EYF 2015 Part 2: My favourite buys

March 25, 2015March 24, 2015 ~ solrencoret ~ 4 Comments

Hello there! How’s spring/autumn treating you? Edinburgh has been a bit sunny lately and will get an hour more of light from Sunday after the clocks change. I never used to like summer and brightness like I do now, that is what happens when you move to Scotland!

I want to share my second post about the EYF 2015 with you, I was glad to see you enjoyed the first in which I shared my general experience in my first ever yarn festival. Of course I couldn’t possible share my experience without sharing some of my buys as well! Not all of them though, since that would be quite embarrassing… I must say I had been on a yarn diet for months (which I only broke to get the Lopi yarn for my shawl) and I have a project in mind for (almost) all of my purchases so it’s not THAT bad 😛

I love everything that I bought to be honest but I decided to choose the favourites among them, which was very hard indeed! Here they are:

1. The Shawl Project. This pattern book is not the first one by chance. It contains six shawl designs by Joanne Scrace as part of the Crochet Project venture and they are all oh-so-beautiful. The photography is amazing, there are great explanations and charts and even a guide to designing your own shawl patterns, since all the designs use a different construction technique explained by Joanne at the end of the booklet. And it even gets better: all the shawls use only one 100g skein of 4-ply. Seriously people, if you love crochet shawls, you MUST get this. They sold out of their first print run at the festival but another is due soon so keep an eye out on their Facebook page for news.

2. Naturally-dyed merino yarn by woollenflower. If you follow my blog you may know I have been interested in natural dyeing since hearing about it in a few podcasts that I follow. I am an environmental engineer and have always been attracted to techniques which value and protect what nature has to offer. So when I met Jules at her stand in EYF and realised that the skein I couldn’t stop staring at was naturally dyed I just HAD to get it. It is really the most beautiful colour I have seen on yarn before, and in my excitement (especially after she mentioned she will be doing workshops, yay!) of course I forgot to ask her what she used but I promise to find out and let you know. Jules had such lovely things in her stall, including some amazing project bags/pouches made from worn out Harris Tweed jackets and the most beautiful colourwork cowls she made in her knitting machine, how amazing is that? She has a website and an online shop so please go check her out, she not only does beautiful things but she is also one of the nicest people I have ever met.

3. Pendle 4ply by Eden Cottage Yarns. I am sure many of you have heard or bought yarn from Eden Cottage Yarns, they have some lovely bases and some hand dyed lines including this beautiful 4ply pure merino wool in the colour Dusk. The colour is truly beautiful and something that would fit nicely with the rest of my clothes. I bought it to work on the Alyssium cardigan by Joanne Scrace, it is the same yarn and colour she used for the sample, it looks so beautiful that just decided to get the exact same yarn. Already working on this and loving both yarn and pattern.

4. Brooks Blend by John Arbon Textiles. I had been wanting to try yarns from John Arbon for a long time now so I was very excited to check their stand at EYF and I really didn’t leave disappointed. They are based in Devon and many of their yarns use fibre from their own Exmoor Blueface sheep. I stopped at their stall so many times and purchased many things there but these skeins are my favourite from them. You can’t find this yarn online, it is a DK-weight blend designed by Emma Brooks, it is 50% Polwarth, 30% Alpaca and 20% Zwartbles and it is the softest thing EVER. The natural colour is just perfect so I had to get a few to work on this cardigan I saw on the last issue of Inside Crochet. If you are interested they are doing a mill open weekend in May so check the website for details.

5. Organic Wensleydale 3ply by Little Owl Crafts. This stand had beautiful organic and hand-spun yarn and these organic Wensleydale skeins caught my eye immediately. I am thinking stripes! They have a shop on Etsy if you want to check it out.

That is it for today everyone, the EYF will definitely be one of the highlights of 2015 for me and can’t wait for next year!

I will be back soon with some pictures of my finished Lopi shawl and my current projects 🙂

Have a great day!

