one of the perks of being best buds with an *indie yarn dyer* is that occasionally she might slip you some yarn to play with. i’ve been trying to make the transition from crocheting zillions of hats and things to sell from the patterns in my head, to writing down those patterns so they can be shared with other crocheters, for eons. Jill knows this, and offered up some skeins of her loveliness to entice me to hook up some crochet samples and patterns that we could bring to the fiber retreat last month. now she can show off her exquisite hand-dyes to crocheters as well as knitters, and i finally (well, almost) have some patterns to post on Ravelry and Etsy*!
meet Starling, one of Jill’s “Hudson” worsted superwash Merino yarns. i was immediately attracted to this color combo when i saw it!
this lovely ball of smoosh became a Coral Cloche. i knew this had to be one of the first patterns i released, because people have been asking for it for a while now, and i am so glad to have it written up at last! i have a few testers* playing with it, to make sure it’s clear and works in different yarns, but it should be ready to publish very soon. i love how the colors dance with each other!
and this is the start of the Wingfeathers Shawl, in Jill’s Mourning Dove kettle-dyed sock yarn. when i got this yarn, i didn’t know the color name because there wasn’t a label on it. so the night before the retreat, i had written up the pattern, and realized i needed a name for it. the first name that came to mind was Mourning Dove Shawl, which i loved, but then had second thoughts about one of my debut patterns having “Mourning” in the title. so it became Wingfeathers, and then while setting up the booth the next day, i showed it to Jill and she said “it looks so nice in that Mourning Dove” and i couldn’t believe my ears!
i designed this triangular scarf as a crochet counterpart to A Little Something, which is a simple lace knit piece that is so easy to wear. i finished mine a while back, but have yet to capture a photo of it. both of these are worked such that they can be made any size, so one skein of sock yarn yields a nice medium scarf size that works well wrapped cozily around the neck, or continued with a second skein and made into a true shawl/wrap size.
hey, if you’re on Ravelry, let’s be friends! i’m trying to get better about posting my projects… really i am…
*i could use another volunteer tester or two for the hat, and maybe two for the shawl. let me know if you are interested!
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