Crochet Now Magazine | Angelica the Mouse Amigurumi

Posted in Amigurumi, Crochet, Magazine, Pattern Release, Tah-Dah, Yarn by Keep Calm and Crochet On UK

I’m so excited to say that I’ve got a new pattern out in issue 37 of Crochet Now magazine. I’ve actually been waiting for this design to come out so I could tell you about it as it’s definitely one of my favourite makes that I’ve made to date!

heather gibbs - angelica mouse - scheepjes stonewashed

Meet Angelica Mouse! This wee gal is all ready for a winter walk into town in her cute dress, hat and muff. I think she’s going yarn shopping…yes she’s got that look of a dedicated yarn shopper don’t you think.

And she’s dressed perfectly for the weather here in the UK at the moment. It started snowing here tonight and I keep thinking I could do with a muff! It looks fab on a mouse – but do people still wear hand muffs? Anyway I digress…back to the crochet…

When I started designing her I think I might have been subconsciously channelling a bit of Miss Bianca from Disney’s The Rescuers as that’s who my Dad said she looked like. But in the end I think she’s turned out to have her own look and I really do love how she turned out. She came together really well when I was designing her – sometimes a pattern just flows off your hook and I think they often end up as my favourites for that reason.

For this design I used Scheepjes Stonewashed yarn, which if you follow along here on the blog, you will know is some of my favourite yarn to crochet with. I think the stonewashed aged look of the yarn suited the design and the look I was trying to create perfectly.

SAVE PATTERN ON RAVELRY HERE

As well as my crochet mouse pattern issue 37 features loads of great patterns including some really fun C2C projects and some really cute birds by Irene Strange (who you may remember I interviewed a couple years ago).

If you hook up Angelica the Mouse please share your photos with me on social media (facebook, twitter or instagram) – I love to see it!

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

28Nov2018

Skimming Stones MCAL | Finally Finished!

Posted in Crochet, crochet-along, For Adult, From the Stash, Inspiration by Keep Calm and Crochet On UK

So today I’m going to celebrate the fact that I’ve finally finished off a WIP (work in progress) that’s been sitting by my chair for the last four months…which isn’t TOO bad I suppose. I’m sure I’ve got other WIPs that are gathering cobwebs in dusty recesses of hidden boxes and bags…but we won’t mention those.

Today it’s all about the WIP that is no longer in a state of incompleteness. Cue triumphant fanfare…my Skimming Stones Shawl is finally finished!

I don’t know if you remember but I joined the Crochet-Along (CAL) by designers Kat Goldin and Joanne Scrace (aka The Crochet Project) for their Skimming Stones Mystery Crochet A-Long that ran over June and July this year. You can read about my start here but, as with most things that are for myself, it got put to one side whilst I had to work on other commissions and things.

But I recently had a little bit of time to get it finished off, blocked and ready to wear. And actually as the weather is turning colder in this part of the UK it couldn’t have come at a better time!

I did a complete wet block for this shawl as it had been scrunched up in a WIP bag for ages. I left it pinned out over night on foam mats on the floor, which my family was really pleased to have to walk around, and the next day I did the fun unpinning part to see it in it’s new shape!

It turned out so pretty – I love this colour combination of Scheepjes Stonewashed together and I love the texture and the edging…

I was very lucky to get a bit of winter sunshine to take some photos – I hate this time of year when there’s very little natural light around (or it’s so grey outside it still seems like night time!) but Mr Sun was very obliging on this occasion…

We have a lovely wall of ivy in the back garden that stays green all year round, it’s one of my favourite places to use as a backdrop, and I think it really helps show you how the colours really appear!

My new shawl is going to keep me lovely and cosy! But I’ve still got shawl fever and want to make another one!

So I’ve been thinking about what other WIP projects I might start to work on in between other things. I’m not going to do another CAL right now but I’ve got my eye on the stunning Grinda Shawl by Tatsiana Kupryianchyk aka Lilla Bjorn which was released as a MCAL by Scheepjes.

That MCAL has finished now but I think the pattern is absolutely smashing and I have a Scheepjes Whirl (Black Forest Zinger) in my stash which I think has this shawls written all over it! Watch this space!

Have you made the Grinda Shawl? I’d love to hear about it and your top tips before I start.

Until next time! Keep calm and crochet on my friends xx

11Jul2018

Skimming Stones MCAL | Parts 1 and 2 done!

Posted in Crochet, crochet-along, For Adult, From the Stash, Inspiration by Keep Calm and Crochet On UK

It’s work in progress Wednesday! If you follow me on Instagram then you will have seen that over June and July my WIP is the Skimming Stones Mystery Crochet A-Long by designers Kat Goldin and Joanne Scrace (aka The Crochet Project). It’s a paid for pattern CAL that started on 20 June with a new section released each week for a total of 4 weeks.

There’s always so many amazing CALs out there but unless it’s my own CAL I’m usually a bit rubbish at not letting other things get in the way. However the Skimming Stones CAL seemed manageable (for me) as it’s four parts released on a weekly basis. So not too long a CAL to start impeding on my other commitments and the right kind of project to make me feel like I’ve really accomplished something as I get a nice new shawl just for me at the end.

And I was extremely good and didn’t buy any new yarn for this project (I’m not ill I promise!) I just really need to start using some of my own yarn stash before we all become buried alive in it. And I have some lovely stuff in my stash, so I’m beginning to try and get more of a use it up attitude – so it was stash shopping I went!

I picked out some of my favourite yarn, Scheepjes Stonewashed, from my stash in the following colours and amounts:

Col A = 2 x 50g / 260 metres of Smokey Quartz (802)
Col B = 1 x 50g / 130 metres of Corundum Ruby (808)
Col C = 1 x 50g / 130 metres of Lilac Quartz (818)
Col D = 1 x 50g / 130 metres of Amazonite (813)
Col E = 1 x 50g / 130 metres of Crystal Quartz (814)

And I’m pretty much in love with how these colours are working together! With the Stonewashed I’ve used a 3.5mm (US size E) hook and of course keeping all my WIP together in a handy Dear Ewe project bag 😉

I’m really enjoyed a mini break from designing and found it so refreshing to just follow a pattern were someone else had done all the working out for me!

It’s such a fun design too and I basically followed all the helpful tips by Lynn Rowe (from the Woolnest); starting with a 2ch and carrying my yarn up the side of my work too, I also made sure to weave in my ends as I went (anyone else usually leave that till the end – or never if they get the chance?!).

I’ve made it up to clue 2 and I’m a little behind as I stopped to crochet a platypus (more about that in another post)…but I’m very pleased with myself for keeping up as a reason I don’t usually join in the CALs is because I know I will get caught up in other projects and not finished! But not this time (I said to myself)…