Design Wars :: Boutique Midnight ::

I'm back competing in the Design Wars Challenge again this week. I'm up against the lovely Alessandra of Just Be Happy Crochet and we're using Red Heart Yarns, Boutique Midnight.

I really really loved using this yarn, it's so thick and chunky and yet lightweight so it's easy to use and not too heavy to work with especially if you're making something big.

I designed the Minerva Wrap for this challenge, it's warm and snug, versatile and so much fun to whip up. The wrap is worked almost entirely using treble (double) crochet, with a little bit of double (single) crochet, worked from the centre out it grows quickly to form a large accessory perfect for cool autumn days (not unlike today in fact!).

It can be worn in a variety of ways, as simple wrap, thrown over your shoulders or pinned in place on especially blustery days, as a super chunky scarf, hung open at the front like an open fronted cardigan, or my favourite is to put the points at the front and back, so it looks like a double sided shawl! However you choose to wear it it certainly serves it's purpose at keeping off the chill.

Competition is stiff as always this week, here's Alessandra's beautiful Pineapple Knot Vest ::

The patterns themselves will go on sale on Thursday in the meantime you can go cast your vote for your favourite on the Design Wars blog and if you leave a comment over there you also get a chance to win a 30 day subscription to their Love it Membership.
You can find the listing for my shawl over on ravelry if you fancy adding it to your favourites.

Leonie Cardigan ::

One of my (September) new year resolutions (September always feels like the real new year, fresh start to me), is to finally get all my crochet patterns up online for sale. I have so many this may take a while, but my aim is to get one pattern republished every fortnight.

So this weeks new addition is my Leonie Cardigan, originally published in Inside Crochet 2 years ago. I love this cardigan, it came out exactly as I had hoped when I first designed it.

The Catherine Wheel stitch is gorgeously drapey yet full of interest and texture, it's cosy but not too warm and versatile too. Perfect for autumn, which most definitely seems to be making an appearance around these parts.
The pattern is worked from side to side, you work the front panel, make a space for the sleeve, work the back panel, make another sleeve space, before working the final front panel, you then join at the sleeve gaps and work up the sleeves. It's simple yet so much fun.

The yarn is Rowan Pure Wool 4ply in Gerbera, but any 4ply wool content yarn would work in it's place. Block this piece hard on completion for a really drapey finish (make sure to block your swatch too before taking the measurements).

The pattern is available in both US and UK terms and comes in 4 sizes to fit bust sizes : 32-34", 36-38", 40-42", 44-46"

If you fancy making one of these for yourself I'm offering an automatic 50% discount until the end of this weekend, so hop on over to Ravelry to grab yourself a copy.

Photos by the oh so talented Britt Spring

How to :: Foundation Double Crochet (fdc) ::

How to make a foundation double crochet stitch (fdc) or if you're using US terminology, foundation single crochet (fsc) ::

I love using this stitch and it's counterparts (fhtr and ftr) because it creates a much more flexible foundation row for your crochet stitches than the traditional row of chains, it's also a really good way of starting a project if you want to turn and work into the underside of the stitches as it creates really clear loops in which to work into on the underneath. It's also really easy and in my opinion much quicker than the chaining option.

I've put together a little video showing you how to construct the the stitch ::



Patterns of mine that use this stitch can be seen below (click on the picture to be taken to the pattern details) ::

This Week ::

A round up of some of my favourite moments from my Instagram this week ::

Book Review :: What the Ladybird Heard Next ::

We're huge fans of the original 'What the Ladybird Heard' book, so we were thrilled when asked to review the follow up, 'What the Ladybird Heard Next'.

In a lot of ways I would have assumed that Milo was too old for this book already, but in reality he really isn't. Despite the fact we've moved on to 'chapter' books for most of our bedtime reading, this book has reminded me that he's really still interested in picture books and he absolutely loved this story. He still likes hunting out the ladybird on each page and loved the pictures too.

Effie has also been enjoying this book a lot. It's really only the last couple of weeks that she's shown much interest in books at all, but now that she has she really really loves sitting on your knee leafing through a book. She adores this book especially and will point to it on the shelf declaring 'dat', which I think means 'that book please' (we keep the paper books out of her reach but she has an easily accessible array of board books in both her bedroom and the living room). Effie especially loves the texture of the glitter on the pages. But her favourite thing of all is when Milo reads it to her, which is also my favourite thing of all.

