Bargain Bag Baby Blankets

It has been a miserable wet long weekend. That is the down side, but the up side is that this is perfect crochet weather. I have been working on a number of things and have a backlog of unfinished projects. Numerous afghans that seemed such a great idea at the time, until I got bored or summer arrived. One of my goals is to try and reduce the number of half finished afghans lurking in the cupboard as well as use up some of that yarn that was such a bargain at the end of last season.

One such bargain was a huge bag of chunky baby yarn in yellow, lavender and blue. Seems that the number of baby girls out numbered the boys as there was no pink remaining. At 50cents a ball for top quality yarn I couldn't resist and sneakily brought into the house a bag of  15 balls - 2 aqua, 9 lemon and 4 lavender. My primal instincts of hunter gatherer had been stirred. Was never sure what I was going to do with the stuff  but reasoned with myself that the reason I had so many half finished rugs in the cupboard was that my intentions were too big!  That is, if they had been planned to be half the size then they would have been finished ages ago. (And the yarn was so deliciously soft and snugly).

Having always wanted to try a few of the more challenging styles of crochet, I figured I would give it a go. This included entrelac, tunisian and the waffle reversible patterns. So here are my creations which have now been passed to a few young mums with bubs on the way. The trick is that the colours are gender neutral and did turn out quite pretty.

Baby blanket Number 1 
 This was my first serious attempt at tunisian and I worked it on one of those bamboo hooks with the nylon extensions that was also on the bargain table. As I had an uneven aqua/ lavender/ lemon ratio in my bargain bag I worked this to use up the aqua.

This one turned out really pretty, and the texture of the blanket scrumptious. Lovely furrows of snugly colourful goodness!



Baby Blanket number 2- checkerboard.

My confidence with tunisian was improving so I embarked on some entrelac. I must say, this nearly did my head in. Logically to build up blocks from the corners messed with my mind and the habit of crocheting in rows. Once I had the knack of it, I really enjoyed the pattern.

 



This was an adaption of an entrelac pattern. Because the yarn was so chunky I worked it in trebles (USA dc) with a size 8 tunisian hook. I really like the simplicity of the design and it gives a nice firm fabric that little fingers wont get caught up in. Now lavender and lemon checker board may not be every ones cup of tea, but I can honestly say that I do like this colour mix.

The entralac does need to be finished with a boarder edge as some of my checkers were a bit wonky.




Baby Blanket number 3- reversible waffle


This was constructed using a simple V stitch on a base of 60 ch. The reverse occurs as you use one colour for all the even rows, and the second for all the odd rows, This is quite a thick fabric with a nice drape as I used a large hook

Row 1, using Colour A : 2ch, * miss one st, into next st (1tr 1ch 1tr) miss 1 st, 1dc next st* across

Row 2, using colour B: 2ch * 1dc into ch sp, insert hook horizontally under dc of prev row and work (1tr 1ch 1tr)* across. At the end of the row insert your hook under the 1st st at the beginning of the row.


If I did this one again I would use a lighter yarn and choose colours with a stronger contrast. This is quite a heavy blanket and would be suitable for a baby planning an antarctic expedition! I haven't given this one away yet as it is not really suitable for the Queensland born babies I know.

So 14+ balls were used and I have about half a ball of lemon left. I also feel much more proficient at tunison, and ended up with a nice stock of baby blankets for a mere $7.50 AUS!
Thanks for looking.

Afghans that boomerang

I'm Back!!

Hello! After a blog break I am back. Not sure where I went, but with floods, house renos, travel, kids and a full time job things have been busy. The good news is I have a huge back log of things to share with you all. I have decided that a number of my afghans have become "boomerangs". That being, they have come back to me! Some under sad cirmunstances and others under happy ones. When my Mum in Law passed on one of the things I realised when cleaning out her treasures was how many things I had crocheted her over the years. I have posted about this previoususly but I dont recall sharing the afghans with you that I had gifted her.

The circle one above I remember doing in the late 80s when the kids were tiny. Quite a simple pattern and on reflection I do like how the colours work. Grandma was always a cheery lady and she proudly displayed this on her couch. It is a wagon whell motif out of a very old book and I remember paying particular attention to the placement of the colours. I had forgotten how simple but effective this pattern is.

