As seems to be becoming ‘normal’ its been a while since I last posted!  Shame on me, I know.  There is loads to catch up on but I have a very particular reason to post today and that is because I received some great goodies in the post that I wanted to share.

In January Ali at Snipsnaphappy set up a little new year swap which was very good of her!  I’ve only taken part in one swap before and thought it was about time I did another one.

I received details of my swap partner and set to work on putting together some lovely things for her.  However, I  can’t tell you about those yet as I haven’t heard that she’s received them and its all about the surprise in this swap!!

I also knew that at some point I’d receive a treat in the post from the person who was given me to make for!  And what a treat I received.  Let me introduce Claire from The Hookery!! Look what Claire sent to me:

How lucky am I???  Very!  The felt needle case is beautifully handmade in the softest felt.  Very much needed too as I have my needles currently rattling around in a tin which never struck me as very wise.  (Although like Claire I love tins).  And as for that owl, what can I say.  He has lots of personality with his big eyes and he smells wonderful as he is stuffed full of yummy lavender!  Of course buttons of any sort are fabulous – and chocolate ones are always a treat!!

Somehow I had never come across The Hookery before, but it’s a lovely crochet blog and it’s now on my reading list.  Do have a look and say ‘hi’ to Claire while you’re there!

I love colour! All colour, any colour, all colours at the same time! Except maybe navy blue, I’m not so keen on navy blue.

It was with great excitement that I saw what this years ‘Colour of the Year’ is to be! Tangerine Tango!  Each year Pantone study style and colour directions and select a colour which they feel sums up the trend for the year ahead.

So what do you think? I absolutely love it!  It’s bright, vibrant and warm.  It will definitely brighten any gloomy day and be gorgeous in the summer too.  If I was working with this in a yarn or fabric I wouldn’t get bored of the colour that’s for sure.

I first came across this on the Lion Brand Yarn Facebook page where lots of comments were really negative and saying they didn’t like it at all and wouldn’t wear it.  I don’t think the colour of year is just about clothing, its about home accessories, cars (tho I don’t think I’d buy a car that colour), advertising, cosmetics and all sorts of things.

Well, if you ask me then the future’s bright, the future’s orange!  Sorry, corny I know!!

Please note the image in this post was created using html colour coding and is intended only to indicate the general colour tone of Pantone Tangerine Tango, not to fully replicate it.

There’s nothing like being away from home in a cottage in the middle of nowhere for some time to crochet! And that’s just what I’ve done the past few days! New year in Yorkshire is wild and windy, but crochet filled!

I’m not often a very intensive crocheteer, but the past few days I’ve found my mojo – long may it last!

What have I made? Well, you saw a glimpse of colourful pastel yarn in my last post as a teaser. I’ve been meaning to try McKinley’s Sprintgime Hat for ages and finally got round to it!  When I was visiting my family at Christmas time one of my nieces arrived wearing a gorgeous crochet hat her mum had bought her.  I recognised the pattern straight away and remembered it was in my faves on Ravelry.

I had recently made my other niece (I have 2) a beret that just didn’t fit so she was top of my project list for McKinleys hat.  I’ve now made 2 of them and plan one more – she has two cousins who she will share them with!

The red one is Stylecraft Special DK (Share 1010 Matador) and there’s not much to say about it that hasn’t been said before all over crochet blogland.  Hard working yarn that does what it says on the tin etc.

As for the pastel yarn, well…. it’s gorgeous: Sirdar Snuggly Crofter Baby Fair Isle effect DK (quite a mouthful isn’t it).  This yarn is really really lovely to use and feels wonderfully soft yet stable and practical and the colours are super.  I used shade 0159 and on the ball it looks pretty but made up I love it so much more.  The composition is 55% Nylon / 45% Acrylic but it doesn’t have a synthetic feel – if anything it has a lightweight cotton blend handle, without the weight or firmness.  I think it’s perfect for this hat pattern.

I wanted to make the hats slightly larger than in the McKinley pattern so I added one round to the centre pattern, 3 rows to the shells and one row to the banda although I have to admit I spiralled the band so didn’t keep count the same, I’m guilty of not using markers very often.  I used a 4.5mm hook, which for some reason is my preference when using double knit yarn, over a 4mm, unless it ‘feels’ slightly finer than a standard dk.  The flower I used is one I made up myself.

So with these hats some little girls will have cosy ears – much needed after the storms this week!

And what of my other make?  Well, the man who puts up with all my crochet and yarn (which is now in his house so there’s no hiding it) never gets the benefit of it, poor soul.  Time to remedy that.  He isn’t a cosy cable jumper or homemade socks kind of guy, so I whipped up a mega chunky cosy scarf for him.

The yarn is King Cole Magnum Chunky and used 3 balls in shade 349 – a nice manly grey (he was given alternatives at scoffed and each of them!).  I’m going to write out the pattern properly in another post, although it was very simple and I made it up as I went along.

So there you have it!  A big start to my crochet year and lots more to come, if my plans go according to plan!

I’d love to hear what you’ve worked on so far?

Well here’s 2012!! Who’d have thought this time last year that the new one would come round so quickly!

I’ve started off my new year with some crochet watching old films on TV. Rather a cosy and relaxing day. Perfect!

Here’s a little glimpse of today’s project:

Today’s other job today is directing some technical wizardry so that next time you visit things will be a bit different around here. I’m rather excited by it all!! It might even all happen by tomorrow but if not I’ll look forward to hearing what you think when I finally hit the big red button!!

In the meantime I’ll get back to cracking the whip with my live-in IT expert!!

I hope 2012 brings you lots of wonderful things and good health to enjoy them xx

Wishing you and yours a healthy and happy Christmas.

And Christmas wouldn’t be complete without a cat!!

I’ve been finding myself drawn more and more back to knitting recently, but I have a real mental block about a lot of knitting. I often love the look of it but don’t ‘get’ how it works much of the time, unlike crochet which makes sense to me.

So I have a new piece of equipment which I am hoping will help. Ok, it might be cheating, but I’ll live with that!

I have a shiny new second (third?/fourth?) hand knitting machine! It’s a funny beast, but today I managed to create this lovely precious little piece of knitting below:

(apols for the picture – it was taken on my phone as can’t find anything since I moved – camera included!)