Shawl for Faye

In a follow up to my last post, I've finished the Granny shawl I showed you.

Shawl for Faye is the result of a request from a crocheter who saw my Great Granny blanket pattern and asked how to make a triangular shawl in the same way. It just so happened that she caught me when I was missing having the blanket to work on so I said yes. I never normally design to order so this was a first.

When I looked into it, I found that there were lots of variations on working a simple Granny triangle so I played about until I had a version that was as simple to work as possible. I wanted to avoid any of those 'work into the top of the starting chain' instructions as they're always a pain. So, in my pattern, you only ever work stitches into the top of other stitches or into chain spaces - nice and easy.

I used eight shades of red, pink and brown for my shawl, plus a contrast colour to tie them all together. I used this contrast after a certain number of colours, much in the same way as I had for the blanket. The yarn is Stylecraft Special DK; I use this yarn such a lot. It's cheap, good quality and comes in a big range of colours. As I have colour pegs of all of them, choosing colours for a new project is easy.

I always think that the top edge of a crochet Granny triangle can look a bit unfinished so I added the border and edging to all three sides of my shawl. This is basically the same pattern as that on the blanket, although I had to adjust it a bit to allow for the different tension along the top edge.

I enjoyed making this shawl just as much as I did the blanket. It gave me the same necessary colour fix and, as a bonus, it was much, much quicker. I hope some of you (and especially, Faye) give this one a go and enjoy it as much as I did.

New Ideas

Whenever I finish working on a big design, I always feel the need to start new things. It doesn't matter how many projects I've got on the go, it's as if getting something done frees up space in my brain for new ideas. This last week I finally got all the proofreading done on this year's Christmas series and I also finished my crochet Granny Square blanket. That's two big things out of the way at once so, obviously, I've been bombarded with new ideas and I thought you might like to see a few of them.

You can see where the idea for this one came from. Having just finished a giant Granny square blanket, I still hadn't had enough of this simple technique. A crocheter actually sent me a request for a pattern for a simple Granny triangle shawl and although I don't normally design to order, this happened to coincide with my need to keep crocheting groups of trebles. At least this one should be a lot quicker to make.

I've got another crochet shawl on the go at the moment but it's evolving into a strange shape ...

This sort of thing happens a lot when you make it up as go along; you just have to work with it. I suspect that curved top edge will resolve itself into a design feature - a rolled collar perhaps?

Here's another shawl that I'm letting do its own thing, this time a knitted one.

I was prompted to start this one by a technique I worked out for one of my little Christmas patterns. And no, I'm not going to tell you what that pattern is! Anyway, I think I could also use the same technique as the basis for a picture frame but I'm resisting starting that one for the time being.

The shawl is twisting round nicely at the moment; it remains to be seen whether it will behave itself so well when I get to the other side. I'm going to call this one 'Whirligig' (or possibly 'Whirlygig'). Isn't the yarn lovely? It's Stylecraft Cabaret and it's a beautifully soft yarn with a bit of added sparkle. A few years ago, I made my Lucky Shawl with autumnal shades of this yarn and was glad to discover that it's still around.

Lucky Shawl

For the past few days I've been knitting lots of little samples for this scarf, trying to find the right yarn for one of the colours.

I'm using an exciting double-sided brioche technique which calls for double pointed needles. The stitch pattern is the same on the other side but the colours are reversed. The first problem I had was finding long enough needles in the size I wanted. Mine were just that bit too short and I kept pushing the stitches off the end. I resolved this problem by the simple expedient of going up a needle size - I had longer 4 mm double pointed needles for some reason.

Then there was the yarn. I started off with the variegated one which is a ball of Sirdar Jewelspun, a new aran weight yarn that caught my eye in a wool shop recently.

I chose this rich autumnal colourway (shade 843) and then looked for a plain yarn to contrast with it. I tried cream, I tried navy blue, I tried grey, I tried black, I tried gold ... you get the idea. Eventually, I came upon this purple, soft yarn in Wilkinsons of all places. 

According to the ball band, it should be quite a lot thicker than the variegated one but they're both quite softly spun and seem to go together well. I did the 'twist the yarns together and run your fingers over it' test and they passed. To do this, make a loop in one yarn, pass the other one through it so you have two, linked loops. Then twist them both and run your fingers across the join. If it's smooth, then they'll work to a similar tension. This would be easier to explain with a picture, hang on a minute ...

