Archive for the ‘Afghans’ Category

Joining Ridge

I mentioned back around Christmas that I was tired of joining my motifs with the whip-stitch. So, I decided, in the spirit of NatCroMo, to give the sc join a second chance.

Some folks really like this join, and I’d always secretly thought that they’d talked themselves into liking it because it was faster and more fun than whip-stitching. I have to admit, it’s starting to grow on me!

DSC03878

It’s not hard to do, as I mentioned, you just hold the two motifs together and do sc stitches into a stitch on each of them, at the same time. Hold them right-side out if you want the ridge on the front, and right sides together if you want it on the back.

Curiouser and curiouser

I got all of my hexagons finished:

DSC03870

They each measure about 5″ from side to side. I’m thinking of joining them with sc stitches… I’ve never really liked the look of that joining method, but I’m going to give it another try, as whip-stitching them all together isn’t my idea of fun.

It’s NatCroMo; I’m supposed to have fun!

Minus Two

Hey look, a hexagon!
DSC03868

Here’s the (lazy) pattern:

R1: *dc, ch1* 6 times
R2: *3dc in ch1 sp, ch1* 6 times
R3: *3dc, ch1, 3dc all in ch1 sp* 6 times
R4: 1dc in each previous dc, *dc, ch1, dc* in ch1 sp (8 dc per side)
R5: same as R4 (10 dc per side)

I’ve made a few of them:
DSC03867

What could I possibly be up to? ^_-

Yukon Octagon

Why Yukon? Mostly because it rhymes. Also, one of these is yellow. This one, in fact:
yellow-octagon
And that reminds me of Yukon Gold (which is a potato… yeah, I’m not sure where I’m going with this either…)

I made this for a motif swap I was in. It was a scavenger-hunt-style swap, and one of the motifs we were to “look for” was one we designed ourselves, and this was mine!

Here it is again in white:
blue-octagon
(Um… it snows in the Yukon Territory! Snow is white! Yes, it’s all coming together now…)

Now, I’ve written this pattern in my usual, lazy style. There is no mention of how to start it, so start it however you like to start a motif made in the round. Use a Magic Ring, or just work into the first chain you made, or whatever floats your boat. I also haven’t described any turning chains. Every round is made up of dc stitches, so use something appropriate. I used no-turning-chain-dc stitches, but you could also use a ch2 or ch3. Whatever you use, treat it like a regular dc stitch for the sake of the pattern.

Oh, and don’t forget to join each round. No spirals here!

Octagon Motif:
rnd1: *dc, ch1* 8 times
rnd2: *2dc in ch1 space, ch1* 8 times
rnd3: *2dc, ch1, 2dc in ch1 space* 8 times
rnd4: *3dc, ch1, 3dc in ch1 space, dc in other space* 8 times

Pentadecagon

In my adventures with stitch height, I made this:

DSC03857

And here is the pattern:

Work in rows, leave a long starting tail
ch6
R1: sc in second chain from hook, hdc, dc, htc, tc. ch4 (counts as a tc) turn
R2: htc, dc, hdc, sc, ch1, turn
Repeat these two rows until you have 15 rows.
Use the starting tail to sew the bottom of the first row to the top of the last row. Weave in end.

Working in the round, make 4 sc around the tc stitches around the edge. Join to first sc. Weave in end.

(As always, please let me know if you try this pattern, and if you come across any errors!)

NatCroMo 2010

Happy National Crochet Month!

I have no idea where it comes from, but this is at least the third year it has been celebrated.

The Crochet Guild of America is doing a Crochet-along. Ravelry is having a party. Craftster is getting in on the fun, too! And you can follow the excitement on Twitter by searching for #natcromo.

As for me, I’m going to try and crochet even more than usual this month (though, I’m not sure how I’m going to do that yet…)

This morning on my commute to work I started making another Diet Coke Bottle Cozy, mostly just to see what the pattern would look like with striped yarn. I finished it at lunch, and here it is!
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In other news, I finished the Ladybug blanket!
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A close up of the face:
DSC03757

I ended up crocheting a separate black wedge and sewing it on for the face, as the colour changes on the big circle really weren’t working for me. Sewing the spots on was quite annoying as well… I’m going to have to find a better way to do that. Not that I plan on making this blanket again, but I’m sure this sort of technique will come up in something else.

