Knighton-Haener from A Yarn of Serendipity – a designer for whom I sometimes test.

Back in 2023 she was asked by a book publisher if she could design some 6 inch squares.
She said yes and five of her designs are now presented in this book.
I would like to introduce them – or rather my test versions of them. But first a word about the book

Unfortunately I don’t own it yet, so I can’t say too much about it. But I took a look at the extensive reading sample on Amazon. So I can at least give a brief summary:

In the preview I especially love the fact that all 60 designs – created by different designers – are shown there at the beginning! (A lot of books don’t offer this.)
All designs feature Cascade 220 Superwash yarn. It is a DK (#3) yarn, 100 % wool, with a yardage of 200 m / 100g. AND all designs look very beautiful!

The patterns are both, written and charted. Some of the squares are more beginner friendly, others a little more challenging.
In addition to the patterns, the book also describes various techniques and gives helpful tips. E.g. how to start a square, how to change colours, how to join the squares, and so on.
And there are some projects at the end for which the squares can be used.
A book that is definitely worth a second look!

Pam’s Designs and my test versions

As said before Pam designed five squares for this book: Shift, Sunflower Sizzle, Wriggle, Running Routes and Sol. I had the opportunity to test these designs back in 2023.

Even though the squares are actually designed for a Double Knit yarn, I used a different yarn for my tests. Two to be precise:
Drops Safran and Hobbii Rainbow Cotton 8/4.
Both are sport weight (#2) yarns in 100 % Cotton and have a yardage of 160 m / 50 g.
Unfortunately I had not noted the hook size I was using. I assume it was a 2.75 mm hook, I’m not sure though. Due to the thinner yarn my squares turned out about 4.5 inches, which is about 11.5 cm.

For all 5 designs I used the same three colours:
Dark Taupe and Orange from Drops Safran and Apricot from Hobbii Rainbow Cotton.
A bit 70s style but I still like them!

And here the colour details …

My new versions of Running Routes, Wriggle and Shift

I lately reworked three of the squares with a different yarn. Just to see how the squares will look in 6 inch / 15 cm and – to be honest – first of all to try a new colour combination.

I used Stylecraft Special DK and a 3.75 mm hook for the new versions. They became pretty much exactly 6 inch / 15 cm tall.
The colours are completely different though – using pink and grey tones instead of brown and orange.

Here my new colour combo in Hint of Silver, Pale Rose, Parma Violet and Powder Pink:

Lovely aren’t they? I especially love the combination of Pale Rose and Parma Violet. What do you think?

To catch up completely I will now hop over to Ravelry to add my versions to the projects. I just saw that the book is also presented there. Some designers have already added their designs.

By the way Ravelry: if you take a look at Pam’s designs there you will probably notice that these 6 inch squares combine really well with her 12 inch squares. Perhaps this will lead to ideas for a new project? I’ve had something in mind for a while, but unfortunately haven’t found the time to realise it yet. Hope to manage it soon! I will let you know!

Have a lovely time 💕

Happy Circles – A new pattern

New Year – new wall decorations

It is already mid January and I hope you had a great start in the new year! Hubby and I got off to a very cosy start.
After that, however, we started renovating another room in our house – just in keeping with the theme of new beginnings.
We want a new insulated floor – the same one we have already laid in the living room and hallway. After that there will be new cupboards. So again, it looks a bit chaotic here at the moment. Never ending story …

However, within all the renovation stuff, we have a new wall decoration in our living room! But of course these are not the result of our renovation work but of my colour experiments last year.

My colour experiment in 2024

You may remember that last year I experimented a little with random colour placement. This project really opened my eyes to new ways of combining colours.

I started by selecting yarn in 15 different shades from my Stylecraft Special DK stash. Mostly leftovers from other projects.

But instead of manually compiling all possible colour combinations in a table, I tried an online random generator, Random.org . They offer a lot of free services, including a list randomizer. It works wonderfully for generating random colour combinations. I described in detail how this works in an earlier post. You can read all about it here

I needed a bit of colour – Colour Experiment Part 1

My first Panel

To try out the random colour combinations, I started crocheting little circles. Each with 3 rounds. In doing so, I have strictly adhered to the results that the random colour generator had given me. I only replaced a colour if it would otherwise have appeared twice in a circle. In the end, this resulted in 25 colourful circles, which I then turned into small squares. I joined them in a 5 x 5 layout. To determine the exact arrangement of the squares, I also used the random generator.

Details on my colour placement and layout can be found in this post

Random Layout – Colour Experiment Part 2

After adding a small border my finished panel was about 52 x 52 cm.

At first I had thought of making a cushion cover out of it. But then I decided to use it as a wall decoration.

My second Panel

Overall, I was so thrilled with the result that I have since made a second panel.

I used the same colours and the same process as with the first panel. The colour combinations are completely different, but it looks just as great.

