I finished my second Garnstudio pattern, using Garnstudio Drops yarn and just like Whispers, it’s a huge success!

Behold “Country Dreams”:

I’m really happy with my teal blue creation!

If you look up the pattern here, you’ll see that it’s meant to be a tunic with two bands of open lace prettiness at the bottom. By now you know that I don’t wear anything that can draw attention to the widest part of my pear-shaped body, so I shortened the tunic by 10cm and turned it into a sweater.

I really enjoyed doing the lace bands from the diagram. It was an excellent way of teaching myself how to read the diagrams, as the pattern also provides written instructions for the lace band. I could look at the diagram, do what I think I had to do, and then check whether I was right by going back to the written instructions.

If you’re nervous about crochet diagrams, I suggest finding a pattern with diagrams and written instructions and doing the same.

The neck, bottom and sleeve edgings really finishes the tunic off nicely. If you wanted to, you could even leave out the lace bands and just add the edging and it would still be a beautiful.

The nitty gritty of my Country Dreams sweater/pullover/jumper/jersey (what’s the difference between these anyway?!) is as follows:

• 7 balls of Drops Safran in Petrol
• 3.5mm crochet hook
• Modifications made: I left out the first band of lace plus three dc rows, which made the tunic 10cm shorter.
• The pattern is available for free here

Just a note on the sleeves. They’re tight! I have thin forearms and I’d say average upper arms, yet the size M sleeves is a tight squeeze even around my wrists. As Safran is cotton, it will probably stretch with time, but I just had to point this out to anyone who wants to crochet this tunic, especially if you’re not going to use a cotton yarn.

I’ve been wearing Country Dreams today and it really is a pleasure to wear. Already it feels a bit softer and more drapey than it did last night when I tried it on for the first time. A few hours of body heat is obviously doing it’s thing on the cotton.

My verdict on Drops Safran and the Country Dreams pattern: Lovely!

With Country Dreams completed, I got out my Schoppen-Wolle Crazy Zauberball and started working on the Childhood Memories shawl! I’m only a few rows in, and already I’m loving it. Oooo, you know what, Country Dreams will look B E A U T I F U L worn with this shawl!

I don’t think you’ll have to wait long to see the finished shawl though. I’m addicted to seeing the colour changes (sat up until midnight last night because I just couldn’t put it down) and the pattern is much easier than it looks. Watch this space!