Karin's Crochet blog

Blankets or afghans are a common project among most crocheters.

When I started crocheting I quickly discovered the granny square and thought it was a great idea, small items you can make quickly and in the end turn into one big blanket.
I gathered enough yarn and started making a few squares. But there it stalled.

I was rethinking the whole blanket thing because I have a pretty big stash I sort of bought for the purpose of some kind of blanket thing but that was just sitting there.

So again I thought of squares. But then I thought of all that working in of ends, all that stitching together. Ugh.

The answer was to find some other pattern, something that you can work up in one piece. I'm not too fond of the stripes. I hate starting with a really long chain.

I found the answer in the Wool eater blanket. I found one project on Ravelry which used the same type of yarn I had laying around and that detailed how much weight went into each round, and another with a good description and lovely colors.

Inspiration for the color selection was my newest additions to the household. Two orange furry balls of energy. Their orange fur goes really well with blue and teal.

Meet Oliver and Noah.

I'm about 2/3 of the way done with it. And of course this was meant as a stash eater which it does pretty well (around 9 skeins in so far) but as is often the case it's made me want to make more like this and that has made me look for more yarn. Sigh.

But this is not the only project I've been working on since my last post (no wonder, that was 7 months ago.... oops).

Here's the cat bed that I made shortly after my guys came home.

And of course my Amineko collection continues

Amineko's are lovely to work on and make a great project for travel or taking along to a friend. Plus the more you have together the better it looks somehow.

I am still struggling to find a pattern for my next blanket. I now have some lovely dark red, plum and cream yarn I want to do something with, I'd like to make a rectangular blanket now as opposed to the square wool eater. I'm not too fond of the striped patterns, nor do I want all the work of the granny squares because I know I'll just not finish it. So if you have any ideas?

Exactly one year ago today is when I first really started crocheting.

To 'celebrate', today I finished a project that I'd been at for four months. And in physical size it's the smallest to date.

This tiny tiny TINY or 'Nano' Amineko is made using size 80 tatting cotton, a 0.6mm hook and a lot of patience. I would have never tried this if my friend Nathalie, who started crocheting after I gave her two Amineko's, wouldn't have done this first.

Here's my little guy with his 'big' sister, which she gave me back in September.

Two days ago I finished the biggest Amineko I've made so far, using the large pattern from the book and sport cotton. It has just about 4 times the stitches as the regular pattern, but I think this one was still faster than the Nano.

I started this one around Christmas so here he is with the Christmas edition

And just to show the difference between the 'Nano' and the 'Grande':

So here it all is, one year of crochet (minus the projects that family and friends managed to pry from my fingers ;-))

Project Details on Ravelry

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

During my operation recovery at some point I tried to get back to doing Ami's but it turned out it was still too much to crochet so tightly. So I went to the local chain store that sells cheap acrylic and picked some yarn to keep me busy. It's been a while, and I've done a few Amineko's in between but a few weeks ago I finally added the border to the half granny and yesterday I took some pics.

So I'm now going back and forth between shawls and Amineko's. I'm working on a Cassandra In purple/red/brown variegated yarn and a big and cuddly Eva's Shawl as inspired by this version by ravelry's Snobby.

On the Amineko side I finished a teal one.

My friend Nathalie, who also got into making Amineko's (see my previous post), found some size 10 crochet yarn (in case you're not familiar with crochet yarn sizes, the higher the number, the thinner it is, so the two small neko's in the previous post were made with size 5 yarn, this is twice as thin) and started making Amineko's with that yarn. They're so terribly cute, after she gave me one, I had to have a go myself.

In the meantime, she's gone quite a step further, she's actually made a few neko's now using size 80(!!) thread. More on that later.

After I gave my friend Nathalie two Amineko's inspired by two of her cats she started crocheting herself, to make a big Amineko family! Last sunday we got all the cats together for a class photo :D

In my last post I showed you my first shawl WIP. Well I finished that and started and finished another and working on a third. My Ravelry bookmarks are filling up with all kinds of shawls I want to make. Now I get why last year there was a "10 shawls in 2010" group and this year there's a 11 shawls in 2011 group.. which I've joined now. There just great items to make, you can always make them fit, they look great...

Anyway, enough ranting, time for some pictures.

Here's the first one, modeled by my mom.

This is a pattern by Bernat, makes a lovely wavy pattern in the shawl.

Secondly I tried the Hydrangea shawl by JosefinaKnits, also a lovely pattern that makes the shawl fall round your neck naturally.

Before I started on these I had already started on another Amineko, this time for my mom, wanted to finish it now.

As for the third shawl (well, actually, it's a wrap), I'm working in Tunisian crochet, it's a pattern by Marty Miller. Had to get the hang of Tunisian first so did a few test runs, now I'm really on my way.

Over the next month or so I won't be able to crochet much and update this blog so I'll be back in the summer!

Reading well known crocheter's blogs like Stacey Trock's Fresh Stitches I learned about FO Friday and WIP Wednesday (FO=Finished Object, WIP=Work In Progress) and tried to participate but I kept missing the right days to post. So I decided to combine them in the end oF Week update.

It's been a little bit more (cough) than a week since my last post so there's quite a few things to share.

Last time I showed you my new bag. The next day I took it out to a local craft fair and lo and behold, halfway through the day it had stretched so much it was practically on the floor. The only way to solve it was to line it, so the nect day I started working on it, using an ecru colored pillow case from Zeeman. I found two tutorials on creating a lining and sewing it in and off I went. I'm no expert on using a sewing machine, I've only ever sewn on paper and plastic page protectors but I managed to make something I was happy with.

