It's been a lovely Winters day here in my patch, bright, sharp, and blinkin' cold. Sunshine and shadows, but oh it has been chilly! It's felt like the very middle of my bones have been cold today.
It's been an odd kind of a day, sort of stressful and sweet, calm and anxious all at once. I've had Little Lady home from school, snuggled on the sofa the whole day doing silent battle with a nasty virus. Poor love. She is very rarely unwell and it has wiped her out, leaving the both of us feeling totally drained. I really don't like it one little bit when the germs take hold.
Little B has been great this afternoon, happily entertaining himself and supplying us all with lots of feel-good cuddles.
There was a request to get The Beads out, it's been a while since we did these and I was more than happy to oblige.
We made a heart together, heavy with turquoise blue as Little B knows this to be my bestest most favourite colour and kept picking them out for me.
I have these gorgeously girly-pink tulips in the house, a gift from my wonderful, kind mother-in-law. They are such a pretty colour, I can't stop gazing at them. Just so perfectly pink.
Usually when one of the Little Peeps is ill, I fill my stay-home time with baking. Germs = Baking, but not so today. Today the crisp winter light was perfect for photography so I seized the unexpected quiet daylight hours and made a tutorial. You just can't beat a bit of concentrated creative activity to combat unease.
I was lucky to have my official Health and Safety officer on hand (dressed as Spiderman) to make sure my scissors were kept safe. He is obsessed with putting the little protective leather cover back on them, telling me I need to take care cos they are veeeery sharp.
So I made the photography part of my tutorial for my new stitch, after a shocking amount of upset with Wrong Numbers. Jeez, my poor brain. I got there in the end (multiples of 4, plus an extra 3!).
I made the photo tutorial using the Stylecraft Special Chunky yarn and a 6mm hook, as that's what I'm using to make my cushion. But once I had finished it, I had an urge to try out the pattern using Stylecraft Special DK and a 4mm hook so that I could compare the two.
Stylecraft Special comes in 3 weights :: a Double Knit (DK), an aran and a chunky. In the above picture you can see the difference between the DK and the Chunky. There is quite a bit of difference both in the way it feels to work these two weights (much more physical with the chunky), and the way the finished crochet turns out.
This is my sample worked up in DK, I love it SO MUCH!!! It turns out that this is a super-satisfying pattern to work and I think in the DK weight it would make a terrific blanket. It's quite a dense stitch, so would make a very substantial, warm blanket and I would love to try it out.
You can see the difference in scale here, but essentially the lovely texture and neat rows of colour are equally effective in both weights.
You may be wondering what the title of this post has to do with anything (Raindrops? Eh?) Well it's what I've decided to call this stitch. It was named by one of my lovely readers who said the stitch pattern reminded her of raindrops running down a window pane. It seemed very apt to say how drenched we have been here of late, with day after day of the wet stuff.
So with raindrops in mind, I also made a small sample using just shades of blue. I love the simplicity of it, and again I thought what a lovely, soothing blanket this would be to make.
My cushion is coming along nicely, I'm just in the process of crocheting the button flap bit, then trying to decide on the neatest way to pull it all together. I'm calling it the Rainbow Raindrops cushion.
Also, I just wanted to say that I am not in any way claiming that I have "invented" a new stitch here. It's actually very hard to invent anything new in crochet as it's an ancient craft and you can bet that pretty much everything has already been done at one time or another. This stitch technique already exists, and is called a Spike Stitch. It's where you work some of the stitches down into the rows below, pulling a long stitch up to the level of the current row (I used this technique when making my Christmas baubles). What I have done with Raindrops is to use a variation of the spike stitch to create my own particular pattern/texture. It's my interpretation if you like.
I'm looking forward to sharing the pattern with you, to see what you make of it and what ideas start to fly....I am wondering whether I have time to make a Raindrops blanket?! I would love to, it's been a while since I started on an exciting new blanket journey. Right, I'm going to start work on the tutorial now (after I've had a quick cuppa tea), I'll let you know when it's ready.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Edit :: I wrote this post yesterday (Friday) but towards the end of writing I began to feel veeery unwell. Turns out that the "cold through to my bones" feeling was the onset of this virus, and I've spent the past day battling chills and a fever. Feeling marginally better this afternoon, but still pretty pants. So I am a day late getting this post out, and I haven't quite got the energy to tutorial write today either...but hoping tomorrow I'll be feeling much better and can do it then. Much love xxxxx
Very interesting and beautiful.
Posted by: kizi | April 06, 2014 at 10:15 AM
Ahhh, good old Spike Stitch. Its one of my favs! Good work.
Posted by: melissa | March 27, 2014 at 02:58 PM
I like the sample with the different shades of blue. I saw a blanket on Pinterest a while ago that used the spike stitch to creates waves by putting the spike in at different depths. Very neat.
