Sixties Ripple Blanket

Just a sneak preview of the ripple blanket I am working on right now. In fact the few rows you can see are what I achieved over the last weekend - now there is even more. It uses the basic ripple pattern from Attic24 and the yarn is the Stylecraft Special DK I bought last week. I have limited myself to just using the green, orange and brown as wider stripes, and each of these is separated by a cream stripe. This colour combo gives it a lovely sixties vibe.

I used 227 stitches on my chain which included the +3 for the turning chain. My hook is a 3.5mm and is giving me a slightly firmer stitch which in this case is a good thing. My tension can be a bit loose sometimes. My hope is that this will fit nicely on our double bed or be the perfect cuddle on the sofa blanket. In any case, this is a long term project, because I suspect it will take me months!!

Also poking out from my somewhat over-burdened yarn basket is my completed granny square cushion cover. It is waiting patiently for me to get out the sewing machine and turn it into something plump and gorgeous for the sofa. Maybe this weekend? My aim is to show how I construct the cushion backing in fabric.

So every couple of weeks I will show my ripple blanket progress, just to show how quickly something like this can grow. It certainly is fun to do and perfect for TV crocheting - very little counting involved and very rhythmical.

Comments

Love Heart pattern and magic circle tutorial

So - we all know it is Valentines day coming up and coincidently, I am teaching a crochet class this week. In that lovely harmonious way, I can marry up my class with my love of all things cute and help my beginners to make some pretty little crocheted love hearts. I have created a tutorial for them, with some photos included which I will post up here for all to see. The main focus of this is to teach the magic circle (the way I do it, anyway) - but it is also a great way to practise some basic stitches and create something really cute. The class is actually a freebee for a group of friends and is a great way for me to get back into teaching crochet as I haven't done any for a good six months (events conspired and all that...). There will be six ladies attending and I expect that more cups of tea will be drunk than love hearts made! Take a look at the tutorial and pattern here: Tiny Valentines Hearts (using a magic circle) Make a magic circle: Wrap the wool around yo

A lacey thing - Inside Crochet 49

If you are used to crocheting with DK or even thicker wool and your crochet hook collection consists of hooks which are larger than 4mm - you will be terrified (as I was) of trying a light and lacey crochet pattern. But I never let a little terror put me off - after all, what is the worst that could happen? So a few days ago, I started what might be one of my more ambitious projects - a lace shawl using a 2mm hook and lace-weight yarn. While the pattern which came from the January Inside Crochet magazine (issue 49) is fairly easy to follow, it is all the tiny little chains which worried me. In fact lace-weight crochet is easier than I thought and my shawl (which I suspect will be used as something else) is coming along nicely. The key to it, I have found, is to concentrate on each individual stitch or cluster and avoid looking at the whole thing too much. So, each and every chain stitch looks the same, every DC is the same and in the right place etc. Then you move on to the

I am not the house-wifey type....but

I don't know what it was - the sun maybe - but this weekend I managed to prove myself to be the perfect wife and mother. Now anyone who knows me will be aware that cooking and cleaning are not my forte. In fact, I will pretty much do anything to avoid both of these things, if I can. Luckily my husband is a great cook and likes to do it and well, the house just gets cleaned as and when it needs it. But for whatever reason, this weekend I got the bug. It started with an early morning on Saturday. We are Formula 1 fans and the first race weekend of the season started at 5am Saturday morning and we were up and watching. That led to a morning in the garden raking leaves and sweeping up decking. Then the sewing machine came out (while my bread dough was rising!) and I finally made my granny square cushion. A blog on this will be along soon. Washing was on the go and drying in the, by now, hot conservatory and the afternoon ended with freshly baked bread and dinner cooked for

If Only I Could Crochet...

Search This Blog