The Woolly Adventures of a Knitting Kitty

Friday, 20 May 2022

Stylecraft Blogstars Garden Party - Macaron Cushion

It's Day 6 of the Stylecraft Blogstars Garden Party and today it's my turn! I'm really excited to share my Macaron cushions with you! My idea of a garden party includes lots of delicious treats like dainty sandwiches with the crusts cut off, strawberries and cream and plenty of yummy cakes and biscuits. Mr JK loved meringues so I decided to create a cushion in his honour. I chose some of the colours of macarons that you see in those expensive patisseries and just looking at them makes my mouth water!

Initially I only designed a knitted cushion, but then thought it would be nice if there was a crocheted version too. The cushion uses 7 shades of Stylecraft Special DK yarn in Buttermilk, Lincoln, Vintage Peach, Duck Egg, Powder Pink, Pistachio and Parma Violet. I love how those colours look together; it fills my heart with joy.

Both cushions are worked in the round and have buttons to close them so you can remove the covers for easy washing. Although the pattern has been written to fit an 18" cushion pad, it is very easy to adapt it to fit a circular cushion pad of any size. I've actually started making some smaller ones which I will share with you very soon. I need lots of cushions to go on my new garden furniture. I really don't think that you can have too many!

The wonderful team at Stylecraft Yarns have done an absolutely amazing photoshoot showing off all the designs that have been created by some of the Stylecraft Blogstars. I've been sharing some of those photos with you each day of the Garden Party. When I first saw the photos and all the gorgeous flowers on the table, I decided to add some extras to the pattern so you can embellish your cushion with flowers and leaves. There is also an option to add a picot edging to the cushion and I'm doing that on the cushions I'm working on at the moment.

The Macaron cushion pattern is available from my Ravelry designer page here for £4. If you use the code 'gardenparty', this will give you a 50p discount until the end of May. If you aren't able to use Ravelry, please email me at 'josiekitten at gmail dot com' and I will do my best to help you out. All the proceeds from the sale of this pattern (like all my paid for patterns) will be donated to my fundraising page Fibre4Fibres which is raising money for Myositis UK. If you are a regular visitor to my blog, you'll know that I was diagnosed with myositis back in 2018 and it's had a massive impact on my life.

Stylecraft are giving away the yarn to make this project for one lucky person and a friend. Check out Stylecraft on Facebook and Instagram to find out how to enter.

Next up on the Garden Party are Michelle and Anne who are Crochet Between Worlds, and they have designed something really gorgeous. You'll be able to find out more this Sunday 22nd May.

I do hope you like my pattern and are enjoying coming along to our Garden Party! It would be really lovely to see your cushions so please do share your photos on social media and tag me in. xxx

Wednesday, 18 May 2022

Stylecraft Blogstars Garden Party - Lovely Jubbly Cakes

It's Day 5 of the Stylecraft Blogstars Garden Party and today is the turn of Emma Varnam. Emma has designed the most scrumptious looking collection of cakes, guaranteed to make your mouth water! Emma says:

'I thought it would be fun to create some crocheted cakes which could hide among the real sweet temptations. I was attracted to crochet originally by making cupcakes and it was fun to go back to these ideas and patterns.'

I once knitted myself a cupcake which I use as a pincushion and I'm loving the French Fancies and the chocolate cake with a strawberry on the top. Which is your favourite? The patterns are available to download from Emma's blog and will be available for free until the end of the Garden Party.

Stylecraft are giving away the yarn to make this project for one lucky person and a friend. Check out Stylecraft on Facebook and Instagram to find out how to enter.

Monday, 16 May 2022

Stylecraft Blogstars Garden Party - A Posy of Dreams Mobile

It's Day 4 of the Stylecraft Blogstars Garden Party and today's design is from Emily Littlefair who blogs as The Loopy Stitch. Emily has created a gorgeous mobile - I absolutely love it! Emily says:

'A Posy of Dreams' is a quick and easy make using three elements: flower strands, chain of hearts and the string of leaf buds. Make this mobile uniquely yours by working these elements to your heart's desire.'

It's such a pretty design and I am wondering how I can include one in my new garden seating area. The pattern will be available from Emily's blog and on Ravelry for $5 AUD and Emily will be donating 50% of sales to the Leukaemia Foundation for the month of May.

Stylecraft are giving away the yarn to make this project for one lucky person and a friend. Check out Stylecraft on Facebook and Instagram to find out how to enter.

