Granny stripes in Turkey

We have just arrived from Turkey. The first thing I packed for the holidays was the granny stripes blanket that I had started a couple of days before, together with my hook and the necessary yarn. And the first thing I unpacked on my return was a finished blanket full of new memories...A hot burning sun and pomegranate trees, warm evenings in the terrace, happy children soaked in watermelon, a warm sea with everchanging shades of blue, olive trees and crispy tomatoes.

I bought the yarn as suggested by Lucy in her pattern. The yarn is Stylecraft's Special DK. It is 100% acrylic. The shades are beautiful and the yarn is soft to the touch, a pleasure to crochet.

I will stock up this yarn to have it always at hand. After having worked with different cheap acrylics (all brands are priced equally), this one is definitely my favourite. Among the brands I have worked with, there is Patons Fab DK, which seems bulkier compared to this one (I would use a 4mm hook with PatonsFab, while I use a 3.5mm with Stylecraft's), the shades are very nice. The only downside is that it feels somewhat rough to the touch. Then there is Robin DK, which doesn't feel very soft either. The look of this yarn is a little 'messy'. While Stylecraft's seem to have all the fibers in order, this one doesn't, and they stick out from the main yarn, giving it an unpolished/opaque look. Sirdar's Hayfield Bonus DK looks much better in that sense. It is very similar to Stylecraft's. The 'messiness' is low, and the yarn still shows a nice shine. It is soft to the touch, and I would say that the best feature is the twist: firm and tidy, and stays in place, so the yarn rarely untwists. Palette yarns are ok, but they differ a lot from batch to batch/colour to colour. I have a couple of colours in my stash which look as good as Stylecraft's, others similar to PatonsFab, some like Robin DK...

Enough yarn talk. The finished blanket looks like this

I put care in making the sides of the same shades to give it a cleaner frame. The edge consists of 4 rows of double crochet (UK, in US terms single crochet), 3 lilac and the last one pink:

I used a 3.5mm crochet hook to make it more dense and I tried to make colour graduations towards a main strong colour. I am very happy with the result! Emilia is now the happy owner of a cosy blanket :)

'Belle'

And here is the doll! I crocheted it for my daughter. I am very proud of it, as I didn't follow any pattern :)

Head and body are crocheted in one piece, while arms and legs were crocheted serparately. I used Patons Fab DK. For the eyes and mouth I used also Patons Fab, for the nose embroidery thread, and the cheeks are two felt circles. So here you have princess Belle, wearing her everyday jumper...

And in her party dress...

Some finished projects

I should post here some of my finished projects. I started knitting when I was very little. My granmother was a knitter, crocheter, seamtress and taylor (she lived from that). She taught me as soon as I showed an interest. I used to knit my jumpers as a teenager. Today it seems to be different (or may be because I am in a different country/culture?), but in those days (we are talking early 80's), if you wanted to have a nice jumper to wear, you had to knit it yourself. Or may be that was the way it was in my family! I also learnt to crochet. My crocheting was mostly supported by the teaching of a different 'granny', my godmother's mum. I remember random knittings along my life: a blue jumper when I was 16, a little jumper for a puppy I had when I was 20 (I remember alternating knitting and excercises while I was preparing for an exam -I studied Physics-), a cardigan and a jumper for my baby son...wait! I have pictures of that! :)

This is me knitting a pink and lilac cardigan...which was left unfinished when our doctor said: 'Did I said to you it was a girl? Gee, I was wrong!'.

This is the little jumper. I had forgotten about the booties, now I remember! Eventually I will get enough time to do a scrapbook...when the children leave home!

Lucas taken by suprise wearing the cardigan I knitted for him...

Ok, I got you, you are taking a picture of me!

I took up crochet/knitting back again a couple of years ago, again to do stuff for the children. I knitted a lovely little baby doll for Emilia (from a knitting magazine, when I have more time I might add some pics and references), a pirate doll for Lucas, a Snake for Lucas:

and I crocheted some clothes for Emilia's baby doll (the green version is still unfinished. I am thinking about decorating it with little flowers or something):

The pattern for this 'Crochet Baby Dress - Solomon's Knot' and hat were scaled from patterns by Teresa Richardson which you can find in her very, very helpful blog (it is worth a visit!). Most patterns and tutorials come with videos, which are clear and straightforward. Below you can see the same dress and hat in grass green...

And finally, a project that I enjoyed enormously, my first lace knit:

The pattern is from the Lilac leaf Shawl designed by Nancy Bush, which appears in her book 'Knitted Lace of Estonia'. I used Rowan Kidsilk Haze, and it worked really well. Soon I will start my second lace project, the Peacock tail and leaf Scarf. For the moment, I am focusing on my first pair of socks :)

Vestido al crochet con gorro

Todavia me falta decorarlo.
Pienso agregarle algunos detalles con florcitas.