blanket Archives - Page 3 of 4

June’s blanket, bucket-list and Iceland…

Lucia & Francesca / June 5, 2017November 5, 2020 / Lifestyle, Music, Stories, Travel

Hi Everyone… it is June and time for another blanket….

this one is about my bucket-list.

I have a few thing on that list, one of them is traveling and visiting/living in new places. the top of the list for the places is ICELAND, and that is what this blanket is dedicated to Iceland.

I always knew since I was a small girl that I wanted to live ‘up North’ well before Hygge or “Scandi style” became so popular.

I made it just 2000 miles up north! from Italy to Scotland… but I always wanted to hop another little bit..Shetland, Faroe Islands, and then Iceland!

If I wasn’t 53 and had a family, I probably would pack my bags and head for Iceland. In the back of my mind there is still a small flicker of light which says I could still do it …my kids are starting flying the nest; Francesca my oldest, she got her master in fine art, Valentina has just graduated this May in Law, Giuseppe is off to Edinburgh University next September, and I just got left Olympia that has still 4/5 years of High school…mmm never say never! ( mind you does Iceland needs a middle age woman that is obsessed with wool/yarn /colours and books??? )

I could start with visiting Iceland first! I have never been… BUT it is on the top of my list hopefully in the next few months.

So why do I love Iceland?

the most obvious reason is that Iceland is beautiful, There are breathtaking mountains, volcanoes, highlands, glaciers, waterfalls, fjords, geysers, lava fields, and a variety of coastlines.

but what attracts me most are the Icelanders and their way of life and their values.

Icelanders are highly educated and the society is progressive.They have a literacy rate of 99% and most of the population has experienced higher education, they publish more books per capita than any other country. The have topped up the gender gap index Economist recently named Iceland the world’s best place for working women – in comparison, the UK came in at No. 24.Iceland was the first nation to elect a female president; Vigdís Finnbogadóttir was elected in 1980 and stayed in office for 16 years. Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir was Iceland’s first female prime minister and the world’s first openly gay female head of state.

Climate change is on the news every day and I believe it is a real issue for our planet. Fossil fuels are NOT the way forward. Iceland is the only country in the world which obtains 100% of its electricity and heat from renewable sources. 87% of its electricity comes from hydropower, and the remaining 13% from geothermal power. Oil-powered fossil fuel power stations are only used as backups to the renewable sources.

I could go on and add 20 pages of facts. and you are wondering if I am a serious case of “The grass is always greener…. …..in your neighbor’s field” !!!

So what is really my tangible experience about Iceland and why I like it so much?? and here is where the creative side kicks in and the relevance to the blog…

LOPI YARN!!!!!

and in particular.

Icelandic Lopapeysa!

I made LOADS of them over the years…lopi yarn is made from the wool of the Icelandic sheep.

It is unique in its composition and together, the distinctive fibers create wool that is warm, lightweight, water-repellent and breathable.

OK, it is a little itchy ,but once you have worn a few times and washed too, it becomes really lovely. I can tell you this from experience as some of the jumpers I knitted are 10 years old, they have a few holes but they are as much loved as they were once new!! those are few of them I have here at home…

also some of the books ( that is my other vice…books) I love about Iceland:

So I never attempted using Lopi Yarn for crochet but I m going to give it a go and the next blanket is going to be made entirely with Lopi . another experiment then…

Next time I will tell you all about how I have chosen the colors and about Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda. I read a simplified version of it when I was 12 . and it is still now my favorite book.

I am also going to tell you about Hávamál, probably one of the most important poem in the book , which tells the story of Odin and the tree Yggdrasil.

and Bivröst (“Moving Way” in Old Norse),The Bridge of the Gods:

Gvðín gerþu bru af iorþu til himins, er heitir Bifravst: “The gods made a bridge from earth to the heavens which is called Bifravst”

and about some amazing music I I was so lucky to see live last night: Eivør Pálsdóttir.

Eivor is not an Icelander, she is a Faroese singer-songwriter with the most amazing voice ever! totally mesmerizing here is a link to youtube.

Thorin, our cat, loves Iceland too….

