Baby Cardigan

I came across this cute pattern for a simple baby cardigan on Pinterest recently and decided I was familiar enough with the basic terms that I was ready to try a written pattern. The instructions were really clear, which is what made it so easy and enjoyable to follow. It was much quicker to make a larger piece of clothing than I thought it would be but this, I’m discovering, is the beauty of crochet! Knitting requires so much more time and patience and I find it much more difficult to follow knitting patterns.

For this cardigan I used up some of the Aran I had in the cupboard. I had bought some giant balls of the stuff a few years ago at a shop in Jersey and they take up so much room that it was about time I do something with them. I love the way the cardigan has turned out and I really like the colours… it goes with anything. The Aran washes well so I’ve decided to make something else with the same yarn… there’s a lot if the stuff left!

Ladybird Booties

What inspired me to start crocheting was seeing a cute pair of booties made by a woman I know who is a great crocheter so I decided to look for tutorials on YouTube in the hope that if I watched and followed it would be much easier than attempting to read patterns before I understood any of the terms.  I was right!  I found this great tutorial and made a cute little pair of booties and finally put some ladybird buttons I had to good use.  They are a little big for my daughter at the moment but she’ll grow into them in the months ahead.  I’m really pleased with the end result.  I used Falk yarn by Dale Garn and a 4.5mm hook. I used this tutorial for the five petal flower.

Use what you have

I am a self-confessed yarn addict who has discovered a new-found love of crochet!  For years I have been swooning at crochet designs and randomly buying yarn for when I finally get around to learning.  Well at last I’m learning and I have an embarrassingly large stash of yarn in my cupboard just waiting to be used.  This weekend I went through my stash and found well over 100 balls of yarn.  So I have set myself a goal: I can’t buy any yarn until all the yarn in my cupboard has been used!  I have found so many projects on Pinterest that I have been too intimidated to try but there’s nothing like having a child to inspire you to get your butt in gear and try the unknown.  So it begins…