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Episode 57 > Crochet Circle Podcast

Fay Dashper-Hughes Blacker Yarns Crochet Circle Podcast Crochet podcast Episode 57 Fay Dashper-Hughes Fruitful Fusion John Arbon Textiles Modern Crochet Texture Teee V2 The Crochet Circle Podcast Yarnadelic John Arbon Textiles


Episode front cover with a beige linen backdrop and three woolly skeins of yarn all in ever darkening teas.

Episode 57

About a 4 minute read


Link to Episode 57
Audio of Episode 57 Crochet Circle podcast
Link to Podcast Instagram
Link to podcast newsletter sign up page
Link to Crochet Circle Podcast Might Networks community space
Link to Crochet Circle Podcast Pinterest account

INTRO

My name is Fay and this is my audio and video podcast for those that love fibre crafts, particularly crochet.  This podcast is sponsored by my online crafting company, Provenance Craft Co. 

Thanks to everyone who tunes into the podcast whether it is through Stitcher, Podbean, Spotify, Amazon, iTunes or the YouTube Channel. Your support and engagement are really appreciated and makes running a podcast very special and worthwhile.   

If you would like to support the podcast, you can do that through Patreon: 

Patreon logo with white bold font and coral background

I have been out adventuring.  A couple of weekends ago I hopped into our car and drove to Scotland to meet up with Alyson from Moorit Magazine.  It was a very special trip because I got to record the behind the scenes photoshoot for the first ever Moorit Mag.  

Obviously I can’t tell you anything about the designs that are going to appear in this first edition – you will have to wait until the magazine launches in September.  I can tell you that you are not going to be disappointed.  The designs were gorgeous.  The first location for the photoshoot was perfect.  The eleventy billion midges that feasted on me were not welcome and I still have molehill bite marks all over my body.  

Beside it being lovely to see Alyson and the others that were working the shoot, it was actually just glorious to be in Scotland again.  Even though I went there and back in one day, just being back ‘home’ felt good.  It definitely topped me back up made my word a little brighter. 


YARN REVIEW

I was approached by Blacker Yarns to see whether I wanted to review their new Birthday yarn.    Blacker specialises in British breed yarns that are spun at their sister company, The Natural Fibre Company in Cornwall, so that makes it a “yes” from me. All seven shades are very much in my colour palette of teal, aqua, mustard and neutrals. 

A selection of teal shades in mini skeins with a kraft shade card to the right.  Skeins are plum and woolly and Cove from Blacker Yarns

Available in both 4ply and chunky, both weights are woollen spun and have a nice, even, medium twist to them.  It’s soft to the touch, plump, with a nice amount of elasticity. 

Even though Cove is woollen spun with a medium twist, it was a real pleasure to work with.  I didn’t get any real fibre tangles on my hook and even though it’s a medium twist, the wool rarely split on my hook. I used the 4ply mini skeins to make stationery pouches and a new clutch purse for all my design bits and bobs.  


Mini skeins in shades of teal and neutrals. Some are 4 ply and some are chunky weight.  They all look properly woolly.


The chunky mini skeins were crocheted into coasters.  I also used the 4 ply scraps to make partial Dorset button hoops for all of the items to hang from.  

I always like to sum up yarns that I am reviewing in five words:

plump, seaside, soft, heathered, natural   

 Things that I would use Cove for are: Garments, shawls, cowls, gloves, mittens and homewares. If you would like to read a longer review on Cove, I have written a blog post with more supporting photos.   



FINAL DESTINATION

I thought that a pod holiday would bring about lots of extra crafting time.  Nope.  I still have a few finished things though. 


First up is the glorious Stormy Rainbow Blanket which is in Issue 127 of Inside Crochet. You can get a digital copy by following the link.  I used the 12 x 20g mini skeins that I dyed up at the RiverKnits mini skein dyeing workshop.  The blanket also needs 3 x 100g of 4 ply yarn.  I used RiverKnits BFL in colourway Steinchen.  If you wanted to make something very similar, Becci and Markus have pulled some minis kits together with the option to get the 3 skeins of Steinchen.    

The end of a sofa with Stormy Rainbow blanket placed on it.  The blankets is stripes of earthy rainbow colours with dark grey for a main colour and border.

I also made all of the bits and pieces for the Blacker Yarns Cove review.  The little stationery holders are a pattern that appeared in Issue 125 of Inside Crochet and were designed by Lucy Djevdet.  

Wall storage panel has crocheted storage hanging from it.  One for stamps, one for business cards, a purse and two coasters.


 I used the same stitch pattern for the purse and put a simple zippered pouch inside it. 

Close up of the storage hangers shows they are in shades of teal with a lovely crocheted texture.  Both storage hangers are finished with a ring that has been wound like a Dorset Button.


 I also made two Croix Coasters and that pattern came from the Modern Crochet book by Debrosse.  I won’t go into more detail about that now because I am pulling together a review of that book.  

Two woolly coasters with woolly Dorset buttons so that they can hang up.  One coaster has a succulent in a mug on it.