To the next time, Happy crochet,

Lucia x

Jane ,the Frida’s Primavera and myself…

Lucia & Francesca / May 24, 2017November 5, 2020 / Lifestyle, Patterns, Stories

May’s Blanket: an old pair of jeans and a journey.

Lucia & Francesca / May 3, 2017November 5, 2020 / Lifestyle, Stories

If you have been following my blog, you are by now aware that what I am aiming to do with this crochet journey is to experiment how you can use crochet as a medium to weave a story into the fabric of a blanket.

Furthermore, I would like to encourage all of you out there to do the same and to create your little piece of history.

Today I want to introduce something else that it is very important to me:

“Nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect”.

It is a Buddhist concept called wabi-sabi “the wisdom and beauty of imperfection.” it can be applied to virtually anything but in this case it is about taking the time to create something really unique as a beautiful way of connecting with a garment or textile, and making a feature of an old scrap of fabric, recycling old yarn or mixing oddballs, given as a present, out of a sale basket or an impulse buy..( we all have been there…) , old yarn from the bottom of your stash.

With the assumption that beauty is in an object’s impermanence and imperfection that means that mistakes, maybe some wonky stitching or different textures can be embraced, and you do not need to be a confident crocheter you just need to be able to hold a hook and have some yarn, so this is also a perfect project for a beginner.

What has inspired me are traditional Japanese boro cloths.

They have a beauty like no other. Each cloth tells a unique story of its journey through life with patches carefully sewed on and reinforced with stitching, often over generations of a single family.

Although beautiful, boro cloths came about through pure necessity. During the 18^th and 19th centuries cotton,in Japan, was a luxury afforded only to the nobility. The lower classes had homespun fibers, like hemp, which were more difficult to make into a fabric and didn’t last as well. By patching and stitching, the fabric could be strengthened and its life could be extended. During the Edo era, there were also laws that restricted lower classes from wearing bright colors which is why the cloths are indigo blue and brown.

During these times pieces of cloth were re-purposed in various forms. Often starting off as a kimono then becoming everyday clothing, a piece of sleepwear, a futon cover, a bag then finally a dusting cloth. Every scrap was used until it wore out.

Boro textiles are now highly sought after collectibles. I am not so sure about the ethical side of that and the fact that now they fetch thousands of pounds and adorn the lounges of affluent people, to me it defies the purpose in the first place, but I am grateful for the opportunity to see them in exhibitions n museums as a tangible piece of history and a lesson too.

Boro celebrate the beauty of something frayed, decaying or repaired and also conveys a deep sense of regret concerning waste, as Earth’s resources are limited and it is important to search for new and creative ways to recycle and reuse.

So back to the blanket…

What am I going to do? I have no plan really. I have been collecting bits and pieces: some Japanese bowls I use every day, I love the colors and patterns, some yarn I have been given to try at the last Blogstar’s meeting and some crochet samples I made.

All I know I want to use my old jeans. I bought them years ago. It must have been a bit of a ‘middle life crisis’ as I never wear jeans and I thought they looked ‘trendy’.

Then I gained some substantial amount of weight and they lingered at the bottom of my wardrobe for ages as I couldn’t wear them anymore, but since Christmas I have been shedding the weight once again and now they are far too big for me to wear. I wore them to go camping for Beltane’s celebrations last weekend and I had to keep pulling them up which was really annoying.They are not good enough to go to a charity shop but they are precious to me as they remind me of my weight loss journey. So they are going to become a blanket!

I am going to see if I can introduce some sashiko to join the pieces together,

Sashiko is a traditional form of Japanese hand sewing that uses a simple running stitch sewn in repeating or interlocking patterns, usually piercing through several layers of fabric.

wish me luck…I will keep you updated on it’s progress,

love to you all,

Lucia xx

April blanket: ‘the Norian blanket’

Lucia & Francesca / April 20, 2017November 5, 2020 / Patterns, Stories

My belated Easter post…I have been sitting on this blog entry for 10 days…the plan was to get it published before Easter, but things have gotten in the way so I am just now making the final touches to the post.

