Happiness with Yarn

This is my incomplete version of the Coogee Bay Dress from Interweave Crochet Summer 2012. The original version was a bit too big for me (pattern is only one size) so I modified the number of squares (the dress is made of square motifs joined together) to make it smaller. 

I ran out of cotton at this point so had to get more...unfortunately the new cotton is a different shade, much lighter, so I'll have to dye it. As its a fairly neutral colour cotton I'm planning on using black tea to dye  it after I finish. I'm hoping this will even out the tones. Hopefully!

So as you can see from the picture I'm up to the skirt portion.

The original has longer sleeves than this but I thought they would be too big for me so I shortened the shoulder/sleeves to one square rather than two. I might add some length to the sleeves if I have any cotton left after making the skirt.

This top is from Vogue Knitting Winter 2011/12. I made this in a green cotton/silk blend. My camera can't really photograph green so you will just have to imagine this is nice dark forest green with hints of grey.

The nice thing about this pattern is the twist at the front which reveals the reverse side of the stockinette stitch. The little texture change is really subtle but gives this top some interest.

This cardigan is from Knitscene Winter 2011. I knit this one up using linen, cotton and silk. I lengthened the cardigan a little as I have a long torso.

The grey is linen/cotton, the black is cotton and the neckline is cotton held together with black Tussah silk from Habu. The Tussah silk gives the neckline some structure and a little crunch. The linen/cotton makes the cardigan comfortable to wear even in tropical weather.

This book is a facsimile edition of a Renaissance book published in 1587. It also contains another book published in the early 1600s. The patterns are Italian designs published in French. This book brings out the historian in me but also makes me squeal in happiness when I see things such as the bird motif.

I loved this bird pattern so I decided to try making it in Filet crochet. All I did was count the number of squares and make them in crochet mesh then fill in where the pattern picture was shaded. The hardest thing was counting the squares. I made this in bright blue #20 crochet cotton.

I'm so happy with how it turned out. It measures about 600mm x 600m. I wear it folded in half as a little shawl.  

Crochet birds make me almost as happy as real ones! These birds are my favourite birds too - Pigeons! 

 The cheerful blue colour makes me happy too.

At the moment I'm working on a Batwing sleeve cardigan from Fall/Winter 2012 Debbie Bliss Magazine. The pattern uses a much finer yarn than I had on hand in my stash so I adapted the pattern to suit my yarn. I used a much larger needle to get a nice soft drape and reduced the number of stitches. The pattern was also too large so I made it a little smaller. I plan on adding some silver yarn into the cuffs to give it some interest. 

After this I plan to make this cardigan in Grey and Fluorescent Yellow cotton.  Yes, Fluorescent Yellow.