So I’ve been inspired to get back in to crochet recently, perhaps because my life has been so hectic and crochet can be done so much more quickly than knitting. I picked up a copy of Stitch & Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker a while back, and ever since then, I’ve been doing bits of crochet here and there.

The real clincher for me switching to the hook has been the fact that you can no longer knit on airplanes anymore, due to the ludicrous security rules (oh come on, you can do more damage with a ballpoint pen than most knitting needles!). Anyway, I decided to take a few skeins of yarn and some crochet hooks with me on my recent trip to Japan, to try and whip out a project or two during my travels.

Here’s a crochet scarf I made one night when my insomnia struck again. I think this took me an hour or two, crochet by the light of a headtorch while my hubby snoozed away. I made it using some super chunky chartreuse yarn in a wool blend. In fact it’s so chunky, it only took 3 rows of double crochet to make it! It’s a really long skinny scarf that looks rather fetching in shocking chartreuse, especially when paired with my favourite peacock blue overcoat. I have another skein of this yarn left, so I am thinking of making a beret or perhaps some wrist-warmers to go with the scarf. Yet another in my long list of future projects!

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Scarves are among the easiest things to knit, so they tend to be ubiquitous amongst knitters, especially as gifts. But this scarf is very different, very special, and one I will never forget knitting.

A few weeks ago my hubby and I got back from an an extended trip to Japan to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary, and to meet up with my Japanese family. It has been nearly 15 years since I was last in Japan, and my family there have never met my hubby, so that in itself was a momentous occasion. To me, the other big deal about this trip was that it may be the last time I get to see my 93 year old grandmother (obachan in Japanese). She is an amazing woman, and I can see where my mother gets her amazing-ness. I hope that even just a little bit of this wow-factor has trickled down into me.

I started knitting this scarf for my obachan before I left England, hoping to finish it during my travels around Japan before we headed to Beppu, where she lives. I ended up frantically knitting on the train to Beppu, getting motion sickness as a result, and only finishing moments before we disembarked. It was worth it, though.

You see, my obachan was a keen crafter when she was younger, and my mother has some fantastically detailed amigurumi (little crocheted animals) that she made. I hope these will be passed down to me, just like the skill of crochet, which went from my obachan, to my mother, to me. My obachan also made all of her children’s clothes, when the family were forced out of Manchuria during the occupation in WWII. They had nothing but rags, yet my obachan made do, and managed to instill in all of the children an incredibly positive outlook on life that pervades the family to this day. The ability to make something from nothing was also passed down to my mother, and I like to think a little bit has rubbed off on me, too.

But I digress: back to the scarf. Because she has such an appreciation of handicrafts, my obachan was thrilled to receive the scarf. It didn’t matter that she speaks no English and my Japanese is pretty awful: we could both tell that the gift was something much more than just a little bit of fabric to wrap around your neck. It was something that transcends generations, cultures and time, and brought two people closer together.

She also loved it for other, more simple reasons: the colour is her favourite (which I had no idea), it was done in a stitch that she hadn’t learned herself (seed / moss stitch), and she was really intrigued by the keyhole, which she had never seen before. Overall, a resounding success, that made me want to knit even more. I only hope I get the chance to give her another gift made from my hands someday.

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My fantabulous friend Digger brought me some knitting magazines from her trip to Australia, and this is the second project I’ve finished using patterns from those mags. As usual, I couldn’t resist changing things up a bit so instead of using super-fine mohair for this shawl, I used a beautiful Noro Blossom yarn, which made it more durable and warm.

I love Noro yarn, and had purchased a load of this particular colourway, even without knowing what I would make with it. I think the self-striping effect looks pretty cool on this shawl, and the variegated colours mean it goes with most outfits.

The coolest part about this project is how quickly it knits up, because you use ginormous knitting needles and the holes are made by purposely dropping stitches. The result is like a really stretchy net, so I can imagine using this technique for something like a toy ‘hammock’… I used to have one hanging over my bed when I was a kid, filled with soft plush toys. I guess you could also make a handy string bag using the same approach. Or – God forbid – a string vest (aka fishnet tank top, for you American readers!)