Posted by: Kacey | March 13, 2014 at 04:14 PM
I made a cushion!!! Thank you Lucy, love the raindrops stitch and have just written a blog post all about it and linked back to this page, hope you like it. I made a different back to it as I want to use my cushion outside in the garden. Pop over and see...http://eclectichomelife.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/attic-24-inspired-crochet-cushion.html
Posted by: eclectichomelife.blogspot.com | March 11, 2014 at 09:10 PM
Oops sorry, my mistake! It's picklesandsmith.wordpress.com xx
Posted by: Jo Navin | March 10, 2014 at 05:28 PM
As usual wonderful photographs and the post!! Get well soon , needs you badly in crochet world 😊😊😊😊sending warm hugs to you !!
Posted by: Uma | March 10, 2014 at 01:17 AM
The new stitch is looking fabulous and the colours, as always, are glorious! I bet the cushion will be fab, I can't wait to see!
S x
Posted by: Sandra (Cherry Heart) | March 05, 2014 at 05:48 PM
I love this pattern especially with the rainbow yarn!! Hope you're feeling better xx
Posted by: Ashlie | March 04, 2014 at 12:39 PM
It's good to see you back out and about, it's awful getting something like that but yours doesn't seem to have lasted too long. Must be the fresh air up there in the Dales.
Lovely photos and colours as usual. Love your new project. I'm doing a new one, a ripple - JUMPER! just an experiment, very simple T shape, with straight stripe sleeves though.
Posted by: Anne Marie | March 04, 2014 at 10:40 AM
Love you showing us the difference in yarn weights. I like looking at the yarn you use, it looks so soft. Is that your kind of what I call "basic" yarn? I have available here in the US several basic inexpensive yarns but most are kind of stiff and not soft feeling to the hand as you crochet. After you finish and wash your project they are very soft and nice but I love to have the soft feel while I am working. I have just purhcased a more expensive yarn for a few projects just for the feel. But, like you I enjoy very colorful projects so I have baskets and baskets full of colorful yarns made by Red Heart as it also comes in many many colors.
Sorry you have been ill. As far as you are from me, we have much the same nastyness coming thru here.
2 days ago we had 65degrees weather and yesterday we had heavy sleet and 10degree temps, still very cold but dry today. I am wanting the sunshine for sure.
Enjoy your pics of where you live, your projects and your home and stories. Thank you.
Gloria in Texas, USA
Posted by: Gloria Philley | March 04, 2014 at 02:51 AM
OOw! feel better! terrible to feel so miserable....and we in the 'ether-world' so miss hearing from you...
Hard for the little ones to understand why Mum is not quite up to snuff, too....they still expect you do be what you are...hard to make them understand...
Hope by now you are feeling so much better.
Posted by: LitlBits | March 03, 2014 at 08:46 PM
Hope you're all feeling better today x
Posted by: Kim Dodwell | March 03, 2014 at 08:25 PM
Lucy,
Take care and get better soon. Love the stitch and name. But, did you notice if you turn it upside down, it reminds me of little flower starts pushing their way up in the spring.
Love all the colors
Posted by: Cheryl | March 03, 2014 at 08:08 PM
Hope you're feeling a lot better soon and the little one.. and love the hooky stitch..
Chris x
PS Read your super article in Simply Crochet, it was superb! Well done you for getting recognised as a wonderful crafter.
Posted by: Chris Hancock | March 03, 2014 at 07:23 PM
Hope you will both feel a lot better very soon. A big hug from Val. x
Posted by: Val | March 03, 2014 at 04:50 PM
Aw Lucy hope you're feeling better today, the sun is shining gloriously here! I've popped some of my Vintage Sheets on my blog should you still need cheering up! Be gone germs, be gone! :) x
Posted by: Ada | March 03, 2014 at 04:24 PM
Get well soon. Take your time.
Posted by: Marijke | March 03, 2014 at 04:06 PM
Love the bright and cheerful colors. We are in another winter storm here, everything is cold and grey.
Posted by: Sherial | March 03, 2014 at 02:34 PM
Your beautiful work, I congratulate you!
Posted by: Innovartencrochet | March 03, 2014 at 01:45 PM
May everyone at your house feel better soon.
Posted by: Susan Smith | March 03, 2014 at 12:31 PM
Ooo it's horrible having that achy, cold one minute, hot the next, illness :o( Get better quickly x
Posted by: SarahT | March 03, 2014 at 12:28 PM
Can't wait to try out this idea of yours, I hope you and Little Lady feel better soon, stay warm and drink lots of tea, my motto, the elixir of life!!
Posted by: Melody A. | March 03, 2014 at 03:51 AM
Hope you feel better soon.
Posted by: Ann | March 03, 2014 at 01:54 AM
Hope you and your little one are on the mend. Sounds like a nasty bug you've picked up there. Love the crochet though, that stitch really does look pretty. Also wanted to thank you for the Easy peasy muffin recipe which I tried for the first time this week. Absolutely yummy and the most successful one I have ever tried. I will put a link to it in my next post. Thanks again and get well soon. Hugs Jenny x
Posted by: Jenny | March 02, 2014 at 11:42 PM
Hi, I'm a newbie yarn wrangler and I just wanted to tell you the joy your blog brings. I've made myself a yarn bag and started a blanket so far. The thing I love most about my bag is that for the first time in my entire life, I have a bag that's unique that is in a colour way that I love to pieces.
Hope you feel better soon. xxx
Posted by: Louise | March 02, 2014 at 10:43 PM