Blue Granny Square Sweater

Crochet Granny Square Sweater from Zeens and Roger

Crochet your Own Sweater!

So good I made it twice, here is my second Granny Square Jumper!! I’m here to write about it again as, not content with leaving things as they are, I made adjustments which I think you will find useful.

If you haven’t seen my first post about how I made a super colourful version (with lots of fabulous yarn stashbusting), you can find that HERE, on a post imaginatively titled Granny Square Sweater. That’s where you will find the original recipe on how to crochet a jumper of your own. I also created a crochet video tutorial to show how to put everything together.

If you’re a beginner crocheter, you can make this sweater with the resources I have provided. However, it’s not just some granny squares stitched together. There is shaping (at the shoulders and sleeves), nice ribbing, and techniques that will up your skill level.

If you like this granny square sweater, perhaps you’ll like my other crochet ideas. Please peruse my free crochet patterns page. And if you really really like what you see, you can buy me a Ko Fi! Although, it’ll most likely be tea because I’m not a coffee drinker…

Colourful stash busting granny square sweater.
My stashbusting original Granny Square Sweater

What’s Changed?

Ok, so, it would be easy for me to say that this is just the same jumper as my original stashbusting sweater but that’s not technically true. Here are the things that I tweaked:

  • I used different yarn – a merino DK held with mohair lace weight.
  • I only used two colours.
  • The main body granny squares are smaller, allowing me to add width later by using a few rows of granny stripes at each side. This also made room for a slightly deeper neckline because….
  • I changed the shoulder tabs – fronts are longer than the orginal, and different to the back tabs.

The plan for this blog post is to talk you through these changes so they’re not scary. I have drawn up some rudimentary charts, which will help visual learners, and hopefully I won’t bamboozle you with information overload!

Black and Blue granny square sweater from Zeens and Roger

Using Mohair Yarn

As I’ve mentioned above, I used different yarn to make this black and blue fluffy jumper. The original is made with aran weight yarn with wool content. Rather fortuitously, my gauge is the same.

Whilst this black and blue sweater/jumper was also intended as a stash buster (using yarn I had leftover from other projects), I wasn’t sure there was enough of the black so ordered more. I vastly overestimated and have ended up with the same amount that I started with. A little bit more, in fact. So much for stash busting!

If you’re daunted by the fluffy stuff, fear not, read my blog post with some top tips for using mohair yarn. Ultimately, please don’t be scared. This is actually a really good project for mohair yarn because the stitches and design are simple. And holding the mohair with a non fluffy yarn, eases any anxiety too.

I used Drops Kid Silk, I had loads of Cobalt blue in stash from a neglected then rejected design idea.

Merino DK Yarn

I chose to use West Yorkshire Spinners Bo Peep Luxury Baby DK (double knit). The black (Incy Wincy) is leftover from a knitted jumper that went into a Vivienne Westwood inspired Sex Pistols jumper that was the husband’s Christmas present (I didn’t knit it, I asked MiL to do it!). There was leftover Drops Kid Silk black mohair from the same project as well.

More blue (Space Hopper) was purchased as I think I only had one ball in stash. This shade went beautifully with the Cobalt mohair.

I sometimes find that merino can be quite heavy, this one is lovely and light (probably because it’s a nylon mix). It doesn’t create a cumbersome jumper, which can be a bit much for an item of clothing.

Two Colours of Yarn

As a stashbuster, the choice of yarn was made for me. I didn’t have to worry about colour because black and blue were what I had and that was that.

The best thing about only using two colours is that for the main squares, you can float the yarn. No snipping, no time spent sewing in loads of ends, huzzah! Obviously, float along what you decide is the wrong side of the granny square.

I’ve worked out that for this jumper (an approximate size 3), I used:

  • 7x50g blue DK
  • 5x50g black DK
  • 4x25g blue mohair
  • 3x25g black mohair

As a general rule, every 100 grams of the DK merino uses a 25 gram ball of mohair. However, meterage is 112m per 50 gram ball of the DK (therefore 224m per 100g) and the meterage for the mohair is 210m per 25g ball. There’s a little bit of an imbalance so an extra ball of mohair is a good idea, to make up the shortfall.

