Ripple Baby Afgan

Hi everyone, well it has been a while since I posted.  I have been busy crocheting a cardigan for myself, but here is a photo of my Ripple Baby Afghan, made a few months ago. Thanks to The Crochet Crowd video tutorials that taught me how to ripple. :)

My cardigan is nearly done.  I am really pleased with it.  I could not find buttons to suit it so I am making crochet buttons from the same yarn.

FLOWER PILLOW

I have finished the flower pillow.

The textured pattern on the front and back was really fun to do, and I was thrilled at how it turned out.  It was for a 30 cm pillow insert, but I already had a 40 cm one.  So, I put some extra rows on the sides and a shell edging.  I am really pleased with my effort.  Thanks to the Crochet Crowd +Micheal Sellick  for the free pattern.

bowls and coasters

Well, my two nieces have tried on their hats, scarves and mittens.  The hats turned out a bit big, the mittens were way too big and the scarves were OK.   I am thinking that next time I see the girls, I will get them to trace their hand for me, so I can judge how big to make mittens for them.

The other day I sat down to crochet, but I hadn't decided what my next project would be, so I wanted something quick.  I had seen the clever idea of putting small pieces of yarn onto wooden clothes pegs to keep them from getting all tangled up, and being a nuisance.  But what do you do with them then?  So I decided to make a bowl for the pegs.  The first one turned out a bit big so I made a smaller one as well.

The red doily was inspired by a pin on +Pinterest  .  There is a picture of a cute set of crochet coasters that I love.  The picture didn't link to a pattern, so I tried to work it out from the picture.  I used 8ply acrylic yarn and a 4 mm hook.  It looks quite like the coasters, but its bigger and more open.  When I try again I will use a smaller hook and maybe 4 ply yarn.

Recently I discovered that US patterns have different terminology than what my Nanna taught me many years ago.  At first I thought that my old Nanna had been mistaken, but it bothered me that she had stressed so vehemently that what she was teaching me was TREBLE stitch.  Then when I tried to follow patterns, it just worked out all wrong.  It took me some time to realize that when the pattern said DOUBLE crochet, that I should do what Nanna said was TREBLE crochet.  Then today I found a site that has a whole conversion page for US to UK crochet terminology.
So I thought I would share it here - http://www.crochetaustralia.com.au .

My current project is the Spring Fling Flower Pillow from The Crochet Crowd +Michael Sellick .  I have chosen four colours and made the front and back of the pillow, next I will make the flower.

Happy Crocheting.

Stripes, Octagons and Squares

Hello again,  I have been very busy with my crochet.  My Baby girl striped blanket is complete.  A chevron blanket is what I started out to make, but I couldn't get the angles right, so I pulled it out and made a striped one instead, I think it looks very effective.  It is mainly double crochet, just simple straight rows.  The border is single crochet, two stitches per row was too much for the sides, but one stitch wasn't enough.  So I did two single crochet in each of the white rows and one single crochet in the pink and purple rows, and it worked out just right.

And then a unisex baby blanket with octagons and squares.  I used up all my scrap greens with this one. :) This was inspired by +Michael Sellick on 'The Crochet Crowd' page.  Michael does amazing tutorial videos, I have learned so much from them.  It is the most complex project I have done and I am just thrilled with it.  The pattern for the Octagon and Squares Throw is free at Red Heart Yarns website.  

http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/octagons-squares-throw

I have two second cousins on the way, (two different Mum's) so I have been thinking about baby gifts.

For a long time now I have thought it would be a good idea to make a gift for each of the sexes, and keep them stored away so that when a gift is needed I can take out the appropriate one to give the new arrival.  Then make another to replace it and store it away again.

Child's Beanie

When I was visiting my sister-in-law one day, I took my crochet granny circle blankie along, to do while we were having a chat.  Her two little girls were goggle eyed in fascination at what I was doing.  Their Mum mentioned to  me that she loved the variegated yarn that I was using, and beanies for the two girls would be lovely.  So I have crocheted two small beanies.  I hope they fit the two girls.

Then I made two pairs of finger-less mittens, and then two scarves to go with them.  When I realized that I didn't have enough of the variegated yarn to finish the two scarves I decided to incorporate a matching solid colour to them, so I could have some in both scarves, to match the hats and mittens.  If the scarf is too short I will add a couple of squares to it.

Circle Granny Square Baby Blanket

I love looking up free crochet patterns on +Pinterest and other sites.  The creativity of people is amazing.  Recently I noticed that I have saved and printed so many patterns that it would take me two lifetimes to actually do them all.  So, I thought, 'better start spending some time doing crochet'.  

One pattern I really liked was a circle granny square.  So I decided to start with that.  I was so pleased with the result that I made more squares with colour variations and then pattern variations.  So I have finished up with a sort of sampler, cot blanket.  

When it came to joining the squares, I found a way that is easy and you can do it as you make each square.  All the squares were already done so I just added another round of black to each one to use this method of joining squares.

Then I added extra borders and a shell edging.  Not bad for a first attempt, if I say so myself.