Happy MAL day | Graceful Gull starts today!

Posted in Crochet by Keep Calm and Crochet On UK

Image of a seagull perched on a wooden pole against a cloudy blue sky.

The Yarn Whisperer and Keep Calm and Crochet On UK logos are in the top right hand corner.

Text reads Graceful Gull Crochet Make-Along, 31 July-15 September 2023. www.keepcalmandcrochetonuk.com

Happy MAL day folks!

I hope you are ready for our Graceful Gull shawlette make-along – today is the official start day (though of course you can start whenever you like). I’ve designed our shawlette to be a unique lightweight accessory which I hope you’ll enjoy as a crafty summer project.

All the folks that ordered the exclusive Graceful Gull MAL kit should have already received the gorgeous Yarn Whisperer yarn (plus fab extras), and the pattern went out to everyone a few days ago (from Kitey – so maybe check your junk mail if the pattern doesn’t seem to have appeared).

Image of 4 skeins of hand dyed yarn on top of shells and drift wood, there is a wooden crochet hook alongside the yarn.

The exclusive colourway that Kitey has come up with for this summer is so pretty! It contains a 100g (425m) skein of a natural ice-cream colour alongside two 50g (212m) skeins of beautiful gull greys; one lighter and one darker. Then we have a wonderful pop of colour with a 20g (85m) mini skein of feet and beak tonal orange.

Kitey has also outdone himself with the packaging this year – all the Graceful Gull kits were packed in fish and chip boxes, how fun is that, I love it!

Image of a 'traditional fish and chips' box which was used to pack the Graceful Gull crochet make along kit. This is sitting on a bed of sea shells and drift wood.

And in amongst the kit there are the cutest crochet accessories from the fabulous Mrs G Makes. Continuing the seaside theme she has created the most adorable little chips and ice-cream stitch markers – a cute and prefect addition to the kit!

Close up of two silver stitch markers on top of a piece of drift wood. The stitch markers are of a packet of fries and an ice-cream.

I’ve loved working with the Graceful Gull colour palette this year. The cool tones of the greys really felt wonderfully summery, but I equally enjoyed the modern edginess of the inclusion of the pop of orange colour! I can’t wait to share the finished shawlette with you, but I’m going to keep it a secret still for now until everyone has started their projects.

For the full information about this particular make along (MAL) you can find all the details here (or via the top menu of this blog under the tab ‘CALS AND MALS’). But generally the idea is that the MAL is a relaxed event designed to be made during the summer months.

Image of a cardboard fish and chip box resting on a collection of shells and driftwood. It has been open to reveal skeins of yarn wrapped in tissue paper, there is a yarn whisperer sticker holding the tissue paper together.

The MAL will run from today (Monday 31 July 2023) until Friday 15 September 2023 giving everyone plenty of time to make the pattern. You can of course start the pattern at anytime you wish, this deadline is just there for those that like to have one.

There will be support for the pattern as usual in my Facebook group; the KCACO-UK Crochet Community Group and in Kitey’s Virtual Stitch-n-B*tch zoom sessions. This years he’s also holding MAL start ‘hook on’ Instagram Live parties at 10am and 6.30pm – see full details on Kitey’s Insta page.

SHARING WITH THE #GRACEFULGULLMAL COMMUNITY

We hope you’ll share your photos with us on social media (facebook, twitter or instagram) or as a project on Ravelry – we’d love to see what you make! We will be sharing our progress with the hashtags #gracefulgullmal #kcacouk #yarnwhisperer #mrsgmakes. If you’re blogging, feel free to leave links to your post(s) in the comments here.

You also may wish to make sure you are signed up to blog (below) and / or my mailing list to get a reminder when new blog posts, discounts or new pattern releases are available – I’ll just say that Kitey and I have already planned projects for well into 2024!

Pin this project:

Pinterest collage for the Graceful Gull Summer 2023 Crochet Makealong from Keep Calm and Crochet On UK, The Yarn Whisperer and Mrs G Makes.

We do hope that you enjoy this fun make-along; Kitey and I can’t wait to see your wonderful Graceful Gull shawlette’s come to life!

Until next time folks! Happy hooking, keep calm and crochet on my friends xx

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2Feb2023

Peppermint Pageant MAL | The Reveal & Pattern Release

Posted in Collaboration, Crochet, Crochet Accessories, Crochet Kit, Independent Design, Pattern Release by Keep Calm and Crochet On UK

Howdy, how are you all today? I’m just popping on today to tell you of my first pattern release of 2023!

The 26th of January was the last ‘official’ day of the latest make along that has been hosted by The Yarn Whisperer and myself. From the 26 December 2022 until now, over a month later, we have enjoyed our winter make along project with a bunch of lovely mal’ers. And now I get the opportunity to share my finished Peppermint Pageant Stocking, and it’s pattern, with you!

Image of a green, white and red Peppermint Pageant crochet tapestry Christmas stocking

Inspired by Christmas colours of red, white and green and by hand made Scandinavian fairisle type patterns I really enjoyed coming up with my own tapestry crochet version of a tradition stocking.

As always it’s been an absolute delight to work with Kitey and his gorgeously coloured yarn, I love these collabs we do – it always provides me with an opportunity to work with gorgeous yarn which in turn makes the design process super enjoyable.

