FIlet Crochet Shawl

This is a project that'e been on the go for ages. I started it off around February 2014, but after a while it got very tedious, so I set it aside for a while. Admittedly, I thought it would probably end up filed under "stuff I never finished" but a few weeks ago I was doing a clean out of my vast yarn collection and came across the shawl, so I thought I'd take it out and give it another go.

My brother in law is getting married in September, so my goal is to have it finished in time to wear to the wedding. Whether or not I'll manage that remains to be seen, but I'm certainly making progress on it a lot quicker than I did when I was working on it before.

This is the first time I've ever done Filet Crochet; to be honest, I'd never even heard of it until one day I saw a YouTube tutorial by The Crochet Crowd and I decided to try it out. I consulted Google to find a nice pattern, and considering it was my first attempt at Filet, I probably should have picked a very basic doily but when I saw this pattern I just loved it!

                                                             via

It's called Ginevra Shawl by Adriafil Yarns. I'd used the Memphis yarn by Adriafil to make a bedspread for my son just after he had been born, and I liked the quality a lot. Unfortunately, the store where I had purchased that yarn had gone out of business, and I couldn't find any other local stockists of Adriafil yarns. I could have ordered in from abroad, but I was keen to get started on the shawl (patience is not one of my strengths) so I went out to Springwools to see what they had in stock. I ended up choosing Rico Essentials Crochet in shade 07. 

 I love the purple!!

I picked this thread because firstly, I liked the colour, and secondly it's a very common yarn, and would be stocked by most of the wool shops in Ireland, so if I needed extra, I could buy it locally or buy it online without having to pay through the nose for shipping. This thread is slightly thicker than what the pattern suggests, so this meant that I would also need to increase the hook size - I'm using a Prym 2.0mm hook instead of a 0.75mm hook.

Having gathered all my supplies, I was ready to get hooking.... right? Wrong! The problem was the pattern - I had printed it out, and while the "spider motif" chart for the edges was clear and easy to follow, the filet chart was absolutely miniscule. There was no way I'd have been able to read it without a magnifying glass!! If I was looking at on my laptop or iPad it was fine, because I could view it as a PDF and just zoom in on the various parts I was working on. However, I didn't really fancy having to lug a laptop/iPad all over the place with me, so my only other option was to re-draw the pattern on to a bigger piece of paper.

That's right...6 A4 PAGES!!!!

This was a real labour of love, let me tell you! As I was sitting there, painstakingly drawing tiny dots onto graph paper all I could think was "This damn shawl had better be worth it!" in between a string of swear words. Eventually I was ready to start. The spider motif looks complicated on the pattern, but actually it's really simple, and once I got to the part where the filet grid began, I didn't need to look at the motif pattern anymore. 

Unfortunately there's quite a few rows of filet on its own before you get to the beginning of the flowers, which was a bit boring. When I got to the flowers it started getting more interesting, and it's also where you really need to start concentrating on whether you're working from left to right or right to left, depending on which row you're on. I found it helpful to put a line through each row as I finished it, because it was very easy to mix up the rows and there was a couple of times when I'd get halfway along a row and realise that I'd been working in the wrong direction.

Slowly moving towards the finish line!

Funnily enough, since I've taken a break from it, I'm finding it a lot easier to work on now. I'm not sure if it's because it's actually starting to look like a shawl now, so it's more encouraging getting an idea of what the end result will be, or if it's just because I left it to once side, but I'm actually enjoying working on it at the moment, whereas before it just felt like a chore. Hopefully I'll be back before too long, posting an update with the finished piece!


Pattern: Adriafil Ginevra Shawl
Yarn: Rico Essentials Crochet

Stitch-cation Super Afghan Challenge

Greetings readers! Once again, I have been absent for a while, however I have not been idle, oh no! I've been churning out projects by the barrel-full so I should have plenty of posts coming up with the various things I've made.

Today's post is about my first ever full size crochet afghan/blanket. I made it for the Stitch-cation Challenge on the The Crochet Crowd.com. If you haven't visited their site, I'd really recommend you check them out, it's like a massive community/encyclopedia/educational resource all mashed in to one, and it's AWESOME! They run challenges all the time - you can see details of current and previous challenges on the site - but this is the first one I've actually participated in. 

