Creating a Crochet Cardigan

My mother in law treated me to a Mollie Makes subscription for Christmas 2016, it's exciting every month a magazine coming through the day and an array of lovely creations to practice and make. I do find the magazine is loaded more with crochet creations then knit, and as knit is my primary choice i generally find myself ooling over pretty crochet pictures in awe of the designs.

As you all know i made myself a crochet blanket for the van a few months back, it used a basic Granny Square designed for the main body, so i felt after crocheting 143 squares i felt quietly confident in making them. So when i came across the crochet granny square cardigan by Anna Knits in issue 81 i knew i had to get my super pretty crochet hooks out and give it a go. I could see myself in it, bobbing around at a festival, keeping warm in the van, i knew it had to be mine and with that the project began. 

I wanted to use more autumnal colours then the ones in the pattern, i also chose to use different wool as using the wool in the pattern was going to cost around £60 and i was concerned i may mess up with it being my first big crochet clothing item so therefore wanted to buy nice wool but also affordable wool. I shopped around and settled on Big Value King Cole Super Chunky in Heather, Green and Cerise. When it arrived in the post i was so happy with the colours and knew there were what i would say 'my colours'. 

So i set to work and began to understand the pattern, as obviously it wasn't as easy as i first convinced myself. The caridgan is plain on one side and more patterned on the other, silly me, didn't realise this for sometime and kept pulling the pattern our as i couldn't make sense how both sides would match up. One afternoon i suddenly had  alight bulb moment and realised the difference in the pattern. After that i felt the crochet came together nicely and it was hooky all the way. 

I used cerise as the main body of the colour, purple is my favourite but i know it's also my go to so i decided to go different and use purple (heather) for the least amount of colour. So i replaced the yellow for heather, the blue for green and used a similar but more autumnal pink for the main (cerise). 

The pattern was really nice to work with and i felt for a first time crocheter i was able to decipher and make sense of pattern reading, i asked a friend for a few helpful hints however found i managed to work most of it out myself and unpick any crochet code i didn't understand with the help of google. 

I think putting it all together was the most challenging, it crocheted up really thick and when i put it all together i found the arms were too tight so had to unpick and start again which was a real stress. I think the arms are my most disappointing bit of the crochet make as i made a few mistakes which i thought i could get past, however the result was super tight skinny arms. After a big of restitching though and quick thinking they worked out okay and it's only me and the keen crocheter that can probably tell. 

oh yeah and the sleeves are a bit long, however they actually look nice folded up. I really felt the cardigan came together when i did the edging, it's all different colours depending on what colour you were edging on too. I felt it defined the cardigan and completed it. 

I took it on it's first outing when we stayed at our favourite pub in Malham, sadly we didn't get any photo's as we were enjoying being nestled by the fire with wine and games. However it did look good with a nice denim shirt underneath it. Can't wait to rock it more over winter. 

** i feel my camera hasn't shot the colours as well as i would have liked as the light was bright**

What's on the Mantel?

Hello!

My mantel is such a favourite part of my nest, it changes all the time as there's always something new I want to show of.

When Spring approached I decided my front room was very autumnal and i wanted a splash of colour. I had found this wonderful crocheted bunting pattern and really wanted to try it out so decided each season I would replace with new colour. This is still the Spring one, I'm letting it roll into Summer as so many projects, however I feel the colour is still vibrant and it makes me smile.
It was our 5yr anniversary last week so it's filled with some lovely cards and words from family. Mine is the lovely one of Sam on the end, it's a book with lovely wild flowers popping out.

As always I took the flowers from a recent wedding we attended, these were from the top table centre piece, I picked all the roses and gypsophilia out and have vases potted everywhere.

My orchid has a new shoot coming from it, when this one blooms the flowers are so white and big.

Our standard wedding shot is at the end, I think I may change this over to another one as think the one of us smooching on our day is my favourite at the moment.

The snaps on the wall our from some of our favourite moments at festivals, they sum up our first few years pretty perfectly.

