Skinny Stripe Blanket #2 - Seaside version finished!

Hello there!  I hope you all had great weekends, it was pretty quiet around here, we had no real plans this weekend so it was nice just to mooch around and enjoy the winter sunshine.  Being home meant that I finished off my second skinny stripe blanket! Yay!  So of course I had to take some pictures of it all completed.  You probably are sick of seeing this blanket, but just in case you are not, here is a few photos of it is all its cool colour glory!  

I have decided to call this one Seaside Skinny Stripe, because it has a bit of a beachy feel to it I think.

 I chose grey for the edge, and did my fallback picot edge treatment, I still really like this simple edging!

I guess it is cot sized or a reasonable knee rug, here it is all laid out on a single bed.

I like this side with the crisp lines of colour all standing out clearly from each other.....

....and here it is added to the growing pile of blankets in my stash of finished things.  I think I'll call the colourful one the Jellybean Skinny Stripe, it's a nice playful name.

So here is some info about this new blanket:

Size 89cm x77cm, 8ply (DK) pure wool, 3.5mm hook.

Wool colours used: ( approximately 1-2 50g balls of each colour)

Loyal DK  

mid blue

electric blue

aqua

midgreen

spearmint

duck egg blue

Heirloom Colorworks 8ply

teal green

lime

grey

cream

Heirloom Babywool 8ply

pale mint

pale blue

light aqua

Merino Magic 8ply

celery

Plus I used 2 balls of extra grey for the edge, you could use what ever colour you liked though.

I have a few scraps left of various blues and greens and added one or two rows of these too until they ran out.

The pattern was random in that there is no colour repeat, although I did try and balance the colour stripes as I went. Just rows of sc (dc) in different colours, that's about it!

I stock these wools in my shop over here if you would like to make one for yourself!

Have you got much on this week?  I am going on a quick road trip to Sydney to pick up something very exciting!  Well, I think it is anyway, I can't wait to show you what I have acquired, something I have been wanting to learn for a long time.  I think I have steep learning curve ahead of me.

I'm doing that on Wednesday and will be back Friday, so will show you all then! Eek!

Ok so that's about all for today, talk soon!

Skinny Stripe Finish....

Hello! How are you going today?  

I am pretty happy because I have finished my Skinny Stripe blanket! 

All those ends are woven in and the edge is complete too!   I have to say for such a simple pattern, just rows of sc, this blanket really makes me smile.  Maybe it has something to do with using one of my favourite colour palettes, I do seem to go back to my old favourites time and again.

So anyway, here are some pictures!

I love all the little snippets of colour!

...and here are the colours I used in case you are interested.  15 different shades, randomly striped, I chose red for the border, but I think I could have picked any one of them and it would have worked and given a different look to the finished blanket.

I have put together a Skinny Stripe colour collection in my shop if any one feels the need to create one of these happy blankets! Of course you could make up your own favourite colour palette, the skies the limit with this one!

I chained 150 stitches to start and I think there are about 110 coloured stripes in total.  I think I used more than one ball of red and mid green and mid blue, but I wanted a few extra stripes in these colours.  You will also need  an extra ball of your border colour to finish off, I just did a few rounds of sc with simple picots for added cuteness!

So have you finished anything fun recently? 

It feels good to get some finished projects under my belt!

Have great colourful day!

xxxxxxxxxxxx

little makes interlude.....

Hello!

How is your week going?  It's pretty chilly around here, and I have been lighting the fire early in the day, it's been a nice place to sit and do a bit of daytime crochet, I have so many projects on the go that I am needing to crochet during the day, the evening sessions are just not cutting it!

The other day I bought a collection of little ceramic bottles, they are very plain and white, I think they are just crying out for a little hooky make over, so have started making some stripy covers for them.

I know this is totally frivolous and a purely decorative project, but it is kind of fun choosing stripe combinations and seeing the colourful collection grow!  Sometimes it is good to have little side project on the go that you can work on when you need a break from bigger, more demanding work!

I am looking forward to having this whole tray full of colourful, stripy little bottle vases, so cute!

After all the big projects I have been working on recently, it's nice to have a quick make off the hook.

