Christmas CAL part 5

On December 30, 2014 By agrarianartisanLeave a comment

I am feeling pretty happy today, I have joined all my motifs and I love the way the blanket looks. The colours are bright and fresh, and I have decided this will be my garden throw/picnic rug – it zings!

Today I am sharing my ideas for layout and how to join.

Let’s start with the joining.

I have opted for a very straightforward joining that doesn’t leave a ‘ridge’ on the front of the blanket. This is my preference, you may choose to join any way you like.

Remember I said to leave a long tail of about 3m at the end of each motif pattern? Well I use that long tail to join the motifs. Hold the motifs front sides together and slip stitch through the back loops of both motifs along the edges using the long tails.

Using the back loops means that the front loops of each motif are still visible on the front side along the edges making a nice straight edge where the motifs lie next to each, like this:

You can get a similar effect by sewing together using the back loops as well.

The layout of the blanket is 7 motifs by 7 motifs. The following diagram shows how I planned my layout.

First the key:

Full Motif is no 1

Granny 2 motif is no 2

Granny 3 motif is no 3

Granny 4 motif is no 4

Granny 5 motif is no 5.

The colours are pretty obvious!

In my layout the colours are sort of random but there is a regularity to the motif style. If you prefer the colours to be more regular then the following is an alternative:

You don’t have to follow either of these layouts, but I hope they give you some inspiration on how to make your blanket.

Tomorrow I will show you my little embellishment. I haven’t decided whether to use it on my blanket, but we’ll see!

As always please share your progress on my Ravelry group here, and you can ask any questions on there (I know joining can be tricky).

Happy crocheting xxx

Now for the legal stuff – I designed this, it’s all my own work and is copyright. Please feel free to make as many as you like, but not for commercial purposes, and please credit me with the design. Thank you!

An Anniversary…..

On August 23, 2013August 27, 2013 By agrarianartisanLeave a comment

An Anniversary

In my last blog, I mentioned the special date of 27th August being the 1st anniversary of my Ravelry forum. I can now disclose the 2 designs made for that anniversary.

The Anniversary Sharf (knitting):

And the Simple Circles Scarf/Wrap (crochet):

If you are a member of Raverly, join my forum on there (Agrarian Artisan Designs), establish a project linked to one of the 2 designs above and tag it properly before 1st September 2013, I will gift the pattern to you via Ravelry….and then you can join in the fun, knitting or crocheting with other like minded folk 🙂

Happy knitting and crocheting xx

The Granny Square Blog Tour

On August 1, 2013 By agrarianartisan5 Comments

If you have ever attended one of my workshops you will have heard me say ‘granny squares are like marmite’ because you either love ‘em or loathe ‘em. But whatever your views it seems granny squares are firmly embedded in the crochet world. Some people have very strong feelings about them, and some could not care less. So which are you?

I confess I used to hate them and I mean really hate them. Why? Well I think squares can be quite boring and I think the repetition of the design is, frankly, unexciting. And I had this view for many years.

In my teens I made a granny square blanket, it went to university with me part finished and I finished it in my first year. It came in very useful! But then I moved right on. And, I’m sorry to say, so did the blanket.

When formulating this blog I decided to have a look at what granny squares I had made recently and I was a little surprised. It seems in the last few months I have been making quite a few grannies:

Flower power cushion:

Pin cushion:

Granny purse:

Perhaps age has mellowed my views, but now I can see they have their uses and to me their primary use is, to put it simply, colour! Perhaps it is the regularity of the design, but they certainly enable everyone to experiment with colour and somehow bring out the rainbow in all of us. My current experimenting with colour is via Bohemian Rhapsody, perhaps not a true granny but lots of granny elements:

Now you can experiment with colour in lots of way with crochet, and I absolutely adore the beautiful motif designs by Amanda Perkins – I think they enable more alluring colour experimentation and her blankets are just exquisite, to me so much more pleasing to my eyes than any granny square could be. Have a look at her blog here: http://amandascrochetblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/granny-squares.html she shows how beautiful crochet motifs can be.

The secondary use of granny squares is that they are simple, and thus they enable beginner crocheters to experiment with colour and make useful items with confidence. No-one is a beginner forever, so in time most crocheters do move on from grannies. However, I recognise that some do not – they love grannies so much they just keep making them! So be it – the world is big enough for everyone.

So I no longer hate grannies, I see they have their place in the crochet world. So this blog is part of a celebration of them – the ‘granny square blog tour’, which enables crocheting bloggers the world over to join in and have their say. If you have a blog and want to join in, then please comment on this discussion thread on Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/agrarian-artisan-designs/2646102/1-25#11

Next on the tour is the talented Tracey Todhunter, look out for her blog early next week: http://bakingandmaking.com/

Happy knitting and crocheting xxx

Bohemian Rhapsody

On July 5, 2013July 5, 2013 By agrarianartisan2 Comments

Did anyone watch The Great British Sewing Bee? Well if you did you may have spotted Ann (the winner and my heroine!) wearing a fabulous crochet scarf in the penultimate episode, it was so light some people even thought it was printed on fabric. The scarf is a design by Marylene Lynx called Bohemian Rhapsody, you can see it here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bohemian-rhapsody-2

Now I am not a huge fan of granny squares. You should know by now that I am a hexagon girl! However, what I do like about granny squares is the opportunity you have to experiment with colour, and there are so many amazing colour experts out there who create the most fabulous grannies. Marylene Lynx did just that with Bohemian Rhapsody, there are 75 colours in the design – the complete colour range in the very fine lace weight merino wool by Renaissance Dyeing http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/en/

I just had to make one!

First I purchased the kit, which is available only from Renaissance Dyeing and comes from France. It arrived in double quick time and I laid out all the colours on the table – they looked so beautiful I didn’t want to start!

Then I had to sort them into 3 groups

Then I started the long laborious task of winding them into usable balls. At first I did this on bits of paper as I was so impatient I wanted to start making the scarf.

Within a few days I had used 25 colours and made the first 8 squares – only another 136 to go!

In the top left of the photo you will see the yarn on bits of paper.

After talking to a friend, who was tempted like me and has bought the kit, I very quickly realised it would be better to use embroidery cards and organise them into an embroidery box, so I had to rewind most of them!

But it has been worth it. I set a plan to do 8 squares a fortnight and I am a little ahead of that plan – here it is now, 48 squares complete – so a third of the way through.

Look closely in the top right and you will see my yarns, now properly organised in a box!

It should be finished in time for Christmas!

Happy knitting and crocheting

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