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First of all, a shout out to everyone who commented last week that they are still following along with the lessons! I haven’t had the time to reply to each comment individually, but thank you for letting me know you are still following the lessons – there were a lot of you!

And don’t forget that if you finish your lapghan by week 12 and you send a picture of it to me, you will be entered into a draw for a gift of crochet goodies!!

So we are done our squares! I don’t know how many you would have right now, it would depend on if you made 2 of each pattern each week, or one. You want to have enough to make a rectangle, say 4 squares x 3 squares. If you are at an uneven number, you will either want to go back and make a couple extra squares from the patterns we’ve had, or you could always leave out some of the squares you’ve made. Or, if you are feeling ambitious, check out this site for a listing of 7″ squares, and try a few new ones!

This week we will go over making our squares look better and getting them ready to seam together.

Weaving in Loose Ends

So, now we are done our squares and they all have long ends hanging from them – so its time to weave those ends in. To do this, you will need a large blunt end yarn needle, you can get them from any craft store in the yarn section for a dollar (they can be metal or plastic).

There are a couple of different methods you can use to weave in your ends. To weave in your ends at the top of your work, you will simply weave the yarn under the top chain back and forth.

To weave in the end in the middle of your work (good for color change ends), you can insert your needles down through the middle of your vertical stitches and pull the yarn into the stitch.

Both of these methods are shown in the video from nexstitch.com.

Yet another method is to weave the ends under the stitches moving horizontally. This picture from about.com explains it perfectly:

So there you have it! Now get on weaving those ends in

Blocking

Blocking is done before you seam your squares together. It helps to relax and even out your stitches, as well as shape your finished object. You can also stretch out your projects if they aren’t quite the size you were looking for – great for squares

I’m going to describe my favorite method of blocking crochet projects. You will need a stiff board with a soft surface (ie an ironing board works perfectly), a spray bottle of water and some rust proof pins. You can make your own blocking board by taking a piece of wood, laying cotton or polyester batting on top (like the stuff you would use to make a quilt), cover it with fabric and staple the fabric onto the underside of the board. I make a lot of squares to use up leftover yarn, so I drew 7″ squares on the fabric, so I knew exactly what to stretch them to without having to constantly measure while pinning.
Start by pinning your project onto the board into the shape you want. Stretch out any sides you need to in order to straighten them, or to get the square into the size you are looking for. Use lots of pins Once you have it pinned, spray the square with water until it is moderately wet. That’s it!! Let the square dry completely, and when you take it off the board it will be in the exact shape you blocked it to!

There are other methods of blocking as well, including submerging your squares and then pinning them wet, or steam blocking with an iron (DON’T iron your actual square – ask me how I know ). But I found the method I describes works the best!

So this week, weave in all your ends and block your squares! Next week we will be putting the lapghan together!!!

My fellow knitters and crocheters – who has signed up for Ravelry?

I signed up months ago, and I just got my invite the other day And let me tell you, it was well worth the wait!

Check out the 27 screen shots they have for a sneak peek! Have you already submitted your email? They have a page where you can check and see where you are on the waiting list!

I am giving this site a huge two thumbs up! Its such a neat idea and so amazing – the inspiration on there is unbelievable! Its easy to get lost looking at everyone’s projects, and chatting on the different groups. If we get enough readers on the site, we could even start up our own Crafty Daisies group!

Oh, and my username is “heccles” if anyone wants to add me as a friend!!

Hope to see you around Ravelry!

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This week we are going to learn how to change colors while crocheting. I know a few of you already figured this out, as I’ve seen some beautiful multi-colored squares on the flickr group.

It is very easy to change colors when crocheting. When you’re about to change colors, work your last stitch until there are 2 loops left on your hook. Leaving a tail, draw the end of the new yarn / color through the 2 loops on your hook. Then continue working with the new color. With a large-eyed needle, weave in the tails of both balls of yarn to secure.