Sol

FREE Pattern: Cobbled Street Cowl

March 22, 2015March 27, 2015 ~ solrencoret ~ 9 Comments

*Ravelry link

It took forever for me to finally sit down and write this pattern but it is finally here. I haven’t really been designing much lately, in a bit of a dry spell at the moment. Have many ideas but haven’t been able to bring myself to start any of them. It takes quite a while for me to get to a finished object for my designs and I think I needed a break so have been enjoying crocheting other people’s designs for a bit. I have a couple that I should start since the yarn is waiting there for me, but I am definitely taking things a bit slower when it comes to designing.

I love this cowl so much, it is one of my favourites along with my Uva shawl. As I mentioned in my ta-dah post this cowl is inspired on the beautiful cobbled streets in Edinburgh. It is a very simple tunisian pattern, uses two stitches and I have created an easy chart for you guys to follow. I would even recommend this as a first pattern for those who are learning tunisian: it uses basic stitches, no increases or decreases and you only need one skein of yarn. How perfect is that?

The yarn I used is Madelinetosh Merino Light, it is a lovely yarn to work with and it feels even nicer after blocking. I was left with a bit of yarn from my skein but I liked the length so stopped there, it measures 18cm wide for 86cm long before joining both ends. Gauge is not really important but in case you are interested each pattern repeat (Rows 1 to 24) measures 18cm x 11.5cm.

Cobbled Street Pattern

Materials:

4mm Tunisian crochet hook (30cm long)

Madelinetosh Merino Light 4ply: 1 skein in Tern

Needle to weave in ends.

Abbreviations

Ch – Chain

End st or “E” in chart– Last stitch on forward pass

Lp – Loop(s)

Sk – Skip

Sl st – Slip stitch

St – Stitch(es)

Tss or “|” in chart– Tunisian simple stitch

Tks or “V” in chart– Tunisian knit stitch

YO – Yarn over

Stitch Guide (Visit my tutorials page for photo tutorials)

Foundation forward pass: Insert hook on back bump of second ch from hook, YO and pull up a loop, *insert hook on back bump of next ch, YO and pull up a loop, repeat from * until last ch.

Return pass: YO and pull through 1 lp, *YO and pull through 2 lps, repeat from * until you have 1 lp on hook.

Tunisian Simple Stitch (Tss or | in chart): Skip first stitch, *insert hook from right to left under next front vertical bar, yarn over and draw up a loop; repeat from * across until last stitch, work last stitch normally. Work return pass.

Tunisian Knit Stitch (Tks or V in chart): Skip first stitch, *insert hook between front and back vertical bars of next stitch, yarn over and draw up a loop; repeat from * across until last stitch, work last stitch normally. Work return pass.

End St (E in chart): Last st of the forward pass is made into ch created by the return pass. Insert your hook under the vertical bar where you usually do it AND the strand behind it and pull up a loop.

Binding off: As with every row you start with one lp on your hook. For each stitch, insert hook as normal (depending on whether it is a Tss or Tks), YO and pull through both loops (through the st and the loop you had already). Continue until the last st.

Instructions

Ch 40. Work foundation forward pass (40st, each lp on the hook is a st). Work return pass.

Row 1 to 24: Follow chart for each row, reading it from right to left and from bottom to top. The chart indicates which stitches you must work in the forward pass. Work the return pass normally for each row.

Rows 25 to 192: Repeat Rows 1-24 seven times for a total of eight repeats. When you are in your last row work the binding off as you follow the pattern (see stitch guide). You can continue the pattern if you still have yarn to your desired length. Fasten off but don’t cut yarn.

Use mattress stitch to seam the two ends together. Weave in ends.

Sol

EYF 2015: My first yarn festival experience Part 1

March 20, 2015March 19, 2015 ~ solrencoret ~ 13 Comments

Uffff… I have been thinking about how to write this post since there is so much to say. I have decided that it will have to be done in a couple of posts: one to share my general experience in the festival and another one with my favourite purchases (I can’t show them all since I am too embarrassed to confess all that I bought!).

