knitting, etc. - summer knitting

The temperature has been steadily rising in Boston, which is finally making it fell like summer -- just in time for the official first day of summer, which happens to be today!

Do you knit in the summer? Check out these adorable seashell stitch makers from the shop Lavender Hill Knits on Etsy:

I can find it hard to knit in the summer, but with cotton yarns and perles it shouldn't be! I still have some wool projects I am working on (check out my fair isle cowl here), but I'm hoping to finish them up soon. Happy Friday!  

anna crochets - cotton perle update 3

After finishing my first crochet garland, I quickly started on another using the same cotton perle. (Read about my materials for this project here.)

This time I tried a new pattern (originally by Yvonne Eijkenduijn of one of my favorite blogs, Yvestown) for the crochet flowers, but modified it so that the flowers have six pedals. I also made a few crochet circles, using this basic pattern. 

I am getting faster, and hope to have a few more elements done for this garland soon!

anna crochets - flower garland

Sorry about the delay in posts! It has been a crazy week here in Boston.

I did get a chance to finish my first flower garland!

Here is a pic of me assembling the garland strand:

I used size 8 DMC cotton perle for the garland, and size 5 DMC cotton perle for the flowers. It is based on a pattern my Emma Lamb published in an issue 24 of Mollie Makes. See my progress here and here. 

anna crochets - cotton perle update 2

I finished some more cotton perle flowers during jury duty today. (Don't worry, I wasn't put on a trial!)

I'm getting closer to having enough flowers to make my garland. Learn more about my project here.

anna crochets - cotton perle

With the weather warming up, I decided to start a spring project in cotton perle 5, rather than wool. I got the cotton perle at Michaels, which had a great color selection. It is just one size bigger than the embroidery floss I used to make friendship bracelets out of.

I'm using a tiny size 1.5mm crochet hook - much smaller than anything I have ever crocheted with before. At first it was hard to grab the loops without letting them slip, but soon my hand adjusted to the size of the needle and it felt more natural.

I'm planning to use the flowers I make in a garland, much like the Emilia Flower Garland
by Emma Lamb.