Thursday 30 June 2016

Foxgloves & stupid internet

I'm having a bit of a nightmare time with the internet at the moment, as Lynton is miles away from civilisation at the end of a road to no where we struggle with an internet connection.
So I haven't been around much due to the fact that its difficult to get a signal for more than an hour at a time.
I'd like to say things will improve when we get superfast broadband, however our lovely Tory MP who doesn't live on the moor and spends most of his time in London stated that connecting Lynton wasn't worth the money, so we're stuck with stone age bandwidth....sigh.....

Anyway between bouts of severe internet frustration I have been working away on my Foxgloves blankets, there will be 3 in total, all published together in a e-booklet. Its going to be a totally new format as the main focus of the book is colour rather than crochet. I'm aiming to inspire you and give you the confidence to experiment with your own colour schemes, plus there will be a blank layout that you can print out and colour in for yourselves.
Here's a few photo's of 1 and 2 to whet your appetite :-)
Sadly I can't post a photo of number 3 as Dropbox is taking days to sync anything.




I have managed to list my new book on Etsy as a pre-order, I can only ship to the UK, but there is a US version that you can order via US Amazon.
Plus its going to be published in France by a French Publisher.

You can find the Etsy listing HERE


Here is the first glimpse of 2 of the book blankets, the full blankets won't be revealed until the book is published :-)

Knot Garden

Liberty

Hopefully I will be able to post a little bit more in a week or so, just as long as the internet allows me.

Love and Happy Crocheting
Amanda


Wednesday 1 June 2016

Squares & Circles series

Good morning from grey and warm Exmoor

When I start working on a new blanket I start off with a colour collection of yarn and a vague sketch/colour chart.
The blankets evolve as they grow, which means I'm constantly tweaking a design as I make it, adding or taking away colours, changing motifs, etc etc
I also normally come up with several variations in my head. Occasionally I allow myself to crochet a second variation of the same design, such as the two Kissing Circles blankets and my triangle star's blankets.
(If you click on the design name it will take you to its pattern page in my Ravelry store, so you can buy the pattern)


FLORENCE                                    SUPERNOVA

However I normally file all the variations away in my head for another time. I'd like to make more of the variations and to create series of blanket designs, but I need to come up with new designs as you don't want to buy the same blanket pattern over and over again.
Recently I read a comment on Ravelry that said my Circles and Cornucopia blankets were the same design. 
Although the motifs are slightly different, the commenter was right, so I stepped back and looked at all my blanket photo's together and realised that I have been using a square with a circle in it, time and time again over a period of about 8 years.

CIRCLES                                        SABINE

BELLADONNA                             CORNUCOPIA

My most recent 2 blankets are both designed with a square/circle so I think its time for me to give in and indulge myself by making a series of square/circle blankets, it might help me get over square/circles and move onto a new motif shape or I might be stuck on square/circles for a long time to come .... maybe forever...who knows....
These latest two blankets have new layout and colour variations that I'm going to develop further, so watch this space :-)


FOXGLOVES - WIP