Stash Busting 2013

Hello friends!
Yes, it's been a little while since I last posted on my blog, sorry! I did miss you!
But the reason I haven't posted for so long is because I have been a busy bee :-)
I have been making a lot of new things & writing lots of new patterns :-) (yay!)
I have written my very first proper womens cardigan knitting pattern, which will hopefully be released very soon. It's in the testing stage at the moment!
And some of the other patterns I have written so far this year are for a knitted "kerchief" style scarf, with pom poms (or pom pons if you prefer ;-) as well as various crochet baby booties & hats, some more knitted socks (yippee!) and a new lacy pair of knitted fingerless mitts in 4-ply or sock yarn. All of these patterns are in the testing stage at the moment, so they will be ready very soon!! (Can you tell that I'm pretty darn excited?!)
Anyway, while I've been making all these new things I have been trying my hardest to only use yarns from my stash. So far I have done really well. But it's ever so tempting with so many new, delicious yarns available and it's only going to get harder as we head into Winter (here in the Southern Hemisphere).
One of the larger projects I have started is the Rainbow Blanket pictured above. I had a massive stash of Stylecraft Special DK in my stash that I had purchased AGES ago for another project that never happened. I usually steer well clear of acrylic yarns as I find them quite revolting to work with (the feeling my hands gives me the heebie jeebies), however this Stylecraft yarn does not do that. As far as acrylic yarn goes, this one is really great. If you need to use acrylic yarn for some reason, I can recommend this one happily :-) And it comes in over 50 different colours!
I had well over a kilogram of this yarn in various colours so I decided that a Rainbow Blanket would be a sensible plan for it. I really struggled to settle on a particular design, as there are so many AMAZING crochet blanket patterns going around & I didn't want to make anything with too many little motifs, because I didn't want to be weaving in a bazillion little yarn ends. Long vertical stripes are good for avoiding too many yarn ends!
I just made up the pattern, but as you can see, it's nothing too complicated. When it's finished I'll pop up the pattern, so you can make one too if you like :-)
I'll post more pictures of the blanket as it progresses!
What crafty things have you been doing lately? Share in the comments!
xo Shara

Entrelac Tunisian Crochet Blanket

Hello friends!
I always have lots of different projects in progress at any given time... For some reason I find it difficult to just work on one project at a time, especially if it's something big like a blanket. This Entrelac Tunisian Crochet Blanket is one of the things I'm working on at the moment, I started it in August 2012, I just do a little bit every now and then and it's slowly growing :-)
I'm not really using a pattern as such, I watched this great series of Entrelac Tunisian Crochet tutorials and made a square version instead of the rectangle version shown in the tutorial :-)
The yarn I'm using is Merino Angora Silk DK (8 ply) by Cleckheaton that I purchased at Crumbz in Healesville :-) It's a very interesting yarn to work with, it's super light weight, but super warm. I've made a few other things using this yarn and I really love them (a cardigan, a 3/4 sleeve sweater & a loom woven scarf).
I have n't decided how big I'll make this blanket yet, or if I'll keep it when it's finished or maybe give it away at Christmas time (it should be finished by then!)
Do you have more than one piece of work in progress at the moment? What are you working on? Share in the comments, I'd love to hear what everyone else is up to :-)

Ned's Polka Dot Blanket Recipe

Hello friends!

Recently I finished making a blanket for my little friend Ned who was born at the start of the year, (yes, it took me a while to finally finish it!! Ned was very patient though :-)

I made it using a technique called Tapestry Crochet. You can find lots of great tutorials on how to do Tapestry Crochet on youtube (This is a particularly good video, I used the first method she describes for my Polka Dot blanket :-). I highly recommend taking the time to look it up and learning this skill because it's so much fun and you really can do some amazing things with it :-)

It's a little bit like Fair Isle knitting, but it's completely reversible, with no exposed yarn carried along the back of your work. Yay!

I didn't use a pattern to make Ned's blanket, I just got out some graph paper and did a few calculations and came up with this polka dot design (with Ned's name in the corner :-)

I have had a lot of people asking for a pattern so they can make their own Polka Dot Blanket, I haven't written a pattern, as such, for this blanket, but if you have a little bit of crochet experience & a knowledge of tapestry crochet, you may find the following notes (or Blanket Recipe) useful to make your own Polka Dot blanket (without Ned's name in the corner, hehe). Referring to the photographs will also help :-)
You can find this blanket recipe on RAVELRY :-)

My blanket measured approximately 100cm x 100cm. I used a 4.5mm hook & Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury 8 ply (DK) in the shades Lake and Oceanic. (Unfortunately it seems that Oceanic is now a discontinued colour, which is a real shame, as it is a gorgeous colour :-( ) I used approximately 2.7 200g balls (1080m or 1180yds) of Oceanic (Main Colour) and .7 of a 200g ball (280m or 306yds) of Lake (Contrast Colour).

