ELeni

Magic Winter – My Start

Have you seen Ana‘s new Cal? Magic Winter will start on Friday, 17. November 2023. The Introduction File with all relevant information is already available on Ravelry.

I had the pleasure of testing this wonderful pattern and also do the translations into German.

The Magic Winter blanket is made in Overlay Mosaic technique and also has a small section of Tapestry Mosaic. Of course, the pattern explains how to do both.

When Ana showed me her new design for the first time, I immediately thought about a clear, cold and frozen winter morning when the sun rises with a rosy shine. On these days, my grandma used to say: ›look, the angels are baking biscuits in heaven‹. So I immediately knew how I wanted my blanket to look like: a cold and clear winter morning with a beautiful sunrise …

I used Stylecraft Special DK in White, Silver and Vintage Peach and I am very happy with the result. At the moment I‘m still working on the border and can‘t show you a finished blanket. But I can give you some impressions.

If you are interested in my colour placements, I have already listed them here for part 1 of the Cal. The rest, including my yarn amounts, will follow next week when I am hopefully finished with the blanket.

That‘s all for today. Have a lovely time 💕

Progress with my Legacy Blanket

YAY! It took a while because of all my doubts about the colours and the colour placements … But finally … all 12 squares are done! All tails worked away and all squares are blocked.

These are the three that have been missing in my collection so far.

Lauren Rose

Brood of Angels

Macey Ann

I have just prepared the first squares for joining and spent some time on the layout.

After some arranging and rearranging of the squares, I decided in favour of the layout shown on the left. I hope it will look nice!

The Zipper Join

In the Justyce Destany Border pattern for the Legacy Blanket Pam recommends to use the Zipper Join for joining the squares.

I have to admit, I am not a professional when it comes to joining squares. I once used the “Join as you go-method” for joining some granny squares – but I think that was it. So I had my first attempt on the zipper join when testing the Justyce Destany border.
The pattern contains a helpful link to a video tutorial that shows how to do this join. But, if you prefer written tutorials like I do: I also found a very clear and helpful one from Raffaella from Raffamusa Designs.
Nevertheless, the beginning is a bit fiddly – at least I think so … But I am slowly getting the hang of it.
I initially experimented a little with the hook size and finally decided on 5.0 mm hook. The squares are made with a 4 mm hook but with the larger hook size I find it easier to make the stitches even and not too tight. So far I am pleased with the result. It’s a very nice and flat join. Now on to the next ones!

Have a lovely time 💕

Back from holidays

Last week we arrived back home from a lovely 10 days holiday. We were once again at one of my favorite places here in Germany, the Black Forest. The Black Forest is a mountainous region in southwest Germany and borders France. Among other things, it is very well known for the cuckoo clocks.
We enjoyed the time very much, even though the weather was unfortunately very unstable. We had rain, wind, sunshine, dark clouds, fog …

… and beautiful sunsets.

As usual, I didn’t crochet much on holiday, so there’s not much to show either. Only some new socks that I started to knit.

The pattern is called Laid Edges by Kellie Macpherson and is available for free on Ravelry. And wow – it‘s the first time that I work along an English sock pattern. So far it looks like I’ve mastered it (even though I decided to knit a different heel).

And some impressions from one of our long walks.

I love this region of Germany! I love the clear and fresh air, the people and especially my holiday place (the one on the picture above with the bench in the rain). Sigh* …

Well, now it’s on with normal life and it’s on with my Legacy blanket, a new test for Ana, the winter preparations in the garden and many more!

Have a lovely week 💗

More Squares of my Legacy Blanket

Progress with my Legacy Blanket. The joining comes closer, 11 of 12 squares are finished now. All tails worked away and most of them already blocked!
I also revised some of my colour placements and am happy with the result!

Besides Pam just released the pattern for the Justyce Destany Border .

I was happy to help testing the border pattern. Although my blanket is not finished yet I am able to show you a sneak peek of the border.

For testing purposes I used two of my ›old‹ squares which I made right at the beginning of this journey: Drops Merino Extra Fine #50, Light Beige as main colour, #06 Brown Mix and #07 Light Brown for contrast. I discarded this colour scheme after I had worked the first two squares – somehow I didn’t like it. But – advantage – it gave me some ›leftovers‹ for testing the border.

