We are thinking of Spring this week at Avicraft Wool,  despite the very  windy weather we had yesterday!  Our Spring window will feature these crochet baby rabbits, made from the King Cole pattern below.

They are made in the amigurumi style of crochet, which is just a fancy way of saying a spiral!  So you start off either with a magic loop or a chain of 2, and get the foundation row of 4 or 6 double crochet.  Instead of joining the row with a slip stitch as you might do in another type of project, with amigurumi you just put the next dc in the first of the last round like so:

Once the dc is made, i
t is important to put a locking stitch marker in that stitch to mark the beginning of the round.  That is the hardest bit, once the first row is completed you just keep crocheting along to the pattern remembering to move the stitch marker up a row every time you come to  it.

Here are the beginnings of the baby bunny family, one completed, and one awaiting sewing together.  There will be a pink one joining them soon!

Have a great weekend, see you next week!

Jen
~x~

This is Harrap Tweed by Sirdar, available in both Chunky and DK weights.  It is a lovely tweed yarn, 2 colours intertwined with flecks of complimenting colours.  It's a blend of 40% nylon, 30% wool, 24% acrylic, and 6% viscose.

Above is the chunky weight yarn, in 8 colourways available in store.  100g ball gives you 168m/184yds which knits up on 6.5mm needles to give a tension of 14 stitches and 19rows for 10cm/4ins 

Here are the Double Knitting colours, some of which are the same as the chunky, but a couple of shades are exclusive  to the DK weight (the pink and lilac shades for example).  DK balls are 50g for 155m/170yds and use 4mm needles.  The tension comes up as 22sts and 28 rows.  Both the Dk and the chunky weights are machine washable on a wool cycle, tumble dry on low and cool iron and can be dry cleaned if needed, so perfect for high use garments!

Here is the shop's resident model, Catherine,  showing a garment made with Harrap Tweed DK in the black/grey colourway.  Pattern (and others) are available in store.

Making my way to work this  morning in the cold and wet made me realise just how cozy being a knitter can be.  It's something that is usually done indoors, away from the elements.  On a comfy sofa or chair, with a hot drink by your side, and the warm weight of your project on your lap.  Couple that with the repetitive motion of stitch after stitch, it's almost meditative!  For me, it's the perfect antidote to the dreary aspects of everyday life.

What makes that feeling of sitting down even more luxurious is casting on a new project with  some really lovely wool.  A new yarn has made its way to us recently, that ticks all the loveliness boxes -  Illustrious by West Yorkshire Spinners. 

Illustrious is a DK weight yarn made with a blend of 70% Falklands wool, and 30% British alpaca.  There's 225m/245yds in a 100g ball,  has the standard DK tension of 22sts and 28rows for 10cm.  We have picked a palette of 4 solid colours and one multi colour yarn - lichen - a mix of greens, greys and browns.  The solid colours are a pale sage colour called Sea Glass, a dark raspberry shade called Garnet, a purple called Mulberry, and a pale gold called Oatmeal.  To complement the yarns, a pattern book is also in store with 11 patterns for jumpers, cardigans, a scarf, capelet, hand warmers and hat, even a dress!  Its such a well thought out book, it even comes with a spiral binding so the pattern pages lay flat as you're working!

Keep warm, keep dry, keep knitting!  A lovely weekend motto, especially apt this weekend!

Jen
~x~