vintage crochet Friday #87

You don’t often see bright yellow crocheted dresses around nowadays, but I think these girls look smashing in theirs.  Captions?

school holidays

I love school holidays.  Once we’ve sorted out the issue of child care for the two days I work, it’s such a lovely change of routine.  Sleeping in (the kids anyway – I’ve been getting up early and going for a walk or to the gym) and not having the constant rush, rush, rush to get to the next appointment.  It does slow down my crafting potential though – I am doing things with the kids instead!  So there’s not much to show you.  Other than some Wollmeise that arrived in the mail this week.

This is going to become a Birch Vest (Ravelry link) – for me, of course! Clare and I went to the movies this morning then wandered around the shopping centre a little. I couldn’t believe it – there was so much crochet around! Loads of vests, tops, crocheted bodices, crocheted trim, lots of crochet combined with fabric in garments. I’d better keep at it with the hook and then my girls will be right with the trends!

And a HUGE thank you to all the lovely people that commented on Clare’s Patchie toy.  She is so thrilled by your comments and proud of her own efforts.  She may make one for Stella for Christmas.

the toy formerly known as pickle

Meet Patchie – the soft toy formerly known as Pickle.

8 year old Clare sewed Patchie all by herself, with just the occasional piece of advice from me (and I put the eyes in for her). Jodie‘s instructions were excellent (and very entertaining), and Clare is extremely pleased with her new toy.

This is a terrific beginner’s project – look at what a great result you can achieve, even if you’re only 8 years old! Patchie accompanied Clare to church this morning where she was proudly displayed to anyone who would listen (and a whole lot of other people as well). Thanks Jodie for such a great pattern and well done to Clare from a very proud mother!

vintage crochet Friday #86

Now this is one beautiful lace top.  And I love the haircut too!

highlands vest

Another quick crochet garment – my new highlands vest. The hook has been flying lately! Actually, I’ve had a few projects on the go at once, and they tend to get finished at around the same time too.

The pattern is the Work at Home Vest by Vashti Braha. It was a well-written pattern that taught me a few new stitches and was very enjoyable to crochet.  And it’s seamless, which I love.  The yarn is Bendigo Woollen Mills Highlands in Heather, now discontinued. Which was a problem because I had one 200g ball, which wasn’t enough to finish my vest. But yes, thanks to Ravelry I was able to purchase more from lovely Tas.  I’ve learned a lot this year about how much yarn you need for particular types of projects!

I love that edging – so simple to do, and so effective. The little picots really make it! I used a 6mm hook, and this project was done in just over two weeks. It’s warm and cosy and has taken me a little out of my usual style zone. Which I think is a good thing. I did add a number of rows to make it a more flattering length.

The designer also suggests making this in cotton – I think it would be a great spring layer.

zpagetti roma bag

Remember that when I was at the craft show a month or so ago I bought a kit to make a bag from zpagetti fabric yarn?  It’s finally done.  Ta-da!

Although I think it looks quite good, I’m actually quite disappointed with this project. I didn’t enjoy making it, as the yarn was difficult to work with and the big hook and stitches were hard on my hands. The finished bag is very heavy, even before you put anything in it. And it really does need lining, as items could stick through the gaps in the stitches.

I do like the ribbed stitches that the body of the bag was worked in, but the circle pieces at the ends took quite a few goes to get right. The pattern is not terribly precise. So overall? I think that this yarn is great for floor rugs, but on a practical level is not great for bags.  More on my Ravelry project page here.

Stella’s roselette

Remember Clare’s wildberry roselette?  Poor Stella had been missing out in the mummy-made garment stakes, so I crocheted her a roselette as well.

This was another quick crochet project – around five hours of crochet time spread over the course of the last week. If I am watching tv (which doesn’t happen all that often) I always have a crochet project in my hands, and I took this one to work last week and did a little on my breaks.

The yarns were leftovers from other projects. The aqua is Spotlight Yarn Bee cotton/soy from a couple of years ago, and the pink is Spotlight Yarn Bee bamboo/cotton, also from a couple of years ago. At the moment Stella’s favourite colour is blue AND pink, so this hit the spot. As with Clare’s roselette, I didn’t work button loops on the back opening, but just edged it then used the gaps in the crochet stitches as buttonholes. The buttons are slightly mis-matched (because that’s all I had, so let’s call it a design feature).

Ravelled with more details and photos here.

armorique shawl

My first Wollmeise project.  Other than the colour, entirely copied from Michelle.  The pattern is the Armorique shawl.

I had one skein of this yarn, and played yarn chicken. And lost, with still around four rows of the border to go even after having left out two rows of the main body repeat when it looked as though I might be short of yarn. Once again it was Ravelry to the rescue and kind people that gave me their leftovers and others that pointed me in the direction of more of this colourway for sale.

It was beautiful yarn to work with and the colour is truly amazing. It is called Dornroschen, and is incredibly vibrant. I’ve never had as many comments on a crocheted item as the day I wore this shawl! There is around two months of commuter crochet time in this shawl.

I now have a few skeins of Wollmeise in stash waiting to be liberated into a garment. But now that spring has sprung and summer is on the horizon, I am thinking about summer crochet projects, worked in cotton. Hmmmm, what next?

things that made me smile

There were many things that made me smile during the past week. I’d like to share just a few of them.

Spring jasmine – I love the way that the scent wafts around you:

One that Melbourne commuters will appreciate: a message on the ticketing machine at the train station. The first on the inbound line (complete with a vase of flowers):

Another on the outbound:

Clare’s first gymnastics competition last Sunday:

Stella the store mannequin:

What things made you smile this week?

a little inspiration

These two beautiful crochet books were bought from Kinokuniya when I attended SIT in Sydney at the end of March. It seems like so long ago now! I haven’t made anything from either book yet but spend a considerable amount of time just admiring the pretty pictures. I really like this tunic from Crochet So Fine:

And I’ve been admiring this tunic from the Japanese crochet book.

There are so many items that appeal to me in these two pattern books. The Japanese one is – unsurprisingly – all written in Japanese, but there are charted diagrams. I’ll need to use Ravelry to get more information on things like yarn weights and hook sizes in order to make myself a garment that fits from it. I think I might just get myself a coffee and have another flip through both books…..