Wednesday, June 15, 2011
May 2011 Projects complete
A friend of mine puts together a box with a blanket, clothes for a hospital here in Utah. When premature babies pass away, the nurses dress them and put them in the blanket and take pictures for the family. Then everything is put in the box and given to the family for something to keep in rememberance of their baby. Such a sad experience that I hope I never have to go through. To help her with her donation, I have made a few things for her. the blankets are size 2'x2' and then premie size hats.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
How To: Double Crochet Stitch
How To: Double Crochet Stitch
This is my favorite stitch. It adds good height, so when making an afghan, if this stitch is used the most, it seems to go faster for me. So, lets start with the chain...to give height to the edge of the DC (double crochet) you usually start your double crochet stitch in the 3rd chain from the hook.
YO, and insert hook into 3rd ch from hook.
This is my favorite stitch. It adds good height, so when making an afghan, if this stitch is used the most, it seems to go faster for me. So, lets start with the chain...to give height to the edge of the DC (double crochet) you usually start your double crochet stitch in the 3rd chain from the hook.
YO, and insert hook into 3rd ch from hook.
YO, and pull through ch space. This will give you 3 loops on the hook
YO, and pull through 2 of the loops on the hook
YO once more and pull through the last 2 loops on the hook
That completes your Double Crochet Stitch. Now finish the chain to practice and even out your stitches.
How To: Single Crochet Stitch
How To: Single Crochet Stitch
Ok, so now that you have your chain, use 1 ch space as the edge to build up the side. In the 2nd ch space, we will start the single crochet stitch.
Now, yo (yarn over) and pull through the chain
Now, yo again and pull through both loops on the hook
That completes the single crochet. Now finish out the chain with single crochets to practice and you should be able to maintain even stitches.
Monday, May 30, 2011
How To: Chain
To start, make a slip knot at the start of your yarn.
YO (yarn over) - now, this is the funny part...I have been told that I do this backwards and the yarn should come from the front to the back, I do it that way for the chain, but for actual stitches, I yarn from back to front.I have never had any trouble with how I do it...so, my suggestion once again is to do it how you are comfortable.
Now, pull the yarn through the loop.
Woo Hoo!!! You just started your chain. Now, for good practice, chain a long strand just to try and get each stitch even.
This picture is the top of the chain. It's just a braid, but important to understand that this is what it looks like. There are 2 strands of yarn on top. These are considered Front Loop (frond lp) and Back Loop (back lp). Some patterns call for stitches to be made in a single strand of yarn instead of both. When this is done on an afghan, it gives it more texture to sight and touch. (I will go over this at a later time)
To be honest, I don't mind crocheting chains, but my least favorite part is the first row of anything when you have to crochet in the chain. Once I get past that, it's all a breeze.
How To's
For those of you who already know how to crochet, please bear with me for a short time while I try and zoom through the individual stitches that I will use. Once I get through those, I will be able to start showing actual stitch patterns.
How To: Read Pattern Abbreviations
There are others, but these are the main abbreviations that I use
beg ........ Beginning
CA ... .....Color A
CB ........ Color B
CC ... .....Color C
ch ... .......Chain
dc ... .......double crochet
hdc ... .....half double crochet
lp(s) ... ....loop(s)
rep ... .....repeat
sc ... ......single crochet
sl st ... ....slip stitch
tr ... ........treble crochet
yo ... ......yarn over
beg ........ Beginning
CA ... .....Color A
CB ........ Color B
CC ... .....Color C
ch ... .......Chain
dc ... .......double crochet
hdc ... .....half double crochet
lp(s) ... ....loop(s)
rep ... .....repeat
sc ... ......single crochet
sl st ... ....slip stitch
tr ... ........treble crochet
yo ... ......yarn over
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
How to: Begin
My mom taught me how to crochet when I was 10 yrs old. As you can imagine, trying to hold the crochet hook the way you are supposed to was very awkward for me. The advise my mom gave me was to hold it how ever it felt comfortable. This is how I ended up holding the hook:
I place it so it goes over my pointer finger, under the 2 middle fingers and back over my pinky. My middle finger and thumb hold the blaket. I have found that the control with that works the best for me. So, you can wrap it around your finger, or weave it in and out...what ever makes you the most comfortable and still gives you control of the yarn. It is very important to have that tension in order to maintain even stitches throughout your project.
So - good advise! You have to feel comfortable holding the hook, or you will never finish a project. If you do, and you still aren't comfortable holding the hook, chances are, you won't crochet much more.
