My first PONCHO !!!!!

I picked this book from one of my bookcases...

... and on page 26 I fell in love with this design ...

.... any personal "revolution" from the original pattern??? ;oD

Well well well ...

For sure, I did use different yarns and colours (from top to bottom) :

Pure Gold DK 005 midnight
Filati Sandilane ATOMO 26 silver
Robin Double Knit 0027 grey
Pure Gold DK 036 ivory
Kartopu AK-Soft K657
Pure Gold DK 059 azzure
Kartopu AK-Soft K634
Moda Vera LUMINO 80280225 neon yellow

and around the neck : Pure Gold DK 206 blossom and some silver grey from ATOMO (see list).

... and the hook was not a 3,3mm as suggested, but a 4mm, so my poncho is bigger than the original one .... !!!!!

... I was excited when it reached the right size to try it on ... my lady manikin ...

... but still some rounds to add ...

.... neck detail...

... some blocking ...

.... and it's DONE !!!!

The fringes are made both with the yarns used for the poncho and some little extras, just to brighten it up a little more ...


My son Tobia took a couple of pics with me wearing this blue beauty ... ready ???? ;OD

.... Such fun, right ???

xxxx Alessandra

Pattern tester : Geoffrey Scarf By Emma @Potter&Bloom

Last week was the turn of Geoffrey !!!!

The pattern is written by Emma (we know each other since our beginnings in Blogland!!!), the witty and brilliant crochet designer of Potter&Bloom !!!

A group of testers was selected by Emma trough her Ravelry group : potter & bloom podcast .

You can have a look at the other testers' scarves on their blogs (as for Rosina's , the hostess of Zeens and Roger ) or through their Instagram feeds ( zeensandroger and plutofigaro). Hope I'm not missing anyone!!

Emma showed a lot of pictures of Geoffrey on her Instagram feed, too (potterandbloom ), on her blog ( Potter & Bloom ) where she writes that the pattern will be available soon for sale, and on her YouTube Chanel ( PODCAST EPISODE 10 ), where my work was mentioned (!!!) . Emma was positively impressed on how I "reinvented" her pattern playing with a lot of colours ... she said that I'm so "creative" and I'm still blushing thinking at it!!! Thank you, Emma !!! <3

Let's talk about the pattern !!!!

I started with the motifs, but this was not the easiest part, as this bit was wrong....
I was so embarassed.... I thought I was not able to understand the words written by Emma and I didn't dare to ask her... but I was not able to go on.. so I decided to ask her to send me pictures of the motifs, if she had some ... and , phew, she was replying with apologies and pictures, because the motif pattern was wrong..... I started to breathe again .... so the motifs were done in a flash, then !!!

My 3 motifs are joined together while crocheting them !!!


After this start, the pattern was easy-peasy to follow and I made the first piece of the scarf with the following selection of colours (from bottom to top) and a 4mm hook :

Filatura di Crosa ZARA shade Aqua 1924
Pure Gold DK shade CHILLI 083
Pure Gold DK shade PHLOX 207
Pure Gold DK shade HONEY 202

the pompoms were added when the scarf was completed ( Pure Gold DK shade SALMON 205 ) and the main colour is : Patons Fab DK shade PETROL 02342 .

I worked a total of 66 rows with the main colour.

The other side of the scarf, instead, has the following list of colours :

Pure Gold DK shade CLOVER 208
Pure Gold DK shade SALMON 205
Pure Gold DK shade BLOSSOM 206
Pure Gold DK shade AZZURE 059

The main colour, this time, were 2 : Pure Gold DK shade CHILI 083 ( 38 rows) and Pure Gold DK shade PHLOX 207 ( 28 rows ) !!! The pompoms (added at the end) are crocheted with Pure Gold DK shade HONEY 202 .

The motifs ( 1 diamond and 2 triangles) were joined usin the join-as-you-go method to the main pieces of the scarf!!

The colours are still from the Pure Gold DK acrylics (blossom, clover and honey) plus (diamond's centre) : Pure Gold DK shade MIDNIGHT 005 .

This scarf was a quick make and I love how colourful it turned out!!!! ;oD

My version is 196 cm long and 17 cm wide !!!

Hope you can crochet yours very soon !!! ;oD


xxxx Alessandra

Geode Pillow

Hi there!!!
Do you know what is a geode ?? Simply, geologically speaking (!!!), it is a small/big cavity lined with crystals or other mineral matter. Typical are the geodes filled with quartz crystals, very often with agate.

The pillow I made, which has no cavity (apart some holes made on purpose to jazz up the pattern),  reminds me of a geode, especially when I look at it on my sofa..

I think the "problem" is due to the fact that I crocheted a round pillow cover, but the pillow to cover was not round... in fact it's a square !!!! ;oD

I was curious to experiment the result of the union between round and square and, mostly, I wanted to use some colours, like yellow and lilac, which I'm not really in love with... You have to exit your comfort zone sometimes, right?

So, I decided to crochet two circles, using only double crochets (US crochet terminology), arranged in various ways ...

At a certain point, the front was done ...

... so I had to start the back of it ! I decided, first, to use just one colour and simple DC, but I hadn't enough lilac, so I added some stripes ....

... and I joined front and back using single crochets, just a round of them ...

.... so the pillow was quickly ready for my sofa ...

.... oh well, Margot likes this new pillow and its vintage appeal ...

xxxx Alessandra

Pattern tester, why not?

As you know, I really like to write my own patterns and to publish photo tutorials ...
Very often it is a time consuming kind of task and the amount of work is huge, even when the item the pattern is written for is not that big...
I know that many crafters had a go with my patterns and surprisingly there have not been complains about problems in understanding my words or crochet passages... phew!!!

I love to try patterns written by other crafters, too. I like it especially to be aware that there are different ways to explain a work, different styles, different range of difficulties and new things to learn ... always something new to learn!!!! A pattern written by another person gives you new challenges and pushes your curiosity to new levels, right? I love all that, I really do!!

So, I was really excited to join a selected group of crocheters (Nicole @tangleandstitch , Janet @janetleigh37 , Conny @frogs_crochet ,  Heather @hgdesignscrochet , Julie @meiguidesigns  and Jenna @quirky_crochet : all these addresses are of their Instagram profiles!)  to test a pattern for sale, written by Miki the colourful hostess of Set Free My Gypsy Soul blog (her Instagram profile : HERE ) : the QUEEN G FRINGE BAG now in her Etsy shop !!!!

What I really liked of this pattern were essentially the followings :

the freedom to choose the yarn weight and the kind of fibre
the freedom to adapt and develop the pattern as you prefer
the variety of stitches to keep you interested
the fringes!!!

 

This bag was a quick make and in few days it was ready to be shown to the rest of the world ...



 



The "big" differences between my bag and the one in the pattern are just a few :

I didn't knot the same amount of fringes as Miki did, simply because I'm so worried to ruin them!!!
I didn't sew the triangles, but crocheted them along the bag sides
the handle of my bag has some colourful picots!

The only part I didn't like about being a "pattern tester" was the moment when you sit down and write what was good or not so good of the pattern you've tested....

I don't want to offend anyone and I try to put down my impressions in a proper way, with no misunderstanding or else....sometimes I find so hard not to write down in my own mother tongue...

Anyway, it seems I passed the test, as Miki and I are still friends!!! ;of

xxxx Alessandra