Finished Object: Seagull Scarf.

I have a weird relationship with seagulls. I both HATE them and love them. Whenever I'm in the city, I despise them. They are loud, dirty, rude and slightly scary. They build nests on the rooftops around the street I need to go through to get home, and they scream all night long. They also steal food. But, when I'm by the sea, they are so beautiful. Peaceful, pretty birds. They belong by the sea. Most of my seaside memories are from a small island off the coast of Norway, called Edøy. My grandmother grew up there, and my grandparents own a lot of land there. They have a summer house on the island, right by the beach, where I've spent most of my childhood summers.

When I saw this scarf over at the "official ccc social group" on facebook (great crochet group, awesome people, always kind and helpful), I knew I had to make one for my grandmother. Here's how it turned out. I also took the liberty to model it.

Size-wise it's more like an albatross than a seagull, but I love how it turned out. It can be worn as both a shawl and a scarf. I personally prefer scarves.

The yarn is a fingering weight cotton yarn, from the danish store "Søstrene Grene". The hook used was 2,5mm hook purchased in the same store. Honestly, I didn't enjoy the hook.
I based the colour choice on what colours I think my grandmother usually wears. My father agreed that she wears alot of earth tone colours, along with black and burgundy, so I think white and brown is okay.

The original pattern by Charlotte at My Upper Penthouse is in Danish, but it's also available in English and German. It's simple to do, if just a little bit monotonous. Adjusting the size should be simple if you want it smaller or bigger, just do less rows of each of the 4 parts, while still maintaining symmetry of course. I.e. make sure part 4 is the same size as part 1.

I haven't told anyone in my family about this blog yet, so I feel quite safe publishing Christmas gifts here, for now. I hope my grandmother will love the scarf as much as I do! :)

Winter Solstice Jacket.

I've long wanted to make a cardigan or jacket for myself, and in the beginning of September I finally found a pattern I really liked. It is the Winter Solstice Jacket from Drops Design. You can find the US instructions for it here. What's great about Drops patterns is that they're translated into so many languages! So if you prefer to use a different language, or UK crochet terminology, all you have to do is select the language you want from the drop down menu on the left side of the pattern website. Now, what's not so great about Drops patterns is that the instructions are sometimes kind of vague and leaves you to figure a few things out on your own, which I don't like. I had to frog a few times, and it still isn't free of mistakes, but I love my jacket anyway! Here's how it turned out:

As you can see, it's pretty huge. I followed the instructions for the S to M size jacket and used the same yarn and hook as recommended in the pattern. However, I did not gauge swatch... oops :p

I used a little bit more yarn than the S/M pattern required with the correct gauge, but not much. It worked up pretty quick. I started late in the evening on September 14th and finished it on October 7th. A little more than three weeks for a project this size is okay, especially when I had other projects, like my star stitch beanies, and term papers to write as well :)
Apart from the size, I'm very happy with it, and I'm going to wear it alot now that the weather is getting cold here in Norway :)