Eight-by-Six

I'm a huge fan of crochet shawls. They are so versatile especially with our British summers! You can take them out for the day, small lightweight and portable and handy for when the weather turns chilly. I like to crochet mine quite big, big enough to wrap around you like a traditional shawl or worn tied around the front (a little more trendy). I've taken a few of mine to Whitstable over the past few years, to sit on the beach and watch the sunset and the ombre shawl to Brick Lane London for bagels! The one shown below is the Ombre Shawl by Annaboos House (link to Etsy) Ombre shawl by Annaboos House (taken in Brick Lane London 2018) Here are a few of mine in progress and finished ones with links to the patterns, some are free and some are paid patterns. I'm using hand dye yarn and more affordable yarn cakes to give you an idea of what you can achieve on different budgets. Although I adore hand dye yarn, its not everyones taste or budget. I have some new yarn cake o...

Storm Dennis swept in this weekend and forced me to stay indoors all weekend. Not that I had any plans so it was lovely to spend most of the weekend knitting and I managed to knit one hat, amazing for me. I'm super chilled out today, its great what knitting can do for the mind and body. a stack of cable hats I think it was the Winters Rainbow had dye yarn by  SewHappyCreative  that helped me to knit the long brim in double quick time. Having a rainbow on your knitting needles is perfect in stormy weather. Teamed with another gorgeous medium husky pom pom from  CraftyFriendsUK  that's another design I'm going to knit again and again. Perfect for using that small amount of hand dye yarn with some Aran from your stash. my latest rainbow edition I used approx 50g of hand dye Winters Rainbow with approx 70g of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in Ecru (code 3001010).  my new yarn bowl I changed the pattern slightly on the last row opting for a...

I've been having a cosy week surrounded by gorgeous yarn and knitting another cable hat. I really do love this pattern and I've now lost count of how many I've knitted since October! I'm even planning another one in a new colourway from Sew Happy Creative (Fiona has gone and dye me a special colour and I can't wait to see it tonight when I get home) first rows of stag cables The latest colour is called Winters Plum and I was lucky to receive this as my Christmas present from Fiona, and I love the way the colours pool in each of the cables. Some people don't like colour pooling but I like to see how each individual skein knits up without any intervention.  I hope you manage to have time to knit or crochet, I can't go a day without it. hat stack is growing

I've almost finished my crochet cowl by Rosina Northcott (aka zeensandroger on Instagram) that  I started last Saturday. I was waiting for more yarn to complete the last row, and its arrived today from Lusciously Loopy Yarn (yeah) just ran out of one row but didn't want to substitute the colour. When I saw the pattern in Mollie Makes issue 103  earlier this year I knew it was something I wanted to make but I couldn't decide on the yarn at the time. I couldn't find the magazine then searched on eBay and luckily I found a new copy, sealed. Then recently I bought some hand dye merino yarn from my lovely friend Fiona at Sewhappily Creativ e and I knew then the main yarn had to be Scheepjes Stonewashed and I have a huge stash of it (all be it not quite enough for the last row!). Fiona introduced me to the Stonewashed earlier this year and its one of my favourite yarns to crochet and knit with. I knitted my Gryer Shawl in May using six colours and I've an...

I'm currently working on two new crochet shawl designs using the most beautiful hand dye yarn from Sew Happy Creative (both gifted) but I have ordered more which I will pay for! That's the yarn in the second photo. I was gifted 3 mini skiens (20g each to test) and fell in love with them. You can buy yours here on Etsy . I prefer to buy the mini skiens as I find it less work especially winding the skiens as I always make a mess of the 100g ones! The vintage denim yarn in photo one was gifted for my birthday back in May and it was stashed away for a few months until I decided to cast on a new crochet shawl just before I went to Italy. The yarn is so soft and the colours are beautiful. Little flecks of turquoise amongst sandy colours so this is definitely a beachy themed shawl. I'm planning to add bobbles to represent stones, I have tried them and they look amazing in this colourway. I've almost finished a 100g skein so I've a little way to go, what with swapping pr...

I finished my hitchhikershawl in time to take to Lake Como with me. I made it using my gorgeous mini skiens (Christmas present) from the fabulous Sew Happy Creative  and I love the stellina glittery threads, so pretty but hard to capture. I used 8 mini skeins in total and Fiona was fabulous and hand dyed another batch when I requested an urgent suppyl! . . Pattern: Hitchhiker shawl (with eyelet rows added on row 8) Yarn: mini skeins @sewhappycreativ  Needles: KnitPro symfonie size 3.75mm leave a little glitter wherever you go  I've started another (like you do) this time using Sirdar Snuggly Pattercake in colourway 0761 its beautiful to knit with and feels like cotton wool. Very reasonably priced too for 150g you get 498m/545 yards of 70% acrylic 30% nylon that is machine washable at 40 degrees. I actually purchased mine to knit a baby blanket but so glad I didn't, its perfect for a Hitchhiker shawl because the colour changes are very soft and I lov...