The amount needed will vary depending on the size you make and how much adjusting you do. You will need more than me if you’re making a larger size. I have not done the maths to find out precisely how much for each size.

Float your yarn
Float your yarn

Cropped Granny Sweater

Two large granny squares are the basis for the main body panels of both sweaters. For this version, the two main squares are four rounds fewer than the colourful jumper. This is so the final sweater doesn’t have the length of the extra rounds but it has the width because I add granny stripes to each side of the front square.

Front and back granny squares have 19 rounds. The front square then has 5 granny stripes at each side. 19+5 is equivalent to a 24 round square for the width, which is one round more than version 1 (cos, why not?!). I added the shoulder tabs to the top, working into gaps between stripes, and gaps between clusters. See pics and charts below.

The back doesn’t have separate side stripes, instead, I crocheted around three sides of the square five times to get the same amount of extra sides and also add it across the top too. Hopefully this is not gobbeldegook!! It’s difficult to put into words but I think the charts are my saviour.

You can use the maths from the original post to work out gauge and measurements if you’re not keen on eyeballing.

Front panel
A pic highlighting how the front panel is put together. Granny Square, side stripes, and shoulder tabs.

Shoulder Tabs

If you make a sweater with the more basic elements, like I did for the original, by the time you’ve added shoulders and a waistband, the sweater is longer than it is wide. For version no.2 I wanted a more cropped style. In order to achieve this there are the additional steps, discussed above. They are arguably more tricky to wrap your head around but I absolutely love the result.

The first jumper has the same number of rows for both front and back shoulder tabs. It’s super easy to do it this way because it means you don’t need to think about maths and stitch placement too much.

However, what would happen if you attached different length tabs (front v back) to main body granny squares? Let’s say 8 rows for the front tabs and 3 rows for the back tabs. Your front body panel would be 5 rows longer than the back panel. This difference needs to be accommodated.

Below I have included the basic charts. I think they are the easiest way to show you all the shaping shenanigans. The charts are truncated so they show you the intention without literally showing every row. The real life jumper has 8 rows of front shoulder tabs (repeat the last two granny stripes rows of the chart to get 8) and 3 rows of back shoulder tabs (samesies as the chart).

Shoulder Tabs Clusters

The important bit is that shoulder tabs should end up the same width across at their last rows. Or thereabouts. I don’t think it matters if there is one stitch difference (mine were!). If there is more of a difference then it might be worth going back to the drawing board.

FYI, My shoulder tabs end measuring approx 16cm.

To begin, the first row of my front tabs has 7 full clusters, plus the end stitches. After four rows of shaping/decreasing and four rows of even granny striping, the tabs end with 6 full clusters and 1 stitch either side = 20 stitches.

The back tabs start with 6 full clusters plus the ends. These tabs are only three rows but because of a little manipulation/decrease at the neckline, I ended with 5 full clusters and 2 stitches at either end, that’s 19 stitches. I’m happy matching 20 stitches to 19. You can’t tell on the finished garment.

However many clusters you choose to add, make sure the width (no. of clusters per tab) isn’t going to create a massive neck hole.

Black and blue granny square sweater

Front Main Body

The first chart (below) is for the front of the jumper. Make the granny square first, then join as many stripes you want to either side. That’s the black and blue section of the chart. Then work the shoulder tabs. I have only shown one tab here but it gives you the picture of what you need to do for both. Don’t forget that more is explained in the colourful granny square sweater post, go check it out.

Back Main Body

The second chart shows the back. Now, here is where it gets more than just a tweak, we’re making different adjustments to ensure everything is the same size and will fit together. You can see that rather than working some side stripes, the chart shows three worked sides of the square (chart has three rows/rounds, in real life I did five). This is to accommodate the different lengths of the front and back shoulder tabs. So, five additional rows along the top of the back, plus 3 shoulder tab rows = 8, which equals the same as the front tab rows.

