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Wool on the Exe

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Well hello my lovely ones. How are we all? Hope you have all had good Easters and bank holidays! What weather we have had!! Just incredible!! We managed a few trips to the beach together and my Seaside Shawl has had its first outing of the year!!

It’s still a way off being finished, but it’s getting there. The rule with this shawl, is that I can only crochet it when I’m by the sea!!

So as you can imagine, it’s taking me a while!!

So yesterday, I was one happy little crocheter, as I had a lovely little trip to the wonderful Wool on the Exe Shop which is located on Oxehampton Street in Exeter!!! And oh my was it worth the journey!!

It’s located at the top of the street, near a roundabout, but there are lots of car parking spaces outside to be found. Once you are inside, there is an overwhelming sense of yarny calmness and colour. Your eyes are drawn all over the place, with splashes of colour and yarny magicalness. It’s a yarn lovers dream. And then, you are greeted by one of the bubbliest, kindest yarny shop people I have ever met. Yesterday, my daughter and I met Debbie. She was sooooo nice and so happy to help to us. That’s one thing that has always astonished me in the yarny world – how lovely and welcoming people are. They make you feel at home instantly and part of a happy, creative group. There’s definitely a sense of belonging. And this belonging was definitely found in Wool on the Exe yesterday!!!

We only went in for a sneaky peak as it was my birthday and came out with a bulging bag of yummy yarn.

They have all sorts of yarny magicalness in there!!! And I am happy to report, there were some incredible yarns from companies that I had never heard of!! Small little business, making a living from their livestock or their ability to hand dye. Just the best!!

They also had some of the big boys like West Yorkshire Spinners. Now they must be proud of the range that they stock in this shop too, as there was all sorts of colourful treats to be had! I was so nearly tempted by the new 4 ply sock yarn that they have just launched, but my arm got twisted by a certain bouncing little girl who found this ball of fluff.

It was tucked away under the window display, but were hawked eyes by my girl and brought to my attention!!! Now I have heard of this kind of yarn from a friend at home, but I have never come across it before and have always been intrigued! It works up with normal crocheting or knitting, but looks and feels like a real teddy bear! And oh my it is sooooooo soft!! I can’t really describe how soft it is!! My daughter was literally doing somersaults she was that excited about it!!! Well, it’s another little pile of yarn to add to the project list!!! My daughter would like a teddy bear, so thought it would be a nice challenge to design one. It says it needs a 10mm hook, but thinking I would reduce that to a 9mm maybe, seen as it’s an Amigurumi project. Definitely don’t want any stuffing popping out!!! Oooo, my designing hat seems to be on and in go go mode!! Hmm, I had better get my other projects finished first!!

So some of you may have seen that my daughter has started Finger Knitting. Well, I think some kind of addiction has kicked in, as she is loving it!!! This is the girl that has tried with bits of crocheting, but has been shown how to Finger Knit once and is a complete natural. I mean she literally walked around a supermarket yesterday, finger knitting!!! So I promised her some yarn from the fabulous Wool on the Exe shop. Once she’d whizzed around the shop, her little eyes landed on some lovely soft West Yorkshire Spinner yarn from their Bo Peep range.

This is great for all sorts of projects. So I wonder what she will make with this!! Finger knitting is all about little strands, so it’s how you assemble them together, which gives you the end product. I reckon some little teddy blankets first and see how she goes.

She also picked up the Baby Zpagetti Print Cotton yarn. Debbie had said this was great for finger knitting, so off those two went, making a necklace, giving me a chance to squeal at the delights in the shop. Bless Debbie, she was so nice with her and even showed her how the cotton was worked up and made her this beautiful necklace!! So sweet of her!! Sure my daughter will cherish it forever!!

But for my own little birthday treat, I just couldn’t resist this skein of wonder! It’s a mix of Superwash merino wool and silk and was hand dyed by the one and only Debbie!! So it was obviously meant to be!! It’s sporting some incredible colours, so will have to have a think as to what project will do it justice!! Love that it’s called Easter Eggs! Maybe it can be my Easter Sunday scarf!!

Here’s a link to their wonderful website. You will find all their workshops and events on there! Hmm, I wonder if I could arrange a holiday down here, around one of their workshops! Now there’s a thought!!

https://wool-on-the-exe.myshopify.com/

So if you are ever in the vicinity and are able to take a magical step into this little gem, then please do!! It is well worth it and you will come out feeling very happy!!! Can’t wait for our next trip, hoping to meet Ella, Debbie and the whole team next time.

Wool on the Exe. Adventures in Yarn – think that says it all…

Happy hooking.

🌈Xx

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Tutorials

How to Crochet into a Magic Ring

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Here is a simple tutorial on how to crochet into a Magic Ring.

So the first thing you are going to do is chain 1. This will give you the height for double crocheting (dc.) If you were doing half trebles (htr) then you would chain 2 and trebles (tr), you would chain 3. It all depends on what stitch you are working into the ring, as to how many chains you work.

So start by inserting your hook through the magic ring. 

Yarn over hook and pull it through.

Then yarn over hook again and pull it through the loop on the hook to make the chain stitch. This is your first chain 1. 

Now you are ready to do the amount of double crochet stitches required. So again in most normal crocheting in the round patterns, this will be 6dc.

Ok so *hook through the magic ring, yarn over hook. 

Then pull back through. 

Yarn over your hook again and then pull through the 2 loops on the hook.* This will create your first dc stitch in the magic ring.

See where the v is, that is your first dc stitch. 

Now repeat ** this until you have 6dc into your magic ring. 

(You may have a pattern that requires more into the magic ring or different stitches, but this is how many of the amigurumi patterns work.) Now pull the tail tight (the short piece of yarn) to create a ring of stitches. 

And here is round 1.

Now slip stitch into the first stitch you made to close up the ring. To do this insert your hook into the first stitch. 

Then yarn over your hook and pull through. 

Then pull your hook through the loop on the hook. This creates a slip stitch. The way to remember what a slip stitch is, is that it doesn’t have any height. So here is your magic ring with 6 double crochets inside to make your first round. 

And there we have crocheting into a Magic Ring. Here we have crocheted 6dc stitches into our magic ring, so usually the next round you would work 2dc stitches into each stitch. This would give you an increase to 12dc stitches. But it all depends on your pattern and what it asks you to do.

Also, here is a link to a video tutorial on how to crochet into a Magic Ring.

If you want to find out what to do next with your 6dc stitches, then just pop over to my Lesson 2 for Beginners – Crocheting in the Round. It’s includes how to increase your dc stitches in your rounds, how to use a stitch marker and also how to decrease.

Hope you have found this useful.

Happy hooking!!

🌈Xx

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