And here some of my finished squares

Madux James

Brixton Carter-Lee

Marley Mae

Jalen Miles

Carter Jude

Olivia Grace

So far so good!
Lauren Rose (one of the revised ones) and Brood of Angels are still on the blocking board. The last one to finish is Macey Ann. Actually, Macey Ann was the very first Legacy Square I made. So it still has the ›old ‹ colour scheme and – besides now being part of my border patch – needs to be redone.

All patterns for the Legacy Blanket are available in Pam‘s Ravelry store.

Have a lovely weekend 💕

Em Cabal Square

I don’t want to miss to show you my Em Cabal Square. I tested this pattern – designed by Pam Knighton-Haener from A Yarn of Serendipity – some weeks ago.
The Em Cabal Square was a special design for the Ravelry BAMCAL2023 – Block-A-Month Crochet-A-Long, a group on Ravelry.
Every month, 3 different squares are featured in this group. They are chosen by the mods and / or the members and you can decide to crochet one (or more) of them. At the end of the year you will have a lovely blanket. What a great idea!

Em Cabal is the square for October. It is a 12 inch square with 39 stitches per side. The skill level is beginning advanced. As all of Pam’s patterns it has great stitch explanations and helpful pictures for each round.

For my test version I used Drops Safran (160 m / 50 g) and Cotton Kings 8/4 (170 m / 50 g) and a 2,75 mm hook. Both yarns are 100 % cotton – soft and nice to work with.

I followed Pam’s colourway and used

A – Drops Safran, # 60, Moss Green
B – Cotton Kings, # 41, Spring Green
C – Drops Safran, # 71, Marzipan
D – Drops Safran, # 11, Strong Yellow

First I was not sure, if the two green yarns would work together but I am very happy with the result. Although, the square also looks great in a single colour!

Somehow the pattern reminds me a bit on Florentine Tiles. What do you think?

The pattern is available in Pam’s Ravelry store.

BOO!!!Licious

The year flies by … – it‘s already October! Only a few more weeks until Halloween … But still time to make some decoration …

Ana from One Skein of Love just released a new pattern which is available on Ravelry (and of course all her other shops):
BOO!!!Licious.
It is a Halloween themed pattern and combines Overlay Mosaic with Tapestry crochet.
The pattern is written to make a blanket but it is also suitable for many other things, such as cushion covers, table runners, bags, etc.

Photo credit Ana Morais Soares / One Skein of Love

I had the pleasure of testing (and translating) BOO!!!Licious. I created some wall hangings, similar to the ones I made with Wintry Forest.

I love the colours Ana used for her sample! The yarn is Durable Comfy, and the orange tone (Caramel) is just gorgeous. However, I wanted to showcase something different, with slightly more muted colors – foggy and spooky…

That’s why I decided to use very little orange and focused on different grey tones and a soft purple.

My Yarn

I used some yarn from my stash – a combination of Stylecraft Special DK and King Cole Baby Comfort DK – with a 4 mm hook.

Stylecraft Special DK (100 g – 295 m / 322 yds)
- 1063, Graphite – a little bit over 2 balls
- 1807, Hint of Silver – 1 ball
- 1836, Vintage Peach – some left overs
King Cole Baby Comfort DK (100 g – 310 m / 340 yds)
- 1731, Mulberry – 1 ball

My Panels

All of my panels are worked over 1 pattern repeat plus border stitches. Each one starts with a foundation row and ends with one final row of single crochet in the back loops. I followed the pattern layout of the BOO!!!Licious blanket, just splitting it into 3 parts. I have only omitted the last repetition of pattern 2 and 1 in panel 3. Otherwise, it would have become too long.
The panels are framed with a double border, just like explained in the pattern. Their finished width is about 29 cm / 11,5 inches.

Panel 1 – The Ghosts

It is worked over 79 rows in total and measures app. 48 cm / 19 inches, including the border.

Panel 2 – The Pumpkins

The panel has a total of 56 rows and measures about 41 cm / 16 inches.
Due to my different colour placement, I had to add an additional row of single crochet between patterns 1 and 4, respectively 4 and 1.

Panel 3 – The Spiders

Again, I had to add 2 rows of single crochet to make my colours match. This time they are a separation between patterns 1 and 6, respectively, 8 and 1.
The whole panel has 73 rows in total and measures app. 45 cm / 18 inches.

