I won a prize!

You'll never guess what?  My tea cosie full of flowers and biscuits was picked as a runner-up! That's SOOOOOOOO exciting!!!!
I never actually expected to win anything, so I'm very happy with runner-up.
The prize will consist of "yarn goodies" I'm told and I'm a firm believer in never having too much yarn! Which is lucky because I bought this yesterday -

17 shades of Stylecraft Special DK, as chosen by Lucy of Attic24. It's her original colour pack which she's currently revisiting with her Colour Harmony Blanket. (Apologies for the lack of links today.)

I'm going to use it to make my Tooty Stripey Blanket again but in a large size. I've never used some of these colours before and others are shades I wouldn't have chosen at all but I will trust Lucy's colour sense - although I might go and look at her original project and see if she lists the order she used the colours - that could help prevent some frogging!

I've nearly finished the p*a*t*t*e*r*n for my blanket - just the border to write up.
(Please excuse all the ***. I've noticed every time I use the P word I suddenly get hundreds of views from Russia. Can't imagine why. ..)

Before I start this new blanket though, I need to finish my waistcoat.
It very nearly got frogged at the weekend. It had become clear that my 2 skeins of hand dyed yarn were not exactly the same.

 Can you see the colour change just over half way down? I agonised over whether to unpick the lot and start again, and alternate which skein I used every 2 rows but I knew there was a risk it would never be finished if I did. Luckily the first skein just finished the top part of the bodice and I started the second skein for the lace panel. Had the first skein run out sooner it would have been more obvious but as it is I think I'll get away with it.
That's the beauty - and the risk - of using hand dyed yarn I suppose. You can't expect multiple skeins to be identical.

So I've worked the edgings and neckline - even unpicking the tension square to use it for the armholes, as you can see above.

It's now washed and undergoing blocking. And how much dye came out during washing?  None. Absolutely none. That's better than commercial yarn!

I'm really looking forward to wearing it too - just as soon as the weather cools down! It was 30 degrees in the shade on the patio again this morning!

My next project will be knitting for a change as I'm going to make a shawl from the beautiful hand dyed yarn I bought from Barbara of Ring a Rosie in Whitley Bay. And I now know that it might be wise to use both skeins at once!

More of that next time though! Enjoy the unexpected return of the summer heat!  T xx

Circular crochet shrug

I've been thinking over the last couple of days about what I can start making. Now that I've finished all the things I was doing for Mara I'm getting itchy fingers!
I got my crochet ripple blanket out this morning (see the link in the sidebar) and hooked a row but didn't really feel like doing much. With the glorious sunny weather we've had for the past couple of weeks, I felt more like making something summery, not a nice warm blanket...

Then I remembered the wool I bought almost a year ago. I bought a lovely dark blue &  burgundy variegated wool by King Cole and made a crochet waistcoat but at the same time I bought 3 balls of Stylecraft Summer Breeze in Bluebell. It's a lovely soft lavender blue and white, cotton/acrylic mix. The dark blue/burgundy waistcoat was finished fairly quickly but I soon discovered that it was rather warm and it was put away for the winter. I didn't want to make another in my summery wool as clearly it would be too warm to wear in the summer. So the wool got put away... but now it's back out and raring to go!!
I've decided to go for an open lacy style circular shrug. I've had a good hunt around in Ravelry and Pinterest for a pattern and at the moment I've settled on this one by Heidi Walsh -

I didn't want anything too simple in the centre but at the same time, as I'm using DK wool, it can’t be too complex either. Heidi’s looks just about right. I've no idea what size hook to use, or even if I’ll have enough wool and as I bought it nearly a year ago I won’t be able to get any more…

(Heidi adapted a tablecloth pattern to make it - can you tell?...Please don't remind me of that fact if you ever see me wearing the finished article!)

Now...just where are my crochet hooks??...