Moving forwards into February!

Hello lovely people… ☺️ I hope this blog post from me to you finds you well. ❤️

I’ve got lots of crochet news and announcements today to keep you updated on all things Coastal Crochet! So do keep on reading…☺️

January is coming to an end and that means a blog post was due. Since I started ‘Coastal Crochet’ 10 years ago, I’ve managed to keep posting here at least two times each month! When I say that out loud I can barely believe it… how have I managed that for 10 whole years?!

My love of crochet and sharing that with so many of you around the world continues to be my motivator… so THANK YOU all for reading and following along and keeping me posting! 🥰

My crochet is taking me in all kinds of different directions at the moment. So I have lots of updates for you…

Firstly, the latest issue (175) of Inside Crochet magazine came out earlier in January.

It’s a wonderful issue full of projects inspired by coastal walks and a wintry seaside.

Of course, being a coastal inspired issue I’m soooo happy to have a design in there… this is my ‘Dunes’ Tunisian Crochet cardigan using Scheepjes Stonewashed XL which I absolutely love!

These photos were taken by sand dunes near Littlehampton, about an hours drive west along the coast from my home. They really are beautiful and provided a perfect backdrop for some photos…

It’s a wonderful start to Coastal Crochet’s tenth anniversary year to have a garment design in the first issue of 2025…

Especially as I purchased the yarn back in 2016! Yes, the photo above was taken in December 2016. This cardigan has certainly been a long time coming and here’s the blog post from 2016… https://coastalcrochet.com/2016/12/30/a-coastal-christmas-holiday/

And here’s a stitch sample which I crocheted many years ago. Sometimes it can take a long time from an initial idea through to an end result, especially when there’s a lot of crochet juggling going on. There are just soooo many projects on the go! 😃

It was a sad day on 11th January when my local independent yarn shop YAK in Brighton closed its doors for the final time…

Yak was such a gorgeous yarn filled shop. The owner Kate ran it for 10 years in the heart of Brighton’s North Laines area and it introduced me to some wonderful yarns. Kate is moving onto exciting new things so it’s not all sad but an independent yarn shop will be missed enormously.

I’m so grateful I got to teach many crochet workshops there since 2018 and I have so many happy memories which I’ll cherish. ❤️ It’s where I hosted my beginner learn to crochet classes and I will really miss doing those.

I went along to a little farewell drinks which was a wonderful opportunity to say thank you and good luck to Kate the owner and all the lovely staff who worked there…

I have found this month that I’ve been wearing a lot of my own crochet…

Including my Enchanted Jumper…

Which leads me into the next announcement! I’m going to be doing a design for the 2025 Yarn Advent by independent yarn dyer Jess from Hook and Cwtch

I treated myself to the yarn advent in 2024 and from it emerged my Enchanted Jumper. It was such a wonderful creative process which I adored immersing myself in throughout December.

So I was honoured that Jess asked me to design a pattern for the next advent. People will have a choice of patterns and of course they don’t have to make what I design – the beautiful yarns can be used for all kinds of projects, both crochet and knitting. But it means I’ll get the yarns ahead of everyone else and get to play!

Jess has announced the theme which I’m soooo very excited about…

‘A Night at the Ballet’ sounds completely amazing!

And Jess has shared her mood boards…

Pre-orders are open now… I’m only sharing here to support a fellow creative and small business owner. I don’t get anything from the pre-orders except knowing that I’m helping someone sell wonderful yarns!

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1852778948/

This is a luxury, expensive item. Jess has set up payment plans to help spread the cost… all I can say is that the yarns I made my Enchanted Jumper with are the most delightful yarns I’ve ever used for a garment. They really are exquisite…

Now let’s talk about Workshops!

I have a couple coming up at my usual haunt ‘Made and Making’ in Hassocks, West Sussex: https://madeandmaking.co.uk/explore-by-category/crochet-courses

And I’ll also be at their Crochet Retreat on Saturday 22nd February. There are still a few spaces available…

BOOK HERE: https://sarahbrangwynretreats.co.uk/crochet-weekend-retreats/

And then on Saturday 5th April I’m very very excited to be travelling up to beautiful Yorkshire to host a Mandala Workshop at Amanda Bloom’s all new ‘Craft Room’!

BOOK HERE: https://www.amandabloomscraftroom.co.uk/product/crocheted-mandalas-with-eleonora-tully-of-coastal-crochet-saturday-5th-april-10-4pm

Amanda and I first met back in 2018 so it’s lovely to be working together again, especially in a new craft space.

Mandala’s make excellent workshop projects because being between 10-15 rounds, they are very achievable to finish in the workshop time and everyone will have a finished mandala to go home with!

Mandala’s are great for playing with colours and experimenting with different crochet stitches.

And then on Saturday 8th March I will be at Ida’s House Yarn Shop in Lewes, East Sussex with an all new blanket design and a chance to chat to anyone who pops into the shop which will be really wonderful! More on that soon…

Soon I’ll also be revealing more about another extremely exciting workshop adventure… I’m so keen to tell you all about it but it’s not quite ready to announce yet – so watch this space!! 😃

Here’s a sneak peek at what I’ve been crocheting throughout January especially for that event! I can’t wait to share more…

And these are for the event too…😃

Also on my hooks this January has been hats for my local run club! Crochet of course involves a lot of sitting so running is my balance to that… movement through running and yoga are part of my routine now. So when the run club asked me to design hats it was lovely to have these two worlds collide! 💚

They were tried out in Finland by Tommy Knight from our Run Club… I think he looks great in them!

A couple of weeks ago I went to visit Justine from Little Box of Crochet… plans are afoot for a big box design!

And I’m very excited to announce that the pattern for the beach bag I designed for Little Box of Crochet back in 2023 is now available on its own!

This is a design I often get asked about so it’s wonderful for me to be able to say to people that yes, the pattern is now available!

Head on over to the Little Box of Crochet website or their Etsy to purchase it… https://littleboxofcrochet.com/patterns/

I’ve got the 2025 King Cole Blanket Crochet-Along design on my hooks at the moment and I’ll also be turning these gorgeous colours of Emu yarns below into something soon too…

So there really is plenty going on for my hooks and I… 😃

I’ll leave you with some coastal photos that I’ve taken throughout January. There haven’t been many sunny days, so we’ve really appreciated them when they came…

So there you go… I hope you’ve enjoyed your crochet in January and as we move forwards into February, happy crocheting everyone… ❤️