Although it’s supposed to be a summer wrap, I think you can wear this pretty much year-round, either as a wrap or around your neck as a scarf. Here it is worn as a scarf, which I must say is very warm indeed.

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Although I think I do a pretty good job of documenting my work-related projects, I have made a lot of things in my crafting life that I foolishly neglected to document. My mother sent me some photos of the gazebo and closed porch she is building, which has reminded me to always take pictures of my projects from now on. I will never again get to see the lovely alpaca scarf I knitted for my hubby, because he lost it shortly after I gave it to him last winter . And then there are all those scarves, hats, soaps, body creams, bowls and assorted other things I have made as presents for friends over the years. I really regret not having the foresight to take pictures of them.

So I decided to go back in time and take a photo of my very first knitting project, which I still have. It’s now well-worn, with little fluffy bits all over, and it looks quite amateur-ish when I look at it. But here it is: a duck-egg blue & chocolate brown stripy scarf. It’s a basic garter stitch pattern from Stitch & Bitch, adapted with stripes. In the photo it’s sitting on my lovely wool coat that is an amazing peacock blue colour… shame the colours didn’t come out too well because it looks navy rather than teal.

Aside: My mother is an incredible woman. She has always been my inspiration. We have crafted together a lot over the years, from oil paintings to ceramics, to silk-flower making and all sorts of other projects. I really wish I had photos of some of the things we made together when I was growing up. My mother’s latest love is woodworking, and at 67 years old, she’s pretty hard core to be building giant covered porches all on her own. She ROCKS!

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My hubby asked me to make a tea cosy, but we both wanted something modern rather than something frilly or granny-ish. We have a minimal white teapot with a kind of Japanese-inspired shape, so I thought I would find some masculine yarn in neutral colours to make a thick warm cosy to fit it.

I chose a dark chocolate brown superchunky cotton yarn that has strands of white and grey satiny ribbon running through it, and here’s the result. I didn’t follow a pattern, I just made it up as I went along, and I am pleased with the results. I have a whole ball of the yarn left, so I’d like to make a matching tray liner (dare I say modern ‘doily’?) or some coasters for the teacups.

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Public libraries are great. I had forgotten just how great they are until I started working right next to the wonderful and fantabulous Swiss Cottage library, which is a beauty to behold and chock full of literary goodness. The only downside is that many of the knitting and craft books are for use in the library only, and cannot be checked out for leisurely perusal. But they do have a cheap photocopier, so I managed to copy several patterns from Stitch & Bitch Nation that I plan to knit as soon as I can find/afford the yarn.

My first project from S&BN is this cute little bunny hat for babies. The yarn is a lovely soft Rowan merino wool, and I was fortunate enough to be able to find the exact colours and the exact yarn specified in the pattern – which doesn’t seem to happen very often for me. I like to make things my own, and often purposely deviate from the pattern’s specified yarn, but in this case, the yarn shown in the picture on the pattern looked perfect, and when I felt the softness I couldn’t resist.

I seem to be on a bunny theme at the moment – maybe it’s because all of my friends seem to be breeding like rabbits! Whatever the reason, I think this cute hat turned out really well, especially considering it was my first attempt at decreasing and knitting on double-pointed needles. Here’s a picture of the recipient of this gift, the beautiful baby Xanthe Pearl. She has a little growing to do before it will fit her properly, but I am sure it will fit in no time.

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My lovely friend Sunny Kate is having a baby, so I wanted to knit her a pressie. My mother sent me some yarn in a care package, and it looks like it would be great for some kind of baby thing, because it’s washable and has lots of pastel colours in it. But what to make?

Earlier this year, another friend (Miss Digger) went to Australia and brought me back a couple of knitting magazines. In the back was a pattern for an easy-to-knit bunny rabbit, that was supposed to be made with wool and then felted, but I thought I might try using this washable synthetic yarn from my mother to see if it would work. Lo and behold, after a mere few hours of knitting, stuffing and sewing, Wonky Bunny was born.

I call him Wonky Bunny because he didn’t turn out exactly the same on both sides, mainly due to my inability (or lack of desire) to accurately count stitches. But here he is in all his wonky glory!

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