Winter into Spring

When I came back from Poland, I was planning to start knitting a sweater. I have a few of them in my queue, and I bought some gorgeous yarn, so it seemed like a natural thing to work on next. But I’d also ordered some very colourful yarn cakes before leaving for my winter break, and I just couldn’t get them out of my head. I needed to start my crochet project and enjoy all those colours immediatelly!

My new crochet project is Sophie’s Dream – a blanket or a throw (I’m not sure how big I’m going to make it at this stage, we’ll see) based on the central part of Sophie’s Universe, a square throw designed by Dedri Uys. I’ll be honest: I really don’t need a new throw. And I have a hibernating throw that I should continue working on, so I can’t say that I had any reason to start this project other than “because I really wanted to”. The amazing, vibrant colours, ombre gradient yarn, and almost 3-dimensional texture of the squares in the pattern were simply too irresistible to me.

There are project kits with Scheepjes Whirl available at Wool Warehouse, but to be honest, I thought they were too expensive. Luckily, I found a good substitute at the Ice Yarns online shop. They have a little different proportion of cotton and acrylic content, and each cake is shorter than Scheepjec Whirl (600 metres instead of 1000). However, they are sold in sets of 2 cakes, which amounts to 1200 metres and still costs less than the Whirl. It seemed like a good deal and when they arrived I was not disappointed.

This blanket is going to be very colourful, so I think it’s the kind of project that not everyone is going to like – but I love colourful stuff, so it’s just perfect for me.

Since I have a lot of work now, I can’t spend too much time crocheting – especially that this pattern really requires focus. I make a round or two at a time, and it’s great this way. I’m not in a hurry, and it’s a great way to let my mind rest between different work-related tasks.

So while I don’t know when will I make any significant progress, I’ll keep you updated when I manage to crochet more squares!

In the meantime, the last order from my “sort-of-birthday-yarn-shopping-spree” arrived all the way from Lithuania. It’s a thin, fingering weight lambswool in different shades of purple, pink, and red. I’m thinking to use part of it to knit another the Bressay dress by Gudrun Johnston – only in colour blocks instead of Fair Isle yoke, and without pockets. We’ll see – it’s in my queue and it’s probably going to be a while before I even start knitting it. Still, the yarn is so pretty that I almost regret that winter and sweater season is coming to an end soon!

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