Life LackaDaisiCal

My friend Reneé took this photo of my D'Arcy when I visited last week! She has a "sweet spot" in her home, perfect for photos....the light is wonderful and the colour of the wall makes a great backdrop! D'Arcy by Marie Wallin, Rowan Magazine 58 I know I keep going on about it, but I LOVE IT, and I LOVE FAZED TWEED ! Now, I did tell you that I am a new crocheter....and this was my first official foray into following a crochet pattern for a garment. My first sleeve was frogged (do you use that term for crochet) many times....so many times that I decided to knit two fresh sleeves...and here they are. But that left me with my spare "practice" sleeve, and loving this yarn so much, like I do....well, I just didn't want to toss it or frog it one final time....so..... The sleeve was lying on my coffee table, as all my knits do :) It is a gradual increase from cuff to sleeve cap... I folded these two ends in towards each other, and seam...

In Part 1, I showed you  Yell ...which is the his, so here's D'Arcy, the hers :) D'Arcy by Marie Wallin in Rowan's Fazed Tweed Marie is a renown designer - known for both colour work  and cabled designs. I think she is  unique in her use of  knit and crochet combined. This design is sublime in it's simplicity. A little bit of rib followed  by a swathe of stocking stitch, straight up to the neckline shaping! The drop shoulder shape gives a relaxed look, that  is dressed up with these fabulous crochet sleeves! Fazed Tweed is a yarn like no other! Wool and Alpaca in a nylon net tube! 72% wool, 22% alpaca and 6% nylon Fazed Tweed is an interesting mix of wool, and fine alpaca, with a filled tube like construction  this yarn gives a soft blended tweed like knitted fabric.  (from the Rowan web site - link above) I decided to go for the subtle shade this sweater was designed in, Larch (002) and I am thril...

It's Victoria Day weekend here...that means a 3 day weekend, which is not as big a deal as when we were working and a stat holiday was a bonus. But, it still means that we take it easy, avoid the holiday crowds, put up our feet and relax, in the belief that Summer is truly just around the corner! So, what is a knitter to do, on a long stay-at-home holiday weekend? Well, let's look at the coffee table this morning! I really should finish my Trinity sweater.... Rowan Pure Linen ...look at that lustre! All of the pieces have been knit, the shoulder seams done,  the neckline is finished. With a little focus, I could have a luscious new summer sweater  to wear THIS WEEKEND! I bought a selection of Swarovski crystals to bead the neckline, but I've decided NOT to, ONLY because I think this might be my 'go to' sweater this summer, and without beads, it is more versatile for my daily life. It is so lovely, you have to feel it to believe it. Don't worry, I ha...

Rowan's Spring Crochet Along - Week 1 Motif ! Rowan has run two blanket knit-a-longs; the first a Martin Storey patchwork type design , followed by the Kaffe Fassett Geometric blanket design.  I have done both! My Martin Storey afghan is finished and is used every night when watching tv after the heat has turned down. My Kaffe afghan is all knit up, just needs to be sewn together. I intend to have this done by next Fall.  In the meantime... So, it was exciting to hear that Rowan had chosen  Spring Crochet Along , and who better to design it than Lisa Richardson! I am not a crocheter really, but this has spurred me on. While I'm not doing the CAL itself, I am going to use the motifs to fine tune my crochet skills.  It would be nice to be able to look at a crochet design and understand the instructions. Then if you loved it, you could crochet it. Well, that's the plan! :) I can hold a crochet hook and make the basic stitches, and granny squares, no...

Although there are a few who do both, it seems that you are either a blog reader, or you are a fan of Facebook..... Friends of mine cringe at the thought of Facebook..... Facebook friends LOVE the spontaneous nature of Facebook, and don't want to read a whole blog post.... As a Rowan Ambassador, I like both!  I like to blog about project details here....with a bit of Life LackaDaisiCal thrown in....while on Facebook I "share" the highlights of what I come across on the net with my Life LackaDaisiCal community, those who have "Like" ed my page..... (You can tell easily if you have "Like"d my page - look to the right - see that little Facebook box - if you have liked my page....there will be a little check mark there....if not....oh dear (laughing) you should!  If you are on Facebook, you will have seen my "shares" this week.... That I've started knitting with Rowan's Pure Linen - this is the shade "Avocado " ...

