COAST Self Patterning Sock Yarn

Hello friends!

Here is another sock yarn that I have hand dyed, this time in a colour way called "Coast". The special way that this yarn has been dyed means that when it's knit in the round into socks it creates a "spiral" pattern around the sock, and the best part is all you have to do is knit! 

The sample photographed is a 60 stitch sock, knit on 2.75mm needles, so you can get an idea of what it looks like when it's knit up into socks :-) 

The skein is 100g & 420m and is enough for a pair of socks :-) With 75% soft squishy wool for comfort and warmth and 25% nylon for durability :-)

You can find this yarn in my online store HERE along with a few other skeins :-)

Do you knit socks? Did you find yourself addicted to knitting socks once you had started?? I did!

Owl Necklace

Hello friends!
I hope you're enjoying your Easter Good Friday today :-) And if Easter is not your thing, then I hope you're enjoying the fact that it's Friday!
Today I thought I would show you one of the necklaces I have been working on recently. As well as the round beads I usually make I have added a little owl bead as well :-) He was lots of fun to make :-) I almost felt like he should have name, hehehe...
Enjoy your weekend!!
xo Shara

Polka Dot Navy

Hello friends!
You may have seen my post last week about my Pastel Skull necklace, well here is another necklace I have made recently :-) If you follow me on Facebook, you may have already seen some more of my polka dot beads used in my necklaces and earrings :-)
Anyone who knows me also knows about my love of/obsession with polka dots!! I have polka dot everything! So I really do love these beads!! I also really love the slow, meditative method of making them as well :-)

You can find more of my necklaces and earrings HERE :-)

xo Shara

We made a cake!

Hello friends!
Yesterday I had one of my little nephews with me for the day... it was too cold and wet to play outside much... we didn't know what to do with ourselves... so we made a cake! And we put dinosaur sprinkles on it!
It was very delicious with tea :-)
We decided that a good motto is..."When in doubt, bake a cake!" :-)

What fun things do you do to eleviate boredom in rainy weather? Share in the comments! :-)
xo

Little Tops

 Hello friends!
A little while ago I decided to make each of my nieces a little top to wear in the warmer weather. For two of the tops (the ones on the far left and far right in the picture above) I used the gorgeous HINE pattern. It's a fabulous pattern that is well written and easy to follow and gives a great result :-)

And for the top pictured below I used a pattern that I wrote myself :-) I'm hoping to add the pattern to Ravelry soon :-)

 For each top I used some glorious vintage buttons that i got from the lovely Kate at Buttonmania in the Nicholas Building in Melbourne :-) If you haven't been there before I highly recommend that you make the trip to Buttonmania!

The yarn I used for all three little tops is Spring Cotton from Bendigo Woollen Mills. It is a really fabulous yarn to work with and perfect for the warmer months, with 99.6% cotton and 0.4% Lycra.

Little Lost Egg

Hello friends :-)
This little egg was found in a pot plant in my garden. It's been abandoned. I don't know what sort of bird it belonged to, but it's very beautiful.
I have no idea how the egg got in to the pot it was in, as there is no nest in the plant in the pot and there are no over hanging trees... Maybe another animal carried it there?
We are lucky enough to have a very wide variety of birds in your garden: King Parrots, Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, Black Cockatoos, Crimson Rosellas, Eastern Rosellas (my favourite :-), kookaburras, Wattle Birds, Owls, Rainbow Lorikeets, Magpies, Bower Birds & Kurrawongs, as well as non-indigenous birds like black birds, starlings, sparrows & mynas :-)
Do you have any birds nests in your garden? What sort of birds do you have at your place? Share in the comments :-)

Sock Knitting Addicition

Hello friends!
Guess what? I'm addicted to knitting socks! Yes, there, I've said it....
Lots of my knitty friends had always talked about their sock knitting addiction, but I never really "got it"... But now that I have almost finished knitting my first pair of "real" socks I can completely understand it. 
I wasn't even halfway through the first sock before I started planning all the other socks I was going to knit :-) 
I have knitted socks before, but they've all been bed socks or tube socks... nothing with a proper heel or that could actually be worn with regular, everyday shoes :-)
This is my very first proper sock! And I'm almost finished it's partner :-)
I used a pattern that I found in Australian Creative Knitting magazine Issue #38 Spring. I don't know if this was a particularly well written and easy pattern or if sock knitting is no where near as scary as I thought :-) (The pattern isn't currently on Ravelry, just in case you were wondering :-)
The yarn I have used is Regia Design Line 4 ply in colour way "Exotic Pool". It's a very nice yarn to use and the colours are really fabulous :-)
The next pair of socks I plan to make are these ones from Purl Bee, and I'm using this scrumptious wool/cotton blend yarn from Rowan in colour way "Aqua".
Have you knit socks before? Do you have a favourite sock pattern or a favourite sock yarn? Share in the comments! :-)

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 :-)

Roller Skating Peacocks and a Busy Week

I have had a great week, including being featured on the gorgeous Calico & Co blog HERE, and I've been very busy working on the prototypes for a new project, a new direction that my work has taken. I'm feeling confident and hope it all works out, and of course, if it does, I'll show you all here on my blog.

In the meantime I thought I would talk about some of the clothes I have been making using rescued, recycled, upcycled and reused fabrics.

I made this top using a combination of fabric that I rescued from a fabric factory before it was sent to landfill (phew!) and some thrifted fabric. I really love the patterns and colours and wished I had more of these fabrics, but this was it. SO this is the only top that will include these patterns. I'm hoping I might JUST have enough left to make a baby top or perhaps some pants.

Both these fabrics are buttery soft cotton/elastine blends, so they have great stretch and recovery as well as being breathable and super soft :-)

I'm not sure why, but when this piece was finished it made me think of the title: "Rollerskating Peacock". Nope, I don't have an explanation for this name, it's just what popped into my mind :-)

This top can be found in my DaWanda store as well, HERE.

What's coming up on my blog? Well, I have a few more delicious Gluten Free and Fructose Friendly recipes from my successful cooking experimentations. And, with any luck I'll be showing you the results of my prototype experimentations as well!!

Chat soon xox