August 6th, 2010 
mio I’ve added a new, free pattern, well, more of a recipe, really, to make a blanket like this one:
You’ll find it under “Granny” at the top of this page, click here: http://fantasticmio.com/granny
I still haven’t figured out how to enable comments on the pattern pages, so feel free to leave them here instead. Especially let me know if you decide to try this pattern!
Posted in Afghans, Pattern 
Tags: afghan, blanket, crochet, granny square, Pattern, Tutorial 
No Comments » May 19th, 2010 mio Here’s how to make the elusive bullion stitch!
First, with a hook appropriate to the yarn you’re using, make a chain about as long as your bullion stitch will be tall (I did 5)
Then grab a smaller hook (I used a 3.25mm) and put it along side your working hook, butt-to-hook.
Make sure the smaller hook goes through the loop on your working hook – this will make a later step MUCH easier!
Yarn over a whole bunch of times (I did 10 yo)
Insert your working hook into whatever stitch you’re working into (I inserted in the furthest ch from my hook). You may need to play with the yarn overs a bit to do this. Just be careful!
Yarn over
Pull through one loop
Yarn over
Pull through all loops on hook. I found it useful to very carefully pull through the first loop, then, making sure the smaller hook is butted right up against the tip of the working hook, hold onto the herd of yarn overs with your thumb and finger of your left hand, and pull the hooks through.
Take the smaller hook out
Yarn over (this will make a sort of vertical bar that ends up getting hidden behind the bullion stitch)
Pull through. Bullion stitch made!
Now do it again! And again! I did 7 more and then joined with a slip stitch to the top of the starting chain.
And here is the back; see the vertical bars?
Work around those vertical bars if you want to add more rounds that tuck behind the bullions, or work right into the tops of the bullion stitches.
Good luck!
May 10th, 2010 mio I decided to try making a Tunisian-in-the-round cola bottle cozy. It went well!
To make this, I used 2 balls of Bernat Handicrafter Cotton (MC=main colour, CC=contrasting colour), a 5mm (regular) hook, and a 6mm double-end hook.
With the 5mm hook and MC
ch3 (or ch1, then no-turn-chain-dc)
Rnd 1: work 11 dc into the first ch you made. Join. (12dc)
Rnd 2: ch3/no-turning-chain-dc, dc in same stitch. 2dc in each dc of previous round. Join (24dc)
Rnd 3: ch1, sc in same stitch. sc in next stitch. 2sc in next stitch. *sc in next two stitches, 2sc in next stitch* repeat until you reach the first sc you made. Join. (32 sc)
Remove 5mm hook, insert 6mm hook in loop (you might want to take the opportunity to weave in the starting ends shortly after you’ve made them)
Tunisian section:
lift up a loop in as many sc stitches as you can/want, starting with the stitch next to the one your loop is coming out of. Turn. Pull a loop of CC through the first loop of MC on the hook. Pull through 2 loops repeatedly until you have 2 or 3 MC loops and 1 CC loop on the hook. Turn. Lift more loops on MC up. Turn, and work them off with CC.
Continue in this fashion, working in a spiral, until you have the length you want. Work a round of sc for the last round, and join (try to hide the step created by working in a spiral previously!)
Weave in all ends.
Enjoy!
