It's Crochet, Knit & Natter 10: New Year, New Yarn, New Thread!

[QuantumWeatherButterfly]

Time for a new thread for all the lovely yarn crafters!

Old thread here: http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/artsandcrafts/4557189-its-crochet-knit-natter-9-so-many-projects-so-little-time-oh-well-i-almost-made-it-rhymee_

@QuantumWeatherButterfly hat looks like a lovely start! Im sure you will be very happy with the finished piece.

I am making progress on my husbands jumper. Cant understand how I ended up choosing dar navy yarn when we have added creamy golden retriever to our family. All I can see is real and imaginary hair on the knit which is driving me crazy!!

I forgot to attach picture of my process 🫣

Hardly that @Fairislefandango you’ve went further than me now taking your alpaca from fleece to knitting!

I’ve spun one of the pigments braids before and the sari silk gives it a textured effect, I took some and sampled it - I made tiny skeins in a few different thicknesses and tried short draw and long draw and from the fold to decide which one I liked best.

It’s very pretty finished but it didn’t come out smooth for me. The sari silk made it quite neppy. I still have some somewhere I think, I’ll see if I can find it and take a pic to show you what I mean.

A fractal works best with hand dyed fibre where it changes colour vertically along the braid if that makes sense. Ipulled the braid open and spun from it as I went. You can’t ruin it, just get stuck in and enjoy it

My friend is having a baby in May and we’re in Scotland so I really wanted to do a highland cow lovey type thing. It’s just not bloody working. The yarn is shit, cygnet scrumpalicious. I tried a different pattern with some dk yarn and that didn’t work either. I’m sad, the pattern hart the highland cow by mamamademinis, is a good pattern, but even though I’ve done an amigurumi before I’m not a good enough crocheted. Think I should stick to blankets lol

Oh that’s a pity @fidgetcube but I really loved getting pram blankets from friends and family, they were perfect for the car seats as well and they were so handy to have all over the place. What about corner to corner crochet with a pic of a highland cow? I will disclaim that I don’t really enjoy crocheting so I’ve never done one!

@Fairislefandango here’s a pic, I had a couple more samples but I can’t find them…

@SpinMeRightRoundBabyRightRound thanks. Ah well. I’m doing a rainbow and clouds blanket. It’s rainbow stripes with a cloud looking border. It’s super pretty and colourful.

I think a corner to corner is out of my league, plus I’ve got way too many blankets on the go lol. But thanks for the idea.

@fidgetcube a corner to corner blanket is just tr crochet which you’ve been doing on your temperature blankets. You can do a Htr version as well if you want it a bit smaller. The texture is created by you turning it at the end of every row.

5 currant buns made this weekend for DCs class! His teacher has asked for some crocheted/knitting resources for the classroom! I'm going to make some play food too at some point but I've also got the dragon to do and I'm making mini toys to put in DCs party bags next month!

You've also reminded me @WeCanLiveLikeJackAndSally that I need to try a C2C blanket! I didn't realise they were so simple.

@sophs29 I think the first couple of rows can be tricky when learning. I had a picture tutorial and couldn’t wrap my head around it but after that it’s quite repetitive. It’s a good tv stitch, although probably something easy watching if you’re doing a lot of colour work with it.

Personally I found C2C to be the most boring thing I've ever made. Which is probably why the blanket still isn't finished after about 5 years . Well that and I need to order more green yarn.

Thanks for the advice and the picture, @SpinMeRightRoundBabyRightRound! Your yarn looks lovely.

I'm still doing my alpaca hat and my endless sleeve scarf, but I'm now getting excited about some new projects! Dd would like me to make her a jumper in bottle green with some cable, and I've just remembered that MIL admired the cable hat I made which I was wearing over Christmas, and I promised to make her one. Mine is cream, but she likes bright colours. I've got the pattern for that, and I've been favouriting some possible cable jumpers on Ravelry for dd. I love having requests for things I can make!

My other bit of excitement is that the personalised faux suede tags I ordered from Etsy arrived, so a few of my hats are now adorned with them!

@GlowWine

Those socks look incredibly comfortable
😍

@sophs29

This is why I'd love to master crochet - so versatile.