Here the results:

The table below shows the colour combinations that I have used for my second panel. The colours are listed for each circle in the order of rounds 1, 2 and 3. As for my first panel each circle was squared with two more rounds in the colour Graphite.
At the same time, the table shows the layout in which I have arranged the squares.

I had already listed the pattern for the squares, joining, and border in a separate post. If you are interested you can find it here

Step by step – A new wall decoration – Colour experiment Part 3

But in addition, I have now written down the pattern again and summarised it in a pdf file. Besides the actual pattern, this document contains the colour combinations and layouts for both panels.
So you can also download the complete file here.

Please note: Some left over yarns and 1 ball of Stylecraft Special DK for squaring and joining are sufficient for one panel.

Happy Circles Download

I hope you like it as much as I did!

Have a lovely time 💕

My Winter’s Love blanket – it’s finished

Last weekend I made the last stitches on my Winter’s Love blanket. YAY – it is finished!

I really enjoyed working on it!

Here is a Short Summary

Winter‘s Love is the current Cal (Crochet-a-long) by Ana Morais Soares from One Skein of Love. The Cal already started on 22. November 2024. It is divided into 4 parts and part 4 – the last one – will already be published on Friday (13. December 2024). Time flies …
But it is never too late to get the pattern. It’s perhaps a little late to get the blanket ready for Christmas. But starting it at Christmas and finishing it for next year is certainly a very nice idea too.

In case you are interested, the pattern is available here.

During the last weeks I had the pleasure of testing this lovely pattern. I had a late start though. Due to our holidays I was only able to start working on it in the second half of October. Besides my normal life (and some health issues) it took me about 7 weeks to finish it. Late for the test – but nevertheless, 7 weeks are not too bad for finishing a blanket, I think. I am not a fast crocheter anyway!

My yarn and yarn amounts

It is the first time I have used Yarnsmiths Create DK. Yarnsmiths is an own brand from Wool Warehouse in the UK.

Create DK is an 100 % Acrylic yarn. It comes in 100 g balls and has a yardage of 290 m / 100g. It is currently available in 120 colours.

I decided to go with Claret Red (3090) and Off White (3045) for my blanket.

In total I needed

4 balls Off-White
6 balls Claret Red

I really like the quality of Create DK. It has a consistent thickness and is soft and smooth. It was absolutely fun to work with! I will have to get some more colours.

Finished Size of my blanket

My finished blanket is about 120 x 150 cm. That’s about 47 x 59 inch. I worked with a 4 mm hook.

My colour placement

After a first try (in the photo the strip on top), I decided to start my blanket with a dark background, having the motifs in white.
That means I started the foundation row in Off White (C1) and used Claret Red as C2.

I kept this scheme for the first 8 patterns of the blanket. For the last 3 patterns, however, I decided to swap the colours.

I have already written about the reasons for this in my previous post. There you will also find detailed information about what exactly I did to swap the colours. Besides there is also an overview of my detailed colour placement for all patterns of the blanket. Only the colours of the border are not listed there. Now, the slip-stitch round, front- and back layer and the joining round were all worked in Claret Red. That‘s it.

But, to make it easier, I have now also summarised my entire colour placement in a pdf file. So, if you are interested you can download it here

Winters Love colour scheme Download

Well, that’s the end of another big crochet project. After that, I always have the feeling of falling into a kind of big hole. Do you know that?

I still have no idea what I’m going to do next. Unfortunately, I’m having problems with one of my eyes at the moment (and a few appointments at the eye doctor). So I think it’s going to be something small. Maybe some Granny Squares? Or something small for Christmas? Hm, let’s see!

Wish you a lovely time 💕

My previous posts about Winter‘s Love

Winter’s Love Cal

My Winter‘s Love blanket – A quick update

My Winter’s Love blanket – A quick Update

About a fortnight ago I showed you my current test project: Winter’s Love Cal. A new overlay mosaic pattern by Ana Morais Soares from One Skein of Love.
At that time, I had just finished about 2/3 of the blanket.

In case you missed my previous post you can read about it here

In the meantime the Cal started. Ana just released part 2 of the pattern. And yes, I am almost finished with my blanket!
All tails are knotted and cut! All slip stitches to start the border are done! And last night I started with the back layer of the border.

When I started my blanket a few weeks ago, I decided to replace Ana’s beautiful green (C1) with Off White and the cream (C2) with Claret Red. So I had a dark background and white motifs.

I really love the way how this turned out!

However, when I reached pattern 9, I had some doubts about my colour placement.

Due to my colour scheme the trees in pattern 9 were shown in white. In my opinion this didn’t go so well with the white baubles in pattern 8. I had already finished half of the pattern when I decided that it would be better to swap colours. That meant I had to go back some rows! I kept row 1 (Off White) and row 2 (Claret Red) in my old colour scheme. Then skipped row 3 of the pattern. It is a plain row of single crochet, so it did not influence the pattern. But this made it possible to continue in row 4 with Off White instead of Claret Red – and voilà, the colours had changed!

