October Spring Yarn Club

Oh my goodness, I am loving the Spring Yarn Club from Jellywares on Marshall. Just look at the care Jodie took to pack & present this month's package.

So inviting, I couldn't wait to dive in and see what goodies there were, but did manage to snap a quick photo to show you the package.

So, here are this months goodies, a ball of Debbie Bliss (great, been wanting to try this yarn), a ball of Minicaraibi- so fine & new to me as well as this bag of yummy buttons.

As with last month, Jodie had included some suggested patterns from Ravelry for each yarn.

For the Debbie Bliss, I went with her suggestion of the 'Mock Cable' washer - such lovely yarn to knit. No splitting, soft to the touch & a quick knit.

I also had enough left to whip up one of the mini washers I have been making.

I loved working with this yarn so much, I have ordered several balls in different colours from the Jellywares on Marshall shop.

I checked out the suggestions for the Minicaraibi yarn & then took another plunge into the amazing world that is Ravelry. By typing in the yarn name, I found several pattern suggestions. One was for a table runner which used two balls of yarn. As we only had one, I pondered for awhile, checked out other options but kept returning to the table runner. I settled on that pattern, deciding I could make a table centre/tray cloth. It could also be used on a dressing table or side table. This yarn was also great to work with but I did find I had to watch I didn't split it, especially when knitting 3 stitches together as called for in the pattern. I also realised close to the end, that the 8 repeats I'd calculated based on halving the full length pattern were not going to work so there was one frustrating evening of undoing several rows (deep breath needed, quite a test of patience undoing 3 stitches knitted together but I got there in the end.)

The finished tray cloth was quite textured & needed blocking to 'flatten' the pattern out & even up the edges. A quick google search on blocking & I settled on a dry block - pinning the stretched piece onto my ironing board over night.

 Success, a flatter, more even finished piece & a pretty addition to the table for a special cup of tea.

Next, the button pack. I love buttons & rather than save them for different projects, wanted to use as many as I could in one item. After a few weeks of pondering, I had fun designing this button heart hanging. 

Here I am quilting around the buttons, but stay tuned - I have already started writing a tutorial with some great tips & suggestions - I will post that in a couple of weeks.

I managed to finish all projects in the month of October, only a few days & our November package will arrive. 

I couldn't resist one more shot with the Debbie Bliss washers, the colours go so well with these gorgeous flowers a friend gave me yesterday.