If you are interested in the details of my colour placement, I have listed them in a separate file for you to download.

boolicious Download

And here they are, in my living room over the couch …

Happy Halloween 🎃 🎃 🎃

Some new Squares

My Legacy Blanket

Do you love crocheting squares?
I really just discovered a big love for them! A square usually doesn’t take very long to complete and – very important to me – you quickly see successes. This also makes them to great ›in between projects‹.
Besides they’re great to make when the weather is still hot – you’re not trapped under a big, warm blanket. Although, very suddenly it has turned cold and autumnal over here, so this is not so important to me at the moment.

You might know that some time ago Pam Knighton-Haener from A Yarn of Serendipity designed a very special blanket as a legacy for her grandchildren. It consists of 12 different squares, representing her grand kids and her family. At the moment the instructions for joining the squares and for the border are in testing. Besides she revised the patterns for the squares and I had the chance to test some of them. A good opportunity for a new blanket. It will be only the second one I have ever made with joined squares. Unbelievable!

So far I have already made 9 out of 12 squares. Unfortunately ›made‹ does not mean that they are actually finished. Only 3 of them are blocked with all the yarn ends worked away. For another 3 I am currently rethinking my colour placement and 3 still have a lot of loose ends that need to be done.

I am afraid it is one of my bad habits: I only work away the tails when a square is completed. Yes, I have tried to improve this process! Yes, I know that it is much easier and less frustrating to do it at once!
The only thing is, when I work away the tails right away, I often find a mistake afterwards (again Yes – of course I know that I should check this beforehand – but still …). Meanwhile I am almost convinced that working away the yarn ends straight away might bring bad luck – so I just let them live a little longer.
Good things take time, as we say.

Nevertheless I love working on this blanket and I love my finished squares.

I am using a combination of Drops Lima and Drops Merino Extra Fine – both DK / Light worsted – with a 4 mm hook.
Drops Lima consists of 65 % Wool and 35 % Alpaca. It has 100 m per 50 g. Merino Extra Fine is 100 % Wool with 105 m / 50 g.
My main colour is Lima #100, Off White. The accent colours are Merino Extra Fine #07, Light Taupe (Light Brown) and #15 Light Greyish Green.

I hope the blanket will wash well. Lima can only be washed by hand but I really like the feel of the yarn. And I decided to combine the two yarns because of the colours. The colour 100, Off White, is the same for Lima and Merino Extra Fine, yet looks a bit different. Probably due to the structure of the yarn the contrast to my accent colours looks softer with Lima. And I liked this look much better.

My finished squares are about 25 cm / nearly 10 inch.

Landyn Tahj

Kinnedy Nichelle

Jalen Stanley

All patterns for the Legacy Blanket -some paid, some free – are available in Pam’s Ravelry store.

Now on to finishing the next ones!

Have a lovely week 💕

Aureole Mandala

Pam Knighton-Haener from A Yarn of Serendipity just released a new pattern – Aureole Mandala.

My first Mandala

Unbelievable, the Aureole Mandala is the first mandala I have ever crocheted!
I have wanted to do something like this for a very long time. At the back of my mind, there is an idea to decorate a wall in our living room with colorful mandalas…
So I was happy when Pam came up with her pattern for testing.

My test version is made with Drops Safran. It is a sport weight yarn and has 160 m / 50 g. It is just a tiny Aureole Mandala. With my 2,75 mm hook it turned out about 17 cm in diameter, that is just under 7 inch. I will see if I can find a suitable ring to attach it. It will make a lovely wall decoration. I love the colours!

Colour A – # 23, Brown
Colour B – # 11, Strong Yellow
Colour C – # 71, Marzipan
Colour D – # 28, Orange

The pattern is rated as intermediate and available as a free pattern in Pam’s Ravelry store.
As always there are explanations for all the stitches used and helpful and detailed pictures for each round.

My second Mandala

Quite a good result: shortly after the first Mandala was done, I made a second one – hehe.
Pam had just hosted an Aureole Mandala CAL in her Facebook Group. The pattern was split into two rounds a day. So I joined in and made a second one.

This time I used a mixture of Drops Paris, Drops Love You 8, and Cotton Aran from Paintbox. All three are Aran or worsted weight yarns with 75m / 50g (Drops) and 85m / 50g (Paintbox).
Those who know me know that I am not a fan of this yarn weight. I always have a hard time with it, and I always find that my stitches look a bit messy. Well…

By mistake, this time I used a 5.0mm instead of my 4.5 mm hook. When I realised that in round 7, I decided to continue with it. It actually worked out quite well. After blocking my Mandala measures about 27 cm / just under 11 inch.

