Operation Sea Slug

Since I stopped dyeing yarn last April my dyers muscles have been fading away.

I don't eat a huge amount and most of the time I eat reasonably healthily, but I was beginning to feel like a giant sea slug, I think mainly due to the fact that 50% of my life is spent sitting on a computer chair and the other 50% is spent crocheting on the sofa

I don't think I've put on weight and normally do a small amount of walking, but no where near enough, so I've decided that I need to do more exercise before it's too late.

My cunning plan is to walk the dogs with Phil every night rather than occasionally.

Phil has very long legs and I have very short ones, so for every stride he takes I take 2. I end up staggering along behind him doing a fast walk/slow jog, and I hate it.

But if I force myself to try and keep up with him, eventually in theory I'll get fitter and find it easier.

As yesterday was Sunday we went for a proper walk, instead of a local walk.

We went to Dunkery Beacon which is the highest point on the moor, from where we parked the car it was 3/4's of a mile to the beacon and 3/4's mile back.

It was a glorious sunny day, but very hazy so the views look watery, on a clear day you should be able to see forever.

Catalina comet

As I promised a daily blog post and promptly didn't do anything about I thought I'd better start.

So here is the introduction to my new Catalina Comet blanket.

(All the photos & text have previously been posted on Instagram)

I started crocheting on Tuesday (8/3/16)

This makes me really happy 😃

It's the start of my Catalina crochet blanket and is named after the Catalina comet.

This is Wednesday

This is still making me very happy - 💕😃

And this is yesterday

There's a very subtle colour change going on in this photo, I don't think it's noticeable yet.

Sagittarius A Crochet Blanket

 I published my Sagittarius A pattern yesterday.

You can find it HERE on Ravelry

Here are the details.....

I live on Exmoor which is a designated international dark sky reserve; the reserves are classified as public or private areas that possess an exceptional quality of starry nights
Sagittarius A is the second blanket of my Exmoor Stars series, which celebrates our very dark night skies
It is inspired by the black hole in the middle of the Milky Way, which is situated in the Sagittarius constellation, the Milky Way can clearly be seen from the moor.

YARN
Sagittarius A is made with 1170 x gms of 4 ply/fingering weight Yarn, 360/400 metre’s per 100 gms
Sagittarius A is a scrap blanket; you will need assortments of very similar colours in colour collections.
Yarns used in the sample blanket include …
Stars - Assorted scraps of indie hand dyed and commercial yarns.
Background – The essential ingredient is at least 1 skein of John Arbon Exmoor Sock (Midnight), John’s Exmoor sock is made with Exmoor Blueface sheep which live on the moor.
I’ve also used Cascade 220 fingering (In the Navy) Drops Alpaca (Blue/Turquoise mix). Knitpicks Palette Yarn (Navy) Artesano 4 ply pure alpaca (Uruguay), King Cole Merino Blend 4 ply (French Navy), and assorted indie hand dyed yarn.

Sagittarius A measures 55 x 55 inches.

This pattern contains the following…..
Detailed colour and yarn recommendations
Written and charted Motif instructions
Step by step construction charts
Full coloured layout chart.

Pattern of the Week - Icarus Crochet Shawl

Well yesterday's "Testing" blog post seemed to work, so you can expect lots more to come :-)

Onto today's post...
Its about Icarus, one of the crochet shawls that featured in my Madder Triangles book, it originally started out as a design for a NDS crochet club I ran back in the spring of 2013.
It was inspired by the Greek myth of Icarus and his father Daedalus.
Daedalus and Icarus were exiled to Crete after they had fallen into disfavour with king Minos.
Daedalus constructed wings made of feathers and wax for them both to escape, he warned Icarus not to fly too close to the sun, but Icarus was so amazed by flying that he forgot his father’s warning, flew too close to the sun, his wings melted and he tragically fell into the sea and drowned.
It was also inspired by flying and wing's, the colours are very subtle, but if you look closely you can see darker shades which  represent a backbone, with two wing bones either side and paler shades which represent wing feathers.

The original sample is made with NDS's Phoenix 4 ply, which was Merino/Silk 4 ply and is now discontinued.
But the shawl can be made with the following yarns, they all contain a little bit of silk which give the shawl a lovely drape.
Easyknits - Splendour, Cherish,
Skein Queen – Selkino, Lustrous, Luminosity, Oasis Grande
Cascade - Heritage Silk

You can find Icarus HERE, don't forget to use the code in the photo at checkout so you can buy Icarus for £2.