Please note: I will use British/Australian crochet terms in this blanket recipe. U.S. crochet terms are different, so if they are the terms you like to use you may need to look up a conversion chart on the net :-)

Abbreviations:

ch = chain

st or sts = stitch or stitches

dc = double crochet

Using Main Colour make 137 chain, 

Row 1: Using Main Colour, 1dc in 2nd chain from hook, 1dc in each chain to end, 136sts in total. 
Row 2-4: Using Main Colour, 1ch (counts as 1dc), 1dc in each st to end. Turn.

Row 5: Using Main Colour, 1ch (counts as 1dc), 1dc in each of next 5 sts, using Contrast Colour, 1dc in each of next 4 sts, **using Main Colour, 1dc in each of next 20sts, using Contrast Colour, 1dc in each of next 4 sts. Repeat from ** to last 6 sts, using Main Colour, 1 dc in each st to end. Turn.

Row 6: Using Main Colour, 1ch (to count as 1dc), 1 dc in each of next 4 sts, using Contrast Colour, 1dc in each of next 6 sts, **using Main Colour, 1 dc in each of next 18 sts, using Contrast Colour, 1dc in each of next 6 sts. Repeat from ** to last 5 sts, using Main Colour 1dc in each st to end. Turn.

Rows 7-10: Using Main Colour, 1ch (to count as 1dc), 1dc in each of next 3 sts, using Contrast Colour, 1dc in each of next 8 sts, **using Main Colour, 1dc in of next 16 sts, using Contrast Colour, 1dc in each of next 8 sts. repeat from ** to last 4 sts, using Main Colour, 1 dc in each st to end. Turn.

Row 11: As Row 6.

Row 12: As Row 5.

Rows 13-16: Using Main Colour, 1ch (counts as 1dc), 1dc in each st to end. Turn. 

Row 17: Using Main Colour, 1ch (counts as 1dc), 1dc in each of next 17 sts, using Contrast Colour, 1dc in each of next 4 sts, **using Main Colour, 1dc in each of next 20sts, using Contrast Colour, 1dc in each of next 4 sts. Repeat from ** to last 18 sts, using Main Colour, 1 dc in each st to end. Turn.

Row 18: Using Main Colour, 1ch (to count as 1dc), 1 dc in each of next 16 sts, using Contrast Colour, 1dc in each of next 6 sts, **using Main Colour, 1 dc in each of next 18 sts, using Contrast Colour, 1dc in each of next 6 sts. Repeat from ** to last 17 sts, using Main Colour 1dc in each st to end. Turn.

Rows 19-22: Using Main Colour, 1ch (to count as 1dc), 1dc in each of next 15 sts, using Contrast Colour, 1dc in each of next 8 sts, **using Main Colour, 1dc in of next 16 sts, using Contrast Colour, 1dc in each of next 8 sts. repeat from ** to last 16 sts, using Main Colour, 1 dc in each st to end. Turn.

Row 23: As Row 18.

Row 24: As Row 17.

Rows 25-28: Using Main Colour, 1ch (counts as 1dc), 1dc in each st to end. Turn.

Rows 5 - 28 make up the polka dot pattern. Continue working in this pattern repeat until your blanket reaches the desired length. 

I then did 2 rounds of dc around the entire edge of the blanket as a small border. Don't forget to do 3 stitches in each corner so the border doesn't curl up :-)

I hope you have fun with this blanket recipe :-)

© Copyright Shara Lambeth Designs. Copyright remains that of the author at all times. The pattern is for personal use only. Reproduction of this pattern in anyway (electronic, email, photocopying, transcribing etc) is strictly prohibited, except with the explicit permission of the author. Please do not sell the pattern or the finished product that is made using this pattern without permission of the author, as this is a direct infringement of the copyright laws protecting this pattern. Also please be aware that copyright laws vary from country to country (sometimes even from state to state), I am Australian, in Australia, therefore my patterns are protected by Australian copyright laws. This copyright protection still stands no matter what country the item is made in or who makes it. Thank you!!

If you do want to sell the blankets you make using this pattern at a market, craft fair or in your online store please do ask, as in most cases I will give permission :-)

And please feel free to make as many blankets as you like for yourself, your friends and your family. You might also like to make some to donate to your local charities :-)

Hexagon Blanket

I initially started this blanket for myself because I had lots of little bits of leftover Noro Sock yarn from other projects. At first I thought I would just use all my scraps… but I have really fallen in love with the way it’s turning out so I have bought a few skeins specifically for the blanket. I’m not sure what size it’s going to end up being… it might keep growing with time (and when I can get my hands on more Noro Sock yarn). Ultimately it would be REALLY great if I could make it big enough for a double bed spread, but maybe that’s too ambitious? :-) I guess we’ll see :-)

You can see this project on Ravelry as well HERE