Radiance is the newest pattern from Ana from One Skein of Love. She released it last week and I was just able to finish my test version and take some pictures.
The original pattern is for a blanket made in Overlay Mosaic technique. Ana’s blanket is about 100 cm x 134 cm. With a repeat of only 24 stitches the size of the blanket is easy to adjust. As usual her pattern has written instructions in US terms, a chart and a lot of row by row pictures. Ana used one solid colour and a colour changing yarn. You can have a look at her design in her Ravelry store, and of course you can get the pattern there too.
I turned my test version in a cushion cover.
It is worked over 3 pattern repeats in width and 4 repeats in height.
For the border I first added a row of slip stitches on the long sides of the panel. Then folded it in the half (so that there are 2 repeats from the height in front and two in back) and sewed the sides together.
I added a border on both sides, hiding all yarn ends and the my sewing. The border is made of 6 rounds single crochet in back loop.The opening at the bottom is – em, will be – closed with a zipper.
I used some left overs from my Midnight Snowflakes blanket – Scheepjes Color Crafter in the colour Rotterdam and Stylecraft Special DK in Duck Egg.
One of my crochet tests from 2022 I haven’t shown you yet: Wooly Friends.
I tested this lovely pattern already in April last year. Actually it is a pattern for a baby blanket. It was featured (with UK terms) in issue 125 of Simply Crochet Magazine. Ana now published the pattern herself and it is available in US and UK terms in her Ravelry store.
Through testing, I have meanwhile collected a lot of blankets – although I have already given many away. That’s why I often think about what else to make out of a pattern. With this one I had immediately a bag in mind for all my different projects – but with only a vague idea of how to do it. In the end it took almost 3 months (including holidays and other tests) to get it done, but I am more than happy with the result!
How my bag came to life
Yarn and colours used
Stylecraft Special DK (100g = 295 m) in the following colours
I started the bag with two identical panels, worked over 4 repeats.
Pattern Sequence for the panels
Foundation Row
Pattern 1
Pattern 2
Pattern 1
Pattern 3
Pattern 1
Final row of the pattern
plus 4 additional rows, just single crochet worked in back loop
Colour placement
Foundation Row
C1 – Grey
Pattern 1
C2 – Duck Egg
C3 – Plum
C4 – Silver
Pattern 2
C1 – Grape
C2 – Parchment
C5 – Grey
C6 – Duck Egg
Pattern 3
C1 – Grey
C2 – Parchment
C5 – Grape
Final Row(pattern)
C1 – Grey
Additional Rows
Plum
Grey
Duck Egg
Grey
My panels were about 40 cm in width and 42 cm in height.
At this point I first thought about joining the two panels (with all the tails inside) and lining the bag. But then I decided to give it a little more storage space for yarn. So I made an additional smaller panel that now serves as bottom and sides of the bag.
I worked this additional panel over 235 stitches in single crochet. Like in mosaic technique: each row starting and ending with a border stitch, all the other stitches worked in back loop only, cutting the yarn after each row. The tails on both sides are hidden in a small double border: front and back layer made with 3 rows of back loop single crochet. The final bottom/side panel is a little (4 stitches in total) shorter than than the main panels.
Colour sequence for the additional panel
Grey (Foundation)
Grey
Plum
Duck Egg
Grey
Grape
Duck Egg
Plum
Parchment
Grey
Grey
Joining
I finally joined the panels with the slip stitches for the double border, just working through both layers- bottom/side panel and main panel – at once. I have to confess: this was not my favorite part as it took a lot of patience and a lot of time to catch the correct stitches at the same time!
On the upper edge I skipped the middle 39 stitches with a chain to make the handles.
Double Borders
Front and back layers of the borders were made with 3 rows of back loop single crochet, three single crochets worked in one stitch for the corners (note: it‘s always good to use a stitch marker to mark the middle stitch). At the upper edges the double border was just continued over the chains to form the handles. All slip stitches and borders were made in Plum.
As I said, I am more than happy with the bag. After it was finally finished, I immediately started using it. Since then it has not been empty for a single day!
Have you already seen Ana‘s new pattern? It is a special gift to show her gratitude for all the love and support that has been given to her and her designs during this year. The pattern is available for free in her Ravelry shop.
The panel in Overlay Mosaic fits beautifully with the Wintry Forest pattern. Using DK yarn it will be about 40 x 40 cm. You can either sew it onto a cushion cover, like Ana did, make a wall hanging out of it, a placemat or whatever else comes to your mind. It works up quickly and is great to use up some leftover yarns.
I made my test version with Cabaret from Stylecraft yarns combined with Stylecraft Special DK in Cream. The Cabaret is from my extensive single-ball-of-yarn-collection. I ordered it years ago to check quality and colour but never found a project to use it. Forest Glade – discontinued meanwhile – has a silver metal thread running with it and the colour changes in different green shades. Unfortunately, you can’t really see the glitter in the photos.
I’m not sure yet what I’m going to do with my panel. I was thinking of sewing it onto a fabric bag. Let’s see if I can find something suitable.
The picture above shows Ana’s work – photo credit goes to her and below you can see my test version.
Today part 2 of Ana‘s Wintry Forest Cal was released. I hope you enjoy following along.
In the meantime, I have summarised all the details on my wall hangings in a table. There you will now find information about the colours I have used for each pattern and about some small additions I made.
If you are interested you can just download it below. The general information about which colours and which yarn I used I had already listed in my previous post.
If you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment or send me an email.
Today part 1 of Ana’s Wintry Forest Cal was released. Lots of fun to all who follow the Cal.
