Mystery Afghan Crochet Along 2015.

Hello lovelies ❤

As I mentioned in my last post, I have recently learned to crochet. I learned by watching the lovely Sarah-Jayne over at Bella Coco, who has some fantastic tutorials on YouTube. Find her blog here and her YouTube channel here if you are interested in learning crochet too. 

One thing I have found difficult whilst learning is the difference in terms between the US and the UK. If you are following a US tutorial you have to remember to convert the terms. Here is a table explaining the differences.

Despite the confusion, I have decided to take part in the Yarnspirations 2015 mystery afghan crochet along (UK crocheters be aware that they use US terms). They also do a knitted version if you prefer. I think I may print out the pattern for the knitted version and make that one too. Here  is a link to both the knitting and crochet clues.

The idea of this mystery afghan is that you get a clue per week every Tuesday for 10 weeks. You follow the clues without knowing what the finished afghan will look like. There are diagrams as well as the written patterns for the crochet version. I cannot yet follow crochet patterns or diagrams so I am relying on the videos on Yarnspirations YouTube channel. The videos guide you with the clues and the crochet ones feature the adorable Mikey from The Crochet Crowd. We are up to week 3 so far and it’s certainly looking interesting up to now. Week one was simply crocheting 20 granny squares. Week 2 was crocheting a cross on top of these 20 squares in a different colour. Week 3 is using 2 more colours to add more layers to the 20 granny squares.

 Here are my completed week 2 squares. I didn’t take a photo of week one but it was just the plain green squares.

 

 And here is the week 3 clue completed. The corners of the squares now have large loops made with the blue yarn which look a little strange but I have faith that the pattern will come together in the end.

Some of the ladies on Facebook have been brainstorming and have come up with some ideas for how the loops may be incorporated into the design. At this point I have no idea. I did originally think maybe they were going to be butterfly wings but now I am leaning towards the top right picture as I think that looks very effective. It reminds me of a Maltese cross. Hopefully we will find out next Tuesday when clue 4 is released.

Yarnspirations came up with a few different colour palettes for both the crocheted and knitted afghan using either Caron or Bernat yarn. I chose one of the Caron Simply Soft sets and I am using Pistachio for my main colour, Autumn Maize as my first contrast colour, Victorian Rose as my second contrast colour and Light Country Blue as my third contrast colour. I have never used Caron yarn before and I’m not totally sure if I like it yet. The strands seem to split easily which makes it difficult to work with and it has a very strange sheen to it that I am not used to. I love the colours though so we’ll see what it looks like at the end.

Are you taking part in any crochet alongs or knit alongs? This is my first one and I am very excited to see how it turns out. If any of you are on Ravelry please feel free to add me. My user name is SpiritWild12791 ( which, incidentally is also my Pottermore user i.d if you are on there 😉 ).

I’d love to see how you’re getting along if you are making this afghan.

Take care,

Jackie ❤

 

Imperial Candles Review.

Hello lovelies.

Over the past month I have somewhat neglected my blog. If you follow my Instagram – which you can find here – you will see I have been a busy bee doing lots of crafts. I also learned how to crochet. If you would like any craft related posts on here do let me know and I will be happy to oblige.

Anyway, on to my thoughts on Imperial Candles.

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Imperial Candles are a UK company who make hand poured, soy candles. In each candle there is a piece of jewellery that is valued between £10 & £2000. There is also a chance to win an IPad if you receive a code wrapped up with your jewellery. Your candle is poured after you place your order so there is a few days wait. I received mine exactly a week after ordering. Incidentally, when I did receive it, it was packed very well. The candle is suspended in a cardboard cradle within another box so would be very difficult to damage in transit.

There are so many beautiful scents to choose from but I picked ‘Festive Cranberry’. Having looked on their website – which you can find here – I am very tempted by the coconut scent and also the vanilla.

  

As you can see, the candles have 2 wicks which helps to prevent tunnelling and the glass jars that they come in are beautiful. The scent throw was not impressive at first but once we had burned it for about 30 minutes than it filled the room with a fruity aroma with a hint of festive spices.

Prices start at £22.99 and run up to £28.99 with sets of 2 also available. If you compare this to a large Yankee jar candle for £19.99, it is a few pounds more expensive but remember that as well as getting a piece of jewellery you are also getting a quality, all natural soy candle with Imperial Candles.

It took my candle about 11 hours to burn down enough so that I could safely remove the jewellery. I will admit that I was tempted to dig down into the wax to get it sooner but I managed to refrain from ruining my lovely candle. You can see in the above photo the shadow where my ring was located and also what the package looked like when I had removed it with tweezers (which was a lot less messy than I anticipated). The ring was wrapped in 2 layers of foil and a little bag so there was no danger of wax getting onto it. Even if you do get the soy wax onto your jewellery, simply rinsing it under hot water will clean it up nicely.

A huge plus about Imperial Candles is that you can choose what jewellery you want. You can pick from a necklace, earrings or a ring. Obviously the style of your piece will still be a surprise but I like that you have the option to choose. Even better is that you get to select your ring size so you know it will fit you. I have seen many jewellery candle reveals on YouTube where you have no say in what you receive.

Overall I am hugely impressed with Imperial Candles. One word of caution though. As with anything it is complete chance as to what you receive. Do not buy a candle expecting to receive a valuable piece of jewellery. I saw it as I was buying a quality candle to enjoy and whatever I received inside it would just be a fun bonus. Speaking of what I received, I will leave a picture of it down below. The RRP of the ring I got in my candle is £35 and it is 925 sterling silver (handy as I am sensitive to most metals other than silver and gold).

I’m really pleased with my new ring and it fits perfectly. Have you ever tried any jewellery candles before?

I’ll speak to you soon, 

Jackie

*All opinions are my own. I bought this candle with my own money and received nothing in exchange for this review.*