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...

Try try again. Not one to usually listen to my own advice (seriously) last night I decided to revisit an old UFO/WIP that I started last April (I think). OK so I was supposed to be pattern testing and I've apologised to the lovely design many many times but I just couldn't get past a 31 row zig zag lace panel decrease. I know what I was doing wrong but late night knitting was proving a stumbling block so it went back into its bag ready to re surface when I was ready. One night last week I was ready and it came out and guess what? Yes, I conquered my fear of the 31 row lace panel and managed to knit 20 rows, yeah! Not only am I in love with this pattern again Follow Your Dream Shawl but I'm also head over heels in love with the Scheepjes Whirl Yarn again that I bought from Lynn at Lusciously Loopy Here is my shawl in progress last week, just a few more evenings and it will be ready to block then wear. About to start the lace panel again lace panel completed ...

I was asked to test knit a beautiful new shawl pattern recently by one of my lovely Instabuddies (Lisa at Lisasattik ) and the yarn suggested was Scheepjes Whirl. You've probably seen this on Pinterest , Instagram and blog land. It's a fabulous new yarn made up of 60% cotton and 40% acrylic. My choice of colour was green tea tipple, there are so many to chose from but after seeing this knitted up (and crochet) I was drawn to the colour. You can follow my progress over on Ravelry just click here looks too good to dive in The only problem with starting with such a dark colour it was hard going but now that the subtle colour changes are emerging the knitting is much easier, quicker and far more enjoyable. I've not tackled many lace patterns before (but the birch trees scarf that I love) but because the panels are inter mixed with garter ridges and garter bands even I've managed to cope. The pattern flows beautifully and the colour change yarn guides you quickly to ...