Sleep Under the Stars blanket – finished

Posted on April 18, 2022 by The Little Room of Rachell

Started in May 2020 during Lockdown my star blanket, official show-name Sleep Under the Stars is finally complete. It’s not my first star shaped blanket, I’ve been drawn to them for a long time. I think it’s the novelty of making a non-rectangular or square thing once in a while. If you want to check out the three others you can see them here. Smaller sized star blankets make super car-seat or buggy blankets for littles. This is a snuggle on the sofa and read a book, or watch tv size for someone older.

It’s a weighty, soft and very snuggly blanket. This was my first time crocheting with Paintbox Simply Chunky yarn. I liked it so much I soon started to use it for other makes, including a couple of cowls. It’s really nice affordable acrylic yarn which both crochets and knits up well.

Here are the details in case you want to make a star blanket too:

Pattern: Free from Love Crafts site as you see I chose my own colour combo and no pom-poms! I finished emergency stop styley, brake hard and handbrake applied, when I felt it was the size I wanted. I didn’t do the back loops, or is it front loops only thing in the last round.

Yarn: Paintbox Simply Chunky

I used Misty Grey 303 / Slate Grey 305 / Mustard yellow 323

Hook: 6mm, I always use Clover Amour hooks

Size: 48 1/2” / 123cm

Weight: 816g

Tip: For self …don’t forget to write down which shade of yarns you’re using (I usually do but for some reason didn’t, let’s blame lockdown brain) so I’ve just spent about 10 minutes going to the window glasses on, glasses off to work out whether I used misty grey or stormy grey! They’re very, very similar.

For you…do start new rounds of colour by going into the pointy chain space and chaining 5, 3 of those chains equal 1 treble and 2 chains are for the 2 chain space which you do in between the treble(s) at every point. If it’s a row where you need 2 trebles in the point don’t worry, you add in the other right at the end of the round.

If you’re continuing in the same colour you simply slip stitch into the pointy chain space and carry on in the same way, with 5 chain stitches to begin. *If you don’t do this* and you slip stitch into a treble elsewhere it will look fine to begin with, but after a while you’ll find that you get a line of slip stitch joins. This spoils the look of the blanket. Believe me. I write from experience!

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And this is looking like a proper crochet blog again, at least for a moment. I shall have to try to finish something else which doesn’t have much left to do and then this will continue!

I’ve got lots of book recommendations, so I’ll be back soonish with another post. I’m having a fantastic reading year.

Hope you had a good Easter weekend? What have you been up to? Are you making anything at the moment, or having a break? TALK TO ME ;-)

Yarn Along – January

Posted on January 7, 2021 by The Little Room of Rachell

I’ve got some ends to darn on my cowl. I can send it to my friend tomorrow and then it’s officially my first make of 2021. Done. I’ll write up the pattern tomorrow.

I snuck into the Post Office yesterday to buy stamps when it was quiet in there, because the fewer the people, the better. The fewer the shops I go into at all, the better. Preferably one Grocery Delivery a week and if we haven’t got it, we’re not having it.

The News here is grim: we hear the number of deaths every day (I read this morning that we reached the total number of deaths in Australia in just one 24 hour period) that there’s a staggeringly high rate of new infections with the mutated virus which is more easily transmitted, and the NHS is close to being overwhelmed. I have had people who live abroad contact me, concerned about the news from the UK and about our third Lockdown, which came into force on Tuesday. Some are surprised. They thought we had it more under control here….

I am glad for books and reading. It’s even better than tv or films, for absorbing myself in other worlds and times. I read until 01:15 this morning. I feel very bleary today, but I got so wrapped up in Sophie Hannah’s Haven’t They Grown. Here’s a brief outline; Beth hasn’t seen her friend Flora for a dozen years, she passes her former friend’s area while taking her son to a match. Parking by her house, Beth sees the children again. Not sounding very exciting? Well the thing is that they are still precisely the same. Still three and five years old, twelve years later. What’s going on?

I’ve now read 58% of the book and really hoping the mystery isn’t going to be a massive let-down at the end. My mind is powering through all sorts of ‘explanations’ I tell you. Absorbing stuff.

