To make such a garland is very easy. Start by making one circle by chaining x and closing the circle by making a slip stitch in the first stitch (you can decide on how large the circle to be by chaining more or less stitches). I believe that in my case I chained 10 stitches. After making my circle, I started crocheting around it: I first chained 1 and then continued with single crochet in the circle. Make enough single crochet around to obtain a flat surface. Close the circle when you are happy with how it looks and continue to the next one. Note that I left 2 stitches between circles and I finished my second circle on the “wrong side”, that is, near the 2 stitches I left in between. So I needed to slip stitch half circle to get to the good side, where I could continue working toward the third circle. And then repeat. And that’s it. Depends on you how long you want to make the garland, if you want to make it one color or if you want to combine more colors. Wash and block the circles to stay flat. Enjoy :)
Remember the colorful curtain I made last summer? Well, I received a question about it, actually regarding the crocheted garlands that I neglected to talk about. I managed to find some very bad photos of the garlands hanging (sorry about that) and also a better one that I took while I was making them. To make such a garland is very easy. Start by making one circle by chaining x and closing the circle by making a slip stitch in the first stitch (you can decide on how large the circle to be by chaining more or less stitches). I believe that in my case I chained 10 stitches. After making my circle, I started crocheting around it: I first chained 1 and then continued with single crochet in the circle. Make enough single crochet around to obtain a flat surface. Close the circle when you are happy with how it looks and continue to the next one. Note that I left 2 stitches between circles and I finished my second circle on the “wrong side”, that is, near the 2 stitches I left in between. So I needed to slip stitch half circle to get to the good side, where I could continue working toward the third circle. And then repeat. And that’s it. Depends on you how long you want to make the garland, if you want to make it one color or if you want to combine more colors. Wash and block the circles to stay flat. Enjoy :)
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Well, at least for me, socks are the ultimate challenge. And here is why. First, I am not very good in knitting techniques and making heels seems to be quite a difficult thing to do. Second, I do not know how to read knitting patterns... auch … Third, you need to adapt the pattern for your own foot size. And last, there is the gauge issue if you want to use another type of yarn than the one used in some pre-made pattern. Ok, so it seems that in my case it would be better to either crochet a pair of socks or just buy some. But NO! I refuse to give up! It can’t be that hard! I mean, socks were made since human kind discovered wool and needles, and those women who first knitted some socks did not have a degree and they certainly did not have internet! And I have. So, I started to look around for someone to explain me how to make socks FOR ME or FOR WHOEVER I WANT. In other words, I wanted to find out the principles of constructing a perfect fitting pair of socks. I thought: if I can figure out that, rest is a question of refining the knitting technique. After looking around the internet for a while I found a really cool (for me anyway) guide written by Michele from the Puritantherapy blog. Her advices and explanations are based on her experience with knitting socks 2 at a time using circular needles. Her starting point was a series of video tutorials explaining how to do that. Good video tutorials by the way. I am not going to repeat all she said – you can read it directly on her blog. Point is that I found the explanations enlightening: finally someone who gave me the tools to make my own socks! But there was a problem: I do not know how to use circular needles to knit in round. I know how to use double pointed needles though! And that is exactly what I did. I followed her instructions on how to calculate length, width, number of stitches, increases and such and I figured that I will just knit the socks one by one. On double pointed knitting needles. How hard can that be? Turns out that is not that hard. The first sock was not that great and I had to unravel and knit again several times. Then, I had no idea that there is a magic loop casting method for toe-up socks. Now I know. Too bad that I found out about that after I finished both socks. Ah well, next time I will know better. Then… well, then there were some other mistakes but I am not going to go into more detail. Let’s just call them the results of a learning process :P BUT! At the end of the day I have my first pair of socks. Made by me! For me! I love them, even with all the imperfections. Because they stand for something: a challenge that I won :) I do not have patience to block the blanket, I want to share it with you first! It was a rewarding project and also easy to do :) I just needed to crochet and join 30 granny squares. For joining, I used a flat braid method. In case you do