Colour Explosions

.... It wasn't just me apparently, Blogger is having some issues at the moment. I have skirted around the problem by using a different browser. If only it would find the wordy part of the post that Blogger helpfully lost too!

 

Anyway, are you ready to have your day brightened up? These funky ripples are from the secret project I was working on before Christmas. They were to be turned into a cushion for Mr Magpie's sister.



 

I revisited the Neat Ripple pattern from Attic 24 for the cushion, it is so simple and effective and works up quickly. I did the ripples randomly, unlike my Baby Blanket, which was more of a repeat.

To begin, I made a chain slightly shorter than the width of the cushion pad. I then rippled happily away until I was just short of the height, then made the reverse side with the same starting chain and the same number of ripples (forty-ish I think). Although the pattern was random, I did try to make sure that colours weren't used together too often and that the two sides weren't the same.

I intentionally made the two sides smaller than the cushion pad as I wanted to use a new contrasting colour on the edgings. I did this by making two trebles in the end of each row along the sides, once I had woven in all the pesky ends.



 

I had intended to flatten the ripple on the top and bottom but when I held the sides together I realised that they interlocked perfectly and all that was needed to join them together was a row of single crochet.

 

 

 

When I had joined the wavy ends, I turned the cushion inside out and sewed a zip along the row of treble pairs. Once that was in place I trebled all down each side again and then joined all the edges with a final row of singles. I'm afraid I forgot to take close-ups of this part.

 

 

So this is the finished result. I must say I was very pleased with it left it on the sofa for a few days so I could admire it! The recipient was pleased too and has requested more cushions on each birthday and Christmas for several years to come.

 

The next present was the Spectra scarf I was making for my daughter, which ended up being finished over the holidays. Again, I was really happy with the finished item so wasn't too cross when, after trying it on for the first time and keeping it on for all of seven seconds it was pronounced 'too itchy' and handed straight back to me!

I've been struggling to find a way of photographing this scarf in a flattering way, it really does look a lot brighter in 'real life' and I love the way it drapes when worn.

 

 

 

As predicted, I have enough of the colourful Poems yarn left over to make another, which I will probably do.

 

 

The next colourful creation is my Granny Stripe blanket, which gets the odd row added here and there when I can wrestle it away from whoever is snuggling under it of an evening (or afternoon, it has been in great demand by the various poorly Magpies who have been using it as a comforter). It really is huge now and unless I continue with my original plan to make it double-bed sized, I think I will be adding a border soon so that I can pronounce it finished.

 





My thoughts have already been working out the next sofa blanket I need to make (necessitated by the arguments over the Granny Stripe) and I have been steadily stashing the Stylecraft ready to make a start.

 

Until I make a decision, I have decided to embark upon my own crochet cushion covers and am planning to make several in different colours, but using the same group of colours for each, starting with the purple shades.

 

 

To the untrained eye it looks as though I am rippling again. I am, but this time using a different pattern from my Handbook of Crochet Stitches. This pattern does a TR3TOG at the bottom of the valley, five trebles in between and a TR, CH, TR into the mountain, which produces the holes you can see below.

 

Currently I am trying to find a combination of knitting pattern and yarn I like, but not having much success. Looks like the crochet will be taking over again!

Thanks for stopping by,

Beth x







Ripple Baby Blanket - Finished!

I'm a little bit late with this post, I actually finished this blanket over a week ago, but what with all the festival prep I hadn't managed to take any pictures.

You might remember me starting this blanket (click here for the post about it) back in May. I was hoping to have it finished in time for Larmer Tree and the truly awful weather we've had over the last month has probably helped to achieve that aim. Because we had to cancel our camping holiday and instead had a last-minute holiday to Wales, I used the journey times to make good progress.

I still love the Rowan Handknit Cotton I used on this project, although I was a bit annoyed to discover halfway through a row that the white shade had a join in it which necessitated an extra two ends to be woven in, but hopefully you can't notice.

This time around I didn't knot the ends as I changed colours; I tied them loosely until I came to weave them in and then just made sure I wove the ends in under the crochet loops, being sure to change direction at least once and also to go through the strand of yarn a couple of times to really make the tail 'catch'.

