Ninetta's Butterfly

I took time out from crocheting to try out Ninetta's pattern. Little butterflies made with bugle beads, perched on a paperclip. So sweet. Thanks Ninetta.

Choosing

One of my favourite parts of making this flowers in a row blanket is choosing the colour for the next row of flowers. Pink next, I think.

Half Way

I've used each flower colour once and the proportions are right for half a blanket. When I've crocheted each colour again, the blanket should be 100 cm wide by 150 cm long. This blanket seems to be using up yarn at a furious rate, perhaps because it has fewer spaces than the other blankets I've crocheted, so I think I will have to spin some more wool.

More Flower Colours

It didn't rain yesterday so I was able to dye some more colours for my blanket.  Each ball is enough for two rows. I want to use each colour in each half so they're well distributed, which is why I put the blanket on hold, rather than just use the colours I'd already dyed . It's raining again now, so I'm glad of yesterday's gap to do washing as well as dye wool.

False Start

I'll quickly tat round 2 , I thought, and then write my blog. Mmm. Not so fast, Jane. It was clear before I finished round 2 that it wasn't going to lie flat. I think my tension on the inside chains is too loose and the long picot in the centre too big perhaps. Nothing for it but to start over. The second version lies perfectly flat, without blocking. I must remember to pay attention to tension as I go further.

Second Sock

I think the best way to avoid 'second sock syndrome' is to begin the second sock as soon as the first is finished. Mind you, in this case I'm making the socks for someone else, so I couldn't leave one sock languishing in any case.

Awash

At the beginning of the year we were drought stricken, desperate for rain. Well, we've had rain. I took these pictures this morning from inside the house:

At least I have a house that is dry and snug. The poor sheep are not so lucky:

It would be good to have some moderation, but we can't control the weather so it is what it is.

I've been working on the sock:

The good thing about working with five needles is that you can try the sock on before it's finished. I wanted to be sure that the heel was neat and well fitting. I'll probably try the sock on again to decide where to start the toe decreases.

Sock Commission

I've been commissioned to knit a pair of socks. The yarn is a firmly spun 3-ply, bit harsh to the touch, but perfect for socks. The pattern I'm using is called bintje by Jatta Saukko, available as a free download on Ravelry. The original is knee length, but I'm going to make ankle socks. I'm stuck on the blanket until the rain stops because I need some more flower colours, so now is the perfect time to make some progress on the socks.

Giving In To Temptation

I decided I wouldn't tat any more large doilies because I don't know what to do with them. But Renata has started her new stage-by-stage Spring napkin for 2017; I have plenty of size 40 thread; I need a new tatting project... There seem to be more reasons to tat it than not! I'm going to make it and figure out later what to do with it.

Flowers In A Row

I'm working on the Flowers in a row blanket for my granddaughter, using this pattern. I have to say, I think life is too short to make a blanket in single crochet. I'm using two rows of double crochet where the pattern uses four rows of single crochet. I don't think it affects the look of the pattern significantly, so I'm happy. (That's American crochet terms of course. UK terms would be double crochet and treble, but they don't scan as well!)

Experiment on Valentine's Day

While my wool was drying, I experimented with muskaan's heart in block tatting, which is here.  I thought I'd outline one of them with chains, but that was a mistake because it obscures the heart shape. I do like the idea of a bead at the bottom to emphasise the point. Of course my block tatting could use some work, but I like the concept.

Natural Wool

Once this wool is dry and rolled into balls, I can start crocheting. I'm not certain I have enough natural ('natural' as in undyed) to complete the blanket, but if not, I'll just spin some more! The sheep in the background are neatly picturesque, but are not the source of the wool. They're Dorper sheep grown for meat.

Flower Colours

The blanket pattern (link on previous post) has flowers in red and yellow. But hey, I'm not going to restrict myself to two colours when there are so many possibilities! As described before, I wound half-size skeins and did some double and treble dye-lots. The three shades of orange were dyed together, as were the three shades of purple.

Shades of Green

I've made a start on the next blanket. I'm going to use the flowers in a row pattern. I spun and plied one 'batch' (about 200 g) for green to start with. I considered dyeing skeins in different shades of green, as I've done before , but decided to dye the whole batch as a variegated dyelot. Inspired by the green landscape, perhaps! The batch was too big for my microwave, so I heated it in the oven to set the dye. Here's how it looked before it went into the oven:

Day 11- Done

Well, the tat it and see turns out to be a very elegant Crinoline lady. Thanks very much to Jane Eborall for her fun tatting game. There are links to Jane's blog and her tat it and see blog on the left of this page. Lots of ladies to be seen there!

Again!

I hesitate to blog about this, lest I come across as demented. Or at least obsessive. But it's what I've been working on, so here goes. Corlie felt that the crochet buttons on my cushion back wouldn't be up to the job of keeping the back closed and that the back was too puffy. I didn't redo the back altogether. I unraveled eight rows to the last increase row and then redid them without the increase. And I've replaced the crochet buttons with wooden buttons. If the judges don't like it, it won't be for lack of effort on my part!

Triangles Blanket

The triangles blanket is ready to be parceled up for posting. The triangle pattern is here, but Lucy didn't join the triangles, she used them for bunting. My inspiration for joining the triangles together is here.  I saw it on Pinterest and then worked back to find the pattern. My blanket is made from handspun wool.  Cream is the natural colour, the colours were dyed in my microwave using acid dyes.

Day 10

It's a Herero lady! I must admit that when I google Herero dress now, their headdresses are a bit more angular than I remember. So perhaps not. We used to see women in traditional Herero dress when we lived in Botswana. I'm still wondering what we're going to join to the remaining very small picots.

Joining

I'm busy assembling triangles, a process that boggles my mind occasionally.  I experimented with different methods of joining. The Craft Passion blogger has assembled 12 different ways to join granny squares, here.  I tried out several of them. I'm using the flat slip stitch method but instead of joining through the bottom loops as in the tutorial, I've joined from the front of the work through the top loops, which gives a less bulky seam. I want the triangles to be well defined.

Day 9

Does the picture look fuzzy or are my eyes crossed? Either way, I still have no idea what it is that we're tatting!

Blocking

I'm in the process of blocking triangles, as advised in the pattern. I drew a triangle with 20 cm sides on a piece of fabric and pinned it to a dishcloth, to act as a guide:

I pin each triangle to the cloth, stretching it slightly to fit the template, cover it with a damp cloth and press is lightly.

Only 63 of them to do before I can join them together to make a blanket.