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...

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'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...

One more sleep and it will be Granny Square Day 2019, here are some more designs I've been crocheting this week. One more to try tonight! solid granny square using hand dye  yarn by Sewhappycreativ motif 1 from the book Crochet Blocks using Scheepjes Stonewashed