DMC Natura XL - a review

I was sent some DMC Natura XL yarn to play with.  Now I am not a stranger to this yarn, as I have used the DMC Natura before in crocheting.  But this XL one is super chunky and comes in a gorgeous range of colours, like it's thinner cousin.

It is just cotton, nothing mixed, nothing added, just 100& cotton.  Because of this there is very little stretch and the stitches are beautifully defined.

Like most cottons it does untwist a bit so some people can find them a bit 'splitty', I don't mind that, my Amour hooks seem to cope really well with splitty yarns so it is not a problem for me.  I wasn't overly keen on the bamboo hook that I received with the yarns, but I am a bit of a one-hook girl so try it for yourself and see.

The colours of the DMC Natura XL are amazing - right up my street, they just pop out with summery brightness, who couldn't be cheerful when faced with colours like these?

There was a little leaflet with a pattern in the package with the yarn so I thought I would make some bits off that, like these wristwarmers.

And some little hearts - although the given pattern didn't seem to work so well so I added a row and edited it slightly to suit.   

Of course I had to make a heart out of every colour, then make some again  :)   So I decided to add them to a simple crochet chain to make a pretty garland.

As I had quite a bit of yarn left I then went on to crochet into this hula-hoop to make a rather large wall hanging, you may remember this one from a previous post.  :)

...... and now I have a new pile of DMC Natura XL to make something quite exciting with.  Watch this space   :)

A giant Mandala - in a Hula Hoop

This week I have been playing with a new yarn - DMC Natural XL, which is gorgeous.... but more about that later when I do my review.

After making a few bits and bobs there was a bit left over - part balls of four bright and cheerful colours.   What can I make with these, I wondered.

What I REALLY wanted to do was to make a blanket, I just thought the yarn would lend itself so well to a lap blanket, but I didn't have enough.

A mandala, I decided.  I quite like making mandalas, especially out of my head as I just hook what I think the next row needs.

I got to work, picking up the colours in no particular order, hooking different stitches in no particular pattern.

Then of course, it got bigger and bigger.  I would need a frame to put it on.

So off I popped to Argos and picked up a twin pack of Hula Hoops.  This would make an ideal frame, I thought.

And it did!

Now, I have no where to display something quite that big, so I took it up to Hobbycraft where it got a place next to my Afghan Blanket   :)

Go have a look if you like  :)  It is in the Carlisle store, just off J44 of the M6.

Crocheted Heart Bunting - DMC Urban Glam City Review

Another ball of yarn from the lovely people at DMC for me to review.

This time is it Urban Glam City, which is a Super Chunky weight yarn in a 50% Merino 50% Hypo-Allergenic Poly-acrylic Microfibre  (blimey, that's a mouthful isn't it?)

It is available in 6 pretty soft colours in a 50g ball.

It is a lovely soft yarn, easy to work with and evenly spun.

So, what to make. One ball of super chunky goes nowhere really, so I thought I would just play with it and see what happened.

I found this lovely pattern for crochet hearts and got to work using a 6mm hook.

The ball made a total of 6 hearts.  Very rustic and chunky, I'm quite pleased with them.

Now to do something with those hearts - bunting I think.  I grabbed some ribbon and thread and some vintage covered buttons that I had in my stash - no idea where they originally came from, but they were perfect for this project.

First of all I blocked them - gave them a quick wash and smoothed them all out to dry nice and flat.  MY GOODNESS, this wool STINKS when it is wet.  A real poopy sheep smell.

I stitched the buttons into the centre of the hearts, then it was time for the ribbon.  Well, that's a story in itself - I just could NOT get them to sit right.  First I tried looping the ribbon through the centre dip in the top of the heart, but they twisted about when I tried to hang them up.  In the end I settled for threading it through the edges and down through the back of the button to secure.

I popped them across the radiator to dry, Dotty Dog kept waking up and sniffing the air - must have been wondering why she could smell wet sheep.

At this point I uploaded the photos to my blog and counted.... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... hang on a minute.  I thought there was 6?  There are certainly 6 in the top photos.  Looks like I have lost a heart somewhere along the line.  This calls for a quick craft room clear up to try and find it.

Found it :)

I am going to gift these to my sister as she has a lot of red in her living room and I think she might like it.

A few questions to myself then.
Did you like it?  A lovely super thick chunky wool, nice and soft and very rustic/natural looking.

