Cool Crochet

The postman called very early today. I was not best pleased that he woke me up on a wet Saturday morning but I changed moods when I saw what he had brought for me. Cool Crochet by Melissa Leapman is another book that has been on the scene for quite a while and also on my wish list for quite a while. For some reason I didn't order it maybe because the jacket on the front cover isn't one of the better designs in the book and I hadn't seen it in book stores so that I could browse the rest of the designs.

It is going to be a useful book as I do like quite a lot of the designs in the book. Whilst some of them are not for me, I can visualize friends and family wearing a lot of them. The cover jacket is a plain kimono style jacket but if the wool was a little more exciting them maybe I would warm to it more.

The chunky coat is one that I have fallen in love with. The shapings are done within the panel pattern and as I do love crochet with shape, especially long jackets, this is already on my wish list.

The red sweater and scarf is fairly plain but the detail on the cuffs just lifts it from an everyday sweater to a bit special and the matching scarf just finishes off the look.

The granny square hat, whilst not for me, is a pretty hat for someone younger and the navy dress would look stunning on someone tall and willowy which definitely lets me out.

Both my niece and I love the lilac hoodie jacket. I hate crocheting in ribbon though as I twist it like mad whilst I am crocheting but I am sure that I could improvise it in another yarn. I have two large 400 gram balls of lilac aran already in my stash that could be heading the way of this pattern.

I do like the orange stripy top but once again not for me as being a big lass I don't like to emphasize my size with stripes.

The red cardigan is a lovely summer style pattern and despite what I have said about stripes previously I do like the staggered pattern on the sweater as the eye is fooled into thinking that the stripes go across the sweater from one shoulder to the opposite side edge.

The red bolero is another lovely summer style and my niece loved the aran sweater although I would make it just that tad longer to reach her waistline. Although she has lost loads of weight I still don't think that she would like her bare waist to be on view in the colder weather.

Again I am contradicting myself about stripes as I do like the blue striped sweater. I think that it is the unusual collar that I like the most and maybe if the stripes were in subtle colours I could get away with wearing it.

I do like the green lacy poncho style but it's not something that I would wear. I would go for a shawl that doesn't have to be lifted over my head. I do love the beaded tassels on the 4 corners of the square poncho and might pinch that idea for other shawls in the future.

The book has many other designs that I haven't photographed so is good value for the money as so many books these days only have a couple of things in them that I like. Inside are hats, bags, more sweaters and even a bikini so plenty of choice in the book.

My niece came today to dye my roots for me and chop a couple of inches off the length of my hair. I gave her the house cardigan that I had made for her with the Wendy Moiselle that I got in the sale from E Kemp. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of her wearing it but she remarked how warm it felt. She has a lot of work to do at home and her house is quite a cold house so she likes nice warm cardigans to wear whilst she is working at her computer. As she has lost so much weight lately I thought that I would make her something that fitted her rather than the too large ones that she has been wearing.

My niece came bearing gifts. I love the fact that she has lost so much weight as I have now finished up with a lot of her wardrobe. She buys good quality clothes so I have just been updated for the summer. I will have to diet now so that when she gets fed up of the new clothes that she has bought to replace these bigger ones, that she has given me, I can fit into those at a later date ;-) Cheeky aren't I?