March 12th, 2010 
mio It started with one:
Then it was many:
Then it was suspiciously familiar:
A slight side-tracking into the joining method:
And now it’s revealed!
Before adding the handle:
And finished!
(well, maybe… I’m debating adding some blue along the tops of the hexes… we’ll see!)
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you my Settlers of Catan bag!
Posted in Geeky, Motifs 
Tags: Bernat Satin, crochet, geek, hexagon, motif, Mystery project, natcromo, natcromo2010, Settlers of Catan 
No Comments » March 11th, 2010 mio 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!
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.
Posted in Motifs Tags: Bernat Satin, crochet, hexagon, Mystery project, natcromo, natcromo2010 No Comments » March 10th, 2010 mio I got all of my hexagons finished:
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!
Posted in Geeky, Motifs Tags: Bernat Satin, crochet, geek, hexagon, Mystery project, natcromo, natcromo2010 No Comments » March 9th, 2010 mio Hey look, a hexagon!
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:
What could I possibly be up to? ^_-
Posted in Motifs, Pattern Tags: Bernat Satin, crochet, hexagon, Mystery project, natcromo, natcromo2010 No Comments » March 8th, 2010 mio Why Yukon? Mostly because it rhymes. Also, one of these is yellow. This one, in fact:
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:
(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
Posted in Motifs, Pattern Tags: Bernat Satin, craftster, crochet, motif, natcromo, natcromo2010 No Comments » March 4th, 2010 mio In my adventures with stitch height, I made this:
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!)
January 8th, 2010 mio 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.
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…
January 6th, 2010 mio 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:
(That’s Beyond The Square motif #36)
And today’s:
(Also BTS, motif #40)
Of the two, I think I like the second one better. ^_^
January 5th, 2010 mio Today’s motif is from the same book, motif #29 found on p68, in the hexagon section.
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!
And the other side:
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:
Good thing I bought more than one. ^_-
Posted in Motifs Tags: Bernat Satin, crochet, crochet-on-the-double, Keeping Warm, motif, yarn No Comments » January 3rd, 2010 mio “What’s wrong with base chains?” you may be asking. Nothing, really. They are quite useful most of the time. In fact, they don’t really make a difference most of the time. Sometimes, though, they’re quite annoying.
For example, base chains aren’t particularly stretchy. This is a good thing if you want a nice, solid base to work with, and less so if you’re making, say, clothing.
Base chains are kind of annoying to work into; even the most advanced crocheters spend way more time working the first row into the base chain than they do working any other row in their project.
The reason this tutorial is coming up now is because base chains are at their most annoying when working with variegated yarn.
I give you this example:
This is from the pattern for my Jan. 1st motif. I made the first one the regular way, with a bunch of chains, then a dc worked into each chain. The second one was made using the method I’m about to describe.
If you look closely, you can see, very clearly, the base chain on the first example. The colours don’t match the stitches of the first row. I imagine there are some projects where this won’t matter (I can’t think of any off hand, though…), but in this one it’s quite obvious. If I’d made all of my strips that way, my motif would have looked quite odd.
I made all of my strips like the second example, and they look quite nice. Notice how the colours all match up. Purple on top of purple, dark teal on top of dark teal.
Here’s how I did it:
ch1, no-turning-chain-dc (or ch4, if you wish) :
yo, insert hook into first ch made, pull up a loop (just as you normally would to make a dc) 3 loops on hook:
yo and pull through one loop (ch made), 3 loops on hook:
Finish the dc stitch as normal; yo, pull through 2 loops, yo, pull through 2 loops. 1 loop left on hook:
Here’s the “tricky” part. yo, and insert hook in the ch you made at the bottom of the last dc. I inserted my hook under both arms of the ch to make for a pretty bottom edge:
Pull a loop through:
yo and pull a loop through the first loop on hook (ch made) :
Finish dc as normal:
Keep doing this until you get the number of dc stitches you need (did I mention this method is excellent for when you don’t feel like counting chains? It’s the base chain and first row done all at once!). Basically just start your stitch as you normally would, but once all of the loops are on the hook, do a ch-1 in the first one, then work the stitch off as normal, and work the next stitch into that ch-1 you made.
Today’s motif is from Beyond The Square again , but it’s from the circles section! (if anyone is wondering, I got this book for Christmas, and I’m just really enjoying it.) It is motif #6 found on p 43:
I’m getting better at taller stitches thanks to this book, and I thought this one turned out nicely. That circle in the middle is quite solid though… perhaps that will grow on me. I wonder what this would look like tiled… any idea how to tile decagons?
