The Photos Continue Some More - Crochet Edition

What a lovely reaction to yesterday's blog! It's lovely to spread a little love, isn't it? That's another thing I love about the shop - being able to spread a little love and confidence. Ahhhh. Without further ado, let's get on with it:

Don't you just love this photo? It sums up one of my favourite things about crochet - colour. Somehow people are much less afraid of colour in crochet. I think it's probably because of its reputation as a less 'serious' craft than knitting, perhaps it's because of our collective memories of granny blankets in leftovers as kids, perhaps its any other reason. But whatever the reason, I'm bloody glad. This blanket was made by Nona (I think that's Fiona... but I keep asking and not remembering...) and it is now officially finished but it's not just the blanket that I like, and I love that, it's this specific picture. POW! Yet another example of an amazing project in the cheap as chips Pricewise DK. Lovely.

 

Laura-Jo started crocheting at the beginning of this year which is just ridiculous because it feels like she's been at it forever! She did a collage of all of the things that she's made this year and it is an incredible amount of beautiful projects. Incredible. But I've chosen this one because it's Chummy and it's Miranda and you can just see that can't you? Amigurumi is deffo not my thing but I love it when it works out like this. Cute! 

 

This! This is a first project. Believe that or not, it's a bloody first project. Me and Ellie (good name that) chose the colours very carefully before she'd even picked up a hook and discussed carefully all of her different underwater creature options - dolphins, whales, crabs. But I am so pleased that she chose this little shoal of fish which is subtle and delicate and all good things out of a baby blanket - even when the background is so full on. It's big too. Bloody big. Can't wait to see what she comes up with next!

 

Ahhh. I am THRILLED with this little cowl by Dawn. One thing you can say about Dawn is that her photography is always spot on. I think her husband helps and he must have the patience of a saint, or she's got an incredible eye and a photographic body. Seriously, have a look at her Rav page. Anyway, she learned to knit from me (back in 2011 apparently) and learned to crochet here too but never really got on with the crochet in the same way as knitting. For some reason she signed up to the Ripple lesson I did in the summer even though she was nervous and absolutely smashed it. This was finished within a couple of weeks or so and don't you just love the colours. We were going for modern 60's and i think it's perfect. Crocheted in the Diploma Gold DK. 

 

Awwwww. Remember this? It's Boyf's first pattern! Isn't he a good'un. For a couple of weeks he was texting me saying he was making something brilliant and I was like uuuuuuuuuuugh, brill! Then one day, out of the blue, it was finished! Kind of. I had to help him with the leaves. He says he was trying to make me a heart but it ended up like a pentagon so then he had to make it into a flower. Just you wait to see the next thing he's making - smashing it! Anyway, if you too want to make the flower - click over here. :)

 

This one's only just finished! I think it was a Christmas present - so it's that new. It's a Cthulu which is some sort of beast created by some writer somewhere. Again, we come to the intersection of geekery and crafting and this one I don't understand even vaguely. However, he is a character that I've heard a bit about in the shop, lots of people making him and looking aghast that I don't know what he is... Anyway, this was made by the lovely Sue who has again been a massive supporter of us (and had an incredible end to the year and thoroughly cheered me up every time she came in!) and again she's a pretty new crocheter - a much better knitter - but not confident in crochet. This kind of project is perfect for that because, to be honest, those dangly bits at the front? Who's gonna know if they're a stitch out? It's knitted in the workhorse Cygnet Chunky in the Kiwi colour which is absolutely spot on and the one that most people choose when they're making this - we've even had a sparkly Cthulu in the Cygnet Chunky Gems. Well done Sue, for this and all your achievements. 

 

This is Anita's very first crochet - the bow in the middle towards the left of the photo. Isn't that amazing? Anita bought a couple of our Christmas bags and got on with it. This makes me so proud, to see that with just a few words and photos of mine somebody can take it and make something so lovely for themselves. I hope she's managed to move on and do something else with her new found skills. Crochet really is so rewarding! Perhaps a Cthulu... ;)

 

I had to include this even though I can't remember the lady's name, I should be able to but I do remember her and her daughter every time and now her husband. I'll admit that this photo isn't the best one of the cardigan, but she came in wearing it on a party day (perhaps Love Your Local Yarn Shop Day?) and looked amazing! The colour, the shape, the fit - everything looked to spectacular. I keep trying to make my version of this sweater, because we're a similar shape and size I think and I reckon I could rock it too, but I've never been able to get past the first couple of rows (it's a personal thing, lots of people have made the Chevron Lace Cardi with no problems). Also, she's the first person that was positive about the film Frozen and now it's a definite fave of mine - do you wanna build a snowmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan?

 And finally:

 

 I couldn't not mention the lovely Toni even though I don't have many pictures of her finished objects. This one isn't finished but isn't it stunning?!?!?!? It's the ubiquitous Skull Shawl, a free pattern from rav, and it takes a little time to get your head around, mainly because the lady wrote the pattern in..... Swedish... maybe originally so it's a little disjointed. I'd say you want to have worked with a few patterns before getting into this one because it's not necessarily straight forward so you have to use your intuition, but isn't it great?! And doesn't it look good in the Riot DK??? Earlier this year I made one for my sister and sent it as a birthday gift and it's one of the few things I think she's actually enjoyed from me (that aren't socks she stole from the husbeast). Anyway, lovely Toni turned up at the end of the summer this year having taught herself to crochet from scratch - something about her meant that I didn't know that she was a beginner so I sold her a load of yarn for difficult patterns and she just did it. Bloody overachievers. You'll often see her in the shop filling shelves whilst I knit just because. Good lass.

And that, again, is your lot. I do feel like I'm summing up the year here. I take an awful lot of photos and get shown so much throughout the year that I've definitely missed some out and I'm sorry if that's yours! You'll just have to shout louder at me. But I love how well this has gone down so maybe I'll carry on throughout the year, what do you think?

Love Eleanor. xxxxx