Edinburgh Yarn Fest was one awesome weekend that more than exceeded my expectations. I really don’t know where to start and I am bit tired today so this post will be a bit all over the place but here are the highlights of the weekend:

The marketplace. OMG, I have never in my life seen so much beautiful yarn and yarn-related things in one place, it was all a bit overwhelming the first day but the second day I got to stop and truly admire the work of such talented people that put so much love and dedication to their products. I got to chat with quite a few and everyone was so nice and attentive. From yarn, to buttons, to fibre, to patterns and everything displayed in such beautiful and creative ways, it was very inspiring just to walk by those stalls. And the colour… such amazing colours everywhere made my heart sing 🙂

The Crochet Project stall: If you are a crocheter, and only a crocheter like myself who couldn’t knit if my life depended on it you will understand the joy of seeing a crochet stall in a yarn festival. And not any stall… a stall from the awesome Crochet Project run by two amazingly talented designers: Kat Goldin and Joanne Scrace. I have crocheted beautiful patterns by both of these ladies and have admired their designs, especially garments, for a long time. Very few people in the crochet world design patterns as stylish and wearable as these two designers so I was so star struck when I met them! Their stall was filled with gorgeous samples and patterns, crochet hooks, the cutest labels for your hand knits and their new pattern book “The Shawl Project”. More on this little book on my next post since it is definitely on the favourites list…!

The people. If you have any knitters or crocheter friends you must already know that yarny people are awesome. They are encouraging, passionate, friendly and they are the happiest when around loads of yarn and other yarny people who feel the same way about their crafts. So you can imagine what you get when you put hundreds of yarny people in one place surrounded by the most beautiful fibre-related products: a happy and oh-so inspiring atmosphere. Just to look at what everyone was wearing was like a runway show of beautiful hand knits made with love and care, it was such a treat. Whenever you got tired you could go sit down somewhere and take your WIP out or pet your new yarn, and then you would look around and see that everyone else around you was doing the same! I had been the lonely crocheter on the train for so many months since work didn’t allow me to go to my knitting group and then suddenly I was just one of the crowd, doing what we love to do, surrounded by people who love that as well. Sigh… I don’t know about you but a room full of knitters and yarn is exactly how I think heaven should look like.

My first crochet class. I booked one class for the festival, it was the only crochet class that wasn’t for beginners. It was about how to make crochet wearable by the amazing Joanne Scrace. As you may know I am diving into the world of crochet garments and have had a few ups and downs so this class seemed like a great way to help me in this new journey and I definitely didn’t leave disappointed. Joanne was a great teacher who not only explained techniques that can make crochet fabric more wearable but also why and how they achieve that effect and what is the whole science behind crochet fabric that makes it different from knitting. If you have the opportunity to take this class I truly recommend it, you can check Joanne’s website for more details.

The organisation. I had never been to a yarn festival but this was one well organised event. The only time I was in a big queue was before the start of the first day and only because many of us got there before the doors opened. Getting our ticket was breeze, there was a big lounge area to seat and eat with a great selection of music in the background and there were some really fun stuff like a free Photo Booth on Saturday.

As you can see it was one awesome weekend filled with colour and inspiration, it was so hard to get back to work the next day and realise that your everyday world doesn’t have yarn in it!

If you are thinking of attending any yarn festivals next year I would put the EYF in the list since it can only get better!

Will be back soon with my favourite purchases and my Cobbled Street pattern which is almost done 🙂 My tunisian crochet class is this weekend so have been very busy preparing for it, hopefully I will get some time to get pictures of my purchases and share that with you soon. I leave you with more pictures of the weekend for you.

Have a great weekend 🙂

Sol

My toughest critic

March 15, 2015March 13, 2015 ~ solrencoret ~ 5 Comments

How is your weekend everyone? I am writing this post ahead so right now I am surely braving the masses at the Edinburgh Yarn Festival but thought I should make sure I stay in touch since I will probably have quite a big festival hangover next week and might not be up for much computer time at home.

I have been in quite a finishing mode this week in preparation of new projects that I will want to start with my new yarn purchases: my Moroccan bag is done, my samples for the workshop next week just need blocking and my tunisian shawl with Lopi yarn is on the blocking mat as I write this. Because Lopi yarn can be a bit rough I googled how to block this to help make it softer and many people were recommending using hair conditioner when soaking your project before blocking.

