Emerald Cottage: August 2023

Thursday, 31 August 2023

Podcast Episode 6

Hello and thankyou for visiting! Episode 6 of the Emerald Cottage podcast is now available, and you can find it here.

Patterns I mention:

Cari Keyhole Scarf

Trillium Shawl

Barbie Scarf - Gratitude Wrap

Mint Summer Shawl - this is in testing so no pattern available yet

Papyrus scarf - this is in testing so no pattern available yet

Wisteria Trellis Shawl

Books I mention:

The Shawl Project book 3

Other things I mention:

craftpod

Southern Wool Show

Saturday, 19 August 2023

Cari Keyhole Scarf

Hello, dear readers and friends :)

Well it may be August, but that doesn't necessarily mean that its summer, apparently! This was the view out of my window yesterday ...

Admittedly the sun is shining now, but that's not to say it won't bucket down again later, who knows?

In the meantime I've been working on some autumnal projects for friends. My friend Helen posted on facebook a picture of a scarf that she'd seen, and another friend, Pauleen, commented that she'd have loved one of these but that her Mum was no longer here to crochet it for her. So I offered to make her one. I had just the right yarn in my stash, this gorgeous marble chunky by James C Brett, in a lovely turquoise-grey mix. The scarf pattern is the Cari Keyhole Scarf, by Angela Wilson. It's about £7 on Ravelry, you can find it here. Its a really easy pattern, and produces this wonderful keyhole effect once its assembled. I say assembled, there really isn't much to do - it looks more complicated than it actually is.

I love how the marble chunky gives the effect of stripes.

And making the tassel is great fun!

I can't wait to give it to Pauleen :)

In the meantime, yet another friend, Nicki, had commented on Pauleen's comment (are you keping up) saying she'd love one too ... so of course I messaged her and offered to make her one as well. Nicki loves purple and I had another ball of marble chunky in my stash that is this perfect pinky purple combo ...

The great thing about crocheting with chunky yarn is how quickly it works up, I was able to complete each scarf in a couple of days. Nicki's scarf is ready for her to collect too .....

And ... you guessed it ... yet another friend, Mary has requested one too! So I'm currently working on a lovely bright pink and rich purple one for her. They are certainly keeping me busy!

Til next time,

Jillxxx

Saturday, 12 August 2023

The Lacy Scarf by The Posh Crochet

Hello dear readers and friends, I hope you are all well. If you have followed me for any amount of time you will know that I am a very bad and inconsistent blogger - sorry!! Consequently I have some projects that were finished a while ago which I have yet to blog about. So I hope you won't mind if I indulge myself by writing about one of them now ?

This project, which I completed some time ago now, is "The Lacy Scarf". It is, as the name suggests, a lacy scarf (obviously), and the pattern is by The Posh Crochet, who is Olga, a designer from Ukraine. You can purchase the pattern on etsy here.

Its a beautiful open lacy scarf pattern which really opens up with a good blocking.

The pattern is worked along the length of the scarf so each row is very long; this suits me as I can really get into the pattern before having to change for the next row.

I love how the clever increases make it twirl around on itself.

The yarn is by The Dye Shack, I purchased it at a yarn show - don't ask me which one though, I have a terrible memory - I should really write on the ball band where I bought it but I always forget

Oh and by the way I also spoke about this pattern in episode 2 of my podcast.

I loved working on this shawl. The combination of the long rows and stunning yarn made it an absolute pleasure to crochet. And in fact I may even use it again with another skein! Watch this space!

Til next time,

Jillxo