Today the last part of the Wrapped in Memories Blanket CAL was published.  This shows you how to join the squares and how to finish with a border.  You can find the pattern on Ravelry  here.

The squares are all joined-as-you-go by a final round in the background colour. Join-as-you-go is my favourite method of joining motifs as I find it quicker and neater than many other joining methods. So it is no surprise that I am always trying new ways of working the last round to give a quick and simple join-as-you-go. This particular one joins on every alternate stitch which gives quite a close and firm join but also provides an interesting zig-zag effect along the joins.

The border is a simple linen stitch effect which echoes the edges of the squares.

I can’t believe the 8 weeks of the CAL are now reaching a finale!   It seems like only yesterday when I published the first square.   I’ve seen some lovely colourful squares being made, and I can’t wait to see some finished blankets.  For now, here’s a reminder of the last few weeks:

The final pattern is now also available in US crochet terms and runs to 19 pages.

Happy crocheting xxx

Here in the UK we’ve had another short snowy weather snap.   Two weeks ago I thought the winter snow had finished and things started to look a little more like spring.   Daffodils had poked their little flowers up and then almost immediately they were covered by several inches of the white stuff.

If I am honest, I do quite like the look of daffodils in the snow, something about the crisp white background to the brave yellow trumpets lifts my heart.   But surely spring is just around the corner?  It’s Easter in just over a week – things must start to perk up now!

I am looking forward to more sunshine and evenings spent in the garden.  So I decided that this week’s special offer (for International Crochet Month) should be for something that we can all use in the garden once the weather warms up – a lovely floral tablecloth.   This is the one:

It was originally published in Inside Crochet issue 76 as part of a triple design called ‘Three Ways with Motifs’ but it is also available as a single pattern on Ravelry here.  Normally it costs £4 but until midnight GMT on 28th March you can buy it at the discounted price of £1 if you use coupon code MARCH at checkout.

The pattern is designed for 4ply cotton yarn.  I used 8 different colours to give 2 colourways for the flowers but it could be a great stashbuster and would be lovely in multi-colours.  The flowers form the edges of the tablecloth, so the motifs aren’t squared off along those edges.  The motifs use an easy join-as-you-go method which speeds up the making.    If you have time over the Easter holidays you could make a really good start to your summer garden tablecloth 🙂

Happy International Crochet Month xx

 

Today the last motif was added to the pattern – this is motif number 7:

It is a solid motif with raised lines giving texture, which works best in one colour (but don’t be afraid to experiment!).

You can find the pattern here, it now runs to 17 pages.

Next week is the final part: joining and border.  I have seen lots of beautiful motifs, but I am impatient to see them being made into blankets!

Happy crocheting xx

Happy Friday!  Part 6 of the Wrapped in Memories Blanket CAL has just been published here in time for a weekend of happy hooking!

This is lacy circle in a square and I’ve made it in one colour, 2 colours, variegated yarn and multi-coloured sock yarn, and they all look good.

We don’t often need an excuse to crochet at the weekend, but in March it is compulsory to crochet every day to celebrate International Crochet Month.  I’m certain part 6 won’t be enough to keep you hooking until next Friday – so look out for another offer on my blog before then.

Happy crocheting xxx

 

 

 

 

I told you a week ago that I was planning some offers during International Crochet Month and here is the next one:

This is Wild Diamonds Wrap and the pattern normally sells for £4 but for the next week, until midnight GMT on 14th March you can buy it for only £1 if you use the code MARCH at checkout.  This available on Ravelry purchases only.

The pattern is written in UK and US terms, and has a chart.

Happy crocheting xx

 

Part 5 of the CAL has just been published.  If you have purchased the pattern you should have a message from Ravelry to tell you the new version is available, if you haven’t received this message just have a look in your Ravelry library.

Part 5 is another pretty floral inspired square and the design will show well if you use several colours but I think it looks lovely in one!

There are 2 more squares to be published, and the joining and border – so if you haven’t  joined the CAL yet there is time to catch up!  The pattern is here.

Happy crocheting xx

 

 

Happy crocheting xx.