Here's the lining inside out before sewing the bottom corners to the bag. You can see the pockets I added for pattern sheets and books, and for my crochet hook wrap.

Here's the finished bag with the pockets in use.

I made my Amineko a little sister using crochet cotton and a 1.75mm hook. Quite tiring but its very cute. I'm working on another one with catania cotton for my mom at the moment.

When I started crocheting I found one or two cowl patterns and I just knew I wanted to make some. I'm always fighting with my scarfes to try and keep them in place and the idea of a cowl is just perfect.

I started with the Convertible Cowl by JustessDesigns

Next I found the scalloped cowl by Lion Brand Yarn, a lovely pattern for a light cowl. I made a hat to go with it, using the divine hat pattern by Sarah Arnold I made a second cowl for ?y mom, who's knitted a number of scarves for me over the years, time to return the favor.

Now for the WIPs. Once I finished my bag I wanted to start on a granny square afghan. I have a few squares finished, still contemplating the final design (which squares in which color combinations and how many of each). Here's the squares i chose so far. Willow and Briar Rose from Jan Eatons book, and the Sunburst square by Priscilla Hewitt.

And right now I'm working on a shawl. I bought some soft mohair yarn at zeeman and wanted to give it a try. At first I selected the sweet pea shawl that's included in the Stitch 'n B.... crochet book but I wasn't happy with how it was turning out so I selected the crochet shawl pattern by Bernat

Here's my shawl so far, love the look and feel.

Finally, I made two roll up cases (or wraps, not sure what the "official" term is) for my moms knitting needles and my tunisian crochet hooks, both using a slightly modified pillow case.

Happy Sunday!

Ok I'm no mother but I do have a brand new bag. And I made it myself! It's my first serious crochet project, that is something that's not classified as a toy and takes up more then one skein of yarn. It took just about 9 full skeins, 12 if you include leftovers. I really did my best to get it perfect, which meant I had to"frog" (rip out) quite a few bits when i discovered a mistake. But it's worth it, I know leaving them in would have bothered me.

I might line the bag with a pillow case I bought in a matching colour but I'll try it out as is first.

I'm also thinking about adding some flowers and using the leftovers to make something small to match the bag but I have no ideas what yet. Any ideas are welcome :-)

More info on the pattern and photos on Ravelry

When I started crocheting I quickly came across an Amigurumi cat called Amineko created by Nekoyama. It wasn't love at first sight I must admit, but the little fellow grew on me. When I was filling my amazon basket with crochet books I popped in Amineko's book as well. When I got the books this one quicklh became my favorite. There's only really one pattern in the book (well, two if you count the larger version) but it's filled with fun. I wanted to make one! Now!

And here he is, and boy, I'm in love!

There's plastic pellets in the bottom of the body and glass granulate in the hands and feet. I made a bundle for each using a bit of nylon stocking to keep the pellets from getting through the stitches or moving around. I used just under 1 skein of redbrown Phil Coton 3, and a little creme color. Now that I know you can make one using 1 skein of Phil Coton or Catania or something alike I'm itching to make more, to give my Amineko some brothers and sisters and to give as gifts.

And here's the process from body parts to finished kitty

More details on my project and the pattern can be found on Ravelry. Don't know Ravelry? If you like crochet or knitting, I highly recommend signing up for a free account, the wealth of information there is incredible!

Yes I'm still on the crochet hook :) In fact I now have too many crochet hooks to just keep lying around in my crochet project box, so I decided to find a better way to store them. I'd seen wraps and cases and rolls and thought about making one out of fabric as I have both ergonomic and normal crochet hooks which would need different size pockets. But here's a confession, while I use a sewing machine on paper and plastic sheet protectors, I've never really used it on fabric and I wasn't sure if I could manage something that would fit and look ok. So then I had a little brainwave, just make one out of a sheet protector!

So here's the how-to (voor de Nederlanse vertaling, klik op "Read more"

Tools required:
- Sewing machine
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Needle

Materials needed:
- A4 or letter size sheet protector or clear plastic folder (I used an L folder)
- machine thread
- ribbon
- button

Gather your crochet hooks and grab the sheet protector. First we'll cut the height down to size. I left about one cm or 1/4 inch above the longest crochet hook. Then we need to cut the top layer of the protector to the pocket height. Check your shortest crochet hook and mark about 2.5 cm or 1 inch below that. Slip your cutting mat in the sheet protector and cut the top layer to that height, then cut of the side of the top part.

Take the crochet hook you want to start with on the left (I started at the smallest size) and tuck this in the sheet protector. Push it against the edge and use a pencil to mark where the right side of the pocket should be. You should have enough space to slip it in but not so much that the hook will slide out on it's own. Now sew the pocket using the sewing machine. At the start and end go back and forth over the first/last bit of stitching so secure the thread. Repeat for you other crochet hooks.

Now, pick a ribbon that's long enough, don't cut it yet. Use a ribbon that's thin and flexible enough to wrap around the button. I used a little bit of double sided tape on the end and folded that twice to make a nice end. Start sewing up the right end of the page protector, the same way as before, but just before you get to the top of the top layer, stop and tuck in your ribbon. On mine I shifted my sewing a little by accident at this point. Now go back and fort over your ribbon up to the end of the top layer. Sew on the button on the back. Now wrap the whole thing up and wind the ribbon several times around the button. Voila! Your wrap is finished! If you have a long piece of ribbon you can cut it to size but make sure it's still long enough to wrap around. I left mine a bit longer then necessary because my wrap still has room for more hooks and then would get fatter and need longer ribbon.

Hope you've enjoyed this little tutorial! And to sign off, here are a few of my crochet creations so far.