Butterfly to Caterpillar

The make I’m going to share with you this week has a little back story. In the office where I work, there are three women. Each of these women manage to completely and effortlessly encapsulate a specific style. Every morning they each arrive dressed in the sort of outfit that would take me hours of head scratching to put together. Unfortunately, they also happen to be some of the kindest and friendliest women I have ever met, so instead of being bitter, I just sigh, look down at my Tesco jeans and swear to try harder tomorrow. One day one of these fabulous women wore a camel cashmere waterfall cardigan over a deep blue dress, and I became a bit obsessed with the colour. I instantly found patterns online to make my own version of the cardigan, but of course they were knitting patterns and my knitting skills are rusty at best, much like my needles. A little later I was flicking through Pinterest and I came across the Granny Cocoon recipe by Maria Valles. It was perfect!

So I appreciate it is not the sleek waterfall cardigan, but its simplicity reminded me of what I loved so much about that cardigan in the first place! The basic idea is to make a large granny square, fold it like a taco, sew up the edges of the square leaving a space in the corner to create sleeves. I grabbed a pack of the Paintbox Simply Chunky yarn in light caramel and a 6mm hook and got hooking.

My favourite thing about this pattern is that it isn’t a pattern at all! Maria describes it as a ‘Recipe’, giving basic instructions in how to make your own cocoon but opening the field for personal adaptation. I made my cocoon much smaller than Maria suggests, partly because I was impatient and partly because I am not a tall woman by any stretch of the imagination and I have been drowned in many a cardigan. The stiffness of my wool combined with a slightly smaller needle meant I achieved quite a tight crochet, so I could create a well-structured collar that folded back on itself. An unexpected advantage of this is that, as you may be able to see in the picture, the collar really pulls the material in. This means that while wearing it, the collar runs across my neck and down to my ribs, then disappears behind to the small of my back, allowing the rest of the fabric to drape over it and fall to around my hips. As I said, this was not planned. At first I cursed my impatience for making it too small and wrinkled my brow while I decided whether I should start unpicking. But I reluctantly shrugged it on anyway and found that I loved how it wrapped itself around me. It really did feel like my own Cocoon!

If perhaps you are like me and revel in the chance to adapt a pattern to make it personal, then you should definitely have a go at this ‘Recipe’. Grab yourself some yarn and keep building your granny square, occasionally pinning it and trying it on until it is just the right size and fit for you! This is a great opportunity to play with colour and shape to make something quirky and personal. I am already planning my next one, I’m thinking white with the occasional blue, like a Moroccan tile.

I wore this into work, knowing it I didn’t have the sleek style of my colleagues, but instead having a little handmade quirky style of my own. Although I may not emerge from this cocoon a butterfly, it has reminded me how much I love being a caterpillar.

Ells x

http://www.mariavalles.com/blog/granny-cocoon-shrug-part-2-going-viral

 

 

Welcome to the 21st Century

This is my first blog post. My first crafty musings on the wide web. I have spent almost an entire bank holiday weekend trying to set up my web page, included several hours trying desperately to draw a logo that doesn’t look like a stick figure. But possibly the hardest part has been trying to grapple with social media. I know, I am a young woman, I should have a grasp of how to use basic apps that are supposed to drive my generation, but to be honest I have always been more of a “give you a call” kind of gal than anything else. I think its fair to say this blog will well and truly shove me into the modern age!

That aside, the first project I would like to show you had been an absolute joy to work up. When I first thought about starting this blog, it was with this cardigan in mind that I took my first steps. Part of the reason I was drawn to this pattern is that I previously thought that one of the compromises of crochet was that you would be unable to create thick, winter projects. I saw the “Aran Diamonds Cardigan” in a book of “Contemporary Celtic Crochet” by Bonnie Barker and it instantly reminded me of the chic styles of women in my old family photos. They so effortlessly paired together gorgeous, sleek skirts with practical, warm cardigans. Honestly at first flick through this book I moved quickly past it, I usually opt for more simplistic designs. But as I flicked back through some weeks later I was reminded of a few 50’s style skirts I owned and thought perhaps I was just missing a sturdy, post-war cardigan of my own.

From Bonnie Barker’s “Contemporary Celtic Crochet”

I have to say, as soon as I started this project I was completely enthralled. The pattern involves rows of cables, diamonds and what Bonnie describes as a Knurl stitch (which took me several cries of frustration to get right at first). The constant changes in pattern throughout the project meant I was never bored, even when I hit the second sleeve (usually about the time I start to hook my own eyes out because I am so fed up). Instead of using the suggested Caron Simply Soft, I opted for a stiffer aran weight yarn to give extra stitch definition and a clean-cut feel. I used the LoveKnitting own brand Aran which has now been replaced with Paintbox. The yarn was great for this project, as well as letting me create a classic piece on a bit of a budget! You may notice that mine has a different colour button band and sleeve ribs. This is because I ran out of yarn, which had been discontinued by the time I went back for more… typical!

 

I only have two red flags I will give for this project. The first being that even after checking my tension, the cardigan came up a tiny bit small. This was fine for me because usually my projects end up so large I can use them as dressing gowns, but you might want to opt for a size up if you are particularly worried about this. The second was that when I first added the ribbing to the base, I was far too liberal with my rows and it ended up flowing out like a great skirt, leading to plenty of swear words and unpicking. After this, I kept an eye on the tension of the ribbing throughout and when joining each row back to the base of the cardigan, I worked my rows from every other slip stitch to ensure the ribbing was spaced evenly around. This will be something that is up to each person and their preferences, I would only suggest keeping an eye on things as you go along so you don’t have a lot of unpicking to do at the end like me!

 

Overall I would say this a great pattern to follow. It is clear and surprisingly simple for something that creates such an impressive looking! More importantly it is a great opportunity to learn a ton of new techniques and baffle people with your crazy crocheting skills!

 

Happy crafting everyone!