The second thing she taught me was to wrap the yarn around my pinky in order to give tension to the yarn to keep my stitches even. This was also very awkward for me and I really hated it. So, once again, I held it how I felt comfortable and this is it:
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Plum Ribbon
Plum Ribbon Afghan
(c) 2011 copyright by Kate Wagstaff of Crafting Friends Designs
(c) 2014 photo copyright by Ash & Co
(c) 2017 photo copyright by Ash & Co
An ad free pdf of this pattern is available for a small fee HERE: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/plum-ribbon-afghan
Materials: 926 yrds Caron Simply Soft Yarn
4ww
For the purple afghan, you'll need 532 yrds of main color and 396 yrds of 2nd color. Colors change every 6 rows
For the teal afghan, you'll need 400 yrds Pegoda, 264 yrds Robins Egg, 264 yrds Soft Green
For the purple afghan, you'll need 532 yrds of main color and 396 yrds of 2nd color. Colors change every 6 rows
For the teal afghan, you'll need 400 yrds Pegoda, 264 yrds Robins Egg, 264 yrds Soft Green
Hook: Size G
Gauge: 7 dc & 3 rows = 2”
Stitches/Abbreviations:
st(s) - stitch(es), sl st - slip stitch, ch - chain, yo - yarn over, sc - single crochet, hdc - half double crochet, dc - double crochet
Special Stitches:
HDC Foundation Chain: If you’re unfamiliar with how to work foundation chains, this photo tutorial may help http://craftingfriendsdesigns.blogspot.com/2014/12/hdc-chainless-foundation.html
Plum Ribbon Afghan |
Notes:
- Beginning ch 3 counts as a dc
- When changing colors, do so in the last step of the last stitch of the row before the color change
Row 1: HDC Foundation Chain of 145.
To customize, work the foundation chain in multiples of 4 + 1
If you prefer a basic chain, chain to 147, turn, hdc in 2nd ch from hook and in each ch space across (145 hdc). To customize a basic chain, work in multiples of 4+3
Row 2: Ch 3 (counts as dc), turn, skip very first st, *dc in next 3 sts, ch 1, skip next st,* repeat from *to* across to end 4 sts, dc in end 4 sts
Row 3: Ch 1, turn, sc in very first st, ch 4, skip next 3 sts, *sc in next ch-1, ch 4, skip next 3 sts,* repeat from *to* across to end st, sc in end st, sc in top of end turning ch
Row 4: Ch 3 (counts as dc), turn, skip very first sc, 3 dc around next ch-4, *ch 1, skip next sc, 3 dc around next ch-4,* repeat from *to* across to end st, dc in end sc
Row 4: Ch 3 (counts as dc), turn, skip very first sc, 3 dc around next ch-4, *ch 1, skip next sc, 3 dc around next ch-4,* repeat from *to* across to end st, dc in end sc
Rows 5-76: Repeat rows 3 & 4 or continue the repeat until you reach your desired height
Border 1: Ch 1, turn, 2 hdc in very first st, hdc in each st across to end st, 3 hdc in end
st, ch 1, rotate to work down first side of afghan, work 2 hdc in side of each
dc and 1 hdc in side of each sc row down to bottom corner, work 3 hdc around
corner st, ch 1, rotate to work across bottom of afghan, hdc between each st on
the foundation row to next corner, ch 1, rotate to work up next side of afghan,
work 2 hdc in side of each ch-3 row and 1 hdc in side of each sc row to next
corner, work hdc in same corner st as beginning 2 hdc, sl st to beginning hdc
Border 2: Ch 1, turn, 3 hdc in same sp as ch-1, hdc in each st down
to bottom corner, 3 hdc in corner st, rotate to work across bottom of afghan,
hdc in each st across to next corner, 3 hdc in corner st, rotate to work up next
side of afghan, hdc in each st to next corner, 3 hdc in corner st, rotate to
work across top of afghan, hdc in each st across to next corner, sl st to
beginning hdc to connect. Fasten off
yarn and weave in ends.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Petal Perfection
Sage & Cream Petal Stitch Afghan Pattern |
Petal Stitch Afghan
Finished size: 44" wide x 56" tall
Hook size: F
Gauge: 4 DC & 2 Rows = 1"
Materials: 6 Skeins Red Heat Super Saver Yarn
Chain 153
Row 1: Sc in 2nd ch from hook
Ch 3, DC within sc just made
Skip 2 ch
sp, SC in next ch sp
This completes the first
Petal StitchThis completes your first petal |
Repeat from *** across ending in sc in last ch sp.
Ch 1; turn
Row 2: ***Sc in sc space, Ch 3, DC within sc just made, SC in next sc space.***
Repeat accross ending in sc, ch 1; turn
Repeat row 2 until desired height. I worked 195 rows for 56" in height.
How to's
I am going to start posting directions on how to do different stitches. As soon as I get a my camera charged, one will be posted. I have had several people tell me they want to learn to crochet, so I thought I would help them out.
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