I am about to start a new Harlequin blanket in some lovely blues and greens, so it is back to the big stuff for a few weeks,  I have also come across some fun craft projects that I 'd like to try, I just have to be patient and wait for a spare afternoon to have a go.

Are you making anything frivolous at the moment?

Julie xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Skinny stripes and a winner!

Hello everyone!

I have a bit of a colour overload here, but it has been very dreary and cold here today, so I was in need of a little brightening. :) 

This is the thing I am working on at the moment, I call it the Skinny Stripe Blanket, just rows of sc in a lovely random patterning of colours.  So simple, but I love the effect.

I am trying to do 10-20 rows a day, but I am falling behind a bit this week. :(  Must keep plugging away, the rows are very soothing, just sc over and over again! ( they are soothing until they are boring, then I stop and do something else!)

Anyway, what else has been happening around here...hmmm, well I received a new yarn delivery for the shop today, something lovely and chunky and warm and wintery and interesting.  It was too dull to photograph it, but I can't wait to get it in the shop and show you all.  I've never made anything in chunky or super chunky yarn, I'll have to go and immerse myself in Ravelry for a while and find some new projects!  Hopefully I will be able to show you tomorrow!

Oh, and I have a winner for the April giveaway! Yay! 

Max chose a number between 1 and 189, and I counted down to that comment, and guess what?

Kate Eastwood the 5 balls of cotton are all yours! 

Thank you to everyone who took the time to enter, I wish I could send a prize to you all!

(......and yes, I do have to deal with all these ends!  I know I should have crocheted over them as I went, but I started doing that and I didn't like how one end of the stripe was thicker than the other! So I will weave them in at the end, surely it won't take that long..... :)  )

Well, that's about all for now, not much too report really, hopefully I'll have more interesting posts for you all soon, I think I've been lacking a bit of posting inspiration recently, so I apologise for the slightly boring sameness to my posting, I guess that can happen when life follows a gentle rhythm, and patterns and routines repeat themselves over the months.  I think it is called contentment, or something similar, just a happy life really. :)

How is life treating you at the moment?

Have a great day!

xxxxxxxxxxx

Crochet along update #4

Hello ladies, here is the latest bit of my mixed stripey blanket! 

Once again, apologies for slowness of my progress, I am doing my best, but crochet time is short at the moment.

Anyway, heres what I have done,

I finished my block of 5 rows of granny stripe.  

The colours,  watermelon, mint, blue, mint, watermelon. 

Next row in light blue, sc across, with every 3rd st sc into the space between watermelon clusters.

Next row,  in pink, (on right side), hdc in each st across, turn, ch2 (count as as 1st st),  (on wrong side), hdc in each st across.

Next row in light blue, sc each st across.

Next I did a section of chevron stripe in dark blue with an aqua stripe.

After the chevron stripe section I did a chunk of 5 double rows of sc (10 rows in all) in the colour sequence red, mid green, pale pink, pale blue and lime.  

If you prefer, you could do double rows of hdc or dc if you want thicker stripes, and you could do more rows if you like, or less!

So that is where I am at right now, slowly growing!

Have a great day, and happy hooking on!

PS. Thank you all for the lovely comments on my last post, I get a lot of joy from gardening and spending time outdoors pottering around, I am glad I could share it with you all!

Crochet along Update #3

Hello.

How are you going today?

I have got the next bit of the crochet along for you today, so here what I've done:

After the aqua and red outlined cluster pattern, and the 1 row of blue hdc, 

I turned the work and went back with another row of blue hdc.

Next was a row of pale pink hdc, then turn the work and go back, so you end up with a double row of pale pink hdc.

Next is a 4 row pattern called Catherine Wheel.

Special Abbreviation CL (Cluster) : work [yo, insert hook, yo, draw loop through, yo, draw through 2 loops] over the number of sts indicated, yo, draw through all loops on hook.

Row 1(wrong side) : In red, join and make 1ch in first st (counts as first st), 1sc in next st, * skip 3sts, 7dc into next st, skip 3 sts, 1sc into each of next 3sts; rep from * to lats 4 sts, skip 3sts, 4dc into last st,  turn.

Row 2 (right side) : In pink, join to first st and  make 1ch, 1sc into first st, 1sc into next st, *3ch, 1CL over next 7sts, 3ch, 1sc into each of next 3 sts; rep from * to last 4 sts, 3ch, !cl over last 4 sts, skip tch, turn.

