Sunday 31 December 2017

WEATHER CAL WEEK 18

INSTRUCTIONS ROWS 114-119

Repeat Week 6 (Rows 32-39)

Change colours as desired.


Saturday 30 December 2017

'ArtesanOde' 365

STASH-BUSTING 1-A-DAY BLANKET FOR 2018


BASIC PATTERN MOTIF

Following my last post about this stash-busting blanket, here we go...

This square will be the same every day  - just change the colours as you want. You will need to complete Rounds 1 - 4  of the FIRST SQUARE ONLY.
For the 2nd square you will need to join square 1 to square 2 with the continuous join method whilst completing Round 4.

Check out the end of this post for some design ideas...

I GUESSTIMATE you will need about 26 balls of 100g DK to complete this blanket including about 5 of the joining colour.

ABBREVIATIONS  (UK TERMS)

yo - yarn over
slst - slip stitch
slsttj - slip stitch to join
dc - double crochet
htr - half treble crochet
tr - treble crochet
dbtr - double treble crochet
trcl - treble cluster
trpuff - treble puff stitch
   
SPECIAL STITCHES

trcl - (YO, put hook into stitch, pull up a loop, yo pull through 2 loops) 4 times, yo, pull through all 5 loops on the hook.

trpuff - (yo, into stitch, pull up a loop) 3 times, yo, pull through all 7 loops.


INSTRUCTIONS using a 4mm hook for DK 

Foundation chain

Chain 4,



 slsttj to form a ring,



Round 1

Ch3 ( counts as 1 tr),



work 15 more trebles in the ring




 (16 tr total) Slsttj to top of Ch3.



Round 2

Join new colour by pulling it under the 2 loops of one of the stitches from round 1




Work 1 puff treble stitch in every stitch around...yo into stitch, pull up loop, 3 loops on hook...


yo in to stitch, pull up a loop...5 loops on hook...


yo into stitch, pull up a loop...7 loops on hook...


yo, pull though all 7 loops - 1 trpuff made. NOW CHAIN 1.





Repeat in every stitch around and slsttj in top of first puff.



Round 3

Insert hook in any CHAIN 1 space from Round 2.



Now Ch2...


Now work the first TrCl in this space - yo, insert hook into same space, pull up a loop, yo pull through 2 loops...2 loops on hook...




yo into stitch, pull up a loop, yo pull through 2 loops...3 loops on hook,



yo, into stitch, pull up a loop, yo pull through 2 loops...4 loops on hook...


yo, into stitch, pull up a loop, yo pull through 2 loops...5 loops on hook ...


yo, pull through all 5 loops, 1 TR CLUSTER made. Now  CHAIN 2 and repeat this cluster stitch in every *edited* ch-1 space  around, joining with a slip stitch to the first chain 2.


ROUND 4

Change to edging colour and join in any ch-2 space.

COMPLETE THIS FIRST SQUARE ONLY  as follows...

Ch4 (counts as 1 dbtr), work 2 dbtr in same space, * 3 tr in next 2-ch-sp, 3 htr in next 2-ch-sp, 3 tr in next 2-ch-sp, (3dbtr,  3 ch,  3 dbtr) in next ch-sp (= corner), repeat from * around, finishing with 3dbtr, 3ch in same space as first ch4/2dbtr to complete the corner. Slst to top of chain 4 to join.


* 3 tr in next 2-ch-sp,

3 htr in next 2-ch-sp

3 tr in next 2-ch-sp,

(3dbtr,  3 ch,  3 dbtr) in next ch-sp (= corner),

 repeat from * around, finishing with 3dbtr, 3ch in same space as first ch4/2dbtr to complete the corner. Slst to top of chain 4 to join. 



SEW IN THE ENDS AT THE END OF EVERY SQUARE...MAKE IT PART OF THAT DAY'S CHALLENGE AND YOU WILL THANK ME IN THE END!

SQUARE 2 WITH JOINING INSTRUCTIONS

Complete rounds 1 -3 as per pattern.

Round 4

Join new yarn as before, Ch4, 2 dbtr in same space, ch1
Now put hook into corner space of Square 1



and pull yarn through to join the 2 squares,


Chain 1 , 3 dbtr in same place on Square 2



Now put hook into the gap between the corner and the 3 tr on Square 1 to join with a slst,



Now work 3 tr in next ch-2 sp on square 2



Insert hook into gap between the 3 tr and the 3 htr on Square 1 to join with a slst,



Work 3 htr in next 2-ch-sp on square 2


 insert hook  into gap between the 3 htr and the 3 tr on square 1 to join with a slst



work 3 tr in next 2-ch-sp on Square 2



Insert hook into gap between 3 tr and corner sp on square 1 to join with a slst then work corner  (3dbtr, 2 ch, 3 dbtr) in next 2-ch-sp on Square 2.



