Tag Archives: malabrigo

Two Shawls in a Week?

Posted on September 2, 2014 | 9 comments

I’m a bit late to the shawl game. I spent a long time making hats, scarves and amigurumis, and only really started making shawls a few months ago. Mainly because I just don’t have the patience for the big projects. But something has happened. Suddenly I finished two shawls within the space of a week! The first was a really quick project that I saw in a recent edition of Simply Crochet because I had some gorgeous Malabrigo Silky Merino that needed to become something, and the other was a Spring Shawl I promised to make my gran back in March!

Gran requested a shawl in blues and turquoise, and I found the perfect bamboo yarn by Turkish brand Alize. The yarn is so incredibly soft and light and the drape is perfection. The weight is just perfect. It won’t slip of Gran’s shoulders and will be perfect for the chilly evenings as summer approaches in South Australia. I wonder if I can use Perfect in a sentence again..?

It’ll be lovely as a scarf too.

Isn’t the colour gorgeous? The only superficial complaint I would have is that perhaps the colour change is a bit too regular. I can see that it’s not hand dyed yarn, but I think the colour blend is beautiful.

I found the yarn at yarnstreet.com which has a huge selection of yarns from Turkey, and has fantastic prices. I used a 4.5mm hook and the yarn has loads of stretch, so when I blocked it the shawl almost doubled in size. I started it back in March, but so many other projects got in the way it took six months to complete!

I have this habit of buying yarn for the sake of having beautiful yarn, so when I saw a shawl in a recent Simply Crochet edition I decided to give it a go to actually use some of it.

I love design that works is way through, and the silky merino is really my favourite shawl yarn. I used a 4.5mm hook, and two full skeins of the Silky Merino. Before blocking the shawl was very small because my stitches are always so tight, so I really had to stretch it out while blocking. Now it has a lovely lavender aroma from the Eucalan I used.

I’m not too sure what to do with it though. I already have more scarves than I can possibly wear, so I might put this one in my Etsy store. It’s a bit too soft though, I don’t really want to part with it.

9 Comments

Posted in Projects, Yarn

Tagged Alize, bamboo, batik, malabrigo, MissNeriss, simply crochet, spring shawl, yarn

Project Pile | Is that another Candace Scarf?

Posted on June 10, 2014 | 2 comments

Why, yes it is!

This is a scarf I made for a family friend, and it flew off to Australia with my brother when he went home last week.

This time I used Malabrigo Worsted in Lettuce that I picked up from wolwereld.nl and I also decided to add a border which worked very well too.

Instead of using a particular stitch count, what I did was line my stitches up with the middle of the bows and the mid-point of the space between.

5DC in the same stitch, SC in the mid-stitch between the bows, then 5DC in the middle stitch of the bow. This ensured that I didn’t have any left over stitches from mis-counting (which can easily happen when you have a long project to border) and it looks great.

I also used the wonderful hack that I found on Mamachee, so I saved a lot of yarn by not having to do a SC round first. More on that hack in a post coming soon!

Want the pattern? Grab it here: The Candace Scarf.

2 Comments

Posted in Projects, Yarn

Tagged chunky yarn, craft, crochet, crochet pattern, free pattern, haken, hand crafted, handcrafted, handmade, malabrigo, projects, yarn

Spring Shawl – It’s Huge!

Posted on May 1, 2014 | 4 comments

Finished. After a month of picking it up and putting it down, it’s finally done. And much more beautiful, and bigger, than I could have anticipated.

It took a good day to block and dry, and was too big for my blocking board, so I had to break out the yoga mat so it would fit!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Nerissa 👩🏼🇦🇺🇳🇱 (@miss__neriss)

I’m just in love with it. The colour, the texture, how soft it is, it’s a complete package.

And here’s the cutest little photo bomber ever:

I used Malabrigo Silky Merino in Madre Perla (four skeins) that I picked up from houseofyarn.nl. This shade is sold out, but there are lots of other beautiful ones to choose from.

I used the Spring Shawl pattern that I posted here and added a row of double crochets and picots for the edging because I found the original pattern finally!!!!

4 Comments

Posted in Pattern, Projects, Yarn

Tagged crochet, crochet pattern, DIY, free pattern, haken, hand crafted, handcrafted, handmade, malabrigo, merino, MissNeriss, pattern, ravelry, spring shawl, yarn

Candace Scarf Pattern

Posted on April 15, 2014 | 5 comments

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I shared the Candace Scarf that I made for my mum? Well, in that post I promised a pattern, but of course I completely forgot to follow up until I was reminded at the weekend. Thanks for that Anke!

