crochet Archives - Page 24 of 24

I’m making a crochet doily

May 24, 2015May 24, 2015crochet1 Comment

I bought new yarn with some birthday money. Usually I use double knit or thicker so this is a new thing as it’s much finer. I got it up the road at the garden centre! It’s DMC Natura cotton. There were a lot of colours to choose from but I narrowed it down to my favourites. I bought the book from Amazon a year or so ago and it has some beautiful patterns.

I started my first project from the book yesterday; a rectangle doily. If you’re into crochet then surely, you’ve got to make at least one doily? I’m now very much on track with old ladying the front room anyway.

It was fiddly to begin with because I’m not used to using the fine yarn but it got easier. I don’t know how well I’d do if I used proper lace making thread. I thought I’d ease into it gradually, rather than go straight to crippling my hands with a teeny tiny hook and teeny tiny thread.

It is also only a little doily, so it has been nice and quick to work up.

The book has been translated from Japanese and I thought that it showed in the awkwardness of the writing. Some basic crochet language is left out and replaced with more literal prose. I definitely needed the pictorial diagram to go with the step by step instructions.

I’m nearly done. Just the final round to go and then it’ll need blocking to stretch it out and neaten it up. Thinking of a round doily next… However, I still have to crochet these together:

Will I get round to it this week? I managed to sew in the ends last week and that’s the worst bit.

Granny shawl number two!

May 17, 2015May 22, 2015crochet, flowers, garden2 Comments

I have finally finished and blocked my second shawl. I like it a lot. So far neither of my shawls have made it out the front door, I am not quite brave enough to go out wearing one yet. Maybe up to school and back? I’m not sure. The farthest I have ventured is into the back garden, floating about around the flowers pretending that I am not in a terrace of houses and that the neighbours aren’t there wondering what I’m up to.

It looked a bit iffy before I blocked it because I went rogue with the pattern. It’s the second time I’ve used Made by Leen‘s April Flower Shawl pattern and I will probably be tempted to make it again. But not any time soon because I have a very long list of other things to make besides shawls.

Once again I went for a different edging. That way, you know no one else has the same. I used Edie Eckman’s Crochet Borders book again (pattern no. 22) but changed the pointy bit. In retrospect I’m not sure I should have tinkered with it so much, but I did and once I’d done it, I wasn’t going to unravel it all!

These colours are much more me than the first crochet shawl although I do love them both. It’s the same stuff; Stylecraft Life DK. It has wool in it so it is nice and warm. I have loads left over which will go towards making a flowery blanket, that is somewhere on my to do list but nowhere near the top.

This is the garden that I’ve been floating about in. Actually, we have all been in the garden this weekend and no one did much floating about. The grown ups did digging, planting and building whilst the children played and partially destroyed the grown up’s hard work.

That clematis is only a few years old and looks pretty awesome already.

Look at the awesome!

Shawl making

May 6, 2015May 21, 2015crochet3 Comments

I have seen loads of shawls about in the last year, some really nice ones. It’s the ultimate Granny accessory. Naturally, I wanted one, so I made one! And now I’m making another.

Here is my first one. I found a lovely free pattern, the April Flower shawl on Made by Leen.

I changed the border as I fancied something a bit pointier, I used Edie Eckman’s book Crochet Borders to choose which I wanted. I also swapped to a different colour in the middle of the broad stripe but for the most part I have stuck to the pattern and I think it’s great! It was very to quick to make and now I am nearing the end of my next shawl using the same pattern.

I love the colours. They’re much better than the first one I did, where I grabbed colours without thinking. I’ve tinkered with the stripe on this one, just to make it different from the first one I made. I have no idea which border I’ll choose next but I have a couple of ideas. I might also stick to the original pattern for this one, it’ll make it softer.

I have used Stylecraft Life DK for both of these. I got it in the sale in my local shop. I bought more than I know what to do with, but that’s OK!

I’ve got loads of projects in my head but I should probably finish off the blanket which I started before the shawls. There are 100 crochet circles in a bag, hiding in the cupboard under the stairs. They are waiting to have their ends sewn in. Boo.