I've been hooking ....

my little hands off and I've got my first large project done!  It's the Anna Shawl from a pattern on Ravelry.  And I did it!! I even managed to follow the pattern! Ok there are a couple of mistakes, a single instead of a double crochet in one place and some missed chains but hey! it looks alright :-D

This is done in a purple dk cotton yarn (Vinni's) which was a bit of a toad to work with at times but on the whole I had great fun with it.  I do need to block the shawl out which will make it a bit bigger and will really open out the pattern.

I've already moved on to my next project, a scarf for a friend who is having a bad time at the moment.  I'm doing it in a super squooshy merino so it will be nice and soft.  I've nearly finished it but I won't post a picture until she has got it.

More stash .. and some finishes

I finished my first every granny square blanket, you know the one using the (bloody awful) free "yarn" I got with a magazine?? Well DD1 decided she wanted yellow in it too as it's her favourite colour so I had a quick trip to the LYS and got some yellow.  Two yellow granny squares later and it was done.  After bodging sewing it together, we decided it looked a bit unfinished :-( so five rounds of granny later around the edge and DD1 proclaims it done! Yay!

Next is my funky scarf - I don't know why but for some reason the colours remind me of a pinata!  It's quite long, but that's ok and I like them wrapped around.  It looks really good with my denim jacket :-)

Finally, some more stash (ooops!).  Two more of the gorgeously smooth Lantern Moon hooks - in a 5.5 and 6 - and this too cute project bag (Lantern Moon again) for when I'm out and about.

Last, but by no means least, some really cute stitch markers that I found on folksy.com!

I am now absolutely itching to get started on my Anna shawl, the fab-u-lous purple yarn I have for it is screaming at me so I'm going to make a start on it tonight once the girls are in bed :-) For today though, more granny squares!

Some crochet wips

.. today, first up my funky scarf.  I started this for a bit of practise with my tension and stitches.  So, I chained 150 - using a no 4 hook and some fabulously bright Wendy Supreme luxury cotton DK - and did three treble crochet into each chain.  But I realised it was too short when I had got to the end so I did a bit of a bodge job and added another 150!  I will have to see how it turns out!

And second, my emerging pile of granny squares! You can see that the (acrylic) yarn is marbled and it varies from pinky-purple to a dark purple marl so it should look quite interesting once it is all put together.  I'm using my favourite No 5 hook for this one and I'm getting 9 squares from each 200g ball.  27 squares down, 63 to go!

Starting out with some stash ....

Well I started the week by purchasing some hooks from purplelinda, just standard metal ones but a complete bargain for the price and, coincidentially, the same as the hook we had been given in our goodie bags at the crochet course.

Next, a schoolgirl error.  I picked up the only crochet mag I could find.  Bonus I thought, it's got six balls of wool on it, I can use them to practice on.  BIG mistake!  Awful awful acrylic wool! It split all over the place but I have managed to make something with it .. more on that later.

So, off the wool shop I went.  Now our local wool shop is a little, um, chaotic to say the least.  There is wool everywhere!  Shelves, floor, the cash desk, piles by the door, under the shelves .. it's great!  I wanted something a little better than I had but I wasn't quite ready for any sort of hand dyed proper posh wool.  So I picked up some purple varigated wool - acrylic again but sooo much nicer than what I had.  I also got myself a knitters needle to stitch things together.

Most exciting though, I treated myself to a gorgeous Lantern Moon hook case.  Here it is - 

Oh and even nicer, two Lantern Moon hooks, in a 4 and a 5, just to start with.  Of course, I fully intend to get a whole set!

Finally, I thought I ought to have some sort of book to refer to.  I can't get used to the English terminology so I went for this one, it looks a bit of fun and the author is American:

This is the good thing about getting a new hobby - all the lovely new stash you get to buy :-D

Something new ....

I signed up for a beginners crochet course.  Why?  Boredom, yes a little.  A need to to learn a new skill, yes.  Wanting something with a little more immediate finishes and portable than my stitching, definitely!  So I thought - crochet, why not.  I had seen all those cute little bugs and cupcakes that my fellow bloggers were making and I wanted to be able to make them too!

So, the crochet course.  Saturday 14 April 2012, the day I learnt to crochet.  I had had a little practise just with a scrap of yarn but I didn't even know what stitches I was doing.  I do now.  The crochet course was one of the most interesting and inspiring days I have had in a long time.  The teacher Honey-Lee was amazing!  She has been crocheting for 30 years and is so fast!  But it was her enthusiasm that was catching - she loves crochet!!  It was great to meet people who were 'into' crafting - I just don't seem to meet other crafters 'in real life'.  

We started with the basics, a cloth, using single and double crochet (I should add here that I have been taught the American terminology and it actually makes more sense to me!).  Ok, I unpicked it a few times but hey! there was the beginnings of a cloth!

Next, the granny square - hated by Honey-Lee - but I LOVE them!  I think it is their uniformness (is there such a word??) and I quite like that they are repetitive.  Then on to the start of a monster, well that was a bit of a disaster (too many increases so he was a bit wonky) but, it was a start.  Finally, we started a big project, a shawl.  I chose this one - Anna's shawl - so just basic single and double crochet but I bought some gorgeous purple wool to do it in.  I can't wait until I get a little better to make a start on it.

So, a busy day, but sooooo fab!  Oh and the food was great too, always a bonus :-)

*and yes, I wish I could claim that the fab blanket at the top of the page is mine - but no such luck!