Red river cave - Pattern review

Red river cave- Drops designs

Drops designs has a lot of beautiful and free patterns, so choosing your next project is not always easy. I knew I wanted to have something simple and quick to occupy the dark winter evenings, and since I had just finished a knitted sweater, I thought that a crochet project would be a fun change.

The Red river cave pattern looked easy enough, and it didn't require any expensive yarn, so I settled on it and even went with the recommended colour.

I printed out the instructions and started on the project. Like others have mentioned, the increase instructions for the yoke are not particularly beginner-friendly. If you haven't crocheted before, it just doesn't make much sense. I ended up going with my instinct, and it came out just fine. But as I continued, I decided to drop the shaping at the sleeves and for the body. This is a top that will be worn with a singlet under, and it should hang loose, so shaping is just not necessary in my opinion. I worked until I had the desired length and finished it off.

The reason I don't work much with cotton is that it is hard to weave in the ends. With wool, the fibres sort of stick to each other, but cotton slips easily, so I wove the ends quite deep into the work and hope that they won't slip out.  

Drop Safron is nice to work with, and overall, I am satisfied with the result. 

 

The pattern is free and available on the drop website here: Red river cave

Follow me on Ravelry here: https://www.ravelry.com/people/virginielykins

#dropspattern 

#redrivercavetop

 

DISCLAIMER. All opinions are my own, this is not a sponsored post nor a collaboration with Drops or Ravelry. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jours d'Angles

 

 

 Jours d'Angles SAL

I recently finished a SAL by Stephanie Michaud. The project was free, and each part came with detailed instructions and videos tutorials with both right and left hand instructions.

It was a six part project that would introduce the basics of working the Jours of Angles. This traditional pulled and counted work originated from the commune of d'Angles sur l'Anglin in France. 

It was a dying skill until the 1980s when local ladies started a association to preserve the local pulled work embroidery technique. 

The project was eventually made into a drawstring bag, but I decided to finish mine as a sampler with a neat hemstitch border. 

My version was worked on 32ct white Belfast Zweigart linen, and DMC  Retors d'Alsace #12

 I really enjoyed the project and was happy with the result. If you haven't tried this technique before I would certainly recommend it. It reminded me a bit of Hardanger embroidery, but completely either. The one challenging part was naturally counting, and recounting the threads before cutting.  The actually stitching was easy and relaxing, but the way to hold the cloth  did take a little getting used to.

If you would like to know more I would recommend looking up Stephanie's website:  https://www.stephaniemichaud.fr/

Work in progress

The finished Jour D'Angles sampler

Signed and dated

 

Christmas ornament 2025

Free Christmas ornament 2025 

 

The 2025 ornament is a delicate little square worked in Hardanger Kloster, and an open work ground inspired from the Encyclopedia of needlework (1886) By Therese De Dillmont.

This ornament is relatively easy to stitch and requires very little supplies, making it the perfect project for using up leftover pieces of linen, or even-weave fabric. 

The pattern is available as a free download here:

https://www.roland-designs.com/free-patterns/free-christmas-patterns

 

#christmasornament2025 

#rolanddesigns 

Work in progress

Details from the original inspiration for the ornament

Christmas ornament 2025

 

BKLR Sampler

The newest addition to the Roland-designs collection of re-charted samplers is this small Scandinavian sampler dated 1898. This classic school sampler is worked in both cross stitch, and backstitch.

The sampler has two sets of initials. BKLR, and LAR. Also, it came into my possession already bordered in a lovely, antique floral frame.

Note how the Norwegian letter Æ, Ø are present but not the letter Å. The letter Å which is now the last letter in the Norwegian alphabet was introduced in 1917, but not made mandatory until 1938, this is why you never find the letter Å in antique Norwegian sampler.

For more information please see: https://www.newsinenglish.no/2017/04/04/norwegian-letter-a-celebrates-centennial/

 

BKLR sampler

As close a match as I could find. DMC embroidery floss

 

 

This simple, but charming sampler would make a perfect ‘first’ project for someone who wishes to stitch reproductions of antique sampler. 

 

The pattern for the sampler is available on ETSY: bklrsampler  

#bklrsampler

#rolanddesigns 

Mini pocket sewing kit

 

Every year I offer a free Christmas ornament, or pattern. But this year I thought to do something a little different, and design a small embroidered item that could be given as a gift. I had a couple ideas, but quickly settled on a pocket-sized sewing kit. 

 

For years I had carried around a small sewing kit, the kind you get for free in hotels, and many times it had come in handy and saved the day when I was far from home, and needed a few stitches to fix a rip, or sew a loose button. I thought this would make a useful, and thoughtful gift, beside being a fun and interesting project. 

 

I tried out a few different versions, first on paper, then simplifying the designs, and stitched a sample on 28ct linen. I had originally thought of making a Christmas themed cross stitch design, then I considered a geometrical pattern, but after posting on Instagram and getting suggestions from followers I settled on a floral pattern. That way it is more versatile and not just a Christmas item.

 

The tiny sewing kit is approximately 6.5 x 5 x 1 cm. It is fine to stitch it on a lower count linen, the size would then be slightly bigger, but I would not recommend using a higher count linen, as then the size would be smaller and since thread bobbins are generally standard in size, it might not fit properly.

 

The pattern is available for free here: https://www.roland-designs.com/free-patterns/free-christmas-patterns

 #pocketsewingkit

#rolanddesigns 

 

Playing around with the idea

Stitching a prototype on 28ct linen

Finished sample

For my sample, I used cloth for the inside, but later decided to use felt instead.

Kind of cute, just like a mini book

After a discussion on Instagram, I settled for an antique, floral design

All done with the embroidery

The finished pocket sewing kit