Every month, when I get that little email to say that my next Crochet Society box is on its way to me, I get really excited.  I start to act like a child at Christmas, stalking the postman in case he is bringing me my little box of happiness.  

There are a number of reasons that I began to subscribe to these boxes, the main one being the yarn.  I love yarn in all shapes, sizes and fibres. If budget and space allowed I would own a lot more yarn than I do at present.  I do have a modest stash though, enough to provoke a few complaints from my husband when he trips over some that has spilled out of a cupboard!  By subscribing to these boxes, I get to experience different types of yarn that I wouldn’t necessarily come across in any of the local yarn shops.  I’m also hoping that the boxes will introduce me to new stitches and makes to take me out of my comfort zone and eventually help me to learn how to design items myself (watch this space).

Every month I will be making each of the patterns in the books, both in the yarn supplied and with yarn from my stash and discussing my experience with the pattern.

So, Box 3.  The outside of each box is just as beautiful as its contents. Box 3 has a beautiful purple colour scheme, with sparkly stars and circles, and the delightful velcro fastening, which a number of subscribers, myself included, like to hear when they crack open that box for the first time.

Box Contents

Inside the box is a tissue paper wrapping sealed with a Crochet Society sticker. I would have posted a picture of this but I had already opened the box before deciding that this would be the first box I review.  On opening the tissue paper we are presented with some beautiful yarn; at 200g of yarn, this is more than in the previous two boxes, each one of those containing only 100g.  

Yarn

This month’s yarn is the King Cole Cottonsoft DK in shades white (710) and lavender (1849).  It is 100% cotton and is quite honestly the softest cotton yarn I have ever worked with. Each ball has 210m (229 yards) of yarn which will be plenty to do at least two of the three projects in the pattern book. Because I knew I would be doing all 3 patterns plus the bonus pattern, and had no cotton DK in my stash, I went out to restock (like I needed an excuse to go to the yarn shop).

Pattern Book

Next out of the box is the pattern book, which opens with a welcome from Sarah-Jayne and a picture of her holding the box.  One of the items in this book that I like the most is the little interview with one of the designers who created a pattern for the box.  This month it’s Emily Littlefair, who designed the first pattern in the book. I also enjoyed the page later on that talks about mandalas.  So far, each month has featured something to wear, something for the home and a toy.  

Crochet Tools

Now for the next best thing about the box – the goodies.  I love me a nice hook and the Crochet Society does not disappoint when it comes to pretty hooks.  A rose gold metal head with a polymer resin handle, which is hand made (evidenced by the makers’ fingerprints on the handle), in colours that are complementary to the box. This month’s was lilac and white in a size 4mm.  In use these hooks are lovely if you like using handled hooks; I personally find a handled hook more comfortable for longer sessions of crochet but appreciate that not everyone likes using this type of hook.

Also in the box is a stitch marker with a mandala on it, a lovely project/hook bag, an incredibly handy project tracker pad with a pen, and the stuffing and safety eyes for the toy project.  All of these have a luxurious feel to them and really add something to the box.

Projects

Cowl

Now for the projects.  The first project is designed by Emily Littlefair of The Loopy Stitch and is a cowl pattern.  Worked in the mobius method, this basically involves putting a twist in your work on the first row so that you work both the top and the bottom at the same time.  When I first saw this pattern I was a little intimidated as I was unfamiliar with the mobius method. I took my time and it wasn’t as difficult as I at first thought it would be.

Then I came to round 2, which was an extended X stitch.  For some reason I really struggled to follow the step by step pictures provided in the book, so I resorted to using the tutorial video.  The fact that these boxes come with tutorial videos provided by Sarah-Jayne was one of the selling points for me. I use Sarah-Jayne’s tutorials quite a lot and find her tutorials very helpful.  One of the first things that I noticed on this particular video was that she was using a different size hook than both the one provided in the box or the one listed in the instructions.  This is the only difficulty I experienced and a slow walk through the X stitch on the video helped everything make sense and I completed the row.

One thing I did find hard on this project was the incredibly long rounds, because you are working on the top and bottom of the cowl at the same time, and each round is 360 stitches long. I’m one of those people who likes to see things grow nice and quickly and while this only took 3 to 4 evenings to complete, it felt like a chore at times.  Overall though, I love the finished piece and already know who I’m gifting it to.

Amigurumi Unicorn

Pattern two is an amigurumi unicorn designed by Irene Strange.  I have a love/hate relationship with amigurumi; I love how they look and hate sewing them together!  Of course, even if I had not decided that I would be making everything in each box, I wouldn’t have had a choice in the matter because I have 2 unicorn mad daughters! 

I used a 3.5mm hook for this; the book says 4mm and the video says 3.25mm. Having done a little amigurumi before I knew a 4mm hook for DK weight yarn would be too big and the holes would be big enough for the stuffing to show.  I don’t own a 3.25, hence using 3.5mm.  

The instructions were incredibly clear, though I have to confess to being a little frustrated at there being few detailed instructions on sewing together.  This is the part of toy making I really struggle with. I recently made a lovely monkey toy for my 3 year old and half an hour of being carried by his hand and his poor arm was hanging off!  

I also made the bonus pattern of a mermicorn, which was very much appreciated by my eldest daughter.

Mandala

The final pattern in the book was a mandala designed by Little Duck Crochet.  I have to confess that out of the patterns in this box, this was my least favourite.  Having discovered mandala style crochet in the form of Helen Shrimpton’s Mandala Madness I found it a little bit boring doing the same stitches in each round.  However, despite this, I think the finished piece is beautiful and will look lovely with a vase of flowers or a lamp sat on it.

If reading this has inspired you to subscribe to the box, you can find all the subscription details at www.crochetsociety.co.uk.  I highly recommend it. I have enjoyed all 3 boxes so far and am excited to see what comes in box 4. Hopefully by then I will have my own YouTube channel set up and you can share my excitement.

Much Love

Helen