Twinkle - Pattern of the Week

I love Twinkle, Twinkle, it was the last blanket I made before I embarked on writing my book.
The book has a theme and structure so I had to work within the self imposed guidelines, even though I was really happy and excited to make the book blankets I wasn't totally free to do whatever I wanted and let my inspiration run wild.
So you could say Twinkle was my last burst of freedom before the book, since I finished the book in December I have gone back to following my own path and am completely free to do what I want again :-)

Twinkle is this week's Pattern of the Week
You can find the pattern HERE on Ravelry, don't forget to add the discount code in the photo so you can buy Twinkle at the special price of £2.

Its made up of lots and lots of little triangles that are joined together to make interlocking stars.
I've completely rewritten the pattern and added step by step charts, I have to say drawing the charts made my head hurt, it took a long time to work out how to make them simple enough for a newbie to understand.
I've also added US pattern terms into the actual motif pattern, its the first time I've done it and think its the right thing to do. But it means I now have to go back to all my newly edited patterns and re-edit them again....sigh....

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.

    

 

Testing...

This post is a test post.

I post a daily photo diary via Instagram, I try and post at least one photo a day.

By the time I get round to my weekly blog post I've forgotten what I've done in the week and sometimes struggle to find a topic.

I've always thought it would be lovely to be able to blog my daily photos as most of them document my design processes and the making of my blankets.

I've had the blogger app on my phone for ages, but never used it, but over the weekend had a thought that maybe I could use it to do a daily blog post.

So here's my test run.....

The text that goes with the above photo is as follows....

YAY - my Perseids crochet scarf is finished and I've started playing with my next blanket.

So far, so good I love the colours and fingers crossed the design will work 😃

The Crochet Express Blog Tour 2016

My second piece of news is that I am taking part in the CROCHETVILLE 2016 BLOG TOUR (click on the link for more info)
Or join the Crochetville Facebook group - HERE
Its all very exciting and as you can see I have a special ticket to my destination :-)

To celebrate the US national/international crochet month I have decided to run a "Buy one, get one free" discount for the whole of the tour duration (1st to 31st of March 2016).
The discount is already up and running, so simply go to my Ravelry Pattern Store HERE add 2 patterns to your basket, add the following code - Crochetexpress2016 and you will only need to pay for one of the patterns.
Incidently the offer also applies to the e-books in my store.

I will be publishing a special blog post on the 19th of March, I still haven't decided what its going to be about, but I suspect it will be Exmoor Star related as I'm completely obsessed with stars and outer space at the moment.


Have fun :-)
Love Amanda

Ariana crochet scarf - Pattern of the Week

I was going to write one long blog post this morning, but I think my two news items this week deserve their own post's.
 So the first post is Pattern of the Week.

Its Pattern of the Week day and this week's pattern is my Ariana crochet scarf, which you can find on Ravelry HERE
Don't forget to use the code in the photo at checkout to be ble to buy the pattern for the special price of £2.

I like making scarves as they are basically small slices of blankets, they are also really useful for my design process, I have so many blankets in my head and no where near enough time to be able to make them all.
I design as I crochet and am always dreaming up new variations of the design I am working on at the time, so I've recently decided to turn some of the the variations into scarves because it means I won't end up remaking variations of the same blanket over and over again and so theoretically I can publish more designs.
I'm actually making a scarf at the moment, but I'll tell you more about that another day.
Anyway back to Ariana which was inspired by warm spicy desert colours, I can't remember the exact time that I started designing it, but I suspect in was in the winter when I was dream of the summer sun :-)

    

Unravel exhibition 2016

This was going to be a gigantic blog post, but after 2 day's of post show chaos, trying to tame my in-box and playing catch up I seem to have run out of steam.
So its not going to be quite as big as I originally thought.

Last weekend I exhibited my blankets at the Unravel show in Farnham Surrey, UK, the show was on for 3 days and packed with knitters and crocheters from far and wide.
I've exhibited my art work before but a long time ago and not on such a grand scale, so I wasn't really prepared for the reaction of all the lovely visitors who came to look at my blankets (I would of been happy just to hang them on the wall and just look at them myself).
My blankets were hung in the Long Kiln room, which was also being used for talks, as its name suggests it is a long room so was perfect for the blankets :-)
So without further ado here are the photo's

One wall had my newest blankets, the 3 star blankets and Kissing Kaffe at the far end.

These 3 blankets need to be seen together as they are an ongoing project.
From right to left and in date order they are Zodiac, which inspired Stargazer. Stargazer the first of my Exmoor Stars series & Sagitarrius A the second Exmoor Stars blanket, Sagitarrius A is so new I haven't even written the pattern yet, I finished it on Monday night and we traveled to the show on Thursday.
I'm hoping to self publish all the Exmoor Stars in a booklet late spring.

 

Cornucopia and Ermintrude during set up.

 The second wall were all older blankets made during my NDS years and all made with NDS yarn.
Lily, Kaleidoscope, Twinkle Twinkle and The Rising Sun

And Rita and Supernova in their own special corner.

