All the Fun of the Fair is a delightful little haberdashery and yarn store on Carnaby street, Soho. It’s great to discover somewhere new in central London. Friendly, chatty service and lots of pretty things to look at, what’s not to like?
Monthly Archives: November 2012
London sparkle
…Clearly the weather is less than sparkly at the moment, but the Christmas lights and window displays really cheer everything up.
Inside Liberty
Week 12: CAL Blocks #34 #35 #36
#34 Band of Bobbles
6″ square
“I’m not sure about this one”
“Yeah, why does it stop?”
#35 Tricolour Square
5 1/2″ square but it needs flattening out
Another version of this using only trebles would be interesting (still not bothered about dtr to be honest)
#36 ‘Pink’ Stripe
5 3/4″ square
Using htr made a refreshing change, plus it’s fast growing which made it one of the speediest blocks to crochet.
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Reading Patch’s blog post this week made me laugh because its not CAL posts that makes you a geek; it’s blogging about crochet in the first place! As a crochet blogger and the instigator of the CAL I totally accept my inner geek ;-)
What are you making at the moment? Full on with Christmas crafts or ?
Playing with new stitches
S: “It’s a fine example of skill, I’m just not sure it’s a fine example of scarf”
M: “That’s really different, I like it! The green is lovely”
R: “But is it a bit court jester?”
M: “No!”
S: “A bit”
Court jester and lack of style aside, this is actually not the softest scarf you would want against your face, especially when it’s mostly double crochet as it makes a dense fabric. It feels slightly scratchy. Stylecraft works well for blankets, hats and probably gloves too but perhaps not scarves? (Shame as I have another Stylecraft scarf on the go, but it’s not a dc heavy pattern so might be ok.) I need a gorgeously soft merino type wool to make another version of this bobble scarf. I’ve written down what I did so that’s not a problem, but the purse jangling with coppers might hold the making back a while.
In the meantime I made a cover for my iphone yesterday, using my new found knowledge of spike stitch. It’s my own pattern, which means that it might be a bit dodgy, but for me it’s very early days of designing my own things and you have to start somewhere. Let me know if you try it and if you find a glitch.
Gadget cover
(DC Spike stitch: put the hook into the row below the next dc, yo and pull through, yo and pull through the two loops on the hook. Easy!)
>Chain 13
>Dc into the 2nd ch from the hook and to the end of the chain. (12 dc)
>Ch1 then dc into each dc – repeat this row three times
>Change colour (I didn’t cut off the yarn, I just carried it up the side and picked up the colour as I figured the strands carried up the side wouldn’t show when it was made, and they don’t, so there wouldn’t be huge lots of darning) and work alternating spike stitch then a dc along the row
>Dc into each st of the previous row – repeat this row three times
>Change colour and do another row of spikes, I alternated mine so they are staggered with the previous row’s spikes but you could do them above the others
Carry on the pattern until the strip is long enough to fold over your gadget, I did 14 stripes
>SS across one top edge to make it a bit thicker then dc the sides together with the ws together (I like the dcs on the outside, but you could sew yours up inside out or, or dc it rs together if you don’t want to see them)
>Turn the cover inside out, cut the wool to leave a long tail to use to dc the other sides together, thread a needle and weave the end through stitches at the bottom of the cover
>Turn it back the right side out and dc the other two edges together
>SS along the other top edge, fasten off and darn the ends in.
Finito!
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What are you making this weekend? Crochet, sewing, knitting, cooking etc etc? I love to know as I’m basically a very nosy person.
Week 11: CAL Blocks #31 #32 #33
#31 Primrose Square
Another of my favourites so far. This would look really pretty in pinks (doesn’t have to be called a primrose square, could be a ‘dog rose’?)
6″ square
#32 Oblique Stripe
This took me back to block #1 with all the counting at the end of each row to make sure I’d gone into all the right stitches, there was no redoing this time so things must have improved!
I have to admit that even I’m half closing my eyes and sucking my breath in when I look at the colour combination I chose, so don’t worry if you are too!
This is a big un – 6 1/4″ square
#33 Pretty in Pink
Not so much pink, but I do think this is pretty.
5 3/4″ square – in my CAL notebook I’ve written ‘not very (square) ish’!
I’m sticking to my CAl Resolution and darning the ends of the blocks before starting the next set each time. I couldn’t bear to leave it until the end. What a job that would be!
The weather is so overcast that I’ve been taking photos of the blocks on one of our back doorsteps each Friday morning. Flash photos inside make the colours look odd.
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*~*~*Which are your favourite blocks so far? *~*~*
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PS:: If you have an American copy of the 200 blocks book then check the interweave site for a correction to the pattern for #35 Tricolour Square
Blogalicious #3
Here’s another blog you really need to check out….
I loved this blog post (spot the bobbles?!) the other day. It made me want to walk in the woods, drink hot chocolate with marshmallows (I did) and create another hat.
