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 Colours
Even though I’ve already shown the colours in a previous post, here they are 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.
You will find detailed information about the colours I used for each row / 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 difficult one. It cost me a lot of time and nerves.
At first I thought about using just cream and grey, but I abandoned 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 :D
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 that great together. Duck Egg and Storm Blue also are a great combination. Strong but beautiful!
In the end, I came back to my idea with Cream and Grey 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.
The colours remind me on a cold and sunny winter morning. I love them!
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 fell in love with this pattern the first time I saw it and knew immediately that I had to make it. I started it in January 2021 and no, it is not finished yet. Why?
Well, it all began with the photo above. I was writing a blog post about the projects I am working on besides testing. Mainly the Seashell Dudes by misssBerlin and When Summer turns into Fall. Since both of these projects were not very far along, I had the idea of using the cover photos of the patterns to show how they will look when finished. I therefore decided to contact the designers and ask for permission. Having worked with Dana (misssBerlin) several times before, I was sure she would agree. But I had no idea how Ana would react. Nevertheless, I simply wrote her an email. And that’s how it began! Her answer was not long in coming and of course she agreed that I could use her photo. But she also asked me if I would like to test for her once. Guess what I answered! So I found myself testing her Gretchen, the Geometrics and many more …
It is an amazing journey and I have made a wonderful friend! Only my When Summer turns into Fall has slept peacefully in a bag so far. But I will now take the opportunity of the MAL to finally get on with it! It is such a relaxing pattern and fun to work on. Wish me luck!
Sorbet is the latest pattern from Ana Morais Soares. I had the pleasure to test this beauty during May. The original blanket is made with a colour changing yarn. Ana used Hobbii Twister, a Cotton / Acrylic mix in sport weight.
As I had to use up some of my stash, my blanket is made from DK yarn.
I actually wanted to achieve the same size with my thicker yarn as Ana did with her Twister (90 x 130 cm). I probably miscalculated! To achieve this, I would have needed 2 more repeats in the width. My blanket is now only 80 cm wide and so I have also reduced the length slightly. For me anyway, it’s a perfect lap blanket for sitting on the couch. The colours fit perfectly in my living room and they will also go well with my – er, my husband’s – Midnight Snowflakes (when it’s finished one day).
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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:
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.
Hooked on Häkelmaschen 