Crikey, at this point, I feel like I need to say “Thaaaat’s Numberwang!”

Granny Stripe Sleeves

Sleeves remain the same, thank goodness! But because they are stripes, you still have loads of ends to sew in. I started using the ends to sew the sleeves together but it was a major faff so decided to sew them all in first and then sew together using a length of the DK. There’s no need to use the mohair as well when you’re sewing your pieces together.

Ready to Wear Crochet Sweater

And everything else is the same! When writing out the differences it feels like it’s quite complex but in real life, once you have the hook in your hand and the yarn gliding through your fingers, it’s actually a lot simpler. In no time whatsoever you’ll be wearing your new handmade jumper! And it will look great!!

Please share your makes on Instagram by tagging me @zeensandroger and using #ZeensAndRoger

Also, there’s Ravelry too. Adding your project there is super helpful as it helps others see what designs look like when made by others.

Crochet jumper schematic
Granny Square Sweater
Granny Square Sweater Pattern

10 Crochet Cowl Patterns, The Ultimate Winter Accessories

I was at the very cold and windy beach yesterday when I realised how much I LOVED the crochet cowl I was wearing! Sat securely & snuggly around my neck, it wasn’t going anywhere. The best thing about a cowl is that there are no flappy scarf ends, breeze whipping them about my face! Neither will it slowly work itself free and slide to the ground. A crocheter can also hook up a handmade cowl pretty quickly.

I started counting up how many there were in my crochet collection. A LOT is the answer!! And they all get worn at this time of year. The ice cold weather this week isn’t set to rise above 3 degrees. A warm cowl is the first choice crochet accessory that I’m going to reach for.

Whether fancy 4ply or super chunky, there are all sorts of styles you can try. It doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner crocheter as there are loads of easy cowl patterns to try. It doesn’t have to be fancy stitches or anything, you could smoosh together four largish granny squares (5 inches would do it) and that’s a cowl. When I say smoosh, I mean sew them together in a row and then join ends to create a circle. Voila, a cowl has been made.

This blog post is also a blatant excuse to share loads of my designs to tempt you into getting the yarn and hooks out. Of course it is….

Leaping Waves

I love this ripple cowl so much! I gave it to my mum for Christmas one year. Do you know I have never seen her wear it!? Shocking! It’s a DK merino project and the soft, buttery merino feels beautiful against a delicate neck.

I called it Leaping Waves as the ripple stitch undulates around. It’s also a nod to Outlander, which i haven’t seen for years. Everyone loved that first season, didn’t they?!! You can find the pattern HERE.

Leaping Waves, a pretty crochet cowl

Isca Cowl

At one point last winter I briefly had red hair. It goes really well with the blue of my Isca cowl!

This pattern also comes with a matching head band too. You can find it HERE.

The mix of rib and bobbles stitches is one I would really like to visit again. It looks super sophisticated in this design. Especially as I’ve held a merino 4ply with a laceweight mohair. It’s gorgeous! The border of this design is a rib look that runs perpendicular to the verticle pattern on the main body, which is another feature that looks fab.

Striped Crochet Cowl Pattern

Companions, is a cowl and wrist warmers pattern set. I am so so pleased with this colourful stripey set. Ridiculously pleased. Every aspect works: the yarn, the pattern, the style. It’s exactly what I had imagined. This is the cowl I was wearing yesterday at the beach (the wrist warmers were left at home as I didn’t want them getting mucky whilst rooting through pebbles, looking for seashells!).

Companions. A crochet cowl and wrist warmer pattern.

Apres Ski, C2C Cowl

I’d say that this hat and cowl are suitable for beginners who fancy a quick project that’s simple yet visually effective. A corner to corner chevron? It’s all in the colour work. Here’s the YouTube tutorial to show you how. The same pattern can easily be turned into a hat too (it’s good to have options!). I use a thick woolly yarn that’s definitely going to keep you warm on the slopes. Or, more importantly, after the skiing while you have a drink or two. [disclaimer:: I have never been near a ski slope in my life]

I got the idea for a C2C chevron from the granny chevron I designed (below) which, in turn came from a big floofy version I did. (I am currently obsessed and delighted with how ideas beget ideas – it’s fascinating).