Complete square as pattern.



SUBSEQUENT SQUARES  WITH JOINING INSTRUCTIONS

Complete Rounds 1 -3 as per pattern for every new square.

 Now it is up to you in what order you join them. I have joined 3 to start with (the pinky ones) to form a basic rectangle. Then I will be changing the colour scheme slightly to greens/blues and will surround squares 1-3 to complete 15 squares in total. I will them do squares 16 to 35 in another colour group. 
You could do completely random squares and colours or plan it out...all depends on whether you are using up a random stash or choosing more decisively. 




The arrow shows where to start round 4 to join to next square...

Joining  square 4 to 5...do 3 dbtr, 1 ch, slsttjoin in corner sp of square 4,

 slsttjoin in corner of square 2,

Finish corner of square 5 by completing 3 dbtr, then complete the square as per pattern, joining as before, in this case to the corners of the bottom right square and the top left square (it will not actually join to the top right square).

Now continue to make 1 square a day and join each one whilst completing Round 4. Where the new square is joined to 2 or 3  existing  squares substitute the 3ch in the middle of the corner combo with slip stitches in to the corners of the  squares adjacent to the joining square. You will only ever join a square to a maximum of 2 corner points. (see photo above)










 SOME IDEAS TO HELP PLAN YOUR  BLANKET

You will not be able to make exactly 365 squares into a rectangular blanket so I plan to make 360 squares by doing a rectangle of 18 squares by 20 squares and will use up the extra 5 days with the border.  I have decided to join mine in rows around the 3 first squares ...










The choice really is yours. Have fun and please do share your blanket photos with me...if you 'follow' my blog you can email or message me!

 Happy Hooking for 2018 everyone! Xx





Sunday 24 December 2017

WEATHER CAL WEEK 17

INSTRUCTIONS ROWS 108-113

Repeat Week 5 (Rows 26-31)

Change colours as desired.


Sunday 17 December 2017

WEATHER CAL WEEK 16

INSTRUCTIONS ROWS 102-107

Repeat Week 4 (Rows 20-25)

Change colours as desired.


Thursday 14 December 2017

'ArtesanOde' Stashbusting 365 Blanket

A few years ago I challenged my group to crochet 1 square a day for a year...resulting in the 365 project. I still absolutely LOVE my blanket; in fact it is probably one of my most favourite things I've ever crocheted; more so as it it hardly cost me anything since it was made from bits and bobs of yarn I had lying around. For some reason the photos on the blog don't seem to be working but they're still here on Ravelry...



I also created a Board on Pinterest with the various stages of my blanket....I love seeing it grow again before my eyes!

My 'workroom' is positively over-flowing with unused yarn, so having decided on a big clear out before Christmas I realised that some hooky therapy would be the answer...use up some stash whilst clearing out at the same time. Win win!

This 365 Blanket is dedicated to ARTESANO yarns who I used to work with. It was terribly sad when they ceased trading over a year ago but I did acquire a considerable amount of their gorgeous yarn which has been sitting in my stash ever since.

I decided to use up all the odds and ends of DK as well as doubling up the 4-Ply. This blanket will be made as I go along; 1 - a - day (or 7 a week if I can't manage that) so I cannot be exact with amounts of yarn needed. At a rough estimate, it will proabably take about *** EDITED...AFTER DOING MY SUMS  I THINK IT WILL TAKE A GOOD 26 BALLS balls of 100g DK PLUS the border***and it will fit a King Sized Bed when finsished (see photo above). Of course you can stop whenever you want. It will not be possible to do 365 squares exactly to make a rectangle but we can do the border for the last days to keep up the 365. If you buy the edge colour locally you can usually return any un-used balls to the shop so make sure you buy enough of the edge colour to ensure the same colour lot!

I will be edging each square  with Stylecraft DK Silver and I do recommend that you use just ONE colour for this as it really makes the squares stand out. I will be joining each square to the last using the JOIN AS YOU GO METHOD ; this means that once the last square is joined the blanket will be finished apart from the border.

Here's a sneak peak of the first few squares I've made and joined...the full instructions and photo tutorials will start on 1st January...exact time unknown yet as it will depend how good the party is the night before...