I am quite good at rushing sometimes without thinking and I was very eager to get this blocked so I just filled my sink with water, put quite a lot of hair conditioner in and let it soak for 30 minutes. I rinsed it quite a few times after since I went a bit crazy with the conditioner and even as I pinned it all I could feel and smell was that conditioner. And then anxiety landed: “What was I thinking? I should’ve used less conditioner! Or a more natural conditioner… now my oh-so-natural yarn is full of chemicals from the conditioner! What if I can still feel it when it dries?? What if I have totally messed this whole project???!!”

Sigh… I know it sounds mad but that is exactly how my brain works. I pinned the shawl and stared at it endlessly blaming myself for being so dumb and not thinking it through. When I explained this to my better half he simply looked at me and said: “Let it dry, it will be fine”. Oh, I wish I could… it took a while to stop staring at it, to convince myself I could just wash it many times if I didn’t like the result.

The reality is I have always been my toughest critic. I grew up with people expecting me to be really good at many things and eventually that stuck: I can’t forgive myself for making mistakes. I am becoming more aware of it and I guess that is the first step in working towards giving myself a break. Baby steps… and one of them is to stop staring at that shawl and leave it for a few days.

I have also been quite stuck with finding my next garment to do since I don’t want to make the mistake again of working on something I won’t wear much. After further consideration, I do like my Doris Chan top… it is mostly the colour that bothers me. I wanted to take some pictures but need an assistant so it will have to wait for a bit to show it to you.

But after this reflection of trying to give myself a break I realised that I have only just started to crochet garments and that this is probably just a normal learning curve of trying to figure out what I like. My style is also changing as I get older and what I once liked I probably wouldn’t wear now but I may still like how it looks. My issue however was that after stating that I didn’t want anything too fitted, the two patterns I had next on my queue were fitted garments: Piped Petals by Linda Permann and the Leaps Cardigan by Annelies Baes. I have stared at those patterns for way too long!

The Leaps Cardigan could be made in a looser fit but I actually quite like the way the sample looks. Then the Piped Petals one is a short sleeved cardi that is meant to be worn with 0″ ease and again, I like how it looks. So I started swatching with the two yarns I had in mind for them to see if that helped me make a decision. It didn’t, but it did force me to finally try linked stitches, and oh dear how did I wait this long!

The sample above has normal half double crochet rows in the bottom, and linked half double crochet rows at the top. The linked version of the stitch eliminates the gap between the stitches and it also gives it a different look. My gauge changed a bit with this stitch as well.

With this next sample it is easier to see the difference since I am using trebles which have a more noticeable space between them. The bottom of the square is alternating rows of double crochet and trebles while the top is alternating rows of double crochet and linked trebles. I put it up to the light so you can see the difference better.

Do you see that? I always hated trebles because of that gap and now I can use it for garments! This is quite a discovery for me, isn’t it nice that you can always learn something new?

So about what project to do next I think I will just give a try to that Leaps Cardigan in my size instead of a looser one and see what happens, but first I will work on Alyssium by Joanne Scrace and maybe that will get rid of my need of a loose cardigan 🙂

If you would like a tutorial of the linked stitches let me know, I haven’t found a great picture tutorial but I believe there are quite a few videos in YouTube.

Have a great week and I will be back soon with my festival experience!

Sol

My Moroccan tote and an invitation!

March 13, 2015 ~ solrencoret ~ 11 Comments

Hello there! Happy Friday everyone 🙂 I am getting back into my blogging mojo and it feels good to want to start writing again. I am still behind with patterns and tutorials though, I have been very lazy and haven’t even started my Cobbled Street pattern but all in good time.

I have a couple of things to share with you today, both very exciting. First, my Moroccan tote is finished and just in time for the Edinburgh Yarn Fest! I can’t remember when I started this bag, it was a slow and rewarding project and I enjoyed watching that pattern grow in the fabric so much that I was a bit sad when the crocheting was done.

