The joy of other people’s patterns

For the first time in a long time I’m crocheting something designed by someone else, and you know what? I’m enjoying myself

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It’s been a while since I started something not of my own design. When I saw the pattern for this crochet picnic blanket, I just had to make it. It’s gorgeous. It’s also massive and it’s going to take ages to complete it, but that’s OK.

The pattern is a free one from Rowan that I received in the Love Knitting eNewsletter. It can be downloaded here. Obviously Rowan want you to use the company’s own yarn to make the blanket, the one recommended is Handknit Cotton. It would cost more than £200 to make the piece in that yarn. So I instead I turned to old favourite Rico Design. This German company produces some lovely yarns at quality that rivals Rowan and Debbie Bliss but at around half the price. Buying at Wool Warehouse, the amount of Rico Essentials Cotton needed came in at just over £100 – less than half the cost of the Handknit Cotton.

I love this stitch pattern and the colour combination, but
it's going to take a while to get the blanket to 1.5m long.
Photo by Idoru Knits.

The gauge is slightly different, with the Rico knitting up to 22 stitches and 28 rows on 4mm needles and the Rowan 19/28. But my tension is quite loose with crochet, so this wasn’t a problem with this pattern. Anyone with a tighter tension should just use a bigger crochet hook. If this were a knitting pattern, I’d go up to 4.5mm needle.

The other great thing about the Rico is that there were 52 colours to choose from, meaning I could match the Rowan colours as closely as possible. It’s quite unusual for me to stick to the exact colours in a pattern, as I generally want to put my own stamp on anything I make. But in this project the colours were so lovely I wanted to replicate them.

Crocheting this blanket is just fun, pure and simple

The pattern calls for nine different colours, but I think it would also be quite arresting in, for example, three very contrasting colours, or you could even go monochrome. With so many colours to choose from, it would also be possible to make the blanket in, say, all pinks, or blues, or greens.

I’m really enjoying this pattern. It’s nice to just be able to sit down and crochet, without having to worry about measuring and maths, without keeping notes on everything, without experimenting and getting it wrong, having to go back to the beginning, rewrite my notes, and so on and so on. Crocheting this blanket is just fun, pure and simple.

I like designing, but I’m not really doing anything with my designs. I’ve written up hardly any of my patterns, and I’m not entirely sure about sizing. I can make something that’ll fit me just fine, but I don’t know how that translates to a small, medium or large to fit a range of bodies.

I’ve got a couple of self-designed items to finish off – a dress and a sweater – and I think after I’ve completed them I shall work on other people’s patterns, at least for a while. I’ve got tons sitting on my computer waiting for me; in fact I’ve got some absolutely stunning lace shawl patterns and some gorgeous lace-weight yarns that are just made for each other.

Review: Thor: The Dark World

The second Thor film has come in for a bit of criticism, but I loved it

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I’ve seen quite a lot of criticism of Thor: The Dark World: it’s humourless, takes itself too seriously and is somewhat ridiculous. But I think it’s fantastic, and here’s why.

First off, it looks gorgeous. The SFX are excellent. But it’s not just that – the overall ‘look’ of the film is beautiful. It reminds me Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy II and Blade II films.

I don’t agree with the charges that it’s humourless and takes itself too seriously, either. Some scenes are hilarious: Darcy and Ian the Intern, Thor on a tube train. And while Chris Hemsworth is rather po-faced throughout, Tom Hiddleston seems to be having great fun. In fact his Loki is worth the price of admission alone.

There isn’t much of a plot – but who cares when you’ve got Tom Hiddleston in a leather coat and chains?

I admit there isn’t much of a plot. Just some stuff about invading dark elves, Earth at risk of total destruction, blah, blah. But really who cares when you’ve got Tom H in a leather coat and chains? Mostly it just seems to be preamble to the next Avengers film – a long-winded way of getting Loki where he needs to be for that film. But when the preamble is this pretty, what does that matter?

I only have two criticisms. First, Anthony Hopkins as Odin. It just doesn’t work for me. Ron Perlman would have been far more badass. Second, Greenwich is NOT three stops from Charing Cross! In fact the bit of Greenwich they go to isn’t even on the sodding Underground. This might not seem important, but it wouldn’t have taken much to get that bit right, and as London is the best city in the world they should have got it right.

I found the film highly entertaining and that’s all I ask for from a comic book film. It’s also left me thirsting for next Avengers installment.