Our daughter has lived in the Southern States since she finished school and went to the Australian National University in Canberra and subsequently landed a job in Melbourne. Both are bitterly cold (when benchmarked against Gold Coast weather) which has enabled me to generously send her off with crochet woolies to keep her warm. She has now decided to take 6 months leave from her job and travel overseas. The time has never been better as the Aussie dollar is so strong I really think this is a terrific thing to do.




The sequalie to this is that she has to minimise her "stuff" and put the remainder into storage while she is away. I guess the benefit of her living a couple of thousand kilometres away is that her "stuff" wont be getting stored at our place. Lordie I have enough stuff (aka junk) of my own! Yet the afghans, she feels were bulky, and as she tactfully put it in "90s colours", so she has returned them to me.

Actually, I lugged them back from Melbourne in my suitcase when I visited her last weekend. That with an enviable collection of Myer bears, and of course
 my own Melbourne purchases, I just met the Qantas baggage limit.

The orange and brown number she requested to match her charity store bought orange and brown couch she had in her student digs. I noticed recently (on her fobidden facebook face) that this had been used as a decoration at a friends 80s parts. Truth is I made it in the 90s, and she chose the colours. It seems the perfect party discussion point and  soaks up the beer slops quite good as well! Good thing I used acrylic yarn so it washes quite well.






The photo to the right is a bit dodgy, but this square uses a front post treble to give it a bit of texture. This was quite a brainless crochet and travelled well. The two coloured effect also looks good. Not sure that I would ever do another one like this as there was a lot of dark brown to join which was pretty tough on the eyes.
There are a few more which I will post in the coming weeks. Now that winter is approaching it is perfect weather to bring them all out of the cupboard and appreciate them.

Take Care! Cheers Susan

Fan Book Mark in Finnis

Viuhkamainen kirjanmerkki

A kind person in Finland translated my fan book mark into Finnish a few months ago. For some reason, (and who knows why??) I never got arround to publishing this. We have had a busy time down here, with floods, home renovations and a middle ear infection my blogging has become a little tardy.

Finland is one of those magical places I would love to visit. It is such a long way from here over the other side of the world and I am really grateful to Meiju for translating this. Happy crocheting!

Here is the pattern:

Viuhkamainen kirjanmerkki

Aloitus: Jätä 10 cm pätkä lankaa ja virkkaa 8 ks ja yhdistä lenkiksi piilosilmukalla
Viuhka 1
Rivi 1: Virkkaa 1 ks ja 2 kjs, sen jälkeen 13 pylvästä (14 kaiken kaikkiaan). KÄÄNNÄ

Rivi 2: Virkkaa 1 ks ja 2 kjs ensimmäiseen pylvääseen, 1 kjs 1 p jokaiseen rivin pylvääseen (=14 p ja 13 kjs-”kaarta”) KÄÄNNÄ

Rivi 3: Virkkaa ensimmäiseen kjs-kaareen *1ks 2 kjs 1ks* (=nirkko), toista *-* 10 kertaa. Virkkaa 11:een kjs-kaareen 1 ks, 5 kjs, jätä kaksi kaarta väliin ja viimeiseen kaareen 1 ks. KÄÄNNÄ

Viuhka 2
Rivi 4: Virkkaa 1 ks ja 2 kjs, sen jälkeen 13 pylvästä (14 kaiken kaikkiaan). Hyppää yhden nirkon yli ja virkkaa 1 ks seuraavaan nirkkoon. KÄÄNNÄ.

Rivi 5: Virkkaa 1 ks ja 2 kjs ensimmäiseen pylvääseen, 1 kjs 1 p jokaiseen rivin 1 pylvääseen (=14 p ja 13 kjs-”kaarta”) KÄÄNNÄ

Rivi 6: (Sama kuin rivi 3) Virkkaa ensimmäiseen kjs-kaareen *1ks 2 kjs 1ks* (=nirkko), toista *-* 10 kertaa. Virkkaa 11:sta kjs-kaareen 1 ks, 5 kjs, jätä kaksi kaarta väliin ja viimeiseen kaareen 1 ks. KÄÄNNÄ

Viuhka 3
Rivi 7: (Sama kuin rivi 4) Virkkaa 1 ks ja 2 kjs, sen jälkeen 13 pylvästä (14 kaiken kaikkiaan). Hyppää yhden nirkon yli ja virkkaa 1 ks seuraavaan nirkkoon. KÄÄNNÄ.

