Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Working It Out

I bought two lots of cotton yarn to make myself tops, so I've been looking on Pinterest for inspiration. I really like this top, but it couldn't track it back to a pattern. I did find instructions for the stitch on MyPicot crochet site, here. I experimented crocheting the stitch with three different size hooks.  I think the biggest one, 6 mm, is too loose and floppity. The smallest one, 4 mm, is not bad, but a bit stiff.  The goldilocks one is 4.5 mm, in the middle of my sample.

So I have the stitch, but not a pattern. I'm using my favourite knitted top as a template:

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

More Maids

I'm making progress on the Maids of Honour edging, though there's been a lot more un-tatting than I usually do. The pattern requires some concentration. I have a nasty habit of forgetting to tat the small ring. Make the next chain and then find there's nothing to join it to! The size 70 knots have to be loosened with a pin, but I am impressed that the Coats thread is not damaged by un-tatting.

Monday, February 26, 2018

Floormat

I've finished my doormat in double filet crochet. I like it. Looks a bit 1960s psychedelic. It measures 45 cm by 60 cm. It didn't take as much cotton yarn as I thought it would, so I have some left over for other experiments.

Saturday, February 24, 2018

Friday, February 23, 2018

Blocks

Some of the cotton yarn I bought on Tuesday was for practising double filet crochet. The tutorial for this pattern is here. It's going along well, in spite of the fact that it turns out the orange yarn is double knitting and the black 4-ply. I need to pay more attention when shopping! What am I making? A mat to go outside my front door. It might just startle the owl who sits sometimes above the door, but there you go.

Thursday, February 22, 2018

Maids of Honour

When I was looking for thread for the Spring doily, I found this ball of size 70 thread. Just the thing to tat a handkerchief edging. I've been wanting to tat something else from Mary Konior's Tatting with Visual Patterns. I've chosen Maids of Honour. I'm working with one shuttle and ball thread - the yellow shuttle is there for the hook. I"m very good at losing small crochet hooks but I figure a bright yellow shuttle will be easier to keep track of.

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Shopping!


We had to go to Kimberley yesterday. It's a much bigger town than our nearest town, there are shops with greater variety and lower prices. Of course I had to visit a couple of them! I wanted beads for a specific project, but it's possible that I got a bit carried away. Such delicious colours. Luckily I didn't get carried away in the yarn shop because it is very tempting. I bought cotton yarn to make myself two tops, knitted or crocheted, I haven't decided yet, and a front door mat. These supplies should keep me busy for a while anyway.

Monday, February 19, 2018

Round 4

I was a bit slow with round 4 of the Spring doily, I've been busy helping in the background of the competitions of the women's organisation I belong to. But I have finished the round, and I love its dainty look! I'm still managing to climb out of round with split chains and  split rings. I hesitate to say I'm enjoying split chains, but I'm pleased to have the hang of them.

Milly

Well, Jane Eborall's tat it and see is over, for the last time. Here is Milly, a freshwater mermaid, a very long way from the sea! I love her hair, so clever. Thanks very much to Jane, she puts in a lot of work for the tat it and see, and all of us learn new techniques and ideas.

Saturday, February 17, 2018

Day 14

Definitely a mermaid, though Jane's tat it and see is not quite complete yet. My Milly should be able to swim now. I think her tail fins are very clever!

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Day 13


Well, we've finished the first part of Jane Eborall's tat it and see. I'm supposing I know what the second part will be, but I could be wrong!

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Booties To Match

I'm not sure booties are really worn in this day and age, but I had a smidgeon of yarn left over from yesterday's blanket, so decided to use it to knit this pattern.  Booties like this are all over Pinterest, so perhaps they are still used? Or perhaps they're just made by nostalgic knitters for their cuteness.

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Pram Blanket




I used the double filet crochet technique that I learnt recently to make a little pram blanket. It measures 62 cm by 46 cm. I contemplated spinning wool for it, but decided to use a commercial 4-ply yarn instead. Because the fabric is double, I wanted a thin, consistent yarn so the blanket wouldn't finish up too thick and heavy, and to show the pattern off. I made use of Nichole Cupp's ZigZagging Reversible Hotpad pattern, enlarged obviously, to help me get the edges correct. It's important to start each row with the second colour in the right place, to finish up with a neat edge.  

Monday, February 12, 2018

Day 12

Well, we're making progress on Jane Eborall's tat it and see. We're evening Milly up, I think.

Saturday, February 10, 2018

Day 11 and Round 3


This way and that today.

I'm still managing to climb out of the rounds on Renulek's Spring doily so I'm happy about that. A split chain with a second half of 10 ds and a picot is quite a tall order!

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Enmeshed

Tanis Galik has trademarked the term 'Interlocking crochet'. Right. So most roads lead back to her and her book. But I did find tutorials to show me how to do it, and discovered that it goes by a number of other names, such as double filet crochet, or intermeshed crochet. It consists of two layers of filet crochet. Each layer is separate, so a white stitch always goes into a white stitch, black into black. The two layers are created at the same time, and the way they are linked creates the pattern. That is, whether a stitch is joined in front of the other layer or behind it. This creates a double layer that is reversible:
For the top sample, I used Nichole Cupp's pattern on Ravelry: ZigZagging Reversible Hotpad. Another site showing the same pattern is this tutorial from Niccupp Crochet. The squares pattern I learnt from angelfire's post, here. I struggled a bit to get going, as you can see from my first sample:
But it's not difficult, I quickly got the hang of it.

When I was researching the subject, I came across this interview with Nickerjac, who is a renowned British designer of double filet crochet. She mentions the East Londen Crochet Group. Their gallery here shows designs that are freestyle, which shows that double filet crochet is not necessarily geometric. Interesting.

PS. I think I've solved my photos problem. I downloaded a Windows resizer to make the photos use less data, and I'm using Paint to crop and write on them.

Day 10

Ah, I think today does give the game away. It's Milly the Mermaid.

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Ice Drops

It seems that Picasa has been discontinued. Thanks to Carolyn for her comment on yesterday's post, so I realised it wasn't just me! It has apparently been replaced by Google photos, but I can't see how to edit my photos there. I downloaded gimp, but will have to work a bit harder before I can figure it out. I suspect it's too clever for me. Sigh. So here are three ice drops, the photo cropped but with no further editing. There's Diane's Minnie Mouse Heart Icedrop; Wanda Salaman's  Larissa Icedrop; and Kaylene Dial Armstrong's Wee Snowballs Icedrop. After seeing Diane's post about the wee snowball, I shortened the beginning and end of the outer round chains, to make it more crowded, like the original. I could have shortened the other chains a bit too. I'd like to redo it using dot picots. One of these days....

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Day 9

Day 9 makes me think of a parrot, I'm not sure that's logical! Every day I edit photos for my blog in Picassa: crop them, add my name, make them smaller so that they're quicker to upload.  Today it just isn't working. What changed, what I must change, I don't know. I think I had better sort the problem out before I put more photos on, so I won't upload the photo of ice drops that I've been working on.

Friday, February 2, 2018

Day 7 and Round 2

Well, day 7 has certainly taken us off on a tangent. The main part keeps reminding me of a crocodile head, but I don't think the new bit really supports that.
This is Round 2 of the Renulek Spring Doily. I like the asymmetric picots. Easy, but different and effective. Peering at Renata's photo, I noticed that her joining picots are smaller than her decorative picots. I wondered if my bigger picots would lead to cupping, but no, it lies perfectly flat.