So I hope all of you had a lovely Easter or spring break with your families, loved ones and maybe with some crochet too! Whether you managed to find some free time for starting a new project or continuing with some WIPs.

I had a bit of extra time to surf the net last weekend and I saw there are a lot of new CAL’s that have started.

I like Esther @https://itsallinanutshell.com/ new CAL , have you seen it? it is called the ‘nuts about squares ‘ it looks really interesting I love week2 block!

https://itsallinanutshell.com/2017/02/17/announcement-nuts-about-squares-cal/

I also saw that quite a few of you had started the Hydrangeas’s blanket, Lucy’s @attic24 new creation.

http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/2017/04/hydrangea-stripe-blanket-ta-dah.html

I really like the colours she has chosen for her latest project, the pattern is beautifully simple but so effective and I am sure it will bring hours of joy to many people.

So many temptations and I wish I had loads of hours and try them all!

Anyway let’s get back under the Fig tree, so I can update you on what I have been doing…

The April blanket now has a name, it is called ” the Norian blanket” you will see why pretty soon, I am very happy with my block it is an original design of mine and it is a lovely hexagon that I hope you will like.

I know in the past I have been outsourcing patterns or partial patterns mixing with something original designed by me, but this blanket will be just my design, that will make the pattern details much easier for everybody to outsource and follow by having it all being written down in one place. I have been getting some help so I can create as clear a template as possible for the pattern and, assume everything go smoothly, I should be ready to publish it in the next few weeks.

Here is a picture of the block, I’d love to hear your opinions! The idea is obviously Bee related, and it should look like a bees’ friendly meadow with loads of pretty flowers in bees favourite colours!.

now you wondering why Norian?

well there is an article I am going to link you to:

The Beekeeper Who Craved a World Without Right Angles

http://vernon.npdc.govt.nz/search.do?view=detail&page=1&id=269200&db=object

It tells the story of a very keen Kiwi Beekeeper called Roy Brewster. Roy and his wife Nettie built a house in the 1950s in New Plymouth, NZ , where nearly everything was hexagonal, from its floor plans to its windows to all of its interiors and furnishings. They also had a hexagonal quilt on their bed too.

the name Norian is short for: “NO RIght ANgles.”

I love the story and I love the house and I thought my April blanket could fit quite nicely in their home.

more about Norian blanket:

The block and the yarn and colours selection were the easy part, and I fired away pretty quickly all those hexagons. The problem started when I had to figure out how to join them together…You might think the joining is the easy part but actually often is not, and It has taken me several attempts and a lot of unraveling but, after a few frustrating days, I have hopefully got it now, I don’t know yet, the joining is still in its early stages, so I will let you know in a week or so..hence why at Easter I decided to leave the blanket on a side and make something else.

If you follow me on Instagram and facebook you might have seen some pictures I posted earlier in the week.

https://www.facebook.com/luciasfigtree/

https://www.instagram.com/luciasfigtree/

you might have seen some pictures I posted earlier in the week.

The shawl is called Edlothia, the designer is Jasmin Räsänen , and this is the link: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/edlothia

I loved the fact that this pattern has charts. I found charts so much easier to follow, it might look complicated but it is surprisingly easy to crochet and the results! It is not blocked yet as I hope on a nice dry day for it, but it looks good and I think the Scheepjes whirl I have chosen does it justice. I bought a couple of those cakes a few weeks ago and I was waiting to find a project that used most of it if not all of a cake, so to show off the gradients effect to its best.

First time using Whirl I found the yarn a bit splitty at the beginning but then I got the hang of it, it is lovely to work with and I love how gradual the change of colours is I hope will block well, I will let you know as soon as I am done.

that is all for today, wish you a happy weekend,

all the best Lucia xx

My 10,000 girls…

Lucia & Francesca / April 3, 2017November 5, 2020 / Lifestyle, Stories

You all know I got four children but the ones of you that know me in real life, also know that I have some extra 10,000 to 50,000 little girls. The number depends on the time of the year!

I am an urban beekeeper!

and

I LOVE MY BEES!!!!

Beekeeping is just FANTASTIC!!!!

