Plankton Crochet Scarf

Plankton Crochet Scarf - Update 23rd of September 2013

I've updated this post to add the links to the pattern, which you can find in my new book MADDER TRIANGLES - HERE

and as a single pattern PLANKTON CROCHET SCARF - HERE

There are also some new photo's :-)

 I'm going to say this will be a tiny blog post, but you know how I ramble on about nothing so it may be longer than I intended.

I have just finished and blocked Plankton, which is a crochet scarf and design number 7 for Madder Triangles.
The following is its introduction in the book

Plankton was subconsciously designed, I tend to watch mindless tv when I am crocheting, I had a pile of scraps I didn’t want to throw away so I made little lace triangles and crocheted them together in a semi  random pattern.

Later when I looked at the blocked sample I realised the triangles looked like Plankton’s eye, 

Plankton is a evil genius plankton from SpongeBob SquarePants which I had been watching all day and it obviously affected me subconsciously

Plankton is also inspired by the work of Sophie Digard who designs scarves made with hundreds of tiny motifs made with a multitude of colours.

And here are a couple of photos.

The first one had a phenomenal feedback in the NDS Facebook group, it had over 80 likes, plus lots of comments. 

I was very happily shocked as I hadn't expected such a reaction :-)

Plankton Crochet Scarf - Update 23rd of September 2013

This post has being getting a lot of comments asking for Plankton's pattern, so I thought I'd better update the post rather than answer everyone 1 at a time - hope you don't mind :-)

Plankton was published a couple of weeks ago, both in my new book MADDER TRIANGLES - HERE

and as a single pattern PLANKTON CROCHET SCARF - HERE

And here are some of the new pattern photo's

Last week & Community

We had a holiday, not really a proper holiday as most of it was spent driving.
And we didn't go anywhere exotic, we went back to Suffolk to see the family, we also popped into London on the way past to see our big girl and her husband in Bethnal Green.

We had a lovely evening with them at "1st Thursday", on 1st Thursday all the local art galleries open for the evening, Felice and Phil live in street full of art galleries, so we spent the night wandering in and out being part of the London arty crowd.
On Friday morning Felice took us to see Bow Arts Studio's, up until a few weeks ago she had a studio, she has now moved out as she has space to work at home, but she still spends time at the studio's as she is part of the community and she will be showing in one of their exhibitions later in the year.

As we took Tinks with us we thought we needed proof that our country dog had been to the big smoke, so here she is in front of the Olympic park, just around the corner from the studio's.

London looks wet and gloomy in this photo, but as we had suffered 37 degree heat the day before it was heaven.

Then we drove to Suffolk and spent 2 nights at Phil's sister in Kessingland, we went to Southwold on Friday night for fish and chips and a pint of Adnams. 

It was a very strange experience, we felt like tourists in a place we had spent all our lives....

Last time we went back to Suffolk I felt very anxious and didn't enjoy it much.

Even though I am a born and bred Suffolk girl the last few years before we left had been a living nightmare.

I think a part of me still didn't believe that I had found peace and happiness on Exmoor and I was worried that I wouldn't or couldn't get back to my new life.

This trip was different I was relaxed and happy and could enjoy the sun and pretty Suffolk countryside, as I felt safe in the knowledge Exmoor is my home, I'm part of the community and I belong there/here.

Anyway back to our holiday, on Saturday we had a very enjoyable Perkins family barbeque and Tinks met Peggy the pug, she didn't quite know what to make of her and was slightly scared. However when it came to begging for burnt bits of burger on my plate she decided that Peggy was safe enough to sit next to.

On Sunday we went back to Woodbridge to spend the afternoon with my Dad and Aunt, we had a lovely relaxed lunch and filled the van with the last of our belongings. Fred met us there and helped with the van packing :-)

Then the 3 of us and Tinks went to Shingle Street for a walk. I hadn't ever wanted to go back to Moors Farm and our old house, but when we drove past they seemed like a distant memory and it was nice to see them.

I've just realised that Tinks looks like a lap dog in all the photo's, but she isn't. 

Firstly she's now a bit big for a lap dog and secondly in the above photo I had to hold on to her as she had been running around the marshes like a mental case and needed to be held just to have her photo taken.

Sunday night was spent at Fred's eating Chinese takeaway from our favourite Chinese takeaway.

And on Monday we drove back to Exmoor, arriving home about 4 pm.

Tuesday was spent sorting out all the e-mails and sales we had had while we were away and yesterday Daisy and I took NDS to the North Devon show.

It was fun and lovely to chat to new customers and meet lots of local's, but it also reinforced that Exmoor is our home. 

Several Lyntonites came to the show and came to chat with us, it really made me feel happy that these were people I know from my everyday life and Dais and I were able to show them what we did.

Oh and while we have been jaunting around I did this......

Firefly is beginning to come together and the pattern is beginning to show, I have 2 weeks to finish it in time to be photographed for the book. I'll keep you posted on the progress.

I love Godiva HT

I was really excited when we took delivery of our first batch of Godiva (Merino singles)  HT 4 ply, I love the Godiva DK its soft and plump and makes very snuggly cuddly blankets and garments, so I was hoping for the same in a 4 ply version.

When the 4 ply arrived I loved it, it was beautiful and soft in the skein.
It dyed like a dream, much like its big sister the DK, strong vibrant colours.
But became crinkly when we mordanted and dyed it.
I understood that the crinkles were a result of the very high twist, which makes it a lovely sock yarn with a brilliant stitch definition.
But I personally don't really like crocheting with high twist yarns I prefer plump, soft cuddly yarn.

Phil disagreed with me, he likes making socks and likes high twist, so he promptly knitted a pair of these claiming that someone should always test knit a new yarn and declared his undying love for Godiva HT.

So I thought I had better try it and used it for the background of my new Spyro blanket.

And instantly I fell in love!

Its soft and smooth to use, and had a brilliant stitch definition.

When I blocked Spyro the Godiva bloomed and transformed into a stunning blanket yarn.

I'm sad to say it has replaced Dazzle HT in my heart, my only regret is its Merino and not BFL, but you can't have everything....

We have some new colours in tomorrows update at 7pm UK time - you will be able to find it HERE

But if you can't wait for tomorrow night you will find we already have some colours in the shop and you can find them HERE

Madder Triangles July 2013 update

I thought you might like a book update, I'm really hoping to have it published at the end of August.

I've had to abandon the star section as I was never going to have enough time to crochet and design a new blanket and scarf, so the book is down to 8 designs, the star's will have to be in next year's book, although I will publish Florence as a single pattern and maybe another one before next year's book comes out.

Kaleidascope

Lecchi Blanket - Finished

Plankton Scarf  - WIP

It looks very wobbly as the centre section is blocked.

Ripple 

The Rising Sun - Finished

Isabella Scarf - Finished

Spiral

Spyro Blanket - Finished

Firefly Wrap - wip

I started Firefly on Sunday while watching Lewis Hamilton win his first F1 race of the year - I love Lewis.

These 3 photo's illustrate 3 day's worth of designing, the first is unblocked, the second blocked and the third after I had designed a new filler, which I hope works as well when its blocked.

Wings

Icarus Shawl - Finished 

Serefina Shawl - Finished