I’m listening to Jess Kidd’s Things in Jars, this couldn’t be more different. Set in Victorian London it’s the tale of Bridie Devine, an unconventional lady detective who is hired to solve a very tricksy kidnapping. As with The Hoarder (Titled Mr Flood’s Last Resort in the USA) Jess Kidd writes in a very compelling way. She has such a unique style of description. The audio isn’t going fast enough, always the sign of a good book for me, so I’m listening to a chapter or two and reading a few as I go too.

Please take a few minutes to leave a comment: tell me what you’re knitting or crocheting? Tell me if you’re reading anything good, or is it bad? Is it awful? Are you just about to give up and pick something else? Maybe you’re not reading at all; you’re binge watching Netflix instead?

I know you’re still reading these posts, I see my WordPress stats and familiar names of readers on Bloglovin’ who have read for years and years. It was my NINE YEAR blog anniversary on New Year’s Eve, so WP informed me. Wheee! Can’t believe it’s been so long. I really appreciate you checking in every time I write, but it’s feeling increasingly like I’m calling into the wind. Tell me something hey? Anything. I’m winking at you.

The antidote

Posted on June 14, 2020 by The Little Room of Rachell

It’s a really long time since I woke up and fancied doing a bit of crochet first thing in the morning. So I got up straight away, before this state of mind disappeared, and along the way quickly mixed some enriched dough to bake soft white sourdough rolls later (This excellent recipe.) Then gathered up my yarn and hook to do a star shaped round back in bed, while I sipped jasmine tea. I also caught up with some of last night’s Liza Tarbuck radio show.

It was a pleasure to wake up feeling so positive and energised after what’s been my worst week of lockdown so far. I asked friends on Thursday if:

“Anyone else feeling *really* fed up with it all this week, like it’s the hardest so far now?

Relentless. Dull. Negativity everywhere. The weather change probably doesn’t help.”

The answers came flooding in and without exception everybody said they felt exactly the same.

Yesterday I found the antidote to feeling really fed up:

~Sunshine and blue skies

~A really good 7.3 mile circular walk

~Walking another – new to us – section of Shakespeare’s Way

~Bumping into a friend in a churchyard

~Going to her garden for tea and chocolate cornflake cakes

~Non-stop chatter and LAUGHTER

~Stroking her sweet cats

~Walking back reflecting on what a cheer-up fest new scenery and seeing a good friend is!

~Well earned G&Ts & Bombay mix

I think all that helped to create the buzz of energy and positivity I’m feeling this morning.

How are you finding life? Hope you’re ok. What’s your antidote?

New & Exciting

Posted on May 28, 2020 by The Little Room of Rachell

Sarah from LoveCrafts.com contacted me recently. Happily, I realised I could probably say yes to a craft related offer for the first time in yonks!

LoveCrafts.com were previously LoveKnitting and LoveCrochet but they’ve bought all together in one website. They’re on instagram too and their account is @lovecrafts.com Apparently they check out all posts which include #LoveCrafts and feature some on their page.

Sarah wrote:

We are currently celebrating all things free, including the thousands of Free Crochet Patterns on our site! We would love for you to join the party – pick out a pattern and we’d love to send you the yarn to give the pattern a go yourself and share this with your readers so they can get involved also.

Whoop! Free Yarn! And why not?

One of my favourite crochet peeps Emma of Lulu Loves uses Paintbox Yarns often. I’ve always thought how squishy and soft the thicker yarns look. This offer seemed like the perfect opportunity to try some myself.

I chose a blanket pattern from their many free crochet patterns and my own colour palette.

Then I had a complete change of heart about the pattern, because dithering seems to be my new thing these days, but the yarn was already on the way. Oops. Oh well, I decided that actually my first big make should be something easy and relaxing. A summer crochet project which I could pick up and put down and which wouldn’t put my hand under too much pressure.

Plan B has worked out REALLY well because the Sleep Under the Stars blanket has got a similar overall quantity of yarn and it’s a really fun pattern. I’ve made three similar Star Ripple baby blankets before and I kept thinking how good it would be to have an adult sized star blanket to snuggle under… Wish now granted!

