lust list | july 2019

July Favourites

Slightly late with my favourites for July because I was away at the seaside, hurrah.

I had a wonderful time holidaying and took the first of this month’s favourites away with me to be my holiday hook, although I didn’t get much time to sit and hook because of a certain curly haired six year old who has an alarming interest in amusement arcades and doesn’t seem to have an off switch :))))

Wool and the Gang Buddy Hemp Yarn

Wool & The Gang have launched their new eco-friendly hemp yarn, Buddy Hemp. It’s a vegan-friendly mix of 55% hemp and 45% organic cotton and the hemp element has a wealth of earth-friendly attributes such as growing fast whilst using less water, being durable and strong whilst actually improving the soil as it grows, returning between 60% and 70% of the nutrients it uses to grow back into the soil again - it’s like a little miracle fibre.

Buddy Hemp Yarn comes in a range of twelve gorgeous colours and hooks up at aran weight using a 5mm hook. There are a number of different knit and crochet patterns to choose from and I was lucky enough to be sent the True Love Cardigan crochet kit to try out in the colour Bardot Red.

I started making the cardigan on holiday last week and I have to say that I’m loving it already and hope to be finished fairly soon - I forgot how quickly aran weight yarn worked up, I mean it is really speedy and quite, quite satisfying.

You know that the yarn is organic and earthy because it has a slightly rough feel to it, not in an unpleasant way but more in a rustic, simple kind of way. It actually feels like the yarn is good for the planet and I’m looking forward to showing you the finished cardigan sometime in September.

Amelia Top by @susimiu

My good friend Clarisabeth introduced me to @susimiu (where have I been?) and the incredible Amelia top. She has made a rather glorious neon version and I’m quite keen on making one now (easily influenced), the only trouble is I think the pattern, which is free on Susimiu’s blog, is currently only available in Spanish. However my browser does translate fairly well, although crochet terminology resists translation at all costs, and there is a really good diagram that will probably be totally sufficient to get this project going.

Nobody’s Perfect CAL

I talked about the inspiration behind my Nobody’s Perfect shawl here, where you can also find the free pattern.

I’m running an informal CAL for the shawl on instagram from now right through to the end of September and all you have to do to join in is make a deliciously imperfect Nobody’s Perfect shawl and use the hashtag #nobodysperfectCAL and that’s it. Wahoo!

I’ll pick some great yarny prizes and some winners at the end of September and will talk about this exciting project more in my next podcast.

Inside Crochet Summer Edition

And finally, do try and get your hands on a copy of Inside Crochet’s summer edition (issue no. 116), it’s another crochet essential I took away to the seaside with me.

It has some of the prettiest garments I’ve seen in ages; cardigans, wraps, a tunic and I’m particularly in love with this summertime bolero from @theodora_goes_wild ….

….isn’t it lovely?

Swooning over here….

I hope your summer break is going well and I will see you at the end of August with more favourites from the crochet world.