Not knotting makes for a much smoother edge.

With this blanket I purposely made the beginning and end purple sections larger than the ripples in the main body of the blanket and finished off by doing a row of single crochet down each side and then two rows of trebles. I think I may have put more stitches down one side as the border doesn't lie perfectly flat, but I haven't pressed or blocked the blanket yet so that may address the problem.

So, here is the finished blanket in all it's glory, just in time for the festival.

Speaking of which, I really am upto my eyeballs in work so you won't be hearing from me for a few weeks now. I promise to take lots of pictures of the festival and do a big Larmer Tree post when I get back. Keep your fingers crossed that summer arrives just in time for me.

Thanks for stopping by,

Beth x

Hitching and Rippling

As predicted in my last post, I did cast on my Hitchhiker scarf over the weekend, which was easy, since the cast on row consists of only two stitches. The pattern is very clever really; you always increase on the toothless side (with a one row exception) which gives that edge the lovely curvy shape.

The pattern is worked in sets of eight rows, with one tooth being formed with every set. As you consistently increase by nine stitches in each set and only cast off five (the horizontal edge of the tooth) the scarf gradually grows outwards.

My mind is a strange world, and some things have to be ordered just so. In my said strange mind, it doesn't feel right to stop knitting until I have reached the end of a set of eight rows. This was fine when the rows were smaller, but I can see me having to have a word with myself soon to prevent myself from becoming chained to the spot until I finish a set.

Anyway, I digress. This was my progress as of yesterday. I was going great until somewhere around tooth ten, which was reached on Saturday night, whilst channel hopping and eating Malteasers (other choccies are available).

I was reminded of why I fell out with knitting. I don't possess the necessary skill to knit backwards or to retrieve dropped stitches and I usually end up having to pull the whole lot of the needles (apparently known as 'frogging' so I'm told) and starting again.

I was determined to rescue my mistake and did eventually succeed in picking up all those tiny little 4ply loops with an even teenier DPN and managed to make a good impression of a salvage job. Tooth ten looks a bit different than it's pointier brothers but nonetheless, it's staying.

I did manage to discipline myself enough to finish my zigzag baby blanket before casting on the Hitchhiker; I am really really pleased with how it looks and will be taking it with me to Larmer Tree. Thank you to everyone who has complimented me on it so far, it really means a lot.

In the end, I decided against my original plan of doing two rows of trebles along the long sides as I felt that my beginners luck in shaping the corners might not extend to a second row. Sometimes knowing when to stop can be an art form!

Since I managed to complete this project in under a month by utilising time that would normally be spent just sitting (on the bus, in the park, waiting for a train, watching rubbish TV with a bag of sweets) I decided that I should have enough time before the festival to hook up a sister blanket.

The pattern I decided on for this one is from Lucy of Attic24. You can view it here. I decided I would have to learn the mysterious tr2tog stitch and it turns out that it's really not that difficult, especially following Lucy's excellent instructions.

So here is what we have so far:

I'm using Rowan Handknit Cotton again, which I have really come to love working with, it seems to suit crocheting perfectly. This time I am using less colours, and dividing each colour strip with a half-stripe of a lovely crisp white.

I have done a thick wedge of the gorgeous mauvey-purple shade at the bottom, which I will repeat at the other end and the around the sides at the end. There is also a green shade to be added (the same one as the darker green of my first blanket).

This pattern will not be random like the first, but a repeat. I didn't consciously plan to used red, white and blue together in the design, but I think my aforementioned scrambled brain carries on blithely without me sometimes, and sometimes things work out all the better for that.

Next week we are camping in the New Forest and it has been pointed out to me that it might be unwise to take a crochet project that involves a beautiful white yarn to a place where cleanliness may be somewhat compromised. With this in mind I have decided to take my Granny Stripe to work on, and no doubt some other little portable bits of stitchery that are festival-bound.

I wish you all a lovely Bank Holiday weekend however you are celebrating (or not) the Jubilee and look forward to updating you on festival and non-festival progress again soon.

Thanks for stopping by,

Beth x