Pattern Tests – Page 6 – Hooked on Häkelmaschen

Talavera Blanket

Update, January 2025:
As you can read below, the pattern was originally published in 2022 by Simply Crochet Magazine as Cal (7 parts). Ana has now summarised the complete pattern. So it is now also available in her Ravelry shop.

Finally I can show you the project I worked on from the mid-December 2021 until mid-January 2022: Talavera!

Talavera is a design by my friend Ana Morais Soares from One Skein of Love. She was asked by the Simply Crochet Magazine to design a blanket for a Cal.
The Cal has just started and part 1 is published. For further information either have a look at issue 122 of the Simply Crochet Magazine, their Ravelry page or website.

It was quite a challenge to finish this beauty in more or less 4 weeks! But so worth the effort!

For her design Ana used Caron Simply Soft, an Aran weight. As you might know Aran is not my favorite yarn weight. So I went for Stylecraft Special DK.

I already showed my colour scheme a few days ago, which – again- was inspired by a mood board of Pipin Poppycrock.

I mainly followed Ana’s colour placement but – partly by accident and partly on purpose – I have made some colour changes. So here my notes:

Pattern

Talavera Blanket featured in Simply Crochet Magazine

Designer

Ana Morais Soares / One Skein of Love

Started

15. December 2021

finished

14. January 2022

Yarn

Stylecraft Special DK
295 m / 100 g

Hook

Clover Soft Touch, 3,75 mm

Colours and Yarn Amounts

1240 Soft Peach	4 balls
1026 Apricot	2 balls
1836 Vintage Peach	2 balls
1203 Silver	2 balls
1009 Grey	2 balls

Replacement of Colours

C1	Vintage Peach
C2	Silver
C3	Soft Peach
C4	Grey
C5	Apricot

Changes

Round 19, 27, 37	Silver instead of C5
Round 40	Apricot instead of C2
Round 73	Grey instead of C5
Round 74	Vintage Peach instead of C4
Round 78	Soft Peach instead of C2
Round 79	Silver instead of C3
Round 85	Grey instead of C5
Round 86	Apricot instead of C4

finished Size

140 x 140 cm

I am very happy with the result!
It will be a gift for my mother in law and I hope she will like it as much as I do!

Hello Spring – Round up

Here a brief summary of my test for the Hello Spring Cal:

Hello Spring Cal

21. March – 25. April 2022

Pattern

Hello Spring Cal
available on Ravelry and Etsy

Designer

Ana Morais Soares from One Skein of Love

Technique

Overlay Mosaic crochet

Test Phase

08. February – 21. March 2022

Finished

21. March 2022

Yarn

Stylecraft Special DK

Colours

1001 – White, 3 balls
1822 – Pistachio, 3 balls
1027 – Khaki, 2 balls
1081 – Saffron, 1 ball
1723 – Tomato, 1 ball

Hook

Clover Soft Touch, 4 mm

Gauge

Repeats

5 Repeats, 93 stitches

Rows / Patterns

261 rows, patterns 1 to 12, following the Cal pattern

Border

Double border

Finished Size

57 x 149 cm

As always it was a lot of fun to test one of Ana‘s pattern. If you missed any parts just have a look at my older posts.

Hello Spring – Part 6

Hello Spring Cal comes to an end now, only the border needs to be done.

If you follow my blog, you already know that I made a wall hanging working the Hello Spring pattern over 5 pattern repeats. When it came to the border, I finally had to decide how I wanted to hang it up.
I have seen quite complicated looking constructions to hang a wall decoration, but I had no idea how to do it.
At first I thought about attaching loops to it like a quilt, but even then I wasn’t sure how best to attach them. Then I had another idea, a very easy one:

I worked the border as normal. In the final joining round I left a piece open on the upper side edges. On the last 7 stitches on both upper sides I worked the slip stitches only on the front layer without joining the two layers. The corner is worked as normal.
This has created a kind of tunnel through which you can push a rod. It works perfectly!

My colours for the border

Long overdue update, July 2024:
I have finally redesigned the documents for my colour scheme and combined the download into one file.
Please don’t be surprised that the files look a little different, the content is the same.

My colours Hello Spring parts 1- 6 Download

Tomorrow I will write a short summary with all details of my test. Stay tuned!

Hello Spring – Part 5

Part 5 of the Hello Spring Cal is out. It is the last part of the blanket body. So it’s almost done. Next week the instructions for the border will follow.

Next week I will show you how I made the mounting for the wall hanging. Add on I will list my yarn amounts.

Here a few impressions of mine:

My colours Part 5

My colours Hello Spring parts 1- 6 Download

Happy hooking 💕

Hello Spring – Part 4

Week 4 of the Hello Spring Cal starts, now it is already half way done. One more part will follow next week and then it will be border time!

Just two more pictures this week – again, not the best quality! Again we had a long period of bad weather! Sorry!

And here my colours

My colours Hello Spring parts 1- 6 Download

Have fun 💕

Hello Spring – Part 3

It is already week 3 of the Hello Spring Cal. The time flies! However, I just felt thrown back a few weeks. We haven’t had that much snow for years. This is our old pine tree on Saturday morning, 02.April 2022. Hello Spring!