That’s it! Its really simple

Here is a great visual from about.com

Patterns

This week our patterns will be all about the color change

Amber Waves

Cluster Flowers Square

Maze Granny Square

Springtime Square

And don’t worry about those loose ends from all the color changes – we’ll go over how to weave those in for the next lesson!

Also, I was hoping for a bit of a check in..I’m curious how many people are still following the lessons. We had a huge sign up number, and I want to see who’s still around! Post a comment and let us know if you are still following the lessons!!

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This week we are going to learn Tunisian crochet. This type of crochet is also known as “afghan crochet”, and is similar in many ways to knitting. It creates a very thick result, and a unique look.

An important difference about Tunisian crochet is that you don’t turn your work. You will work your stitches from right to left, and then back from left to right. Also, rather than working one stitch at a time, you are working one row at a time, carrying all the stitches on your hook.

For this reason, you will need to use an afghan or Tunisian hook. This hook looks like a long crochet hook with the other end looking like a knitting needle.

From skacelknitting.com

However, there is a trick that you can use to make a hook if you don’t have one, and you are making something small, like a square. Simply take your regular crochet hook and wrap an elastic several times around the end of the hook. This will prevent your stitches from falling off the end of the hook, and it works great because you don’t have to buy a bunch of different size afghan hooks, you can use the hooks you have on hand.

I will only be teaching the basic Tunisian stitches – there are many out there but we don’t have the time to go through them all

Base Row

Tunisian crochet starts with a base row, consisting of a forward pass and return. You will begin as with all other crochet projects, with a row of chains. You will then insert your hook into the first chain, yo and pull the yarn through, giving you two loops on your hook. Then insert into the next chain, yo and pull through, now three loops are on your hook. You continue this until the end of the row, carrying all the loops on your hook.

The return part of the row is completed by yo, and pulling the yarn through 2 loops on the hook. Then you yo, and pull through the next two loops. You repeat until you get to the end of the row.

This video from Nexstitch.com explains it perfectly.

Tunisian Simple Stitch

The Tunisian simple stitch is completed the same was as the base row, except when you are going from right to left, you will be inserting your hook under the vertical loop of the row before, rather than through the top of the stitch, then yo and bring yarn through.

This video from nexstitch.com shows the Simple stitch.

Tunisian Knit Stitch

The Tunisian knit stitch resembles stockinette stitch when it is completed, giving you the look of knit with the ease of crochet. The completed stitch is much thicker than knit stockinette, making it perfect for afghans.

It is explained perfectly at nexstitch.com, here.

Tunisian Purl Stitch

The tunisian purl stitch is similar in appearance to the knitted garter stitch in that both have a horizontal loopy effect. For this stitch, the yarn placement before you start is crucial. The yarn needs to be brought to the front of the work.

You can find the instructional videos on their website here.

Pattern

Afghan stitch Dishcloth This pattern calls for use of the afghan stitch, that is simply the Tunisian simple stitch Also, you can use your acrylic yarn rather than the cotton yarn they call for. The size of the completed dishcloth isn’t stated, so if it is smaller than our 7″ goal, simply continue your sc border until it reaches 7″ in width.

Knit Stitch Square Follow the above pattern, but instead of working the Tunisian simple stitch, work the Tunisian Knit Stitch in the rows. Complete the pattern with a sc border to 7″.

Purl Stitch Square Follow the above pattern, but instead of working the Tunisian simple stitch, work the Tunisian Purl Stitch in the rows. Complete the pattern with a sc border to 7″.

Have fun!

And have a fun and safe Fourth of July!!!!

This post will begin as a shout-out to Amazon. I ordered these books Friday, qualified for the free super shipping (which usually takes 5-10 business days to arrive) and they arrived this morning. Woot woot! So what did I order? Let’s take a look, shall we?

I’m sure we’ve all seen this book around lately:

And the inside is just as pretty as the outside. The projects are beautiful and look relatively easy. I am a newbie at sewing, so the thought that I could make some of these things makes my heart flutter. And since everyone I know seems to be adding to the population, I’ll be making up some of these sweet baby bibs

Amy Karol, you’re a genius! If you haven’t purchased your copy yet, go here and get it.

