Getting Hooked...

Caroline Bawn is the owner of online yarn store, Gorgeous Yarns. She made a new year’s resolution to learn to crochet, and we’re documenting her journey in the magazine and here on the website.

“I don’t know about you, but now the evenings are drawing in and it’s getting a bit chilly, I feel the cold. It’s this time of year that I think about making warm woolly things; jumpers, throws, shawls and socks.

“Over the years I have knit a lot of socks! I’ve done them on double-pointed needles, top down, bottom up, Judy’s magic loop method, all sorts of ways. But I have never crocheted socks before. So, in my spirit of crochet adventure and learning this year, I was inspired by Vicki Brown’s Welly Socks in issue 69. Kettle Yarn Co Wimbledon DK in Fog and Melon Balls. The yarn is 100% superwash Merino and just lovely next to the skin. So I began the first sock, and had got to nearly the decreasing for the toe when I thought it was looking a bit odd… I’d gone wrong somewhere.

“The sock didn’t fit right, it was baggy and loose in the wrong places and my enthusiasm disappeared faster than you can pull out a foundation chain! I’m going to stick to knitting socks, I just don’t think my crochet skills are up to it. So the yarn was frogged, ready to reuse because it’s just too beautiful to put in the stash and forget. The Kettle yarns colours go really well together and I thought I might make the most of this feature and use the frogged yarns with some other Wimbledon colours to make something cosy that wasn’t beyond my optimistic skills.

“Hence, I have now made a beautiful shawl! It’s Red Sparrow Crochet’s Late Summer Shawl from issue 69. I love the colours and although I have changed the colour order to suit me, and done a double edge to the shawl, I have been fairly true to the pattern and I’m so pleased with the finished result. I have learnt two new stitches, a long treble and a bobble and I can be cosy and stylish all winter with this wrapped around my shoulders.”