BAWJ2019 - Weeks 18, 19 and 20!

Hey everyone,

Aargh! Time is running away from me at an alarming rate - I feel like I'm barely keeping up. We had all the family in town for Allie's first  birthday (!!) last weekend and it's going to take me a bit longer to recover from all the excitement and cooking. 

Allie got her own little chocolate cake to munch and mash - as you can see, she had a LOT of fun (and needed a bath directly afterwards!).

I still haven't convinced the little flea to stand still long enough to model cardigans for me, plus we are having a weird resurgence of summer at the moment and everyone is back in tshirts! Climate change is so weird and annoying, I want winter and snuggly blankets and hot tea! 

I have managed to squeeze a bit of crochet in here and there, mostly getting up to date with the BAWJ. Without further ado, here's my take on Weeks 18, 19 and 20!

If you want to join in on BAWJ2019, check out Julie's Facebookgroup, blog and Ravelry Board for more information.


WEEK 18 - SIMBELMYNË by POLLY PLUM

Pattern: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/simbelmyne

Yarn colours: All of them (mini balls and scraps from the bottom of the box...)

Ugh I love Polly Plum designs. She makes art with yarn, and writes so clearly that making her afghan squares is almost effortless. Plus, she is an all round excellent person and one of our fellow Stylecraft Blogstars!

This one is another masterpiece, with a square that ends up both solid and lacy, somehow. It is almost identical front and back (which is great in an afghan) and all in all was a pleasure to crochet!  

WEEK 19 - HAYTON BLOCK by MELISSA GREEN

Pattern: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hayton-block

Yarn colours: Coral, Silver, Krypton

Again, this square was a lot of fun to crochet. Working longer stitches into the row below, playing with back post stitches, and having the variety of a square design (most of these squares start as circles)... 

However, as you can see it came out quite wonky - it must need some hefty blocking. I'll ignore that for the moment and see if peer pressure will do the job for me in the finished blanket, but I remain slightly dubious for now. Plus, it is quite on the large size. Maybe I'll have one blanket for enormous squares and one for less enormous ones?

WEEK 20 - BAWJ2019 DREAM SQUARE by INEKE MOOIJENKIND

Pattern: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bawj2019-dream-square

Yarn colours: Raspberry, Teal, Phosphorus 

Two new stitches to learn in this square - the bead stitch and the folding sc/hdc/dc. Bead stitch seems to be a neater and less tedious version of the bullion stitch. The folding sc/hdc/dc makes a really cool loopy texture! See the little tunnel of teal stitches? 

I have heard a lot about Ineke's patterns but hadn't had the chance to make one yet - this one is making me very curious to find out more :D 

Phew, that's another three weeks done! I have three new patterns off with testers at the moment, maybe one day I'll get around to writing them up properly and publishing... how soon does Allie start daycare? 

What are you working on at the moment? Link me to your blog or facebook or insta! 

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!

Ta-dah! The Lotus Moon Tiles Afghan

Hi everyone! 

Today is going to be mostly pictures... because I've finished the Lotus Moon Tiles Afghan by Polly Plum! Made using all Stylecraft Special DK (as a stashbuster), it has 24 lotus flowers, and finished up at 100 x 150cm. All the yarn colours are over on my Ravelry project page.

The pattern was so well written and introduced me to more new stitches and techniques. It's made up of octagons...

... squares...

... and triangles.

Kiah and I took it down to the riverside this afternoon to take some pretty pictures! And, well... I think the pictures speak for themselves <3 I love sunset for crochet photos!

Such a glorious bundle of rainbows!