Next up is, hands down, the best granny square book I have found. This book is brought to you by Jan Eaton, the same author who gave us 200 Ripple Stitches (that I own and also love). In my last post, I told you I’ve been so inspired lately and have been on the lookout everywhere for patterns, designs and color combinations. And if that’s what you’re looking for as well, then this book has it.

It starts out with three full-color pages of all the types of grannies available in the book. And it just gets better from there.

This is just one of my many favorites

I wish I could post pictures of all the blocks because they’re so beautiful, but I can’t. So you must buy it for yourself. Click here to purchase this gem of a book.

And as an end note, the crochet lesson will be post-poned until tomorrow, so if you’re following that, check back tomorrow to get lesson #7.

I’ve been dying to jump on the granny bandwagon. I mean, look at all these pictures? How can a crocheter not be inspired? This picture is what completely inspired me to get started – the colors, the shape, the way it all fits together – gah, I’m swooning!

But where to find a great tutorial on how to go about making a granny square? First place I looked was on our very own site with our very own Heather (if you haven’t done this yet and want to learn, Heather’s instructions are very clear, even for a knucklehead like me). I did great creating the ring and adding the first row. But after that, I was getting really frustrated mainly because the pattern wasn’t making any sense. So I found a different pattern – the same square, different instructions and those were just as bad. I finally (finally, after almost two hours and a hissy fit later) found a video tutorial for how to make a granny square and the visual catapulted me to my first finished granny square. Behold!

It looks a little unpolished, but after all the frustration I was just glad I was done. Normally I just give up when it gets really tough and I can’t seem to get it, but I just love crocheting so much, I knew I had to power through and I did. I would love to do one incorporating other colors, but ya know, I just don’t know if I’m ready. Someone please tell me it’s easy?

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After reviewing what I had for this week, I realized its not really a lesson, but more like a week to practice some stitches together to make a new pattern – cables.

Here is the pattern for the square.
It gives a slightly smaller square, so after you bind off you might want to work sc around the edges to make it 7″.

This week will be an easy week, take this week to finish up and catch up with all the previous lessons, learn cables, and next week we will get into Tunisian crochet. If you have a special Tunisian hook, great! If not, no worries, I will teach you a trick that makes any hook a Tunisian hook

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First of all, I apologize for not getting another pattern up last week. It was a crazy week for me, and in all honesty I forgot.

This week, we are going to learn about ribbing.

Ribbing is often used as a stretchy edging for clothing items, such as waistbands of pants (for babies / children) or the edge of a sweater. It is also used to create a bit of dimension in your projects.

Before we can learn about ribbing, there are two stitches that we must learn, front post double crochet (FPDC) and back post double crochet (BPDC). Front and back post stitches can be made from any type of basic crochet stitch, but are most often created with double or treble crochet stitches. Front post stitches will make a raised effect, while back post stitches will cause a recessed effect.

Here is an excellent video describing both stitches at nexstitch.com.

Another popular application for a combination of front and back post stitches is a basket weave pattern, where a series front and back posts are a carefully arranged to create a basket-like effect.

Another way to create ribbing is to work in only one of the loops on the top of the stitch. If you can recall, in previous lessons I’ve taught that when you are working your stitches into the row below, you will slip your hook under both loops of the stitch:

Look here to see how to work into only the front or back loops. By working all stitches into the front loops or back loops only, you will get a ribbed effect.

Patterns

FPDC and BPDC #1: Nooks & Crannies This square doesn’t have ribbing, but it does allow you to practice your FPDC and BPDC. There is a new stitch introduced (double treble) but I am sure you will be able to figure it out no problem

Ribbing Method #2: Ribbed Dishcloth This pattern says to use cotton, you can use your acrylic yarn And the finished size stated on the pattern is 7.5″ x 7″. I would just repeat the rows until you reach a length of 7″, then bind off.

