The mud and dust, the soil and sands of Africa

Yarn Elle Cotton On DK print 051 Ash, Photo of Rhino by Christine & Michel Denis Huot

Hello!  The kids and I arrived in Doha with a suitcase and one piece of cabin luggage each. We are light travelers and since I am the boss did the packing, I distributed 4 kg yarn between the suitcases before I even considered how many pairs of shoes we have space for. 

I have just started working on a new blanket using my lovely yarn from South Africa. I initially planned a colour palette in rich reds and purples, but I reconsidered and settled on a palette of white, beige, taupe, grey and coal in 25 different shades, featuring no less than 9 different types of yarns! The palette is stunning, inspired by the mud and dust, the soil and sands of Mother Africa.

Images: Pinterest Raw Rustic

When I think of my childhood, vivid images of digging my hands through the cool earth, sinking my feet into the soft soil, boring with my big toe through the cracks of dried mud prevail. The picture of a White Rhino charging through dusty plains, cemented the idea for using a palette that represents the Mother Continent.

I am deviating from the initial idea and pattern, but decided to do a separate posting later in which I will be discussing crocheting techniques and personal likes/dislikes. 

Pattern: Hexagon from loopknits

Hook size: 5mm

YARN:

Vinnis Colours Bambi Bamboo/Cotton mix in White, Natural, Clouds and Midnight

Vinnis Nikkim Colours Cotton in Blue-Grey, Aluminium, Steel Grey and Midnight

Vinnis Serina Bamboo in Natural and Silver

Imagine Bamboo/Cotton mix by I Love Yarn  in Windswept, Abyss and Monet

Elle Premier Mercerised Cotton in Grey and Taupe

Elle Rustica Wool/Acrylic/Tweed mix in Charcoal, Aran and Natural

Elle Marco Cotton/Tweed/Wool/Acrylic/Nylon mix in Charcoal and Aran 

Elle Cotton On in Ash

Elle Pure Gold Acrylic in Pepper, Ivory, Silver and Titanium 

All the yarn is available from I Love Yarn in South Africa. They also ship internationally.

Thank you for visiting and enjoy the rest of your week!

Spotty Dotty Cushion for Baby Ryder

Cushion for Baby Ryder to accompany the Keep Calm and Cuddle Me blanket

Yarn: Elle Rustica DK

Hooksize: 5mm

Pattern Front:  Squaring the Treble Circle / Spotty Dotty

Pattern Back: Square in hdc

Border:  Bobble Border by Dover & Madden 

Keep Calm and Cuddle Me Blanket blogged about here

This is all for now folks!  I am crawling back into my hooky corner to finish a little something for The Teen xxxx

Keep Calm and Cuddle Me

Blanket for Baby Ryder

Hello! I just finished hooking this blanket for the yet to be born Baby Ryder and quite enjoy the simplicity of the design. Mom and Dad are vibrant, uncomplicated people and I wanted the blanket to reflect their personalities. I hope I succeeded!

The Tween and Teen spotted this posting and told me the Keep Calm posters are so yesterday and belongs with the Hipster crowd. Pffft I decided to ignore their commentary for once, I quite like visualising the baby being cuddled by mom and dad in his/her blanket and thought the poster fitting!

 

The 63 squares are hooked in hdc and the edge is a combination of sc, dc, hdc and tc
Yarn: Elle Rustica DK
Hooksizes: Squares 5,5mm and edging 4,5mm
You will find the pattern for the Bobble Border on the lovely blog Dover & Madden.  Thank you Vicky for this pretty pattern!

Pattern for Crochet Squares

Ring: Ch4, close with ss. 

Row 1: Ch2 to form first stitch and then another 15hdc. Close round with ss. (16 hdc)

Rows 2-5: Ch2 to form first stitch and then 1hdc, 1ch, 2hdc (this is the first corner). Rest of the 3 corners 2hdc, 1ch, 2hdc. For the rest of the stitches between the corners: 1hdc in each. 

Repeat until there are 5 rounds in total.

Enjoy the rest of the week, I have triangles (Yes!) hanging from my hooks and will indulge you with a few photos soon!

xxxx

Let's not say too much about my ooooops blogger moment - I deleted spam messages when I deleted the comments of my previous few postings by mistake :-(  Apologies of yours were one of those, I deleted more than 50 comments in one stupid moment and about 22 on this posting alone,