Rivi 8: Virkkaa 1 ks ja 2 kjs ensimmäiseen pylvääseen, 1 kjs 1 p jokaiseen rivin 1 pylvääseen (=14 p ja 13 kjs-”kaarta”). Ennen työn kääntämistä virkkaa 1 ks kolmannen rivin 7:nteen nirkkoon vasemmalta lukien (tai 4:s oikealta lukien). KÄÄNNÄ

Rivi 9: (Sama kuin rivi 3) Virkkaa ensimmäiseen kjs-kaareen *1ks 2 kjs 1ks* (=nirkko), toista *-* 10 kertaa. Virkkaa 11:sta kjs-kaareen 1 ks, 5 kjs, jätä kaksi kaarta väliin ja viimeiseen kaareen 1 ks. 3:s viuhka on valmis. KÄÄNNÄ

Jatka samaan malliin kunnes 8 viuhkaa on tehty. Päättele lanka

KJS= Ketjusilmukka
KS= Kiinteä silmukka
P= Pylväs


copyright crochetroo!!

Welcome Spring with a wool afghan!

Welcome Spring with a wool afghan!

Spring has arrived. I know this because of the chorus of parrots and kookaburras that wake me each morning at 6 am. As if somehow nature knows that the calendar has turned over, it was 29 degrees here on the 1st of September. I did manage to crochet my way through winter and have a pile of finished objects to prove it.

My winter total is: 6 baby blankets, 1 woolen afghan, 1 hairpin shawl, 3 interesting other shawls, a and a plethora of hats and scarfs. I have also finalised a few new patterns which have been in development for sometime. I decided I would update the formatting as I now have a u beaut laptop with the latest version of word. While the documents do have a nice modern edge, the new word is counter intuitive which has slowed me down a bit. I have however added the following to my pattern collection:

Vintage style beanies, Tasmanian devils, cow rugalugs, spiral beanie, super slippers, and a few new tea cosy designs. I will add these to etsy over the next few weeks.

So welcome Spring, and what better way than with finishing an afghan - pure Australian wool of course.

The pattern is from the book 63 more squares which a kind person RAOKed me a few years back. It has been in my list of things to do for a while as I searched out the right yarn.

It is almost a year since our road trip and one of the holiday discoveries was the Bendigo woollen Mills. This was like a lolly shop to a fat kid with a sweet tooth as I came out with an enviable supply of top quality Australian Wool and bargain price's in a stunning array of colours. The other thing that Bendigo has lots of is pottery, and I also managed to have a rather large biscuit barrel fall into my handbag as well.

I have made my daughter several rugs over the years but these somehow always seem to turn up as decorating items, or being worn at Retro parties by the trendy Melbourne crowd.

Think Retro and the obvious thing is to drag out Mums crochet rugs! I know this cos they often feature on Facebook. I have no idea who the people below are, but I do know I crocheted the orange rug that they are sharing along with a beer and a few good times. And, this rug was made in the 90s, and not in the 70s!

She has also stated that it is the highlighter pen colours which assist in setting the mood.

So the challenge for me was to construct a tasteful (!) afghan with a contemporary edge(whatever that is).

I didn't do the full 63 blocks as wool is quite heavy and I wanted a couch throw rather than a full bedspread.

The colours are Navy and maroon with variegation's of creams and blues. All pure Australian wool from the Bendigo Woollen Mill. This is yarn to die for. My only regret is that we don't have a bigger boot as I would have loved to have bought more. I started the rug last November while on the trip and finished it this winter.

I love it to bits, and I haven't seen it as a backdrop on Facebook which is a good sign ( I think),

thanks for looking.