The colours for the one above are:

Colour A – # 17, Off White – Drops Paris
Colour B – # 609, Light Caramel – Paintbox Cotton Aran
Colour C – # 19, Apricot – Drops Love you 8
Colour D – # 62, Sage Green – Drops Paris

Aureole Mandala is really fun to make!

If you have always wanted to try a pattern of Pam, this one is a good opportunity!

Happy hooking!

Little Boxes Shawl – An Easy Filet Crochet Shawl Pattern

Unfortunately, I was not able to commit to any major test projects this year. The deadlines for these tests are sometimes very tight. When there are a thousand other things to do, it’s very difficult for me to meet them. And it’s been a very busy year for me so far!
Luckily, though, I’ve found some private crochet time in between, where I’ve been able to go at my own pace.

This is how a new shawl was created!

Strictly speaking, it also was the result of a “bad buy” of yarn.
Or, to be precise, it wasn’t a “bad buy”, not at all – the yarn is great! It just – as so often – didn’t fit the project I bought it for. So I looked for something else to make with it … and the Little Boxes Shawl was born!

I recently wrote down the pattern and it has now been fully tested

So here it is, my

Little Boxes Shawl

The shawl is made in Filet crochet, a very old crochet technique. If you do not know this technique yet, I just summarized the basics about it here.

My sample is made with Lang Yarns Baby Cotton Color. The colour I used is # 0025, a mixture of Navy, Purple and Sage.

Baby Cotton Color is a 100 % cotton yarn and has 180 m / 50 g. It is nicely soft and lovely to work with.
But of course you can use any other fingering (#1) yarn you like. Or even any other yarn you like!

I used nearly 250 g (5 balls) and a 2,5 mm hook.

My finished and blocked shawl measures about 31 x 180 cm (12,2 x 70,9 in).

The Pattern

Since it is just a simple Filet pattern, I decided to post the graph for the pattern here as a free version.
The written instructions are available for a small fee on Ravelry. Besides the row by row instructions (and the chart shown below) they also include some tips on how I made my shawl to make the boxes look square.
The pattern is written in US terms.

My sample is made over 71 stitches and 22 repeats in height. The size of the shawl can be adjusted by adding or reducing repeats.

So here you go with the

Little Boxes Filet Chart

This pattern / chart is my intellectual property, so please respect my copyright and do not claim it as your own. You may print a copy for your own use but please don’t alter, distribute or sell it. You may sell items made from this pattern in small quantities but no permission is given for mass production. Thanks for understanding and respecting!

I hope you have fun! Happy hooking 💕

Happy Granny Square Day 2023

Today is Granny Square Day!

It looks like Granny Square Day has become a kind of tradition in the crochet world. Since 2014, every year on 15. August, people from all over the world post their (Granny) squares on social media, mainly on Instagram. The original idea was, that all the squares together on IG would look like a colourful Granny Square blanket. Just search for the hashtag #grannysquareday2023 and you will see what I mean.

Last year I posted Ana‘s Sweet Marigold Square. She designed it especially for the Granny Square Day and I had the pleasure to test the pattern. This year I decided to show one of my own designs.

One of my own designs sounds a bit like having a huge pool of designs to choose from – he, he.
In fact, I don‘t!
Sometimes it just comes over me and then I grab my yarn and hook and start combining stitches … I am still learning … Sometimes something emerges that I like and perhaps develop further. Sometimes I just discard everything …

This is how the small square here was “born”. Something I like and thought I could at least show on Granny Square Day. ( It is based on my very first square that I designed over a year ago, but never showed anywhere. )

So far it doesn’t have a name – and no finished pattern, only my notes. I do not yet know exactly what I will do with it.
It’s a 6″ square, maybe I’ll develop it further into an 11″ or 12” square? And combine both, the small and the big one to … ??? We will see!

First I need to write down the pattern properly and maybe take some detailed photos. And think about a name! So there is still a lot to do.

My sample is made with Hobbii Rainbow Cotton 8/6, a DK or Light worsted yarn. Colours are Jeans Blue (#29), Light Jeans Blue (#28) and Pearl Gray (#73).

I hope you like it!

HAPPY GRANNY SQUARE DAY!