Just like the original, the rhyming structure of this story is lovely (as is to be expected from Julia Donaldson) the illustrations are fun and bright with plenty to look at, making multiple readings a must and a pleasure and each page has both glittery elements and a little ladybird to find. It's fun and funny and bright and thoroughly enjoyable for everyone.

Milo made a little stop motion video of the book ::



The book is out on the 10th September but you can preorder here.

 **We were sent a copy of the book to review but all thoughts are completely our own.

Works in Progress :: A School Sweater for Milo ::

I'm not going to lie, knitting for my children is one of my greatest pleasures. What could possibly be more rewarding than devoting your time to a craft you love and producing something to keep your loved ones warm? However over the last few years Milo's been very much against me knitting anything for him. Anything garmenty anyway, he did ask me to make him a hitchhiker last year, which I very obligingly did. So it was an especially heartmeltingly lovely surprise last week, whilst sat in the hell that is Clarks two weeks before school goes back discussing school uniform shopping, when he tells me; 'you can knit me a jumper if you like'. Oh my! He actually requested I knit him something, completely out of the blue, without any kind of encouragement.

Of course I quickly arranged a trip to the wool shop and took to ravelry to favourite a whole array of sweaters and cardigans for him to peruse. After much deliberation he chose some yarn (Paton's Extra Fine Merino DK in Burgundy) and even some buttons, upon decided that he would like a cardigan. Next up came the job of choosing a pattern. I did think about designing one for him, until realising I just didn't have the time for such extravagance right this moment. Having seen some cable sweaters in the yarn shop he declared 'I want one with printing'. I have had my eye on the gorgeous Arlo Cardigan by Michele Wang for Brooklyn Tweed's Kids collection ever since it was published, so I tentatively showed it to him and with much relief he told me that was exactly what he wanted.

As it turns out the pattern calls for aran weight yarn and we had purchased double knit. I did a quick swatch and though I was getting gauge, it was just looking much too loose. I held the yarn double swatched again and got slightly too many stitches per inch (as would be expected) but it wasn't so much I was especially worried. Instead I've decided to knit the size 6 years and crossing my fingers that it won't be ridiculously too big. So far it's looking perfect.

This is not a pattern for a newbie, or indeed a pattern to be knitting whilst trying to do much else, but I'm loving how it's coming along so far. It has a tubular cast on, which is something completely new to me and like some kind of crazy magic I think. It's also pieced and seamed together, which is not exactly my favourite way of knitting, but as I've not worked like this for a long time, I thought it would be really nice to do.

The most important thing is, so far Milo is happy and loves it. Fingers crossed it stays that way!

** The pictures do not show this yarn in it's best light, it absolutely is not this pink in real life, but more like the burgundy that is required for Milo's uniform!

Design Wars :: Heart and Sole ::

I'm so excited to be participating in another Design Wars Challenge. This week I'm up against Cara Louise of Heritage Heartcraft, using Red Heart Yarns, Heart and Sole.

Heart and Sole is a sock yarn, which contains aloe vera! It's fabulous, I love the stripey colour changes and the way it slides easily over the hook when being worked.

However I decided not to make socks for this challenge. You know me, I love socks, but I wanted to do something different. Inspired by the pointy leaves of the aloe vera plant itself I designed a shawl, that's long and thin, making it easy to wrap round your neck and wear as a scarf. Which is generally how I tend to wear my shawls.

It's worked from side to side, using half treble and double crochet stitches, increasing as you go to work up those points. I absolutely love it and have been wearing mine non stop since it came off the blocking board.

My challenger Cara Louise has designed this gorgeous lacy vest top. It's going to be a tough fight this week!

The patterns themselves will go on sale on Thursday in the meantime you can go cast your vote for your favourite on the Design Wars blog and if you leave a comment over there you also get a chance to win a 30 day subscription to their Love it Membership.
You can find the listing for my shawl over on ravelry if you fancy adding it to your favourites.