Summer Morning Shawl in Neutral Tones

Sometimes, during the summer, I just want to grab a light shawl that I can throw over whatever dress I am wearing. The problem is, all my shawls are quite bold colour schemes, and I really wanted something more neutral.

I was drawn to Rico Design Creative Cotton Degrade in shade Ecru, as it faded from brown to cream, and the Summer Morning shawl pattern for it's simplicity. (Note: I didn't work the final picot edge.) It's a nice easy repetitive pattern, although I never enjoy how long the rows get as shawls progress!

I finished and blocked the shawl, wrapped it round me, and my husband and I agreed - it just wasn't me. It wasn't colourful enough, as insane as that sounds for what was meant to be a neutral shawl! Anyway, I was wandering through Abakhan and found some DMC Coloris thread in shade 4523, Vent du Nord, and the browns in the thread fitted with my shawl so well, whilst the blue and purple in the thread added a touch of colour. I worked this into the shawl as surface crochet in 4 stripes, and I'm pleased with the hint of colour it adds to what is still essentially a neutral shawl!

Spring Flowers Cross Stitch

Last year, I was lucky enough to win Pretty Stitches by Jayne Schofield. The inside is just awash with colours, flowers, and everything pretty. It didn't take me long to decide I would need to test a chart out for myself! I began with a piece of plain white aida, and went to town with my acrylic paint adding colour and patterns to it, and also splashed some sparkly gold ink across it.

Rather than buying the specific threads recommended in the book, I picked out appropriate colours from my stash, mixing things up where it seemed appropriate. I added some sparkly thread to areas, and used some Anchor Perle cotton thread to bring out the centre of the butterflies. I also added just a few sparkly gold mini gems to catch the light.

I mounted my finished cross stitch in an embroidery hoop that I had lightly painted in an off-white pearl paint, and attached some sparkly ribbon to hang from. I also wrapped some more Anchor Perle Cotton Thread (colour 1335) around a section of the embroidery hoop - I love adding details like this! I stitched a circle of felt to the back of my work just to finish it off neatly. This project took a bit longer than I had anticipated, but I love how colourful and spring-like it is now it is finished, and I would definitely recommend the book if you like your cross stitch pretty and colourful!

Tried and Tested Tip Number 19 [Thread Storage]

Do you have storage issues with all your sewing threads? Whilst I used to keep most of my threads in a couple of clear glass jars, there were some which always seem to be missing, and I would always want the one at the bottom!

So at the weekend, I asked my Dad for one of his spare type cases. It is a bit rough around the edges, but I love that charm to it, and knowing that it has been well used!

I love having all my threads accessible, and so easy to see what I want...

And it fits my lovely sparkly threads!

No more hunting for my spools either!

Oh, and it provides somewhere to keep my Dad's woodblock type safe!

OK, I realise not everyone has a Dad with spare type cases in the garage... But thankfully there is a place called eBay, populated with people who do have spare type cases! So if you're looking for somewhere to store your threads, bobbins, thimbles... or mini rolls of tape, buttons and odd woodblock letters, I really recommend having a hunt around. I think my nephew even has one for his lego figures! Shades of brown not your colour? Make it into a project, and paint it to fit your room!

Crochet Shrug

Earlier this year, my husband brought this dress home from a charity shop, knowing that I could resize it to make it fit. It was just a size too big, so I turned it inside out and simply took about an inch in on each side, around the mid section.

The next problem? I didn't have a single top to go with it! I started scouring the internet for a suitable shrug pattern, and came across this, the Easy Shell Shrug. The very word "easy" filled my heart with glee! And then I got started... Now, I don't mean to be wholly negative about this pattern, but I did have a lot of issues.

I started by making a mockup in some scrap wool, and discovered the number of stitches and sizes were a bit odd, the fit wasn't quite right, and the collar section didn't sit flat for me.

I made some changes, and moved on to my finished piece, using just under three balls of an incredibly lovely black crochet cotton [I'll update soon with the exact one!]

To make the shrug to fit me, approx UK size 12, I began with 21 shells across - this required a base chain of 85:

(21 x 4) + 1

(number of shells needed x 4) + an extra stitch

So following the pattern, I had a base chain of 85, then completed Row 1 to make my 21 shells.

I then repeated Pattern Rows 2 & 1 14 times, ending on the pattern, rather than creating a straight edge. If I added any more rows, I felt like the sleeves became too baggy.

I returned to my base chain, and created 21 shells facing the opposite way - imagine a reflection. This meant that I had a nice shelled edge on the long sides of my rectangle.

Next, I joined the shrug by crocheting/stitching together the outer 3 shells at each end.

At this point, the shrug looked like this, and wasn't quite long enough for me to wear comfortably:

So I started experimenting to add extra length. I tried increasing shells along the bottom edge in a curve, but it wouldn't sit flat. In the end, I crocheted a row of 16 shells [needing a base chain of (16 x 4) + 1 = 65], and crocheted shells back along the base chain, to create the "reflection" again. I stitched this on to the shrug, making sure the deep bit of the shells on the strip sat into the shell recesses of the shrug, and vice versa (the deep bit of the shells on the shrug sat into the recesses of the shells on my strip). I repeated this with a row of 14 shells [needing a base chain of (14 x 4) + 1 = 57], and crocheted shells back along the base chain, to create the "reflection", and stitched it onto the shrug as before, attaching it to the previous strip.

This created a low enough back for me to wear comfortably (see the first picture!) I think if I wanted another shrug I would find a different pattern altogether, but I am happy with it, especially for my first proper piece of crocheted clothing!

With sincere thanks to my husband for the photography!