You can find the pattern in the description of this pin:

I also promised to tell you how I hacked the pattern as it just didn’t seem to be correct, and I also made it more fluid, so you don’t have to cut and join, which I hate doing!

Below is how the beginning rows of the scarf look:

When it comes to joining, the pattern asks you to complete the trim, fasten off, and join at the other side. I decided to leave the trim out entirely, but you can keep it in if you like. I just found it unnecessary for my tastes. (I think initially I had run out of yarn, so that was the decider for me.)

So, in the pattern, row four instructs you to make the bows, but instead I completely skipped that row and went on to the next set, because I planned to make the bows using my joining row at the end. Here’s the last row, waiting to be joined:

Instead of sewing the ends together as the pattern instructed me, holding both ends of the scarf together and working through four loops at once (both stitches), I single crocheted in the first three stitches (of both ends), chained 5, single crocheted around the three chains, from the beginning end of the scarf to make a bow, then chained 5 again, single crocheting in the next three stitches (all loops, joining both ends of the scarf). I repeated this to the end, fastened off and was done.

For me, it just made for a tidier join and also means less ends to weave in! We all hate weaving in ends, right?

If you want to retain the trim, you can use this method still, by doing the trim down one side, joining across, then going down the other side. Still no need to fasten off and join to continue, so you should be able to make the scarf in one long piece (except when you run out of yarn and have to rejoin).

I made my latest Candace Scarf using Malabrigo Silky Merino, which I picked up from houseofyarn.nl here in the Netherlands. It is such a gorgeous yarn, I promptly bought half a dozen more skeins. I have an order to make a black version, and am now on a mission to find the “perfect black”.

Any tips for a simply gorgeous yarn that is hand dyed to show variation and is merino based? (I’m dedicated to merino, having grown up on a merino sheep farm.)

5 Comments

Posted in Pattern, Patterns, Projects, Tutorials

Tagged chunky yarn, craft, crochet, crochet pattern, DIY, free pattern, haken, hand crafted, hand made, handcrafted, handmade, malabrigo, MissNeriss, Obsessed with Crochet, pattern, pinspiration, pinterest, projects, yarn

Moogly’s Chainless Starting Double Crochet

Posted on March 11, 2014 | 8 comments

While making my beautiful Candace Scarf in the last couple of weeks, I decided to incorporate this new technique that I learned from being a regular visitor to the Moogly Blog.

In pretty much every single pattern you read, when crocheting to the end of the row the instruction will be “Chain 2, turn,” which is a great, fast and simple way to keep going when making items that are worked in rows. However, the down side is that there are always holes where the chain 2 is. Now, this probably isn’t noticeable at all to the wearer, unless they crochet. But to me it’s basically like a pair of dog’s bollocks. Fairly obvious.

Here’s what the standard chain 2 turn begin looks like:

And here’s how it looks when you use the Chainless Starting Double Crochet:

And to compare:

For the instructions you can head over to Youtube and watch the tutorial made by Tamara from Moogly:

Or you can check out the photo tutorial here. Obviously if you’re a lefty like me you have to flip everything over in your mind’s eye for it to make sense.

I love it when I come across these little hacks, so I’ll be sure to share more of them with you as I find them.

8 Comments

Posted in Tutorials

Tagged amigurumi, chainless starting double crochet, crochet, haken, malabrigo, MissNeriss, moogly, scarf, tutorial

The “Candace” Scarf

Posted on March 8, 2014 | 9 comments

I’ve just finished making this absolutely gorgeous scarf for my mum. I’ve been searching for the perfect project for her for a long time and when I finally came across this amazingly beautiful yarn from Malabrigo I knew that the time was right!

My mum loves all things blue. She has loads of blue clothes and blue jewellery, and of all of the blues, turquoise is the most beautiful on her. It matches her eyes perfectly and she always looks that little bit more vibrant when she wears it.

So making this scarf truly was a labour of love and I can’t wait to see how it looks when she wears it in a few weeks.

But why is it called the “Candace” scarf? Well, I’m sure it has a completely different name, but when a bunch of my crafty girlfriends were all chatting about great patterns, Candace piped up with this one and because it’s such a beautiful pattern and loads of us have made one, The “Candace” just sort of stuck.

I’ll share the (free) pattern during the week. I didn’t write it, so I’ll link it, but I did hack it, so I’ll describe what I did so you can make it for yourself!