WIP Wednesday

Apologies for the lateness of this weeks WIP Wednesday post, but the original post has gone missing somewhere in the ether between the blogger app on my phone and the internet. Very annoying. The blogger app is pretty useless and causing me to consider moving the blog to another provider. Wordpress seems a popular choice. I like how blogger links to all things google though.

So, this week has been pretty busy! I got a new niece which spurred me on to finish the amigurumi bunny and to make the cutest little hat and shoes set.

I have also been busy completing a lovely hat for an order. It's pretty much the baby cloche hat pattern that I've used before, just done in a adult size. It's made from Lily Sugar n Cream cotton which I love working with. The stitches look so defined and neat. I hope its new owner likes it. 

I have a couple of WIPs this week...

Preschooler poncho: I'm really enjoying making this colourful poncho. It's the first time I've worked with stylecraft yarns and I have to say, I'm impressed with the quality of the double knitting yarn. It's lovely and soft and stays neat as I'm working with it. The threads don't unwind like some yarns do and there's an nice finish to the stitches. I'm 16 rows in now and I reckon I need at least another 20. Each row takes about 15 minutes now but that gets gradually longer as there are two clusters of stitches added to each row. I think I'll finish it off with a couple of rows of single crochet and then a scalloped edging. 

Neon pink slouchy hat: Requested by my 10 year old daughter, apparently these are what every girl needs these days. In bright pink, obviously. Still, it's a pretty easy request in a lovely yarn. I love the Caron Simply Soft (which is worsted/aran weight yarn) so much, I just wish I could buy it locally. I don't mind buying from the internet but the free delivery for orders over £25 is just too good an offer to miss out on and I have ended up with a LOT of yarn! Have a look here for all the pretty colours that are available.

Not looking likely that I'll have either of these finished by Friday, but I'll give it a go! Oh, and the amish puzzle ball...it hasn't left my WIP box since last week, oops. 

Crochet confusion part 2: worsted yarn

It feels odd referring to the stuff I have called "wool" all my life, as "yarn". The Americans are right though, it is yarn. Wool is defined as a fibre obtained from the coats of animals. Yarn is the term to describe a continuous length of interlocked fibres. So the pedant in me insists that I now call it yarn. 

When I started crocheting, I had a plentiful supply of yarn left over from my knitting days, but it wasn't the yarn they were recommending on patterns. Most patterns called for a "worsted weight yarn". Say what? I had no idea. Turns out that worsted weight is approximately equivalent to our aran weight. That is, unless the pattern is asking for light worsted or heavy worsted...they are totally different! (double knitting and chunky to us in the UK).

Why can't these things be the same the world over? Why can't we all use the same terms to describe our yarns? Why can't we all decide to just call the crochet hooks their actual size ie a 5mm hook (as is UK convention), rather than a "H" hook (US!)? Why is our single crochet a US double crochet?!

Sorry, back to yarn. 

So, I spent the first few months using aran weight yarn, not convinced it was the right stuff, but my items worked up ok so I was happy.

I was browsing the Wool Warehouse site, looking for some cotton yarns to make lighter hats, more suited to spring and ordered lots of balls of gorgeousness like this one...

Can you imagine my excitement when I spotted this on the label!

Finally I could feel confident that I was using the correct yarn. I hadn't used cotton before so thought I'd do a couple of little projects to try out the pretty new additions to my stash. 

I used the solid colours (Drops Paris) to make a cover for my phone using a pattern from Moogly. I lost some stitches along the way so it is far from perfect but it was good for getting used to using an inelastic fibre. I might even make a matching one for my laptop. 

 I loved working with the Lily Sugar n Cream Ombres to make this little hat. Gorgeous colours, perfect for spring days.

The cotton works up beautifully, giving a really polished finish to items. It is more expensive than acrylic yarns and less forgiving when it comes to sizing, but I think I will be buying a lot more cotton, worsted yarn in the future.