Saturday 28 September 2013

It's Raining Yarn

I have been enjoying a big chunk of crochet heaven lately.  I went to Chinatown last couple of weeks, thinking I could get some worsted-weight cotton yarn.  No luck.  So I figured I'd get some worsted-weight arcylic yarn instead.  And since their for amigurumis Ifigured, I'd go for acrylic for now.  After all I'm still a newbie at crochet.


So I set about crocheting Stacey Trock's woodland animals and I got as far as 1/2 a blue bird, bear head and snout, deer's head, antlers and nose and a racoon head :( I ran out of yarn.  No where on the label did it say how many metres was in one ball of yarn.  It was no fun working with this yarn, it was hard and stiff.  What's next?  I need to go downtown again.  But not till they stock up on black. 

Then I discovered Deramores UK.  I think I might be going over my head here ... call it beginners optimism?  I ordered more acrylic yarn but DK weight instead.  I want to crochet Lucy's Granny Striped Blanket.  Fortunately the quality of this Sirdar yarn is nice and soft even if it is acrylic. If acrylic is good enough for Lucy it's sure good enough for me.  So I learnt fast that even in acrylic there are many qualities.

 
Now this lovely purple heather acrylic / wool mix yarn is 400gm!  It's HUGE!  I have already started crocheting a shrug with it.  I had tough time playing tug of war trying to find the end of the yarn that was inside the ball.  I literally took out it's guts!  So here's the ugly pile of yarn along side the WIP shrug.  The shrug is a pattern by Deanna Young.


And if that was not enough Maycraft finally re-stocked some of my favourite cotton yarn. I would have bought these Lily Sugar n Cream yarn directly for the US, the trouble is they don't deliver to Malaysia and they don't plan to in the future :(  So Maycraft seems to be the only place I can get worsted-weight cotton yarn locally.

These are yarn to continue my granny squares for my bag.  I still need yellow though.  Maycraft were out of stock.



And these are for Sean's Minion beanie.  Initially I wasn't too thrilled with the country yellow that was substituted but I think I like it now.  The finished beanie below looks quite good in fact, if I may say so.  It's a free pattern by Jennifer Dougherty.  I don't think the pattern is available anymore.  I even used a button from Sean's grandmother's sewing stuff.  She passed on some months ago.  And my cousin was kind enough to give me her mother-in law's sewing box and all it's wonderful contents.  You can see the sewing box in my older post here.  So Sean's beanie will be making a trip all the way to Switzerland when I get to the PO on Tuesday.

ETA:  The Minion Hat pattern can be found here (Ravelry link)



And I dug out my knitting needles this week, so as to knit this pretty dishcloth. I'm only a mediocre knitter ... just know my knits and purls.  I've not knitted for yonks, so we'll see how that goes.


It was Lillie's birthday yesterday.  I stitched Primitve Betty's free XS pattern and finished it as a zipper pouch.  I also made a fabric basket using the free tutorial by Ayumills.




And finally for lunch I made a spinach and egg dish.  This is a common home made Chinese dish.  Nothing fancy and absolutely easy to whip up.  You can find the recipe here.


5 comments:

  1. Everything ( and I mean yarn, gifts and eats ) looks DELICIOUS.
    JessW.

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  2. WOW! Nice haul there!
    Love that Aran purple
    And THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for your awesome package!
    Love it!

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  3. You have collected a rainbow of yarns and look to be doing some very interesting projects. Lovely to see knitting and crochet having a resurgence.
    Lovely gifts for Lillie. Am I seeing a pink theme there?

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  4. My goodness!!! You have really got into the yarn of things Barbara!!!! Looks as though you are enjoying experimenting with different yarns, you are making some lovely things!!!!

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  5. What you're saying is completely true. I know that everybody must say the same thing, but I just think that you put it in a way that everyone can understand. I'm sure you'll reach so many people with what you've got to say.

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