My crafting in the last month has mainly revolved around scarves. I very proudly finished my advent scarf (both the pattern and yarns were by Cornish dyer Demelza’s Delights) and have been wearing it to football and for doing the school run. Last week it even saw actual snow-which came totally out of the blue, but I was very thankful I had such a warm scarf to wear!

Whilst I’ve been off work, I have begun a crochet course-the Centre of Excellence Diploma in Crochet. I decided it would be good distraction, given the length of time my treatment is expected to take, and a productive way to use my time whilst I’m avoiding other people and their winter germs. So far I have completed 10 of the 17 modules, including the scarf module which requires the designing and making of a scarf. As I’m the proud owner of several winter scarves, I decided to use a lace pattern and make a much lighter spring/autumn scarf (also I knew lace would work up really quickly-lazy or efficient? I still haven’t decided which!)

I began by choosing a yarn, WYS florist collection sock yarn, which I had frogged from a very unsuccessful knitted sock. I thought it was a lovely fresh colour for spring and was plain enough to show off a lacy pattern. I then consulted the stitch dictionary which Mr C bought for my birthday last year, and trawled through all of the lacy stitches. I settled on shell lattice, just because I thought it looked pretty. After making a swatch, I begun. Because of the open pattern, and the knowledge that I wanted a fringe on the ends, I worked a few rows of trebles to give a slightly more solid base to attach the fringe to. Unfortunately, even after blocking, the lace has pulled in slightly so the ends looks a fraction wider. If I made it again, I’d use a smaller stitch count for the trebles. However, it doesn’t look terrible. I worked in the pattern until I’d made it almost as tall as me, and then added some more rows of trebles. The fringe was then added to each stitch, with just 1 strand of yarn per stitch to continue the ‘light’ look.

I’m actually pretty pleased with the finished item, for a first proper design project it worked well, and I learned a lot from the process. I’m not sure whether I will wear it or not, as the yarn is a proper wool one and I think a cotton one would have perhaps suited better for a spring scarf. I wanted to use up yarn from my stash though, rather than buying more for the sake of it. I was impressed at the speed it worked up-2 days in contrast to the 2 months it took to make the advent scarf!

I’ve also had a very small knitting project on the go, for a friend who has just had a baby. It’s the Starflake hat, the pattern for which is available to buy on Ravelry and several other places, in violet Stylecraft Special DK. It was, for such a tiny thing, surprisingly complicated, especially the one round of the patterned part which needed cables and crocheted bobbles. It also seems very large, though it does match the pattern measurements. (Or perhaps babies are just bigger than I remember my 2 being, or maybe there’s a lot of growing room included in the pattern?)

It’s now been washed ready to be gifted, although I’m still undecided about whether or not it needs a pompom on the top!

As well as these projects, I’ve worked on the Bertie baby blanket, which I’ll share next time. It’s coming on nicely too, but I must get a shift on as the baby it is for is due in April.

What have you been working on? Would you like me to finish the pattern for the lace scarf and share it? Let me know!