Even simply sitting down near the hive with a cup of tea or..indeed a crochet project and watching the coming and going of the hive is an extremely relaxing experience.

I went into beekeeping for many reasons, one of them is that by keeping just one hive you are immediately introducing 50,000 pollinators into an urban area, and that can have a huge impact on the environment. I like the idea of making a difference as an ordinary individual, considering the fact that , most of the time, we can’t seem to affect any of the sad things that are happening to the earth.

As many of you ,due to the media coverage, I started to become aware that bees were having a hard time from a combination of pesticide use, parasites and poor nutrition, and it also became quite obvious that they were doing better in towns and cities than in the countryside. I guess reduced pesticide use in towns, coupled with year-round forage in gardens and parks means honeybees could have a better chance of survival in urban areas.

So that is why they love their home in the middle of Glasgow!!

So , one Christmas, Santa brought me a beautiful Hive and that spring my first nucleus arrived.( a nucleus is a small honey bee colony created from larger colonies.)

I couldn’t have managed any of the above without the help and expertise of Ed, ( you can see the two of us checking the hive’s progress and doing some spring cleaning… ).

Ed used to be at school with one of my brothers in law and is a professional beekeeper and an expert in urban beekeeping .

He owns several hives of and also he helps people like me that want to keep bees as a hobby.

My colony has settled really well; they are gentle natured girls..( yes there is such a thing as “grumpy bees” !! )

Last year I had many afternoon sitting watching them , understanding how the colony works and as a bonus , after making sure they had enough honey to get them trough the winter, we got a few jars of delicious honey! So I am looking forward this new season of beekeeping

in the picture below a frame of raw honey, plenty of food for all the new bees ready to hatch.

Look at the girls coming in carring little bags of pollen on their legs!

I am soo hooked on beekeeping that in the next few weeks I think I will split my original colony and add another hive as I got plenty of space and they seems to love their spot.

I could go on for pages telling you loads of stories, fact and technicalities but this blog is about crochet, so, back to yarn, colours and hooks, my next project is dedicated to my lovely buzzing girls!

To explain what I am going to do I am adding another small fact about bees:

Like us, bees are trichromatic. That means they have three photoreceptors within the eye and base their colour combinations on those three colours. Humans base their colour combinations on red, blue and green, while bees base their colours on ultraviolet light, blue and green. This is the reason why bees can’t see the colour red. They don’t have a photoreceptor for it. They can, however, see reddish wavelengths, such as yellow and orange. They can also see blue-green, blue, violet, and “bee’s purple.” Bee’s purple is a combination of yellow and ultraviolet light. That’s why humans can’t see it.

The most likely colours to attract bees, according to scientists, are purple, violet and blue.

So that is what I have chosen as hues for my next blanket!…I am soo excited about as it is going to be beautiful !! I let you see a small preview..because I have already started ….

to the next, stay tuned!!!

happy hooking, love to you all

Lucia xx

Voilà ! the macaroons blanket.

Lucia & Francesca / March 31, 2017November 5, 2020 / Patterns, Stories

31stof March! just in time….

You probably have already seen some previews on my Instagram. I finished the macaroon blanket last week, but I have been so busy trying to finalise the last details of the ” secret project” plus I had a few deadlines at work . However, I am now finally sitting down, writing the recipe for the macaroons blanket, so you can all make one for yourselves!

Firstly let me tell you, it will take a degree of patience! The squares are very easy to make but there are 280 of them! Saying that… I actually really enjoyed the journey and seeing all of these little bundles of colours growing in my basket… a bit of frustation at times with the ends to be sewn in BUT it will be worth it in the end as the blanket came out really beautiful !! Like baking, it is with no doubt, a labour of love.

If I can make a suggestion, as often happens to me with any granny square blanket, I find it much easier to make it if the project is running along side with something else, and most important, sew in your ends as you go! or it will be a nightmare!

THE SQUARE: it is my design. I made a small photo gallery so it is even easier for you to make your own:

FOUNDATION : magic circle

ROUND1:

3 ch( makes the first treble),2 trebles, *3 ch, 3 trebles* repeat ** 2 more times., ss on the 3chs ( which act as your first treble) and fasten off.