So, back to NatCroMo: Learn to crochet! Crochet something new! Learn a new crochet technique! Crochet in public! Talk about crochet! Sing about crochet! But above all… CROCHET! ^_^

Counting on not counting

My mom wants to give that Ladybug blanket as a gift in March, so I thought maybe I should finish making it, or something. So, I brought it with me to my last Crochet Guild meeting, figuring that I’d get a good chunk of it done.

Unfortunately, my original plan for making this circle pattern was to count to the number of rounds I’m on, 12 times, to make sure I get evenly spaced increases that aren’t all stacked on one another (and thereby making a dodecagon and not a circle). As it turns out, it’s difficult to count while chit-chatting. I ended up putting the blanket aside and working on other things (of *course* I brought other yarn. Whose blog do you think you’re reading here?).

Obviously this is the sort of project that needs attention: no chit-chatting, no subway, no work, no television. As it turns out, I don’t have enough time like that in my schedule between now and March. What to do?

Well, I came up with a solution, but only because of a totally unrelated conversation on Ravelry recently. We were talking about the chainless foundation, and whether or not it could be used in projects that don’t start with a plain, all-one-kind-of-stitch first row (turns out it can… more on that later). Anyhow, someone was having trouble seeing where to insert the hook to make the next stitch, and someone else suggested she put a stitch marker in the chain stitch so that she could find it more easily.

Huh.

You know, I *never* think of using stitch markers. I’ve ignored them in every pattern I’ve made that called for them, mostly because I haven’t needed them. I know what various stitches look like, I can see very clearly when they change into other stitches, and so often the stitch markers are there so that you don’t have to count three or four stitches every time. To me, it’s not worth the annoyance of using stitch markers, just to save a second or two.

But, because of that recent conversation, I did think of it this time. And look!

DSC03731

That’s 12 evenly spaced scraps of yarn. I am now crocheting and watching TV with abandon!

(P.S. I’ll be teaching my Crochet Guild how to make Crochet-on-the-Double hats at the next meeting, on Feb. 20th. If you decide to come check it out, bring a 6mm, double-ended hook, and some worsted weight yarn in two colours with you. I recommend a ball of each colour you want in Bernat Satin, but use what you want. There will be some hooks at the meeting, available to buy, but I don’t know how many they’ll have.)

Blame The Camera

Ok, this is the second motif I’ve made this year where I didn’t notice a
glaring mistake until after I’d taken a picture of it.

2010-01-07-BTS131

BTS, motif #131, in the “unusual shapes” section. I like that it’s a bit of a diamond pattern. I don’t like that I managed to cram the two dark yellow clusters at the bottom of the motif into a stitch instead of the ch1 space next to it.

Oh well… next time…

Two, Two, Two Motifs In One!

I’ve been working on a crocheted top recently, using a “graduated stitch” method. It’s pretty neat, and I hope the top turns out to be wearable (I don’t exactly have a history of making wearables the right size…). I’ll post more information about it once I finish the first side (soon, I hope!)

In the meantime, here is yesterday’s motif:
2010-01-05-BTS036
(That’s Beyond The Square motif #36)

And today’s:
2010-01-06-BTS040
(Also BTS, motif #40)

Of the two, I think I like the second one better. ^_^

More to come! (Possibly even from a different source!)

Dainty it ain’t

Today’s motif is from the same book, motif #29 found on p68, in the hexagon section.

2010-01-04-BTS029

I was really hoping for a lighter motif, but this one is quite dense in the middle, and it’s very heavy. It also curls inward, but I think it would do ok if joined to other motifs. I’d hesitate to tile this motif, as the resulting fabric would be really heavy… though, I suppose that depends a lot on the yarn.

And, hey look! Another hat!

DSC03666

And the other side:
DSC03667

Pictures don’t do the colours justice. I took a lot of pictures of this hat. In full sun, in difused sun, with flash, without flash, with indoor lights of various types… you’ll just have to take my word for it: it’s pretty. ^_^

It’s Bernat Satin again, about 3/4 of a ball of teal, and almost an entire ball of “Luxury Ombre”, which is the variegated yarn.

It’s the same pattern as my last hat, but I did 45 stitches to start instead of 50. It turned out a little bit too small for my liking… the brim doesn’t cover the whole of my ears. Ah well, I’m sure I’ll find a use for it.

This is how much of the variegated yarn I had left after making this:
DSC03670

Good thing I bought more than one. ^_-