Anyway, back to the scarf. I found the technique in the excellent Knitting Brioche by Nancy Marchant. This book is a wonderful resource, full of detailed stitch patterns and some lovely patterns to use them with too. I've used a very basic brioche stitch for my scarf but there are lots more. I see she's published further books using this fascinating technique; I must look out for them.

As normal, I've got several blanket patterns on the go, two of which I'm keen to get back to now. The first one is going to be called 'Freckles' and I'm knitting the squares for it in one of my favourite stitches - fabric stitch. This produces a knitted fabric that looks almost woven..

Then there's this complex crochet blanket which I'm absolutely itching to get to work on again ...

There are lots more geometric shapes waiting to be sewn together for my starry table runner too ...

Not that this project has been neglected lately but, when I tipped out the bowl of triangles to take this photo, a spider scuttle out too. I really must get on and sew them together.

The last of my new ideas is these little knitted pyramids.

At the moment I'm just knitting them in random colours and playing with them but I have plans to turn them into an actual something.

I hope you've enjoyed this rather random look at what I'm thinking and planning at the moment. I've just started the fifteenth folder of my designs - I'm going to need a new shelf soon at this rate.

Two Great Grannies

The first of the two Great Grannies is the least important - my new crochet pattern.

I've thoroughly enjoyed making this blanket which has turned out very big by my standards. It's about 150 cm square; I normally get fed up making things long before they get to that size. It took me quite a long time to choose the colours and, although it may look random, there's a definite plan to their arrangement. I really don't do random.

You can download the free pattern for my Great Granny blanket from  Ravelry as normal. And here's one more photo, complete with furry assistant.

The 'Great' in the pattern name obviously refers to the fact that it's one big square but I was also thinking of a real life Great Granny when I was working on it. My much missed Granny (my children's Great Granny) who I spent many hours with making Granny square blankets.

My Granny, Ida, was born in 1915. Her father worked on the railways, as did her two brothers and a brother-in-law. The family moved around a fair bit; I have my Great Grandmother's old postcards, dating from 1904 and the addresses all begin 'Railway Cottages' ...

Here she is on her wedding day in December 1935. I think her dress is absolutely beautiful.

Now my Grandad, Frank, was a builder but, more importantly (as he would probably have said), he was also a Pigeon fancier. For those who don't know anything about this world, this means he kept racing pigeons at the top of the garden. Which is why so many of the family photos have a pigeon loft as the backdrop. Here's my Mum all dressed up in front of the loft ...

... and with her sister and parents in front of the loft ...

I think it could do with a lick of paint in this one. That's Mum's sister Frances on the end in this photo. Sadly, she died at seventeen. When I was born four years later, I was christened Frances Mary after her.

Here's a photo taken at the front of their house for a change so no pigeons to be seen.

The shy one is me, with my Mum, brother, Granny and Grandad. Note the hand knitted jumpers. Those ones would have been knitted by Mum but Granny was always knitting too. Mum swore that, when her Mum, Granny and Aunt were all living a few doors apart during the war, she went to sleep with her arms held out - just in case anyone needed to wind more wool during the night!

I spent a lot of time with my Granny as I grew up; she taught me how to cross stitch when I stayed with her for a week when I was about seven - big fabric and even bigger stitches but I was very proud of myself. I think my love of walking came from Granny too; we walked for miles and, in later years, started a tradition of the two of us going for a long walk (complete with ice cream) every Christmas Eve. 

Mostly though, I remember us sitting in the garden doing our knitting, crocheting together, sewing ... just lots of craft. You can see evidence of all this craft in lots of the photos of Granny. Here she is with my baby daughter ...

The ladybird jumper was my work but Granny's cardigan, the crochet chair back and the patchwork cushions were all Granny's. You can't see the rugs on the floor but she made those too and, obviously, she could turn her hand to dressmaking too. She liked to dabble in all sorts of crafts but knitting was her real love; when arthritis in her hands made it hard for her to knit bigger things, she concentrated on socks. The pattern I still use is a variation of her original, much battered one.  

One last photo. This one was taken in my back garden when we lived in Peckham. Four female generations of my family, Granny, Mum, me and my daughter.

I love this photo; you can see we were all having fun (apart from the baby who has no idea what's going on).  Happy memories.