Unravel was the first wool show that I have had the chance to be a punter, I've always been tied to the NDS stand so being able to wander around and look at wool and chat to all my woolly friends was amazing.
There are far too many freinds to name here, but I did spend a lot of time annoying Janie Crow, The Little Grey Sheep, Tall Yarns, Easyknits and of course John Arbon Textiles :-)

I finally had the chance to met Dedri Uys of the Sophies Universe fame, it was lovely to be able to chat with fellow crochet blanket designer.
I really miss being a part of the indie dyer network due to the fact I don't dye or sell yarn anymore, so my contemporary blanket designers are really special, it would of been even better if Dedri, Jane and myself had been able to sit down for a proper chat, but maybe there'll be a chance at another show at sometime in the future...

And a massive THANK YOU to Gemma and her amazing team for giving me the chance to exhibit and for putting on a fantastic show, I know it was difficult for them because it was their first Unravel, but it was a huge sucess and I'm sure next year will be just as good if not better :-)

And lastly another massive THANK YOU to everyone who came to see the blankets, for all your kind comments, enthusiasm and encouragement. It means the world to hear that you like what I do and to be able to inspire you to take up your hooks and maybe make a blanket of your own :-)

Harlequin Crochet Blanket - Pattern of the week 8

I have got a big Unravel blog post in the pipelines which I was hoping to publish today, but time has run away with me this morning, too busy doing book stuff and post show chaos, so today's post is short and sweet and just about my Pattern of the Week.
Which is my Harlequin blanket.

Harlequin was designed and made last summer, as a Thank You to my lovely friend's and yarn enabler's John Arbon Textiles.
It's made with John's Knit by Number's DK which you can find HERE
The yarn is 100% merino, super soft and crochet's like butter :-)
You can find the pattern HERE, don't forget to add the discount code in the photo at checkout so you can buy it at the special £2 price.
(Incidently the small pointy dog in the photo is my monkey showing off her whippet heritage on the windy moor)

      

Cecily - Pattern of the Week

As I'm in pre-show chaos I thought I'd edit a really easy pattern for this week's pattern of the week, while I was searching my files I came across Cecily which was one of the first patterns I had published in a magazine.
I hadn't planned to re-edit my oldest patterns as some of them are odd shapes and need completely new samples.
But when I came across Cecily I decided it was really important that she was included in my grand pattern editing campaign.

Cecily was the cover girl for the first ever edition of Inside Crochet magazine and so holds a special place in my heart (incidently my Lecchi blanket was the cover girl for the very first Simply Crochet magazine :-)
The pattern needed an almost total re-write, but I'm happy with it and you can find it HERE
And the code is Cecilyweek7 if you add the code at checkout you will be able to buy Cecily for the special price of £2.

 

I would add some more photo's, but this is the only one I have and not only is it the only one, but the Cecily sample has disappeared, I guess it has been lost in one of our endless house moves, sadly I don't have time to re-make the sample so this will have to do.

Love Amanda - off to try and tame the pre Unravel show chaos

Unravel 2016

I've always looked forward to the UNRAVEL FESTIVAL in Farnham, it marks the beginning of wool show season, NDS has been an exhibitor since the early days.
Last year when we broke down the NDS stand at our final NDS Unravel (also final NDS show ever) I was very sad to think we wouldn't be going back.
However as you probably already know Unravel came to the rescue and invited me to have a blanket exhibition at the 2016.

Unravel is unlike all the other shows NDS attended as it's the only one held in a proper building, the others are held at show grounds and cattle sheds.
The Farnham Maltings was a brewery dating back to 1750, so as you can imagine its like a rabbit warren which makes it an amazing venue for a wool show, every time you turn a corner there's a new room full of hidden woolly treasure to discover.

My exhibition is in the Long Kiln room, which where all the lectures are going to be held, its a long thin room and in theory we should be able to hang 12 blankets.
I will be sitting with the blankets at the times when there aren't any lectures, so you will probably need to check your programmes to work out when I'm there or maybe we can arrange some kind of signage.

I won't have any paper patterns for sale, but I will have a newly designed and printed collection of postcards and if you want to buy a pattern I will have pages and pages of Ravelry codes.
A single postcard will cost 60p and if you want to add a pdf pattern code it will cost £3 (which is 50p cheaper than on-line and as I'm not vat registered you don't have to pay vat).
You will also be able to buy the cards in sets.

There will be 12 blankets on the walls, plus 2 extra blankets which means there are 14 postcards in total.
I'm aiming to make these postcards collectable, so each time I have them printed there will be new images of each blanket, for example if the Kissing Kaffe postcard sells out at Unravel there will be a new image of Kissing Kaffe on sale at Yarndale.
I love the idea of collectable cards as I was an avid postcard collector as a child, I still have all 5,000 of them and have been carrying them around with me for decades as we move from house to house to house...sigh...

 Plus Lecchi and Spyro who won't be hung on a wall but will be at the show with me.

