There is nothing better than a simple granny blanket. I ordered this yarn without a project in mind and after a lot of research I just went back to a granny. I’m trying to make smaller blankets right now so they are more practical for strollers and babies, plus they work up quick and Im less likely to get bored. This will be the first of many Baby Granny Blankets!
I decided to try my hand at a shawl made from 8ply yarn. I usually work with 4ply, but i wanted something warmer. I found this yarn at Lincraft and got 2 balls. Then hours and hours of Ravelry later I downloaded a pattern. I’ve decided to buy patterns to support designers. This pattern is called Birds of a Feather shawl. It’s a super easy repeat pattern and works up sideways. Super cool looking! The gradient yarn came out great and this didn’t take that long to make. I used a 4.5mm hook, but should have used a bigger one to make it drape.
Pattern:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/birds-of-a-feather-10
I’ve been making a lot of shawls and scarfs lately but not a lot of blankets. I got in stages of loving giant projects then hating them. I’ve recently started a few blankets and work on them every so often. I have a stash busting 12 point ripple, yellow cotton baby blanket, and a pink diamond baby blanket.
I’m trying to use up a lot of my stash as i’ve had yarns sitting in it for years and also because i want to buy more yarn hahaha A 12 point Continue reading Blanket Progress
I was bored one day and after some googling I discovered the Addi knitting machine range. I wanted one. To make beanies in half an hour seemed too good to be true. But why would I need all those beanies, it doesn’t get cold here. To use up a lot of acrylic yarn i had been stockpiling and make them for charity, duh! Now these machines are not cheap, well the are if you are in Europe, but the shipping alone was over $100 for me. So i got to work doing all the research, youtube, blogs, Facebook where I got a negative reaction. So it seems a lot of people don’t find these machines ‘hand made’ enough. To me it’s no different to using a sewing machine to make clothes. People are odd creatures. So I settled on buying from Etsy as it seemed legit. I went with the bigger machine so i can make more adult sized things. After about 3 weeks it turned up! I ran to the post office to collect it, I was so happy! Immediately I set it up and loaded a youtube tutorial. My first attempt was good, the trick is the tension. And after a few more attempts I finally had a decent result! Que the hat making business! So in the first weekend I had it I made 30 hats… I made the tube bits in bulk then finished them off. So much fun. The machine is noisy enough that you can’t hear the tv, so I used my laptop and head phones. Now i just need to find a charity to give them too.
I love a granny blanket. So simple to make. I found this yarn in the clearance bit of the local craft store and loved it. I love pink, blue, and green together. This worked up so fast, I’m not sure how. Maybe I was just really enjoying the project. This took about 400g of yarn and came to a very decent size. I gave it a nice ruffled border and called it a day. I’m not sure on the brand of the yarn as it didn’t have a wrapper. It was amazing to work with and incredibly soft. This would be great for a baby blanket. I enjoy making simple blankets with beautifully coloured yarn. It’s so relaxing to not have to count a pattern out every row.
I found this yarn somewhere in America and loved the colours. It reminded me of underwater and the ocean, and therefore the mermaid scarf was born. I used a simple shell pattern to create the scales, and i used a 5mm hook to make it drape. This whipped up pretty quick. I used one ball of yarn which gave it a pretty decent size. It doesn’t get cold here so it’s used mainly to add colour to an outfit. The yarn is super soft and flowly and it’s the right amount of warmth.
So my cat loves blue yarn. She thinks its her baby. I had this Shawl in a Ball yarn sitting on my shelf for nearly a year before she discovered it and “played” with it. So in order to save it from being a tangled mess forever I had to quickly made something. As the yarn was called shawl in a ball i decided to make a shawl. I had this pattern sitting forever on my computer so gave it a go. So i don’t like the random fluffiness in the yarn at all. And also the white annoyed me. And then I ran out of yarn. So i didn’t get to do the whole pattern, but that was ok. It was still a decent size and was a really nice pattern. The shawl wasn’t my type of item to wear so I gave it to my mum and she loves it so it all worked out good in the end. The cat is now banned from playing with yarn though!
Pattern:
Erigeneia by Silke Terhorst
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/erigeneia
Yarn:
A few weeks ago my friend Beth asked me to make her a blanket. Normally I don’t make commissioned blankets, but for her I made an exception. She choose the pattern and the colours of the yarn, I just had to make the rest- simple! The yarn took some time to come from England, but was amazingly soft. I love working with Stylecraft yarn. The pattern was a simple granny but with colour variations. I love patterns so trying to make things ‘random’ was a challenge. I tried to not think about it too much. I used the join as you go method for the final rounds. The border was two rounds of pink followed by a white scolloped border. This blanket took forever. It is one of my favourites though and well worth the effort.
Colours used:
White
Pale Rose
Mocha
Parchment
Mandalas are always a great quick project to do. I really enjoy making them if i get bored of a large project, or just want something colourful to do that I can finish in an afternoon or night. There are heaps of patterns online and Pintrest is a great place to start. Cotton is the best fiber to work with as it keeps it shape, plus the colours are amazing! I find using a smaller than usual hook also helps as you don’t want it to become too open and lacey. I framed one of my recent mandalas which looks super cool on my wall! In the future i plan on framing a whole bunch to create a unique wall art collection.
I hadn’t made a ripple blanket for ages so decided to give it a try. I had some muted pastel yarn hanging about which was perfect. Ripples are a tricky pattern to master, you really have to count your stitches at the end and beginning of the row or else you can easily start decreasing or increasing. There are heaps of different patterns online to choose from, and i find chart patterns the easiest to follow. I worked with a 5mm hook which gave the blanket an open and lace effect, it also made it super drapey.
That Girl Who Crochets 