But I don’t want to miss to share

My colours Part 3

My colours Hello Spring parts 1- 6 Download

Have a lovely week 💕

Hello Spring Cal – Part 2

Just in time for the start of the second part of the Hello Spring Cal I would like to show you my part 2 and share my colour placement..

But first …

… I‘d like to show you my finished wall hanging.

I worked over 5 repeats and it is about 60 cm (24 inch) wide.

It will be a decoration in our hall. Unfortunately it is too dark there to take a good photo. The colours are hard to capture anyway!

My colours part 2

According to my original plans, I only wanted to use 4 colours for my wall hanging – mainly White, Khaki, Pistachio and a little Saffron to spice it up. In part 2 I changed my mind!

The picture below shows my first attempt on part 2. Probably a bit too much Khaki?

And here my second version, after playing a bit with Tomato

My colour placement:

My colours Hello Spring parts 1- 6 Download

And that’s all for today. Have a wonderful week 💕

Hello Spring Cal – Part 1

Today is the day, Hello Spring Cal starts!

Since some people have asked me about it, yes, I will post my progress, parts and colours here. So let us begin with my

Yarn and colours

I used Stylecraft Special DK and a 4 mm hook. My colours are

1001 White
1822 Pistachio
1027 Khaki
1081 Saffron
1723 Tomato

When I saw Ana‘s pattern I actually had a different colour scheme in mind and my first approach was slightly different.
But somehow it didn’t work, even thoughI tried two different colour placements. I had the feeling that it might be a bit dark for a spring theme. At the same time, I had no idea how to proceed with the colour placement. That’s why I discarded it.

Nevertheless, I LOVE these swatches. I haven’t frogged them yet and will keep them as inspiration. I know for sure that I will use these colours some day!

While looking for other colour combinations, I came across a drawing with stylised flowers in two different shades of green on a white background. Somehow that said >Spring< to me.
To achieve this look I choose White and Pistachio as main colours and added a little bit of Khaki. Spiced up with a few splashes of Saffron and Tomato.

And here are the colours I used for part 1

My colours Hello Spring parts 1- 6 Download

Oh, I almost forgot! The pattern is available here.

And last but not least, here is a photo showing all the test versions of the One Skein of Love test team.

See you next week!

Hello Spring Cal

The days are not only getting a bit longer but also a bit warmer. The first bushes and trees are sprouting and the sparrows are preparing their nests under our roof. Spring is coming in the northern hemisphere!

Ana from One Skein of Love is celebrating the season with her Hello Spring Cal.
Another project that has kept me busy in the last weeks, between Midnight Snowflakes, sock knitting, a short holiday and „normal” life.

I started testing the Hello Spring Cal in early February. The pattern is designed as a blanket and – similar to Winter Wonderland – consist of different designs that can be combined in various ways. Due to time constraints I only worked 5 repeats this time – it will be a beautiful wall decoration when I am finished.

My colours were inspired by a drawing I found on the internet: flowers in two or three different greens on a white ground. They looked so fresh and airy and reminded me immediately of spring. Unfortunately I cannot share it here due to copyrights but I tried to copy this look using Stylecraft Special DK from my stash.

I used mainly White and Pistachio combined with Khaki and a little bit of Saffron and Tomato.

The Cal will start next Monday, 21. March 2022 and runs for 6 weeks. More information and of course also the pattern are available in Ana’s Ravelry store.

Due to the lovely holiday we had last week I am still working on the border but I hope to show you more next week!

Fancy Nancy

While revising my Pattern Tests page I noticed that I still haven‘t shown my Fancy Nancy square. Shame! So I thought I would write a quick post to catch up!

Fancy Nancy is a design by Pam Knighton-Haener from a Yarn of Serendipity. I tested this pattern already in October last year.

Normally her squares are designed to use an Aran cotton yarn. I must confess not exactly my favorite yarn. At least I haven‘t found one I like to work with yet. So this time I decided to try my standard acrylic DK yarn. Just to see how it works.

I used Stylecraft Special DK in Copper, Parchment and Gold, my favorite autumn colours. I followed her colour scheme 2 and only switched the colour for the last round.

With Aran the squares should be 28 cm (11 inch) or about 30 cm (12 inch) depending on the hook size. With DK yarn my Fancy Nancy became 25 x 25 cm (about 10 inch) tall.

I am very pleased with my result although I assume a cotton yarn would work better. Pat uses a lot of trebles and double trebles in her patterns. These stitches just look better when they are blocked. Unfortunately I still have problems to block acrylic yarn properly.

I started testing for Pam in September 2020 and since then had the opportunity to test four of her lovely squares. Well, five, to be correct! I just finished testing her latest design. The pattern has not been published yet, so I cannot show it. But what I can show again are the squares I have made so far.

Maybe I should get some suitable cotton yarn and make some more? One day it would make a beautiful blanket.

All of Pam’s designs are so rich in texture, they would even look great in a solid colour.

If you would like to try one of Pam’s designs just visit her Ravelry store. She also offers some of her patterns for free, have a look!