A new craft habit: crochet

Whilst I've always dabbled with a range of crafts, my staple needle-based activity has always been knitting. No longer - not only am I about to be the proud owner of a Singer Tradition sewing machine, I've also - finally - mastered basic crochet (thanks to a quick tutorial from a crochet-master friend, and an evening class at the wonderful Make & Do).

My first project - a blanket for Izzy for when she's in the buggy - was officially finished this evening! Although now the problem is, of course, that I've even more potential future projects to consider...

The blanket dimensions are 600mmx700mm. The pattern is taken from First Crochet by Lesley Stanfield but I changed the colourway, the dimensions (from a full-size throw) and added extra edging to make a thicker border. The main yarn used is Scappa Aran, an exclusively hand-dyed Scottish wool, in scarlett, pillar box and cream. I picked up 2x100g balls on a break in Edinburgh a few years ago and they've been waiting for the right project ever since. The grey highlighter yarn came from my stash, left-over from the very cool Lotta Striped Bolero I knitted for Izzy from the Millamia Bright Young Things collection, using their own-brand extra fine merino yarn.