Granny Cowl

A couple of years ago I was asked to design a granny stitch cowl for the front cover of Mollie Makes magazine (still a very proud moment of mine). The brief was for it to look a bit like a shawl. A shawl that’s not a shawl! It turned out to be one of my most popular designs ever. It’s for sale on Ravelry, Etsy and LoveCrafts. I included a chart which shows the shaping on this one.

I see triangle cowls popping up more and more in the knitting and crochet community. I’ve got more than one design now too.

Brighter Future

Brighter Future, a crochet cowl.

See? Another triangular shaped crochet cowl!

Brighter Future is a really pretty cowl that hasn’t been popular at all! Poor thing. I think perhaps that is because it’s slightly different from my usual style. However, I am really pleased with its delicate stitches. Made in 4ply yarn, this keeps your neck warm but isn’t heavy or cumbersome. It doesn’t get in the way whilst you’re wearing it, which is a real boon.

All the Fun of the Fair

All the Fun of the Fair

This colourful granny stripe cowl is made in aran weight yarn. It was originally inspired by the stripes of the big top circus tents. It comes in two different sizes so you can have a small, neat one that fits more snuggly. Or this larger one (above) that has lots of colour and is, as the name suggests, pretty fun! I hope you like the post stitch ribbed edges too. It’s now pretty obvious to me from sharing these patterns that I have a thing for ribbed borders and edges. I don’t know if I’d noticed before).

Claudia Cowl

Claudia Crochet Cowl

The Claudia Cowl is a simple and beautiful one skein project. Make yourself something special out of that gorgeous hand dyed yarn you’ve been saving. The skein I used was bought for my by my friend Claudia of Crochet Luna when we were at Yarndale together in 2018. It has subtle stitch texture with a Join As You Go rib edging.

An Asymmetric Granny

I know I know, this blog post features a lot of granny stitch cowls! But I love Granny stitch, it’s my medicine and I make no apologies for that. For this design, I bought some chunky nep yarn one day when I fancied a splurge. It became this interesting shape of a granny triangle shawl. You may be curious to learn that the origin of this one came from all the scribbly sketching of different ideas for the Mollie Makes front cover.

It’s a free pattern on the blog HERE.

Have you made any? They don’t have to be small and simple. You can make elegant, double looping infinity scarves, or massive super chunky things that envelope your entire top half. There are loads of variants in between. Do have a favourite? Which one? Hopefully there’s something here to inspire you to get crocheting. Let me know how you get on!

Before I go there’s also a scarf and cowl bundle on Ravelry which is worth looking at. It’s a great starting point if you’re interested in quick but useful crochet projects.

xxx

JW Anderson Crochet Cardigan. Version 2!

Thanks to some very keen crocheters out there, my first version of a crochet JW Anderson cardigan has been super popular. Thanks for that! I’m not sure I need to explain at this point but I will: it’s the one that was made enormously popular by Harry Styles. Pretty sure you’ll know about all the cardigan by now, whether knitted and/or crocheted.

[FYI I recently signed up to the LoveCrafts affiliate program so I have linked to the yarn mentioned in this blog post (further down). I have no idea if it’s worth it yet but it won’t make any difference to your wallet whatsoever – just mine!]

Anyway, here’s a pic of my first one….

The First Cardi

I wrote about the first version HERE back in October. There is a lot more detail on that post and it includes the recipe so that you can make one too. I made a video for YouTube too, that’s HERE.

My sister saw it and asked me to make one for her Christmas present. Initially I said “ugh, No”. I couldn’t be bothered to make another! Then my conscience got the better of me and I decided I should go for it. I thought about the changes I could make and it was enough to make me enthusiastic about knocking one out again.

