Friday 8 March 2024

Podcast Episode 9

Hello and thankyou for visiting! Episode 9 of the Emerald Cottage podcast is now available, and you can find it here. I must apologise for the variable sound quality, I am hoping to have this improved by episode 10!



Cheeky Monkey - this is from Love Crochet magazine which is no longer printed but can be found on ebay

Longwave Neckwarmer - this is from "45 Crochet Patterns" which is no longer printed but can be found on ebay - here

She's A Brick House top - this pattern is currently being tested - the designer is on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/cindymakes_withyarn/

Hobbii yarn - https://hobbii.co.uk/


Sunday 17 September 2023

Mint Summer Shawl

Hello and thanks for visiting! Back in August I signed up to do a pattern test for Yulia of Semklitas_stitch. The Mint Summer pattern was for a shawl using one ball of Scheepjes whirl yarn, and I had a couple in my stash. One was called Minty Black Velvet and so this seemed perfect for the Mint Summer shawl. I worked on this the first week of September and had it competed in a few days. Its quite a dense pattern in that its not lacy, there are very few holes, and so there is a LOT of stitching.


One of the stitches was this groovy thing where you work a dc2tog into the stitch itself and the next stitch, I have never seen this done before so this was a new one to learn. With a 4 row pattern repeat and no counting it was fairly easy, and an adventurous beginner could easily tackle this one.


I love how the colour changes so gradually in a whirl, its very clever how its done. And when blocked it has a beautiful drape.


I used a 4mm hook, and ran out of yarn so I suspect I should've used a 3.5 mm or smaller. But running out of yarn doesn't seem to have affected the outcome, I think its gorgeous and its a lovely light, breathable shawl as its a cotton-acrylic blend.


I'll be back soon with a lovely scarf to show you, see you then,

Jillxxxx

Podcast Episode 7

Hello and thankyou for visiting! Episode 7 of the Emerald Cottage podcast is now available, and you can find it here.

Patterns I mention: 
Mint Summer Shawl - this is in testing so no pattern available yet
Papyrus scarf - this is in testing so no pattern available yet

Podcasts I mention:

Books I mention:

Etsy Shops I mention

Friday 1 September 2023

Dr Dog

 Hi lovelies,

Just a really quick post from me today. Last week I pattern tested "Dr Dog" for the lovely Olga of @crafts_by_olga on instagram. Isn't he cute ?


He was made using Ricorumi 100% cotton with a 3mm hook. Here's a photo of me with my new Ricorumi set ...


... I treated myself to the Ricorumi pack specifically for doing amigurumi, the pack contains 60 x 25g balls in every colour imaginable. Divine! I found it quite hard to break into it as I just wanted to gaze at its beauty!

Anyway Dr Dog was very quick to make: head, ears, arms, tail all separate and then sewn onto the body which was all one piece with the legs. His coat was then separate and the pattern called for a little name tag to be hand embroidered ...

He even has a little stethoscope (which was very fiddly to do!) ...


.. and his glasses were fashioned from some jewellery wire that I had sitting in a random box in my craft room. They're a bit skew-whiff but I think it adds to his character. Overall I totally love him, and he has already been claimed by child number 2 (who is now 18 by the way!).

Til next time,

Jillxxx



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


Books I mention:


Other things I mention:

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