The Aran yarn in this case was such a beautiful yarn to crochet with and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the slight variations of the semi solid colours come through as I worked each stitch.

Image of a work in progress Peppermint Pageant crochet tapestry Christmas stocking

If this is the first you’ve heard about the The Peppermint Pageant MAL you can read more about it here but in a nutshell it’s the result of a wonderful collaboration between myself and Kitey, aka The Yarn Whisperer, of a unique crocheted stocking designed with a special hand dyed yarn in mind.

It’s made us both incredibly happy to see the photos of folks sharing their progress with us on social media and I hope you will continue to do so as you finish your stockings if you haven’t had chance to make it yet.

Images of various works in progress and finished Peppermint Pageant crochet tapestry Christmas stockings

Although the official end date of the MAL has come to an end DO NOT feel any panic or worry that you didn’t keep up or haven’t even started yet. The deadline was there just for those people that like a deadline, for everyone else, enjoy it when you have the time to use the yarn and / or make the stocking – there is no rush to this crochet makealong! And sometime in the future you will have a beautiful finished object that you can gift for someone special or to enjoy yourself.

Image of the crocheted Peppermint Pageant stocking hanging up on a fireplace.

Now that the MAL is over, I have listed the pattern in my usual pattern stores for you to make your own version of the The Peppermint Pageant Stocking.

I would suggest three different colours work best, I used 100g / 166m of a main colour (e.g. White) and 50g / 83m in contract colours (e.g. Green and Red) and a 5mm (US size H/8) hook.

If you’d like to pick up this specific kit colourway then you can pick it up from Kitey and EXCITEDLY the Peppermint Pageant kits are getting an upgrade for 2023. This design and yarn combo are going to be the first make-along kit that will keep going this year. Kitey is coming up with some exciting new colourways as we speak that I can’t wait to see come together (I’m looking at you teal and silver – oooo!)

The pattern has a written version, a chart and comes with a bonus pattern to make your own mini hanging stocking decorations – Kitey and I always like to add a little extra something for those scraps of leftover yarn! The pattern comes with all explanation of stitches used and is available in either UK or US terminology.

We do hope that you’ve enjoyed this fun make-along, I know Kitey and I have thoroughly enjoyed it – in fact we’ve already got our plans in the works for our annual summer make-along! I’m already excited about it – we will be looking to release, as before, in July but details will be sent out before that to give folks plenty of time to sign up if they want to.

Make sure you are signed up to the blog (or my newsletter) and The Yarn Whisperer newsletter to make sure you are the first to know when the new collaboration project is revealed!

Until next time folks! Happy hooking, keep calm and crochet on my friends xx

26Dec2022

Happy MAL day | Peppermint Pageant starts today!

Posted in Crochet by Keep Calm and Crochet On UK

Happy MAL day folks!

I hope you are enjoying a restful festive period and are now ready for a bit of hooky time.

All the folks that ordered the exclusive Peppermint Pageant MAL kit should have already received the gorgeous Yarn Whisperer yarn (plus fab extras), and the pattern went out to everyone a few days ago (from Kitey – so maybe check your junk mail if the pattern doesn’t seem to have appeared). So we should be all ready to begin!

The exclusive colourway that Kitey has come up with this time was inspired by Christmas! It contains a 50g skein of a fabulously rich tonal minty green that you would see in peppermints and in traditional fir trees. Then alongside that skein was a 50g skein of a beautiful semi-solid rich red – the unique variations in each make them just so special to work with.

These colours have been married up with a hank of natural yarn, because it’s beautiful in it’s own right, it’s actually one of my favourite things – to see natural yarn along side a hand dyed version as the colours really pop! And the merino Aran weight yarn I think is my new yarn crush – such a delight to crochet with!

And in amongst the kit there is THE MOST FABULOUS stitch marker, wooden button and pencil from Mrs G! So a little known fact about me is that I have a thing about stationery, I actually I do all my pattern writing in pencil, so I loved the addition of the engraved pencil, what a lovely reminder of the MAL each time I use it.

I also have a thing about things made in wood, which the little Christmas button was made from, I love the fact it has the date engraved on it to mark the project date. And of course the metal disc snowflake stitch marker was a perfect match for the project and is so fab and functional as all Mrs G’s stitch markers are (I have quite the collection).

For the full information about this particular MAL you can find all the details here (or via the top menu of this blog under the tab ‘CALS AND MALS’). But generally the idea is that the MAL is a relaxed event designed to be a lovely betwixtmas project – this time round we are making a Christmas stocking.

The Make Along will run from today (Monday 26 December 2022) until Thursday 26 January 2022 giving everyone plenty of time to make the pattern during the festive season and new year. You can of course start the pattern at anytime you wish, this deadline is just there for those that like to have one.

There will be support for the pattern as usual in my Facebook group; the KCACO-UK Crochet Community Group and in Kitey’s Virtual Stitch-n-B*tch zoom sessions – see full details on Kitey’s Insta page

SHARING WITH THE #PEPPERMINTPAGEANT MAKEALONG COMMUNITY

We hope you’ll share your photos with us on social media (facebook, twitter or instagram) or as a project on Ravelry – we’d love to see what you make! We will be sharing our progress with the hashtags #peppermintpageantmal #kcacouk #yarnwhisperer. If you’re blogging, feel free to leave links to your post(s) in the comments here.