The Second Cardi

The only reason I’ve made it again is because one of my sisters requested it for Christmas. She still hasn’t seen it yet because the rules of Covid have meant that I’ve not seen my family this Christmas. I posted it last week but apparently it takes a long time for parcels to get from one end of the island to the other.

My sister is smaller than me. Let’s say she’s a UK 8. I think. With my lockdown lard, I’m edging back to a 12. Because of the difference I did some maths based off the measurements from my first cardigan (see first post). This new cardi isn’t oversize on me but it probably will be on her. I actually prefer this fit to massively oversized (I do not require additional bulk on top, thank you very much).

After I saw this picture I took off the buttons and re-positioned them. I hadn’t noticed they were wonky at first! Oops!

Yarn

Colours: I bought new yarn rather than doing a random stash dive. I chose to use Paintbox wool mix aran. You can get it from Lovecrafts HERE (this link takes you directly to the wool, which is one of my fave yarns to work with). If you purchase by hitting the link, it means I will get paid a small percentage of the sale. There’s also a button somewhere about the place (on this blog) that is linked to my affiliate program, so if you spot that, give it a click to peruse more yarn!

I used one of each in the following colours: Buttercup yellow, Lipstick Pink, Light Caramel, Royal Blue, Bubblegum Pink, Marine Blue, Raspberry Pink, Grass Green, Paper White, Blood Orange, Coffee Bean, Ballet Pink, Dusty Rose, Spearmint Green, Washed Teal and Dolphin Blue.

When using the same colour in two different places it’s easiest to wind off enough so you can work the two squares without more tangle (rather than working both ends of the same ball, which I’ve done in the past). Just make a separate ball that’s big enough to make a square.

You can use other yarn like DK but it will affect the size. How about swatching!? Make a square, measure, multiply by nine (the amount of squares that equal the width around in this garment). Will that fit you? You may wish to add or remove two or three stitches and add or subtract a row or two. Experiment, work it out to find the size that suits you. The ultimate corner cutting is to find a sweater in your wardrobe that fits as you want this to fit and get the tape measure out.

Before I get into the knitty gritty, I am taking a moment to tell you that I have a Ko-Fi account HERE. Perhaps you would like to give me a few quid! I’d be very happy if that happened. Or, hop across to check out my free patterns page. Thank you.

Anyway, back to the crochet cardigan! …..

Ch Ch Changes

Hook size: This time I went for a 5.5mm, I like the tension it gave on this yarn.

Measurements: It’s 50cm (just under 20 inches) deep and 50cm wide, a boxy square! Sleeve length is also 50cm. The sleeve circumference is 31cm (12 inches).

Square size: each square is roughly 11x11cm (approx 4.5 inches) depending on the stitch used. Balancing out different stitches throughout means things won’t get too wonky (so don’t layer all your FLO squares on top of each other, they’re not as tall). But this cardigan is not about precision, it’s OK if it looks rough around the edges. To get the squares this size, each square is 15 stitches by 12 rows.

Buttons: Due to it being a smaller garment, I decided to drop a button rather than squeeze on 5. I also bought smaller ones, these are 25mm buttons. In these pics I hadn’t paid too much attention to button placement, my squares misaligned. I cut the buttons off and did them again. Remember to pay attention!

Button Band: It’s chain 8 and work 7htr (that’s US hdc stitches) for the band. Therefore, when it comes to making the button holes you need to do: 3htr, miss 1 st and chain 1, 3htr.

Decreasing at collar: I started the decreases earlier here because they’d have been too high on the neck. Check out the chart below, you can see where the sides come in just after the half way mark of the piece. To decrease each row, literally all I do is to stop one stitch short of the end, or skip one at the beginning of the row. You could do a different decrease if you wanted, whatever floats your boat.

Plaid

I got bored fiddling with animal print on cardi number one but definitely wanted a few squares that were different to the others. Plaid was the option I chose.

The circled ones (below) are the two I used as my guide. Each square on the grid represents a stitch. You swap yarns depending on what colour is due next, with three in the play at once. I drew a couple of others to show that if your squares have a different amount of rows and/or stitches, you may need to muck about to find a pattern that fits. Note, a half treble (US hdc) stitch is taller than it is wide.

