Thursday 22 August 2013

Is This The Real Life? Is This Just Fantasy.....

When I thought of writing this post, the first thing that popped into my head were the first line of lyrics from Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody! lol

I suppose you are already wondering why I would choose those words for a post....well wonder no more...

I had finally managed to spend some time sorting through my stash of yarn and seeing what I actually had and came across a nice little stash of some bright coloured yarn which I wanted to do something with.

For a while now, I have been wanting to make a throw that was bright and not just the same old, same old stitch. So off to Ravelry I went and stumbled across the pattern for the Fantasy Blanket and knew right away that it was the one!

I picked out my colours and found my favourite hook and set to work.

I really liked the mix of different stitches and the way the colours were working together, it didn't take long at all to get it to the length I wanted.

I didn't want to do the border that was included in the pattern, so I decided to do it my own way. Which ended up being a mix of some of the colours of the blanket being used around the edge in a simple single crochet stitch, finished off with a white reverse single crochet (crab stitch). I'm not 100% happy with the edging and am actually thinking of changing it to something more to my liking, but for now, it can wait until inspiration strikes.

Here's a photo I took of the blanket just before I added the edging, I love the way the colours just "pop"!


Once I decide on the type of edging I want to change it to, I'll share another photo. 

Surprisingly  it didn't use as much yarn as I  thought  it would, so I actually have enough left over to start another multi-colour project. Now I just have to find the right pattern.....

Doily Rug...

I had been wanting to try one of these for quite some time now. I had seen so many gorgeous examples on the internet and just had to try it out for myself.

The main problem I had was sourcing the t-shirt yarn for it. I finally managed to hunt some down on Ebay. I bought 4 skeins of Moda Vera Gypsy for a lot less than it would have cost me in the store.

I chose to go with a brown colour for the yarn as our house has a lot of neutral colours and woodwork.

The next problem I had was deciding on exactly what doily pattern I wanted to use for a rug.
I finally found one on Ravelry called "Birthday Doily" which was a free pattern. It can be found here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/birthday-doily

I then had to go out and buy myself some really large crochet hooks, so I chose to get a 15mm and a 19mm. Of course, I didn't need an excuse to buy some yarn while I was at the store, but that's another story!

Anyway, once I got used to tension of the t-shirt yarn and the really large hook (I chose to work with the 15mm), it was smooth sailing.

I managed to complete it over 3 evenings and it now has pride of place on my bedroom floor in front of my mother's rosewood tallboy that I inherited when she moved to the nursing home.

This is my finished rug:

It's not the best photo in the world, the camera just didn't like picking up the proper colour, but I think you can get the idea.

It took just over 1 skein of the Gypsy and they are huge skeins (500gms). Now I just have to decide what to do with the remaining yarn......

Another doily rug, an owl basket, or something else.....I guess I'll decide on something soon enough....