(12 trebles and 4 ch3 spaces)

ROUND2:

start with a new colour in one of the 3 chs spaces and work a cluster of 3 trebles together,3chs and another cluster; 3ch and in the next 3 chspace of round 1 repeat * cluster,3chs cluster 3 chs* ss and fasten off. [ 8 clusters, 8 3chs spaces]

please note as from the photos your squares will curl! do not worry as the final round will straighten down the square.

ROUND3:

Start a new colour in any 3 chs space between 2 clusters and work the angle as follow:* 3 chs ( act as 1st treble) 2 trebles, 3chs, 3trebles.

In the next 3 chs space work 2 trebles, 1 puff stitch in the centre of the 3 trebles of ROUND 1 , 2 more trebles*; and repeat **

so that is the little mini granny square. it looks lovely both sides

Next the yarn used and colours:

STYLECRAFT SPECIAL DK

CLARET
LIPSTICK
POMEGRANATE
GOLD
SPICE
FONDANT
APRICOT
SAFFRON
LEMON
CLEMATIS
LAVANDER
DUCK EGG
SPRING GREEN
PISTACHIO
MEADOW
one ball for each of the shades EXCEPT for the PISTACHIO where you will need three balls in total.

the squares are 280, they measure 7,5 cm and are organised in 14 columns of 20 squares each.the border is 15 cm deep.

The joining method is a simple row of dcs . I changed colours every time , that has made a lovely “multicolours grid” effect, which makes the blanket interesting both sides!. the all blanket is 120×180 in total and the border is 15 cm deep.

THE BORDER:

the border is an adaptation of border number 72 from the new Edie Eckman’s book : ‘every which way crochet border.’ I said an adaptation because I repeated round 1 and 2 several times to make the border more substantial, and as consequence, I had to change the corners too, as I like my borders to be perfectly flat.

I know it is a nuisance but I can’t post even a partial picture of Edie’s border as that would infringe the copyrights . all I am saying just look at the closeups, or use another border that is a multiple of 10 stitches.

I hope you will enjoy making the macaroon blanket and thank you for all the lovely likes and messages I received!

Bring on APRIL!!!!!!!

love as always,

Lucia x

Never mind the macaroons…mini grannies are like Marmite!

Lucia & Francesca / March 19, 2017November 5, 2020 / Lifestyle, Patterns, Stories

An unusual title, I know…but if you are acquainted with Marmite you will know exactly where I’m coming from! For those of you that haven’t the faintest idea what Marmite is, I will explain..

Marmite is a thick, sticky paste made from concentrated yeast extract, a byproduct from brewing beer. German scientist Justus Liebig invented accidentally the concoction in 1902.

Marmite has a very distinctive flavour. The taste is so unique as to defy description, but think of a yeasty, salty, soy sauce-esque flavour with the consistency of old engine oil. Some people really like eating it, and some people don’t like eating it at all.

I personally quite like it, but it is definitely an acquired taste!

So what does marmite have to do with crochet or mini granny squares????

Because Marmite actually based a marketing slogan off this divisiveness: “Love it or hate it.” It has infiltrated British culture and language to the point where an object or a person can be described as ‘marmite’

So MINI GRANNIES ARE LIKE MARMITE : You either LOVE THEM OR HATE THEM!

Lately I think I am more inclined to the latter…but I am glad I persevered! I still have 35 mini grannies to sew the ends in and I am done!

All 240 of them. What a marathon.

I did some other things in between because I discovered that I found the little pesky things really boring to make. I am sure after they are all joined together and I started the border It will become much more exciting.

I will let you know what I have been up to! It is under wrap I believe until the middle of April!!

I leave you with all my little granny squares…

Now I need to join them! ..and find a border too.

Happy Sunday

Lucia xx

Yarn,friends,more yarn,macaroons and a family’s ceilidh…part one

Lucia & Francesca / March 11, 2017November 5, 2020 / Lifestyle, Stories, Travel

Let’s start with a question:

Do I need more yarn? ABSOLUTELY NOT !!!

