The PEACHY PETALS BLANKET

The PEACHY PETALS a new blanket…

After some silence I got a new blanket for you!

The time in lock down has given me the opportunity to reflect on what ‘s really important to me and it has been a time to re-evaluate priorities and to think about resetting goals for the future.

This doesn’t apply just to crochet but also to my life in general.

Crochet has played, without exaggeration, a vital role in these past few months, it has entertained me, distracted and brought some well needed focus.

I crocheted a lot, I made several samples, but mainly I focused on two new blankets.

One is a collaboration project with my friend Tinna Porudottir Porvaldar ( but I will write about all of that in my next entry…)  and the other is PEACHY PETALS !!

Over these past months I have been looking into my work and what I like about designing.

And I think I am a bit of an ‘odd ball’ ( no surprise in that…)

I don’t know how other designers work but for me every blanket is a long journey, it takes a lot of energy and time to come up with a concept or something that I think is new or interesting… so you will wonder why do I do it?

Because I love it! I love the excitement of starting something new, I like making samples,  choosing and tweaking the motif ,and at the same time my favourite part… picking the colours and fibres.

So the Peachy Petals is the result of all the above and several months of work.

Let’s start from the name.. why Peachy Petals….

‘Petal’ in Scotland is an old fashioned term of endearment, I heard Glen, my daughter Olympia’s boyfriend, calling her petal once, on a car journey, and the combination of the Scottish brogue plus the actual word made me smile ( don’t ask me why, it just did! ) , she is a bit of a petal after all!

And peach is her favourite colour… so there we go, a blanket came in my mind to emulate who Olympia is .. a lovely soft sweet girl that always smiles.

I wanted warm, light suffuse hues to emulate her character hence why the Peachy Petal is very different from my much bolder style!

So could I create something that is not so familiar to me? The answer is yes, as I do love a challenge.

Then came the practicality..how can I create something with tonal and subtle hues that is pleasing and interesting  without using a ridiculous amount of different yarns and costing a fortune?

The secret is mixing…

I started with a colour “Blooming Dahlia” or Pantone 15-1520

then I made a mood board of basic tonal palette inspired by interiors .It came apparent that the most important thing  to create a well balanced project while using several variations of the same colour.

The aim of this blanket was to use natural fibres and to create an array of tonal suffuse pale hues without using a lot of different colours and making the blanket prohibitively expensive!

I am very aware of the cost impact on my projects and I strive to offer projects that are beautiful but cost effective .

I think the combination of a mercerised cotton like Muskat and the Mohair silk yarn is a fabulous way to achieve the above.

The Mohair works beautifully in combination with the silkiness of the mercerised cotton and create not only subdued variations in colour but also gives a beautiful soft halo to the blanket. and… they work perfectly together, no knots, no tangles.

I have also added to the pattern  a bonus version of the blanket ,made by one of my testers , Susan Cox.

 

Susan sent me this lovely picture of her blanket that she called  ‘SPRING PETALS’ .

She  made her blanket in 100% cotton too but without Mohair. and she also crocheted a lovely cushion made with a combination of cotton and mohair.Am I not a lucky girl to have such lovely ladies helping me?

My testers Janet and Julie tested the motif and Maggie  draw a chart of the motif that I added to the pattern.

The pattern has also all the details on how to use the different yarns and the placements for each of the 96 motifs in the blanket, plus all the stats for Susan’s version.  I think it is a lovely variation to the pattern and I hope it will give you the confidence to use this versatile pattern with the colours of your choice.

You can download the  pattern  either from here  or from Raverly

Peachy Petals Blanket- Digital Download

 

So THANK YOU Susan for sharing your project, and Maggie Bullock for the motif’s chart.

LasT but not least you can get all the yarn for the blanket from the Woolwarehouse just press the icon , they have just started to send yarn internationally again after teh lockdown and  the MUSKAT is on sale at 40% less until the end of JULY !!!!

Woolwearhouse MUSKAT LINK

Wool Warehouse

So I hope you will give my new blanket a go !

Happy crocheting,

Lucia

 

A Tyrolean table set

If someone had told me last Christmas , that the world was going to change and I would spend the best part of the new year in lockdown in my home and scamper trying to rally all my children back I would first thought you have been watching far too many sci-fi movies .

Travel bans and self-quarantines across the globe have led to ‘U-turns’ and majour change of plans…

Today I should be packing ready to leave and spend a few weeks with my family in Italy , instead my flight has been cancelled and I am going no where…What I found more frightening is not the disruption of my plans but the fact that even visiting your parents is an impossible idea.

So while spending another week under lockdown, myself as many of you all over the world are looking cautiously and hopefully to better times.

So what is the best way to focus on positive thoughts?

Making something that remind you of happier and better times!

That is the thought behind my TYROLEAN TABLE SET.

 

 

As few of you know I come from a small village in Northen Italy and I love the Dolomites. I am so lucky that I had the opportunity to spend  weekends and long holidays on the most amazing beautiful mountains since I was a little girl and now my children are enjoying visiting the same village as I did.

Photography@martino pietropoli

I love everything of the landscape of South Tyrol  the picture perfect villages, the fresh air, the majestic mountains, the trees,the food and …obviously the textiles.

photography@ patrick baum

The Tyrolean region  has an amazing tradition of beautiful fabric, natural materials, yarn and garments.

One of my favourite garment of the Alps is the Dirndl. My girls ,over the years, have enjoyed wearing this beautiful  folk costume and  traditional dress for women and girls in the Alps.

With a lot of colours and textures in mind I created this new project and ,if you want to make something that is not too challenging or time consuming , a little project to enjoying between other works in progress, or a quick present to give to a loved one I think the TYROLEAN TABLE SET is a great option.

The pattern has written instructions and there are charts for both place-mat and coaster.

Tyrolean Table Set

I used Drops Muscat dk, a 100% mercerised cotton yarn, the quantities are specified in grams and there are 3 different colours options

You can find your yarn here:

Wool Warehouse

WOOL WAREHOUSE DROPS MUSCAT LINK

 

With a dk yarn the place-mat measures 39 cm/15.5 inches  in diameter and the coaster measures 12 cm/5inches.

All the best to You all out there, stay safe and keep crocheting!

love,

Lucia

 

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