A couple of weeks back now a member of yarn in the barn group brought in this beautiful blanket she had nearly finished. Crocheted in  Rico Essentials Soft Merino Aran and Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. An absolutely fabulous blanket that is definitely inspiring me to continue with my own crochet projects.

I love the circle shape used continuously throughout. This is a welcome change to your traditional granny square design.

A couple of months back now I got chatting to a customer in the Craft Barn who had knitted an amazing sweater for her husband in Rowan British Sheep Breeds DK. You may remember the post featuring Linda’s husband proudly modelling his sweater. At the time Linda was purchasing yarn to make a spiderman jumper for a young relative. Finding a pattern for that design was proving near enough impossible so she decided to just go for it herself, using a basic crew neck sweater pattern. And what a great job she has done! Knitted in the bright red and blue shades of Designer Yarn DK with Wool. This is a great value yarn at just £2.99 a ball for 100g.

For the vertical black lines Linda chose to crochet a chain on once the garment ws complete. This way it avoided her getting too tangled with colour changes.

After I had posted about ‘the granny square challenge’ last week; I received an email with a photo from a blog reader called Rachel. Her first ever attempt at a granny square! Rachel said that her mum taught her to crochet only last week, on Mother’s day. It looks like Rachel has picked it up really well. Now with two granny squares completed, I can see she will have a blanket on the way in no time at all. Rachel has used a selection of oddments including Sirdar Aran and Rico Aran yarns.

After all this talk of crochet last week I have now finished one and a half more squares (woohoo!). Maybe I can just make a mini blanket? What do you think, how big or small can a blanket be?

Moments after I had posted about the ‘granny square challenge’ I was called into the shop to see a granny square blanket. Camera in hand I went into the Craft Barn, and what a beautiful and inspirational granny square blanket I was greeted with. I can only dream of mine getting to that stage at this point (8 squares and ¾ of a square) I do think that there is a long way to go. The lady who had crocheted the blanket is called Dorothy. She said that she is only learning too. Which is hard to believe when she has created such an amazing blanket. Talking to her about making it, she said that  no two squares are the same! I love all of the mismatched colours all working together. Using white yarn for the outer edge and to join brings it all together perfectly.

The pretty scalloped edge gives a lovely finishing touch too. Thank you for letting me share your blanket Dorothy. If you have any granny squares you would like to share please send in photos to amy@blacksheepwools.com.

A customer called Sheena sent in this photo of her latest projects. I just had to share them with you. A pretty, crocheted ripple blanket and a cute little teddy. Sheena has crocheted them in Louisa Harding Ianthe and says she has already made 4 bears and plans to do more.

I received an email from a Craft Barn customer who had recently finished a gorgeous cushion cover. The customer (Elaine) had completed this in only one week. This pretty scalloped effect is created using a crochet stitch called ‘crocodile stitch’. Elaine said that she didn’t follow a pattern to make the cover, instead she followed a video tutorial on YouTube. She worked out the number of stitches to correspond with the size of her cushion and as you can see from the photo below it has turned out beautifully. A lovely choice of colour too. Elaine has used the Debbie Bliss Prima yarn, which she said was nice to use and holds its shape really well. Something which is important when you are making homewares such as a cushion, can’t be having wobbly sides and edges.

It is a very pretty stitch, which has got me thinking of what else it could be used for? Have you made anything using a crocodile stitch or any other textured crochet stitches? I would love to see them and also to share photos here on the blog. Please email photos to amy@blacksheepwools.com.

A customer called Linda was shopping with her husband in the Craft Barn when one of the shop girls recognised a very nice, hand knitted sweater being worn by Linda’s husband. After speaking to Linda and her husband we discovered that the sweater was from Rowan Wintertide, in fact it is the sweater from the front cover minus the polo neck. It is always interesting to see a slight tweak to a pattern here and there. To see this you wouldn’t know that the design was intended to be any different. The shade Linda has used is Blue Faced Leicester Grey Suffolk, a fabulous shade of cream and grey together. As the sweater was already being worn I had a ready made model, no need to put the garment on a mannequin. Linda’s husband was very happy to have his photo taken. Here he is proudly smiling in the fantastic Rowan British Sheep Breeds dk sweater. Such lovely textures are created with the sticthes, which reflects the yarn fibres perfectly. A lovely cosy sweater! Thank you for sharing.

There is something about fine and delicate lace knitting that makes me look on in awe. I always find it so fascinating, the intricate pattern made from basic knitting stitches. Stitches that I am competent in using, yet I rarely venture into the endless possibilities of lace work. Maybe this is an extra (if slightly late) New years knitting resolution – to experiment with lace knitting. I have used Debbie Bliss Rialto Lace before and since seeing the new summer shades arriving in stock I could quite easily be convinced to try a spot of lace knitting.

A customer called Susan has sent in a photograph of her beautiful baby shawl she had just completed. When I asked Susan which pattern she had followed for this delicate piece she sent an image of an old pattern, I think we could call this vintage! Susan said that the pattern actually says the price 4d (in old money). I love seeing old patterns and it is even better if you can still use them today. I know sometimes it can all get a little bit confusing when trying to match old yarns to the tension of modern yarns. The pattern is for 3ply which was good because Susan could easily substitute with Sirdar Snuggly 3ply in white.

Here is a photograph of the very pretty blanket, I especially like the edging.

A lovely, cuddly bear made a visit to the Craft Barn last week. Well a customer called Carol brought him in. Isn’t he adorable in his little jumper too! Carol knitted him using Patons Diploma gold dk yarns. The pattern is actually an old one that Carol had in her stash so unfortunately I am unable to tell you the pattern number.

We do have a selection of cute and cuddly toy patterns available on the website if you fancy knitting one yourself. Take a look here.

Last week I popped into the Craft Barn to find a lady called Mara knitting away on the sofa. It is great to see someone being creative, I always have to be nosy and ask what they are doing! She was knitting an entrelac scarf using Noro yarn. When I saw her knitting away I remembered speaking to her previously when she was knitting an entrelac scarf very similar to this one back in May last year. It turns out she has now knitted the same scarf 2 times – well it will be 3 times when this one is complete. Mara said that since she finished the original scarf last year it proved so popular with her friends and work colleagues they snapped them up instantly.  Mara is hoping she will actually be able to keep this one for herself this time. I guess this is what happens when you make such a lovely scarf.

A few days later Mara sent in a photograph of her completed scarf. It will look great with any jacket or coat. I do hope she gets to keep this one, I definitely wouldn’t want to part with it!