Do I WANT more yarn? ALWAYS!!!

Saying that let me start telling you about my weekend.

Every year I go to two yarn exhibitions: Yarndale and the Edinburgh Yarn Festival.

The reason why is because I like the spirit behind them. They both are a gathering of mainly independent producers, dyers and designers. And they are so worth going to because of the amazing talent and creativity behind those stalls.

On Friday morning my daughter Valentina and I took an early train from Glasgow to Edinburgh, Valentina had a dissertation meeting at University, and I went to the Corn Exchange where EYF is held.

I met my friend Julia from http://handknittedthings.blogspot.co.uk/ in the queue outside the building amongst many very enthusiastic and chatting ladies! It didn’t rain which was a major plus, and it wasn’t too cold either so the hour and a bit waiting outside flew by in a flurry of yarn chats!

Julia and I we went inside and we met Janehttp://janiecrow.co.uk/presta/ who was one of the exhibitors. and Sandra http://sandra-cherryheart.blogspot.co.uk/ then I just I wondered off admiring all the goodness in the show. Highlights? Far too many to mention but I especially loved Marie Wallin’s tiny stand with her jumpers with the most exquisite colour combinations,

Amanda Perkins crochet blankets http://www.amandascrochetblankets.com/home-page

The knitting Goddess http://www.theknittinggoddess.co.uk/, Eden Cottage Yarns and my friend Zoe, which was exhibiting too and has a lovely shop in Glasgow where I buy all my natural yarns. Zoe has a great selection of small independent producers, plus she dyes her on yarn also. http://www.thequeenofpurls.com/

But let me tell u what made my day…

It wasn’t the yarn; it was those ladies that somehow recognised me and stopped to say hi and to tell me that they read and love my blog, my stories and my 12 blankets in 12-months challenge.

It was so overwhelming and humbling to get tangible recognition that my rumblings online are enjoyed by you out there .!

So a MASSIVE THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!!!

I am not taking the time you are spending reading my blog for granted it is totally appreciated.

So what did I brought back with me? I already posted a couple of photos on Instagram; I bought some lovely hand dyed yarn from the Knitting Goddess, three skeins from Eden Cottage and a VERY expensive cake from this new Hungarian supplier of gradients yarn called Bilum

B .

Amanda’s new blankets book, small pamphlets on crochet shawls that look very promising and a book on knitted toys because I couldn’t resist all those mini dresses and cute animals!

Out of the show, I shared a taxi with a lovely lady from Hampshire which very kindly gave me a lift to Edinburgh centre. I went to Mademoiselle Macaroon! https://mademoisellemacaron.co.uk/

Because I haven’t forgotten about my blanket and because they have THE BEST MACAROONS IN SCOTLAND!!!! Gosh, I wish you could try them! They are delicious, and the small bakery/cafe is so quaint, you can see Edinburgh castle while sitting sipping your coffee and ejoying your macaroons and the staff couldn’t be more helpful.

yeah, as we say in Scotland: ‘PURE MAGIC!!’

and look what we got here…..can you spot the macaroon and the new squares??

More Edinburgh news tomorrow as my weekend is not over yet and I have a family Ceilidh tonight.

love to you all,

Luciaxx

The Emily’s epilogue

Lucia & Francesca / March 1, 2017November 5, 2020 / Patterns, Stories, Travel

I finished the blanket about a week ago, but I wasn’t so pleased with the quality of the pictures I took indoor. The weather has been quite poor (surprise, surprise) and I couldn’t photograph outside, but I managed a couple of hours’ window on Monday and I got a few pictures. You must be wondering why I am so obsessed with outdoor’s photography; it is because my blankets are very much just about colors, and it matters a great deal to me for the images to be as ‘real life’ as possible.

I wish I had the time, last week, to go back to Haworth and photograph the blanket there, but I have been busy, and it is a long round trip from Glasgow. Said that the next time I am down in Yorkshire, I would!!. As an alternative location, I thought of Pollok Country Park , Glasgow’s largest park ,which features the impressive Pollok House as well as the renowned Burrell Collection. Both Pollok house and the Burrell collection are closed, at the moment, and under renovation, but the gardens are still open to the public.