Row 3 (wrong side) : still with pink, 3ch, 3dc into first st, * skip 3ch, 1sc into each of the next 3scs, skip 3ch, 7dcs into the loop that closed next CL; rep from *to end, finishing with skip 3ch, 1sc into each of last 2sc, skip tch, turn

Row 4 (right side) :In red, join and 3ch (counts as 1dc), skip first st, 1CL over next 3 sts, * 3ch, isc into each of next 3 sts, 3ch, 1CL over next 7sts; rep from* finishing with 3ch, 1sc into next st,1sc into top of tch, turn.

This pattern can be a bit tricky at the start and end of rows, depending on how many stitches are in your blanket, so here is the graphic pattern to help you work out your ends and starts.  Just adjust your ends and starts to keep your sides straight, according to where you are in the pattern repeat.

(sorry it's a bit blurry, it's getting late here!)

Of course you can do this pattern in whatever colours you like!

Catherine Wheel Stitch Pattern, from Basic Crochet Stitches , edited by Erika Knight.

Next is a chunk of sc rows.

Row 1 : (Right side) Lime green, sc across the row, doing 10sc evenly across each pattern repeat of the Catherine Wheel row below to ensure the stitch count stays the same. Turn.

Row 2 : (Wrong side) 1ch, skip first st, sc in each st across row.

Row 3 : (RS) Mid green, Sc in each st across row, turn.

Row 4 : (WS) 1ch, skip first st, sc in eachst across row.

Rows 5 -11 : Sc across the row, doing one row of each colour, working all on the right side.  

Colour sequence that I used :

Light blue, 

red, 

dark blue,

red, 

dark blue, 

red,

 light blue.

Next is a chunk of Granny stripe pattern  (see earlier pattern notes) in watermelon, spearmint green, and mid blue.  You can add more or less granny stripes if you would like.  I think I will add a couple more to this chunk, but I haven't quite got to that yet. 

Ok that's all I have for you at the moment, school holidays are coming up next week, so I might have a bit more time to devote to this while the boys have their holiday sleep ins, so there hopefully won't be quite as big a wait for the next instalment!  Sorry for my slowness, but this is a huge blanket and each row is taking ages!

Just a note on the yarns I am using, I am using quite a few different Australian brands, (to get a good colour range), mainly Heirloom Colorworks 8ply and Cleckheaton Country 8ply, with some stash bits and pieces as well.  I think they are DK equivalent.  They are probably hard to find overseas (although Cleckheaton is very common here), so you can use any dk weight yarn that takes your fancy, I like to work with wool, but I am sure it would be just as nice in any yarn you choose.

Have a great day!

Joining in with The Creative Spaces over here.

Crochet Along Update #2.....

Hello!

So here is the next bit of the crochet along!

I think last time I had finished the chevron stripe pattern, so after that section I have added rows of sc in 3 colours. 

Starting with the right side facing, I have done 1row of sc in dark blue, then turned and gone back, so ending up with a double row of sc. Then I've repeated this in pale pink, and mid blue.

4dc cluster pattern

Next, I have done a row of 4dc clusters, with 3 sts skipped between them (this keeps the stitch count even overall).  The first cluster is made of 3chs and 1dc, then the rest are 4dcs.

Next, a row of sc in lime.

Next, another row of 4dc clusters in blue.

Next, a double row of sc in green ( 1 row, turn, second row)

Bobble Pattern

Next I am setting up for my bobble row with 1 row of dcs in pale blue.

The middle row of the bobble section is where you do the bobbles . 

There is a great tutorial over at Tales from Cuckoo Land here that shows you exactly how to do the bobbles in another colour, which is how I learnt how to do it, have a look over there to find out how to do this part.

Then I did another row of dcs in pale blue to finish off this bit.

Next another double row of sc in green.

(I am going to call this next 3 rows Outlined Cluster Pattern in future)

Next, one row of sc in red.

Next, one row of 4tr clusters in turquoise, made the same way as the 4dc clusters, but with trs instead.