Would you buy it?  Hmmmmmm possibly, not sure if I could cope with the smell of wet sheep though if I got caught in the rain anytime.

Any bad points? Wet sheep smell, and 50g balls just do not go anywhere.  This would be much better in a 100g ball in my opinion, otherwise you would be joining it way too often for a large project.  There was hardly any left at all after making just 6 hearts.



Disclaimer:  I was sent this yarn (and others) by DMC to review, the points I make are wholly my own and I am not required or asked to give a good review, just an honest one.

Urban Glam Snood

Way back in October I reviewed the DMC Urban Glam yarn, and although I was quite unimpressed by the 'hand knotted' effect  (with not so strong knots), the yarn itself worked up really nicely.

At the time I couldn't show you the finished item as it was a Christmas pressie, but now I can  :)

It is a Snood.

I crocheted it using a series of Treble Crochets and Chain stitches.  Nice and loopy and lacy looking.

Then I sewed it into a tube.

Easy peasy  :)  The patchwork effect works really well with this pattern, but I did have to undo and redo all the knots.

DMC Ottawa & Fannie Wristwarmers - Review

Another DMC review from the big bag of mixed yarn they sent me to play with.  This time I am reviewing Nordic Spirit - Ottawa and New Romance - Fannie.

Yeah..... Fannie.   That's some name huh?  I know it means different things in the US and other places, but here in the UK is it a slang word for your......fu-fu / privates / tuppence / fairy / vag / do-dah / lady garden / *** insert your own special name here*** / .........

In fact, there was much hilarity when my daughter asked what I was doing and I replied "Hooking some Fannie!"

And onto the review.

First the Nordic Spirit - Ottawa. It is a super chunky weight yarn in 30% wool and 70% microfibre.  It is available in 8 colours and I got send this lovely mustard shade.   It is thick and soft and snuggly. Perfect, I thought, for some chunky wristwarmers.

But one 50g ball would not be enough, so I needed something to go with it.  Another super chunky in the bah was the New Romance - Fannie (chortle), which is a 20% wool, 80% microfibre mix.  It feels more or less the same as the Ottawa.....well, some of it does.

When I was looking at the yarn I thought it was a damaged ball as some bits of it were fluffy and looked unspun, after Googling it though I realised that it was supposed to be like this and it alternated between smooth and fluffy with those DREADED KNOTS that I mentioned when reviewing the DMC Urban Glam yarn. 

Small knots with yarn cut close are not good, especially those that come away with a small tug.  The last thing you want when working is for it to come apart half way through.  Grrrrr.   If it needs to be knotted, a little yarn at each end for sewing in and securing would be most appreciated.

It does come in some nice shades though  :)

Ok, so I got to work and made some wristwarmers.

Both were nice to work with - but I did take apart the Fannie and only used the smoother part for the main body of the gloves, and the fluffy part for edging the thumbs.

Will write up a pattern soon in case anyone fancies making a pair.

A few questions to myself then.
Did you like it?  I liked the Ottawa above the Fannie - but only because I really dislike (badly) knotted yarn, but both were soft and rather lovely - and when made up it feels really nice and chunky.

Would you buy it?  Probably not, unless someone asked specifically for a pair of these gloves.  Super Chunky is just a bit too thick for my liking and I can't find enough to do with it.

Any bad points? Knots in the Fannie  (really, REALLY, unsure how I can put that any more politely!!! - sorry)


Disclaimer:  I was sent this yarn (and others) by DMC to review, the points I make are wholly my own and I am not required or asked to give a good review, just an honest one.

REVIEW - MyBoshi Hat Yarn & Pattern

Recently I received a package of yarns to review from DMC. I am slowly working through them, but this yarn excited me most. :)

MyBoshi.

I think it is because it is a yarn that you do something specific with - like make a hat.  Yeah, I know, you can make a hat with any yarn, but this one is a whole collection of everything you need to make your own designer hat.   You get patterns, yarns, hook and even a label to stick on when you are finished.  DMC kindly sent me three balls (see below) and a crochet booklet.

The yarn is 70% Acrylic and 30% Merino yarn.  It is soft, but it doesn't feel so soft as others - I have tried to find a good word to describe it and the only one I can come up with is 'fiberous'!  (actually, that was Hubsters word and I can't think of a better one)  However it lends itself perfectly to crocheting these hats.

Look at the gorgeous range of colours.