Changing the colour also had the advantage of giving the last pattern a dark background again. I liked that better as well.

Please note: If you decide to do the same for your blanket, you will have 1 row less in the number of rows. This also means that you will have 1 stitch less on the long sides when you crochet the slip stitches and the border.

Unless you do it like me. After I finished the last pattern, I added a row of single crochet in Off White. This way I started and finished the blanket with the same colour. But to be honest, it wasn’t the look that convinced me to do it. It was simply the fact that my slip stitches then had a contrasting background on both short sides. My eyes couldn’t have coped with anything else.

And here is my colour placement in detail

And a word about the yarn amounts:

So far I have used 4 balls of Off White and also 4 balls of Claret Red. There is nothing left from these balls. So with a different tension you might run short with these amounts.

Yarn is Yarnsmiths Create DK from Wool Warehouse in the UK. I worked with a 4 mm hook.

That’s all for today! I’m off to do a bit of Christmas decorating. And continue working on the border! Have a lovely time 💕

Winter’s Love CAL

Now it’s that very special time of the year again! In the northern hemisphere, winter is lurking just around the corner. Christmas is just over 5 weeks away. And Ana from One Skein of Love has just introduced her new Winter CAL (crochet along): Winter’s Love!

Winter’s Love is another blanket design in Overlay Mosaic. It matches her earlier winter designs – Winter Wonderland, Wintry Forest and Magic Winter – perfectly.

Picture by Ana Morais Soares / One Skein of Love

Lovely, isn’t it?

Winter’s Love CAL Dates

The Winter’s Love Cal will start on Friday, 22. November 2024.

It is divided into four parts.
Part 1 will be released on Friday, 22. November 2024. Parts 2 – 4 follow at intervals of one week each. So the dates are

Part 1 – 22. November 2024
Part 2 – 29. November 2024
Part 3 – 06. December 2024
Part 4 – 13. December 2024

All information about the CAL is already available on Ravelry. After you purchased the pattern you can download an introduction file with all relevant notes. Yarn amounts, size and gauge, pattern notes, abbreviations, tutorials and so on.

My version of Winter’s Love

I promised Ana in October that I would test the pattern. I’m sorry to say that I am not finished yet. Life and, unfortunately, my health got in the way a bit.

Luckily I’ve already done a good bit that I can show. And of course I’m hurrying to finish as quickly as possible.

My yarn

This time I am trying something different: Yarnsmiths Create DK.

Yarnsmiths is a relatively new yarn and an own brand from Wool Warehouse. (My favorite online yarn shop. Unfortunately located in Great Britain.)

Create DK is a 100 % Acrylic yarn. At the moment it comes in 120 different shades. I guess many of them are similar to the colours from Stylecraft Special DK. But there are also some special ones. It’s definitely worth a look!
The yardage is 290 m per 100 g ball. Recommended hook size is 4 mm.

It works up nicely! I like it and will definitely try some more colours.

My colours and colour placement

When I saw Ana’s new design for the first time I instantly thought of classic colours.
So I had originally planned to use white, red and grey to give it kind of a Nordic look.
I ordered some Off-White, Claret Red ans Storm Grey. I primarily wanted to use the off-white as a background colour and make the motifs in red. A little grey in between.

After my yarn arrived, I initially followed Ana’s pattern just replacing her cream coloured yarn with Off-White.

After the first few rows, however, I changed my mind. The claret-red fascinated me and I considered swapping the colours.

The picture below shows both versions. The sample on top is my first one, using Off-White as background. The other one (with the little blue stitch marker) is the one with swapped colours.

What shall I say? I didn’t have to think for long! The one with the swapped colours was my favourite and became my final version. Without the grey though.
Throughout the pattern I use Off White as colour C1 and Claret Red as colour C2.

My progress so far

This is what I have so far. I just reached the end of part 2. 150 rows are done.

Now on to part 3. Another 75 rows to go.

I’ll keep you updated on my progress

And just a side note on my yarn order:

Yep, after years of abstinence, I finally dared to order from Wool Warehouse in the UK again. I hadn’t ordered there since the Brexit (the UK’s exit from the European Economic Union).
I knew that I would have to pay extra taxes. Ok, but unfortunately, I had read a lot about people from Europe who had to pay horrendous amounts. So I really wasn’t sure how everything would work.
I am happy that I finally tried it! It is nothing to be scared of!

My order was delivered by DHL. The parcel was not tracked. That was a bit of a pity because you never know when you can expect delivery. But it arrived within a week or so. I got a note from DHL and had to pick the parcel up in the post office. There I paid the import sales tax. This corresponds to the usual 19% VAT here. And I also had to pay a small handling fee to DHL. But in total the price was still reasonable.

The only thing I have to make sure of is that my order does not exceed € 150. Then there are no customs duties and I only have to pay the import VAT. I really wish I had tried it earlier!