As you can see I added leather handles, a fabric lining and a magnetic clasp. I LOVE IT! It really came out exactly as I had imagined it. Pattern should come soon but as I mentioned I am having a bit of a delay so the Cobbled Street pattern should come first.

I am also posting today to make an open invitation to all of you. I recently connected with the lovely Laura from Made in Oxford through a Ravelry group, she has an awesome blog so please go check her out. We soon realised that we have a very similar taste when it comes to crochet patterns and both of us had the yarn to start the Freyja shawl by Aoibhe Ni, what a coincidence! Well actually Laura had already started but she was kind enough to agree to wait for me and work this pattern together, how exciting is that?

© www.halfadreamaway.com — © http://www.halfadreamaway.com

I have never taken part of any CAL so working on a project with someone else like this is a completely new experience for me but I think it will be loads of fun. So… since we both have blogs we thought the least we could do was to invite all of you to crochet with us as well!

We haven’t worked out all the details but what we do know is that we would like to begin on the 6th April. That gives you guys enough time to decide if you want to participate and to get your yarn and hook ready.

About the pattern, this is a tunisian crochet shawl, and even though I haven’t looked at it in detail yet I dare to say it is not a beginner tunisian crochet pattern just because it uses lace-weight yarn and if you are not familiar with how to work the stitches it will be quite difficult to work with lace. You are welcome to try it out of course but just thought I should mention it.

I will post again soon once we have the details sorted but in the meantime please leave a comment if you would like to join us on our Freyja journey, we would love to have some of you crocheting with us.

That is me for today, I have scheduled another post for the weekend since I knew I wouldn’t have time with the festival, can’t believe it is tomorrow!! I will probably post a few pictures on Instagram, I have been meaning to share my user with you guys since I just joined recently: you can find me as solrencoret 🙂

Have a great weekend!

Sol

A sense of ease

March 8, 2015 ~ solrencoret ~ 5 Comments

Hello there everyone, how was your weekend? Mine was a bit more social than usual which is always a good thing and today has gone just like every other Sunday, in a flash! Sundays are one of the hardest days of the week for me, not sure why but I always get quite anxious and struggle a lot between wanting to do nothing and wanting to be very productive and use my time wisely. Do you struggle with that as well?

Maybe it is just me feeling bad for not having accomplished something each day, and I think it has gotten worse with time. Anyway, my two accomplishments of the day today have been to get back on my hypothetical yoga mat again (I don’t have one yet so just use the carpet in the living room) and writing this blog post. If you remember my goals for this year you will know that giving yoga a try was one of them and I had been doing quite good until a couple of weeks when I started to feel a bit bad and couldn’t find the strength to do yoga after work.

However, I have been feeling better this week so there were no more excuses. I am still working the complete beginners workout by Yoga with Adrienne, it lasts 20 minutes and it has a few challenging parts for me but not too difficult so that I end up feeling like I didn’t really do anything properly. I always feel great after this practice, not only because I feel more relaxed but also because I actually found the motivation to do it, getting on the mat is actually the hardest part.

The instructor is great and she talks a lot about finding this “sense of ease” in each pose instead of looking for perfection. This has stuck with me since it is actually a great way to see life in general and not only yoga. My latest project has really been about finding that ease, something comfortable to put your effort and love into. Remember my obsession? Well… the shawl is almost done! One week and I am on the last stripe and then all that needs to be done is the border and blocking.

This Icelandic Lopi yarn is like nothing I had ever worked with and like nothing I ever thought I would like to work with as well. As yarn enthusiasts I think we are always looking for that soft and bouncy skein, and this is nothing like that but not short of amazing either. It feels rustic but so incredibly close to the sheep to which it once belonged to. It is incredible warm and once it blocks it will get softer and nicer to the touch.

While I as looking for more information about this yarn I came across a blogger who was talking about the little bits of vegetable matter that you can find in the yarn and how much she loved that she was actually holding a bit of Iceland in her hands brought to her by the sheep itself. That is a lovely way to put it.

