To a land where joy shall never end

Last weekend I went to Melbourne to eat cupcakes and macaroons.





And play with dolls.





A wonderful day was had in Spotswood with all my Blythe friends. We played and laughed and ate and ate (and ate) and became friends in real life, even though I had only met one of them before. Putting faces to forum names, and therefore faces to the owners of much-photographed and admired dolls was rather special. Accidentally meeting the gorgeous Liz from Lino Forest was just as fabulous!

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Given that crochet content (any content, for that matter) has been seriously lacking on the blog this year, I'm going to make up for it by showing you two finished objects, both entered into the Canberra Show this year, and both products of this year's stash reduction exercise.



Pattern: Chevron Lace Cardigan (Ravelry link) by Milobo

Yarn: Naturally Me DK (80% merino 20% cashmere) in what I called "Catholic Schoolgirl Green". It's exactly the colour of the uniform of St Joseph's in Mundingburra, Townsville, circa 1975. (I went to Mundingburra State School right next door.)

Hook: 6.5 mm bamboo

Timeframe: January 12 - February 14. There was a good two week period where I couldn't touch it due to it being too hot to crochet.

Modifications: This is a top-down cardigan, so I added only one extra row to the sleeves, five rows of single crochet on the lapels, and four (perfectly matched) green vintage buttons. I'll probably only wear three done up.

Notes: This cardigan used about 7 1/2 balls of yarn, a miracle for any big-girl crocheted item, in my opinion. The Naturally Me yarn is the softest and most luxurious yarn I've ever used, and the fact that this cardigan only cost me $16 due to a Cassidy's sale over a year ago is an added bonus. I think this cardigan will get a lot of wear. I can't wait to get it back from the show on Monday morning - I'll be wearing it to work that day, for sure.





Pattern: Around the Rosy baby blanket by Woodhill Design

Yarn: Patons Totem 8 ply in a guacamole colour. I think I used 9 or 10 balls. I forgot to count.

Hook: I think it was a 5 mm bamboo. Again with the forgetting.

Timeframe: December 26 - January 11. I crocheted and ripped the outer popcorn stitch about 3 times, as I kept coming across mistakes than I just couldn't live with. Otherwise I probably could have finished it on January 1st.

Modifications: Significantly less rows than the pattern stated - as the blanket was being made in wool, and it's for a real baby, it was getting too heavy to make any bigger.

Notes: I made this blanket for our friends who are having their first baby in a couple of weeks. The father was Mr QM's ex housemate and one of the witnesses at our marriage, and they are both fantastic friends to us - kind, loving and very, very giving. They don't know what the sex of the baby is, and I had 17 balls of this colour in the stash and figured it was a nice unisex colour to make a blanket in. Once I retrieve it from the show, I'll wash it, reblock it and present it to them.