Lot's of Updates for Knitting and Crochet

This is somewhat of a continuation on from my last post. There’s an update about my maple leaf pattern, and also my dad’s gifts. And then a few other things.

Thinking about the rollerblade keychain and the cupcake, I was pondering how I could wrap them. I was also looking through my favourites on Ravelry, and came across the pattern for a little crocheted drawstring bag. I figured I could put the rollerblade in it and just give him the cupcake without any wrapping. So I grabbed some leftover Classic Navy yarn from my afghan and set to work. There was a lot of back loop only crocheting, and I misread the instructions for how often to leave a hole for the drawstring. I ended up with 16 holes when there should have been 12. Besides that though, it turned out perfectly, and bigger than I’d anticipated! I fit both the rollerblade and the cupcake inside. I figured that once he’d taken his things out from the bag, he could put his earbuds or other electronic cords in it. The draw string for the bag suggested using the double chain stitch to make it, rather than just a chain, and included instructions on how to do that, so I also learned the double chain stitch (a bit of a pain since chains can be a nuisance) for the string!

Before I go on to the next few projects to mention, I’ve done a lot of stash building since I’ve last updated. I got lots of varieties of Bernat Handicrafter; Creamsicle, Neptune, Over the Rainbow, Fruit Punch ombre, and white. The white was one of those large skeins... 710 yards. That should last for a while! There’s also some Bernat Supervalue in Lush (a lime-ish green) and Black, some clearance Bernat Softee Chunky in Grey Heather, and Patons Decor in Rich Country Blue. I also got the circular needles I needed (but unfortunately only in 5 mm, not 4.5 mm... no one carried that long of circulars with that small needle size!), as well as two sets of dpns (3.5 mm and 5 mm), and a pair of Clover bamboo 5.5 mm straight needles.

As I mentioned in my last post, I also went to Michael’s to get some red yarn, and was quite disappointed in the lack of variety. I ended up with some Patons Canadiana in Cardinal red. It’s a very vibrant red, and soft yarn too.

Left to right, in the order they were made

Armed with some red yarn finally, I went back to the maple leaf appliqué I’d made. I found that it’s quite different working with acrylic yarn rather than cotton, even if they are both the same size. My first red maple leaf’s pointy side parts looked too small, especially when compared to the new bottom parts I’d come up with. So I added a few extra rows. The leaf looked okay but not really like a maple leaf. Next I used my original pattern (plus remade bottom parts) with some of that new white cotton Handicrafter yarn. It turned out fine, with the pointy parts as they should be, but it really needed some red for Canada. So using the last flower coaster I made as inspiration, I took that red yarn and made a border with single crochets and some slip stitches. In hindsight, I should have done single crochet for the top pointy part (the biggest area that I used slip stitches instead for), but I’d wanted it to retain it’s shape the most. Finally, I made one more attempt with the red and my normal pattern. To make sure they points stayed sharp, I bordered it with the white cotton yarn (this time single crocheting the border on the top as well), and I must say I think it looks great! So great that I went back and put a white border on the first red leaf I made as well. I didn’t end up giving them to the family that came over though. We got them Canada shirts instead.

Left to right: Clue 2, Clue 3, Clue 4

More progress has been made on my 2010 KAL afghan. I’m now working on square 2/3 of clue 4! This clue finally had a new technique for me, Sl3. I think my Sl3’s are a bit too tight, and vary a bit across the squares, but it’s not bad. The front of these clue 4 squares looks neat, but the back looks really cool as well. When I was working on clue 3, the pattern said to do 3 repeats of the pattern and finish. I did just that, but when I got to the last stitch, I realised that my square was much too short, and this pattern wasn’t very stretchy height-wise! Comparing it to the previous pattern’s squares, I decided that a fourth pattern repeat would be necessary... but I’d already nearly finished the bind off row. Luckily, I hadn’t yet cut the yarn, and I figured out how to tink the bind off. Looking back, I should have really only done a half more of the pattern rather than a whole repeat, but I’m counting on my other ones being kind of stretchy...

These clue 4 squares go pretty fast, but it’s just a bit annoying to do the Sl3 all of the time. Hmm, I’d thought I was coming up to some cabling soon (can you tell I want to try it!?), but that’s not actually until clues 7 and 8! Clue 5 is lacy with ssk, yo and k2tog, and clue 6 is lacy as well with Sl1 thrown in as well... it’s got quite the complicated-looking instructions, although they’re nothing compared to the cabling instructions. Wow!

Plain yellow square

And if all of that wasn’t enough, I’ve actually been working on another blanket! This one is crocheted, but also worked in squares and then sewn together. I started it on June 22.

I’d been shopping with my mom at Zellers and found out that all of their Bernat baby yarns were on sale. The Bernat Baby Coordinates caught my eye with their soft colours and shiny threads, and it turned out that smaller skeins and larger of the same yarn were the same price! On the label of one of the smaller skeins I’d been holding, there was a pattern for a baby blanket with stars on it, and I love stars, so I checked out how many skeins you need for it. It said 2 MC, 1 A, 1B, with their suggested colours being white, yellow and blue. I replaced blue with Iced Mint, and used Lemon Custard for the yellow, and got the pattern online once I was home, since the larger skeins had different patterns on their labels.

White star square made with 5mm hook

I’m now hoping that the larger skeins will save me from needing to buy more yarn! The gauge for the blanket is 6” for a square, (is that 6”x6”? I suppose...).  Using my 4.25 mm hook, my square turned out like 7.25”x6”. So now my squares** rectangles are larger than called for, and therefore using more yarn. I’ve finished all 7 of the plain yellow squares, and I haven’t yet done any of the 8 plain green squares. I started the white star squares yesterday. There are 15 of those in all, and so far I’ve done two. But I had a bit of an unhappy surprised when the first star square was done... it was too small! I’m a little worried actually that my gauge has become smaller (i.e. closer to what is normal gauge) for crocheting... which would also mess up my green squares! For now though, I’m working on the assumption that the star is what makes those squares smaller, and made the second one with a 5 mm hook. It turned out to be perfectly in line with the yellow squares I’ve done, which do vary a slight bit in size, but nothing like so much variation as the squares of my first afghan had, and nothing that blocking can’t fix! And for the first star square that was pretty tiny, I added a border to make it a bit bigger, and figure I will just stick that square in a corner. ;)

The star squares are fun to do, but it’s hard to do the double crochets above where a hole for the star is, since it’s actually working into the chain, especially now with the 5 mm hook. I’ve ended up using one of my knitting needles to spear the spot in the chain I’m going to work though and stretch it out a bit for the hook so that it’s easier going.

Things I learned:

• how to Sl3
• how to tink the bind off row
• how to crochet in the back loop only
• how to do the double chain stitch (dch)
• that cotton and acrylic yarns can act very differently