#EnchantedCottageKAL 4

Carrying on with the #enchantedcottagkal with Knit Now, this month's square is, in actual fact, a crochet square - right up my street! A few knitters might feel a little perturbed that one square in the knit along is a crochet square, but I say poopoo - this is THE excuse you needed to learn to crochet (get to YouTube!) or, if you really don't fancy it, each issue actually comes with 3 square patterns (as you may recall, I am knitting the Hyacinth Cottage blanket, aka the challenging one - girl, is it good!) so participants can whizz back an issue or 2 and choose any other square that takes their fancy.

Continuing with the Hyacinth Cottage, my crochet square for this month's instalment is called the Whirligig - man, I do love a great pattern name.

This square was a bit of a challenge. In order to achieve the 3-colour spiral you actually work the 3 colours on each round until the spiral is complete, keeping them all attached to the work as you go. When I first read this instruction I was a little apprehensive, but I must give kudos to Debbie Tomkies (the blanket designer), as her instructions were clear and straightforward enough that I was able to achieve the deisred effect first time. I wouldn't suggest this pattern for a complete beginner, but if you are comfortable working in the round and changing colours, this is a great square to stretch your budding crochet skills.

The real beauty in this design was the time it took to make. I crochet SO MUCH faster than I knit, and I easily had the second square completed in just over half an hour, once I had a grasp on the instructions! I migh go so far as to say I was a little sad to have finished so quickly, but I had a warm glow of accomplishment so I'm not too upset really. And considering how long the colourwork squares took me last month, it was refreshing to switch it up a bit.

Considering we are 4 designs in now, and that 2 of these have used the dark green as the main colour, I would like to see some pink squares come up in the KAL soon, to add a pop of colour to the blanket. I do love the rustic, traditional-but-with-a-modern-slant, colour scheme however, but I am itching to spend more time with the bright pink that shines so beautifully in the WYS Illustrious wool.

Make sure to keep up with how I am getting on with the knit along by following the blog, and also search the hashtag #enchantedcottageKAL to see everyone else's progress!