Pastel pretties: cushions!

I'm happy to be able to share one of my completed pastel projects! Do you remember I posted about these projects a couple of weeks ago?

Well here's the first one!

 

Originally I only planned to make one of these cushion covers, but I loved the first one so much I just knew I needed a matching pair in my life!

 

The yarns are a mix of pastel colours with 6 different shades:

pale pink
slightly paler pink
pale blue
grey
duck egg blue
lilac

I just love these colours together. I think I said before that I find this mix to be a kind of 'pastels with an edge'. Well, I can see this becoming a major colour palette for me in future. It reminds of breaking dawn or sunset skies, and I find it really calming!

Calming is something I am in need of at the moment. As a rule I don't talk about personal things on this blog and I'm not about to start tonight. But, this has been a stressful week and I have had anxiety over a few things.

Crochet has always been something that has stood me in good stead in anxious times, and it has not deserted me this week.

Hope you all have a happy evening and weekend!

 

Pastel projects

I am having a serious pastel moment right now, and loving it. I'm not normally a pastel person when it comes to colours for clothes, crochet projects or anything really! I usually gravitate to brighter richer colours.

However, I have been really taken with some pastel yarn colours that I have seen in shops and the ways in which they appear when combined with other pastel colours. 

I thought I'd share some of my pastel-love with you!

At the moment I have 2 pastel projects on the go, both using the same yarn shades. The hexagons you can see are the start of a small blanket.

The ripple stitch item shown is for a cushion cover. This is the same pattern as I made earlier in the year, and ever since finishing my earlier ripple cushion I have just been itching to see what a pastel version would be like!

I think of the shades I have chosen as 'edgy pastels', particularly for the cushion cover. I think the colours I have used together have managed to not look too girly (I think pastels have a bit of a reputation for being girly and cutesy). I'm attributing their slight edge, and sophistication to the inclusion of some grey and silver-blue shades alongside the more traditional pastel shades of duck egg, pale pink and lilac.

I'm really loving making these items and can't wait to share the finished products with you! The hexagons for the throw are my own pattern, and I hope to have time to share this through a tutorial soon!

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Stripy Wave Cushion

I decided this week that I really needed to finish a crochet project. I had reached that point where, once again, I had waaaay too many things on the go, and it was starting to stress me out a little, and make me feel like I just wasn't achieveing anything!

At first I thought it would be the Something Pretty blanket that I would finish. So I spent all of Sunday hooking away on that. By Sunday night my hand was aching so much from crochet overload, that I had to stop and admit to myself that I still wasn't really that near the end of that project.

So, I turned to a little project which I started in January, the Stripy Wave Cushion from Nikki Trench's Cute & Easy crochet. I started this in January and it was almost complete when I put it down to do something else. It's now finished after one everning's gentle work!

I don't know if you will remember my post about this from last month - I made it using scraps of DK yarn in various pink and purple shades. I started with a slightly longer chain than specified in the pattern - a chain of 83. The cover is a little loose on the pad - I probably could have got away with a 73 chain base, but never mind.

I have to say, I am really pleased with this one, I love the finished result. I attempted this pattern not only to use up my scrap yarn, but also to get some practice in crochet edges, including straightening a ripple edge, which I'd never done before, and crocheting down the side edges of rows of treble stitches, something I have tried but with limited success.

I'm happy to say I found both tasks much easier than I expected, and now have my lovely snuggly, pretty cushion as a result!

Looking forward to some warmer more spring like weather here in England tomorrow - provided the weather forecast is correct!

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Blue skies

Today there were blue skies over London and the South East - finally! After so long of cold and grey and slush and snow it was lovely to see the sunshine - it really made my heart sing.

This week I have been using up scraps of pink DK yarn to make the ripple stitch cushion cover from Nikki Trench's Cute and Easy Crochet. I had to adapt the pattern slightly as its written for aran weight yarn, not dk. 

Here is a little preview - I'll show a proper picture when it's finished - hopefully next week.

I've also been on a yarn shopping trip for a new project - a blanket from a pattern seen on Coco Rose, Millie Makes and on Ravelry (the pattern is by Millie Makes):

 

So much fun to make!

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Crochet out of control

The other day I had a little look around at all the various projects which I have started in the last few weeks and stashed in various places, and realised something - its getting out of control!

So, time for a little reality check, which is what this post is all about. I have:

1. Ripple throw

This uses Rowan Pure Wool DK, and I started it after randomly deciding last weekend that I needed to be working on another Ripple Throw! This one is supposed to be more autumnal colours to go with the changing season here. It uses colours

051 Gold
019 Avocado
026 Hyacinth
007 Cypress
052 Orchid

2. Starburst Hexagon Throw

I also still have my lovely hexagon throw to work on. I've now put the pattern up here and on Ravelry in case anyone else would like to try - I've spotted one person already who has! I hope it works out. Its really putting me to shame as I still have a long way to go on mine! Here is it so far:

I'll put up details of the colours used here when its finished - there's too many to count right now!

3. Lace flower afghan

I'm calling this an afghan, but to be honest I'm not sure that it will get that big. The lace flower pattern is something I designed myself this week. It sort of reminds me of the Ariel washing powder logo! Anyway, I'm worried they may be a little too flimsy for a throw, but maybe I can turn it into a bed runner instead. If anyone has suggestions for what this could be, I'd love to hear!

The yarn used is Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in colours:

051 Gentian
060 Hot Pink
600 Light Pink
069 Lilac Pink

4. Rainbow hexagon throw

Inspired by a beautiful throw I have seen this week on the MeMe Rose blog, I wanted to make a throw using hexagons in one colour arranged in a rainbow order so they look like they are fading through each other. So far, I have a small pile of hexagons, but I plan for this to be my main project over the weekend, so I may have more snaps of it to share with you next week when it has grown a little!

I'm using Stylecraft Special DK for this, which is 100% acrylic. Normally, I have to confess, I am a bit of a yarn snob, and tend to want to stick with natural fibres like wool or cotton. However, with the amount of crochet and throw making I have done lately, the spend was starting to get a little out of control! Also I had seen a couple of projects on other blogs (not least the MeMe Rose project mentioned above, but also a throw on the Sandra's Cherry Heart Blog) using this yarn, and thought the colours looked beautiful! So, I'm giving acrylic a try and so far, I have been really pleasantly surprised! The colours look as lovely in real life as they do in pictures, and the feel of the yarn is soft, but with a nice weight feeling too!

Full details of the colours I'm using for this when its done, but here's a little taster of some of them:

Wow, so that's the end of the reality check for today! I probably have other small projects stashed away in the cupboard that I have forgotten about too. So, I am officially not allowed to start anything else until I finish at least 2 of these projects. Hmmm, we'll see how long that resolution lasts.....

Wishing you a lovely weekend!