I really do like the beautifully clear photos, style of writing, the purpley blog background (it’s just a bit different to the usual) and the crochet projects, of course. Check out Em’s Granny Square Snood the colours are so autumnal and gorgeous.
Check out Lulu Loves and add it to your blog list as it’s just so damn good looking!
Week 10: CAL Blocks #28 #29 #30
#28 Christmas Rose
6″ square – Hurray!
Easy enough to make, but when I got to round 7 the note at the end saying it should be 9 tr along each side of the sqaure threw me as it was hard to see this and mine looked like more petals. I undid the round and tried again to the same result; so I carried on with round 8 and it was fine. If you’re also finding this carry on, it all comes together although at the time you can’t see how it will end up being square.
#29 Bobble Stripe
I love, love, love this one! I’ve been rummaging in my stash cube this morning and have found a nice combination of colours of Stylecraft special DK so I can get busy making something with bobbles. It’s my favourite tip top block of CAL so far.
#30 Shell Lace
Super easy and satisfying to crochet as it grows so fast. Another 6″ square block! (I’m not sure about the bobbley one as I didn’t note a measurement down.)
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There are now 100 members in my Ravelry CAL group! The ironic thing is that although there are now many more members the threads are quieter than they’ve ever been…. tee hee. It doesn’t matter, the threads are there if people want to share an SOS moment or have a chat.
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I’ve had a trying couple of weeks as I’m not well and have been told to rest by the Doctor. I can crochet (hurrah!) read and watch TV but I have so much work to do that it’s really frustrating. I’ve also developed an (un?)healthy addiction to Loose Women and The Gilmore Girls. Uh-oh, but the plus side is I’m up on Rod Stewart’s new album, what all his children are up to, Sienna Miller’s controversial photo portrait, the goings on of Ken and Deidre, who is going into the jungle on Sunday and that Stars Hollow is now clear of rotten Easter eggs.
Anyone got the Gilmore Girls 7 series box-set I can borrow so I can watch from the beginning???? Please. PlEAsE… ;-)
I hope you’re well and getting on with whatever it is you have to do, as well as the other stuff that you enjoy. Have a good weekend!
Knitted
I’ve been knitting again. Just a basic pattern, but fun and very fast to make. However it’s not fun trying to sew them up when you’ve run out of (magazine) yarn and have ends everywhere. I might make some more instead but with chunky I have in my stash; then I can dc them together at the end. Any excuse to crochet!
The weather’s cooled and feels proper autumnal so I’m going to make a beef in beer casserole later.
What are you planning to make and cook this weekend?
Week 9: CAL Blocks #24 #25 #26 #27
#24 Italian Cross
Baby cashmerino (being slightly thinner than dk) is just a bit too thin to show off this stitch, like I thought for the popcorn stitch it needs a bulkier wool to show it off. I probably should have pulled the chain a bit tighter as the top of the stitches look a bit loose. But it’s my first ever go at the puff stitch. Darning the ends will make it a bit less saggy looking in places.
In my CAL notebook I’ve written that the Harmony Guide to Crochet says ” A puff stitch is a cluster of half treble stitches (usually 3-5) worked in the same place to make a soft lump.” Ha! I’ve created soft lumps.
#25 Tannenbaumn
I used the new colour to finish off the last stitch in the background colour when starting the tree stitches each time, and swapped to the background colour to finish off the last stitch of the tree design. It seems to work.
I’m kicking myself that I didn’t think of using two balls of background colour instead of carrying all that yarn, but I wanted to avoid darning and didn’t think of the third way. D’oh!
At 5 3/4 ” square this is turning out to be the average size of my blocks.
#26 Snowflake
This, of course, needs blocking to straighten it out but it’s ok. I’m not a fan of very holey blocks but it’s good to try new stitches.
One of the rare blocks that is 6″ square
#27 Snowy Stripes
I think there’s a mistake in the notes for spike stitch at the top of the pattern. I checked the notes at the back of the book, then went to my trusty Harmony Guide to check too. Basically don’t go into the top of the next stitch after going below the next stitch, yo and pulling through, just yo again and draw through the stitch as you would a normal dc. I tried it the way the note said and the spikes were almost diagonal.
6 1/4 ” wide 5 1/4″ high. Oh!
Lots of darning too, would it work to carry yarn up the sides? What did you do?
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I’m definitely learning new skills and picking up tips from other people doing this CAL, it’s good learning new techniques. It’s made me want to move my knitting on and try something new (harder!) sometime.
Did you see what a commenter wrote on my last CAL post?
”…….I met Jan Eaton a couple of weeks ago and she said every block in the book is blocked and steamed to within an inch of its life!” I think this is regarding the different sized blocks (which is why I reckon the book is not called 200 Crochet Squares, there would be too much hassle from crocheters!)
The Little Room of Rachell 
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