Patterns | Zoë Halstead

A long time ago BC* I used to sew a lot of clothes for myself and others.

Using the skills I had aquired making dolls’ clothes I would design and make my own garments.

Together my trusty little Bernette and I have sewn our way through numerous wedding dresses (my own included), bridesmaid’s dresses, wedding waistcoats, outfits and everyday garments.

Latterly though my sewing has been confined to curtains, blinds and cushions to furnish our home.

My itch to stitch has come about primarily because of the TV programme The Great British Sewing Bee.

The 2nd Series finished last Tuesday with Heather crowned as Britain’s best home sewer.

I’ve really enjoyed this series, probably more than the last, because of the challenges they’ve been tasked with…

Making children’s clothes,

Using a man’s suit to create something completely different,

And making sleeves for a ready made dress.

All things I’ve enjoyed doing in the past.

Claudia Winkleman as host is hilarious. I laughed out loud when she called an overlocker an ‘overlord’!

May Martin seems lovely and of course there is the eye candy that is Savile Row’s Patrick Grant….

But what I have especially enjoyed is the history of textiles and manufacturing bits that have been used to fill between challenges.

I have a Singer sewing machine almost identical to this one that belonged to my gran.

Mackintosh production.

Nice orange mac!

As with the first series, screened last year, I was inspired to sew again and went out and bought lots of fabric.

I planned to make lots of lovely tunic tops for the summer using the pattern you can see in this picture.

And lots of summer skirts using this pattern.

Needless to say I didn’t make anything!

Perhaps 2014 is the year it will happen?

My other stitching itch is to do some embroidery, again something I’ve not done for a long while.

I saw this image the other day of a Paul Smith shirt…

And I was reminded of a chambray denim dress I had as a child. It had a very full, circular skirt around the bottom of which were embroidered little people and scenes.

I’ve got as far as finding my embroidery hoop and threads, now all I need is some fabric…..

* Before Children!

Hello again!

Because the weather has been unseasonably warm of late I was worried that I’d left it a little late to share this pattern with you. But having spent a very chilly evening yesterday by the side of a football pitch, I was very glad of this warm and snuggly cowl!

Earlier on this year I had a real urge to make (knit or crochet) something just for me. I very rarely have time to make anything for myself as usually all my knitting and crocheting time is spent working on projects and commissions for other people.

I found this yarn in a local sell everything really cheaply shop (B & M Bargains) and as you can see it was a bargain at only £2.99 a ball. (The top photo above doesn’t really do the colour justice, I was itching to get started and took this with my phone the evening of the day I bought it!) I was attracted to the soft green and grey mix, the roving type quality of the yarn and the subtle silver-coloured metallic thread running through it.

I decided I wanted to make a scarf or cowl and all out of this one 100g ball. There is a scarf pattern printed on the inside of the ball band but I wasn’t particularly inspired by it and so searched through Ravelry and Pinterest for some inspiration.

I finally settled on a crochet cowl in a fairly open stitch pattern so that it wouldn’t be too bulky and warm air could get trapped in the holes. Believe me it works!

As you can see from the ball band, this is classed as a Super Bulky weight yarn and the recommended knitting needle size is 8mm. If you want to substitute a different yarn try and match the tension and meterage (10 stitches, 13 rows and 166 metres) rather than just using 100g ball of any Super Bulky/Chunky yarn. You can of course use a completely different weight yarn adjusting your hook size accordingly to match and increasing the number of foundation chains so that it hangs down to about the same length as the picture below.

Easy Sparkle Crochet Cowl

UK crochet terms

Measurements

148cm around approximately

14cm wide approximately

Abbreviations

ch – chain; htr – half treble; ss – slip stitch; sp – space; rep – repeat

Materials

1 x 100g ball of B & M Bargains Sparkle Super Bulky

7.00mm hook

Tension

6 half treble and 6 holes and 9 rows measure 10cm square over stitch pattern using 7.00mm hook

Instructions

Foundation Chain: With 7.00mm hook, ch160 and join with a ss in first ch to make a round being careful not to twist the foundation chain.

Round 1: Ch3 (counts as 1htr, ch1), miss 1 ch, (1htr in next ch, ch1, miss 1 ch) to end, ss in top of ch3 sp.

Round 2: Ch3 (counts as 1htr, ch1), miss htr, (1htr in ch1 sp, ch1, miss htr) to end, ss in top of ch3 sp.

Rep last round 10 times more (or until yarn runs out).

Fasten off.

Sew in ends.

The cowl wraps around comfortably twice and may wrap around three times, I just haven’t tried it!

I’d love to see your cowls, please post to my Facebook page and/or Ravelry (there’ll be a link on there to this post hopefully, once I get it sorted).

Happy crocheting and happy Friday, it’s nearly the weekend!

Zoë x