The Joys of January

There are some people who dislike January but once I’m over the shock of the Christmas decorations coming down, I think it is one of my favourite months and it certainly offers plenty of crochet inspiration.

Firstly, there is suddenly a lot more room to move around in your home once the tree has gone and even the smallest of flats (and believe me, mine is rather small) feels bright and airy.  Secondly, the light in January has its own special quality; there may still not be much of it but those few lumens work hard and reward us with crisp, clear days, not to mention the gorgeous sunsets.

This beautiful sunset happened last week and just look how the grey-blue of the sky melts against the last golden rays of the sun. I love this colour combination and of course, when I saw it, I immediately started to think of yarn and how to replicate this natural beauty in crochet. I wanted to mix the different tones and create my own January sky. I used yarn from the Stylecraft Bellissima range (silver lining, toasted almond and single cream) and in my mind, the star stitches in toasted almond are mini setting suns.

As much as I enjoyed making the swatch, I like making useful things so I set about looking for something to do with it. As someone who suffers from the cold even when it is relatively warm outside, I have a collection of crocheted wrist warmers that I use while typing at home. Strangely enough, I don’t have any that are winter themed, so I thought that would be the perfect project. I hope share my January Sky wrist warmer pattern with you here soon.

EDIT: You can check out the pattern here.

Another of the joys of January is that we start bringing the first signs of spring into our homes. In October, I set off some hyacinths in the garage and this week I brought one inside out of the cold. When I  put it into its ceramic pot, the lip of the brown plastic garden pot protruded slightly over the top. It is not dreadful, but for a crochet addict with a hook it is a challenge.  I was given the Complete Book of Crochet Border Designs by Linda P. Schapper as a Christmas present and have just been itching to give some borders a try. As I’m not working on a blanket at the moment, this hyacinth pot conundrum was the perfect opportunity to test drive one of the patterns.

I made the trim in petroleum Must Have by Yarn and Colors, which contrasts nicely with the plain white pot. I must admit, I got the hyacinth bulbs muddled up in the garage, so I can’t tell you if the flower will bloom in white or navy blue. It will be a surprise and I am very curious to see how it looks with the little trim I crocheted for it.

Hope that you are all keeping warm and enjoying the joys of January.

2 Comments

  • Kay Fletcher

    13/01/2019 at 10:49 pm Reply

    I love the fingerless gloves and the very subtle colours. What a very artistic way of creating inspiration for original crochet designs.
    They are ideal for typing, but also will be useful when out shopping, so gloves don’t have to be taken off when getting money or credit card out of my bag.

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