not know how to do that I also inserted the link to a website with a good explanation. And that it is! Knitting schematics scare you? Well, they scared me also. You have to calculate a lot: how many stitches and over how many rows etc etc. Seems complicated. So until now I did not really tried any complicated knitting project. Until the baby thing. How can I not make some nice baby clothes for the little one? So, I said to myself: "How hard can it be?". I mean, I am working toward getting a PhD in quantitative social sciences and I am using some pretty hardcore statistics, sure I can figure out how to make / use a knitting schematic. So, this is the story and the result of my first try at making and using a schematic for a baby vest. I learned 2 important lessons: make a swatch to figure out the gauge and use a spreadsheet type of file to draw the schematic and calculate. The file I made with an open source software (Open Document Spreadsheet) that anyone can use - is free! I used only basic math formulas that are included in the document. As always, the document can be downloaded from the Patterns section of this site. Let me know if you find it useful! But lets see an example from my calculations and how you can adapt to your specific project. My gauge is 15 stitches per 10 cm and I needed to figure out how many stitches I need to cast on to cover 59 cm. During primary school I learned to solve this in the following easy way: And the above is the formula that I fed to my spreadsheet. Now, say that you use another type of yarn so you will have other gauge, all you need to do is to change the numbers in the spreadsheet (or, of course, you can calculate by hand). Simple, no?
I always wanted to make a granny square blanket but I could not find a good reason to make one. Now that my brother and his wife are expecting their first child I got my reason to make one! I checked the stash and chose some warm colors because the baby will be arriving somewhere in autumn. So, here is what I have after 5 days of work - the diagram included. I hope to have the finished blanket tomorrow - joining those 30 squares really takes a lot of time and patience! You remember Nemo? The lost Clown Fish. Sure you do, everyone knows him. Lovely color combination on him :) My inspiration for the latest blanket I made. Again from pure sheep wool that I bought from Romania. This time I knitted it. Just because I like the texture of it. Took me a month of working on this blanket. I used a very simple stitch (a variation of garter stitch) so watching TV and knitting was no problem. Knitting should be relaxing, right? :P And just like always, for those that want to make such a blanket here are some photos and technicalities (click on the Photo and see the explanation below). Here it is: my first crocheted blanket made from pure sheep wool that I bought from Romania. I am very happy with it: is warm, is pretty and static electricity is a thing of the past. And that only means that is more or less free of animal hairs! Yeey!! Happy me! I hesitated a lot what to do with the pattern. I thought I could offer it for a low price on Etsy or Ravelry and get some money to send to the animals shelters I support. But then I changed my mind because I want to believe in the goodness of people. So I make the pattern of this blanket free to download. I just hope that among those that find inspiration from my work some will also consider making a small donation to one (or both) of the two animal shelters from Romania. This said, enjoy the pattern and let me know if there is any question! A fun little project: make key rings from left over felt :) I made the ones you see in the picture not for me but for a fundraising event organised by Friends of Cats Association. The key rings can be either sold or offered as a gift for those who donate. For those of you out there that are trying to make a difference and help the stray animals, here are some photos and instructions on how you can do this key ring for yourself. End of the year, the magical period when work seems to just pile up and free time gets less and less and less.. :/ That is my story and the reason for the silence on the blog lately. But I did work on some projects and now I find the time to post about one easy, cozy and fun project, perfect for this time of the year: crocheted slippers. With felt soles, to be more precise :P The ones you see in the video tutorial are made for my husband who chose the color combination. He wanted a fun pair of slippers :) Well, he has them now! Did you ever crochet in back loop or front loop? I did not until now but then I tried and I discovered that the textured effect that you can get is quite nice. I experimented with half double crochet (hdc) in back loop only and it looks a bit like knit which I thought that was pretty cool. Here are two items I crocheted using the hdc in back loop stitch: two cowls, a smaller and a larger version. Just to give you an idea, for the small cowl I chained 31 cm of chains and for the larger cowl I chained 55 cm. Then I worked the pattern - for the small cowl I worked till I had around 46 cm and for the large cowl 88 cm. Easy to do in front of the TV, just for some relaxation in between more complicated projects. |