Ta-Dah! The Lotus Moon Tiles Afghan!

Hey everyone!

It's been a bit quiet here at CBWHQ because... Anne is here in Australia to visit!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's been 5.5 years since we've seen each other in person, and we've just been having too much fun catching up... and of course crocheting ;) There's more regular photos on our Instagram feed @crochetbetweenworlds - if you're not following us there, you definitely should!

Today however is all about the Lotus Moon Tiles Afghan :D I finally finished the second version of this stunning design from Polly Plum (go, get it here and make one!) in 100% Australian Wool to enter into the Sydney Royal Easter Show. Anne, Alex, Kiah and I took lots of photos of it while we were up at the lake house last weekend - it was lots of fun to work together in person for once!

I am sensitive to wool, it makes me itch like crazy and loose fibres make me cough and sneeze. But, the Show category demanded wool, so wool they are getting. Next time I will definitely consider shelling out more money for better quality wool - the $4/50g balls from Spotlight were awful to work with! Full of straw and twigs (!?), knots all over the place (I got very good at felting ends together), and even more scratchy and horrible than wool usually feels to me. But now, it's DONE, and blocked, and I hardly have to touch it anymore. 

The flowers are in 3 different colours - pink, red/orange and purple. It was lovely to work this design again - I didn't even mind the ends (too much)! 

I researched online how we could make this scratchy horrid wool a little bit nicer, and came across this article from The Tricksy Knitter advising to soak the blanket in a gentle Wool Wash and warm water for several hours, and then after rinsing, soak it in warm water with hair conditioner in it! It was somewhat bizarre to do (and my husband whisking Herbal Essences into the laundry sink just made it weirder), but... it worked! The wool is so much softer; I am more comfortable selling it to someone now as I don't think it'll scrub the hairs off their legs anymore! We rinsed and rinsed, and squeezed the water out in some bath towels, and then used a million pins (possibly less, but I did have to send Kiah to the supermarket to buy more) to block it out - including every single flower petal...

The Schülers (Anne and her husband) are now off exploring Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road with Captain Poprocks as tour guide (since he's been there before). They'll be back in Sydney in a few weeks, to spend one more week here before heading home. 

In the meantime I better get cracking on my last few Easter Show entries! Wish me luck!