Aside from my shawl there hasn’t been many more updates on the crochet front, my Doris Chan top is finished and in my closet where it will probably stay for a long time… but anyway, it was a nice project to work on. My Moroccan bag is close to being done and just in time for the Edinburgh Yarn Festival… can’t wait! Still working on my shopping list which is getting longer by the minute.

That is me for today, hope you all have a lovely week! I will be back soon with my Moroccan bag finished and of course my experience in my first ever yarn festival 🙂

Take care!

Sol

And here we go again

March 2, 2015March 2, 2015 ~ solrencoret ~ 4 Comments

“Like so much in life, the joy of knitting isn’t necessarily in the destination, but in the journey itself”

I am sitting on my couch after a long day, pondering about what project to tackle next. I am still reading the book with knitting stories and came across this quote that I couldn’t shake off. It feels like lately a lot of my crochet is about the journey and not the destination.

My Doris Chan top is blocking in front of my eyes as I write this (very… slowly…) and the more I look at it the more I realise that this top is not really… me. Don’t get me wrong, it is a nice top. I like the rolled edges in the neck and sleeves, I like the stitch pattern, and the colour, though a bit too pink, it is not a bad pink at all. But if I look at my closet right now I realise that this top is going to be one lonely garment amid clothes which are not in that style at all. Lately I am very into neutrals, into large and long sweaters that don’t hug my body. And this is definitely not that.

I have been crocheting for many years and I do enjoy a challenge. After focusing mainly on crocheting accessories I realised garments were the next step but it has been very difficult to find patterns that catch my eye. Because of this I think I have lowered my standards when it comes to finding patterns for garments and will settle on something that is well above the rest of what I have seen, but maybe not up to what I would like to make. I am not saying there are no good crochet patterns out there, just not many I would wear which is a very personal thing.

I do like the concept of a handmade wardrobe and I thought that is what I had been doing but now that I think about it there are very few things that I have crocheted that I actually wear. I don’t wear fingerless gloves but I continue to make them for some reason, even design them! I do wear my Uva shawl and my Cobbled Street cowl, but I think that is it.

So I have decided to really start thinking about what patterns to do/design and truly work towards my handmade wardrobe. We put so much time and effort into our crafts and even though I do not consider the time spent in my Doris Chan top a waste of time at all (it has made me realise I LOVE top-down construction), I do want an extra satisfaction with my crochet by making sure that the finish product fits my style and gets along with the rest of my clothes. This means no more projects using yarn from my stash that I know I don’t like anymore just for the sake of using it and no more settling with patterns that are not me. I just have to go figure out what is “me” now… 🙂

Have a great week everyone,

Sol

Obsessed

February 25, 2015February 24, 2015 ~ solrencoret ~ 9 Comments

I consider myself to be easily obsessed by a lot of things. My mum has always commented on this and according to her I have always been that way:, if I really liked something I suddenly got obsessed with it and liked only that specific thing until I got bored and found another one.

I can think of many examples of this, from books I can’t put down and therefore can’t sleep or eat until they are finished, to food I just can’t stop eating (jammy biscuits at the moment) and many things in between. Some last longer than others and I guess this crochet phase fits into that category, along with my “I can’t live without make-up phase” which lasted a couple of years.

Being obsessed with something is different than liking, or loving it. Obsession is when you can’t stop thinking about it, when the longing interferes with your life and basic needs. I have loved many crochet patterns for example, either by first sight or after working through them and just really enjoying the process.

Lately however I have found myself obsessed with a pattern I saw on Ravelry and can’t get it off my head! It is a tunisian shawl designed by Patrick Hassel-Zein using some beautifully rustic Icelandic wool. I saw it and I knew it was not love… this was once again an obsession.

I need to do this pattern. It’s not that I would like to, I just have to. I know myself by now and I know I won’t let it go until it happens. I have yarn for MANY patterns, including yarn for some designs I have in my head that I would really like to start sampling for but I know it will all probably be delayed a bit. From the moment I realised that the perfect yarn used in the pattern is stocked by one of my LYS I knew what was going to happen.