It is a beautiful place, well worth a trip if you are visiting Glasgow.

Anyway back to the Emily:

The blanket measures: 140cm x180 cm, in total, the border is 14cm deep. There are nine squares by 12 rows for a total of 108 squares.

The yarn used is a combination of STYLECRAFT ALPACA TWEED DK, SPECIAL DK, and LIFE DK.

14 Colors used which are:

ALPACA TWEED DK: ocean, dusky pink, sea breeze, sage.

SPECIAL DK: copper,plum,mocha,pistachio.

LIFE DK: heather, stone nepp, chocolate nepp, pebble nepp, gorse nepp, mixture charcoal.

QUANTITIES:

one 100gr ball for each color plus five balls of mixture charcoal.

PLEASE NOTE: mixture charcoal is used for ALL the first 2 rows of the squares, the joining, and the border.

CROCHET HOOK size 4 . the squares measure 11cm

The squares measure 11cm

SQUARE PATTERN:

the square is my design:

ROW 1: 6 chains join in with an ss

ROW 2: in the 6 chain ring work as follow: 3 chains (that makes the first treble),1 treble,1 ch *2 trebles,1ch* repeat ** 7 times. ( 16 trebles and 8 ch1 spaces)

ROW 3 : *puff stitch in each of the ch1 space of row2 ,2ch*, repeat ** 15 times (16 puffs, 32ch)

ROW4: *4 trebles cluster in the ch2 space of round3,3 ch*, repeat **15 times (16 clusters, 48ch)

ROW5: we add the corners as follow: start in any of the 3ch space of round 4 and work* 1 dc,skip the cluster,3ch,1dc in the next 3ch space of round 4.; next we make the corner: in the next ch3space work: 5trebles,3ch,5trebles;1dc in the next ch3 space of round4,3 ch* repeat ** 3 more times (4 corners, 12 dc, 8ch3 spaces)

ROW6 and final row: start on the corner and work: 2htreble,2ch,2htreble, 5 back post half treble on the 5 trebles of row5,1 half treble in the space between the 5 trebles of row 5 and the dc of row 5, 2dc on the ch3 space,1 dc on the dc of row5,2dc on the next ch3 space,1htreble on the space between the dc of round 5 and the next corner .repeat all around.

REMEMBER ROW1 AND ROW2 ARE ALL IN CHARCOAL.

The others row, please alternate the colors, as usual, choose any of the two methods I had listed before in the past blankets I posted.

You have plenty of yarn to make the blanket, and some left too.

JOINING:

with mixture charcoal, a simple dc join.

THE BORDER:

ONE foundation row around the blanket of dc in charcoal to set the border then follow the diagram below:

a note about the pattern for the border:

I found the pattern on Pinterest. It is what I believe a shawl. I tried to go back to the source of the original designer, but I haven’t been able to find out who is. The watermark is too feeble, and I got nowhere with that either.I went as far as finding what I assume is a Japanese pattern, but again has been posted and re-posted several times on Russian/Romanian sites, and I can’t read Cyrillic or Japanese so , I am afraid, I have no idea.

PLEASE if you do know the designer behind the diagram, let me know, and I will credit her/him. THERE IS NOTHING OF MORE ANNOYING THAN PILFERING OTHER DESIGNERS HARD WORK WITHOUT, AT LEAST, THE COURTESY OF ACKNOWLEDGE THEM!

following what I wrote above I am adding this here, on the 3rd march, 1917:

I just got a message this morning from a nice lady called Lynette Williams, she found the original designer on Ravelry. I am very happy to say it is a free Ravelry download pattern so I havent infringed any designer’rights. This is the link to it : http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/erigeneia

the designer is called: SILKE TERHORST, and the shawl is called : ERIGENEIA which means “Early-born” and is an epithet to the greek goddess Eos – the goddess of the Dawn. How nice is that? I love the name and the story!

THANKS AGAIN LYNETTE!!!

