Crochet News and the ‘British Knitting and Crochet Awards 2021’…

Hi Everyone… how are you all? 🙂 💙 I thought it would be nice to check in and do a catch up for you all here on my blog. My hooks as always have been keeping me busy and I share regular updates over on my Instagram and Facebook pages. But I know that many of you only follow along here on my blog… so here goes! 😃

Firstly, today is the first day of the long summer holidays for me. In my day job I work as a School Nurse so I enjoy working term time only. Whilst my own teenagers are now more independent, I do still adore having the school holidays off and it means I can focus even more on my crochet! 🙂 I do love holiday crochet projects!

We’ve enjoyed the most gorgeous summer weather here this last week and have made the most of it and swam in the sea most days…

We can only swim when it’s high tide along our little stretch of coast… and this week the high tides were in the evenings… perfect for sunset swims. The water has been so clear and calm, it really felt like I could have been somewhere a very long way from home! But this is home… by the Sussex coast… 🙂

The biggest news to share with you all is that I’m absolutely thrilled to have heard last week that I’ve been shortlisted for two awards in the Let’s Knit ‘British Knitting and Crochet Awards’ 2021! 😮😄 This is such an honour and I’m truly very grateful and thankful to each and every person who nominated me for both:

‘Most Iconic Crochet Designer’ and ‘Social Media Superstar’ awards!

I’ve been shortlisted amongst some other absolutely AMAZING Crochet Designers and Social Media Superstars… people who I myself have followed for many years… but if any of you do feel inclined to vote for me in these categories then voting is open now!!

https://www.letsknit.co.uk/awards

Since I started my ‘Coastal Crochet’ journey and began sharing my passion for crochet online through this blog and over on my Instagram and Facebook, it’s been the wonderful fellow yarn lovers who have decided to follow my work that have motivated me, encouraged me, crocheted along, shown me kindness and been just so super supportive!! So THANK YOU all… 💙💙

I do love that my crochet gets me around at times and I’ve really missed that during the COVID pandemic. But I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am to be heading to Northern Ireland for the ‘Spinning Yarns’ Festival on 5th September!

https://spinningyarnsfestival.com/whats-on/

I’ve been invited to be a guest speaker and I’ll be talking about my life as a crochet designer and share how I approach design work and all the processes I use. I’ll be answering any question and my blankets are all coming along with me too! How wonderful to be going to an actual yarn festival once again…

Tickets are on sale now! If any of you lovely people live in Northern Ireland I’d love to see you there…

I’m also very excited to be in a FRENCH magazine – the summer edition of ‘Créative’. I took part in a little interview and also designed a new bunting pattern for them…

And for those of you who have followed my crochet adventures for a while, you might remember that I was slowly working my way through the ‘International Diploma in Crochet’ run by Pauline Turner:

https://www.crochet.co.uk

Well… I finally completed Part 2!! 😄 It’s taken me 5 years which was never the original plan but my actual crochet design work really took off since 2016 and it’s been so consistent and regular that the diploma has had to take a back seat on many an occasion! But it’s finally done…

As you’ll have seen, my Tropical Shores Blanket crochet-along which I designed for King Cole, is in full swing and I’m thoroughly enjoying seeing everyone’s progress.

And I’ve had a yarn delivery from Cygnet Yarns! 🙂

This is their super chunky ‘Scrumpalicious’ yarn and it really is soooo incredibly soft! Do you remember the yarn bomb I designed and sent off to Italy for the ‘Yarn Bombing Festival’?

https://coastalcrochet.com/2021/06/13/yarn-bombing-festival-milan-edition-🇮🇹/

Well I was planning on releasing that as a pattern, including changing it into a super chunky blanket.

But just as the pattern was ready to go, I discovered the colour of the original yarn I used has been discontinued so I’m trying out the pattern using this ‘Scrumpalicious’ yarn from Cygnet Yarns instead. I’m pretty sure this will crochet up super fast, so there won’t be too long to wait for those of you who are interested in this pattern! 🥰

I’ve also crocheted it using a 4ply cotton…

And finally, earlier this week Stylecraft Yarns released a new yarn called ‘ReCreate’. I’m really excited by this one because it’s been created from 100% recycled materials! That has to be a good thing doesn’t it… ReCreate is a blended yarn that is 40% wool from recycled garments, 30% acrylic, also from garments that have been recycled, and 30% polyester that comes from plastic bottles that are shredded and spun. It sounds brilliant…

I’ve ordered one of each colour and I can’t wait to design something with this. I have ideas up my sleeve!

The Knitting Network have it in stock and if you purchase through this link I earn a small amount of commission with no extra cost to you: https://www.theknittingnetwork.co.uk%2Fstylecraft-recreate-dk-sky-1946

So there you have the news from my hooks! I’ve been up to lots and there’s plenty to come too… thank you so much, as ever, for following along! Happy Crocheting Everyone… 🙂 🙂 💙