 

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Ravelry’s International Crochet Month and this year it is celebrating 10 years’ of crochet partying!  Are you joining the party?  You can join the Ravelry group here.

In celebration of this annual event, I am planning some offers on my patterns on Ravelry during March and first up is the aptly named March crochet scarf!  I named it March because I designed it as part of ‘My Year of Scarves’ – a personal challenge to design a scarf each month of 2014.

It uses one skein of 4ply yarn, about 400m, so is perfect for a one-skein project.

I am also running a CAL during March on Ravelry using the March scarf.  There will be prizes, so join in the discussion and fun on Ravelry here.

The ebook contains 12 designs using lots of techniques and yarns from 4ply through to chunky weight, so there is something for everyone in the ebook.  Here’s a sneak view of some of them:

The March scarf pattern can be found here and the ebook of My Year of Scarves can be found here.  As a special offer for the first week of March (until midnight GMT on 7th March), you can buy March for the price of only £1 (that’s £3 off) if you use the coupon code MARCH at checkout.   And during the whole of March you can buy My Year of Scarves at half price – that’s £7.50 for 12 scarf designs – just use coupon code 10YEARS at checkout.  All these patterns are written in UK and US terms and there are charts for those who like to use them.

Don’t forget the Wrapped in Memories Blanket CAL is still ongoing through March – part 5 will be released tomorrow and there is still time to join in if you like, afterall March is CROCHET MONTH!

Happy crocheting xx

Part 4 has just been published – you can find the pattern here.  This is an easy square, so will give you a bit of a break if you struggled with the last one!   It is also very good with variegated yarn or using different colours – so another good little precious stash-buster.

I can’t believe we are now at the hallway point in the CAL!    Only 3 squares to go and then joining/border.

If you haven’t joined in yet, there is still plenty of time – the pace of this CAL isn’t overwhelming 🙂

Happy crocheting xxx

Many of you will know that I have been truly inspired by Lynne Rowe’s ‘Use it or Lose it’ campaign.  If you haven’t heard about Lynne’s campaign-you can read all about it here.

I have been tidying my cupboards and recycling anything I know I will not use – local community projects, charity shops and my friends at knitgroup have benefited from my tidying.  It is also very ‘cleansing’ – I feel so refreshed and have space to see things in my yarn cupboards (yes, I have to admit my yarn cupboards were embarassingly full and I couldn’t find anything before!).  But I do have a problem – I LOVE YARN!  So I still have plenty of yarn and do need to use it.

I have started some large stash-busting projects; my Wrapped in Memories CAL was the first blanket but also I found 11 skeins of single-spun double knit merino in my tidy up, so I am doing another blanket.  It is a simple granny style blanket, with just a little interest in it occasionally so that I don’t get bored.   The yarn is superb to work with as it glides off the hook smoothly and that speeds up the crocheting, so it won’t be long before I have a photo to share 🙂

I am doing lots of other smaller projects as well.  On Sunday I grabbed a few balls of cotton DK and whistled off some simple dishcloths whilst binge-watching Requiem on the TV!  This is the result:

I just improvised the patterns – two of them were 8 round granny squares with simple edging:

They were each about 20 to 25cm square and used around 25g of dk cotton.   When making dishcloths I recommend cotton or linen yarn, both of which wear well and are good for the environment.  I pop my cloths in the wash after a day and, unlike microfibre cloths, washing them releases only organic fibres into the system.

I didn’t waste the ends of the balls either – I made a few cosmetic pads which you can see on the first photo above.   I have a free pattern for these here.  I have been using these pads for about 8 years now, making a few more every so often and recycling the oldest.   I used to use a packet of cosmetic cotton wool pads every month – so that’s a lot of cotton wool and plastic wrapping that I’ve saved!

The dishcloths ended up as little gifts for some of my cousins, but I am running a bit short of them in my kitchen so I plan to make some more for myself (yes, I still have plenty of cotton left!).   I’ll share photos of what I make with you, and the odd pattern for them as well.

Do you make dishcloths?   If so please share your ideas and makes – I’d love to see them.

Happy crocheting xxxx