Rowan Magazine 54 has a gorgeous design in it - Juliet by lisa Richardson, using  +RowanYarns  Fine Lace yarn.  It's a gorgeous sweater, knit in two pieces - left front, arm and back, then right front, arm and back, with a crochet band which joins it all together to create a truly unique sweater! Isn't it gorgeous?  Look at the styling of this photo - the hair up, the velvet skirt, the fabulous tapestry or wallpaper in the background.  So elegant and formal.  Knit in Fine Lace.  Absolutely Spectacular. Now Fellow Rowan Ambassador Ute, decided she would knit this for herself....but she wanted a more casual look....so she knit hers in  +RowanYarns  Fine Art hand-painted sock yarn! I LOVE THIS VERSION....I LOVE the way the Fine Art pooled in different patterns with the change of width of each piece.  I LOVE the way Fine Art works in the crochet piece. This is great example of how to perhaps modify a design that you LOVE, but...

Pattern:  Frances by Lisa Richardson from Rowan Winter Kids The pattern called for 6 shades of Rowan Felted Tweed, and 36 squares... I used 7 shades of Rowan Felted Tweed.....and I made 42 crochet squares as I thought it might need to be a bit longer, as this was after all a pattern designed for children. But as you can see it is plenty long enough! (I ended up using 39 squares!) Long enough to wrap around, and around again! For the full story of this wonderful crochet project....go to my Ravelry Project page here.... The Frances Scarf. What's that I'm wearing under my Frances Scarf?  I'm saving that for it's own Applöse post! Happy Knitting!

I've never used blocking wires, or blocking mats.....but this shawl inspired me to give them a go. My LYS had the wires, my local Loblaws Superstore had the mats (they actually thought these should be used on the floor in children's rooms - imagine!).  These are great, 2 feet square, lovely colours - 4 in a set. It's amazing how the colour of the mat really changes the look of the shades used in this shawl. For my first ever Crochet project.....I'm very happy and look forward to having an Applöse moment soon. Ok, off to finish the other project I've been working on while crocheting!  Variety keeps things interesting - don't you think?

The weather has been frightful! So cold....the birds have really appreciated the heated bird bath for water.... And you'd think I'd of hooked up some more of these centres... but I got a bit distracted by a bag of Rowan Felted Tweed Aran in Mahogany! (Courtesy of my FLYS, The Needle Emporium ) You can see that the scarf is going to look great with the Mahogany. Details to follow! Shhhhh.....Lackie is sleeping!

Well here they are......42 colourful centres....4 ends each....that's 168 ends! Took over 3 hours last night to do this.....I was watching the second season of "Damages" on Netflix! Then I played with the order.....tweaked until I was satisfied. But I have to say, this is NOT going to be finished this weekend. The last two rounds of crochet are fiddly.....and you are crocheting them to join the adjoining squares as you go.....I think I've got it. I've crocheted 3 of these together and it's looking AWESOME!  

Yesterday, with the help of a knitting friend, I did some more tweaking on the shades I'm going to use for the Frances crochet scarf.... Gilt is to be replaced by Cinammon....and I've decided to add Seafarer. The idea is to make it more subtle and subdued, for an adult taste - sure! LOL! I'm going to do all of the centres first...lay them out and then start joining them together with the third shade.....I am going to finish all the ends too at this point so that when I finish the last join, it will be done - I AM THINKING AHEAD WITH GREAT ANTICIPATION! On the home front, Daisy had a wee bit of surgery on Thursday - to remove a lump that had appeared on her nose.  Daisy, being the Diva that she is, insisted that it would be worth the temporary humiliation of having a shaved nose and wearing an Elizabethan collar - to return her face to it's natural beauty! A friend recommended this cotton collar - much better (and lighter) than the plastic ones they give you at the vets ...

It might have been me that bought the Learn to Crochet book....after all, I was a teen in the 60's and young and stylish in the 70's......and crochet was the in thing! I spent a few minutes on Pinterest.....don't you just LOVE Pinterest! and found these photos of vintage crochet.  Gosh takes me back to wearing hot pants to work in the 70's with a crochet type top (that I'd bought) and platform shoes.  OMG!!!! No, I don't have any photos to share! LOL!! Boy we sure loved bright colours back then....and I'm betting that most of the yarns used here were acrylics.  I love that photo of Bonnie and Dempsey - anyone remember them? Today's Crochet can still be wild and wonderful, but it can be subtle and sophisticated. The Frances scarf, originally designed for children, is done in 6 wonderful shades of Rowan Felted Tweed.....I had thought that I was going to change the shades up a bit, but with some swatching, have returned to the originals. This is just the st...