 One of the things I am really looking forward to is being able to spend quality talking time, I've never had more than a few minutes chat on the busy NDS stand so it will be wonderful to have a little bit longer with all of you.
I'm also really excited to be able to wander around the show visiting (& probably annoying :-) some of my woolly friends.
On the top of my hit list are the lovely Easyknits,  Jane Crowfoot,  Purlescence, Tall Yarns, The Little Grey Sheep & Anniken Allis, plus so many others it would take me hours and hours to list them all
And most importantly John Arbon Textiles who will be my home base, if you need me for anything one of them should know where I am, especially my lovely daughter Daisy.

I hope to see you there :-)
love Amanda

P.S
Most of the blankets are for sale, so I will have a price list with me, just in case you can't survive without owning one :-)

LandScape Magazine & Pattern of the week

My feature in LandScape magazine was published last week.
Its a huge article - 8 pages long!!
The photos are beautiful and there's lots of writing about me and crochet, I'm really blown away by how lovely it is.
Although I didn't realise I was wearing 2 pairs of glasses when the photo's were taken :-)

If you want to buy a copy you can find the magazine in Waitrose, M&S, Tesco's etc etc
Or on-line HERE

And...
This week's Pattern of the Week is Anna, my favourite garment, I wear the sample all the time, so much so that I'm going to have to make a new one for next winter and maybe lightweight one for the summer.
You can find it HERE

 

Amanda's crochet blanket news

As I promised yesterday I'm back with the second blog post this week :-)
I have several pieces of news to tell you

1 - I've decided to sell some of my samples.
I've always kept my blankets so I can exhibit them at shows, some of them will be making their final appearance's at the Unravel show in Farnham in 2 weeks time (more about it below)
My house is beginning to be over run with crochet blankets so it seems unfair not to share them.
They are expensive due to the time taken to make them and the materials used, also I don't really want to part with them, (so its ok if they don't sell).
But if you are interested in buying a particular blanket please send me a e-mail HERE and I will send you the details.

2 - And I've finally started to build a website
Which you can find here http://amandascrochetblankets.com
Its in the very early stages and I've got lots more building to do, but its a start.
I had meant to build a site when I closed NDS last April, but I have discovered that my designer "to do" list is a lot longer than I imagined.
So please go and have a look and remember to add it to your favourites because in time it will have lots of info pages including pages about colour, yarn and how to use my patterns.

3 - Unravel
I have a big exhibition of my blankets at the Unravel yarn show in Farnham, Surrey in 3 weeks time.
I'm so excited, I've always dreamt of a big white room with my blankets hanging on the walls so I could sit and look at them, I'm really chuffed that Unravel have given me the chance to share my dream with you.
They are being exhibited in the Long Kiln room, where all the talks are due to be held and I will be sitting with them before and after the talks each day.
The patterns will be available as postcards with codes to use in my Ravelry store, so you can download them straight to your Ravelry Library.
I also have the final 5 copy's of Madder Triangles left, which will be on sale, but I'm afraid once their gone, their gone!
You can find the Unravel website HERE

4 - I promised to tell you a bit more about Loki
Who if you don't know is one of the 3 animals I share my life with, he's a 9 year old long haired German Shepard. Over the past few months he has a had a tumour growing on his foot, the vet suggested we leave it until it was bothering him, they did't think it was malignant, but I've always worried.
He had it removed last Thursday, I FB'd a couple of photo's.
The first was taken on Thursday night straight after the op, full of drugs and obviously in pain and the second was taken Friday morning the drugs had worn off and waiting for his breakfast was obviously overriding any pain.
Since then he has had the dressing changed twice and is healing really well, he's back to his old big bouncy self and we are just waiting for the biopsy, hopefully we will all be able to breathe a sigh of relief :-)

     

Pattern of the Week - Cornucopia week 5

This is going to be a very quick blog post, as I have to take Loki to the vet to have the bandage on his foot replaced. I promise I will tell you more about Loki's foot and some other very exciting news later.

Anyway here is Cornucopia Pattern of the Week 5

 

Cornucopia is the lovely sunny throw that I made last summer, lots of little squares in bright fruity colours. 

If you buy the pattern from my Ravelry store HERE and use the code at checkout you will be able to buy my Cornucopia pattern for £2, the code is Cornucopiaweek5

    

I'll be back later (probably tomorrow) to write a bigger more exciting blog post :-)

love Amanda

Hibernation & week 4

Good morning

January is always a deep dark month

 

I seem to have spent the last few weeks hiding in my house cuddled up crocheting my newest design in front of the fire.
This is a week's worth of crochet on Sagittarius A, the design is beginning to build and I hope by the next round of motifs you will be able to see what it is.
You might know already or maybe you can guess, but I'm not telling you yet as I like to keep you guessing :-)

So as its so miserable I thought I'd edit Posy for this week's pattern of the week.

Posy is one of my oldest designs and was originally created for a CAL on Ravelry.

Its a small shoulder wrap/shawl made with a very simple 2 round motif, the sample was made in alpaca which makes it perfect for cool summer evenings.

The pattern is HERE on Ravelry

And if you add the code at checkout you will receive a discount, the code is Posyweek4

      

love amanda