Crocheted Shrimp

Just before I left to see my boy again, I crocheted a shrimp for one of my really good friends. I know it's a bit random, but so is he! I regularly call him shrimp-related names like 'Shrimp King' and 'Shrimp face' not because he looks like a shrimp.  Actually I can't remember why I even started calling him those names :/

I followed a pattern from 'Super Super Cute Crochet Animals'. However the first 12 rows were incorrect and the head bit ended up being a little deformed (see picture below). So I corrected this bit of pattern and he looked fine :). I did email the publishing company a few weeks ago regarding the errata but I haven't heard anything back. So I've listed the corrections here for anyone who is stuck on the same pattern, or you can find it under my 'Pages' section listed on the right hand side.

Picture shows what comes of the shrimpy face if following the pattern from the book (above) and the correction (below)

My friend loved the little Shrimpy-man and he said it made him smile, but also made him think that I'm a little mad.  Huge compliment in my opinion :)

Christmas Scarf!

As my previous post just stated, my BFF and I always have clashing schedules and find it difficult to meet sometimes.  And so finally, yesterday we exchanged Christmas gifts!

Her's was the first project I started working on last year, think it was late September.  She's always been really supportive about my knitting and crocheting and is determined to make it go further, so I thought she deserved a really special present.

This scarf consisted of 8x50g balls of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran knitting on 5mm needles.  I do love knitting cables, so what better idea than to include 3 in this project!  

I didn't manage to get a picture of her in the scarf yesterday but I did take a few snaps before I wrapped it up.  

'The Yarning Darling' T-Shirt!

I know it's February, but my BFF and I always have clashing schedules and so we only managed to meet yesterday to exchange Christmas presents.

She told me I'd love it - I had no idea it would be this awesome though, a personlised t-shirt!  It's one of the best presents I got, and that's why she's my BFF :)

It's official, Ryan Gosling loves knitting.

So, in a recent interview (click here), Mr Gosling admitted that "If I had to design my perfect day, that [knitting] would be it."   *SWOON*

Purple Snood

©TheYarningDarling 2012

Another knitted Christmas gift!

My sister-in-law loves scarves.  She also loves purple.  So, it made sense to combine the two to make her a scarf!  I decided to make her a snood, or infinity scarf, with cables.  I wanted to break them up with a rib, but wanted to do something a bit different, so I flicked through my book of stitiches and found the brioche rib.  Seemed easy enough and I liked that it added a bit of thickness so that the scarf would be all snug and warm.

I started it in November on the plane to see my boy and originally made the edges in a seed stitch.

©TheYarningDarling 2012

This all started out fine, but for some reason, the brioche rib unravelled on the plane, luckily I managed to save it.  Whilst in LA, it happened again, but this time it was HUGE!  Silly me didn't take any tools with me, not even a crochet hook!  I had to improvise and with a safety pin I patched the area up; it didn't look great but it did the job and looked alright from the right side.

©TheYarningDarling 2012

Three balls of yarn in and one to go, it happened again!! ARRGGGHHH! I'm a bit of a perfectionist and having three fairly big mistakes annoyed me.  Like, seriously annoyed me.  The only solution was to start all over again.  It's funny how satisfying it can be to unwind 20+ hours of work :/

©TheYarningDarling 2012

Thankfully, it all went well the second time round - albeit a few minor mistakes!  And my sister-in-law loved it :)

For those who want to know, I used the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran yarn on 5mm needles.

Vintage-style Tea Cosy

©TheYarningDarling 2013

So this was tea cosy number two - made for my boyfriend's sister as her Christmas present.  Well, I'd actually bought her a lovely Cath Kidston teapot and made the tea cosy to match it :)

I used exactly the same pattern as the one made for my 'twin' in a previous post.  For this one, I replaced the pompom on top with a rose.  Now, I'd love to write down some kind of pattern, but I'm afraid I made it up on the spot and didn't write down a pattern :(  All I can say is that it's a stockinette stitch so that it did that curly thing!  Oh, and the leaves were crocheted.

I was pretty sad when I had to give it away, I loved it so much!  But I'm a coffee drinker so if I had a 6 cup teapot it would just sit and gather dust!

Theft of Intellectual Property

Update: I contacted the UK admin for DaWanda and they agreed with me that it was a copyright violation.  They have since deleted the listing and sent the seller and message reminding them of the T&C's for selling.  So pleased :D


Sorry to have to write a serious post, but I've discovered that someone has been selling my free Giraffe pattern on a German based website Dawanda.com.  http://de.dawanda.com/product/37617009-Amigurumi-Giraffe-Haekelanleitung

This person has never contacted me regarding selling my pattern for their own personal profit and has tried to apply a copyright to the picture they've even stolen from my blog.

Due to this, I've had to put a stern message on my pattern :(

I'd be so grateful if you could let me know if you discover this pattern anywhere else, and if you could ask the seller to delete the pattern immediately.

Thank you.