Blocking

There are few different blocking methods. Here I steam blocked because the yarn has acrylic content (if all wool then I wet block). Not gonna go into the details of differences, that’d take too long. In this instance, pin out on a towel on the carpet, get some hot steam on it. I use the steam function on my iron. Every time I do this I brick it, thinking I’m going to melt hours of work! Never touch the iron to the work!

Some people will block before sewing everything together and others prefer to block the finished article. I’ve not explored which is best but I blocked the separate pieces this time. You can stretch it out as you pin which affects the size and shape of your crochet.

Are you willing to block it to size? I blocked this one but didn’t block the first version. Pretty sure I didn’t block my swatch for the first one either. This means that my first garment is even bigger now after a few months of wear (the weight of it has left it to stretch out on its own). I blocked this one as it was a gift for someone else and I didn’t want any surprises for my sister. Maaaaaybe it’s not an essential requirement but I think it is better to block.

Sleeve after blocking
In the rush to get it finished, I made mistakes throughout. It all adds to the look!

The End

And that’s it! Never making another patchwork cardi again! I am done.

I did get a few questions about the first one so it might be a good idea to read the comments section on both posts to see if there’s good stuff in there. Or, please do ask a question if you think of one. But all the elements should be included within these posts if you want to make your own. You just have to read it all! But that means if you want to make a different size you will be able to work it out with the information I’ve given you. Honest!

If you make one, please let me know on Instagram @zeensandroger #zeensandroger

Cheers x

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Z&R Crochet Podcast 60! Bravely Soldiering On

Hello, how are you?! I’m fine. Just squeezing it all and getting in a flap as usual. Episode 60! Sixty episodes of my daft crochet podcast! Who would have thought it?! I am still loving every minute of it though and I hope you enjoy it too! Thank you so much for hanging out with me.

All my vids (both podcasts and tutorials) are HERE on YouTube. Links and pics to things I chat about in this episode are below.

Links:

My designs in Ravelry

Your support on Patreon would be awesome. The link is HERE.

Make some crochet owls with my tutorial on YouTube and the written pattern HERE.

The Mya shawl by Helda Panagary

Must. Make. The. Betty. Boyfriend. Sweater!! It is right up my street! Find the pattern by Talia’s Crochet Creations HERE.

Stitchfest Southwest. A Totnes yarn festival

The Encanto wrap by Crochet Luna

My spider tute is HERE

The Kinesis Sweater by We Are Knitters is coming along nicely!

The Lorax scarf is now only on Ravelry and Lovecrafts. I will work out the Etsy fail soon.

Thanks to  The Secret Yarnery for the Saturday shoutout! x

Don’t forget to find me on Insta

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Mya by Helda Panagary

Owl decorations

Blocking Mya

Knitting!

Encanto by Crochet Luna

Betty Boyfriend sweater by Talia’s Crochet Creations

Sad because of FOMO

x

Z&R Crochet Podcast 59. Le Gasp!

Hello! I hope you’re well!? I really enjoyed putting this episode together, I hope you enjoy watching 😀

As usual, click on the image above to go to Episode 59 of the latest crochet chat, or if you fancy going back to previous episodes or checking out some crochet tutorials, go HERE to my YouTube channel. Ta very much!

In this episode I reveal the name of last episode’s Giveaway and there’s a new Giveaway too!!

If you would like to support me further then ways you can do that are: spreading the word (tell others I’m here!), buying a pattern/s for one of my designs or, if you’re hardcore, signing up to Patreon!

Links and pictures for all things Episode 59 are below…

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Links:

The Claudia Cowl is my latest design release for sale on Ravelry (and soon Lovecrafts and Etsy – keep your eyes peeled). For YouTube viewers, the pattern is free with the code I reveal in the episode. The code is valid until the end of October. I used a skein of 4ply yarn from Doulton Border Leicester, gifted to me by the lovely Claudia of CrochetLuna.

