Long time no bloggy! Sorry I’ve been so quiet dear readers, but I was on holiday with my family in Cape Town. I met up with dear friends, met Instagram friends in person (that’s you @redheadmom23 and @Liezelvs) and made amazingly creative and lovely new friends (that’s you Ella and Ananda). Huge shout-out to the girls of the Hekel Innie Kaap Facebook group. (“Hekel Innie Kaap” means “Crochet In Cape Town”). Have a peek at their January meet-up photo album to see what I experienced – 50 crocheting Afrikaans-speaking ladies all in one restaurant! Cape Town is filled with extremely creative crocheters who love sharing their inspiration and knowledge, and enjoying coming together to crochet. People after my own heart. (I say “come together to crochet” but I only managed to crochet one row of DC in the four hours I was at the meet-up. Talking about crochet is just as good as crocheting right?)

While I was in Cape Town I of course did a bit of crochet. I worked on the Convergence top (it’s half way done!) and finished one sleeve of this crochet top. I ran out of Vinnis Serina Bamboo yarn just before I left for Cape Town. I left the front piece, back piece and one sleeve in the UK, bought the extra yarn and finished the second sleeve while I was there. Yesterday I sewed all the pieces together and today I wore my top. I was positively glowing with pride. I just love it!

I am over the moon with this pattern and the Vinnis Serina yarn!

As I mentioned in this blog post, Drops Design Collection 136 contains the most beautiful collection of crochet pieces for me. I already made Whispers and Country Dreams, and now pattern 136-23 “Blues” Jumper is my third and I have to say, it’s my favourite. The pattern was easy to follow and it works up really quickly. The square motifs are done quickly “join as you go” and they make up almost half of the top. For me it went even quicker because I didn’t have any colour changes. Not that I needed colour changes to make my top interesting – look at the subtle marbling from the hand dyed yarn. Isn’t it amazing?!

As for the Vinnis Serina bamboo yarn – oh my word. So super soft! I am aware though that the yarn has a tendency to sag a bit after a few hours of wear. There is no cotton in this yarn that will help it keep its shape; it’s just 100% bamboo. That makes for a super lustre and lovely drape, but it can become “floppy”. To compensate for this, I made my top in Size M, even though my measurements are for a size L. It worked like a charm. The top fits beautifully and even if it does stretch a bit during the day, I’m not going to look like a bag lady by the end of the day.

The nitty gritty of my Serina Top:

• Pattern: Drops Design pattern 136-23 “Blues” Jumper
• Yarn: Vinnis Serina 4-ply bamboo in shade 631 Turquoise Green
• Amount of yarn used: 12 x 50g balls
• Size made: M
• Crochet hook: 3.5 mm for the sleeves & squares and 3 mm for the body
• Modifications: An extra row of SC around the neck before doing the edging. Also using a larger size crochet hook for the sleeves as I know from previous experience that Drops Design sleeves tend to be a bit tight for me.

I have a few crochet wearables that I don’t really want to wear outside the house, but this one is definitely not one of those. If you’ve never tried crocheting a wearable piece, give this pattern a try. It’s a winner!