Sorry, sorry! Major case of life getting in the way! Visits from family, horrible colds, all that good stuff. However, I am back. And I have two FO's in this post for you today, and a couple more post to come over the next week! Much more back to normal running, yee haw!
So what is this picture I have started this post with? Well this see, is me branching out on crochet. The last weekend in April my grandmother came to visit. Between her and my mother, they taught me the crochet basics at Christmas. Since then I have managed granny squares, granny hexagons, a couple of crochet bond offs, and even a crochet edging on a baby cardigan. But when gran came down we went out to one of our local yarn shops, and she bought half the stock ;) But one of the samples was a bulky version of the scarf above, and I told her it was crochet and I recognised the pattern.
When we came home I even went to Ravelry and showed her the pattern, widely known as Queen Anne's Lace. But looking at it, I was really intrigued, and it didn't look so hard... so, there was a trip to Hobbycraft too, and while I was there, I picked up that lovely skein of Patons Colour Works Aran, because basically it was cheap and if I failed I could frog and it would work up as something else. I got my 6mm hook out, and little by little worked through the pattern instructions. Its the first crochet pattern I have ever followed, and little by little, it came together, and all of a sudden, in a weekend, I had a complete scarf, and a sense of pride too. So I was most pleased with myself. And now you can have a large picture of it.
Since then I have been working in cotton. I have since learned that working a tonne of twisted stitches in cotton is incredibly hard on the hands, and the little tummy warmer I was knitting for baby was going very slow as a result. However, that said, I slogged through it, and finished it this weekend.
I had a lovely moment when I finished it and handed it to my husband to look at, and for once, instead of his precursory glance, something else happened. His brow furrows and he starts to inspect this tiny garment carefully, looking at the stitches inside and out. Finally he turns to me 'how did you do this? It looks like its knitted in two layers'. High five me fellow crafters, I finally have him intrigued. The twisted stitches are ingenious, not least because aside from being attractive, the fabric they make when stacked this way has lots of little pockets to trap air in, making this a perfect undergarment for a baby born at the end of the year.
So here it is, the project that finally had me demonstrating how the stitches work to a craft ambivalent husband!
That's me for now, back real soon with some spinning goodness!