Speaking of Claudia, I have the Encanto wrap to make! Yarn is chosen and ready to go!!

The Sewing Room, Ottery St Mary.

I am working on the Mya shawl by Helda Panagary. I love it!! I’m using yarn from Rusty Ferret and Beehive Yarns.

The Star Cluster Tee. I used the recommended yarn from Hobbii.

The Forest Valley Shawl by Christina Hadderingh

I am knitting the Kinesis Sweater by We are Knitters. I am in love with it but it might be too small….

I have rewritten my old owl pattern because it’s terribly done. I’ll write a blog post for the new version soon but I’ll be keeping the old one available HERE. Go forth and be embarrassed on my behalf!

Anything I’ve missed? Give me a shout. Cheers. x

Claudia Cowl

Owls. Video tutorial coming soon.

The Star Cluster Tee

Kinesis Sweater from We Are Knitters

Forest Valley Shawl

x

Z&R Crochet Podcast 58. Crochet Crime

Episode 58 of my crochet podcast is here! I hope you enjoy it… Don’t forget to enter the Giveaway too…!

Please click on the pic above to go directly to the episode or find the whole YouTube channel Here.

Links:

The Lorax Scarf on Ravelry is HERE. There is a 20% discount until the 15th September. You can read a bit more about it HERE.

If you fancy it, you can support me on Patreon HERE. Ta very much.

HERE is my review of the Dear Ewe products. I forgot to mention in the episode that until next Sunday the 8th September you can get a discount. The code is in the blog post.

The blanket join is from the Redagape casual granny blanket. It’s HERE.

The Kinesis Sweater. Wish me luck!

Yippee Yarn Yay’s Star Cluster Tee.

See below for some pictures of what is in the episode!!

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A Dear Ewe Review!

I have a new mug and it’s crochet related!! Huzzah! I also have some other new goodies too. I do hope you want to hear about them because I’m going to tell you how I got them! (yep, I have been gifted them for freeeeee in exchange for this totally open, sincere review… And good vibes).

In June I met Heather from Keep Calm and Carry On UK, a UK based crochet blogger. We were both attending The Crochet Sanctuary and it was fabulous to get to chat to another crochet designer for a whole weekend! (that’s another story, involving ghosts and balloons, if I ever get to writing it down). Not too long ago Heather set up Dear Ewe, an online shop dedicated to the sort of bits and bobs that are perfect gifts for craft enthusiasts. I’d been lusting after a crochet chart mug since Christmas but Father Christmas didn’t bring me one, booo. However, it seems Christmas has come early this year because just before Granny Square Day, I got a message from Heather to say a parcel was in the post with lots of goodies in it! Whaaat?!! I saw the email in the evening and the following morning the postman knocked at my door.

 

The first thing I did was tear open the box to get to my new granny mug but that wasn’t all that was in the box! I had no idea I was going to get such a treat! I also got lots of quality postcards with beautifully designed quotes written upon them (I got two packs of those so I’m putting one aside as part of a giveaway that I’ll probably do on my next Crochet Podcast.) I also got the best bag! It’s a huuuuge canvas tote with crochet charts printed on it. It’s proper sturdy too and I’ve already been lugging my wips about in it over the last few days. How lucky am I?!?

Let me say more about the mug. Oh, how wonderful it is! Perfectly timed too as within a day or so of it arriving I broke my favourite Pendle witch mug (this might be karma at work, I’m not sure)… I don’t think this one will break quite so easily, Heather sources her mugs from the World Capital of Ceramics!! (that’s Stoke on Trent). And the print is not going to go anywhere either, that chart is not going to come off in the wash. I’m sat here at my desk with my lush new mug, filled to the brim with hot tea. I am a happy woman.

Bezza would call this cake “healthy”. It’s courgette and walnut. :p

Of course, I popped over to the shop to see what was new and there’s loads of stuff there. There are a couple of smaller project bags that I have my eye on, lovely greetings cards and lots of other mug designs too, all of which go beyond crochet. If you’re a different sort of crafter there is something for you too, so whether you’re a knitter or an embroiderer you are catered for. And the crochet patterns are pretty cute as well.

