Monday 30 October 2017

Looming - a new obsession

Right, to start off with before you ask, I haven't given up on my crochet blankets that I have been doing since May. Far from it. I am still keeping on going on with them and they are looking really good. I am about two thirds of the way through now until completion. But as we all know, all good things come to an end. Apparently.

I have however come across a new craft, or rather an old craft that I have never seen done like this. My local shop has been selling a couple of different size round looms and it made me think of when I was little and we used to do French knitting on pins that had been hammered into an old wooden cotton reel. I think we even had one of the ones that looked like a doll. There was inly 4 pins and I remember making cords on it with oddments of knitting wool, often from an old jumper that had been undone and the wool was to be made into something new.

I bought one of each size of the looms and set about seeing if I could find what people were up to and hopefully some instructions as well. I couldn't believe how many different facebook pages I came across and the work being produced is amazing. That led to looking at YouTube to visually see the different types of stitches and to give me inspiration of what to make first.

Several hours later....

I had some lovely purple and blue colour change wool and thought I would give a scarf a go on the little round loom and it was so much easier than I thought. I e wrapped 3 pegs and then missed one to give a stripey effect. The scarf is probably a bit long and even with blocking it still wants to roll up. I am still pleased with it for a first go.

My next project was still going to be a scarf. You can never have too many, right. Rather than do it on the round loom I decided to get a set of long looms and see how I got on with them. Doing the figure of 8 stitch was so simple I couldn't put it down and wanted to see how it would progress. The wool is so soft and the scarf looks as though it has a rib effect. It holds it shape so much better than the first attempt. I can see several more of these being made.

Looming has definitely become a new obsession as it is good to have something on the go when I need a break from the blankets, especially if it has been a round that has required a bit more concentration. Well, that's my excuse!




Friday 6 October 2017

Mandala Madness - Part 13

Well part 13 is all about the trebles, and there are lots of them! The shape gets changed quite a bit by this as each section has two large semi circles and a smaller one. Because of the trebles, they looked and felt a bit wobbly, certainly at first. Both of the blankets that are made with the stylecraft double knit wool however coped with this better than the Scheepjes whirl. This was down to the thickness of the thread and I wasn't sure how it would work out but I needn't have worried. The part is finished off by lots of paired stitches which join together stitches on the previous round. This gives such a lovely effect with the changes of wool colour, either white of black linking together the pink shades. It adds to the texture in the colour change version in which the grey section of the colour change wool is getting progressively lighter. I am interested in how this section will look against the darker band as the grey will go almost to white before I have to decide which Scheepjes whirl cake to do next.

The blankets have certainly grown in size and it is noticeable now how they will look when finished and placed on a bed. The double knit versions I tried on a single bed and they are starting to travel down the side by approx. 6 inches. On a double bed they are still working towards the edge but getting ever closer. It wont be long now. The colour change version looks great over the back of a sofa or an arm chair. What to do with it. Still, I am glad I don't have to decide just yet. Part 13 done.

Onto part 14 .........................................