A very talented lady once made me the bits and pieces for The Very Hungry Caterpillar book for my class. They were a brilliant prop to use with my class.

Love the cherry buns.

@Ladywithacat the beginnings of your jumper are looking great! Sympathies over the dog hair - we had a golden retriever when I was a child and the hair used to drive my mum mad! Our current dog is dark brown and white, so the hairs show whatever color you're wearing!

IVE FIGURED OUT THE MAGIC CIRCLE. YASSS. Apologies for shouting but I’m so excited lol

So lovely to find this thread, may I join?
I am both a knitter and a crocheter and have made a resolution that 2023 will be the year of finishing Wips and using stash. At the start of January I went through all of my various cubby holes and pulled out all my hibernating Wips and having realised that I get easily bored I am trying to set smaller goals month to month for them rather than promising to finish one all at once.
for January’s goals I am working on knitting a ranunculus sweater, a double knitting scarf and a linen tee and crochet wise a backpack that I bought a kit for in the first lockdown and a mouse in a suitcase for my niece which is also doing a good job of using up odd balls of yarn and ends of other projects.
My current favourite is definitely the mouse in the suitcase which is just adorably cute. The pattern is by Laura sutcliffe and available on Ravelry, I have made some adaptations to used the yarn I already have and am using plastic mesh to make the structure of the suitcase.

I love when these moments happen, my family normally just nod and smile at me like I’m slightly batty when I celebrate them. Well done- it is a fabulous technique for No Centre holes!

Well. Done @fidgetcube and welcome @aplo . That mouse looks so cute.

I also need to finish some long forgotten WIPs, use some stash rather than buy more yarn and write down the designs in my head so I don't forget them.

Thanks guys.

if anyone was curious as to what I was doing wrong. I wasn’t crocheting over the yarn tail, so it was loose on the right, rather than through the crochet. So it wouldn’t tighten.

here is the highland cows head. Much much bigger than I thought lol. I think my friend might kill me lol.

Here’s the fucking huge cow with one leg now. He’s sooooo soft but so bloody big.

Well done @fidgetcube - the magic circle is a bit of a bastard at first! The fucking huge cow looks gorgeous. Surely he's a fucking huge bull if he's a he though .

Welcome @aplo . Cute mouse! I think I've seen and liked the ranunculus sweater pattern.

@Fairislefandango thanks. Yeah true, not a cow, defo a bull. My uncle had one 10-15 years ago or so called Boris, he so suited it lol.

The cow looks so so soft!
thanks @Fairislefandango the ranunculus is my second one, I was originally making it to wear with a particular outfit for an occasion last July that was cancelled and it has sat in hibernation since. It is a gorgeous and fun knit it was banished to hibernation purely because I was cross about having to cancel. I have just finished the lace section and am hoping to divide for the arms over the next few days.

@Fairislefandango thank you! I managed to make some good progress with it over the weekend and now only about 4 cm away from splitting for the sleeves 🤩

@aplo welcome! My friend had made ranunculus and it looks lovely. Its one of the patterns I wish to make one day.

I am currently on a look out for mohair sales as I want to make myself coco jacket by popknits that I been thinking about for some time now. Probably will make it out of drops silk mohair as I cannot think of another brand that makes good mohair. Suggestions are welcome.

I have packed my knitting to take to office tomorrow for some lunch time knitting. I have made new project bag over my Christmas break which holds my project nicely.

Nice one @fidgetcube! He looks great! And bonus, at that size the arms and legs will be perfect for grabbing and holding by little fingers!

Nice bag @Ladywithacat! There’s a brand that does suri alpaca instead of mohair at the same weight, it’s so much softer and less tickly but £££ compared to drops so I’ve only ever bought one ball of it and use drops instead. It was Cumulus I think?

Oh I’d love to see some pics of your ranunculus @aplo, that’s one of those patterns that I initially scrolled by until I saw the some of the finished projects and they look great, so much better than the pattern page. The whole little match girl vibe on the photo there is weird!

I forgot to say @QuantumWeatherButterfly, I absolutely love the colours of your poncho.

I had a lovely crafty weekend, I was at a guild meeting on Saturday and one of the women there showed me a trick that’ll make warping my loom so so much easier. Then I started playing with one of my Christmas presents last night and its really quite addictive