My wall hangers are finally decorated in our living room and I love them, love them, love them.
For those who are interested here some details:
My Wintry Forest Colours
I already showed you the colours in a previous post but here again:
I used
Cream, Mocha, Grey and a little bit of Denim – all from Stylecraft Special DK and Stonewash from King Cole Comfort DK (that‘s the lovely blue on the upper left)
and worked with a 4 mm hook.
I think the colours and the colour way would also make a very lovely blanket.
Yarn amounts for my wall hangers
You will find detailed information about the colours I used for each pattern in my next post as download.
Finally I can show something I worked on for the last few weeks: Wintry Forest.
Wintry Forest is the new Cal by Ana Morais Soares from One Skein of Love. It will come in 6 parts (5 for the blanket and 1 for the border) and starts on November 10th. The Intro File with all relevant information is already available on Ana’s Ravelry page.
When I started testing it about 4 weeks ago I knew right away that I was going to make a wall decoration. But this time the decision about colour was a hard one . It cost me a lot of time and nerves.
I first thought about going only with Creme and Grey but I discarded the idea after one of my fellow testers used exactly this colour combination. My next idea was to make it colourful, changing background and contrast colour for each pattern. So I picked about 10 or 12 colours from my Stylecraft Special DK and began mixing and matching them. I ended up with a pile of colour swatches but somehow I didn‘t get the colour placement balanced. So I also discarded this idea.
The picture above shows only some of them 😀
Nevertheless I will keep my pile of swatches as I found some really nice combinations. For instance I never thought that Mocha and Pale Rose would look great together. Duck Egg and Storm Blue also are a great combination. Strong but beautiful!
In the end, I came back to my Cream / Grey idea and decided on a combination of
Cream, Mocha, Grey (Stylecraft Special DK) and Stonewash (King Cole Comfort DK).
I also added a little bit of Denim (Stylecraft), just because I fell in love with that colour and thought that it matches the rest.
It reminds me on winter – I love it!
I separated the pattern (10 different designs) into three parts and am just framing my panels with borders and make some tassels.
Hopefully I will be able to show you my completed decoration next week when the Cal starts.
I tested this little beauty already in August. Once again I had the feeling that I didn’t have the right colours in my Rainbow Cotton to do justice to this design. So I used a yarn that I had actually ordered to try out for a completely different project. Drops Muskat. Drops Muskat is a mercerised cotton yarn, classified as DK yarn with 100 m per 50 g. It comes in 45 colours and has a lovely shine that gives it a bit a vintage touch (at least in my eyes). It splits a bit, so you have to be careful when crocheting, but I’ve worked with yarns where this was worse. And the finished look is worth the effort I think.
As always Pam‘s design is rich with stitch combinations and full of texture. And again the square was designed with a Aran / worsted weight (#4) yarn. Depending on the hook size it is supposed to be either 11 x 11” (4,5 mm hook) or 12” x 12” ( 5 mm hook). That makes approx. 28 cm respectively 30,5 cm in the square.
It was absolutely fun to test it! Here some details of my version:
Head over Heals is the new design from Pam Knighton-Haener / A Yarn of Serendipity. I had the pleasure to test this square in July.
Although I had decided at some point to do all her tests with Hobbii Rainbow Cotton 8/4, this time I felt I didn’t have the right colours for it. So I came back to my SSDK after all. Instead of the 4 mm hook I normally use with this yarn I chose 4,5 mm this time. I think the result is better but I am still not 100% satisfied with the stitch definition.
I love the colours though. I wanted to try this combination for a long time
Cream, Apricot, Pistachio, Silver and Graphite.
Square I
For my test square I followed Pam‘s colour way 2 with some slight changes for two rounds. Hooking the square I was so fascinated by the center part that I wanted to see how it would look in another colour combination. And I also was curious how my colours would look in another arrangement. So I made a second one following my own ideas. Not sure which one I like better.
I was thinking about mounting one of the squares on a cushion cover. Unfortunately I only have one in a dark grey. So I’m already thinking about whether I should make a third square in slightly brighter colours, hm … Well, we will see!
For this day Ana Morais Soares from One Skein of Love has designed this lovely square: Sweet Marigold Square. The pattern is featured in Simply Crochet Magazine. This month they will have a supplement with 52 Granny Squares patterns that will be put together into a blanket. The blanket and their fees will be donated to Operation Orphan, a non profit organization.
I had the pleasure to test Ana’s pattern earlier this year. My version is made with Schachenmayr Catania – a Sport weight (#2)Cotton yarn (125 m / 50 g) – and a 2,5 mm hook. It turned out about 12 cm.
My colours are
Colour A – 427 Scampi Colour B – 401 Apricot Colour C and D – 269 Graublau
I am curious to see the other squares from the Simply Crochet Magazine supplement!
… another beautiful design by A Yarn of Serendipity – Pam Knighton-Haener and my test no. 3 out of 4 that I have completed for Pam this year. And still more to come … YAY!
The Sweet Delusions Square is featured in the BAMCAL 2022 – Crochet a Block-a-Month— on Ravelry. It’s the square for the month August. The pattern is available as a free download on Pam’s website or as a paid pattern on Ravelry. The paid version has additional features like the very helpful round-by-roubd pictures and links that help you to navigate through the document.
For Sweet Delusions I stayed with my Hobbii Rainbow cotton 8/4 just as I had intended. I like the result and think the colours go very well together. Although I can imagine it in different colours as well. Maybe different shades of green and a little bit of cream? Or shades of purple? There are so many possibilities!
Hooked on Häkelmaschen 