Next row, ch1(counts as 1st st), 1sc in next stitch, then 2trtog into centre skipped st of the first row of sc in red, *then 3sc across top of cluster sts, then 2trtog into centre skipped st of first row of sc in red*, and repeat to end of row. (hope that's not too confusing!)

Next, I row of hdc in blue.

Okay that's where I'm up to at the moment, I am pretty happy with how it is working out, I have decided not to use any white in this blanket, so I hope the colours keep looking good together.

I am going to try and work a bit of Catherine Wheel pattern in soon, so hope that works out ok, then it might be time for some repeating of the chevron stripe and granny stripes, I'll have to wait and see!

How are you going with this blanket? 

Still having fun?

Getting frustrated with my slow posting? (Sorry!)

Are you doing your own bit of winging it crochet?

Have a great day, and happy hooking!

Mixed stripey blanket beginnings...wanna join in?

Well, I have finally got around to starting my next mixed-stitch-stripey blanket, I have been procrastinating a lot regarding this blanket.  

However, on our last trip to Melbourne I bought this book, and there are so many fantastic stitch patterns in here that I could put it off no longer!  There were many patterns with similar effects to what I was looking for in my experimenting, so why reinvent the wheel?  I will just use the similar ones in here I think. 

These are a few I like and think I could incorporate into my blanket, along with some old favourites, they might not all make the cut but it is good to have lots of options in a blanket like this!

What do you think?  Aren't they lovely! I do like nice solid looking patterns, I actually think the Interlocking Diamonds would be gorgeous for a blanket all on it's own! Maybe next project there!

Soooo......here is my beginning, 3 rows of hdc (htr) in blue,watermelon and green.  

Choosing the colours for this blanket has been quite a challenge, do I go for a different look or choose old favourites?  Lots of different colours or a limited palette?  In the end I've decided to go with the flow and see what takes my fancy as I get to each new stitch pattern.  It's going to be fun!

Definitely going to be one interesting blanket!

If anyone would like to crochet along with me on the own mixed-stitch-stripey blanket, feel free, I'd love to see what you come up with!  I am hoping to start a page dedicated to this blankets progress with the patterns and mini tutorials on it so you can see what I am doing.  But feel free to do your own thing, choose what ever stitches you like and lets create a unique blanket together!

I am using 8 ply wool (DK I think equivalent) with a 3.5 mm hook, but use what ever hook you feel comfortable with, I want a nice firm tight stitch, but you may prefer a looser fabric.

To begin with I chained 390ish stitches ( I kind of lost count and then kept loosing count when I went back to check)  because I want a big blanket for our bed, but you can chain as many as you like to suit your own wants.  Because of all the different stitch patterns, there will probably be a bit of adjusting of each row, depending on which pattern is being used; they all have various stitch repeats, if you get what I mean.  As long as we keep the same number of stitches in each row, we should end up with a fairly straight sided piece.  There is a bit of improvising inthids project, so please bear with me!

So the first few rows are of hdcs (htr), just to give us a nice firm base to start with,  I am going to do a couple more before moving on to a different pattern.

Stay tuned, I will try and update this blanket whenever I have made a pattern change, but that's enough to get us started!   

Have a great day!

Random Stripe Cushion #2 (with bobble)

Hello

It has turned freezing here the last few days, the fire is going and I am contemplating doing some daytime, weekday crocheting, something that feels very indulgent when there are all the normal week day jobs to do.  I should really make the chicken and asparagus pie I am doing for dinner now so it is ready early, because it is a basketball night and I am not home later to get it made, but I'm sure an hour of crochet could be squeezed into the schedule, I'll just bump a few of the boring jobs to tomorrow!

Anyway, do you remember the scrapy bit of random stripy crochet I showed you ages ago? No? 

It was a while ago.  Well, I thought I'd show you how it turned out.

This is my 'random stripe with bobble' cushion no.2.

Made in 8ply cotton, mix of brands used includes Bendigo Knitting Mills and Heirloom.

 On the back I just did htr stripes, nice and easy.

A few green vintage buttons complete the look. 

Have to say not very happy with the actual construction of this cushion cover, very dodgy if you look closely. So just squint and enjoy the colours! haha......

Ta dah....

So I hope your day is going great and you're staying warm if you are in Melbourne!

See you soon!