Has the Emily been a success? Can I imagine the blanket sitting in a corner of the parsonage? maybe yes or maybe no. All I know is that has been a lovely journey and the blanket will always remind me of my trip to Haworth and how much I love the Brontës sisters.

That is all, thank you for reading my blanket’s adventures, for been patient with what I believe, are quite pedestrian, and often sketchy pattern details. I will get better, I hope, with practice!

Happy crocheting!!!!

Lucia xx

More about the Emily…

Lucia & Francesca / February 19, 2017November 5, 2020 / Patterns, Stories, Travel

I thought I’d write an update on the blanket I’m currently making. I must say it has not been plain sailing, maybe it is because the task to transform an idea into reality, especially if it is something that you are passionate about, is never easy.

If you have read my previous post, you might recall the 14 colors I had selected. I had to make some adjustments as the tomato was too bright and highjacked the colors combination.

In the picture you can see why, it is out of focus in purpose so you can see the ‘tomato effect’. I substituted the bright hue with a tweedy chocolate which works much better and, consequently, I had to do a fair bit of ‘frogging.’ Chocolate browns, pale greens, dusty blues and some copper, they are all part of the interior of the parsonage and the surrounding area. One of the rooms I liked most was the hall. I remember reading Ellen Nussey’s ‘Reminiscences’, how “…the hall floor and stairs were done with sandstone, always beautifully clean, as was everything about the house…” and she describes the walls as being “not papered but stained in a pretty dove-coloured tint’. The restorations of the house revealed that it was more of a pale blue-gray that had been introduced and it is what you can see today.

Next was the pattern for the actual square, again several attempts and LOADS of samples later I came up with something I quite liked. The first thing I wanted to do is for the square to have a rugged feel of the Yorkshire landscape and outdoor clothing. My attention was drawn by some of the original garments wore by the Brontës that I had seen displayed in the museum.

The reason why so many sisters personal items, utensils, and clothes which in normal circumstances would have disappeared have been preserved is that a cult and interest for everything that involved the sisters became quite prominent very soon after they died. Fuelled not only by the extraordinary success of their novels but also by the publication of the first biography of Charlotte Brontë written by Mrs.Gaskell’s in 1857 just a few years after the death of the sisters.

It wasn’t only the sisters but it was also theirs surrounding that became of interest. Virgina Woolf wrote in 1904 following a visit to the parsonage:”Haworth expresses the Brontës; the Brontës express Haworth; they fit like a snail to its shell.”
I digress…
Back to the blanket. As I said I wanted to have a feeling for the landscape and the clothes, but also I wanted to have some lacy aspect also to celebrate the very popular at the time, Irish crochet that adorned not only their clothes but also their homes.

On the subject of Irish lace, I also got inspired by some amazing examples I saw in the archive of the Knitting and Crochet Guild on the Friday when I visited Stylecraft.

Irish lace became popular around 1830 when an English businessman, Charles Walker, brought several lacemakers to teach the craft in Limerick, Ireland, drawn to the area by the availability of cheap, skilled female labor. Walker’s business thrived: within a few short years his lace factories employed almost 2,000 women fuelled by the increasing demand.
The hues of my blanket are quite demure, as nothing of Emily makes me think of frivolity, the yarn is tweedy, warm and quite substantial, like their clothes made for long walks on the moors but also some femininity, hence the lacy feeling of the pattern, with a round 3D center and lighter surroundings.

Still, on the lacy theme, I was going to use a flat braid to join the squares, but it didn’t work for me at all, the squares became quite misshapen and had to be unraveled once again.

Then I thought about something curious I saw at the museum: a letter which was written by Anne Brontë to Ellen Nussey, actually, quite poignantly it was going to be her last letter as Anne was terminally ill, the note was a beautiful example of cross-writing, the letter is written with lines both horizontally and vertically, a common practice to save on postal costs.

The pen marks and pattern of the letter inspired my joining method: mixed charcoal, a beautiful organic color, became the chosen hue and a crisscrossed pattern to join the square.

In the next few days I am going to tackle the border..I have a couple of options and i will have a try and see which one look the best.

Until the next, thank you for reading!

Lucia xxx