Tag Archives: Stylecraft Batik elements

Granny square hot water bottle covers

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This is not the first time I have made a hot water bottle cover, but I think it is my favourite so far:

Made in Stylecraft Batik elements – titanium (blues) with  King Cole merino blend denim (791), and Stylecraft Batik elements – magnesium (oranges) with Scheepjes merino soft Klee (622). I made the pattern up but it is based on 27 two-round granny squares which are then joined-as-you-go into blocks of 6, 9 and 12 with the darker contrasting colour. I use wool-thread-paint’s continuous join-as-you-go sequence, though I’m sure there are plenty of others around.

The neck is added after the pieces are joined, and I have left it open so the bottle can be filled without taking the cover off. The cover itself has an envelope opening, so it can be removed for washing. Each cover weighs 100g. I have a couple more of these in the pipeline so watch this space!

Charity scarves

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One of the nice things about winter is that I get a chance to work through some of the stash that has built up over the course of my crochet year, and making scarves for charity is probably my favourite way to do this.

These ones are made in: Stylecraft Batik Elements Platinum (1935) with Debbie Bliss Rialto Lake (23086) and Sea Green (23081); King Cole Drifter Utah (1358) with Rowan Wool Cotton Smalt and Skipper; and King Cole Drifter Kansas (1373) with too many scraps to remember!

My general strategy is to put together 100g of scrap yarn, choose a variegated yarn in co-ordinating colours and make a 30 stitch wide scarf in (UK) double crochet alternating between the scrap and variegated colours every two rows. The variegated yarn is a constant throughout the scarf, and the scrap colours are changed every 2, 3 or 5 stripes depending on what proportion of each colour I have available. You might notice that there are little loops of yarn being carried over going along one side of the scarf, which cuts down on the weaving in of ends considerably and makes the scarf no less warm or cosy.

They will be going to Knit for Peace who now have a database of local centres who will accept knitted donations.

A spring in my step

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This little parcel of goodies is on its way to a friend, who commissioned them as a baby gift.

Elephant in Scheepjes stonewash XL ‘coral’ (856), Top knot baby hat in Stylecraft Batik elements ‘magnesium’ (1940) and wash cloth in even berry stitch in Rico creative cotton aran ‘corn’ (25).

I love the non-traditional baby colours, and I think they look quite spring-like.

Scrappy scarves

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One of the things that I really enjoy doing is putting different colours together, and what better opportunity could there be for that than making some scarves from left-over yarn?

I have used different variegated yarns as a way of bringing the scrap colours together. The scarves are made in UK double crochet, and are 30 stitches (18cm) wide and roughly 130cm long. They used 100g of wool-cotton dk and about 70g of variegated yarn each.

My colour combinations so far are: Rowan wool cotton Coffee (956) with King Cole Drifter Kentucky (1356); Rowan wool cotton Rich (911) with Stylecraft Batik elements Magnesium (1940) and Rowan wool cotton Gypsy, Grand and Frozen (910, 954 and 977) with King Cole Drifter Kansas (1373) – that one had a lot of ends to sew in!