Buying from a small business means the world to the person that created it. Until Sunday the 8th of September I have a super secret code offering you a 10% discount over on Dear Ewe. The code: ZEENS10. You’ve got just over a week, so you’d better get moving!

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I am stuffed to the brim with cake, this bag is stuffed with all the yarn.

xxx

Granny Square Bag. Free Crochet Pattern & Video Tutorial

Only two weeks after the last crochet tutorial (an asymmetric granny stitch cowl), here are two more! I know, bonkers, right?!  But sorry, I’m flooding you with grannies at the moment, I swear I do have other ideas that involve other crochet stitches.

My YouTube channel is HERE. Please feel free to visit for podcast watching, as well as helpful crochet tutorials.

To Crochet a Bag, You will Need…

To make your own crochet granny square bag you will need lots of lovely yarn in all your favorite colours. Mine is very much a stashbuster. I used what I had yarn leftovers of rather than going out to buy more.  You will also need a hook that matches the yarn weight. You may even think about going down a hook size to ensure that your bag has decent structural integrity.

You will also need some matching fabric (a polycotton will do nicely) and something to sew it (a machine is preferable but there’s nothing stopping you from sewing by hand). Along with, have some pins at the ready too. It’s also a good idea (but not essential) to get some interfacing to add to the sturdiness of the bag.

Bag handles, don’t forget bag handles! I think I found mine by googling “long bag handles” and up they popped. They would have been less than a fiver.

Video Tutorials

This tutorial is based on a granny square bag I made a couple of years ago. The original blog post can be found HERE. There are lots of details in that post that will be super useful here. However, it is a slightly different  version. I’ve made this new crochet bag a bit less fussy, which is always a winner for makers.

There are two videos for this project. One is how to put the granny square bag together. The one below is how to work Join As You Go grannies. I start by making one granny square and then at the time stamp of 5.25 I begin to join them together. At first this can seem a little daunting but once you get your head around the construction, joining as you go is really good fun. Not to mention a huge time saver!

Please see below for some accompanying pictures. Not quite step by step photos; they will help with putting your own crochet bag together, especially for when you get to add the bag lining. I would always advise lining a granny square bag. How else do you stop things falling through the holes!?

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xxx

Z&R Crochet Podcast 55. Tidy Tidy Tidy

Welcome to Episode 55!  I’m pleased to say that I’ve been enjoying my crochet over the last couple of weeks.  I do hope you like the episode. As well as WIPs and FOs, I talk about Ravelry and their new policy. Cripes, it was tricky to talk about without getting passionate! I hope I was careful with my words; it really isn’t my area of expertise. I believe it’s important that it’s discussed though, so there was no way I was going to ignore the current issues.

Please go HERE to YouTube for all my videos or click on the pic above to go directly to the episode.

Links:

Knitcraft In the Zone

Free Market bag crochet pattern

Ravelry

RPG.net

Pitch up & Stitch up camping/crochet weekends. Check out Eleonora’s (Coastal Crochet) blog post about the weekend.

Asymmetric Granny Cowl free crochet pattern

Patreon. Your support means everything. I promise free patterns, I promise laughs, but I can’t promise them every other day. xxx

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xxx

Zeens & Roger Crochet Podcast. 54. She Wasn’t a Ghost.

Hey! I hope all is well? Please click on the pic above to go to Episode 54 of my crochet podcast. This one is mostly me chatting about The Crochet Sanctuary because I went there last weekend! You can also go HERE to YouTube! That’s where you’ll find my channel. Ta very much. x

Links:

Ravelry Store – Flash sale 20% off until midnight on Monday . No code needed.

Stripey C2C bag

Patreon – Thank you for your support. I looooovee yoooooo! ;p

The Crochet Sanctuary

The Forest Valley Shawl

Tortoise blog post

Granny square bag pattern.

ZZ block blanket.

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ZZ Block. I updated the pattern to include row by row lists of the colour blocks.

3 Strikes!

xxx