The rocks hanging up are from a dear friend who gave me them as good luck. Supposedly stones from the beach with holes in are a sign of luck. I really like this thought, something special about the journey they have been on.

I plan to do a little update every few months to see what changes and what's new - or still there from the last write up,

Crochet Granny Square Blanket

Well it's finally complete, it's been in the making for years and i am so pleased with the end piece, the blanket started when i learnt to crochet just before heading off travelling, i started with a granny square and managed to pick it up easier then i thought. 

When heading off on our 2014 adventure i decided i wanted to still use my hands to craft and felt knitting maybe a bit too much effort so i thought with my hook and a few balls of yarn i could crochet squares in order to make a blanket. So with that.. the blanket started, the yarn was purchased and my crochet addiction started. I crocheted a number of squares when in the Himalayan mountains, the snow capped peaks and the colder air was a perfect place and even better i managed to buy more yarn from local women knitting on the street, I sent a number of squares home, a mish mash of colours, i soon realised there was no colour scheme to this blanket but a whirlwind of tones. 

When i arrived home i looked over my squares and realised there was a number with a brown edging so felt this would work as an outline, i then purchased more yarn to match the colours already crocheted and started to build on my squares. I will admit though my knitting did take over and the squares became nestled in a bag in the corner of the living room. 

I met a new friend last year and my crochet love came back, i started to bring my squares out again and started to see them grow. With buying our van i thought the blanket would be a treat for in there, so instead of the blanket being a work in progress it became the main project and i found myself crocheting away again, my squares building up and the blanket becoming more alive. 

In total i crocheted 143 squares, i must admit they werent all the same size but when i started to join the blanket together it didn't matter, it just felt it made the journey of the blanket and my crochet learning was there in front of me, the good squares and the not so great ones. I wasnt sure on a border so asked some friends and the consensus came back as navy being a strong contender, i decided to go with this and was really pleased with the match, i crocheted the edge carrying on with the treble crochet granny square, i did three rounds and felt that was enough, i was dying for it to come to an end to enjoy it's beauty. 

I am so pleased with the end result and feel the colours work great, it's going to be an ace van blanket and i am already planning another for the house. 

Project Van Life pt2

We have been back out on the van again, Sam has taken on more of the role with me, due to a lot of work being a one man job and i feel i am just getting in the way, however as Sam stated i am crafting for the interior of the van so i am still working, this made me feel more comfortable about sitting watching grey's anatomy whilst crocheting. 

We are still insulating, it's a long and boring job and has many many layers, in my last blog post here http://claire-yvonne.blogspot.com/2016/10/project-van-life.html we started cleaning and prepping the van, if that was not boring then insulating has definitely taken over, we had to first add the outer insulation, we used thermal wrap (Wickes) which was placed on the inside of all the van, celing, walls, floor, we also placed some in the front cab and placed an old yoga mat on tap for a bit extra comfort (before we place the carpet down), we stuck it all down with high temperature adhesive (amazon), which stank and was super strong, we had to cut set lengths to fit around the wheel base (inside the van) and inside certain compartments along the edges. 

Sam then added the framing using timber, the framing will hold the ply, we then started placing space loft roll (Wickes) on top of the thermal roll to pad it out and ensure the heat is kept in good and proper for when the ply goes on top. We used a spray adhesive to start sticking the space loft roll on, however some will just be placed behind the ply walls, this weekend will be more insulating and hopefully the walls will start being placed. 

As for whats happening inside the house, i started crocheting squares a few years back, i decided when travelling in 2014 it would be a good thing to learn and allow my hands to keep crafting, the blanket has been a slow process, however i decided it would be a great van blanket so i have now started focusing more on it rather then it being a 'work in progress' ~ so here it is just a few snaps as a taster. My idea is the crochet squares with the brown outside will be the outer layer then a mad mixture of colours in the middle, there is no order to this blanket, it's been made by so many different wool's in so many different countries that it literally will be a mixture of madness, however it will be treasured as it will be my first crochet masterpiece.