Basketweave: Basketweave Dishcloth This is another great pattern to practice your FPDC and BPDC, and also gives you an idea of what the basketweave pattern looks like. The final size isn’t stated in the pattern, so I am not sure it it will be 7″, it will probably be pretty close (most dishcloths are in my experience). Also, you can use worsted weight acrylic instead of cotton yarn.

If you are feeling up to it, and want to try ribbing with FPDC, then try this easy slipper pattern! Not a requirement for the lessons, but I wanted to put it out there if you finish early this week

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This week’s lesson will be a shorter lesson, with two important things learned:

- increasing
- decreasing

Alas, I believe my camera with video has bit the dust Its not worth getting fixed, and its not in the budget to get a new one for now. So I will use the videos from nexstitch and photos to explain things from now on.

Increasing

To increase when you are working with a piece that is solid (ie all sc, dc, hdc etc), you increase by simply working one or more stitches into a single stitch.

Here is a great page outline all your basic increases from Crochet Cabana.

Increases done with a special stitch (ie shell stitch) will be explained in the pattern that they are required, and so I wont go into them here

Decreasing

Decreasing is actually quite easy once you get the hang of it. Basically, you will start each stitch as normal (yo the number of times required, then insert your hook into the stitch, yo and pull through) but you don’t complete the stitch. You then start to work another stitch into the next stitch and complete it by pulling your yarn through all the loops on the hook. Yeah, I know….that doesn’t make much sense at all (Its early and I haven’t had coffee yet )
Check out the decreasing page on Crochet Cabana for a much better explination.

Patterns

I couldn’t find any patterns online for decreasing / increasing and squares, but I have one in mind and I will try to draft it and write it down by the end of the week for you

Until then, try this easy pattern for a wrist pouch – it contains increases, and should only take you a few hours to complete. Plus its a bit of a break from squares! A note on the pattern, once you start working the sides, you have two choices. You can sc each round, and complete each round by sl st to the beginning chain, chain 1 and start a new row. Or you can simply crochet round and round, like a spiral. The first method will give you an obvious seam, the second method wont. It is up to you

If you would rather do squares, here are a couple more to help you work on previous skills taught.

Heart Sampler Square

Spring Breeze
Have fun and happy hooking!!

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This week, we are going to cover some different stitches. My camera is still on the fritz, and since there would be way too many still pictures for each stitch (plus I’m crazy busy with work and home life this week) I decided to link to some great videos that I found on the web. They should help clear up any questions you might have for each stitch, and what they don’t I will (hopefully!)

This week we will learn:

• Shell stitch
• Popcorn stitch
• V stitch
• Puff stitch
• Bullion Stitch

Shell Stitch

Here is the link to the shell stitch. This stitch makes a very pretty pattern, perfect for afghans.

Popcorn Stitch

The link to the popcorn stitch. This is a common stitch used to add texture to a crocheted piece.

V Stitch

The video for V-stitch. A very pretty pattern that is quite simple to work.

Puff Stitch

The link to the puff stitch video. The puff stitch is very similar to the popcorn stitch, and adds texture to the piece.

Bullion Stitch

You can find the bullion stitch here. These stitches are quite tall, and add texture and a unique look to a piece.
These are just a few of the many, many stitches used to add dimension and beauty to crochet pieces. On the Nexstitch site, there are lots of different videos for many different stitches that you can learn when you have the time!!

Here are this week’s patterns. I spent a bit more time going through them (and I didn’t do it late at night LOL) so hopefully I made better choices than last week.

Pattern #1: Shell Stitch Square (this pattern is for a 6″ square. Work it using your H hook, if you find you are around 6″, do a round of sc around the edges, which should bring it to 7″. Or try using a bigger hook (Ie I)
Pattern #2: Fall Flower (don’t worry about color changes yet)

Pattern #3: Circle of Hope
Pattern #4: Puffs and Posts
Pattern #5: Bullion Beauty
Feeling ambitious?

Pattern #6: Puff X Square This pattern will look intense when you first look at it. Don’t get overwhelmed. Translate each round at a time and make sure you have it before you start. It will be easier than you think

Good Luck!!