And I sense it will happen soon…

Sol

Healing

February 21, 2015 ~ solrencoret ~ 7 Comments

Hello everyone, I know I have been missing in action this week and have not posted much but I will not apologise this time because I really needed some time away. It all started last weekend with a headache that lasted for three days and continued on and off during the week, alongside with my stomach acting up and just feeling very tired. The cause of my headaches and stomach issues is 99% of the time due to anxiety and stress and I don’t think it was any differently this time, have been very busy at work with loads of deadlines and not a minute to take a breath so I guess it was bound to happen.

So I decided I needed a break from the blog and everything else that might get in the way of the healing process I knew I needed to start. No computer time at home unless I really wanted to check something out or reply to messages/comments, no pattern writing, early nights, yoga every day if I was feeling up for it and loads of happy crocheting without a deadline or worry.

I also went to the library and got some great yarn and crochet books to keep me relaxed and entertained. The book called “Knitting Yarns, Writers on Knitting” has been my go-to book before bedtime and has been a pleasure to get little knitting stories before bed, each one very different to the next but all sharing how knitting came into their lives and the significance of creating something with your hands. Ever since I started listening to Woolful I have been very intrigued about natural dyeing so got a few books on that as well. It is very interesting and would love to try it one day when I have a proper place to do it.

My crochet time has been divided between my Doris Chan top and my Moroccan tote. The top is coming along, maybe a bit smaller than I thought but I won’t really know how it will look until I finish and block it so we will see. I am working on both sleeves at the same time as recommended by the designer and it has been a great idea.

My Moroccan bag has been coming along as well, the crocheting is actually done! I LOVE the pattern and colours of this bag. I have to say it is a bit on the smaller side for a tote and this was intentional since I thought I was going to be so bored by the middle of this project but I do regret it now cause I would have liked to keep going. Not sure why I didn’t get bored of the same pattern the whole time but I really enjoyed crocheting it.

Yesterday I went to John Lewis and got some fabric to line it and I received my leather handles through the mail this week so all ready for the finishing (but oh so very important) details. I plan on cutting and pining today to start sewing on the train next week.

I have also been working on samples for my first ever tunisian crochet workshop! I am so excited to share this amazing technique at Ginger Twist Studio in March. The first workshop is fully booked but there is another date in May so if you are in the Edinburgh area and would like to learn tunisian crochet please visit Jess’s website for more details. I have been planning like crazy, I know you can’t plan every single minute for these things but can’t help it, I am working on samples and creating class handouts and I really can’t wait to share all my excitement.

And that is what I have been up to, posts may be less often next week as I get back to my blogging rhythm. I have patterns to write and tutorials to put together but first of all I need to feel well enough to do all those things so please bare with me, I am still here, still loving crochet and still wanting to share my patterns and projects with you lovely people.

Have a great weekend!

Sol

Train WIPs February

February 14, 2015February 9, 2015 ~ solrencoret ~ 10 Comments

I used to be a monogamous crocheter but at some point I found myself having 2 or 3 projects at the same time. Lately I have one project for home, usually something either big or a bit more complicated, and then a couple for my commute, which have to be easy to work and small enough to carry.

My home project at the moment is the Kolika top I mentioned in my last post, since it is a garment it requires my attention and the ability to try it on as I go, which would be a bit tricky to do while I commute (and even more weird than just crocheting on a train). For the train I have been working on two new designs: my moroccan tote and a pair of tunisian fingerless gloves with some leftover yarn from my Uva shawl.

I finished one mitt but I have to say the moroccan bag is getting all the spotlight lately, I just love how it is turning out. I have done quite a bit more since I took this picture, I am more than halfway through what will be a tote size bag. I will take some more pictures this weekend to show you how it is coming along.

I am browsing for some brown leather handles for it, very exciting 🙂

What is on your hook right now? Let me know in the comments, would love to hear what you guys are working on!

That is it for me today, I have to set some time aside to take pictures for another tunisian pattern, hope I get time to do that this weekend. I also want to tell you more about how those resolutions are coming along so expect another post on that soon. I am off now to do some yoga (told you the resolutions were doing well!), have a great weekend everyone!

Sol

a crochet journey

Tales of my journey to a colourful and creative life

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