My other finished object is the Textures Tee V2 by Tina - Tigers Eye Handmade.  I made this in Erika Knight Studio Linen which I have had in my stash for a number of years.  I really liked this pattern because it includes stitch alterations for people with boobs, you can play around with the length, pull it in at the waist – basically make it a made to measure garment.     

I’m not sure that Studio Linen is going to continue to be available, but you can get it at Ewe & Ply.  I used the dark grey colour, Remnant.     

Grey linen cropped-sleeve lacy crocheted top on a mannequin.  The front and back panels have been crocheted vertically and the stomach and lower back additions are added vertically.Close up of open work texture of T-shirt top showing horizontal bottom half and vertical top half.


Evernote project pages: Stormy Rainbow, Hanging Storage, Croix Coasters and Textures Tee V2

 


EN ROUTE

My one work in progress at the moment is my Encanto Wrap by Claudia – Crochet Luna.  I’m not far into the project, so will report back on it next month.  

I am using some gorgeously soft 100% alpaca yarn by Brenel Alpacas that I bought in a yarn shop in Aukland, New Zealand a few years back.  It has been waiting patiently to become something gorgeous and it wants to be an Encanto Wrap.

Ball of yarn with a dark ball band for Brenel Alpacas on top offabric crocheted in the same very dark petrol blue/green alpaca yarn.

FEEDING THE HABIT

My order came from John Arbon Textiles!  I have five skeins of Another Friday Night and two skeins of Mossy Bog.  Both were Open Weekend Specials, so now unavailable.  I am busy dreaming up what I can make with them. 
Five piled up skeins of gorgeous heathered dark denim wool with slivers os silver through it.
Two skeins of bright green wool. It's very heathered with pops of yellow and dark green.

QUICK NEWS BEATS

1 - Global Hook Up – The September hook ups are on: Saturday 19th at 8pm BST and Sunday 20th at 9am BST. The meeting ID number is 475-047-5819 and you will need to join via Zoom which you can do here:  https://www.zoom.us/join 

 If you are joining on your phone or tablet you will likely need to download the software in advance.  If you are joining from a PC or Mac, you can join via the link above.  Everyone needs to use the same ID number to get into the session.  

 2 – The show notes have been given a bit of a refresh.  They look a bit classier and should be even more readable.  

 3 – Crochet Clan has 100% moved over to Mighty Networks as our community hub.  It’s free to join, very intuitive and much more fun to use.  If you want to come and take a look, just follow this link:  https://crochet-clan.mn.co/share/qXbA1tZnaHSae3Ek?utm_source=manual  You will have to sign up to Mighty Network but it is free of charge, is available as a mobile device app and a webpage.  I have locked down all of the threads in Ravelry and will no longer be adding podcast or project content over there.  I still have my designs on Ravelry and frankly am not in a financial position to remove them from that platform. 

 4 – The new home for my project details is Evernote.  You will see in this month’s podcast show notes that projects now point to my Evernote links and that is where you will get all the details like yarns used, gauge, hook size etc.  I also intend to pull together a Monthly Makes blog which pulls back to these Evernote pages.  The thought process is that I can cover off a wider range of my crafty endeavours through a monthly round-up blog.  It will likely include anything I have sewn, new food recipes I have worked on and any natural dyeing I have done.  I will provide a link to the Monthly Makes blog in every podcast. I promised to put up my Potato Salad recipe.  It is already on Might Networks but here is a link to my Evernote on it too

 5 – For the longest time, I have a real issue around using things like Ko-fi and Patreon accounts.  Well, I finally got over myself.  Many people want to be able to support creative people like me with their endeavours.  I think most of you recognise the amount of effort I put into the podcast and some of you want to be able to support that creative work financially. 

 So, I have set up a Patreon account and it has three Patron tiers: Lace weight - £3 a month Sport weight - £5 a month Worsted weight - £10 a month There are all sorts of benefits available for supporting me, which you can see here.  

Best of which is that Patrons on all tiers get the podcast (video and audio) a full 24 hours early, so Thursday at 10am rather than the first Friday of the month. I cannot tell you how much of a difference your support makes to me.  This will most likely be the thing that stops me having to get a part-time job and allows me to keep on putting that time and effort into the podcast and reviews and Mighty Networks. 😊 Thank you!



J'ADORE

You already know that I am a fan of Ishrat’s dyeing at Fruitful Fusion.  She has added variegated mini skeins to her collection.  I already know that much of Ishrat’s yarn dyeing works really well for crochet.  Her colour choices are really beautiful and there’s a funky bright side to her dyeing too. 


If you haven’t checked her out before, here is a link to her web page and a link to her Instagram account.  I always love it when I see her Instagram posts.    

I’ll be back on 2nd October. Fay x


KEEP IN TOUCH

Crochet Clan on Mighty Network: Invite


ABOUT THE PODCAST

My name is Fay and this is my audio and video podcast for those that love fibre crafts, particularly crochet.  It’s a community for people that like to support their fellow humans regardless of race, gender, sexuality, ability, size or age. I hope you feel the welcome embrace and love of the Crochet Clan.  

Come on in and stay awhile.  



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