Monday 31 October 2011

Happy Halloween

Hello Lovelies,
Hope you are having a fun Halloween if you celebrate it. We are so lucky around here. There is a great atmosphere with lots of pumpkins in windows and on doorsteps signaling that trick or treaters are most welcome. The boys have a ball and it really feels like a wonderful community event...............




 These are our pumpkins carved by Mr BM. He seems to have taken over this role and though the boys helped with the designs the precision cutting is all his :0)

News on the crochet front is..........
I'm onto the border of my baby ripple blanket .....ta-dah coming very soon....yippee !


Have a great week
Jacquie x

p.s.my October Nature Notes  post will also be  coming later this week .

Thursday 27 October 2011

Autumnal sights and projects

Hello Lovelies, this week I have been lucky enough to get the half term off to spend relaxing with my boys. The weather has mostly been great .....sunny with blue skys and we have been making the most of our time off. There has been bike riding with lots of photo stops for me . .......



I'm loving the light and gentle heat of the sun this week........





There has also been extra crochet time to enjoy........




These pictures were taken on Monday and I'm even further on with this fun project now.........



Yesterday I had a minor panic when I realised I had run  out of Saffron yarn. It's the lovely warm Yellow you can see in the picture above.  I quickly reordered some more  online but was sad to stop rippling.I needed something quick and simple for my hook to do .

Surfing Flickr  I was extremely happy to stumble upon these cuties :0)  Aren't they great , If you don't know Dawns work I can thoroughly recommend her blog.....Fiddlesticks. where she has also posted about her Owlies.

I had to make my own . Would you like to see how they turned out ??

I do hope so .........



This is my first attempt.I love the chunky look Dawn's have so I held 2 strands of double knitting yarn together and used a 5mm hook for mine. In fact for the "daddy" owl I held 3 strands together and used a 6mm hook . ....



If you fancy making your own Dawn has promised to share her pattern soon....mine were just improvised as I went but I think they turned out pretty cute too .......



I love the tufty "ears" on Mummy owl .........



And on the wet grey day that today has turned out to be I enjoyed playing around creating a seasonal background for them with our pumpkins waiting to be carved and a few faded blooms from the drippy garden............




As I have now been blogging for over a year I can see that this week last year also had an owl and pumpkin theme :0)

Hope you are enjoying saying goodbye/hello to the suns heat........depending which part of the world you live . I love the changing seasons and know that though I don't look forward to the cold , wet , short days  it will make the spring such a joy when it arrives again.
Jacquie x

Sunday 23 October 2011

Stripes and Waves

Hello Lovelies,
I've got a new work in progress (WIP) to share with you today:0)

but first a little quiz......



Anybody guess what this rather wonky rectangle is ? It's a finished object I made for my youngest. He's been asking me to make this for a while. He  chose the colours and it measures 25cm (10 inches) by 12cm ( 5 inches). Answer at the bottom of this post :0)

But don't rush to the end yet, here is my latest WIP........

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Oooooh colourful ripples !!  Yep I've joined the ripple-along organised by Lucy and Heather. I tried to resist for a while as to be honest I can't say I enjoyed my only previous ripple experience.I love the look of this cushion cover I made back in 2009 .....



But I remember getting very frustrated by it at the time.....I went wrong lots of times and I also chose to work in the back loops only on the colour change rows which added extra fiddle factor. I can't remember exactly which pattern this is but this time I'm using Lucy's Neat Ripple pattern and it's much easier.....or maybe my crochet has improved.
 That's not to say it doesn't require some concentration and counting. It's not a super easy granny square type of pattern. I've already gone wrong once and had to pull back a couple of rows . That's when I was glad it's not a big project.....



Yes it's a baby blanket , inspired by this beauty. I'm not sure what I will do with it when it's finished but for now I'm just enjoying the making ....the ripple and I are friends at last :0)



I love looking along the waves of colour and there is certainly something to be said for working with all these intense hues .
It feels great to be part of the fun and I know so many others feel the same. Check out the amazing creations over at the ripple-along Flickr group.Right , I'm off to add another colour. Oh and I nearly forgot the quiz answer. ....



It's a car seat belt cozy thingy....not sure what they are called but it's to stop the seat belt cutting into your neck.
Enjoy your Sunday
Jacquie x

Friday 21 October 2011

How to crochet a Granny Square


Hello Lovelies,
today I'm posting a tutorial on how I make my granny squares. I'm sure there are many ,many other tutorials and you tube videos on this subject but as a few of you have asked how I personally make mine I thought I would share my method .

