Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Inspired by Attic24 - as usual!

Lucy, over at her blog attic24,never ceases to inspire me to find new yarns, color ways and items to put on my "to make" list. Here she is planning a new afghan with beautiful yarns from Debbie Bliss and some I'm not sure of! I also need a winder like she has and am on the lookout for one! All credit to her for these photos - visit her blog for inspiration and stories that will entertain you. She lives in England and has a lovely family and home!

Saturday, February 1, 2014

New Yarn!! New Blanket!!

I received an order of Stylecraft Special DK yarn in the mail today! Very excited to finally feel this yarn and see if there is much difference between the English acrylic and our US acrylic inexpensive yarns. Making afghans with acrylic or acrylic blends of yarn is a good idea when giving the item as a gift. People just do not know to dry clean or hand wash and often ruin/felt by washing in hot water and putting into the dryer their heirloom blankets. Of course, I can sew an instruction label onto the blanket but they would still have to actually read it! The blanket will hold up for years and years if treated a little carefully - so I'm using some acrylics and wool blends. This yarn is DK weight so it will take longer to knit or crochet up - but the colors are wonderful - and the yarn feels so soft and yet, substantial and sturdy - much better than the acrylics I am used to feeling at Michaels, AC Moore, etc. I hope to make a traditional granny square multi color small throw blanket with this yarn. Thanks to Lucy, at Attic24 for the inspiration to start crocheting again and using this Stylecraft yarn.

African Flower Motif Afghan I'm working on

Worsted weight yarns, crochet African Flower motifs for a guest bedroom Coverlet. I'm about one third finished. Here are a few flower hexagons.