Sophie's Universe CAL 2015

These days I am in the enviable position of making quilts and sewing for a living. I have a wonderful life and every day I count my blessings. But making your living with your hobby does give you one problem - you need a new hobby!

crochet is also part of my working life as I regularly teach it. But I don't write crochet patterns (I have dabbled but it's way harder than quilts!) so it still seems like a pastime rather than a job to me. Therefore crochet is now officially my 'time-off craft'.

And Sophie's Universe CAL 2015 is my new obsession!!!

I mentioned this a couple of months ago in this post when I first started. I have been working steadily during days off from quilting and sharing my progress on Instagram (where you can find 100's of these by searching #sophiesuniversecal2015), but it's nice to round things up on the blog where I have more room to discuss things and share with those of you not using IG.

There are 21 parts to this CAL and I have just finished part 7, which included those adorable pink roses near the edge in the above photo. The actual CAL in real time finished a few weeks back so you can check out what some of the finished blankets looks like in this post on a separate blog.

I encountered this when they were up to around part 14 and it was already looking spectacular, but lots of folk started this off not knowing how it was going to look when it was finished. Also some mad crocheters have made 4 or 5 at the same time!!! I just don't know how their wrists take it, I am such an old crock I have to wear a strap round my left wrist for all hand crafting and even FMQ!

The whole thing is the brain child of crochet genius Deidri of Look What I Made blog. She has done an incredibly thorough job with video tutorials for difficult techniques, translations into different languages plus yarn requirements and samples for 3 different blankets - 4-ply, DK and worsted. I am SO impressed with this CAL! And also it is spot on all the way through, as by now any slight errors have been ironed out by earlier users.

Here is the first Sophie post if you'd like to get started on your own blanket.

I am making mine using Sublime Extra Fine Merino DK. I recently bought a lot of new colours but they sold out in the shop before I got a chance to list them online! I have just ordered more and am planning a 'Sophie Inspiration Pack' very soon.

The whole thing is wonderful colour therapy for me. I love choosing which colour to use next.

And this is what it's going to look like when it's finished (unless I go on to do the optional borders to make it rectangular, and realistically I will probably be unable to resist!). This is Deidri's DK version, stunning isn't it? It's about 1.4M squared.

Unfortunately my OH hates it! I have discovered that he actually doesn't like wool as he doesn't mind it in a photograph just not in real life!

Crochet blankets - one finished, one started!

I have a crochet finish!! After 3 years my Wool-eater blanket is complete!

This is a wonderful free pattern from Sarah London's blog and one of the first crochet patterns I tackled.

I finished my first wool-eater blanket about 5 years ago for a friend's 50th birthday, you can see it here. It was made with 9 large blocks crocheted together rather than just one block and using Rooster Almerino DK. It even has it's own inspiration pack for sale on our website.

3 years ago I started this new one, primarily because I was teaching a class using this pattern and needed to remind myself how to do it! I wrote about it's beginnings here.
This time I've used Sublime Cashmerino Silk yarn, which is lovely and bouncy. Only problem is they discontinued a few colours while I was working on it! I managed to squirrel enough away to get it this big though (so I had to stop as I have no more wool!).

This is the back, though some people prefer this side to the front. I just say it's reversible.

It is lovely and soft and squidgy, and really heavy! The name 'wool eater' is very apt - by the time I got to that last round of blue wool each round was taking 3 BALLS OF 50g WOOL!!

Here it is on my bed, to give you an idea of scale.

I can't leave it out though as it is a magnet for my kitten Hector who gets his claws into it and pulls the wool (while he's rolling around purring). But I'm not giving it away as it took 3 YEARS and HUNDREDS OF POUNDS to make! So I am hassling my husband to get on and build this cabin he has been promising me for the last 4 years so my lovely blanket can live in there.
Basically I need a whole cabin built just to house this blanket. No, that's not mad at all.

A couple of weeks ago I discovered the most amazing crochet project on Instagram called Sophie's Universe CAL (crochet-along). It's just stunning and I was desperate to start it. This encouraged me to hurry up and finish the wool-eater as I knew I couldn't justify starting anything else till I had finished that!

I am using Sublime yarn again as I have left overs from the wool-eater and also we just got some yummy new colours in stock and I can't wait to use them. This is the initial pull from my yarn stash.

Monday was my rest day so I started it then. As sewing becomes more and more my 'day job' I look on crochet as my crafting 'hobby'. I love the ombre look on this initial flower.

The CAL takes place over 20 weeks and is already up to week 16 as it started in January. But you can join in at any time you like.
All the details are on Look What I Made blog and I have to say it is very impressively done with links and video tutorials and conversion tables, and everything you could possible need. Plus she is making 3 at the same time, one in worsted, one in DK (which I am using) and one in 4-ply, what a lot of work, and it's all available for free! The DK blanket will finish up at 1.4M.
The only slight difficulty is that the pattern is written in American crochet terminology and so you have to do a bit of translation as you go along.

This is it after week 2. I am totally in love and just want to spend all day working on it. Oh dear.
Anyone want to join me??!

Use #sophiesuniversecal2015 to check out all the beautiful crochet eye candy and to see the delights I have ahead!