 Granny squares are a great beginner crochet project as you only need to be able to chain , slip stitch and U.S. double ( U.K. treble ) crochet.
I expect there is much information on how to do these basic stitches online as well as in every crochet book. Getting a friend or relative to show you the basics takes some beating though :0)

The pattern is oh so simple. There are a few variations that may not immediately be obvious and a common problem encountered by some is where the rows begin to twist as the square grows. Like this, most frustrating !
I don't know exactly what causes this to happen but luckily my method unknowingly seems to avoid this problem .
So here is how I make granny squares...

U.S. terms as usual :0)
To begin chain 4 ........



insert hook into furthest chain from hook and slip stitch to form a loop....



Chain 3 ( counts as first double crochet )....



work 2 further double crochet( D.C.) into loop........



this is your first double crochet cluster :0)

chain 2 then make 3 D.C into loop chain 2 .repeat 2 times more and slip stitch into third chain of initial 3 chain . this is you first round complete. Can you see how the 2 chains are making the corners of your square ..........



If you want to change colours at this point then fasten off . If you want to make the next row in the same colour I copied my sister in laws method of slip stitching along to the next 2 chain space like this . Slip stitch into the top of the second D.C. ...



and then slip stitch into the 2 chain space. Easy when you know how but I never figured this out by myself !



Then start round 2 by chaining 3....



and working 2 D.C. into same 2 chain space. In the SAME 2 chain space chain 2 and work 3 D.C. Forms corner of round 2 .........



Work 3 D.C. chain 2, 3 D.C. into next 2 chain space of round 1 ....



Repeat this pattern in the 2 remaining spaces then join to initial 3 chain with a slip stitch......



As I'm changing colours at this point I've pulled up a loop and finished off.........



This is how I join a new colour. First I make a slip knot like at the beginning of a chain...



Pull this tight........



And insert hook into a space along the SIDE of my little square. In this example I've inserted my hook from front to back , back to front is probably better, but it's not crucial with this pattern ......



Yarn over ....


pull though space and yarn on hook .....



You have attached a new colour and are ready to start round 3 :0)

Chain 3 ......



Work 2 dc in same side space......



Work corner cluster in the same way as before ( i.e. 3D.C. chain 2 , 3 D.C. )into the 2 chain corner space of round 2 .........



Along the sides work 3 D.C. clusters with NO chain spaces.

Repeat around and finish off or slip stitch along to next space if you are not changing colour........



Round 4 . In this picture you can see I'm attaching a new colour into the space just to the left of a corner . Also it's not on the same side of the square that I attached the previous colour.......



Starting rounds on the side of the work ( as opposed to the corners ) and varying the sides used could be the reason I don't suffer the twisting problem.

complete round 4 in the same way as round 3 but you will have 2 D.C. side clusters along each side in this round.....



I'm using random colours and love rummaging in my yarn bag to select the next colours...



This could work...


Or maybe the other way round......



If you end up with a colour that looks a bit scary remember that the following round can tone it down a bit :0)

So the pattern is just repeating every round with the addition of extra side clusters , yes ? .....



In the above picture you can see I've joined the turquoise yarn 2 cluster spaces from the corner, it's not crucial exactly which space you choose.

You can see I also turn my work so random sides are used for joining a new colour. Here is the back , you can see the ends are spread about....



If you have only done one round of a certain  colour the start and finish ends are quite close together so I tie these with a double knot before sewing them in...taking care not to pull the first knot too tight and distort the stitches......



I hope all this helps some of you who have encountered the twisting problem . I really hope it encourages some of you ,who havn't already done so ,to  give a granny square a try .

I''l finish with 3 of my 2011 projects that have used this super easy, super effective crochet pattern...




                                                              "Vintage" Giant Granny


                                                                    small square granny blanket



                                              bright giant granny blanket

I think you can see how much fun I've been having with this pattern this year :0)

With granny squares the permutations of colour and size of square is endless. There are also many different ways to join squares and of course many,many different things you can make . From blankets to bags. Cushions to coasters and so many others I haven't even thought of yet . I think I will always love this pattern and can't really see me ever becoming bored with it's versatile simplicity .
I hope this tutorial is clear to you all . Any problems please let me know .

ENJOY.


Jacquie x