The booklet also have a very clear and concise step-by-step guide to learning to crochet, so ideal for beginners.

Ok, we will make this one I think :)

Now, the pattern states for you to do a colour change in the last SS  (slip stitch) of the row - personally, I don't like this as it throws the pattern formation out, can you see by the photo, it just doesn't look quite right.

So I used my own method of finishing off as usual but pulling the yarn through a stitch, only I pulled the whole ball through and left it attached, rather than cutting off and having to sew in loads of ends.  Looks a little better don't you think?

Makes a cute basket  :)

I made the large size, by accident I hasten to add as I couldn't quite work out how the instructions worked. It was a tad confusing as the colourscheme obviously got mixed up with sizes - anywhoooo I got there in the end.  It was a good job I made the large as the medium wouldn't have fitted at all, even the large was snug.

And, this, (below) was it finished apart from one final row.  It was just way too small, and when she moved it just popped off her head.

I added another two rows then the finishing row.  Much better, still very snug, but I could imagine it would be incredibly warm due to the thickness of the yarn.  It's the type of hat that would be perfect under a hood as it fits so neatly.

Personally I would have gone up a hook size, the pattern states to use 6mm, I would have used 6.5mm or even a 7mm.  I am quite tight on tension though so tend to use larger hooks where necessary.

The finished hat is cute, very warm, very thick, and took no time at all to make.   I am just sad I don't have a label to stick on it  :)  I might have to stick my Opus Moon tag on instead  :)


A few questions to myself then.
Did you like it?  I did actually, more than I expected to.  I liked the feel of the yarn and the finished product.  It is a little splitty, but not un-workably so, the bigger hook size I mentioned would aid in this matter.  It's so quick to work though, you can get a hat done easily in an evening - instant gratification.

Would you buy it?  Yes, it comes in at under £4.00 for a 50g ball, and I used about 75g in total on this hat - not a bad price.

Any bad points? None that I can think of about that yarn, but there are a few spelling errors in the pattern book and the pattern I used, although I worked it out in the end, might not be clear enough for a beginner.


Disclaimer:  I was sent this yarn (and others) by DMC to review, the points I make are wholly my own and I am not required or asked to give a good review, just an honest one.

REVIEW - DMC Nordic Spirit - Aurora

You may recall I was sent a packet of yarns to review from DMC, well you should do it was only a few days ago  :)  If not you can find it HERE.

I had actually ran out of yarn to do the project I was working on and I was too blooming lazy to get myself off the sofa and upstairs to grab a new ball, so I decided I would try something from the packet, which was still sitting on the sofa where I had abandoned it a day earlier.

I thought this one was as good as any.... but what to make?  There was just one 50g ball of it and having worked in Super Chunky weight before, I knew it wasn't going to go far.

The yarn is a 50% wool 50% hypo-allergenic poly-acrylic microfibre  (that's a mouthful isn't it?) and I have to say it feels incredibly soft and cosy - the kind of thing you want to bury your face in and smooch it all about.  You've done that, right?

Google was not my friend that evening, try as I might I could not find a one ball pattern for a Super Chunky yarn weight, so I had to make one up.

I decided on one of those ear-warmer head band things.  On making it I thought it could have done with an extra stitch in each row as it looked a little thin, but seeing it on my beautiful model  (my daughter, Shona) it looks ok as it is, besides there wouldn't have been enough yarn for that extra row of stitches.  There was around 15" of yarn left after I had finished.

I used a 20mm crochet hook  (it's a whopper!) and here is the pattern for if you want to make yourself one.

• CH 6
• DC into the 2nd CH from the hook, then DC across  (4 stitches)
• CH 2 then DC across  (4 stitches)
• Continue until it is a snug fit around your head.

TIP: Don't make it too baggy or it will slip down over your eyes and you will not be able to see anything, wouldn't want you walking into a wall or anything  ;)

A few questions to myself then.
Did you like it?  Yeah, it was soft, snuggly, warm.  Lovely colourways, the one I used was 138, but they all look very pretty to me.

Would you buy it?  Probably not in all honesty, but only because it doesn't go very far at all so making something like a jumper would work out very expensive.
Any bad points? 50g doesn't go very far.

I am going to pop this cosy little winter accessory in the Birthday Blog Box  :)

Disclaimer:  I was sent this yarn (and others) by DMC to review, the points I make are wholly my own and I am not required or asked to give a good review, just an honest one.