I chose Paintbox Simply Chunky in the following shades:

Granite grey / Mustard yellow / Slate grey / Misty grey / Pure black / Stormy grey

I was right about the yarn being squishy and incredibly soft. I’m loving it. Chunky yarn and a 6 mm hook means the pattern works up really quickly which is good as I’m limiting how much I do. I definitely made the right final pattern choice and I’m really happy!

What are you up to during these continuing lockdown days?

Yorkshire cowl …ready & warm

Posted on March 16, 2015 by The Little Room of Rachell

As you know I bought this yarn during my visit to Holmfirth last Monday. I’ve had my eye on it for ages as I just love the colours, especially the aqua blue and turquoise. As I wrote this title, following a discussion about farming, wool and the great wealth which came from wool in Yorkshire during decades gone by, it occurs to me that if this were one of those ‘big blogs’ there might be uproar from the wool purists. My Yorkshire cowl is made from 100% acrylic. It’s named because I crocheted it during a week there, and it’s always going to remind me of walks by the sea and the coastal path. The Storyboards site gives some information about the paths. Yorkshire Cowl

I chained until I was happy with the width (I hung it around my neck as I crocheted!) and then joined the chain to form a ring, no sewing up required!

James C. Brett Marble Chunky Yarn Shade MC44

I used 175g of the 200g ball

Width (circumference) 36″

Height 11″

6mm hook

>Chain until width desired, join into a ring making sure the chain is not twisted

>Crochet rounds of trebles or doubles or half trebles (UK terms)

Turning chains should be 1 for DC, 2 for HTR, 3 for TR, 5 for DTR. The turning chain for DC does not count as a stitch, all others do.

All doubles, trebles and half trebles go into the back loop of the stitch which creates nice ridges to the fabric.

>Crossed double trebles add a bit of texture and interest to the cowl: Chain 5, *miss a stitch and DTR into the next TR, DTR into the skipped TR* repeat from * to * . Make a single DTR into the last stitch, join with a SS to the top of the chain 5 from the beginning of the round.

Next time I might make the cowl slightly smaller in width, I think maybe 32-34″ but this is really warm and you can fold the excess at the front and tuck it under the rest. These are to show some the scrummy colours in the yarn. Some people are good at selfies, some are not; especially when in windswept Derbyshire visiting Hardwick Hall.

I took the photo below from the ruins of Hardwick Old Hall looking across to the New Hall. It’s ‘new’ as in built in the 16th Century. If you can visit both I recommend it, especially to see the Elizabethan embroidery and tapestries in the New Hall.What are you making at the moment?

Knitted slouchy beanie

Posted on December 12, 2013 by The Little Room of Rachell

During the last couple of evenings i’ve been knitting a beanie

I used this basic beanie knitting guide from Kirsten but have adapted it by making a slouchy beanie and you can see that I’ve ribbed my hat brim. Next time I’d do a double rib of k2, p2 for an even stretchier brim.

I’ve used up the rest of the marble chunky, that you’ll recognise from other makes, with 40cm long 6mm circular needles. It’s a fast way to knit a hat. Of course you can also use straight needles and sew a seam.

Basic slouchy beanie pattern

::Cast on 80 stitches
::Rib (k1,p1) until the band is as thick as you like
::Stocking stitch around (actually on circular needles you just knit every round and the SS stitch magically appears. I love that!)
::Keep knitting until the hole appears well above you head. If you want a regular beanie then stop when it’s just past the top of your head
::Knit 8, knit 2 tog around. Repeat for the round.
::Knit the next round
::Knit 7, knit 2 tog around. Repeat for the round
::Knit the next round
::Knit 6, knit 2 tog around. Repeat for the round
::Knit the next round
::And so on until you have 16 stitches left. You could change to DPNs or use the magic loop method with circulars like I did when the going gets tough because of too few stitches
::Knit 2 tog, repeat for the round (8 stitches left)
:: Knit 2 tog, repeat for the round (4 stitches left)
::Cut the yarn, run the tail through the remaining four loops using a darning needle, darn in the ends. Make hot chocolate with marshmallows and drink while wearing your beanie.