Another month with no stitching under my belt, instead I’ve been making the most of the cooler weather and working on some old crochet subscription boxes as well as using up some big chunky yarn on patterns that have been printed off for a few years. I was caring for a sick cat in the middle of the month so it was the perfect craft while giving her lots of lap cuddles for a few days. I’ve been working on a thick chunky blanket and she’s been snuggling up onto it on my lap every night which hinders progress but makes my heart burst 🙂 I’ve also been working on the Coriander Quilts border of the month quilt blocks and the Running With Scissors slow-along (ByAnnie).
Beanie One by Crate CrochetWinter Warmer Scarf by Crate CrochetBig Rib Scarf by MooglyClaire Infinity Scarf by Crate CrochetTea Cake Cowl by Homemade Happiness6-day Chunky Throw by Betty McKnit
Stitching question
Do you prefer to stitch on a rotation or one project at a time??
Honestly it depends on my mood and the projects being worked on. On the whole I prefer to work on multiple WIPs because I tend to get bored easily. But then again sometimes I love working on one single project for a challenge which has multiple milestones to hit, I just find my rhythm with one project and enjoy spending a large amount of time on it and watching it grow more quickly. Other WIPs I’m ready to change it out after just an hour of stitching (Stitching is the Berries falls into that category with the never-ending Queen stitches).
I’ve been dusting off my crochet hooks the last couple of weeks, aided by nursing a poorly cat that’s demanded all-day cuddles for a few days. I’ve managed to finish off five projects this month so far, and I’m thrilled that three of those projects were subscription boxes sat gathering dust on bookshelves … and there’s still a bit of time to wear them before the weather warms up too much as we approach spring.
‘Beanie One’ by Crate Crochet Yarn: Fiddlesticks Peppin 14 in colour 1419
I absolutely love the feel of the Peppin 14 merino wool, and the purple colour is luscious – but it’s quite large even for my big chunky head so I’m not 100% sure if I’ll keep this one or donate it. I don’t really wear hats, so that might be a deciding factor in the end. I generally have quite tight tension so I used a slightly larger hook, which may have been my downfall. Maybe it’s time I start to do a swatch gauge again since I haven’t crocheted for so long!
‘Winter Warmer Scarf’ by Crate Crochet Yarn: Fiddlesticks Peppin 14 in colour 1414 Hook: 7mm
Another one using Peppin 14, and this is a scarf I’ll definitely enjoy wearing in the cooler weather – it’s most definitely a keeper for me, and I really enjoyed making it up.
I fell in love with this project and yarn when I first received this box, but I couldn’t work out the crossover stitch used and threw it into the naughty corner after a few attempts. A version of that stitch was also used in the above scarf, though, and was written in a different way – so when I tackled it again it finally made sense. It felt like a real achievement to get this one finished, even though it turned out to be less than perfect as I found out when I came to sewn in the yarn ends. I’d managed to add a few extra stitches along the way, and even with a larger hook than used in the pattern the end result is quite tight compared to the pattern picture, so I’m not sure what I did wrong. It’s not as soft/loose as I would have liked, and the yarn is a bit scratchy but I adore the colourway of this one. I’m not sure if I’ll keep it or not because of the scratchiness, but at least the incorrect stitch count is hidden with the mobius style of the scarf 😉
‘Tea Cake Cowl’ by Homemade Happiness Yarn: Premier Yarns Colourfusion in colour Tropical Hook: 9mm
As the Caron Tea Cakes are now discontinued I opted to find another alternative chunky yarn to use in its place – the closest I found was the Premier Yarns Colourfusion, although I’ll be honest the colours aren’t quite what I was expecting and the orange is a little overpowering – but I do love brighter colours, so it’ll go nicely with a darker top I think. It was a free pattern found on the internet by Homemade Happiness and it was an enjoyable pattern to work with. Due to being a slightly thinner yarn I added an extra 10 stitches to the length to try to offset that.
‘Big Rib Scarf’ by Moogly Yarn: Lion Brand Heartland in colours Glacier Bay and Olympic Hook: 9mm
This turned out to be a lot wider than I was expecting, and if I was to make this one again I’d probably opt to make it a little bit longer. This was also a previously abandoned project because I couldn’t work out how to start with a foundation DC – a few years later, though, and it was a real delight to crochet after finding a good YouTube tutorial showing the FDC stitch. It was my first time trying to crochet with two threads of yarn together, and it was a lot easier than I expected. This one will definitely get a lot of wear, I just lovely the soft snuggly feel of it.
Feather Stitching 