Sea Glass Wrist Warmers…

This is a design that’s special to me… my Sea Glass inspired Wrist Warmers that are in the new issue (Issue 110) of Inside Crochet Magazine!

It’s my first design for Inside Crochet magazine and I’m so happy to have been given the opportunity to design for them… Inside Crochet is a beautiful magazine which I’ve admired for a long time.

There’s a little design story behind these Wrist Warmers that I’d like to share. As the design is now published, I can finally share some photos that I took quite a while ago…

It all started back in 2017 in Amsterdam…Many of you may remember that I am half Dutch and we regularly visit the Netherlands. But this was my first visit to the famous Stephen and Penelope yarn shop which I shared more about in a blog post here… so many gorgeous yarns but high prices too! But I did get this gorgeous green yarn by Madelinetosh in the colourway ‘Seaglass’. The photo doesn’t really do it justice because there are so many beautiful greens all in the same skein… how could I resist?! But what to make with it? I’m guilty of purchasing yarns that then don’t get used for a long time (the stunning yarn on the left is still waiting to be made into something!) but I did get going with the ‘sea glass’ yarn during a camping trip to Northumberland later in the summer of 2017…

And before I knew it I had one Wrist Warmer! Using a sea glass inspired colourway and having enjoyed a day of seaglass hunting whilst on our travels, I used sea glass itself as inspiration for the design and the Wrist Warmers have popcorn stitches around the hand section to resemble those pieces of glass. I tested the design on family members and made a second to complete the pair…

As you know, I love sharing my crochet work but sometimes a design has to be withheld until I know what I plan to do with it…

I made some more to perfect the design. These were made using Schoppel ‘Zauberball Crazy’ – a yarn I really love using…

And these were crocheted using Stylecraft Life 4ply

I even enjoyed wearing them… this is Central Park in New York City which we were very lucky to be able to visit, also in 2017. I had brought them over for a photo opportunity but my daughter actually ended up wearing them during a day of cycling!

And I used a visit to the Southampton boat show for a photo opportunity too…

But they were still a top secret design that I hadn’t shared anywhere!

And then I came across some gorgeous yarn by Cascade Yarns– their Heritage Paints range…

And I chose a colourway which resembled the blues and greens of seaglass…

And I made another pair! All the yarns used were a 4ply weight and all had a high 75% wool content (except the Stylecraft which had 25% wool). But they have all come out a little differently, especially in size. It’s amazing how different brands of yarn can really give such different outcomes. I found the Cascade Heritage Paints certainly gave me the best results…

So I’d made four pairs in total all using different yarns…

And then I decided to submit a design proposal to Inside Crochet and was so pleased that they accepted it for their ‘Colour inspired’ Issue!

And just look how they’ve been styled by the magazine team…I love it!

So designing crochet doesn’t always follow the same path… sometimes I’ll design in response to a brief and it’s all very quick, straightforward and only one sample is made. But these Wrist Warmers have had a much longer design journey and they’ve travelled with me too which I quite like!!

Happy Crocheting Everyone…