First up is Shannon. Another lovely pattern of Doris Chan's that is every bit as cozy as it looks. Made from Merino wool it is the perfect thing for lounging around my chilly house, but it's nice enough that if I decide to go out to run errands I don't have to ditch the comfy house clothes.
Doris Chan's Shannon sweater from Everyday Crochet.
I nixed the idea of making the belt that went with the sweater mainly because I find belts over sweaters terribly annoying to wear, but also because I didn't want to use up the remaining wool on something like a belt. (I think the wool is destined to become an ear-flap hat for my littlest nephew instead.) However I still needed a closure for the sweater and not wanting to sew on distracting buttons I thought I'd whip up a shawl pin from some leftover silver wire.
This is my Celtic Spiral Shawl Pin. I think it came out well considering it only took about a half hour to throw it together. Basically it's three strands of about 20 gauge wire braided together with loops at the end that has been twisted into a spiral. The pin portion is two strands of wire twisted together with loops at one end. I may take a hammer to it later to strengthen the wire and pound it a bit flatter, but I rather like my creation all the same.
Lastly, let me introduce Ginny. Don't ask me how, in the midst of having my Bettie sweater tested by some great gals over on Ravelry's Free Pattern Testers group, I managed to come up with yet another pattern, but somehow I did!
This one is much simpler than the Bettie pattern, although very monotonous to complete since its made entirely from slip stitches.
I got the idea from making Amy Swenson's cowl shell in Sensual Crochet. It was so simply and elegantly constructed that when I recently became enamoured with the properties of back-loop slip stitch ribbing I had to give the idea a try in a new stitch.
The pattern for this one is completed and will probably not go out for testing since the concept is so straight forward. As soon as I can get the pattern formatted nicely and into PDF form I'll be putting it out for free both here and on Ravelry, so definitely check back soon!
-Lyzard
