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?

Walmington on Sea

Posted on March 12, 2015 by The Little Room of Rachell

Today we parked at Bridlington’s North Beach and walked along looking for sea glass. We had a little bag of mostly green pieces by the end, but unusually I’d found zero! My sea glass spotting skills seem to have deserted me, mind you I’ve never thought my beanie would blow off before!

We decided to walk up to Bridlington Old Town after asking directions. When someone says it will take 15-20 minutes to walk, you often find it’s more like 10 as they’re drivers and it’s a guesstimate. This time she was definitely right, it might have even been 30, and it was uphill all the way.

What a nice old High Street, imagine it without cars and it’s perfect.

We knew that Dad’s Army has been filmed here recently, isn’t it perfect for the fictional Walmington on Sea High street? Look what’s been left…

For a fan of the oldie but goodie tv programmes this week is turning out to be a delight! But wait there’s more…

Initially I was horrified that they would remake such a classic but now after today’s sights, and hearing who is in the film I am looking forward to seeing it. The helpful lady also said there is a Facebook page with photos of the actors and the filming, if you’re interested.

After another day of lots of walking I’m going to carry on with some hooky now. I had a slow start this morning sitting in the sunshine…

Just look at those scrummy colours. It’s beautiful yarn isn’t it?

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.

First circular hat!

Posted on December 5, 2013 by The Little Room of Rachell

I’m pretty pleased with this hat. It’s very stretchy and warm. As the title says it’s my first on circular needles. Just getting the correct 40cm cable with the right 6mm short tips was a little time consuming. 40 cm cable is so short it needs 10cm Symfonie KnitPro needle tips to be useable, rather than the standard interchangeable circular set. Mine look pretty short to me, but are 12.5cm. I got there in the end despite being rather fuzzy about it all. But this was, I freely admit, a #firstworldproblem !

I used yarn left over from my crochet Seashell Scarf and Cabled Owl Jar Cosy mainly because it’s the only chunky I have. It’s Marble Chunky by James C. Brett by the way. Cheap and very cheerful. I do like the variegated colours and the stripy effect near the ribbing.

How differently the colours look in this photo! It’s the shifting light. Scotland has 100 mph winds today and the north of England is also suffering. Traffic news is full of lorries blown over on roads. Down south we just have a blustery day with very grey skies.

This Slouchie Beanie pattern designed by Tanis Gray is available free on Ravelry. I first saw the hat on Hannah’s Not Your Average Crochet blog. Mine has a mistake or so well, technically it’s got many more than one or two I think, but you can only really tell if you look inside and who would be rude enough to check and scrutinise? The first of anything using a completely new technique is unlikely to be perfect. If I knit another I would try to make it slouchier as it’s not really very, but I’m more likely to surf for different patterns as I like to try new projects all the time. If you have a good recommendation please let me know.