Saturday, 14 May 2022

Stylecraft Blogstars Garden Party - Paja's Party Coaster, Placemat and Jug Cover

It's Day 3 of the Stylecraft Blogstars Garden Party and today, Catherine Bligh from Catherine's Crochet Corner is sharing a very clever design. Catherine says:

'Paja's Party is a three-in-one pattern - a coaster that can either grow into a place mat or into a gorgeous beaded jug cover. Perfect for an afternoon tea in the garden! No previous experience of crocheting with beads is needed - the pattern will walk you through it with plenty of pictures.'

I especially love the beaded jug cover and will be making a couple so that I can keep my drinks 'bug-free' when I'm sitting in the garden. You can find out more about Catherine's design on her blog and her pattern will be available to download from Ravelry.

Stylecraft are giving away the yarn to make this project for one lucky person and a friend. Check out Stylecraft on Facebook and Instagram to find out how to enter.

Thursday, 12 May 2022

Stylecraft Blogstars Garden Party - Trellis Tea Cosy and Bunting

It's Day 2 of the Stylecraft Blogstars Garden Party and it's the turn of Julia Marsh from Hand Knitted Things. Julia has designed the prettiest of tea cosies as well as some fun knitted bunting. And there are tassels! Julia says:

'I've designed this stranded colour work tea cosy using Stylecraft Special DK in pretty pastel colours for the Stylecraft Blogstars Garden Party. The design was inspired by garden trellis.'

Isn't it a lovely design? I can totally picture a trellis with flowers growing up it - sweet peas filling the air with their heady scent. You can download Julia's patterns for free until the end of June here. The bunting pattern is a bonus and there are adorable tassels! What's not to like?!

Stylecraft are giving away the yarn to make this project for one lucky person and a friend. Check out Stylecraft on Facebook and Instagram to find out how to enter.

Wednesday, 11 May 2022

Sockathon

I've been beavering away on sock knitting since my 3rd cycle of IVIg as I hadn't knitted enough socks for all of the nurses to have a pair. I'm pretty pleased with all of these. The yarn is all West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4ply sock yarn. The pairs at either end use colourways from the Zandra Rhodes collection while the three in the middle are all Yarndale colourways. If I knit a contrast cuff, heel and toe I can knit two pairs from one ball of yarn. These are all medium size (I cast on 60 stitches for a medium sock on 2.5mm needles). When I took them in with me last week when I had round 4 of the infusions, they were very well received!

In fact, I had a request from one of the Rheumatology Unit nurses for a pair as she missed out both times when I took them in. Her request was 'as bright as possible' so I was happy to rise to the challenge! This was the pair that I knitted for her and she was very happy!

I also knitted a couple of small sized socks as there are a couple of nurses who have size 2-4 feet. I was able to use leftovers from my Inverse Striations socks and the Easy Mosaic socks by Winwick Mum for these. The green cowl was knitted in some leftover mink and cashmere yarn - a gift for the Sister of the Unit who really feels the cold. The yarn is absolutely gorgeous - so light and warm. I've knitted myself a cowl and a cardigan in it before so I know it's going to keep her lovely and cosy when she's out walking her dog.

This is what my week looked like; I had two days of knitting thanks to a helpful cannula position. I listened to audiobooks or read to pass the time on the other days. I'm currently working my way through the Dr Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths, so enjoyed the company of Ruth, Nelson and Cathbad! The good news is that the treatment does seem to be working.

I have a few more pairs of socks still to knit and then I think that I'm going to do a bit of selfish knitting and make something for myself. I have a few sweater quantities of yarn stashed away and I think it's about time that they saw the light of day! I'm thinking top down as I HATE sewing things together. I've knitted 'Love Note' before but there are so many lovely designs out there. Have you got any recommendations for patterns? xxx

Tuesday, 10 May 2022

Stylecraft Blogstars Garden Party - Summertime Tin Cosies

It's the first day of the Stylecraft Bogstars Garden Party and today's project is a super-cute set of tin cosies designed by Lucy from Attic24. Lucy says:

'Crocheted around a standard sized baked bean tin, these Summertime tin cosies will add a pretty decorative touch to your table. Use them to hold napkins and cutlery, display colourful cut flowers or pot up some fresh mint to add to your Pimms.'

Lucy's patterns can be found on her blog here. There are loads more photos and information about the yarns she used as well as links to download the patterns and tutorials - all for free! Thank you Lucy.

Stylecraft are giving away the yarn to make this project for one lucky person and a friend. Check out Stylecraft on Facebook and Instagram to find out how to enter!