I started it on the 3rd of July and honestly, I was doubtful I would get it finished in time for the September 1st deadline. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it actually came together quite quickly, I think that was due to the fact that it's made up of smaller squares so you don't end up with this behemoth of a project where it gets to the point that one row can take almost an hour to do. With some of the squares I would finish a whole one in an evening, while watching TV.

This project consisted of squares, each made of one of the following 10 stitch patterns:

Popcorn Stitch
Back Loops Stitch
Cross Stitch
Double Crochet & Slip Stitch
Front Post Double Around Single Crochet
Front Post Double Crochet
Front Post Treble Crochet
Granny Square
Raised Trebles
Front Post Double Crochet With Shells 

You had to make two of each square. I decided to do one out of each pair in a solid colour, and the other in mixed colours. The rules were that you had to use a minimum of 8 colours, and that your border had to have a minimum of 4 rows. I'll list the colours I used in the blanket at the bottom of this post. The border I made had 9 or 10 rows. The border pattern I used was from the Red Heart Holiday Striped Throw, I just changed the order of the colours so that it would suit the layout I wanted.

The instruction e-book said that the aim of the project was to learn more about how to use different stitch types and I definitely learned lots! In fact there are quite a few of these stitches that I've got in mind for future projects. Getting the hang of the patterns was easier than I thought, and there were the step-by-step YouTube tutorials to fall back on if I got stuck. Probably the most difficult bit of the entire thing was trying to decide the placement of the different squares. I must have done at least 10 different arrangements before I was happy enough to crochet them all together. 

The border did take a while, and was slightly awkward because the blanket was fairly big by that stage. Working on it induced a mild form of heat stroke because it was covering my lap while I crocheted around the edges, although at least I know it's going to be nice and warm when the colder weather rolls around. In fairness, although it was a bit of a slog getting around the whole border, it wasn't as tedious as it could have been because I was so excited that it was getting closer to being finished (although I did almost have a nervous breakdown when I had to rip out nearly an entire round because I messed up) Then FINALLY on the 19th of August, I finished weaving in my ends and........TAH DAH!!

I'm delighted with how it turned out! I love all the different colours and textures, and it definitely has given me a wider range of options for other projects in the future. Not saying I'm going to be starting another one of these blankets next week, but I wouldn't rule it out for the future. A lighter weight yarn and lower gauge hook (this was made with Aran weight yarn and a 5mm hook) would make a smaller blanket that would be great for kids or a new baby.

Here's the list of the colours I used, and where I got them:

Pink: King Cole Bounty Aran Shade 133 (from Springwools)

Purple: King Cole Bounty Aran Shade 117 (from Springwools)

Tan/Wheat: King Cole Bounty Aran Shade 113 (from Springwools)

Baby Blue: Robin Bonny Babe Aran Shade 1877 (from Springwools)

Yellow: Tivoli Eurospun Blockbuster Double Knit Shade 566 (from Springwools)*

Grey: King Cole Comfort Aran Shade 313 (from Springwools)

Green: King Cole Comfort Aran Shade 319 (from Springwools)

Mint: Stylecraft Baby Aran Shade 1234 (from Home Focus at Hickeys)

Cream border colour: Stylecraft Baby Aran Shade 1245 (from Home Focus at Hickeys)

*I'm aware the yellow is actually double knit wool, however it was actually the same thickness as the aran wools I used. The aran version of the Eurospun Blockbuster was more like a chunky weight, and would have been too thick for the project.

Log Cabin Blanket Patch #2

So this is the second patch in the blanket, and I'm pleased with how it's coming along! My son picked out most of the colours in this patch, I think he has good taste. 

One of the things I'm enjoying most about knitting the blanket is that it's made up of individual patches, so you feel like you've accomplished more as each patch is completed, as opposed to when you're knitting one huge piece and it's only towards the end that you start to be able to 'see the finish line' so to speak. 

I've just started patch number three, so hopefully I'll be posting that up here shortly!

Log Cabin Blanket Patch #1

I started knitting this about a week ago and it's moving along nicely. It's all knit stitches (no purling or increases! yay!) so it's a nice one to do to relax because all you have to do is count the rows as you go. I'm using all acrylic wool, I think I've got a selection of about 20 colours in all. They're various colours from Hayfield Bonus, Pricewise and Big Value, seeing as I wanted to keep the price down and not skimp on the quality. I think the most expensive ball of wool was about €2.99. They're all Double Knitting weight and I'm using 4.5mm metal circular needles (cable length 60cm).

Pattern from: Very Pink.com

Wool and supplies from: Springwools