An Ombre Wall Hanging

Goodness, what a wonderful glimpse into homes around the world you gave me with your tales of what you can hear from your open windows! Hawaiian birdsong, Canadian Geese, American train whistles, church bells, chattering swans, croaking frogs, boat masts clinking in the wind, owls, tractors, even power stations - so evocative, all of it, thank you so much. And thank you for sharing your rituals too, with me and with each other. The conversations and comments made me smile. We are all very similar, it seems.

Now, I have another question for you: how do you pronounce the word "ombre"? I am quite confused - I thought is was a one syllable word and that the "e" on the end was completely silent, but I have since heard it pronounced "om-brer" to rhyme with "somber", "om-bray" and "om-bree". However you say it, l like it very much, and I have a ombre wall hanging to show you today. 

I am completely delighted with this little project because, as well as liking the look of it, it marked a crochet achievement for me. I finally mastered the crocodile (or scale as it's also known) stitch. I tried this last autumn and just couldn't get the hang of it, but after looking at this great tutorial I sat down and had another go and, for some reason, this time it clicked and I was off. I love, love, the shape of the scales, the way they lie on top of each other, the way you can quite quickly create a piece of fabric with so much depth and structure. 

Once you're done the foundation chain and get going it's actually a lot easier than it looks and I really want to work with this stitch again. I have a feeling it would look brilliant as a bag, perhaps a big clutch with wooden handles. 

I had an idea that I wanted to make something for the blue wall in our bedroom, something like a wall hanging, and upon looking in my stash of cotton yarn I realised that not only did I have a lot of blue, it was the right blue for the wall. I had a good range of shades and they looked really nice running from dark to light, and so the ombre seed was planted. 

I really don't like it on the blue wall. I don't know why but it just doesn't work for me. Too much blue. It's lost at sea.

It definitely works better for me on a paler background. It's actually hanging in our hall at the moment but I think I may move it again. 

I had a bit of a conundrum working out how best to hang it. It needed something straight along the top to stop it bending and flopping everywhere, something the size and length of a crochet hook, really. After much rummaging and experimenting the perfect thing turned out to be a wooden skewer like the kind you'd use for kebabs on barbecues. 

I sawed off and sanded the pointy end and just inserted it along the top row, behind the stitches, wrapping yarn tightly around each end to keep it in place.

I love looking at this and I enjoyed making it which counts for a lot too. It was quite a fast make once I got going, maybe a week or so. I really want to make more of these. Imagine, a white wall covered in ombre wall hangings in all different colours! Oh my word, I want to do that right now.

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For those who like to know such details, I used a 3 mm hook and I think most of the yarn was Rico Essentials cotton (which I like a lot as it comes in a cracking range of colours and has a nice, subtle sheen to it) with maybe some Annell cotton in there too. Also, the blue wall paint is Princeton Blue by Valspar and the off-white is Heathcliff's Castle by Crown. Aren't paint names just ridiculous?